[Hajime POV]
As I slowly regained consciousness, the smell that permeated the room finally registered in my brain.
*Blurgh*
After emptying my stomach onto the ground, I remembered what had happened yesterday.
Doumon Hisao was smart, waiting to talk to us once we were tired from fighting the stray.
I probably would've won even if I hadn't used Lelouch, but the cost might've been greater.
I could've been crippled, Tsubaki or Kimiko killed, or he escaped and told his associates. No matter what, though, it wouldn't have been a win.
Hopping in the shower to clean off all the dried blood, I refocus on the current situation.
When I used Lelouch yesterday, Tsubaki saw and had questions.
I managed to have her put it off until today, which is good since I barely got to my room yesterday. Now I need to think about how much to tell her.
There's no way I can tell her everything, specifically that our world is an ecchi world where the MC powers up with boobs.
Excluding the existential crisis that might follow, I doubt she'd be happy to know the world's future if it was like that. There's also the fact that war would be coming in less than a decade. While I can help her become stronger, I also don't want her to rely on me that way.
I also can't risk her life by sharing it. I know people's minds can be read, with Great Red reading people's subconscious through their dreams, so sharing information like that with anyone is too dangerous, at least for now.
First, I need mental protection; then, I can consider sharing it. However, I might not depending on when it is. If it's too close to canon or I've already made sweeping changes, then sharing is pointless since whatever I know would be inaccurate in some regards. By then, I'd likely be able to see the future, so I could ignore the one from the manga.
Thinking about the gacha, while I should hide it since it's just as dangerous as my future knowledge, I could probably share it.
There's no way I can keep hiding everything without raising serious questions. Tsubaki's already trusted me by joining me and I've already screwed up her future. The least I can do now is ensure her future is better than it otherwise would've been.
Besides, I planned on giving her some stuff from it. It's better to share it now, so if I pull out Excalibur Blessing, she doesn't think I robbed the church.
She is probably expecting something after I just made Doumon kill himself. Her woman's intuition might know I'm avoiding the truth if I say anything less.
Leaving the bathroom, I dried myself off from the shower and used some cleaning magic on the room.
It wouldn't be easy to explain why the smell of blood was everywhere to the cleaning people.
I should also probably make sure the rest of the hotel is clean. I don't want the police to think I killed people, even if I did.
-----
Tsubaki, Kimiko, and I were in our usual training area with the two sitting before me.
"Are you ready to explain now?" she asked expectantly.
"I will, ask whatever you want."
"How did you make him kill himself?"
"Have you seen Code Geass?"
"Only the first few episodes, but-" she nods in response to my question before immediately freezing. She looks at me with her eyes wide open. "Wait! You mean?"
"Yes."
"How?!"
"That's related to my sacred gear. Are you familiar with Telos Karma?"
"You have a Longinus?"
"A subspecies, but yes. It works based on the principle that the omniverse exists. While I'm unsure if it makes or takes the things it gives me, I can use things from other universes, like Lelouch and his powers.
Before I awakened it, I was about as strong as a regular kid. I had no magic, no training, just knowledge of the supernatural."
"Why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you want to hide this?"
"I trust you won't tell anyone else. I'll tell other people eventually, like my aunt. Hiding it from you would be pointless. Not only are you my teammate, but I doubt you wouldn't notice my growth or any of the strange things I can do. I'm sure you were curious about your naginata, right?"
A look of realization appeared as she remembered I had just pulled it out of the air, remembering she only avoided asking since they were about to fight those mages. Though she wanted to ask, after the fight, she wanted to make Kimiko her familiar and forgot.
"What's it from then?"
"The Legend of Zelda. It's a weapon that Impa's clan uses to protect Hyrule."
The two girls looked at the naginata in awe, knowing it was from a different world and had such a history.
"Any other questions?"
"How do you get your powers?"
"Well, when I get things from Telos Karma, I can get people and items. For the people, I can either summon them into our reality or assimilate their powers and knowledge for myself."
"Who'd you assimilate?"
"Yesterday, I started assimilating Lelouch, which was how I beat Doumon. I also finished Deathstroke during my fight against him, so I have all the skills of a master assassin.
Aside from them, I have the abilities from Laxus Dreyar from Fairy Tail and Hekiji Tengai from My Hero Academia."
"So that's why your lightning abilities seemed familiar. Wait, are you going to turn into a dragon? How did you even get on the train? Shouldn't you get motion sickness?"
"I don't think I'll turn into a dragon, but Laxus became a dragon slayer in a different way from the others, so I'm not sure. As for the motion sickness, one of the items I got allowed me to remove one of my weaknesses."
...
"Do you have anything interesting?"
"An alien spaceship, a magic alien weapon, a fragment of Excalibur, and a giant mech."
...
"Is it possible for me to assimilate anything? If it's not any trouble, of course."
"Even if it isn't, I can probably find a way to give you the powers and memories later."
...
After a long talk about what I could do, Tsubaki eventually asked a question I was expecting.
"So, you said before you wanted to make your organization to help out your aunt. Are you willing to explain less vaguely since you've revealed everything?"
Sighing, I nodded before explaining my connection with Yasaka and my feelings about her and the yokai's situation.
When I finished talking, Tsubaki was silent, digesting everything she heard me say.
"Let's do it then."
"Hmm?"
"You recruited me to help change the world, right? Let's do it.
You're right. Situations like the yokai's aren't fair. Logically, they should be one of the more influential factions, but they're barely a mid-ranked faction.
Their situation is way worse than mine. My clan didn't hunt me down after awakening Mirror Alice, but most yokai can't even leave the Kyoto or Kanto regions without risking their lives.
Since you want to help them, then as your teammate, I can only make sure you don't die in the process, Suko."
"Hajime. I think after everything, we are close enough, Tsubaki."
"Fine... Hajime.
Now, what plans do you have?"
"First, I want us to train for a few months. You and Kimiko are still low-class, and while I can supplement that power with my sacred gear, it would be better for you two to get experience.
I'll also try to finish as many assimilations as possible to reach ultimate-class.
Once I've reached ultimate-class, the two of us will start to travel around Japan and look for people to recruit to our group. I've already got someone in mind after looking through Yasaka's information, but we'll have to wait for now. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with a peak ultimate-class fighter.
While we travel, we can look for places to create a base for our organization. We don't have to worry about costs with my powers, so location is the only thing that matters."
"Any preferences?"
"Isolated and easily defensible from the human world, like a mountain or an island. It will make magic the only practical way to get there since we can set up wards to have regular humans avoid it.
If humans live there, we can use magic to have them move and compensate them. Also, I want a large area. My mech is huge, and I might get characters like Gojira, so we need a lot of space for future expansions.
Lastly, I want it close to the ocean. I can think of dozens of powers and characters that would benefit from being near water."
-----
After explaining my plan, we spent the rest of the day exploring the town more. Yesterday's fight was physically exhausting, and everything I said today was mentally exhausting. Though Tsubaki was dealing with it, I imagine she still had much to consider.
Turning in early, Tsubaki and Kimiko entered their room while I went to mine.
Lying in bed, I tried looking through the memories of all my assimilations, hoping to find some interesting information, until I went to sleep.
Unfortunately, most of what they knew was common knowledge or fighting experience.
Eventually, just closing my eyes and hoping to fall asleep, I tossed and turned for an hour before realizing I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
Getting out of bed, I left the hotel to take a walk.
The sun was barely above the horizon, painting the sky in an orangish-red.
I thought back to everything I told Tsubaki today.
I needed to learn more about my sacred gear's abilities.
I knew some of what Telos Karma could do, but there were some things I didn't know about, such as assimilations.
Could I give Tsubaki and Kimiko assimilations? Would it be better to provide them with powerful or compatible things?
I did have an Excalibur fragment. Just holding it would push either of them up two stages.
Also, I needed to get a scientist of some kind soon.
The Milano and Colossus were both high-tech items and likely had more tech on the inside. I wasn't going to trust it to someone like Azazel or Ajuka.
As smart as they might have been, they were also extremely strong and loyal to their factions. Giving them the information would be the same as providing the fallen and devils the technology.
Unlike both biblical factions, I had almost no material or workforce, so they were the only people able to make more. Plus, if more greedy members tried taking them from me, what could I do about it?
Fighting would reveal too much, and even then, I'm not strong enough to take on their top fighters. Azazel is intermediate supreme, while Ajuka and Sirzechs are both initiate transcendent. If I wanted to commit suicide, I would just go to Hades and threaten to reveal his plans.
On my walk back to the hotel, I got an idea and took a small diversion to our training area.
Setting up a barrier around the place, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.
First, I'd test out how summoning works.
Second, I'd be getting myself a familiar.
Pulling out one of my character cards, I activated it and chose the summon option.
{ Summoning Blue }
There were a few options for summoning, but they all required cards from the gacha, which I hadn't gotten.
A figure appeared a few meters before me, taller by almost two heads.
As the finished materializing, they growled before charging at me.
Using my lightning magic, I shocked them unconscious before taking the time to get a better look.
In front of me was an honest to god dinosaur.
The strange part was that they looked slightly different from what I expected.
Blue still had the same colors and shape I expected, but her size was much larger, and she had some feathers.
Despite the inaccuracy of the movies, she looked more like what scientists believed dinosaurs looked like.
Our original understanding was eventually termed 'shrink-wrapped' since we assumed the dinosaurs looked exactly how their bones were shaped. Later, it was understood that, like their modern relatives, they likely had fat and feathers, drastically changing their appearance.
Blue's appearance felt like a mix of both. Her body was increased in size, though the shape didn't change much. The biggest change in appearance was the addition of feathers.
What once looked like a reptile now felt more like a feathered dragon, like quetzacoatl, but dino-shaped.
Remembering my purpose here, I quickly performed the ritual, flowing my mana into Blue.
After a minute of flowing my mana into her, an ethereal chain formed, not unlike the one between Tsubaki and Kimiko.
Once I felt a connection with Blue, things felt different. I could feel her emotions vaguely right now. Still, the book says that as the bond between master and familiar grows, the connection strengthens and provides more benefits, which can change depending on the individuals.
Currently, she was feeling several things—fear, confusion, and anger, even while she slept.
Eventually, though, she awoke. The second she opened her eyes, she saw me and immediately charged at me again.
Sighing, I zapped her with lightning again, realizing this would take a while. Luckily, I wasn't tired yet.
----------
Omake: Excalibur Thief 10
[Francisco POV]
I've lived in Timbuktu for a few months, and things have been going great!
Thanks to my 'natural remedies,' my workplace has greatly increased business. As it turns out, people are likely to spread the word when you can heal people for a fraction of the time and cost.
While a few people were skeptical, and several more believed it to be witchcraft of some kind (which it was), most didn't care about the unnatural effects of what they were drinking.
I had been saving for several months and finally had enough francs to buy a position on a hunting troupe.
It took me two months to find this specific group because they were involved in the supernatural.
They dedicate themselves to hunting whatever they find in the forest to keep others, who might be unprepared, safe.
Despite their kind act, they refused to let an outsider join and possibly ruin everything, so I made a deal with them.
I'd prepare funds to sustain myself during the hunt and the 'elixirs' they heard about, and they'd let me join.
While it sounds like I got ripped off, these guys have successfully hunted boomslangs before, one of Africa's most dangerous magical creatures.
If I consumed even the tusk of a Boomslang, I'd become an ultimate class mage. One thing I had learned over the last few months of testing my powers was that as I consumed magical beasts, I'd grow in strength outside of the transformations.
I've only consumed two so far, but there is a large difference between me from six months ago and now. I rarely trained physically these last few months, but my physical abilities had grown the most, so my growth was likely due to that.
I had also learned to 'fuse' my abilities to turn into a giant sand worm/sea serpent hybrid.
Meeting up with the expedition, I hopped into one of their carts as they took off toward the nearest stretch of jungle.
__________
Author's Note:
I know DxD has bad anime, like Drag-so Ball instead of Dragon Ball, but I figured having the actual anime would be better, mostly since I want people to recognize his abilities.
I understand if some people are upset that he'd reveal his powers like that, but I plan on him sharing it more in the future. He'll only share with those he trusts, but I won't make an edgy guy who refuses to reveal his big secret when everyone knows he can do so much. Plus, as shown by his summoning of Blue, he can't hide it forever. People will eventually ask questions about how he has a dinosaur, the Milano, or a second Excalibur Blessing.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!