20 Chapter 20

The rest of the week went by quite easily for Ace. He talked with Sona and played chess a few more times with her, in the end gaining another +5 in affection by cementing in her mind that he was her equal in intelligence by sometimes defeating and sometimes losing to her. She actually preferred that to being always on the losing side.

During those talks and games, she told Ace how she talked with her sister, Serafal being highly interested in meeting Ace and after some talks agreed for a meeting on Sunday. Ace accepted it and the meeting would be in the Kuoh academy itself, a more neutral ground as far as Ace was concerned.

Obviously, Ace was already thinking about countermeasures about how to protect himself in case things went to shit during negotiations. After all, he was meeting someone known for being volatile and that was several dozen times stronger than him, he had to be prepared.

As such he went and talked with Yoruichi on the phone and agreed to let her come in on the next two weekends to enjoy a big feast with plenty of fish dishes made just like she likes (and many drinks Ace was already preparing), all in exchange for her being there during the negotiations to help bail him out and drag him away to safety if things went to shit somehow. He also thought about it and decided to have the Ice fruit active during the meeting to ensure greater safety as, being ice, he should be able to survive better against Serafall's attacks.

This was especially needed since Yoruichi already said she would NOT fight Serafal as, if they did fight, Kuoh as a whole would be destroyed and other inconveniences would show up. Not that Yoruichi thought she would lose against Serafall, but the destruction of the town, if they were to clash, would be a better option by far.

So, until then, Ace just had to wait and do what he wanted. Some of the materials he bought from Kisuke arrived, as such Ace focused almost entirely on it. For the small jobs around town that he normally would spend considerable hours taking care of, now he had two dedicated workers to take care of them. Well, more like four considering Maria and Kurumi would go everywhere with Mio, Yuki chose to stay home for some reason and Mashiro just found out about the wonderful world of videogames, specifically of the fighting type. While Ace's job was to be Mio's bodyguard he just made sure to let her keep his homies and even made one more out of a cloud. Said cloud was then charged with plenty of electricity from his Biri Biri no Mi and he named it Raiton.

With those three plus the Master-Servant contract, it was child's play for Ace to make sure Mio was well enough since he could sense clearly if his homies were using their energy in a fight due to their connection.

This left Ace to go into inventor mode, taking out the materials Kisuke obtained for him as well as some materials he got from the system. With that Ace started using his inventor as well as chemist levels back in one of the hideouts he had set up throughout Kuoh (he wouldn't create anything in the mansion since he had no doubts regarding how the place must be watched at every time, Ace would not risk creating something and have said thing copied by Sirzechs).

He started doing whatever came to mind, messing around with what he had and trying to figure out what he could and could not do.

During this time he talked with Isane who agreed she wanted to get rid of the Boosted Gear. For Ace, this was great news since he really didn't want her to keep such an item at hand. However, he could not risk simply removing it right now considering the sacred gear remover he had was one that would likely kill her if he used it carelessly. After analyzing Isane's soul with the Soru Soru no Mi he understood why removing a sacred gear was such a troublesome work that would most likely lead someone to die.

A sacred gear would partially fuse with someone's soul, the connection between the two would be like a jigsaw puzzle and removing it would make someone's soul incomplete. To try and fix it the person's life force would be used. The problem comes from the fact that life force was not something that was that easy to use and the amount one would need to fix this would be huge to say the absolute least. As such, most any removal would lead the person to die soon after.

Ace thus came to a hypothesis. He would remove her gear but replace it with another. If he could do that quickly enough he could ensure that the damage to the soul wouldn't be that extensive and he could fix the incongruities and make the process much simpler and less painful with the help of the soul fruit.

With that in mind, he decided the best option would be one that was dragon based, this way he could ensure that the compatibility with Isane's soul would be that much higher. Ace actually thought of searching for the Hero Faction, those guys had a lot of cannon fodder with sacred gears and he could always just take one of them out and use their gear. However, he could not find any traces of them whatsoever.

His second option would be finding Saji and taking his gear, it would not be something Ace would enjoy but between the death of a stranger or the safety of his family, this was not even a competition. However, he could not find the guy whatsoever in Kuoh. Another difference between what he knew from CANON and what was his reality.

In the end, his third was the easiest, and the toughest, option was to negotiate with Azazel. Ace knew for a fact that the fallen angel had several pieces of the Vitra set and those would make for a perfect replacement for Isane as far as Ace was concerned, but convincing the fallen to give those away was a coin toss. Sure, it could be very simple if Azazel agreed to exchange those gears he likely already studied to hell and back for a Devil Fruit, but he could also not accept this trade.

Feeling slightly frustrate over this Ace redoubled his efforts in creating stuff.

"Hehehe, this is a good one." Ace said as he examined one of his creations. It looked just like a gattling gun similar to those used in world war 2. "Mixing slight amounts of Demonic and Holy metal on the bullets as well as wapometal in the barrel of the gun, hehehe." Ace said as he finished his latest gun.

He then went to the next item. It was a busted dial that made Ace frown.

"It seems like the creation of a dial with a similar effect to Impact dial but with a focus in magic energy instead of kinetic energy isn't doing well. It should not be impossible to do it though, maybe I should study more runes to see if they can show some solution to this problem." He then looked on the other side and smirked. "However, a dial able to collect and store flames was created. I have to wonder how effective it would be against fire created from magic energy, but even if it doesn't work it would still mean a useful weapon to use."

Looking at the many items he created he noted the reports on gigais and mod-souls she got from Kisuke. Of course, such research was highly interesting for Ace who began to delve into it. He wonders how he could create and modify gigais to do all sorts of jobs for him. His main objective is seeing if he could create gigais of himself and put pieces of his soul into them or gigais of others and put small fragments of their souls into said gigais. If this worked he could release those gigais to help in various matters even in studying unique energies if they were capable of being copied.

The more Ace looked into Kisuke's research in those subjects the more Ace was impressed by the man. Truly, a brilliant man by all means despite being an ass 99% of the time.

As Ace was busy with this he never forgot his plants. Thankfully this hideout had a big enough backyard so it was no issue for Ace to plant the plants he needed. With the multiple rare herbs Kisuke bought together with those from the System Ace was sure that he could create extremely unique drugs soon enough. He grinned in special to one of the herbs there, IQ. This little flower could accelerate the evolution speed of a species severalfold, in the movie Strong World the scientist there used it on animals and the end results were quite a collection of beasts. He was even able to turn ordinary creatures into machines of destruction.

If Ace could tame the beasts properly and use not regular animals but magic beasts, or possibly even hollows, then he would have a truly formidable power base.

A wide grin appeared on his face as images of what he could do with this. Ace wished to have an easy-going life where he could enjoy himself without worries, but, considering this world, even after he deals with all the disasters on it there was every chance shit would still happen and he wanted a way to ensure people would leave him alone afterward. Having a powerbase of his own strong enough to deter other factions sounded just about right for Ace.

While playing around with his inventions Ace suddenly felt something. It was the sign that something has happened to Mio if the energy fluctuations of Ace's homies is anything to go by.

Furrowing his brows Ace left what he was doing, he had more to do right now.

Jumping on his bike he put it to work, dashing through town towards where he sensed Mio was located.

///---///

Mio's P.O.V.

... I hate that jerk.

Sure, what I am doing is just what we agreed upon, but would it not be possible for him to not send me to take care of these sorts of jobs?

I mean, hell I am trying to walk at least 26 dogs all at once after having cut the lawn of a bunch of houses, my arms are killing me and the dogs are all huge ones too.

As if that was not enough, after this I have to help babysit quintuples that are still babies AND have my school homework to take care of. I can't even ask for help from Maria and Kurumi, Maria wanted to help but she didn't dare get too close to the dogs right now and Kurumi has been extra distracted since the Master-Servant contract.

... That contract, it still feels weird. It is like, I don't really know how to feel about it.

On one side, it feels terrible. Sure, the sensation when I refused the contract and the ecstasy from when Ace touched me was, by far, the greatest pleasure I ever felt. But I didn't want to do that, at least not yet when we barely even know one another properly.

That I feel tingly and weird whenever I think of doing something bad to Ace because of something he did (like the time he used all the hot water for his own bath, which pissed me off) I get some of the curse activated. Maria explained to me that when this happens and the effect is mild enough I can just tough it up and everything would be alright.

It is only when the curse activates strongly that I need Ace to take care of it. Otherwise, I can just wait for the effects to pass or try and relieve myself.

Well, to be truthful I also quite like Ace. He is fun to be around, quite easy to understand, and he did what he promised me. He brought my parents back and protected me when I needed him the most. Since I found out about all these supernatural things I feel like Ace is the one person I can actually trust.

Sure, my biological father calls me every few days and he tries to reach out, I get that, but I can't fully trust him. Not really. It is just, he sent me away to the human world when it was convenient and now he tries to compensate it, but I don't know if he would sell me out to someone else because of convenience. I don't know him enough to make an accurate judgment of him, just that.

Between his kindness that I can't fully trust yet since he puts so much emphases on the well being of his race, and Ace's honest greed that is easy to understand and clear cut, a greed and way of thinking I am sure ensures he will protect me, I take Ace to trust 100%.

But still, would it kill Ace to not send me to take care of so many dogs that look more like poop factories? I swear that he knew they were like that, his smirk when he gave me this job was a clear sign of that.

Again, he is a jerk. A trustworthy jerk, but a jerk nonetheless.

"Mio-sama, when we get to the babysitting job, how about if I prepare a good meal for you?" Maria said with a smile to Mio. "I can even try and help you with your homework."

"Oh, so you are good with your studies. But, aren't you too young to know much about highschool level math?" I questioned.

"Don't worry, Mio-sama. While my looks and powers take after my mother I will have you know that I did get some of my dad's intelligence too. Anything below overly specialized subjects are super easy for me." Maria said with a proud smile and I can't help but speak up.

"Oh, this is interesting. I don't remember you ever saying anything about your parents, what kind of person are they like?"

"Well, my father is a super busy devil that loves his job, he spends most of his time studying and creating all sorts of things, we don't really spend much time together but he is someone I am very proud of." Maria said and I nodded.

"And your mother?"

At this Maria stopped talking and looked slightly torn about what to say. Maybe I stepped on a landmine without knowing, better to apology and-

"My mother, she is a succubus like me. The Succubus race is a unique race, if the child produced is a male it would be of the same race as the father and only inherit some of a succubus natural charm, while, if the child is a female, then the resulting offspring will certainly be a succubus and as they age they would get as much of the unique attributes the father had until the point where the child was conceived. This is how my race grows stronger, with each subsequent generation we search for the greatest possible mate and create the best possible offspring. It is a matter of pride for a succubus to produce the greatest child possible for each future generation.

"But, my mother was not like that. She is a kind woman and someone I am proud of, I know her well and can say that she is the best mother I could ever ask for, she always told me to not be like the other succubus out there who only look for mates and instead should look for someone I can actually love." Maria said and I look at her surprised but nodded.

While I don't really understand the depth of what she spoke off, I still understand that Maria really likes her mother.

"That sounds like a great mother. And what of you, Kurumi?" I ask and Kurumi just shrugged.

"My mother died when I was 6 and sis was 8, I don't remember much of her and I can't really remember much of my father either, just that he left me and sis for some reason. I grew with my sis in the Underworld in an orphanage for unique children made by lady Serafal." Kurumi said, making the mood that much more depressing than it was moments prior.

"Well, Ace said he would be making a great feast Sunday so what if we have Maria's parents and Kurumi's friends come?" I ask, trying to cheer them up.

Looking at their faces, it didn't work.

Kurumi's teeth look like she gritted them strong enough to crack some of them and Maria's smile look so forced that it is hard to even call it a smile.

Please, please, let literally anything else happen to break this bad mood.

"Oho, so you are the girl I heard about. Nice, nice indeed. You will be a worthy prize for Riser's collection."

Oh, look at that, literally anything else.

Looking at the source of the voice the man standing before me was, well, how to say this, he looks like a pimp. Seriously, one look at him and I can only think of him as a pimp I can see in those old movies.

He is a tall and somewhat handsome young man in his early 20's with short blond hair and dark blue eyes, his eyes with a haughty and supremely smug look that makes me want to slap the stupid right out of him.

His outfit consists of a burgundy blazer with gold embroidery on the right with matching pants and black dress shoes. He looks ridiculous in that thing, it looks like it was intended to look regal, but the end result is somewhat ridiculous.

"And you are?" I ask as both Maria and Kurumi move to ahead of me. The two protecting me as they stand protective.

"Me? Foolish girl, clear your ears, and watch carefully as you are in the presence of the great Riser Phenex, third son of the noble and ancient house Phenex and future head of house Gremory. I came here to give you the privilege of becoming my Bishop, rejoice in this honor."

Wah, he is annoying. We barely met and I already think he is annoying. What? Does he think what he just said about house phony or whatever should mean so much? And me becoming his peerage member, why would I do such a thing?

"And you, why you two stand in front of my path? Do you two want to burn?" Riser asked while looking at both Kurumi and Maria.

"We were ordered to protect Mio-sama, as your visit was not one which was informed to us beforehand we are to consider you an enemy and deal with you as such if you try to harm Mio-sama in any way." Kurumi said.

"So please go back and don't interfere with us more." Maria said with a sweet smile even as her hands clenched into fists.

"Humph, be gone of my sight. I came here to bring a new girl to my peerage, not to speak with the daughter of a whore and an abomination." Riser said while looking at the two in disdain.

As his words finished sounding, as if on instinct, Kurumi struck with a blast of super concentrated water at Riser, splitting him in two. However, as if that attack meant nothing, he just stitched himself back together easily enough. His face filling with rage at the sudden attack as Kurumi quickly moved her hand, releasing a barrier of magic to keep all humans away from the place so as to not let anyone know of what was happening.

Riser blasted her with a torrent of fire but Maria stood on the path, tanking the hit without seeming to feel anything from it.

Maria dashed even while the fire was blasting at her, coming close and personal to Riser and punching at him.

Riser didn't avoid, thinking it unnecessary, but soon regretted his actions as bile escaped his mouth as the attack connected. Since very young Maria trained her body and due to her unique inheritances from the multiple generations of her family, she had a natural ability to use senjutsu. It was not to the degree of making spells out of it, but she mastered using senjutsu in a rather unique way easily enough. She used the manipulation of life energy as if it was an armor around her body. Using it was similar but not as strong as regular touki, but it allowed her to create greater damage when hitting organic enemies as it would affect the life force of those that she hit so shields or incorporeal bodies become useless.

As Riser was pushed back he snarled and opened his wings, taking flight and trying to burn both Kurumi and Maria to a crisp, but Kurumi's magic was more refined than his, being able to command the wind around her to redirect the flames away from herself. Kurumi had a rather unique power, able to communicate with the 'soul' of the world around her and command it to a degree. For her, controlling the ambient around her was quite simple.

I talked with both Kurumi and Maria about what they could do and they told me this, it was humbling to know that people this strong are protecting me. I myself was also trying my best. My father had a total of four seals in me and when I completed the Master-Servant contract my first seal broke. I also have a lot of energy, but I am still not experienced with using it at all. Fighting is hard, how Maria and Kurumi could be so confident was beyond me.

"Damn inferior beings, learn your place!" Riser said in fury as 14 magic circles appeared behind him. His entire peerage came out to protect their king and they all looked like overly sexualized bad cosplayers.

Without him needing to say anything Riser's peerage sprang into action. Four went after Maria and another three went after Kurumi, I wanted to support them as there are too many for them to face, except that 5 are coming my ways while the remaining few that are dressed as slutty maids are fawning over Riser.

Seeing the ones coming to me I saw a girl moving first, she was dressed with a haori and a bo staff. She tried to hit me but I created a ball of power of destruction in front of me and threw it at her. However, the ball was too slow and she easily avoided it.

The girl smirked and got close, ready to strike. I was about to form a magic shield when-

"Hey, don't disturb my sleep." Hakai said as the little bat homie that looked like a hairpin flew out and blasted her with the power of destruction.

Not only it, but the other two homies that I had on me also came out too.

Nehan looked like a cute sun but it quickly expanded and laughed as it started raining down fire everywhere indiscriminately.

"Burn, burn, burn! Father gave me the job of protecting this girl, those in my path, BURN! Hahahahaha!"

... Nehan is lucky that it is cute when it is not going ballistic.

As I see those cosplayer girls screaming from the bluish flames I have to wonder, what did my life turn into?

///---///

AN:

A bit of a shorter chapter, I decided to end it here so next chapter I could focus more on the fighting scenes and showcase more of individual powers for each character. I hope this also showed a bit more of the backstory for each of the girls.

Next chapter may take a while as I will be working on other stories for a bit, mostly first Sword Magic Knight and, if I can get the right inspiration, Tech Prince of Britania and/or Chains of Heaven.

Also, I have been thinking regarding a possible arc for after these next few chapters are done. It would be an arc for before Kokabiel and the subsequent Soul Society arc.

Oh, and one last thing. I have been thinking on a way to integrate his system more after these last few chapters that I didn't really focus on it. My thought would be the creation of a bounty for Ace depending on his notoriety on the world (how widely known he is and how much his actions influence the world at large). Depending on his bounty he would be able to establish a 'crew', the higher the bounty the more people he could include in it and he could build a ship and use it as a fast travel system for places he previously went or (if the ship is strong enough) even other worlds.

What you guys think? Oh, and for those wondering, those in his crew can travel with him on the ship AND they can also use skill books like Ace that he obtains from the system. A position basically influences the level of a skill. If you have a position then skill books related to that would give twice the levels. If you have a position that doesn't determine your fighting style like cook or Doctor then you gain normal levels for any skill book of combat while gaining twice the skill levels for the non-fighting related skills. And if your position determinate your fighting style then you gain half the levels for other styles or production class.

To make it easier to understand think of the strawhats. Usop (as the sniper) would gain twice the skill levels for skill books related to sniping or shooting, but only half the skill level for things like swordsmanship and normal skill level for cooking. As for, say, Choper (as the doctor) would gain twice the skill level for skill books like nursing, doctor, and chemist, but only half the skill level for something like cooking and normal skill level for swordsmanship or sniping.

The exception for the rule is the first, second, and possibly third mates as they would gain a 50%, 40%, 30% increase to skill levels respectively for all skill books regardless of what they are.

What you guys think of this idea and what positions as well as who should fill those positions?

Right now I have these positions:

Captain - Ace

First Mate - ?

Second Mate - ?

Helmsman - ?

Navigator - ?

Cook - ?

Doctor - ?

Builder - ?

Scientists - ?

Nurse - ?

Sniper - ?

Quartermaster - ?

Musician - ?