Chapter 11 - Next step to becoming a Boss

A/N please check the poll in the author's note at the end of the chapter. It pertains to the fate of a certain male boi.

1 month timeskip -

It's been a month since I rescued Valerie from the shiststain that was her brother. That little bitch was even worse than I had imagined. Yes, Val finally opened up to me and told me about everything that happened during her stay in Romania, though I didn't like the way I found out about everything.

{Flashback - 3 days after the rescue}

It was nighttime and I was staying up late, catching up on some reading. Valerie had already gotten up and went to bed, we had a lovely dinner together, I was beginning to really like this girl. I knew that I wanted more than one woman in this life, I mean, I was in DxD so the deck was already stacked in my favor but I still need to tread carefully on this topic, you never know.

My musings were broken when I heard screams echoing through the cottage, I quickly stood up, they were coming from Val's room for nobody had breached the perimeter surrounding our house.

I swiftly ran to her room and, opening the door, saw her lying there, still asleep, she must've been having nightmares. I arrived near her bed and tried to shake her awake.

"Val, Val, wake up, you're having a nightmare" I spoke to her using the most gentle tone I could manage.

"H-huh, where am I?" She woke up, shivering and confused.

"It's okay, it's ok, you're here with me, you're safe. It was all a dream, don't worry" I gently hugged the scared girl.

*sniff* "I thought that I was back there, t-that they attacked us and brought me back there!" She said between sniffs and sobs.

"I understand, don't worry, you're never going back there" I said, comforting her. "Unless it's to destroy them" I grimly finished.

"What do you mean? You're not sending me back there, are you?!"

"No, Val, I'm not sending you back there, never. If push comes to shove we'll be going back there to eradicate the remnants of the Tepes"

"B-but why? Can't we just leave them alone?" Okay, I didn't like where this was going, this sort of mindset was not going to fly, I would not have a wallflower in my arms.

"Val..." I spoke to her, this time a little more stern "we live in a dangerous world where bad things happen to all people, it's not live and let live though I would like it to be so"

I took a deep breath and continued.

"I would like nothing more than sit around, relax, have a glass of blood and continue learning magic but I realized that there are people out there who would like nothing more than drag me, drag us, into their little world with their petty squabbles."

I leaned back, thinking of the idiots from the Old Satan Faction, the Khaos Brigade and that little calcium puppet, Hades.

"They will come after me, they will come after you, especially because of your Sacred Gear" here she shivered once more but I couldn't stop, I wouldn't stop, she needed to see the world for what it was, she needed to understand the drive for strength.

So I continued with power filling my voice and my eyes glowing brighter.

"When I realized that, I knew what I had to do. They want me to play in their little soap operas? Then let the games begin, but with me as the conductor! Let them think they have me until I turn around and snap their wiry necks and drink their blood. Let them come for I hunger!"

She looked me in the eyes and I could see a spark forming beneath the awe she was showing.

"I'll make them look upon the ashes that surround them while thinking about how much they fucked up in messing with me. Then at the end, I'll allow myself a single maniacal laugh" I finished my story with a toothy grin.

I wasn't lying one bit, whether I intervened with the main plot, which I would because I really liked some of the girls, they would still come after me now that I had Valerie. Heck, they would still come after me even without her unless I chose to live like some cockroach hiding under the mud. While I enjoyed subtlety, I wasn't someone who would hide his existence out of fear, I had my powers and would continue to enjoy their use. I might attract problems someday but I would make damn sure that they would be scum beneath my boot.

We stood in silence for one moment, her head once again down.

Slowly, she looked up at me, this was the moment where she would either start in the path of the strong or would keep her damsel in distress persona.

When we locked gazes, it was done. For a moment, what stood before me wasn't some frail little girl, no, what stood there was a woman determined.

"Yes, Hiro! Let's do it!" She spoke with conviction.

"Very well, Val, I'm happy with your decision. We'll start your training tomorrow, for now, sleep and know that I am here" I smiled and began standing up and leaving to continue my reading.

"W-wait!" she let out.

"Hm? Is something the matter?"

"Um, can you stay with me? In case the dreams come back" she added in a small voice.

"Of course. I'll be right here"

Saying this, I grabbed a nearby chair from the room and sat near her bed. What? I wasn't going to just jump in and sleep with her in bed. Sure, I wanted to pursue a relationship with her but it needed to start on the right foot. Going in right now would mean that we started as a big bad monster, me, taking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable girl, her. We would have time to sleep together later, I wasn't in any rush.

She looked a bit surprised that I went for the chair instead of in bed with her, she more than likely knew about the relationships between men and women with all that fuckery going on in the castle.

I took her hand in my own and gently prodded her to sleep.

"Good night, Val, sleep well"

"Umu" was all she managed to say before laying back down on her bed and falling asleep instantly with a small smile on her face.

'Now, how to get my book? Ah! Yes! Bats!' man, these guys were useful.

So, that's how we spent the night with her sleeping soundly and with me reading up on new scientific discoveries.

She slept through the whole night and the smile never left her face.

{Flashback end}

So that's where we are now, the next day she woke up, finding me there, still by her side with our hands intertwined.

Later that day we began her training and made some discoveries.

Firstly, I wanted to know what she was capable of and, as I expected from someone who was cooped up in a dungeon for the better part of the last few years, she couldn't do much. With her being a dhampir, a half-human, half-vampire hybrid, she had access to all vampiric abilities plus she wouldn't turn to ashes in the sun. Why do those idiots think that dhampirs are below them when they don't have one of their major weaknesses and could grow just as strong as them? I'll never know. Oh wait, they're racists.

The next bit of training was about her Sacred Gear, which was what angered me.

I didn't know before I rescued her that Rizevim had already extracted one piece of the Sephiroth Graal. You see, Sephiroth Graal is capable of messing up with souls in such a way that it reflects on the physical body, it can make the soul stronger, eliminate weaknesses, etc. And all of this would reflect on the physical plane. Giving raise to the truth that the soul mattered the most in DxD and raising further questions about my own mutated one.

Sacred Gears can be extracted from their hosts but due to them being 'stitched' or latched onto that person's soul, ripping them out would inevitably kill the holder with the current technology available. In my theory, to perfectly extract a Sacred Gear, you would need to have the extractor have surgical precision while what was available today was merely a butcher's cleaver. This theory seemed plausible enough as when Raynare succeeded in extracting and fusing Asia's Twilight Healing and subsequently losing it after her pitiful death the gear popped out of her soul. There wasn't simply enough time for the 'stitching' to occur. If it hadn't been out back into Asia and if she hadn't been immediately revived, I think that the Sacred Gear would have just simply dispersed and returned to the System in Heaven, awaiting a new host.

Coming back to Valerie, her Sephiroth Graal was special, not only was it a Longinus, the McGuffins of Sacred Gears, it was also mutated. Instead of having simply one object through which souls were manipulated, it was split into three, making it much more powerful.

I knew that if everything went as it did in the source, Rizevim would end up extracting 2 of the 3 pieces, and that process, plus the overuse of the Graal, would leave Val in a comatose, broken state where she would barely be able to express emotions.

Unluckily, I didn't manage to save her before the first extraction but, luckily, I didn't arrive late enough to find a broken mess. It was good that they didn't have the time to overuse her Gear and break her, plus, the month of respite caused by my impromptu coup proved very beneficial, her soul was slowly coming back together.

But this missing piece did provide a small problem indeed, she couldn't use the Graal without massive pain, and strengthening her would only lower the pain a bit but never erase it. Why did I consider the inability to properly use the Graal a small problem? Well, it was because I've always seen the longinuses and all sacred gears as crutches, the way they are used by their holders here. Most holders rely very heavily on their gear and their gear alone, take that away and you get a mediocre fighter 99% of the time.

So what if she couldn't use the Graal without pain? With my training and way of magic she wouldn't need it, she'd be strong on her own.

Thus, we put Sephiroth Graal aside and focused on the basics. Vampires are inherent shapeshifters, even more so than devils, they can take any form they want. This didn't affect their physical power because that was connected to their magic, unlike devils who could build physical power, but never did, unless your name was Sairaorg; while devils gained physical strength from training, they would or wouldn't bulk up, it all depended on their personal preference, magic took care of the rest. While she was a dhampir and couldn't shapeshift as fast as full vamps, Valerie could change her form if she wanted and it was still linked with her magic power.

So I trained her magic like one would train their muscles but a bit different. First, we focused on flexibility and elasticity, building a foundation of pinpoint precision and control while her magic supply was still relatively small. After she would achieve this, only then we would focus on them gains.

All this training needed time and she couldn't accomplish everything we envisioned in just a month so her training was still ongoing.

As was mine.

With Val's help, I finally started on the path of all true Vampire bosses. Up until now, when I drained a victim, I would only drain their blood and magic, if they had any, but that was about to change.

While Valerie couldn't use her sacred gear without pain, it didn't mean that she couldn't use it at all or that I couldn't study it. I asked for permission to inspect the thing located in her soul, I did so and noted down my findings. Then we also did a small test with rabbits and other woodland critters, where she would begin to use the gear and let me observe the process of the modification. Rip smol things, know that you died in my pursuit of power.

All of these findings and tests led to an evolution of my power. I could finally understand and know how to drain a victim's soul and keep it for my use.

It wouldn't be long until I could happily yell 'ARISE MOTHERFUCKERS!' and cackle like a geriatric witch.

We also tried to use the Sephiroth Graal on myself, to see what happened. Now that proved out to be a big no-no.

The instant she even attempted anything that had to do with my soul, the maw inside me churned and Valerie backed away, struggling to breathe

I later asked her what happened on her side.

"I-it was like staring into the abyss, I thought it would swallow me and keep me forever."

Needless to say, we cut off the training for that day and it all ended up with me comforting the girl to rest and sleep while more questions popped up about what I was.

The soul was all me, I didn't combine or devour the previous soul inhabiting this body, no, he was already dead.

More and more questions but I would have my answers one day.

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A/N

I hope you liked this chapter, I first thought of skipping more and arriving earlier in Kuoh but it just didn't feel right. I didn't want to just, boom, arrive back in Kuoh with just that.

There will probably be about 2-3 chapters before the grand return, there might be more if the story leads me there.

Anyway, IMPORTANT POLL: The fate of Issei

I already had a plan for Issei but it doesn't hurt to know your guy's opinions. So here are some options below.

1. Kill Issei - plain and simple, over and done with. Know that regardless of this, Hiro will not join any peerage even if he ends up with Rias so her peerage will need pawns (drop a hint about them as well in the comments)

2. Brainwash Issei away from any girls, turning him basically impotent until he finds a nice village Jane Doe who nobody cares about, and have him join Rias as in canon, making him a working mule for where Hiro doesn't care to interfere

3. Give Issei to the Grigori where he'll be Vali 2.0 just less powerful and ultimately, inconsequential (I had an amusing idea here, have him go to the Grigori and make him end up with Irina - I never liked her much anyway - but they couldn't have sex or anything because she was turned into an angel; so they would only be able to do the lewdest thing of all, hand-holding

4. Your suggestions (post them here, in a comment)

Know that, while I will definitely take your ideas into account and take inspiration from them, I will not radically change the story. I will, however, try to adapt the ideas that I find good enough into the story.

As always, feedback is appreciated

See you next time.