3 Devils work
In an abandoned building, at the outskirts of Kuoh town, there was a high schooler holding two oversized revolvers in each hand, shooting at countless floating targets.
The targets were not only floating but also moving around at high speed, that's why the high schooler couldn't hit all of them.
"Damn, that's hard"
That high schooler is me, Nagumo Hajime.
It's been two weeks since I became a devil and started training to get stronger, I've been coming here every morning after that.
I'm not very good at magic and spending all my time training physically wasn't really efficient, so following alter's steps I went for weapons.
The pistols I'm holding are called Donner and Schlag lite, they don't have even ten percent of the originals full power, but it's enough for now.
[It's kinda painful watching you make so many unnecessary movements]
And here I thought I was getting good
"You know, I think guns aren't really my thing"
Like I get it's the most effective for me and they are pretty cool, but...
["Again with this? It worked for me, what do you not like]
"Just because you were dual gun-wielding Edgelord doesn't mean I have to be one as well"
Calling alter Edgelord irritated him
[Hou, then what kind of Edgelord do you want to be]
No, I don't want to be one at all, but since he asked...
"Glad you asked! Just wait a minute"
I searched my bag and took out a notebook
"Behold! This is what I've been working on this whole time!"
I opened the book and showed the contents
[... Armour?]
Thre was a fantasy-like armour covering the whole body, I drew this myself and am pretty proud of it
"It's called ASG_001, just a sketch, for now, but with time I'm sure I can make this"
From then I explained the functions, things like high defence, improved magical power manipulation, energy conversion, shockwave attacks and a massive energy tank, also...
"Just hear me out, stacking 'limit break' on top of each other"
The last statement got the most reaction out of him.
'Limit break' is a powerful thing, I've studied the supernatural side of the world ever since I discovered its existence, the biggest value other races found in humans are the sacred gears, which I don't have, 'Limit break' is very similar to 'twice critical', but it's better, instead of doubling it triples the parameters, I can't use 'Limit break' myself yet, because I haven't really broken my limits, but there's a way around it...
[By having multiple 'last Zell' active at the same time it could potentially work]
the 'Last Zell' is an artefact made by alter, it triple users parameters
"Yes, and all the strain will be placed on the armour itself, even if it's about to break we can just transmute it back to being whole as long as it doesn't shatter in an instant"
I flipped through other pages and showed alter other variations like ASG_001_E1 or E2, battle mode and augmentations.
Alter looked in silence, I don't think there was anything unfamiliar to him here, from what he told me alter himself made things even stronger and cooler than this
[What does the acronym stand for]
He asked without looking up
"Glad you asked, the idea was to make something that is on par with a real sacred gear, that's why I called it Artificial Sacred Gear, those things are basically the only reason someone from three factions would want a human in their ranks"
He looked up
[Your ideas are solid, the arsenal is big and suited for most situations, clearly, you've given this a lot of thoughts, but I know that's not all, tell me why did you decide to make something like this specifically, armour I mean]
Why? he asks, there're many ways I can answer, but I want to be absolutely honest
"Because that's a man's romance"
Sacred Gears are something so precious, so sought after and desired, somehow I got the power to mass-produce equipment that is on par or greater than them, isn't that exciting? knowing that I can trivialize the costumes that defined the world up until now.
I myself never thought I'd be this thrilled about mass-producing weapons of destruction.
Meanwhile, alter hunched over and
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]
Laughed like crazy, it continued for several minutes, when he was done alter had a rather refreshed expression.
['Man's romance' is it? I like your thinking, good, very good, you have Demon King's approval, we'll make this and many more things!]
Well, he's enthusiastic, that for sure.
We discussed some more about our future project, but it was eventually time for me to go to school.
"Might as well try out prototype 'Last Zell'"
I already made one, it may be hard to believe, but it's made of diamond with a red tint in its centre, how in the world did I, a more or less normal student, got my hands on a moderate-sized chunk of a diamond? I made it myself, with creation magic, that I learned from alter, I can basically make anything from scratch.
Alter had a very successful jewellery business thanks to this.
"Enough lingering on an unnecessary thing, time to go to school!"
I activated the 'Last Zell' and the feeling of power coursed through my body.
My speed right now is equal or greater than a knight piece
.
.
.
On the way, I haven't seen anything interesting, except the duo of the perverted trio crying and lamenting something, while screaming something about 'traitor' or whatnot.
Weird guys.
Immediately after arriving at the classroom, I deactivated the 'Last Zell', the strain caught up to me almost instantly and I slammed my head on the desktop without any resistance.
"You are more tired than usual Nagumo"
Being addressed, I looked for the source
"You should really cut down on gaming and sleep some more"
"Good morning too, Sonobe-san"
Sonobe Yuuka is my classmate with a shoulder-length chestnut-coloured hair, in my first year here I somehow saved her from falling down the stairs and ever since then we've something like friends
"Morning"
She said simply.
There isn't much interaction between us to call it good friendship, but it is what it is
'What is it alter'
For some reason alter always gets quiet when I'm around her
[Nothing, it's just, the bigger the world gets the smaller it seems]
Alter is also a pretty strange guy.
Today is actually kinda important day, I'll be hunting stray without the whole club going, not alone though.
If you don't count that time I got killed, I've only encountered a stray two times, both the times all the members of the club were present.
The first time was just a demonstration, I just looked from sidelines, the second I used transmutation to restrain stray and Kiba dealt the finishing blow.
Today I'll be alone with only one member, a sort of test of strength, to see how good I've become, it's something I look forward to
To skip the time I'll just sleep until classes are over.
.
.
.
'This is kinda awkward'
The school is over and I'm already on hunt, my partner is... Koneko.
She is a girl of small stature with white hair and hazel eyes, she is widely regarded as the school mascot.
What is awkward, you ask? this unbearable silence is.
I'm not much of a peoples person, I can hold a conversation fine, I just never bother to initiate, but even I'll feel uncomfortable in this situation.
Koneko herself doesn't seem to be bothered with this, but truth to be told I can't tell what she's thinking at all in her stoicism
[A deadpan loli, huh. Reminds me of Yue a bit]
'Yes! that's the term'
By the way, this Yue person is alter's first wife, yea he has more than one of them.
"So... who's our target this time?"
I tried to start a conversation
"Small fry"
Yea, big success there.
I can't really break the ice between us, so I'll just stop trying for now
We arrived at our destination, which turned out to be another abandoned building, for some reason, there are a lot of those around here, but we don't question it.
Before we went inside I used the 'presence erase' skill
"?!"
And Koneko looked at me in surprise, that's the most emotion I've ever seen on her face
"Is something on my face?"
She stared at me in silence
"Not bad"
She said and continued on
Oh! a compliment from Koneko
[Not good enough if she noticed you]
I'll ignore alter for now
Koneko already has her boxing gloves on so I brought out Donner and Schlag lite, weaker than original or not they are still damn powerful.
Inside was quiet when we got there, but soon some sounds could be heard.
Stray devils showed themselves, there were three of them, all of them taller than two meters, but they felt kinda... underwhelming.
Like, compared to others they are on the smaller side of the spectrum, they aren't even capable of coherent speech.
"Promotion: queen"
Now Promotion is an interesting gimmick evil piece system has, but you know what's more interesting? that there is no reason in hell anyone would use it to promote to anything other than the queen.
All the pieces have some special quality and queen embodies them all, which is total bullshit, queens can't do that, considering devils obsession with chess you'd think they would know that.
I'm going off-topic now.
Koneko already charged the first one and proceeded to pummel it.
'Can't fall behind'
I say that, but it doesn't really matter nor is it possible, because...
*Dopan *Dopan
at the same time as Koneko started to move, I already had my enemies in aim, simply pulling the trigger drilled the hole in their heads.
"?!"
Ohh! I got the reaction out of Koneko two time in a single hour, I should be getting an achievement for this.
I smiled wryly
"This is enough, right?"
She stared at me for a bit more
"Let's go"
She nodded and she went back to normal
"Are you going home? or to the club first?"
I tried to strike up a conversation again
"Home"
The success rate is same... oh well.
"I left my bag at school, so I'll have to go there first"
I left them in the club room to be specific, any other time I would take it with me to not make my way any longer, but teleportation is a thing so I don't really care
"Bye"
"See you on Monday"
We both teleported with different destinations.
When the light died down I was in the club room, magic is really convenient
"Oh, you're done already?"
President was the only person in the room, looking at some documents.
"Yes, they were really weak this time"
I took my bag and prepared to leave, but I stopped.
"Something wrong?"
President asked
"No, everything's fine, I just wanted to ask about the new recruit"
There will be a new member joining the club in the near future when though, I don't know
"Yes, you'll get a fellow pawn this Saturday"
'Oh, so soon'
President thought a bit
"You can come if you want"
'What do you suggest alter'
[I don't give a shit]
Oh well
"Sure, I'll come"
I could also not go, surprisingly, but I can also go, unsurprisingly
And, well... why the hell not.
Besides, I'm interested in what kind of kohai I'll get
