AN: Yo, sorry for the dey my friends. But this week of uni has been tough, as a veteran the teachers barely waste 20 minutes in introductions before getting into the css proper, so even in the first week, things were quite a bit rough.
On the good news, I finally managed to save enough money to buy myself a new PC. It took almost 4 years of work before things finally were good enough that I could afford it. I had my old PC since 2015/2016, it was my little Warmachine that carried me through much of my life, it’s quite mencholic to part with it, but the poor thing was already getting on its years –stuttering, gging, taking more than 10 min to turn on… he endured way more than I thought he would, but it was time to retire him(My dad will now use him for light office work now.). Thanks for your service, Brother.
Well, I loathe to boast about this stuff, but I know there are a lot of PC Master race enthusiasts who like to talk about PC specs, so here it is.
SpoilerOld:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3470 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS H61 M-A/BR HD
RAM: 2x8GB Kingston HyperX 1600 mhz DDR3
Storage: HD 1TB 7200RPM + HD 3TB 7200 RPM
GPU: GTX 960 Turbo 4GB, Gigabyte Windforce.
Power Supply:Corsair 550w VS550 80 Plus Bronze
Case: Some random case I found for cheap that fit everything + 3 fans.
New:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, 4.4 GHz (5.6 GHz)
Cooler: Water Cooler Rise Mode, ARGB, 240mm, AMD/Intel
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite, AMD, Micro ATX, DDR5
RAM: RAM Corsair Vengeance, 32GB (2x16GB), 5200MHz, DDR5, CL40,
Storage: SSD Kingston NV3, 1 TB, M.2 2280, PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe
GPU: XFX Radeon RX 7800 XT Speedster Qick319, 16GB, GDDR6, 256-bit,
Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL, 850W, 80 Plus Gold, Modur
Case: Corsair 480T Airflow, Mid-Tower, ATX (I regret not buying the RGB version that came with 3 Fans, but I can always buy a 3 Fan Kit ter when I save some money.)
I know it’s not like those super PCs, but it is a very good one and most importantly, one I could afford. Most of these parts I bought on sale and even then –they cleaned my wallet, and my bank account is veritably empty now;-;. But I am super happy and I can’t wait to py Baldur’s Gate 3… when I have time.
Damn, now that I think about it, my dumbass self ain’t have time for anything… Perhaps on some rexed weekends? Or when I am on vacation?
[colpse]Now, the question of the week:
If you could learn under on single teacher/sensei/shishou in fiction, which one would you choose?
Now with the chapter:
~Razen Antares Gremory~
?
After eating enough to feed a Nordic family of 12, Antares finally felt full. Seeing as he was pretty hungry, he went a little bit wild after he finished eating his first set –he cooked a few other ptes that struck his fancy, mainly focusing on his favorite foods. He enjoyed his time cooking quite a lot –it was quite a rexing activity all things considered. And the fact that his skill kept improving with every pte made Antares feel quite fulfilled.
He also made sure to prepare a few meals and desserts for Eu and Neptune, and it was only at that moment that Antares discovered he did not know both girls' favorite foods. It made him feel like a failure of a friend and a lover.
But to be fair to his past self, he does know Eu likes cold alcoholic drinks, mostly due to how much he pyed Genshin in the past, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Making a mental note to correct such oversight ter, the Devil started pondering on what food to make.
In the end, he decided to go with a well-seasoned rich stew, a safe bet knowing the two had eaten and liked it before. For drinks, he had noticed that Neptune liked the milkshakes quite a bit, so Antares made a Mango-fvored Milkshake for her.
For Eu, he opted for a Pimm's Cup, a popur English drink made of gin, ginger ale, and a mix of a few refreshing fruit juices. For dessert, he made a fluffy powdered milk cake with vanil-fvored fillings.
He put Neptune’s food on a tray and brought it to her room. Sadly she wasn’t there, so he put an enchanted metal cover on the tray and left her a note. Antares remembered the girl saying she wasn’t hungry, but that was a couple of hours ago, and he knew how energy-consuming organizing stuff is. So she should be feeling at least a little bit peckish now.
Returning to the Kitchen, he picked up Eu’s food and put it on a tray as well and slowly made his way towards the underground gym. Entering the gym, he could see a few signs that Eu had been using the apparel, but the blue-haired woman was nowhere to be seen. Leaving the tray in the gym’s kitchen, Antares went towards the arena.
Entering the expansive space, he saw quite a spectacur sight. Six flowers composed entirely of Ice Swords floated in the air, they spun and twisted in rhythmically and intrinsic patterns, looking like a dance that was as deadly as it was mesmerizing. And in the center of them all was Eu, The Aphros Delos consteltion shining behind her head like a halo, her normally extremely beautiful appearance even more accentuated by the nearly divine lights of the stars.
Antares stayed silent and did his best to suppress his presence, he felt like it would be a veritable sin to interrupt such a beautiful moment. Eu continued her dance/fight, spinning tilting, and flipping her body while swinging her frost-covered sword, the flowers followed her like overeager puppies, opening and closing, expanding and diminishing, spinning and twisting leaving trails of snowfkes and sparkling ice dust. She weaved through the flowers, swinging her sword with unmatched precision that barely touched the constructs.
The male Devil could see how much effort Eu was putting into this; she was sweaty, tired, and breathing a little haggardly, but she pressed on nonetheless.
With a st flourish, she spun and swung her sword in a full arc, destroying all the ice flowers spinning around her.
Controlling her breath –Eu put away her sword, deactivated her consteltion, and rexed, slowly controlling her breath.
“That was quite impressive, Eu.” Praised Antares in a subdued tone, making Eu smile slightly; “Thanks Antares, it was–” she turned and then paused, a questioning look on her face; “What happened to your clothes?”
Antares looked down, and it finally dawned on him he still hadn’t changed clothes and he was still wearing the shredded pieces of fabric that remained after his fight; “… I guess I forgot?” He mumbled a little sheepishly.
Eu chuckled; “I take the date with Neptune was quite wild?” She joked good naturally while picking a towel and drying her extra sweat, which ended up being unnecessary as the moment she thought about drying herself she was perfectly and fully cleaned, narrowing her eyes at the towel Antares could swear he heard her swearing vengeance, which made him chuckle before replying; “… Kinda?” he scratched the back of his head; “I will make a guess and say you haven’t looked at your phone yet.” He awkwardly fidgeted for a bit. “Let’s say that…Things were pretty normal for the majority of the date… and only at the end, did something happen.”
He approached his lover and hugged her, the bluenette leaning in on his embrace. “We started by going to the mall and buying all the stuff she may need or want.” Eu nodded and smiled, those are some good news. She clearly remembers when she and Antares did the same, and those are some of her fondest memories to date, she hoped Neptune also enjoyed it as well; “Did you have fun?” She asked.
“Yeah.” Antares fondly smiled; “Neptune is a bst.” He then kissed Eu on top of the head; “I didn’t think we would have so many interests in common…”
“I am happy you two are getting along.” Eu hummed lightly. “It’s nice to have a sister.”
“Nothing happened yet, Eu.” Corrected Antares softly. “We just went on a Date and had fun together, like good friends…”
Eu rolled her eyes; “Damn, barely finished the first date and you already friendzone her.” She joked dryly. “Should I go up there and console her?”
“I think there is no need.” Antares shook his head; “She looked pretty happy and said multiple times it was amazing, even if I don’t think I–”
“None of that self-deprecating crap mister.” Eu shook her forefinger negatively. “You are amazing.” She kissed him softly on the mouth; “And whoever can’t see that, is in dire need of gsses, or a new set of eyes.”
“Well, to me you are the amazing one.” Antares kissed Eu deeply, enjoying the warmth of his partner, enjoying the feeling of her soft lips and delicate mouth pressed against his.
Separating from each other, a trail of saliva had formed, something the duo got rid of with practiced ease at this point.
“Ftter will get you everywhere mister.” Eu purred softly; “But don’t think I didn’t notice your skirting around the issue.” Eu rested her head on Antares chest; “So spill, what happened?” Sighing at the cuteness of his Eu, Antares told her everything that happened today, he took care to be as detailed as possible to not cause any misunderstandings.
“...then I kicked him outside of the Batting center-”.
Eu then interrupted him, a scowl marring her face; “You should’ve gone straight for the kill. To insinuate something as disgusting as that is-”.
“Unfortunately, Politics.” Antares interrupted with a scowl of his own; “But I managed to get quite a good deal at the end.” he smirked evilly.
“Ohh, do tell?” Eu curiously asked. Antares was happy to oblige.
He told her about Shi-Woon’s arrival, his battle against the Ptinum Yakuza, and copying his Martial Arts.
“Wait… did you just copy some super secret technique?”, Eu speechlessly asked; “Aren’t those kinds of techniques National Treasures of their respective factions, that are heavily guarded by hardened elders?” Antares just smirked; “Yes to both.”
“Well, it must’ve emotionally hurt the little bastard quite a bit.” Eu vindictively added, sounding quite smug on behalf of her lover.
“You can do that as well, you know?” Antares pointed out, making Eu freeze for a moment. “... You may not have my Aethermorph Heritage yet, but you do have Martial and Soul Talent now. It may take a bit longer, but you undoubtedly can steal techniques like this.”
“That’s… I never thought about that before.” She hummed, lost in thought for a brief moment. “But I can think about it ter. Let’s continue. What happened then?” Antares chuckled and continued retelling the events.
He finally getting to beating up Shi-Woon for a bit, the Yakuza’s Dragon transformation, when he entered the Bck Origin Threshold, stopping Shi-Woon’s breath attack, Ichiban’s and Yasaka’s Arrival, him tricking the fox, and finally Serafall’s arrival.
“Okay, that is pretty nice.”, Eu added after a while, her voice a little low; “She basically just gave you free rein to go around Japan and steal all the techniques you can get your handsome hands on. And that all for a trick.” Eu ughed, but then she narrowed her eyes at Antares. “You aren’t telling me something…”
Antares briefly debated if he should say it, but instantly decided that he had to, not only had he already expined it in a message –a retionship built on lies is bound to never st.
Sighing, he started expining; “Things may not been as smooth as I described them–”
He told Eu exactly what happened, expining everything in great detail, without sugarcoating anything as he did previously.
“That’s… Are you okay?” She hugged Antares tightly, frantically searching through his body for wounds or other markings.
“I am.” he sighed. “I just told you I walked it off?”
“Antares!” Eu poked his chest with a little frustration. “That was half of your torso! Did he even know you could regenerate it before the attack?”
“I… I don’t know.” Replied the Devil while pursing his lips. “But I showed a lot of times just how absurd my regenerations was… albeit most of the time I regenerated outside his field of view, so he may have overestimated my durability.”
“That still doesn’t excuse the use of lethal force.” Eu cut sharply with a scowl.
“I am aware.” Conceded Antares while hugging his lover again. “Serafall arrived to resolve things, so they will not get scott-free.”
“I… I just expected a little more of a reaction from you.” She admitted in a slightly sad tone. “I know after what you went through when you used Shamash was way worse, but that was still…
“I understand Eu.” Antares kissed her. “It’s just that… when you have such an absurd regeneration like me, rarely, if ever, is a wound considered grave.”
Eu stayed silent and enjoyed her lover’s presence, worry and many scenarios went through her mind. “Just promise me to be more careful.” She conceded.
“You know,” Antares chuckled, earning a raised brow from the bluenette. “Neptune said a simir thing to me earlier.”
“Then it seems we are already of the same mind.” Eu smiled softly, before narrowing her eyes at Antares. “I still didn’t hear an answer.
“... I guess I can be more careful. For you, for Neptune.” He sighed. “I just can’t promise I won’t risk myself.”
“I would never ask something like that of you.” Eu huffed feeling a little offended. “To fight –to kill, is to put your own life on the line.” She briefly closed her eyes. “Every combat scenario is a risk, and living is fighting, and to fight is to risk yourself.”
Sometimes Antares kind of forgets that Eu came from a deadthworld, but these little things remind him of it. He smiled; “Thank you, Eu. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she added with a soft smile.
The two hugged and stayed there, enjoying the silence and each other’s presence for a moment. Antares couldn’t be more gd things ended as harmoniously as they did.
“... Still, I am a little worried about Serafall,” admitted Eu after a while.
“You are? Why?” asked Antares tilting his head.
“Well,” Eu cleared her throat. “ Didn’t you say you two have some bad blood due to what happened with Sona?”
“We do, but…” Antares stopped because he didn’t exactly know how to expin it. “You would need to be there to understand.” He sighed. “The person who arrived at the scene wasn’t Sera-Tan the petty, yuri-loving, magical girl extraordinaire –It was the Satan Leviathan, one of the four Demon Kings of Hell. There is a very big difference between the two.”
“Really?” Eu raised her eyebrow.
“... I was surprised too you know.” Antares sighed. “When my brother told me Serafall had a serious side, I didn’t believe him at all as well. Guess I was wrong.”
“Well, at the end of the day, she is a real person.” Eu hummed. “Not some caricature you saw on a show so long ago.”
The bluenette then paused and thought about the event Antares retold her a little more deeply; “The metal talisman that Yasaka gave you… is it still valid?”
“That’s actually a good question.” Antares winced awkwardly. “I didn’t go through with my part of the agreement, after all. So she is technically in the right if she wants to null it.”
“Maybe Serafall will put it with the deal?” guessed Eu with a shrug. “Or it could be some kind of trick for Yasaka’s part as well?.”
Antares nodded. “At the end of the day, she is a Kitsune.” He paused and then added with a thoughtful expression, “Liking it or not, tricks are in their blood. Her foxing around is expected, not an exception.”
“Or… perhaps the ones she wanted to py tricks on are her elders.” Antares pointed out, remembering what the fox said when she gave him the permit; “She did say that they have gotten ‘fat and zy’, and a young upstart like me is bound to wound their pride when I go plundering techniques.”
“And then there is the fact that you are a Devil.” Eu concluded, earning a nod from Antares, who continued; “A Devil famous for his own Sloth, for his own uselessness. So it should sting their pride even more.”
The bluenette narrowed her eyes at Antares; “Is that self-deprecation that I hear?”. The boy chuckled; “Perish the thought. Just stating a fact, as that is how the world sees me, or at least used to, if the online discussions are any indication.”
“Oh? People are talking about us?” asked Eu curiously.
“Heh.” Antares ughed for a bit; “They definitely are, even with brother and Ajuka suppressing the news as much as they could, some people still saw what happened in the Familiar Forest. And with the Devilnet being so popur…”
“I can imagine,” Eu added, wincing a little. She had very few positive experiences with fame, but she hoped they wouldn’t come to be in her new life. “With technology as it is in this world, all it takes is one guy with a cellphone, and suddenly half of the world knows what is up.”
“That’s true.” Agreed the Force user. “I am lucky that I am famous for my Sloth, so it is just a small minority of people that have any real interest in me. It’s mostly your forum dweller or gossip addict that has been commenting.”
“I thought people would be more concerned about an invasion happening in their own backyard.” Commented Eu while separating from Antares and staring a few stretches; “We repelled an entire small army, and held off an Ultimate Css being for a few moments.” She then grumbled under her breath. “The Central Devil Government, at least, should be very concerned.”
“Oh, they are.” Antares smiled while putting on a new shirt, which made Eu pout a little at the loss of free eye candy. Antares chuckled at the bluenette and continued; “Falbium is absolutely fuming that a foreign military force managed to invade our territory.” Antares shuddered a bit. “I think this is the first time I ever saw him so motivated to do anything besides sleeping all day. The only problem is that the invasion happened in the middle of Dragon Queen Tiamat’s territory, so he can’t exactly act and investigate as he wishes. Unless he wants an angry Dragoness on his bald tail.”
“Ajuka, on the other hand, is doing what he does best; Researching.”, going to the exit of the arena, Antares opened the doors for Eu; “Be them the Daemons, their weapons, metals, or anything he could get his hands on, really. There are some very enlightening discoveries he shared with me, just remind myself to expin them properly ter.”.
“Hn.” Eu nodded cutely. “What about the Artificial Angel? The one that you had to almost kill yourself to fell?”.
“Unfortunately, that falls under Serafall’s purview.” Antares winced. “And we both know how much she likes me, so…”
“Really? After all the help she gave today?” Eu asked.
“Well… that is Sera-Tan for you.” Antares closed his eyes and sighed. “Albeit now that I know for a fact she can be serious… things may have changed.”
“What’s the reason for such animosity between you two?” Eu asked absently, almost instantly regretting it –she just had to think for a bit and she would know the reason.
“You already met the reason,” Antares replied calmly.
“… Sona?”, Eu guessed. Antares nodded.
“Let’s say Serafall isn’t taking the Artificial Angel investigation as seriously as she should… She can’t outright halt the investigation though, but she can be very annoying about it.” Antares and Eu exited the Arena, now walking towards the Gym’s Kitchen. “And we both know how much Devils love bureaucracy. So the investigation is following all the due procedures, meaning it can take quite a while to show any results.”
“Bureaucrats.” Eu gritted her teeth.
“Devil Bureaucrats.” Antares corrected. “It is that much worse.”.
“But we didn’t need to worry about it.” Antares dismissed Eu’s worries with a wave of his hand; “As soon as heaven gets involved, she will have to hurry up. And they definitely will have to, Michael gave his word the Artificial Anjel project was no more, and Angels can’t lie, so to preserve his reputation—if nothing else—he will want such an investigation to be done as fast and as correctly possible.”
“So Serafall's supposed tantrum does have a time limit.”, Eu hummed a little smugly; “That is good to know. What about your brother?”
“Sirzechs? He can pressure her, sure.” He answered a little absently. “But at the end of the day, they are friends. They fought an entire war side by side and have known each other for centuries. Serafall throwing a decade-long tantrum is literally nothing from his perspective. He probably saw it a dozen times over the centuries, after all.” Antares shook his head; “So, I don’t think he will.”
“From his perspective, he can afford to wait.” Concluded Eu.
“Exactly.” Antares confirmed; “What are a few years for someone who lived more than hundreds? Albeit this recent incident with the Yakuza may have lit a fire under both of their asses.”
“We still need to find a way to warn them about Trihexa.” Pointed out Eu while sitting on a chair in the kitchen. “Liking it or not, we need to have more support to fight the Beast of the Apocalypse. And the Evies who will come after.”
“True. I’ve been thinking of a way to warn them about it, but nothing that makes sense comes to mind.” Groaned Antares while sitting on a chair on the opposite side of Eu’s. “The problem is revealing such information without raising suspicions. That’s difficult, and requires a unique opportunity.”
“Ajuka doesn’t make it easy, does he?” Deduced Eu while eyeing the tray on the table.
“No, he does not.” Antares grumbled; “He is simply way too smart to be fooled by anything besides a perfect or at least minimal truth, everything else he will undoubtedly see through. Or come to conclusions that are arguably worse than the truth.”
Antares pointed at the tray; “Oh, that is some food I cooked for you. Feel free to eat it.” Eu nodded, picked the appropriate utensils, and gracefully started eating the steaming stew.
The moment she put the spoon in her mouth –Eu froze, fvor like she never felt nor experienced before, a storm of sensations and pleasantries assaulting her tongue and mind like a bettering ram boosted by speed force. She felt warmth descending through her throat and falling down on her stomach, the sensation spreading and consuming her whole body.
Seeing Eu visibly melt in her seat, Antares let out a satisfied smile –he just found another pleasure in life; seeing people enjoy something he made.
Eu didn’t talk more, she voraciously devoured the marvelous culinary piece before her without a single shred of hesitation. It was actually quite a cute scene to watch, as no matter how enthusiastic she was about the food, she made sure to never forget her manners.
When it came to the drink, Eu's smile was worth more than a thousand diamonds a hundred times over –such a precious and beautiful thing. ‘I guess it wouldn’t be bad to pursue a career as a chef…’ Antares concluded inwardly in good humor.
After an almost overwhelming dessert, Eu finally managed to calm down enough to talk; “... Antares…. please kiss me.” She begged. And the crimson-haired Devil was more than happy to oblige.
A long makeout session ter, Eu finally calmed down. “Since when were you such a good cook?” She asked while absently touching her red lips.
“Oh, that was mostly thanks to Faerie Feast's help.” Antares admitted humbly; “I’ve been using the Perk as a guide to improve my cooking prowess as much as possible, and it seems to be working well.”
“You bet your nice sculpted ass it is,” Eu mumbled with an adorable huff. Antares chuckled.
“Now, I know you’ve been training until now…, started the Devil Heir in a more serious tone; “But do you want to learn the Art of Bck Heaven?”.
“The one you copied from that Shi-Woon fellow, right?” Asked the bluenette for confirmation. Antares nodded.
“Sure.”, agreed Eu in a rather enthusiastic tone. It seemed Antares’ food had renewed her energies quite a bit.
Going to a more open area of the gym, Antares expined to Eu she needed to sit cross-legged, the girl nodded and saw no issues in doing so. He also made sure to pick a Phoenix Tear on the way, just as a precaution against any accidents.
Sitting behind his lover, Antares took a deep breath; “Okay, this is a rather delicate process in the first few cycles, I am no Master, but Soul and Martial Talent should allow you to learn it rather swiftly.” Eu nodded.
“I will start by first inserting a bit of my Ki inside of your body.” He put the palm of his hands on Eu’s smooth back; “I will then circute my Ki in a very specific pattern –follow it as closely and as carefully as possible. As I said before, the first few circles are the hardest, but once you get the hang of things –it's like riding a bicycle, you will never forget it.”.
Following the guidance of his Soul Talent, Antares inserted a single sliver of Ki inside Eu’s body; “Now, rex and concentrate. You will do fine, I know it.” He then started to slowly and very carefully cycle his Ki inside of Eu’s veins, it was a very slow and awkward thing at first, but when both of them have Soul Talent and Antares has Education Talent on top of it, it was just a matter of few moments before Eu was following his sliver of Ki with her own, albeit hers was more like a stumbling puppy –a puppy that learned how to be a K9 in a week.
A Few minutes ter, both were sweating bullets while circuting their Ki in the way of the Art of Bck Heaven, the cycles getting easier with each second and cycle that passed. And when they reached the half-hour mark, Antares removed his hands from Eu’s back and nodded satisfied.
Eu's expression briefly tensed, her sweat production increasing by a fair bit, her body started heating up and the sweat that was falling down started to evaporate, forming vapor clouds around the cross legged Knight.
Without Antares' guidance, Eu struggled at first, but her own talent coupled with Soul Talent allowed the blue-haired girl to quickly get a grip on her Ki.
By now, she had long since memorized the way Antares taught her to circute her Ki. Now, she just needs to get more skilled at it.
Releasing a deep, foggy breath, Eu slowly got up. She clenched and unclenched her hands, examining them with a pondering gaze.
Antares stayed silent and simply waited, giving Eu enough time and space to better digest and feel what she was experiencing. He may have learned the Ki Circution technique mid-combat, but he knows very well the enlightening sensation of learning a Ki circution technique –and how much it means to the practitioner.
Eu closed her eyes and stood there, breathing in the familiar rhythmic way Antares had learned a few hours earlier.
After a few more minutes passed, Eu finally opened her eyes and rexed; “... that was incredible.” She mumbled absently.
“It is,” Antares confirmed with an understanding nod.
“Did you feel that way as well?” asked the bluenette while looking at Antares’ eyes. “Even better.” He answered solemnly; “I was losing a completely hopeless fight, and then everything clicked. It was pure ecstasy, a sensation that is actually difficult to put into words, but you felt it just now, did you not?”
Eu nodded; “Yeah. I know what you mean.”
The two then cleaned up their mess while they made some small talk, Eu was still a little absent-minded, and Antares deduced she would probably be for a few hours in the foreseeable future.
“You know, what?” Eu, who was in the middle of picking up her towel, looked at Antares. “You should go ahead. Let me finish organizing stuff here, then I will see about teaching this technique to Neptune and then I will be with you shortly.” Added the Devil while getting up.
“Are you sure?”, the bluenette asked in the same absent tone. Antares just nodded. Eu nodded back, picked up her things, and exited the gym.
Seeing as there were a few apparels and dumbells out of pce, Antares went to pick them up.
.
.
.
A few minutes ter after organizing the gym, Antares was in front of Neptune’s room, knocking on the door politely. He instantly heard an answer; “Come in.”
Slowly opening the door, Antares had to briefly pause, the previous pin and normal bedroom had completely changed. Posters and frames of a myriad of animes and games adorned the walls. The shelves had been filled with either cool figures, or weird knickknacks from some game, novel, series, or anime.
The bed covers had changed –from their previously pin white, to now a cover of Naruto and Sasuke cshing their Rasengan and Chidori. A couple of white fluffy rugs adorned the floor, giving a very comfy air to the room.
But Antares' gaze couldn’t help but be drawn towards the right corner, where Neptune created a true Gamer’s Cave. A very impressive computer setup, with three curved monitors that together created a 270° screen, followed by three big screens upwards, and two under her desk. She had at least two desktops, one notebook and two tablets, all of the highest spect money could buy.
Walking a little closer, Antares saw three wired mechanical keyboards, two wired mouses, and a wireless version of each. They were all on top of a smooth bck mousepad that covered almost all of her table.
He also saw many pairs of controllers for every console imaginable; Pystation, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam Deck, and the list goes on –honestly, much like in his first shopping spree, Neptune had bought one of everything.
“Awesome, right?” The purplette voice echoed by his side, making Antares nod absently. “It is, I am just surprised you didn’t go for the RGB lights.” Added the Force user.
“Who says I didn’t?” Neptune then picked up her cellphone and opened an app, with a few taps on the screen, the entire room changed. The light went off, and all the LEDs Antares thought didn’t exist, lit all at the same time. All in an electric purple color that reminded Antares of Neptune herself.
“How did you set this up in just a few hours?” Asked the male Devil in disbelief.
“A dy must keep her secrets.” Answered Neptune sagely, and when she saw Antares deadpan, she just covered her mouth with her hand and ughed; “ohohohohoho.”
“Did you… Did you just ‘Ojou Laugh’ at me?” Asked Antares in utter disbelief. Neptune just smiled smugly, making the Gremory shake his head with a smile.
Clearing her throat, Neptune's smile widened; “Thank you for the food, by the way. It was delicious.”
Btant change of subject aside, Antares smiled warmly; “I am happy you liked it. Trying a little bit of cooking, you see.”
Neptune snorted; “We’ve eaten at some professional restaurants today whose food is literal garbage when compared to yours.” Neptune then rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath; “Little bit of cooking my supple bouncy ass.”
Antares felt his Pride veritably stroked and found quite the massive urge to strut like a peacock but held himself back instantly.
Seeing her King frozen in pce, Neptune tilted her head; “Are you okay?” She asked with an undertone of worry.
Shaking his head, Antares scratched the side of his face awkwardly; “Yeah, I am good, just my Pride felt like acting up.”
Neptune nodded, Eu had expined earlier how Devils would feel urges to act according to one or more of the Seven Sins—it is not like they lose control or anything—it's more akin to when you suddenly want or feel the urge to eat another pack of chips, even when you're already full, perfectly manageable. The purplette has yet to experience it herself, but she feels like she will manage them with no problem. ‘God *ought* knows how much I avoided eating that extra can of Pringles.’ she thought sagely.
“Not that I am against you visiting mua or anything stud muffin.” Initiated Neptune with a slightly teasing smirk; “But what are you doing here?”
“First.” Turning serious, Antares raised his finger; “I live here… I literally own this house.”He answered gravely. Neptune would’ve believed in his harsher tone if the redhead wasn’t spotting a teasing smirk of his own. So she just chuckled; “You know what I mean muffin.”
Chuckling, Antares broke his sudden serious expression, trading it for a smiling one; “I am just checking to see if you want to learn the Art of Bck Heaven.”
“You betcha,” Neptune answered instantaneously, without a single shred of hesitation.
“Okay, so sit cross-legged on the ground and try to rex as much as possible.” Neptune briefly looked at her room and sat in the space between her closet and bed, it was quite a big space, as the bedroom was pretty big to begin with. If there is something Antares praised his past self for, was his insistence on making big bedrooms in his mansion to escape that rich people's fetish of having small sometimes even cramped bedrooms in their massive homes.
“... I thought you would let any teaching for tomorrow,” questioned Neptune while adjusting her posture. “Initially, I was thinking of doing so,” answered Antares while sitting behind her; “But it's better you sleep off the effects of learning a Ki Circution technique.
“There are side effects?” Neptune asked with a little bit of worry in her tone.
“Nothing harmful, I assure you,” Antares assured the purplette while rexing his posture and beginning to rouse his Ki; “You will just feel absent-minded for a bit; like your brain will have some trouble focusing on the now and keeps going back to your technique. I experienced much of the same thing, I am still feeling it right now.”
“You are?” Neptune raised her eyebrow doubtfully, as Antares looked to be sharp as always from her perspective; “You don’t look absent-minded to me,” she added.
Antares chuckled; “That is because I have two minds, so only one of them is in that state,” he expined in a slightly amused tone at seeing Neptune's fbbergasted expression at his answer; “It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but it has to do with a perk from my Aethermorph Heritage, remember me to make a copy of the heritage section of the company so you can read it ter.” Neptune nodded.
“Now, let's begin the process. First I will-”. Antares then went and expined the process in detail, it was honestly the same thing he did with Eu, so there were no secrets there. But Neptune still deserved to know.
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A little more than half an hour ter, Antares was looking quite impressed at Neptune. Not only had she managed to learn the Ki Circution technique in record time, but she also seemed to be extremely talented with it, to the point the Aethermorph was feeling a little bit left behind, not that he minded, as Neptune is family now, and the stronger his family is, the better.
“... woah, It’s not exactly a Cultivation Technique, but It is still awesome,” mumbled the purplette in the familiar absent tone, the same tone Eu used just a little bit earlier.
The Aethermorph chuckled; “I know, right?”
“Do I… may if I did… no, no, no… perhaps if-.” Seeing Neptune still engrossed in her own world, Antares smiled slightly; “I will leave you to enjoy this moment. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” He then walked towards the door, ready to exit the purplette’s bedroom.
“Wait stud muffin,” interrupted Neptune before the redhead could exit the room. Turning toward the lightning user, Antares raised his eyebrow; “Yes, how may–” The rest of his phrase died in his throat, as before he could articute anything, Neptune pounced and kissed him on the cheek.
Antares froze, his eyes widening and his cheeks flushing for a moment, he absently touched his cheek where Neptune had kissed. “I-...” Before he could even talk with the purplette about it, she bolted deep inside her room, doing her best to hide under the covers.
He closed his eyes and briefly reminisced about the soft sensation of Neptune’s lips on his cheeks, he couldn’t help but find it quite pleasant. Chuckling internally in a good mood, Antares looked at the lump under the covers and spoke; “Good night Neptune, see you tomorrow.”
Antares then finally exited Neptune’s room and made a beeline towards his own. Entering the master bedroom, he made sure to check if the messages he had sent to the principal had followed through. He had decided it would be completely useless to go to school now that Grail Knowledge was at py, so he marked a day when he and the girls could do the Japanese equivalent of an SAT exam, and thus get their high school diploma.
So now they should have roughly 2 weeks until the Rating Game with Revya, two weeks where Antares pns to immerse himself into the grindset mentality… after resolving this Yakuza mess, of course.
Entering the Master Bedroom, he saw Eu was already sleeping in his bed, smiling at the cute sigh of his lover, Antares went to the side and changed his clothes. He usually slept in just his boxers as he always found it more comfortable, something that Eu kept reminding him was way too stimuting for her poor maiden’s heart. Antares can say the same about her camisole.
Getting on his side of the bed, he entered under the covers and hugged the bluenette from behind, earning a cute hum in response when she drew even closer for comfort and warmth. Soon the tiredness of the day quickly grated on Antares psyche, and in barely a few moments after getting on the bed, he fell asleep.
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Surprisingly, he dreamt again.
He saw a tower of impossible proportions, a tower so incomprehensibly big and wide it hurt to even try to guess its dimensions. A very familiar tower.
But this time, he didn’t even have time to admire the impossible piece of architecture before him, in less time than it took him to blink, he was already at the tower’s entrance, and then light. A blinding light that completely consumed his dream world.
From the light, came a fog, a dark grey fog filled with sparkling lights akin to stars, the strange fog slowly grew until it fully consumed Antares entire world, and then-
*BAAM!*
He fell on a solid surface, surprise briefly assaulting his physique, involuntarily he let out a low groan and heard two very familiar groans in response. Swiftly getting up, Antares looked at his surroundings, but besides the immediate 5-meter area around him, everything else was fog, the same dark grey fog filled with sparkling blue lights.
Looking at the ground, he saw two familiar girls; “Neptune? Eu?” he excimed a little shocked, still thinking he was in a dream, albeit part of his mind screamed things weren’t so simple.
Eu groaned once more and started to get up, she massaged her temples as if she had a massive headache at the moment; “What happened? I feel a worse hangover than when I tried to outdrink some smug androgynous bard that one time.” she compined with a slightly hoarse voice.
“I don’t know,” Antares answered sincerely; “I remember dreaming about some kind of weird impossible tower, then falling and waking up here with the impact.”
“You too?” Eu asked a little surprised; “I had the same dream…” she mumbled with slightly narrowed eyes.
“Same here,” added Neptune while getting up with a groan of her own; “Albeit I am not feeling a hangover, my head is pounding mightily, like there is a smith constantly hitting a hammer on my brain.”
Feeling an approaching headache, Antares sighed; “Well, I know nothing about this pce, so I don’t think-.” Before Antares could continue speaking, he was interrupted by an alert on his HUD.
Pulling up his HUD, he almost groaned.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mission: Tower of Dreams, Kidnaping the sleepy edition
World: Highschool DxD AU - Dream Realm Scope: Standard
Description: Congratutions!! You just found a-
Before Antares could continue reading his HUD, he felt a jolt of pain through his body, making him grit his teeth.
He looked around and noticed the fog seemed to be encroaching on him and the girls, and the closer it got, the more prevalent the jolts of pain became. “We need to get out of here, NOW!” he excimed in a serious tone.
“Don’t need to say it twice muffin,” Neptune instantly agreed in the middle of wincing in pain; “But where should *ought* we go?” she asked while suppressing the pain.
“I can’t see anything,” EulA added while gritting her teeth; “Everything is just the same, so let’s just pick a direction and go.”
“Better than wait for death.” Antares agreed and started jogging forward, Neptune and Eu right beside him.
Like a mirage or an old forgotten memory, the moment they started moving, the pain instantly stopped, even when they were covered head to toe in mist and could barely see a few meters before them.
“Grab my hands, we don’t want to get split up in this mess,” Antares excimed in a hurry, suppressing the growing fear of losing Neptune and Eu in a strange pce such as this.
Feeling Neptune’s warm and soft hand gripping his left hand, followed by Eu gripping his right, the redhead couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. They were okay.
Holding hands, the trio continued rushing forward, they tried stopping but every time they did, the pain returned. It seemed that as long as they were in motion, they wouldn’t feel pain.
Antares didn’t know how much time passed, it could’ve been just a few minutes or days, but his sense of time was so busted in this pce that he had no idea, even his Authority of Finality that usually granted him a superb sense of time seem to be unresponsive at the moment. He tried using his HUD, but every time he even thought about it, he would feel a jolt of pain traveling through his body, ‘ter then,’ he thought inwardly while ignoring the brief bout of pain.
“Will this never end?” Eu gritted out, the undertone of worry almost overtaking her voice.
“... I don’t know why,” Neptune started a little absently; “But this fog feels familiar.”
“Every Pyed God of War: Chains of Olympus?” Antares asked out of nowhere, prompting Neptune to instantly look at him. “Just a little on an old PSP that belonged to a friend, but never managed to finish it…” the purplette grumbled sadly.
“I don’t know if I am right, but this fog reminds me of Morpheus’ Fog from that game…” Antares took a deep breath and blinked a few times; “It is simir enough to tickle my memory at least.” he concluded.
“Do you think this has anything to do with the Morpheus from Draconic Deus?” asked Eu while she controlled her breath.
“That’s impossible,” Antares shook his head in denial; “Morpheus has been dead since before the Great War, most factions suspect Great Red personally eliminated him due to their conflicting domains. And if the clear ck of any God with a Dream Divinity in the whole world wasn’t clue enough, Big Red has been purging them for a while…”
“You don’t sound so sure there muffin.” Pointed out Neptune.
“That’s because I am not,” he expined; “Great Red is just the prime suspect due to him being the Dragon God of Dreams, but the truth is that no one knows for certain.”
“That’s not ominous at all,” Eu grumbled with a cute huff. “Tell me about it,” Neptune added with a huff of her own.
They continued running in the fog, but nothing seemed to change for hours, or was it days? Antares was growing increasingly worried, and he was already contempting if he should just jump into his pocket apartment with the girls, but to do that he would need to stay still for a few moments and be assaulted by waves of pain, he could probably resist them as he endured much worse when he used Shamash, but the risk is still too great. Perhaps he could-
“Over here.” The trio heard a very suspicious female voice echoing a few hundred meters before them. Eu, Antares, and Neptune instantly narrowed their eyes, and without hesitation, they summoned their weapons, Antares started pre-casting a Force spell to be unleashed with a single command.
Afraid of alerting the unknown creature, the three slowly skulked forward, the grip on their weapons growing tighter.
“Over here.” they heard once more, this time even clearer and closer. Their muscles tensed, but they continued skulking forward. Their steps are slow, methodical, and precise. And they were all far from stealth specialists, the fog gave them a unique advantage that-
“Oh for fucks sake,” the voice cursed annoyed; “I am your frigging Guide, no need to hide. Bunch of Dunces.” Antares eyebrows twitched slightly, whatever this voice was, he suddenly felt the urge to beat it up.
They continued walking towards the st direction of the voice, their guards still up. Their vision, mighty affected by the fog could barely see a few meters before them, their magical senses, sharpened during the Red Tide and subsequent training and battles, were barely better than their sight. The fog seemed to block everything.
Until it didn’t anymore.
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AN: Well, I hope you guys liked the Chapter.
This was more of a transitory chapter between the previous arc, and this new arc on The Tower. The tower is a very interesting pce, filled with unknowns and mysterious characters, I sincerely hope you all will like this arc, I sure as hell have liked writing it.
After the Tower Arc, comes the Marriage Contract Arc, so stay tuned my brothers.
Answer:
I would choose Scáthach, not only because I am horny, but because I genuinely think she has one of the greatest teaching skills from the characters that I know, and I really like Primordial Runes as a concept, simply due to how powerful and flexible they are. (Still… It’s Mostly because I am horny tho.)
~ClearSkySage
