The Primary Quest
Power always comes at a price.
And immediate power comes with an even higher price.
'*This will cost your body a lot.*'
The voice said, but Issei was determined to protect Asia and keep the promise he made to Kento.
'I accept!'
Issei replied, determined to buy the time Kento asked for.
'*Then brace yourself cub! For you are going to witness a glimpse of the Welsh Dragon's powers!*' The voice resounded in his ears. '*Awaken! Red Dragon Emperor of the new generation!*'
And at that instant, a red light blinded everyone in the stadium.
…
…
<<An amazing feat!>>
<<Host managed to influence the awakening of the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation!>>
<<Rewards Obtained: Points ×350, [Platinum Scarf (A+)]>>
<<Platinum Scarf (A+): The Platinum Scarf is a scarf with platinum dragon scales woven into the fabric. The scales can be pulled from the scarf up to three times per day and commanded to evoke certain effects. Each scale can heal or become either a shield or light hammer for a warrior to wield temporarily.
The scales grow back with each dawn.>>
Kento did not know what that burst of energy that he felt was, but he knew that it was a little similar to when Issei used his gauntlet.
Just this one was much stronger than any of the other times that Issei had used his gear.
'I don't know what you did, Issei.' Kento was quite pleased. 'But I will say thank you for the gift.'
Kento believed that the boy was capable of handling the opponents if he received such a powerup. And with Rias and her peerage, Kento knew he could focus on Riser.
And that's what he did.
As he entered the academy building, he knew that Riser was not going to show himself that easily.
{Replicate}
That's why Kento decided to take on the active part and search for the Phenex.
In the past, he did not use the {Replicate} skill as the amount of information transmitted by his clones and the coordination required to keep them all running was something that was not easily mastered.
Which was one of the reasons that he did not use it against the Tengu.
But now things were different.
He had the skills.
Quickly making the clones go through the different directions to look for Riser, he walked straight.
It took him a little while, but he soon felt the presence of the devil.
It was the clone that took the west direction that sent him the information.
Kento did not waste any moment and immediately rushed to the source.
'Finally found you!'
…
…
"Even if you tell me that you did not know of this, I would not believe you." Ajuka said, frowning as he stared at the game. "The pawn your sister reincarnated is not a holder of a normal Sacred Gear, but a Longinus."
But Sirzechs indeed did not know about it.
"I wish you were correct, Ajuka." The crimson devil bit his lips. "If I knew… This matter could have been solved far more easily."
"He just awakened." Ajuka noted. "And while most of the previous Red Dragon Emperors have been able to show even greater power output, the boy before us has nothing special other than the gear."
"His output is ridiculously high for his stature." Sirzechs summarized. "He made a deal."
"A bargain with a Longinus is not cheap." Ajuka was well aware. "The aftermath will not be pretty for him."
Both the Satans had met and even fought with some of the previous Red Dragon Emperors, and they knew what the Longinus took for power ups.
``Boost! Boost! Boost!``
They saw the boy manically smashing through the defense formation of the Riser peerage.
His strength was amplified multiple folds which was visible as the boy easily destroyed the low ranking enemy devils.
"It still isn't enough to defeat the Phenex." Ajuka was well aware of the capability of a Phenex.
"That's why it will depend on that boy." Sirzechs said, looking at Kento. "And he does seem to have quite a lot of hidden abilities."
"Cloning." Ajuka said, impressed as he saw Kento rushing towards Riser's location. "And he is quick witted. From using a mist based attack that sadly went to waste, to using clones to reduce the time of scouting. He is good at this."
"But will it be enough to face the immortality of a Phenex?" Sirzechs muttered. "I wonder."
…
…
Kento bursted through the doors, looking for Riser. And as he broke through the 5th door, he heard the familiar voice.
"Riser applauds you." He saw the blonde haired Phenex smiling proudly. "You managed to find my place."
{Inspect}
{Name: Riser Phenex
Age: 23
Class: High Class Devil
Skills: Demonic Power (A), Immortality (S), Fire Manipulation (B+), Wind Manipulation (C-), Enhanced Physique (C), Expert Combatant (B+), Flight (B+)
Special Trait: Being from the Phenex clan, Riser possesses the ability to regenerate from any injury –almost making him immortal– however his regeneration ability is directly proportional to his demonic power. If his power is exhausted he cannot regenerate.
And his regeneration can be negated by holy magic or abilities.}
{Size Scouter: Riser Phenex: Size 6.3"}
Kento closed his eyes and tried to block his ears at the passive that he received from Aika –something he did not want.
'There has to be a way to stop this bullshit.'
Riser seemed confused at Kento's expression, however he paid not attention to it and continued with his dialogue.
"Riser admits that you have the capability, maybe even more so than the brown haired worm that awakened his power."
Kento could feel the annoyance in his voice, which made him wonder what Issei just awakened.
"But you are the one that reached Riser's room!" The devil grinned. "And you shall witness what Riser is capable of!"
"Brother." The two noticed the girl that stood at the corner of the room. "The initial plan failed because of the pawn's awakening, we cannot mess this up." She warned, but Riser paid her no heed.
{Inspect}
{Name: Ravel Phenex
Age: 16
Class: Middle Class Devil
Skills: Demonic Power (B), Immortality (S), Fire Manipulation (C), Wind Manipulation (C), Advance Combat Arts (B), Cloth Manipulation (A), Genius Intellect (A), Flight (B+), Master Tactician (A)
Special Trait: Being from the Phenex clan, Ravel possesses the ability to regenerate from any injury –almost making her immortal– however her regeneration ability is directly proportional to her demonic power. If her power is exhausted she cannot regenerate.
And her regeneration can be negated by holy magic or abilities.}
'I'll have to deal with her as well.' Kento was aware that she was the real deal as the tactician was an annoying skill to deal with.
"Do not worry." He grinned. "A worm can never hurt a Phenex!"
Saying this, Riser immediately summoned a scorching flame.
"Do you know what phoenixes are known for in stories?" The devil grinned. "Fire!"
<<Opponent has racial advantage over host!>>
<<Herculean Strength Activated!>>
<<Hermes' Celerity Activated!>>
<<Atlas' Will Activated!>>
<<Athena's Insight Activated!>>
<<Coeus' Perspicacity Activated!>>
The flame in his hand shot straight at Kento, who knew he had to stop it one way or the other.
{Water Manipulation}
Using the water, he created a type of spinning shield, that caused the flame to extinguish and create vapor as it hit the water.
"Controlling water?" Riser seemed curious. "An elementalist."
"Infuse your demonic power in the flames, brother." Ravel suggested. "The Phenex blood is strong enough to go against water."
"Riser knows." Riser said, seemingly annoyed. "The worm can never defeat Riser!"
Saying this, the devil did not waste any time and immediately used the wind to lunge him towards Kento. Summoning flames on his fists, Riser threw an extremely strong punch towards Kento.
Kento blocked the strike, aware that the flame would hurt.
'He is strong.'
It was different, the Tengu that he fought was better than Riser but not in raw physical or magical terms, the Youkai had speed. While Riser had physical strength with demonic power.
'He should not be able to exert that much strength with such a skinny body.'
But then again, a devil's constitution was much superior to that of a human.
"What happened?" Riser laughed. "Cannot keep up with Riser?"
Kento could go against him if he spammed his skills, but he had learnt that it was not the optimal solution.
Just skills spamming was not a good strategy. To minimize the energy consumption, there was a better way.
<Points: 1390>
He had been saving up a lot of points. And he knew that it was these moments when he should use them.
To display his capabilities to others and to make fights efficient.
'System ignore charisma for now and put three hundred points in strength, agility and vitality, a hundred fifty in intelligence and divide hundred points in other stats.'
<STR: 400>
<AGI: 430>
<VIT: 420>
<INT: 250>
<<Points cannot be allocated in wisdom. Applying points in other stat.>>
<PER: 200>
<Points: 240>
'Still cannot impelement in wisdom…'
He felt a bit disappointed. 'Put another hundred eighty in intelligence and rest in agility.'
<INT: 430>
<AGI: 480>
With this, he made a massive improvement in his stats.
With the passive boosts, his agility was at 720 while facing Riser and his strength at 600.
This was more than enough to improve the position he was in and reacting to Riser was much easier.
Riser was not specialized in speed and this gave a massive advantage to Kento.
{Horo-Kanu}
"*Gahh!*"
Kento took the full advantage of his improved speed, allowing him to land a clean hit on Riser's ribs.
But Riser also had tricks up his sleeves and made a shot towards Kento with his wind powers.
Kento had no choice but to jump back a little as the closer he was to Riser, the easier it was for the devil to hit him.
"You can never defeat Riser." The devil grinned.
Kento knew that the longer he drew the match, the more difficult it would be for Rias and the crew to handle.
{Samael's Dagger}
The dagger was one of his trusted weapons and since he was used to it, he was able to swoop in quick and launch an attack at Riser.
Riser believed that the boy would use the dagger at him, so he tried moving his body away from Kento's dagger holding hand.
However.
The dagger play was a sham.
Kento never intended to stab Riser, instead it was a well directed {Horo-Kanu} strike to his back.
And Riser jumped right into it.
"*Aghhhhh*"
The hit disrupted the Phenex's posture, allowing Kento to follow up with his dagger.
And this time it hit –putting the devil into the decreased speed debuff from the dagger.
Riser gritted his teeth as blood trickled from his shoulders.
"You… Filth!"
This was the first time Kento saw the Phenex using his bloodline skill.
'Immortality…'
Kento felt awed by how easily the Phenex was able to heal his wound and get rid of the poison from the dagger.
<<Debuff removed from enemy because of his {Immortality} ability.>>
Kento realized that it was impractical to try to defeat the devil with just tricks as whatever he did, the devil would recover from using his immortality.
"Brother!" Ravel yelled. "Let me also be a part of this!"
Riser did not like when she went against his decision, his pride made him such.
But he knew that if the opponent was defeated by his younger sister while he provided her guidance –he would be considered a genius strategist.
"You know what?" He chuckled. "Why should Riser even bother? Riser's little sister is enough to face you."
This was not what Ravel wanted. She instead wanted to team up with Riser and face Kento –not do it alone.
However, when her older brother took a decision, it was difficult to change it.
"Show him what us Phenexes are capable of, Ravel."
'This won't do.' Kento sighed. 'I have to be a bit serious.'
Kento did not worry that his opponent was a younger girl. He didn't care if she got hurt.
'A younger enemy is still an enemy.'
With that thought, he decided not to waste more time and go all out.
{Replicate}
He created five clones each holding the dagger. And while only the original dagger was capable of inflicting the status debuffs, the fake ones still worked like normal blades, capable of injuring the enemy.
He swooped in, shocking Ravel as he continued slashing towards her with all his clones.
Ravel possessed the same bloodline ability as Riser and was far smarter than him.
However… She lacked the physical capabilities that Riser possessed.
So, she got grazed by the dagger multiple times –forcing her to use the bloodline skill.
Kento was aware that the bloodline skill could be used till they ran out of demonic power. And he wanted to see how long they could go on with their demonic power.
'A lot apparently.'
Kento kept slashing and the girl kept healing.
"What are you doing Ravel!" Riser roared. "Don't make Riser look like a fool by struggling against that pest."
However, unlike Riser –she was much smarter and she figured what Kento was doing.
So as Kento gnashed a big piece of flesh from her –instead of using her bloodline skill, she used something else, surprising Kento.
She took out a small glass bottle and splashed it over her wounds –which started to heal immediately.
"Those tricks won't work against a Phenex." Ravel explained. "We have more than one way to recover from injuries. Phoenix tears–" She pointed at the glass bottle. "–being one of them."
Kento widened his eyes. 'I have those as well… They are from the Phenexes?'
"Our family is known for their ability to recover from anything." Ravel smiled. "We cannot be killed."
Ravel was prideful, just like every other devil. However the current pride that she was displaying was nothing more than a show.
She wanted Kento to believe that no matter what he did, he would never be able to win.
She wanted to break his spirit.
However –the plan was ruined by the dumber Phenex.
"Oi!" Riser roared. "Why are you wasting those precious Phoenix Tears? We do not have many of those!"
The strategy that she built to lower Kento's confidence, fell apart immediately as her brother opened his mouth.
She cursed him in her mind, something that she could never do openly.
However, Kento felt a smile crawling up his face. "I see what you were trying to do."
Saying this, he looked at Riser. "Riser. Why don't we change the conditions a little?"
Riser got curious. "What do you mean?"
"I know that you won't be satisfied with just me resigning." Kento grinned. "How about instead of winning by resigning, we change the condition to winning by making the other party faint?"
Riser thought about it. He knew that making the opponent surrender would give him victory. But he also knew that beating the opponent till they lose consciousness would make him satisfied.
Riser showed a wide grin. "Riser agrees. But before that, you need to get through Riser's sister first."
"Oh that I will." Saying that, Kento finally decided to use his ace. "But make a promise that you won't back up from this decision."
Ravel wanted to stop Riser, realizing that something was wrong… But it was already too late.
Riser frowned. "Riser never goes back on his word! But Riser swears on his name that we will fight till one of us loses consciousness."
This was enough for Kento to finally go all out.
[Tessaiga]
Kento did not bring out the sword from the start as he needed Riser to agree to his condition. To complete his quest, he needed Riser to not go down in one hit.
As he summoned the sword, the devils in the room felt a chill down their spine.
"That sword again…" Riser hissed from the back.
He knew that the sword was problematic for him but he did not know why it was so. He felt something similar to holy magic from it but it was definitely not holy magic.
"T-That–" Ravel instinctively walked back a little.
But Kento wanted to finish the quest as early as possible and as such, he decided to make his move.
"Sorry about this." He said. "This might hurt."
Saying this, he didn't waste a second and slashed at her.
Ravel tried her best to dodge the strike, but the passive of the sword ignored all her futile efforts.
{Negate}
Kento's speed was enough to outspeed Ravel's dodge and Tessaiga's negate ability made sure that whatever defensive mechanism she used would be futile.
As she jumped back in the hopes to dodge it, the sword grazed her from the shoulder to the stomach.
"*Ahhhhh!*"
With a normal sword it would have just been a little cut that she could have easily healed from.
However, with the four times damage from the sword –she felt the pain through out her body, allowing Kento to immobilize her with a strike to her neck.
"Ravel!" Riser roared.
{Horo-Kanu}
The chop to the neck using his martial arts did the trick and prevented Ravel from being able to fight further.
The girl fell on the ground, unable to move.
<<Opponent Defeated!>>
<<Plunder Activated!>>
<<Plundered Opponent's Essence!>>
<<Skill Plundered!>>
<<Wind Manipulation (C): Allows the host to create and manipulate wind as his will.
Manipulation scales with grade of the skill.>>
<<Opponent's plundered skill reduced by one grade.>>
"RAVEL!" Riser yelled, seeing his sister falling to the ground.
"Ughh!"
Ravel did not faint, but the two continuous strikes made it impossible for her to continue.
And with Riser's promise, there was no reason for Kento to hold back anymore.
Riser was furious to see his sister on the ground. "How dare you hurt Ravel!"
Kento shook his head, remembering that it was Riser who sent her to fight him.
"Why don't you avenge her then?" Kento smirked, trying to bring out his full anger.
Riser was fuming and as such he used his fire manipulation to burn the surroundings –showing Kento that he was much stronger than his sister.
But Kento did not care.
He let Riser get as angry as possible. This made sure that Riser would not think properly before launching attacks –giving an even bigger advantage to him.
'How easy it is to trick him.' Smiling at the situation, Kento pointed his sword at Riser.
The devil in his fury ignored the scene that he witnessed. He did not care if the sword could hurt him. All he cared about was burning Kento to ashes.
And that was why he charged towards the swordsman without a second thought.
This was what Kento wanted.
{Master Swordsmanship}
{Negate}
Kento's sword moved as swiftly as the wind, going through Riser's flames, ignoring his defenses and landing a clean strike on his chest.
{Master Swordsmanship} allowed him to control the force of the swing, making sure that the devil did not die from it.
{Water Manipulation}
{Horo-Kanu}
Creating a puddle of water to make the devil lose his stance and taking the opportunity to land a clean hit on his chest –Kento brought the devil to the ground.
"*Gahhh!*"
The hit to the chest made the devil cough.
Kento saw him trying to use his bloodline ability to heal himself, but it did not work.
Horrified at the realization, he immediately brought out a vial of phoenix tears and poured it over his wound.
And it did nothing.
"H-How!" The devil trembled, barely getting up on his feet.
Kento rushed at him again, using wind manipulation to speed him up instead of light.
He knew it was too risky to try light manipulation again with so many eyes on him.
{Replicate}
Riser was helpless in this situation.
{Horo-Kanu}
No matter what he tried, nothing worked.
Trying to save himself, he used his leftover strength to summon a massive flame.
But Kento had the perfect counter for it.
{Blue Flare}
As the flame shot towards Kento, the blue flare ability swallowed it up, making the blue fire bigger and brighter.
{Wind Manipulation}
Fanning the flames, he was able to surround Riser in the blue flames.
"Ahhh!"
He did not possess fire manipulation and because of that he could not control the shape of {Blue Flare} as he desired.
But in the current match, he did not have to.
{Horo-Kanu}
The clones attacked Riser through the flames, each landing a clean hit on the devil.
And to make it worse, Kento used one of his exclusive skills.
{Kama's Path}
The skill was versatile and this allowed him to amplify the pain Riser felt. Making him experience suffering like he never felt before.
"P-Please… Make it stop!" Riser cried in pain. "Riser surrenders!"
And this was what Kento wanted to hear for so long.
<<Opponent Defeated!>>
<<Plunder activated!>>
<<Plundered Opponent's Essence>>
<<Skill Plundered!>>
<<Enhanced Physique (C): Gives the host the physical capabilities beyond the realms of a human.
Boosts every physical stat by 15% when facing any opponent.>>
<<Opponent's plundered skill reduced by one grade.>>
However, Kento was not done.
{Kama's Path}
He kept amplifying Riser's pain receptors and with each slash from Tessaiga, the devil experienced horrifying pain.
"Please…" Riser begged. "S-Stop!"
Riser begged but he did not stop.
"Ri-Riser surrenders!"
<<Opponent Defeated!>>
<<Plunder Activated!>>
<<Plunder failed!>>
Kento knew that he was walking on thin ice. Torturing a noble was dangerous and he wanted to complete the quest as soon as possible –before the Phenex lord rushed in.
"I beg you!" Riser cried. "I accept d-defeat."
<<Opponent Defeated!>>
<<Plunder activated!>>
<<Plundered Opponent's Essence>>
<<Skill Plundered!>>
<<Flight (B+)>>
<<Host already possesses {Flight}>>
<<Using opponent's plundered skill to strengthen host's skill.>>
<<Flight (A) -> Flight (A+)>>
<<Opponent's plundered skill reduced by one grade.>>
"Make–Make it stop!"
The Pain was too much for Riser as he started to foam from his mouth.
"I-I lose… L-Lose…"
As the pain went on, Riser changed from addressing himself in third person to first person.
But just as Riser fainted from the pain, it happened.
<<Opponent Defeated!>>
<<Plunder activated!>>
<<Plundered Opponent's Essence>>
<<Skill Plundered!>>
<<Immortality (S)>>
<<Due to the host's lack of {Demonic Power}, {Immortality} skill modified to suit host.}
<<Immortality (S): Prevents the host from dying as long as the host is able to keep himself conscious.>>
<<Opponent's plundered skill reduced by one grade.>>
<<Primary Quest Completed!>>
<<Quest: Show the fiery Phenex what you are capable of!
Show Riser true fear!>>
<<Rewards Obtained: Points ×1000, Aegis (S)>>
<<Hidden Condition Fulfilled!>>
<<Hidden Condition: Make Riser talk in first person!>>
<<Bonus Reward Obtained: Elemental Intangibility (SS)>>
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[[A/N: Read ahead on Pat reon: Pat reon.com/Greedyfrog
Elemental Intangibility... Imagine Smoker from One Piece.]]