15 Chapter 15

After all the events and showing off his two homies for everyone they all went back to their respective houses. Every person that was present had some thoughts about what had just occurred but Ace was more worried about what would happen in a few hours.

"Reincarnate, huh." Ace said. He was in the bathtub of his current house, his mind wandering as he thought about what he would be attempting soon.

Now that his energy high from fighting had passed and he could have time to actually think about what he will be doing soon he began to really think about what he was about to do.

Bringing the dead back to life, that is something Ace knows can be done. Heck, he was pretty sure many devils do just that regarding their peerages. He also knows how in the DxD he knows off many characters die and are brought back to life.

However, this time it was not the same.

Ace was not seeing someone else doing it, he would not be seeing such actions done by a God or on fiction. HE would be the one to do it.

He would take control over the life and death of another being to a greater extent than he ever truly thought he would.

This thought, this thought truly terrified Ace now that he thought about it.

"Is it even right that I can do such a thing?" he questioned himself. He was the only one in the bath now, so he just let out his emotions as he thought about this. "What if I fail, would something happen to their souls? Do I even have any right to do such a thing?"

"If you can do it, what is the problem?" Came the voice of Nehan that was in the bath with him. Obviously the little sun was not inside the water but the little guy refused to get far from Ace so he was the only one listening to Ace right now.

Ace chuckled, Nehan seems to have copied some of Ace's own sense of doing whatever he wants.

"You know, Nehan. Despite being cute you are also not cute at all."

Nehan just showed Ace his tongue like if it was an immature child and then just floated about.

Shaking his head Ace thought about what Nehan said. He COULD do it. He really could do what he said to Mio he could. If it was right or not for him to do it he could not say but he could do it regardless.

Stretching his hand Ace looked at it, it looked human enough. It was no different from any other hand, but it was ultimately not fully human.

He might be human, but he was also currently a phoenix, living fire, and a soul manipulator. He could change himself over and over again, if he wanted he could be an animal, ice, poison, or even a Buddha. He could become basically anything, he didn't even know all possible transformations he could get from his system.

"Can I even be called human anymore?" Ace asked. "A human shouldn't be able to reincarnate others, so seeing as I can does it mean I am not really human?"

"I think you aren't really human." Someone said beside him and this time Ace actually jumped in fright as he didn't sense the person at all.

The person there was small, a cute thin black tail with the tip in the form of a heart could be seen coming out of her lower back and her white hair was down. Despite her small size, there was an undeniable air of sexuality about her, her smooth skin looking supple and her small breasts looking like two small hills with pink cherries on top.

Looking at Ace as he stood up and looked her over the girl gave out a perverted giggle.

"I see that you are quite big and looks happy to see me, good to know."

Seeing the girl doing that Ace sighed and sat back on the bath.

"What you want, Maria?" He asks the loli succubus who looks surprised.

"Wow, I expected you to act bashful or at least avoid looking at me in this compromising position." She said and Ace scoffed.

"You were the one that decided to enter the bathroom when you obviously knew I was taking my bath. There are even other bathrooms in this place and you still entered this one and did it so silently that I didn't even notice." Ace said. "You clearly wanted me to look, so why should I avoid doing it? Besides, the view is not all that bad."

///---///

[You gained +5 affection points with heroine Maria Kurono]

///---///

"I see, so please go ahead and look as much as you want." Maria said proudly while making a pose.

"I will, but I guess you will look better in a few years." Ace said, making Maria's forehead show a tick mark.

"Oh, is this a challenge I hear? I will have you know that, as a succubus, I won't take you insulting my sexiness laying down... unless it is to show my little sexy ass." Maria said and Ace rolled his eyes.

Here he was, thinking about himself and wondering if what he would be doing was fine or not, and this girl just came barging in and was doing whatever she wants.

"So? Why did you come in here anyway? If it is just to look at me naked then you have done that, so please leave." Ace said.

"... Ace-san, you are quite a unique being." Maria said seriously, earning Ace's attention. "From what I see you're body changes what it is composed off from time to time and your actions remind me more of a devil than a human. You are clearly colored by sin, especially greed, so much so that if I couldn't tell you lack demonic energy I would say you are a devil. And despite being so unlike humans you still claim to be human, this is kinda weird. You even resisted my charm with relative ease, that is something no normal human can do."

Ace closed his eyes absorbing what Maria said. Ignoring the part that she had used charm against him (which, as far as Ace knows, could be something natural for succubus) the rest of what she said still made sense, even if he didn't want to admit to that. Race in this world was just weird.

Maria, noticing the turmoil inside Ace continued.

"Think of it this way, everyone can only do what they can. If you can help Mio-sama, and you already said you would, then you should do it. Don't overly mind human morality, that is overblown anyway."

"You are saying that because your race lacks any sense of morality." Ace counters and Maria glares.

"I will have you know that my race has a perfectly good sense of morals. Like, when a boy and a girl are on a bath together this can only mean one thing." As she said that last sentence she began to give out a perverted giggle and tried to jump at Ace who caught her by the head and threw her away.

Maria, hitting the wall, only moved her face away from the surprisingly intact wall and complained.

"Why did you do that?"

"... Force of habit. I had to grow up beside a pervert who had no sense of what was and wasn't okay to do and I had to stop him from doing stupid perverted things, by force mostly, so many times that doing this is already reflex." Ace admitted. Issei entered his troublesome period when he was 10 and it peaked at 11, it was still at the peak until now and for years Ace was the only 'leash' that Issei had.

Maria pouted.

"Could you not compare me with him? It doesn't feel like a compliment at all." She said.

"Oh, I thought calling you a pervert would be a compliment for you." Ace said.

"Sure it is, a great one at that, but your cousin is a fake pervert. He has plenty of lust but I don't see any desire to actually do anything besides groping breasts on obsession with one aspect of sexuality only makes him a fake pervert in my eyes, he would be a huge failure in my race's society. He is far too innocent to my tastes, by comparison, your lust seem better. More natural and with plenty room to grow, my bet being that if you were a devil you would be a Greed Lust devil." Maria said with a perverted chuckle under her calculating eyes, eyes that seemed to be trying to dissect Ace completely and possibly eat him up.

"Well, fair enough." Ace said. He would gladly admit that, while he wasn't someone who would go around trying to stick his dick in every hole he finds, he would also not be a prude about it. If some girl wanted it and he wanted it too, then there really wasn't an issue (even if he would prefer for the girl to actually like him and he like her back if it wasn't to be just a one-night stand). He was just a man, no more and no less.

Maria shrugged.

"Anyway, I have something else of importance to talk to you about."

Ace nodded and got up from the bath. He has already finished his bath by now and didn't feel like staying on the bath would let him relax any more than what he already did. Moving to the towel to dry himself he decided to not mind Maria starring, she had already seen everything either way so he didn't care anymore.

While going to it Maria sneaked behind him and gave his ass a grope.

"Hehe, just as I imagined. Firm and supple, hehe."

Ace looking at her, raised an eyebrow.

"Couldn't resist doing something perverted, then?"

"Why should I? I am a proud succubus and if I were to resist this then my cousin Kurumu would mock me." Maria readily admits before going for her own clothes to put them on.

As she went Ace decided to play her back for what she did, delivering a slap of his own in her ass.

Maria, feeling the slap, jumped a bit and turned to him, a bright smile on her face as she spoke.

"So you WANT a piece of this then?" She said and Ace shrugged.

"Maybe if we get closer, I don't do one night stands with someone I work with." Ace said and Maria nodded her head, understanding him a bit better. One night stands and work didn't really work well together, after all.

Putting on his clothes Ace indicated for Maria to follow him. After she hastily put on her clothes the two going to the living room and sitting down there.

"So, what you want to talk to me about?"

"From now on, you will fight by my side to protect Mio-sama. You are Mio-sama's guard, so to speak. But with the current situation, you might not always be able to come to Mio's aid if we end up separated for some reason." Maria said

"Well, yeah…" Ace said. "That is why I requested if there was a way to be able to know Mio's location at all times."

"It is possible, to track down a special target regardless of what realm or distance. The best way to be able to do that is with a 'Master and Servant Contract Magic', a unique magic that links your souls." Maria said and Ace stood still for a bit before nodding.

"Can you explain to me exactly what it entails?"

"Sure." Maria said with a smile. "This is a very special magic ritual. This magic allows the participants to always know the location of one another as long as they desire, not only that it also can grant an increased boost for one's energy as it is uniting the master and servant's soul and making their energies increase exponentially the more the master trust the servant and the servant dedicates himself to the master. It was used in the past by many great devils before the Evil Piece system became the standard, but it is not so much anymore."

"Why isn't it used as much anymore?" Ace asked in doubt.

"Simple, because of the Evil Piece system itself. The system not only lets one change the race of the servant it also grants part of the benefits of the Master-Servant contract instantly. The contract has six stages, the higher the stage the more the connection between both sides must be, and to reach higher levels is incredibly hard. Very few devils ever managed to reach the fifth stage and even fewer reached the last level where the master and servant are absolutely connected. Every stage gives one a degree of boost, the Evil Piece system grants those partial boosts instantly for the first five stages. The first stage is equivalent of the boost from a Pawn, the second to fourth is equivalent to that of the boost from the Bishop, Knight, and Rook pieces with the order depending on what would complement the servant more and the effects might be a repeat of the same boost more than once, and the fifth stage is equivalent of the boost from the Queen piece. The sixth stage, however, is said to be strong enough to make even those who were originally Low Class become at least on the lower ranks of Satan Class, if not more. Some even say that the seventy two pillars were born from the seventy two devils that made such a contract with Solomon and reached the sixth stage with them all, him being the only being with charisma high enough to do such a thing as create such a large following of servants of the sixth stage, the bond of the sixth stage is so great that many just call it Master-Servant Vow as the master is vowing to forever respect and care for the servant while the servant vows to forever do all he can for the sake of the master.

"The Evil Piece system genius is that it is a way to shorten the work to reach those stages, but it comes with the issue that it makes one unable to become a Master in such a contract after that." Maria explained making Ace nod. "It is the price paid to be able to be a King of a peerage, that you will only mark those pieces as your servants and no one more."

This was more or less similar to what he expected.

"How many of such contracts can be made by one person? Is it something only devils can do or other races can as well? Are there ways to dictate terms for the contract before both sides agree?" Ace questioned.

"Well, to answer in order. There is no real upper limit of how many contracts one can make but the more contracts the harder it is to make the servant happy and loyal due to jealously and the time that can be properly invested into it. Any race can do it but it is necessary demonic power to activate the magic, we would use my magic as succubus natural magic is amongst the less natural lethal, and whenever the contract is breached the effects of the magic energy used are put in effect on the one that activated it. It would be honestly better if the effects only make the servant horny instead of, say, have his soul destroyed if it was Mio-sama using her inherent power of destruction. And for your final question, it is entirely okay to dictate terms of the contract before the Master-Servant contract is set in stone, and yes that includes the time limit before the participants can decide if they should extend the contract or not."

Ace nodded, understanding what is being said.

The most important is the time limit, which means that even if the devils prepared some trap he can always simply choose not to extend the time.

"I see. So who else will be entering this contract with Mio now?" Ace questioned.

"That would be you, Kurumi, and Yuki." Maria said and Ace nodded.

He honestly didn't interact much with Kurumi until now, she being mostly indifferent regarding him until this point and being completely professional, so he didn't mind that she would be in this contract as well, she seemed like someone who would just follow orders. But Yuki, her Ace was honestly not sure.

Yuki was hard to read for Ace, he had absolutely no idea what she was thinking most of the time and she was almost downright impossible to understand.

"Why you and Lars won't join too?" Ace questioned.

"Well, my case is a bit unique and complicated but Lars is because he already is the Peerage member of somebody else. While a king can become a servant in a Master-Servant contract peerage members can't, not directly anyway. If a King becomes a servant then the king's Peerage members also instantly become servants, kind of like how it works in human society a few centuries ago with the vassals of a king having their own vassals." Maria explained and Ace nodded in understanding.

Seeing that he understood what she said Ace said.

"Very well, when are we to do this exactly?" Ace questioned.

"I believe that by the time you return from Karakura I will have prepared the ritual so it would be possible then." Maria said before asking. "Hey, want me to prepare another ritual circle for you and Zest? She is clearly devoted to you so it should be quite easy for you two to increase your power and bond this way." Maria suggested and Ace stopped to think about it for a few moments before shaking his head.

"I would rather not. For now, at least, I would say no." Ace said and Maria looked confused but nodded.

What Ace didn't realize was that Zest was hearing everything that was discussed and had a pained expression when she heard that Ace would not be doing such a contract with her. She wondered if this was because she was a defective product, a worthless item, but as she began to think like this she moved her hand to the single coin Ace bought her with and clenched her hands around it. In her mind, she concentrated on how she wasn't worthless, and if she wanted Ace to create such a contract with her then she would have to put the effort to make it happen.

With resolution she moved, Ace would be leaving the house soon to help Mio, and when he returns she would make sure that his room was perfect and that he has a perfect dinner for him to enjoy.

///---///

"So, you have arrived." Urahara said, his fan in his hand as he looked at the four teens in front of him.

"Yeah, so you have the gigais or not?" Ace asked and Urahara nodded.

"Of course. I may be a simple shopkeeper but I am also a great genius. Taking care of something of this degree was easy for me." Urahara said. "I would however advise you to be quick, the spirits won't take long before they become hollows."

"Very well, also get me three glasses to let people see spiritual beings." Ace said but Yuki spoke up.

"Get only one, I and my sister don't need those."

Ace looked at her in surprise but she just ignored him. He remembered he never really asked her or her sister what race they actually are and what the can or can't do. Something he intended to fix as soon as possible.

"Bring the spirits and you can install them here. That should be enough." Urahara said, in his head, he could not help but wonder how Ace intended to do such a thing. What method he would use, this question was one that he was highly interested in.

Ace turned to the others.

"Yuki, Kurumi, stay here and guard Mio. I will go bring her parent's souls here to start what needs to be done."

The two nodded, nervous as they could clearly sense that Urahara was strong. Overwhelmingly so.

Seeing how tense they are Ace spoke.

"Don't be so worried, he won't do anything bad to you. He is mostly harmless, except for his prices." Ace said.

"HEY! I will have you know my prices are perfectly fair if the item is illegal." Urahara said making the girls still be pretty tense as that clearly meant he also deals with illegal items.

Ace just looked at the cat lazying about on the window and spoke.

"Yoruichi-san, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, and next time I come here, I will make you a great lunch." Ace said and the cat's ears stood up.

"Leave it to me, I will not let him do anything whatsoever." Yoruichi said with a mock salute.

Urahara, seeing this, looked downcast.

"Yoruichi-san, he said to not let me do only things that are stupid."

"I stand by what I said." Yoruichi said, making Urahara even more depressed as he noted how he had no respect around here.

Ace left the place, traveling instead to the place where Mio's parents died. The house was already fixed by now but the souls of Mio's parents were still perfectly stable there.

On their chests one could find their soul chains, they were not too big but there was still some of it left.

"Hello, you two are Mio's parents, correct?" Ace questioned and the two ghosts looked surprised he could even see, much less talk with them.

"We are, and who are you?" The father asked. He had short red hair and green eyes, his features were completely unremarkable but at the same time he gave off a feeling of someone you could trust.

"I am Ace, I am Mio's bodyguard and am the one who saved her after what happened to you two." Ace said and the two smiled broadly hearing this, their eyes glistening with tears wanting to fall as they looked at Ace.

"Is, is our Mio doing okay? How is she?" The mother questioned and Ace had to admit, he could see how people could believe Mio came out of her. She was not anywhere near as beautiful as Mio was but she still was impressive nonetheless with her soft features, reddish-pink eyes, and the fact she really did have some resemblance of the looks Mio had.

"She is doing fine, she is waiting for you two to meet her." Ace said and the two look surprised.

"But, but we have perished for a while now. Shouldn't it be impossible to do such a thing then?"

"Not really, I have my ways. I am not sure if it will be a full-on resurrection or if it will be only temporary, but you two would at least be able to meet Mio one more time. She needs you two."

The two look at each other and smile.

"No, no she doesn't." The husband said.

"Our Mio, we have raised her since she was very young so we know her best. She is extremely stubborn and sometimes you have to force her if you want her to listen, she can also be very naive sometimes and gets flustered far too easily, but we also know that she is capable. Me and my husband, we are weak. We couldn't protect her when she needed us the most, but she can grow. She can be amongst the strongest beings in the world if she wants and trains, having us around would just tie her down." The mother said.

Ace frowned and was about to speak when the mother raised her dainty hand and spoke.

"Please don't misunderstand. We would want to meet with her, and to be given another shot at life sounds incredible, but we won't stay with her." The mother said and Ace, after thinking for a bit, nodded.

"Very well. That sounds fair. Follow me then." Ace said as he used his soul fruit to be able to let the souls move about and follow him.

Soon they were back in Urahara's shop and the shopkeeper guided Ace to the back. Mio looked worried over if this would work or not but Ace gave her a reassuring smile and a nod that made her flush.

On the back of the store, two gigais that looked exactly like the souls following Ace were present. Ace looked at them up and down to make sure they were right before using his soul fruit.

Kisuke, by his side, widened his eyes as he sensed what Ace was doing, or to be more exact the power he was using. The amount of control he was having over soul particles and souls themselves is out of the charts, he has never even seen something quite like it. Quickly he activated several monitors to detect every possible way in which the energy was used and how it worked, the scientist in him being in glee at the data he could collect out of this.

As for Ace, his work was methodical. He still had little experience with the usage of the Soul Soul fruit so he was careful with what he was doing. What he was doing was not something simple at all, if he didn't have learned earlier how to create a homie out of his own soul and that of another he might not have been able to complete this process.

It took Ace at least half an hour before the process was complete, making the soul of the dead fully integrate and unite with the gigai without there being any corrosion over the soul in the future due to incongruities between soul and body not being easy at all. At the end of it, Ace had a whole new level of understanding of how to use the soul fruit and he was confident he could use it even better in the future.

As for Urahara he just smiled in an almost maniacal fashion as he looked at all the information he had collected. While waiting for Mio's parents to wake up Urahara spoke to Ace.

"Ace-kun, you have such an interesting power in your hands. Would you be willing to help me in some experiments later on?"

"I won't mind, but only sometimes and you must pay me with something worth my while." Ace said, leaving his words vague and wondering what Kisuke would pay him with. Kisuke, on his part, smiled and nodded. In his mind he already had some possibilities of ways to pay Ace with, wondering if Shinigami or data on Quincy techniques could work.

Soon, however, Mio's parents began to stir and Ace went to call Mio over.

When she saw her parents again the redhead burst into tears as she threw herself at them, no care about appearances, and just wanting to feel their embrace again.

As she hugged them Ace received a notification that he just got +25 affection points with Mio, Ace just smiled seeing her reaction and knowing that she was glad.

Morality or whatever, what can it weight when compared to the smile he could see on the face of a girl that was trying her best. With a nod to himself he decided.

'... I will give her a discount.'

What? He would still demand payment over a work done, nothing is free after all.

///---///

AN:

So, a lot of things happened in this chapter. We get some glimpses of Ace's insecurities regarding his actions, but it is not a long thing and he quickly is pushed away from such thoughts by the loli succubus who has no sense of shame. I will have some fun using her in the future, I am sure of it.

Mio's parents are now alive and well, but they won't be a huge presence in the story. They know they would not be a positive influence on Mio considering that now she is aware of the supernatural and the supernatural is starting to become aware of her.

Another point is Zest, Ace is keeping her at arm's length due to how she still has too much of a mentality of being a mere tool. Ace will try and make her break out of this mentality and would not enforce the contract on Zest at all, he would only do to her what she herself asks, what she herself wants out of her own free will, and openly speaks about.

Also, I am here to put forth a serious matter.

No, I am not going to be entering a hiatus or anything of the sort. No worries, I still have plenty of fuel for this fic.

What I wanted to say, actually, relates to something a bit different.

It is to do with Ace's system.

Plainly speaking, I am not satisfied with it.

The main thing is, as many people pointed out, the dating sim aspect is just bad overall and while it can help in some parts it is also forced in others. I have been in contact with some friends that help me with writing this fic and thought of using another type of system for this.

Yes, it would be a system, but more like the one that we can find in one of 'The Dark Wolf Shiro's fics where one only measures the affection up to 100 and there are NO silly questions. It would be easier to implement overall and still be interesting, especially since the ones controlling the system Ace is using and that makes many things happen would not let the story be boring.

Another aspect is regarding Ace's stats.

I have been thinking a lot about this and came to realize how certain aspects of stats are just not realistic. Instead, there is one type of stats that is more realistic and would also be quite interesting, the type used in Terror Infinity.

There one can't find stats like strength, speed, or whatnot. Instead, the stats are more realistic and the stats are as such in this system:

Intelligence - Memory and calculation ability (needed to be able to increase the ability to actually use magic and understand things, basically how fast and precisely one can think and calculate things)

Mental Capacity - Extra Sensory Perception (qualifies energy levels for Haki, Spiritual energy, and Mana)

Cell Vitality - Recovery rate.

Reaction Speed - See and react to objects moving at high speed.

Muscle Density - Strength and toughness (correlates to strength, speed, and how tough is your body)

Charisma - (how easily one can attract others to your side, your presence and appearance)

The media for a human in all these stats are around 100.

There would be no levels, instead Ace gains points he can put in his stats whenever he defeats someone in a challenge OR when killing his enemies (defeating in a challenge gives considerably less and the more you beat someone on the same challenge the less you gain from beating that person in a challenge).

What I did for the story up to this point wouldn't really change much, I would only really change these aspects and some dialogues. There is, however, one thing I am considering, that being if I should even keep Issei as a dude or change it into a girl that is bisexual with a preference for girls but it a pervert for Ace (this would be an option that would ensure a bigger harem as Issei's harem would all go to Ace, and yes there would be plenty more lemons and whatnot if this happens).

Also, I have noticed some people seem to have some misunderstanding regarding Ace so I will put this forward again.

Ace would NEVER become a slave, thus becoming a peerage member for some devil can not and would not happen. EVER. Heck, if he was forced into becoming a peerage member he would most definitely kill his master and become a stray. However, if there was a way for him to NOT become a peerage member of somebody else and be offered to become a devil then he might at least think about it. His problem isn't with becoming a devil or anything, his problem is with becoming a slave. He values his own freedom too much for that.

And one last thing, I don't know if you guys missed it but I already stated that Ace DOES have an awesome sword. Muramasa, this is an OC sword that I made to be one of the 12 great grade swords (there are only 4 confirmed until now so there are 8 open spots). This sword is ABOVE Shusui and the other swords from Zoro, it just didn't seem that special because, as I stated in a previous chapter, it only begins to truly be strong when one reaches level 50 of 100 on swordsmanship. If one reaches 100 out of 100 then this blade could make that masterpiece from Oetsu look like a dull knife in comparison.

Anyway, I will decide on how things will play out and do remember that even if this becomes a mass harem the harem itself would happen slowly, step by step and I would try and make each girl unique in some way or form.

Thanks for reading, and up next is the Master-Servant contract being made.