CH2: Implications

The fruit was good, he could admit that, and even if he hadn't expected to capture her, Mittelt was a great addition to his world. She had the aesthetic with her twelve black wings, black halos, and half-shredded gothic Lolita dress. He was vibing with it. The tree he leaned against after the 90th time they had sex in the last couple of weeks of demi-plane time felt nice and cool against his back. On his stat screen, he saw a few significant improvements. How had his endurance and body attributes increased so much? Zack took a bite of his 99th fruit and found diminishing returns. The level gains for magic and life were dropping along with his potential increases.

Mana G – 300/5000

Life G – 250/5000

Using the fruit significantly increased his potential and widened the divide between himself and the next grade. To cross a grade, an attribute needed to max out. The more enormous the potential, the more influential the individual would be when they finally maxed out. That was simple and easy to understand.

The problem was grades. Mittelt, as a fallen started in the F grade while he, as a human, remained trapped in the G grade until he got good. He needed to grind his mana and life attributes until he crossed the threshold. On the bright side, doing so would make him very strong. To cross himself into the F grade, he needed three attributes and all of his skills to be in the F grade.

He needed to learn a skill to help him along the way, something to bind together his other skills besides disguise. That would be his greatest tool for peacefully controlling his tendency to snatch things.

He appeared near his cow pasture, a small place that he planned to expand greatly in the coming years. What he needed was a way to greatly empower his cattle. Well, he had plenty of Agios fruit; by Mittelt's careful count, he had a little over 500 ripe fruit.

With that in mind, he performed a simple trick to see if his desired skill would appear. As Circe's book described, Zack squeezed the juice out of an agios fruit into some pond water while pushing mana into it. He manipulated his mana while still focusing and somewhat threading a needle mentally.

The water turned black and rotten, so he dissipated it back into mana.

A pop-up for poison, rot, and venom skills appeared, but he discarded them. He wanted the alchemy skill. Yes, it was a pseudoscience that eventually became chemistry. Still, through the system, he could do some wacky things with it, like turning water into an agios elixir to feed his cows, watering the grass through irrigation, and influencing an entire biome.

Instead, Zack dried and mixed Agios fruit balanced with demonic power with cow feed and watched the cattle grow healthier and larger. Mana radiated from their bodies constantly, and the heifers seemed to be in constant heat. His bulls were more than happy to do their jobs; he would have so many calves in a few days standard time.

100x time dilation was the best.

That was a fantasy he would have to put on the back burner. Instead, Zack worked to do something simple. He mixed agios fruit with some grass seeds and watched them turn from brown to gold. Demeter's blessing was great at mixing different plant traits together. It wasn't the alchemical leap forward he was looking for, but he still planted them among other plant seedlings.

Once he found a plant-like grass that could take on some of the beneficial features of the agios fruits, he could feed them to his cattle, who already had a diet of the fruit mixed with grain. Give it a few generations, and he could have cows with meat that naturally increased his attributes. Then, he could get a cooking skill and boost those gains even further.

A skill appeared that he hadn't expected. He selected it because it only made sense and fit into his build well.

Cultivation: Slowly but surely, they build up a resource over time until, eventually, they reach the epitome of what they can become and harvest it.

1/99

Rank: G

He was only starting his journey to become the ultimate farmer, and success didn't happen on the first day.

…

Rias pressed her breasts against Akeno's as she rubbed both of their slits with her newest accessory. She loved making her tail vibrate between them because it drove Akeno wild. She kissed her best friend and couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't been doing this the whole time. Her devil wings wrapped around the raven-haired girl as she brought them to a satisfying and resounding climax. Their juices ran down the drain as she enjoyed the afterglow and held Akeno close to her. Her poor half-fallen friend needed love, and the best way to show her affection was with cuddling, mind-blowing orgasms, and relaxing conversations in their underwear.

"I can't believe eating fruit gave you a new look." Rias preened at Akeno's attention. It would be even better if she could have that strange boy Zack admiring her body as well. "The horns can be a little awkward."

"Maybe, but the old Satans had them, and I like mine," Rias said.

It was hard holding in her magic power. There was so much of it, and it made her much stronger. She felt like there wasn't much she couldn't do, and her blood sang in her veins. She wanted to fight, fuck, and cuddle after while watching anime.

Having sex with Akeno was fun, but it was basically masturbation and more for Akeno's benefit than her own. She knew it was her own tail and not a stranger's penis that she had only just met and might never meet again.

She dried herself with a quick burst of power of imagination before jumping naked onto the bed and rolling on her stomach. There was no way she was going to lay on her wings.

Koneko called, and she leaped at the phone. Her favorite Nekoshou was prompt, as usual, but she barely had time to fully enjoy her bath.

"The gaijin's scent ends at an ally. I also smell fallen," Koneko said.

"I will be there soon." She calmly placed the phone on the hook. Rias was calm. There was no way the person who helped her out of her situation had been killed by fallen the moment he was out of her sight.

Rias calmly dressed herself with the power of imagination because she had enough magic power.

"Follow me after you get dressed," Rias said.

"Wait, you need to calm down. I can see you're about to do something excessive." Akeno said.

"I'm only going to search the church for my acquaintance and then turn fallen into specks of dust. If I wasn't calm, would I be able to tell you that instead of rushing over there?" Rias asked.

"I think you're angry, and it's hot," Akeno said.

Her wings seemed to suck the light from the room as she stretched them out to their full size. She calmly opened a window, leaped out, and crossed the distance in moments. Koneko was at the scene as Rias landed utterly of sound mind and in control of her actions.

She rubbed Koneko's head, and the Nekoshou's white ears popped out, furthering Rias's enjoyment. If she were not calm, would she stop to reassure Koneko? "It seems they have overstayed their welcome in my territory. Lead me to their base." Rias commanded.

The red-headed devil flew like a comet carrying Koneko as she pointed at a dilapidated church. Her twelve wings spread wide, and the lights of the surrounding streetlamps winked out. Light pollution from the city died as the stars bore down on the town of Kuoh brighter than they had been since the lightbulb's invention. With her appearance, the temperature plummeted, and the heat died below her. Her presence began to be felt throughout the church. Rias hadn't said why to speak when her demonic power could speak for her.

"Shity devil die, you whore cunt," A mad exorcist fired his light gun, but the light bullets vanished long before they could reach Rias Gremory. Even the light within the gun vanished as it too disintegrated. If she had not been so calm, the church would have disintegrated long ago.

A light spear vanished in the hand of a male fallen in a trench coat. The fallen stared at his lost weapon as if he had been betrayed or something equally foolish. This wasn't an attack, and Rias didn't know precisely what she was doing. It was as if she outranked the powers they used and decided the light would no longer harm her.

Rias had calmly decided to allow the fallen the opportunity to give up Zack before she destroyed them. Koneko purred in her arms as the darkness swallowed them under the stars. It was such a nice night for a flight, and it was a shame the fallen had taken from her.

"What do you want, Devil?"

"You know what? I'm here. Forgive him to me or die."

She might have confused or with, but the fallen didn't have to know that. It wasn't an actual deal, so she was safe.

"As if we would give anyone to you. Come down here and let me fuck you with my sword."

"Fried, shut up. The adults are talking. We don't have anyone; you were misinformed. We're missing someone, too."

She pictured a fall, shooting through a portal, and then attacking Zack instead of understanding the gift he had given her. If he had died, then there would be hell to pay.

A portal opened just below her, and a half-dressed fallen with the flattest chest Rias had seen just to the right of Koneko stepped out. She coughed and looked around, then looked up at her. The portal remained open, and Zack emerged nearly an inch taller and far more muscular. Well, it had been three days, so was that 300 days their time. Birthdays would be trouble if she decided to push their relationship forward.

The stars behind her began to dim as the light pollution from the city returned slowly.

"Hey Rias, long time no see. What's it been three days your time?"

"Devil lover," the flat-chested Fallen flicked her hand, and a ray of light mixed with black specks tore through the exercise, leaving ash behind. Zack jumped back and stared in shock at the death of a man in front of himself. It had been surgical like a scalpel, only striking what the fallen wanted gone.

Rias chuckled lightly. "What's so funny?" Zack asked.

"She hugged Koneko to her chest, and his eyes followed Nekoshou's form." She chuckled louder.

He certainly was a man of many biases. She decided to mess with him. "Sorry, she's mine. If you want to get to any of my peerage members, I would request you marry me first. Oh, my father wouldn't allow a mere human, even reincarnated, to marry me. You would have to become a true boon to the underworld." Rias said.

Zack forced a smile. "I have learned since we last met to look before I portal girls away." That wasn't true. She could smell the sin in him, and it ran deep. "Why don't you land, and we can talk without shouting?"

A thought occurred to her, and she looked down to see an open portal where she would have landed. This human was tricky, and she liked it.

She saw a brown-haired boy fall at her feet. It was the same one that Koneko said smelled like dragons. She absent-mindedly tossed a pawn on him, and he reincarnated instantly. Then again, all her pieces seemed to have mutated recently. Sona would be so jealous when Rias told her.

"Raynare couldn't steal his sacred gear, so we got lucky. Oh, this nun is also supposed to come by. What do you want to do with her." The fallen annoyingly close to Zack said.

She could use the light while Rias restricted it, so she must have eaten from the fruit. Why was she taking it better? Oh, that's right, the time dilation. Rias reminded herself again that she would have to consider time dilation, which meant enemies could suddenly gain a hundred weeks' worth of training in the future. She could buy a box set of any anime, go to Zack's demi-plane, and watch it in a single night. With Zack, she could laze for about a century and only miss a year. She had to get her hooks into him. The thought wasn't like her, but the anime and lazing around were too tempting.

"How about I turn the nun into a devil, and she can be our go-between. There are many things you can't get your hands on in devil society." Rias said.

…

Was she offering to plant a spy in his demi-plane in exchange for opening a trade route into the underworld? That was more or less something Mittelt already gave him. She could open gateways into the underworld as quickly as any devil. Zack wasn't keen on inviting too many people into his home to eat his fruit.

Zack had spent 300 days with Mittelt and could firmly say she scared and excited him in equal measures. He was sure there was something to the agios fruit he wasn't getting. Maybe a hidden benefit was only accessible in the F grade.

"I'll think about it. I will see you around Rias. Maybe I'll take up residence here in Kuoh." Zack said in the most noncommittal tone possible. In his experience, it was never good to appear too eager. Mittelt spread her six sets of wings and flashed her three black haloes, and the other fallen to their knees."

Zack felt far too vulnerable out in the open, whether Rias and Mittelt were around him or not. Sure, he upped his magic, Life, and Body attributes, but someone could always drop a meteor on him. He was finding the world he found himself in terrifying.

A portal opened, and a magical girl of all things appeared like a random encounter in a game. "Magical girl, Levi Tan," Then she vanished in a portal.

Zack slapped his face. "Shit," This was going to bite him in the ass.

"Who was that?"

"I believe it was the Satan Leviathan," Mittelt said as Zack made a new portal. A moment later, the magical girl appeared with a mouth full of golden fruit.

Mittelt pulled out her notebook. "What are our remaining numbers?"

"We have around 900 fruits left, but she only managed to snag one."

"These are good. I'm Serafall Leviathan, the Satan of foreign relations. Nice to meet you. About this fruit." Zack portaled the seeds back to his farm. There was no need to let the devils steal his fruit and take over the world. Factions without rivals naturally became tyrannical to their people. Really, he was doing them a favor. 

"Let's put this conversation on hold until I have a sizable crop yield that is enough for a faction. Let's say a year." He smiled. "It's not like you are in a war with anyone, and if I were the heavens, I would be shitting bricks thinking about what the devils would do with an entire population of satan class demons. I know you wouldn't like it if heaven or the Gregory could suddenly field their entire army as 12-winged angels. I'm afraid I would only be willing to sell fruit evenly between your three factions."

Zack wasn't going to say no. That way, it led to death and a raid on his demi-plane. So, instead, he was going to make them all play nice together and hash out a treaty of trade limiting how much fruit each faction had from the other factions. The balance of power should theoretically remain the same. If one faction tried to bully other factions worldwide with their new power and lost some powerhouses, the others would suddenly have the upper hand. This would encourage them to use softer power instead of blowing up the world. 

He went into his demi-plane with Mittelt clueless and came out slightly less clueless and unwilling to cause total war. Fortunately, Mittelt was firmly on his side, not Gregory's.

A man with blonde hair and black highlights stepped out of the shadows. "Lord Azazel, when did you get here," Raynare asked.

"Around the time, a new member of our faction flashed twelve beautiful wings. Good job, Mittelt. Daddy loves you."

Zack's gothic Lolita, fallen with freaking black halos above her head, flipped him off.

"I'm not sure where those come from?"

"I have a theory that it's something to do with the biblical god," Rias said.

A golden-winged woman appeared in a flash of glorious light, and Zack couldn't believe it. Her twelve wings and massive bust could only belong to the archangel Gabriel herself. Eight portals appeared around her at once, something he didn't know was possible. "Oh my, I've heard you are guilty of quite the sin, but can you be gracious and let me off just once?"

Serafall's smile strained at the archangel's appearance. It was technically illegal entry into devil territory. "Not cute at all." The portals slowly vanished as Zack tried to relax his collector's instinct."

"A part of the trade will be fertilizer filled with holy power. A few hundred tons at least, oh and seeds from the fruits of life and knowledge." Zack demanded.

"Blasphemous, do you expect to grow them in your small world? What did the bad kids that liked to pretend to wish for so often? Yes, a demi-plane. How do you expect such gentle plants to grow as mere seedlings without the light of heaven bathing them." Rias would lend me a nun who would be turned into a devil. I would ask that heaven does the same and lends me an angel who will be allowed the full bounty of my garden. Do not fear them falling. God's system doesn't reach my demi-plane."

Gabriel seemed only to be bargaining with him initially, but then her eyes widened into saucers. This was all only a matter of speech with nothing written then.

"If what you say is the truth, then we have so much to discuss," Gabriel said.