Chapter 16

–Coriana–

She woke up feeling the good kind of sore. Sex with Michael was something else alright, his endless stamina guaranteeing she would be falling asleep from both exhaustion and pleasure. The only downside was that she rarely woke up with him next to her.

Opening her eyes without his warmth by her side hurt a lot more than she expected, which was quite surprising to her. This wasn't what she envisioned when she hooked up with him. At least, she didn't think it would happen this fast. She believed it would be a more casual thing, one that could potentially evolve into something greater, but her emotions didn't care about her thoughts and plans.

It was only when she saw Michael with a hole in his chest that she realized how much she cared about him, how much he meant to her. She thought she lost him, one of the few good things in life, and she felt… heartbroken at the thought of never seeing him again.

That was when she realized he wasn't a fling or anything like that. Michael was someone she wanted to spend a long time with, and that's why she didn't hesitate to offer him a place to live when she was given the chance.

Cori stretched out, releasing a pleasant groan as her joints popped. A soft smile appeared on her face as she noticed that Michael had cleaned her up with a spell. He had even taken care of the sheets as well.

Yeah, her emotions didn't care the slightest about her plans. But she couldn't be blamed for that! The sex was great, he was fun to be around, and they even got to do enjoyable things together. She didn't think she would find joy in creating a game of all things, but he proved her wrong.

Cori snorted and shook her head as she finally got out of bed and went downstairs. There was no reason to put any clothes on since Michael was the only one here, and he quite enjoyed seeing her naked. With a little proud smirk, she reached the living room, seeing him sitting on the couch with his laptop in front of him.

"Morning." He looked at her, offering her a little smile that made her all giddy on the inside. "I made you breakfast and some coffee."

"Morning," she greeted him back as her eyes scanned the hashbrowns–her favorite meal for breakfast–on the table.

It was those little things that made her heart skip a beat. He was considerate like that, making sure she was taken care of and had everything that she needed. Now if only he woke up next to her more often…

Perhaps she could do something about that? The biggest issue was that Michael lasted longer than she did. The obvious solution was to find a way to extend her stamina, something which she was already doing with their daily training.

The problem was that Michael was improving way faster than her. That boggled her mind, but as he liked to say from time to time, he was just built different.

The next solution was to increase the number of people in the bed by adding another one or two with them. Cori didn't really mind that since she was attracted to both men and women and Michael was also bound to draw and attract more people in the future. He was already really strong, and he was going to get even more powerful.

Now that was one of the most attractive traits in the supernatural world. Everyone could have a beautiful appearance as there were countless ways to make yourself look good, but being powerful was something entirely else. And those that stood at the top naturally attracted the gazes of those below them.

Michael was bound to reach that level at some point. His growth was just that absurd. Not to mention all the advantages he had going for himself, ones they also got to enjoy: his ridiculous food that promoted growth, his crazy inventions that helped their training, and whatever else he came up with in the future.

Really, the obvious solution to her problem was to just add another person. She was sure plenty would be interested in that once his name was more known in the supernatural world. However, that scared her. She feared that Michael would forget and abandon her, replacing her with someone better.

Cori knew best that there was nothing special about her. She was beautiful, sure, but so was any other woman in the supernatural world. She was strong and could easily be considered at least High-Class in strength, but there were so many others stronger than her.

For Satan's sake, she hadn't even inherited her family's trait. The Devils from her House of Andrealphus were supposed to be able to make ice constructs that were almost no different from living beings. She, on the other hand, could only make ice armaments at best, ones that didn't have any life in them.

That's one of the reasons her father pretty much gave up on her and his dream of restoring their House. He even blamed her mother for this, saying that Cori had inherited a faulty trait because of her mother being a human. Big words coming from a bastard who couldn't even do that much!

Shaking her head, Cori decided to distract herself by enjoying her breakfast. Soothing energy filled her being with each bite, making her feel just a little better. She then took her coffee and looked at Michael, who was staring at the laptop with a focused expression.

Nodding to herself, she made her decision and moved closer. She crawled behind him, carefully holding her cup and ensuring she didn't spill it on her couch. Once in position, she draped herself over him, her head resting on his shoulder, enjoying his body's warmth and pleasant scent.

"What are you doing?" Cori asked curiously.

She knew that Michael was working on quite a few things, both for himself and their entire peerage. Another thing that made him so endearing to her. Sairaorg's peerage was her family, and she loved how well he meshed with them, getting along with the rest as if he was really one of them.

"I think…" Michael paushed, eyes still focused on the screen, though he leaned back against her, enjoying her warmth just as much as she enjoyed his. "I think I'm finally done."

"Hmm?" Cori blinked and looked at the screen. Letters and numbers were flashing through the screen. She couldn't make heads or tails of what they meant, but they disappeared moments later, all of it replaced with a blue box.

"Michael Wilder. Designation: Creator."

"Ah, yes, that will be me," he replied to the box, making her blink her eyes in confusion.

"Query: Purpose?" Another message formed on the screen, and she realized he was actually communicating with it.

"A partner, someone that will grow alongside me and assist me with the tasks that are too time-consuming for me." Michael answered while she was trying to comprehend all of this.

Nothing happened after that, both of them staring at the screen with different thoughts going through their heads. Moments later, a new message appeared on the screen, one that Michael apparently found funny, judging by how his eyes widened and cheeks bulged as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"Self designation: set to Helel Wilder."

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–Michael–

The fact that my newly created AI immediately adopted me caught me by surprise. However, his name took the cake, Helel Wilder. He was newly born, and yet he was already so mischievous and causing me trouble!

At least, I knew that he saw me as a brother, though was his name an indication that he would betray me in the future? I guess it wouldn't hurt to prepare for such a scenario, huh?

"What's so funny?" Cori asked, her warm breath tickling my ear.

"This…" I paused, wondering why she didn't make the connection. Unless this wasn't common knowledge? I mean, I fed all the information about the supernatural I obtained from this world, but I also included everything I knew from my old life.

"Helel is the Angelic name of the being known as Lucifer Morningstar," my… little brother? Yeah, let's go with that. My little brother was the one who provided the answer.

I felt how her body froze as she took that in. She relaxed a moment later. "I think I see why…"

A gasp escaped her mouth due to what happened next. A small boy appeared on the screen, one whose appearance was based on me, judging by his facial structure and his blue eyes. However, he also had shoulder length blonde hair that resembled Cori's.

Did I assume wrongly that he thought of me as a brother? Because this… Well, I was in no way ready for a kid, but raising an AI should be easier, right?

Wait! This meant that I had to seriously prepare for the future. I made sure that I had control over him, but he could find a way to break that, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

"So, Helel, how is your processing power?" I asked, distracting myself from that thought process, heh.

"Ten percent is being used to analyze all available data. The rest is currently idle," a childish voice replied from my laptop speakers. His emotionless expression and tone was a bit uncanny, but I was sure I would get used to it.

"I am awaiting your orders."

"I think I have quite a few things you can use those idle ones on," I said and saw his expression change for a split second, his eyes shining with a glint of excitement.

That was within my expectations. Helel wasn't a simple AI. After all, I had used what I learned from all those tomes about Mind Magic, to give him a massive head start. Seeing this, I was almost certain that he already had sentience.

Hopefully, that won't come to bite me in the ass. Worse case scenario, I could nuke his servers, though I was sure that won't be enough to eliminate him completely. However, that would, essentially, neuter him as he would lose most of his processing power.

In my defense, using what I learned from the tomes about Mind Magic massively sped up his creation. Sure, I could've probably created one that was emotionless and entirely subservient to me, but it would've taken me months to get there.

Regardless, there was no point in thinking about that now. What was done was already done. I just had to make sure I was prepared for anything.

"How about we get dressed and visit my workshop?" I turned to Cori who was staring to the side. She seemed confused and a bit lost, her emotions… in turmoil.

Cori snapped out of it, her eyes focusing on me as a wide smile appeared on her face. She moved lightning fast, softly kissing my cheek before she jumped up. "I'll be done in a moment!"

I was pretty much already dressed, only needing to throw on a shirt and put on my shoes. I picked up the laptop and gave Helel a chance to look around through its camera while we waited for Cori.

She returned shortly after and offered me a brilliant smile as she walked over with a skip in her step. Taking my hand, she intertwined her fingers with mine–how lewd–and we left her home, making our way to my workshop.

It took us a short walk to get there since Saiborg's peerage all lived near their training ground, which was situated right next to his own home. It was a fairly big mansion, though I heard it was actually small in comparison to the houses of the other Devil nobles.

Once we reached my workshop, I made a beeline for the two large pods. Those were built a while ago, but I couldn't really make use of them until now. Well, I technically could, but they were practically useless without Helel.

Cori curiously watched from the side as I connected the pods to the laptop, though I noticed that her gaze was more focused on the screen. Helel seemed to share her interest, staring at her just as much. However, I couldn't be sure with him since he perceived the world differently compared to her.

"Alright," I said as I stood up. "How is the connection, Helel?"

"Stable," he instantly replied. "There are no errors on both ends."

"Good." I nodded and walked over to one of the pods. "I will be with you in a moment then."

I stepped inside the pod and made myself comfortable. It was large enough for me to have some wiggle room inside as it was built to accommodate even someone as big as Gandoma. I felt the machine come to life, the scanners checking every single detail of my body. Once done, I pulled down the helmet, placing it on my head. I was lulled into a pseudo-sleep state before my consciousness was whisked away.

Technically, I didn't need to be put to sleep. However, it was kind of a necessity for someone like me as I might unconsciously move my body and utterly destroy the pods with my strength. 

I appeared in a blank white space. Nodding to myself as this was within my expectations, I started moving around, checking to see how well my movements were being emulated. It wasn't exactly perfect at the start, but the issues were being solved in real time, courtesy of Helel.

This was one of the reasons why I created him, after all. Sure, I could've potentially made a program that could do all of that, but he was the better option, in my opinion. Especially because he could do it so much better as he could adapt to any situation in real time.

"Detected numerous deviations from the standard human biology." Helel appeared in front of me, a small frown on his face.

Next to him were two images, one displaying the standard for a human my age, and the second was mine, filled with red from top to bottom, showing exactly how different I was from a regular human. In fact, I could barely be considered a human at this point, judging by the red in my image.

"Yeah, that's due to one of my abilities that allows me to evolve by acquiring beneficial predator traits by hunting," I offered a simple explanation without going too in depth about it.

"That is inefficient," Helel replied without hesitation. "Have you considered optimizing the way you edit your genetic code?"

"I have." I nodded. "But this isn't something I have control over. And I might be wrong here, but I think the change first happens in my soul and only then manifests in my body."

"I do not have enough data on the soul to make a conclusion," he replied with a small frown.

"Me too," I said with a sigh. "Though one thing I'm certain is that the soul holds the entirety of a being's code." I explained it in a way he would instantly understand.

I was sure of this theory because of my memories from my past life. Biologically speaking, this body had no reason to have those memories. So then where was all of this information stored if not in my body? Well, there was only one answer to that, my soul.

"We need to gather more data about the soul," he stated.

"I agree, and that's one of the next tasks I will prioritize," I replied with a nod.

Helel nodded back, copying my actions before asking. "What are my current orders?"

"Orders a bit too much. How about we call them requests?" I said as I started moving around. "And the first one will be for you to make a perfect replica of myself."

"Insufficient data," Helel's response was instantaneous.

"Let's change that," I told him as I focused.

Since he was already connected to the pods, he knew exactly what they were capable of so the information transfer was completed in seconds. As he processed it, all of my movements became smoother as he processed all of that. Not to mention that I could now use my Ki techniques in this virtual space.

An identical copy of myself appeared in front of me, and he started copying my movements with an eerily emotionless expression. Soon enough, we moved and performed the same techniques in perfect sync.

"We can move on to sparing, but before that." I focused again and proceeded to send Helel all kinds of data about Manga, Anime, Movies, and Games from my past life. I winced a little due to how much information I just transferred to him, feeling a small headache coming my way.

"What is the purpose of this information?" He questioned moments later.

I explained how I wanted him to create a website and publish all the Manga about Fate, including the visual novels. Though I did mention that those should probably require an account and the confirmation that the user was over eighteen.

"Understood. This will increase the interest for your game." He quickly came to the right conclusion.

"While you are at it, you can also publish the rest of the completed Mangas," I continued.

I could've asked Cori to draw them for me, but she had little interest in that. Not to mention that it would take her a long time to complete them all. Helel, on the other hand, could probably publish them all in a day.

"Why? What purpose do they serve?" He seemed perplexed by my request.

"This will bring more traffic to the website and increase the chance of people getting interested in my game."

"Understood."

"Also because I'm unhappy with the majority of shounen Manga here," I added after that.

"Is this all? I won't even need half of my processing power to accomplish this." He seemed eager for more, and I knew exactly what to ask of him.

"You can also start working on a virtual reality game based on League of Legends in the background."

"Understood. I have assigned a majority of my processing power to the task of creating it."

"Great." I nodded with a smile and watched as he copied my action, smiling back at me.

"Now let's see if I can get some practice by sparring with myself."

After all, one of the main reasons for the pods was to give us a way to spar with each other in a safe environment where we could go all out. Fighting yourself was a great way to improve and realize what you were lacking, though I had to admit that it was aggravating.

My simulation was lagging behind at first, but it adapted scarily quickly, managing to match me blow for blow. From there on, our spar turned into a stalemate with no clear victor in sight. I was satisfied with this and ended it with a big bang before I called it quits for the time being.

I exited the pod, only to find that everyone had gathered in my workshop. They were standing in front of my laptop and chatting with Helel. I didn't even have to answer any of their questions as he had already done that for me.

"So it's safe to go?" Saiborg asked with clear excitement.

A place where he could spar with others and could go all out without caring of the consequences? That was like a dream come true for someone like him.

Not to mention that he could also fight against himself, forcing him to improve his skills should he wish to claim victory. Even then, his simulation would improve alongside him, turning it into a constant loop of self-improvement.

"Go ahead," I said, nodding towards the pod. "Once inside, Helel will help you adjust. Just follow his instructions."

"Got it." Saiborg jumped inside without hesitation. He placed his helmet just as the pod closed around him.

"It will take a few extra adjustments for the rest of you," I said as I turned to the others. "Gandoma can already use it as it is since he is someone that relies mostly on physical strength just like the two of us."

"I can replicate the way they use their Demonic Power with enough data," Helel confidently stated.

"He's quite the character," Liban commented with a smirk.

"He is." I nodded in agreement. "So how about we give him that data he needs?"

They agreed, and one by one, they entered the second pod to be scanned by it and to provide him with their abilities. This would surely be useful in the future, and I was certain that he would soon be capable of deduce someone's abilities just by them entering the pod.

Still, I couldn't wait to see what information I could gain from their scans. I was especially interested in Regulus, the reincarnated Devil that was a fucking Sacred Gear! And not just any Sacred Gear, but one of the thirteen Longinus!

I genuinely had no idea how the fuck that worked, It made absolutely no sense to me. Sure, Regulus, a Nemean Lion, had been turned into the power source for the Sacred Gear, but my understanding was that God had used the souls of powerful beings to make perpetual motion machines.

So how the fuck did he gain a physical body for Saiborg to reincarnate him as a Devil? Both of them couldn't answer my question, and I chalked it up to Saiborg just doing his standard protagonist bullshit.

This entire ordeal brought up so many questions. At this point, I was even starting to doubt all of my theories about Sacred Gears at this point. I was sure that most of them were correct, but I needed to get my hands on a few more to gather some more data about them.

"I wanna go first!" Misteeta declared in excitement as they discussed who was going to try the visual reality first.

However, before they could make a decision, the first pod opened, and Saiborg stepped out of it. He blinked his eyes and checked over his body once, making sure that everything was fine before he looked up, his eyes focused on me.

"You've been holding back in our spars."

"Not really." I looked at him questioningly.

"You defeated me."

An eerie silence followed his declaration. Everyone's attention focused on me, their eyes wide open in surprise.

"I don't think I can win without Regulus," he added, their eyes opening even wider in response to his statement.

"Ah… my simulation must've used that attack, huh?" I nodded in understanding.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Yeah, that's not something I can use more than twice in a fight," I admitted, though I couldn't help but feel pride at that.

Sure, it wasn't a move I could use often, and it would take me out of the fight if I did, but it was still enough to take down someone like Saiborg! Granted, that was without him using Regulus, who greatly boosted his power. Nevertheless, this proved that I could defeat someone as strong as him!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to relish in that particular feeling for long as Kuisha's phone dinged at that moment. She took a look at it and cursed, "Shit!"

"What's wrong?" The question was quickly asked since this was out of character for her. Kuisha was usually the serious one, so hearing her swear like this was more than surprising.

"A message from Satan Leviathan. She will be coming for a visit today," Kuisha explained with a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

"When?" I could feel them all tensing up, becoming slightly nervous, especially since they weren't prepared for a visit by one of the Satans.

Why was she even visiting? Because of the information they provided the Satans about the Longinus wielders? Did she really need to come for a personal visit just for that?

"In the next ten minutes," she answered tensely.

Well, I guess we would be finding out soon enough.

"Shit."

Shit, indeed. I wasn't sure who said it, but I was certain that we all felt that way.

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Beta'ed by Old Man Of The Mountain and Gerald of Revea.