Setbacks and Progress

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Gamers Guide to Necromancy, Remastered

Chapter 02: Setbacks and Progress

I've run into an immediate problem with my plans.

Cremation is extremely common in Japan, as in more than 99.9% common, and it leaves nothing but ash, which I have no real use for at the moment. It makes sense, for the same reason why they don't have much farmland.

Japan is a fairly small island, they don't have the room to have large graveyards taking up space. I'm sure there's cultural and religious reasons as well, but I just see the pragmatic decision to burn the bodies to save space.

Of course there's a morgue in Kuoh, which I could hit if I get desperate, but it's more guarded than a graveyard would be.

But, I'm not giving up that easily, I still have a few choices in front of me.

Kuoh does have a graveyard, behind a long abandoned church, since Kuoh had a fairly large Christian population in the past, but if I recall it's currently inhabited by the Fallen and I'd rather not trespass even if they don't technically own it.

I could also take a trip to where I will be able to find bodies, such as Japan's infamous suicide forest. If Logan Paul can find a corpse, I definitely can. Again, it has its flaws such as the distance from Kuoh and the fact that I don't know if it's anybody's territory.

It'd be a bit embarrassing to show up and find out the suicides were caused by some powerful supernatural being that isn't thrilled to find me there. I need a way to learn more about this world's Supernatural.

My other option at the moment is to make the corpses myself, and that also has its downsides.

I didn't feel anything killing Issei because he was already bleeding out on the floor. Sure, I stopped his reincarnation but he was going to die either way.

Killing people at random will both attract unwanted attention and is somewhat disturbing to me.

I don't have a real problem with killing, but I'd rather it be someone who has wronged me, or at least get me more than a simple corpse if I'm going to be ending an innocent life for it.

Like say, Saji, who I'd happily kill so I can trap his soul and Sacred Gear for later use. Sure he's 'innocent' but as Raynare likes to say, he should blame big G for bringing him into the supernatural world.

Killing random innocents for just a corpse feels a little too much for me. Probably. Maybe.

Honestly I don't feel enough of a hesitation to kill innocents, which tells me my mind has been messed with, but I'd still rather avoid it for now.

But that got me thinking, what if it wasn't innocent lives I was taking?

People are assholes and humans can be just as scummy and evil as devils and fallen angels.

I'd basically be doing the world a favour by taking such scum out of it, making them into something useful for the first time in their lives.

Of course, finding such people proved mildly frustrating as I wandered the town at night, it's not like people walk around going 'hey look at me, I'm a criminal'.

As such, my first night ends in abject failure as I slick back into my dungeon with a frown. The most suspicious person I saw was me and I wouldn't make a good undead minion, I'm too lazy.

So, I go with plan B.

Let's just start a dungeon invasion and see what happens, at the very least I've armed Isskeleton with a sledgehammer I ordered online.

Jeff Bezos bless you, same day delivery.

Online purchases mean I don't have to answer silly questions like 'why do you want a pickaxe, a shovel and a sledgehammer'?

With the Pickaxe, Isskeleton managed to expand the entrance to the dungeon considerably, forming a bit of a labyrinth from the thankfully movable portal to the dungeon core.

He also managed to build some walls and doors. How, I haven't a clue, but I've learnt not to question my very useful minion.

While I'm within the dungeon, I can 'see' everything inside it, linked to the dungeon core as I am, so when I start the invasion and a pack of nasty looking wolves pour through the portal, I let out a sigh of relief.

I'm definitely still in danger, but it looks like at the very least it starts off small enough to be manageable even with my admittedly weak defences.

I could build traps, false cores, and turn the entire place into a death sentence to any who attack me but that all requires power which my core simply doesn't have at the moment.

The wolves predictably stick together, wandering the small labyrinth as they hunt for me. I think other 'types' of attackers would have split up to try and find the right path, but wolves are pack hunters so I'm shit out of luck to be honest. I wonder if my decision to place the dungeon in the forest led to the animal invaders?

They reach us quickly enough, and the moment they turn the final corner towards us I blast the lead wolf with a ray of death, watching its face start to rot as it slows down, yelping in pain and shock.

I'm not strong enough to kill them in a single spell, but the second spell that strikes it in the side makes it stumble and collapse with a pitiful whimper.

There's six of them, five now, and they're fast, thankfully Isskeleton serves as my tank, swinging his sledgehammer with surprising strength as he knocks the lead wolf back with a mighty blow, sending it away.

Two more pounce at him and knock him to the ground, as I focus on the other two, blasting them with rays of death as I feel my mana pool start to empty.

One of them falls before it can reach me- I positioned myself as far back as possible for a reason. Unfortunately as I said, they're fast and the second wolf lunges at me, large angry teeth snapping at my throat as I raise an arm defensively. It's face partially rotted from the Ray that struck it before it reached me.

The pain as the very large fangs dig into my flesh doesn't distract me from my goal, because while it knocks me to the ground and bites into one of my arms, I still have one free hand and another ray striking the underside of the bastard makes it yelp and let go, collapsing on top of me.

As its life ends, the gnarly wound it left on my arm starts to close, though not completely.

It's heavy, especially for someone with 'E-' strength like me, and rolling it off me takes some effort as I rise and look at Isskeleton, now being pinned and mauled on by three wolves, the one he struck having recovered.

Skeletons are good at taking damage, but I can see his bones cracking under their fangs and claws, so I get to work with my only offensive spell and aim for the one with the bloody face.

Isskeleton obviously already fucked it up, as my spell ends it easily (which closes my own wound more), and while the others take offence to my actions, Isskeleton knows that protecting me is more important than his life and clings to the one that tries to leave to attack me, digging his surprisingly sharp claws into its flesh which lets me safely blast them with my rays from a distance.

It wasn't perfect, as far as fights go, Isskeleton having cracked bones and even a missing arm, but we won.

I feel an unpleasant emptiness as I catch my breath, my mana pools damn near drained.

That's going to be a problem in the future. My mana pool is already refilling but casting that many spells in such a short amount of time was draining.

Unfortunately, someone thought ahead as the wolf corpses vanish, making me scowl for a moment before I turn to Isskeleton.

I need him intact, given that he's my only minion at the moment, but repairing an undead is rather simple as I just need a mixture of parts and mana, and thankfully his arm is just on the floor so getting him to lay down I expend my regenerating mana to fix him up.

Cracked bones mend themselves and his arm reattaches, though it does leave me very, very tired.

My mana pool is going to be a problem when I get more undead. At the moment, I can easily manage with just one skeleton, but while I don't have a hard limit on how large my horde can be, my subconscious understanding of my magic tells me that I do have a soft limit and going over it will reduce my mana pool as parts of my magic are permanently tasked with keeping my undead animated and under my control.

If I tried to bring back too many to the point where it takes more than my entire mana pool, my undead would break free of my control.

With that in mind, I call on my dungeon core and use the essence I've collected to increase my intelligence.

It's expensive and the change isn't massive as it goes from B- to just B, but I can feel my mind sharpen as the pool of mana within me deepens a bit.

The lower the stat, the cheaper it is to increase, which makes sense. With that in mind, I use the leftover essence to bump my strength and dex up to E as well, my non-existent muscles growing just a bit more firm.

Neglecting my physical stats would be a mistake, and it's cheap enough for now that I don't mind spending a little on it.

I can do a lot with essence, but working on my core stats seems like a very smart thing to do, because I'm never not going to want to be smarter, stronger or possess more magic.

In addition to the essence, the wolves seem to have dropped loot which gets my gamer senses tingling, including some gold which Isskeleton quickly gathers up and takes to one of the rooms he dug out which I've chosen to be the 'vault'.

It's not much, but it's a start.

The more interesting 'drop' is a spell tome, which I pick up and immediately know I can use.

It's a Necromancer class tome, and without even needing to open it I absorb the knowledge within.

Spell Gained

[Call the Horde]

Allows you to call upon your horde, summoning them to your side no matter where you are.

It's not exactly impressive, but it's definitely an essential spell since I don't want to be caught by surprise without my horde.

Planning out the construction I want Isskeleton to do, I head out of my dungeon and back to my apartment.

Later, when I have more gold, I'll create a bedroom worthy of me in the dungeon so I don't have to leave, but for now I'll make do with the crappy apartment.

I have some new ideas, because the wolves made me realise something.

I don't necessarily need human corpses which opens up my possibilities considerably.

But I'm tired and it's a school night, so that will have to wait for another day.

— Rias Gremory — Next Day —

At first she thought she was imagining things, but after talking with Akeno and Koneko she realised that she was very much not.

Kuro had gotten stronger, not massively but it was definitely noticeable compared to when she last saw him yesterday.

She'd still say he was weaker than her, but she had the racial advantage over him, she just didn't know how he'd become more powerful in such a short time.

Was that why he wanted Issei's body? Perhaps, she didn't know. There were definitely rituals that could be done by human mages to increase their magical power, but they usually had drawbacks or were extremely costly.

That was one of the main reasons mages would contract with devils, for resources and knowledge they didn't have access to otherwise, as well as protection against their enemies.

It wasn't as prevalent in the modern era with Heaven weakened by the war, but not many magicians had forgotten that the church used to burn their kind at the stake and still had 'witch hunters'.

The church now claimed they only went after magicians who were harming their people, but there would always be fanatics who wanted to see all magic users dead, so magicians would form pacts with the Church's biggest enemy for protection.

If contracted magicians were allowed to take part in rating games, she'd be in a much easier position since they could form a contract just for the game, but alas it wasn't to be.

Kuro was definitely smart, he barely paid attention in class but the teachers had tried and failed to catch him off guard for his slacking, as he always seemed to have the answer to whatever he was asked, and even curveball questions couldn't catch him by surprise.

He knew it as well, a lazy smirk on his lips as he easily answered anything he was asked and immediately went back to zoning out, usually staring out of the window.

She knew some of the girls in the school had already started to give him the nickname 'the sleepy prince', and she could see why, since he did always look like he'd rather be sleeping.

His uniform was also kinda messy but in a way that didn't really detract from his looks, clearly he'd put zero effort into his appearance which made the fact that he was pretty damn cute more impressive.

Not that any of that helped her with recruiting him, because it was all superficial and told her very little about him. It told her he didn't really care about his appearance, that he was probably rather lazy, but that didn't really help her work out what it would take to recruit him.

She needed to know more about him, and she didn't have time to waste with the engagement being pushed forwards.

As classes ended, Kuro didn't run away immediately this time, waiting for the rush to end before he got up. He did roll his eyes when he spotted her and Akeno also hanging around after class, but he seemed more mildly amused than anything else.

That was good, at least. He didn't seem annoyed at her persistence, and she'd take anything she could get at the moment.

"Kuro, I was wondering if you'd like to come over to the clubhouse for some tea," Rias said as she approached him, making him pause before he shrugged.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do for a few hours anyway," Kuro agreed, making her beam at him. She knew this would start rumours, but she didn't really mind.

Leading him to the clubhouse, they mostly talked about irrelevant things while they were still in public, along the lines of schoolwork and teachers, until they arrived.

"So, now that we're here, are you going to tell me what you really want to talk about? I doubt you have time for tea parties if you're really in such a dire situation," Kuro deadpanned as he took his seat, making her nod.

"True, I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know you. It's hard to work out how I'm going to recruit you when I don't know anything about you," Rias admitted, with a confidence she didn't particularly feel.

"I suppose I can see your point, but I don't want to make it easy for you. How about a trade, a question for a question?" Kuro offered, making her pause before she nodded in agreement.

"You can go first," Rias said, amused at the way he'd turned this into a little game.

"Hm, why is a devil heiress playing schoolgirl in the human world?" Kuro asked, making her giggle.

"It's more boring than you might be expecting I'm afraid, I grew up hearing about Japan from my brother's knight, Souji Okita, and admittedly I'm a bit of a weeb," Rias admitted with a laugh, making Kuro snort in amusement. "I decided to get a human education to get away from the responsibilities that came with being the Gremory heiress, and at the same time they were looking for a new high-class devil to run Kuoh, so it became part of my training as the future Lady Gremory as well. But mostly, I'm just here because I want to be."

"Fair enough, I'm a big fan of doing things purely because I want to," Kuro said, pausing as Akeno placed a teacup in front of him. "Huh, it actually is a tea party, cool. Thanks, your turn."

Taking a sip of her own tea, which was excellent as always, Rias paused as she thought about her own question. She could think of a thousand things she wanted to know, but maybe she should start out small?

"What's your favourite anime?" Rias asked seriously, making him pause before he chuckled.

"Really?" Kuro asked, taking a sip, before he shrugged. "Death Note, even if Kira should have won. It went down in quality after L died."

Ah, a man of culture.

"Good answer," Rias said with an approving smile, waiting for his question.

"What's your favourite anime?" Kuro shot back, making her giggle. He was definitely treating this like a game.

"Hm, that's… actually a hard question. I have at least five favourites," Rias said seriously, before scratching her chin. "I'll go with Sailor Moon, the first one I ever watched and it made an impact," Rias finally answered, making him nod.

"I can see that, your first is always special," Kuro said with his usual lazy smirk as Akeno giggled pervertedly at the innuendo.

"Onto more serious questions, as fun as this is, what kind of magic do you practice? I know your magic has a tinge of death to it… but what magic are you studying?" Rias asked, making him sigh as he took a sip, clearly buying time as he thought about his answer.

"My magic has a tinge of death because that's exactly what I'm studying. I am a Necromancer, studying death itself," Kuro admitted, making her pause.

That certainly sounded impressive, but she had never heard of a real Necromancer before.

"What can you do?" Rias asked, making him smirk.

"Now now, it's my turn," Kuro said, making her blink before she nodded.

"Ah, my apologies, go ahead," Rias asked, making him smile.

"Why are you so determined to recruit me?" Kuro asked, making her sigh. She didn't want to talk about this but it was a fair question.

"Because I'm engaged to a man I absolutely do not want to marry, and my last chance to escape the arranged marriage is to beat him in a Rating Game. He's never lost a match he didn't throw before," Rias admitted, making Kuro frown slightly as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "I want to recruit you because I believe you might be able to counter his Phenex regeneration. I think that's why my brother, Sirzechs Lucifer, arranged for you to come to Kuoh. He isn't supposed to interfere directly, but nudging someone who could help me into my path wouldn't be seen as interference."

"Regeneration is usually tied to life, so as a death mage it's possible I could learn to counter it I suppose. I certainly don't have any immediate counter at the moment, I'm still a novice, though I learn fast," Kuro admitted, making her nod.

"I didn't expect you to have some magical fix, maybe I hoped you would but that's wishful thinking and I'm not that lucky," Rias said with a small smile. "So, what can you do at the moment?"

"Very little, admittedly. I can raise corpses into simple undead, blast my foes with rays of death magic that cause rot and decay, craft soul flasks which will capture the souls of those who die near them and call the spirits of the departed back to this world for a time," Kuro admitted, making her blink. That didn't sound like 'very little'. "I'm still a very inexperienced novice when it comes to necromancy."

He was surprisingly humble or he just had extremely high standards when it came to magic.

"You can summon spirits?" Akeno asked, making him nod.

"I'll give you this as a freebie since it's linked to Rias's question. I can, but I don't have any control over them yet, so they'd have to be summoned in a spirit circle to prevent them from running off or trying to possess someone," Kuro admitted, making Akeno go uncharacteristically solemn.

She didn't even need to ask to know where Akeno's mind was wandering.

"Is that why you wanted Issei's corpse?" Rias asked, making him raise an eyebrow again since it wasn't her turn, before he shrugged.

"Yes, corpses are rather hard to come across. I raised him as a skeleton in my lair, the first of many," Kuro admitted, making her frown slightly. "Yes, yes. I know, I'm terrible. Imagine raising a corpse into a new race and making them your servant, how awful," Kuro deadpanned, making her blush at his tone.

She could try and defend herself, and her race, but she knew it would ring hollow.

"My turn, and I get two questions this time. What's your biggest fear?" Kuro asked, making her pause.

"On one hand, I want to say losing my freedom and being forced to marry someone I hate, but honesty forces me to admit it's camels," Rias admitted with a light blush as Kuro's eyebrow rose in curiosity. "My family has a farm, I snuck out once when I was a little girl and this massive camel took offence to me trying to climb onto its back and bit me.

"Huh, not exactly what I expected but I guess that's why we're playing this little game," Kuro said, slightly teasingly as he gave her a grin. "Next question… are you a virgin?"

"Are you just trying to embarrass me?" Rias asked rhetorically, making him nod shamelessly. "Yes, I'm a virgin, I haven't even had my first kiss yet… not that I'm embarrassed about that. Despite the reputation of female devils, I don't accept those kinds of contracts and I've never dated anyone either."

She wasn't particularly expected to be a virgin on her 'wedding day' because if the Phenex family wanted to make that a part of the marriage contract, they'd have to either give some concession or have Riser also be a virgin and they simply didn't care whether she came to Riser's bed a blushing virgin enough to give anything up for it and Riser was certainly not a virgin.

Akeno would have made some joke at this, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.

"Cute," Kuro said simply, making her blush slightly at his amused smile. She was tempted to throw his question back at him, but decided against it.

As she went to speak, she froze as she realised something. She'd been flirting with Kuro to try and tempt him, but now he knew she was a kissless virgin and that any flirtation was just that.

Oh, he was smart and incredibly sneaky. He made it seem like he was just messing with her for his own amusement, but he'd just revealed another weakness.

Now any attempts to lure him into her service with her body would come across as false, unless she was willing to back up her words with action. She needed to watch her words around Kuro, he had a devil's tongue.

"Is your skeleton sentient?" Rias asked as she changed the subject, making Kuro shrug.

"Skeletons are capable of following simple instructions but they can't think for themselves, there are more powerful and advanced undead that would retain some or all of their intelligence and personality, but the skeleton is just a pile of bones animated by my magic," Kuro explained easily, making her mind race.

Then technically he'd be allowed to use them in a Rating Game, they were essential an extension of his magic and there was a precedent for letting him use them.

"If you joined my peerage, I could certainly get you access to more bodies, more exotic bodies as well," Rias offered, making him chuckle.

She didn't know where she'd even start looking but she was sure her family connections could find a way to supply Kuro if he joined her.

"I'm sure you could and it would definitely speed up my research, but unlike you I'm not in a rush. I'm a patient man, so I certainly don't plan to sell myself into servitude just to speed up my studies," Kuro said, rejecting her as she shrugged.

"It was worth a try," Rias said with a small smile. That was the problem, she was in a hurry and Kuro obviously wasn't. He had time to spare, which put her at a clear disadvantage and he knew it.

"I don't blame you for trying, but I'm not that easy," Kuro deadpanned, smirking slightly. "I quite enjoy my freedom and neutrality, and I'm afraid I'm in no rush to give them up."

She didn't blame him, she enjoyed her freedom as well and she was asking him to give his up to help her try and protect hers.

No matter how nicely she promised to treat him, he wasn't wrong that he'd be her servant until he became a high-class devil, which could take decades for a reincarnated devil thanks to the discrimination that reincarnated devils faced in the Underworld.

The Great Satans, especially her brother and Serafall, had been hard at work trying to make reincarnated devils feel more comfortable and equal in their new lives, but it was a slow and difficult process.

"You know I'm not going to give up, I'm a very stubborn girl and I'm used to getting what I want," Rias admitted, making him grin.

"You'll find I'm very stubborn myself, I tend to do what I want when I want, regardless of what other people think. I'd make a poor servant to be honest. I'm as lazy as I am stubborn," Kuro admitted.

"That's fine, I don't mind my Peerage slacking off. Frankly, if we beat Riser, I'd be more than happy to let you do as you please for the rest of eternity," Rias said, waving off his excuses.

"Funny, that's exactly what I was planning on doing anyway, whatever I please," Kuro retorted, making her smile.

"The world doesn't tend to let people just do whatever they want, especially not when they don't have the power to back up their attitude," Rias pointed out, making Kuro nod.

"That's why I'm focused on increasing my power, but it's also important to not attract attention too early. How public is this rating game going to be again?" Kuro asked, making her sigh.

"Very, annoyingly. It'll be broadcast and recorded on the Devilnet, Riser is rather famous in the rating game scene, and I'm famous because I'm the little sister of Sirzechs, the strongest Satan," Rias admitted, still bound by the rules of their impromptu game.

She loved rating games herself, and always planned to take part in them when she was older. If it wasn't for the consequences of losing, she'd be excited about the upcoming game, as unofficial as it might be.

"Exactly, if we lose then I've sold myself into servitude for nothing and embarrassed myself in front of the Underworld, which will leave a lasting impression on my reputation. If we win, I'll have made a good first impression but I'll have also brought the spotlight onto myself before I'm ready for it, and that's more work and attention than I want right now," Kuro explained. "I see nothing but downsides to joining you, I'm afraid."

She winced slightly, but she couldn't refute his points. This was the problem with how she'd gotten the rest of her Peerage.

She'd found them all in their time of need, and had never had to recruit someone herself. It hadn't been smooth sailing for her, all of her Peerage had their own issues when they arrived (and still did, she wasn't blind to their problems but working towards helping them was a slow process, trying to get them to go to therapy had not exactly ended well), but those issues had happened after they'd been added to her Peerage.

Kuro didn't need her, he wasn't in some great peril, he was perfectly happy as an independent mage and she was here trying to convince him to give it up and join her.

To change his own life plans, place himself into her service with the vague promise of her not treating him poorly, involve himself in the chaos of the three factions, so she could get out of a marriage.

She wouldn't do it in his position either. Unfortunately he was her last chance to even the incredibly unfair odds.

So as unfair to him as it was, she had to convince him to join her Peerage. It was selfish, but at the end of the day she was a devil.

"I understand, that just means I need to find a way to make it worth your while, to make up for all the downsides," Rias said with a sly smile, once again faking her confidence as Kuro chuckled.

"And again, good luck," Kuro said simply, returning her smile with his own lazy grin. "The way I see it, it's a win-win for me. Either you find a way to make it worth my while and I benefit, or you don't and I continue with my current life."

Chuckling at his blunt admission, she could definitely see his point. He really should be a devil, he had the attitude down already.

Stubborn, greedy, slothful, and valuing their freedom over other people's plans and schemes. Heh, maybe it was a little narcissistic but she couldn't dislike him when he was just acting like she wished she could act.

Still, it was her turn again.

"Do you find me attractive?" Rias asked, his claims of not being interested in her still in her mind.

"I do, you're a very beautiful girl. When I said I wasn't interested in you, it wasn't because of your looks," Kuro said, making her blush at being called out. "But teenage boy or not, it takes more than a cute face and a sexy body to convince me, not that it doesn't help," Kuro admitted, making her smirk at the admission.

"Is that so? I'll have to keep that in mind, because I'll take any help I can get," Rias said flirtatiously, moving deliberately to make her breasts jiggle.

If he thought her inexperience meant she was a blushing virgin who couldn't back up her words, he was very much mistaken. It might actually work in her favour to have him think she was far more innocent than she was.

"Hm, what colour underwear do you have on?" Kuro asked, trying to put her off her game as she smirked.

Kuro had definitely misunderstood, she was a virgin because she wanted to be and because she hadn't found someone worthy of her first time, not out of any innocence.

"Why tell you, when I can show you?" Rias replied, standing up as she carefully moved her hands under her skirt, making sure to not reveal too much as the front of her very short skirt gave her some protection as she slowly, tantalisingly pulled her panties down.

Stepping out the black lace thong, she made sure to never let her skirt ride up as she calmly tossed her underwear into his lap, utterly confident as she sat back down, knowing that a single wrong move would cause her to flash him thanks to Kuoh's tiny skirts.

"You can keep them, it should keep me in your thoughts while you're at home," Rias said flirtatiously, giving him a lewd smile.

She was not a shy girl, especially when it came to people seeing her body. She'd be just as comfortable to have this entire meeting naked, but the tantalising knowledge that she was completely bare beneath her tiny skirt was almost more effective as his eyes flickered down to her long pale legs, making her smirk as she moved them slightly, just enough to give him the briefest glimpse as her skirt moved.

Their game had definitely changed slightly, a sexual aura between them as she smirked at him, glancing down to the slight tent in his pants.

She could ask another serious question, but she felt it would be more beneficial to continue this new avenue for their game, maybe she should ask him if he'd be using those panties to touch himself later?

Or if he'd like her to take her shirt off, she was very proud of her breasts after all, even if a certain lucky bitch had her beaten by a cup size.

Akeno had recovered from her somber mood, her own smirk growing as Akeno obviously planned to join their little game herself, and Akeno was even less shy than she was.

As she went to speak, she paused feeling Sona approaching, a slight frown on her face. Damn it Sona, bad timing.

Sona let herself in, which didn't surprise her as Kuro turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Rias, and Kuro? Good, I wanted to ask you something anyway," Sona said, frowning harshly. "Does the name Genshirou Saji mean anything to you?" Sona asked Kuro, not noticing as he pocketed the thong that was in his lap.

She knew that name, another student with a sacred gear. They'd agreed that Rias could take Issei and Sona would take Saji, who had a weaker sacred gear from their aura.

"No, should it?" Kuro asked, making Soma narrow her eyes before she sighed.

"He was a student that held a sacred gear, like Issei, who I planned to recruit," Sona finally explained, making Rias narrow her eyes.

"Was?" Rias asked, making Sona nod grimly.

"He was attacked in his home last night, it is…not a pleasant scene," Sona said bluntly. "Given your part in Issei's death, you are one of my main suspects."

"Did the attacker leave the body behind?" Kuro asked, making Sona nod. "Then you can be sure it wasn't me, I finished Issei off after the Fallen attacked him so I could take his body, my prize. Many of my spells and rituals require corpses, I would not be so wasteful," Kuro said with a scoff.

"I see, I'll keep that in mind," Sona said, her eyes still narrowed in annoyance. She was obviously not entirely convinced, making Kuro snort in amusement.

"Look, if I did it, I'd admit it. I truly wouldn't care if you thought you had dibs on him, but this time I'm actually innocent," Kuro said, raising his hand and snapping his fingers, making a purple flash happen behind him, a skeleton armed with a pickaxe appearing. "This is what I did with Issei, and he's my only undead minion, for now at least. If I killed Saji, I'd have taken his body and turned him into my second servant. I'd also probably be laughing at you if I managed to steal two bodies from under the two kings of Kuoh."

The skeleton helpfully rattled its jaw in a twisted mockery of laughter, making Sona glare slightly before she sighed.

"I see your point, I don't think this was the Fallen either, their magic leaves a certain taint behind," Sona admitted, frowning. "Do you plan to kill more people to get more corpses?"

"Honestly? Probably, I don't plan to slaughter indiscriminately though and I certainly won't be so sloppy," Kuro admitted, making Sona sigh.

She knew Sona wanted to complain, but Kuro was here by Sirzechs invitation. It placed him in an odd position.

"At least you're honest about your intentions," Sona grumbled, rubbing her forehead. "That still leaves me with another dead sacred gear user and no leads as to the killer."

"You know, I could probably call his soul back for questioning, for a price," Kuro admitted, making her pause.

"You could? Hm, I'll keep that in mind, if I can't solve this murder myself," Sona said, eyes narrowed as she thought about how she could use someone capable of interrogating the dead.

Giving Sona a warning glare, the other girl rolled her eyes slightly as she noticed Rias's message.

Something along the lines of 'Oi, get your own death mage.'

"Thanks for the talk, Rias, and the tea, Akeno. Your tea is truly impressive, I can see why it's the talk of the school," Kuro said as he rose, making her nod and give him a smile.

Akeno just giggled, moving in a way to make her massive breasts jiggle, before she pouted as Kuro seemingly ignored her movement.

"We'll have to do this again," Rias said, making him chuckle as he vanished, without any magical circles or flashes of light, his skeleton vanishing with him.

"How is it going?" Sona asked, looking at the now empty seat.

"Not great, Kuro has a hundred reasons to not want to join me and I'm struggling to find a way to convince him otherwise," Rias admitted, making Sona pause.

"You've never actually recruited someone before, and Kuro seems like a difficult first recruitment," Sona pointed out, making her nod.

"Definitely. He's stubborn, rude, doesn't care who he offends, and worst of all he doesn't need me in the slightest," Rias admitted, smiling slightly despite that. "Did you notice he's grown stronger?"

"Barely, but yes. Perhaps when I'm not looking into who else is killing in our territory I can help you plan an approach to him, I actually recruited my Peerage after all," Sona teased, making her nod gratefully. "But for now, what do you think we should do about the Fallen?"

"What can we do? They're acting in our territory but they haven't acted against us and they've mostly stuck to the abandoned church which technically isn't our territory. If we try to drive them out, the Grigori could take it as a hostile action," Rias sighed, making Sona nod in agreement.

"Annoyingly, you're right. According to my sister, Lord Azazel has been pushing for peace with our kind, but plenty of the other Grigori leadership wants to reignite the war, we can't be that spark," Sona said with a frown. "We can't risk acting openly against them, and the diplomatic channels between devils and Fallen are questionable at best. I'll send a letter to the Grigori officially complaining about their actions. I doubt much will come if it as they wouldn't be here without someone pulling their strings but it'll give us more legitimacy if we do have to eliminate them… damnit, I'm going to have to get my sister involved as well," Sona groaned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Sona hated relying on Serafall for anything, but as questionable as Serafall could act at times, she was still the Satan in charge of foreign affairs. They couldn't deal with this without her.

With the three factions still technically at war, any engagement, no matter how minor it might seem, could be the spark to make their cold war reignite. The Fallen knew and abused this, if she'd recruited Issei before they'd attacked him, they'd likely have backed off themselves.

But much like Kuro said, there was no such thing as dibs, and she couldn't do anything about them attacking an unaffiliated human just because she wanted to recruit him.

The Fallen were playing a dangerous game, hiding in the church since devils couldn't claim a church as their territory without angering Heaven. It felt like bait, inviting them to attack.

If this was how stressful it was just ruling a small town, she truly pitied her brother and Lady Serafall, who played the same game on a far grander scale.

It was a job she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy, mostly because Riser would have them at war with everyone within the first hour.

— Kuro —

Japan doesn't have many dangerous predatory animals, such as wolves, and while there are apparently bears out there somewhere, I don't know where to start looking.

However… Kuoh has a zoo, and while I'm not particularly proud of what I've done, I absolutely will not apologise for doing what I needed to do.

Sona is probably going to glare at me tomorrow, but I didn't even empty the place! I was downright merciful in the grand scheme of things!

I even picked animals that weren't endangered, and I didn't kill the single guard who was on night duty.

…probably. Isskeleton hit him pretty hard but he was breathing when we left.

Isskeleton can practically blend in if I put a hoodie on him, and it was surprisingly easy to sneak into the zoo and summon him.

I even disabled the cameras!

Okay, I found the security room and after realising I couldn't work out how to turn them off, I just took the sledgehammer to the computer. I'm pretty sure I destroyed the hard drive the cameras were recording to, and I've discovered that despite my low strength there are a lot of problems that can be solved by just hitting them with a hammer.

Tomorrow, there will be questions about who the fuck broke into the zoo and stole eleven hyenas, but hyenas are predators and it's not fair to keep them locked away like that.

I would argue that they are happier with me, isn't that right boy?

Scratching the zombie hyena under the chin, I smile as it cackles in pleasure, see? It's happy to be free from that cage.

Or maybe it's just happy to have had a proper meal of wolf, because the second wave was definitely larger than the first and had one big fucker leading them.

But hyenas are pack animals too and while zombies aren't exactly smart, they still have their animalistic instincts.

Zombies are very resilient to damage, they don't particularly care about inconvenient things like having their flesh torn off and I can fix them up after the fighting is over. Plus, zombies are plagued and their bite and claws inflicts their victim with disease.

They can't turn the invaders, not yet anyway, but it's still rather effective.

Isskeleton got broken again, but that's par for the course at this point and I fixed him up easily enough.

I've had him make a room to act as their kennel, where they can linger as they prepare to hunt down anyone in the labyrinth, and they seem to enjoy the fighting (and they definitely enjoy the meal).

The System is bullying me, because when I tried to take the bodies away to raise them, they immediately disappeared. I can use them to feed my pets, but the moment I try to use them they vanish.

I'm not making things that easy for you.

Was I inspired by the Lion King when it came to my choice of pet? Perhaps, but it's better to be prepared.

I think the attack waves grow in size to match my dungeon, the more I increase my horde and defences, the more deadly the invasions will be.

Of course, my pack is also pushing towards my limit, and I think I'm already getting close to it.

Eleven zombies and one skeleton, all basic undead, but I feel like I'm close to the soft cap on my horde, which means I need to boost my intelligence even further or find another way to increase the cap.

I have dreams of a horde in the tens of thousands, made up of undead much more advanced than these simplistic creations, but I'm far from that level as I am now.

On the bright side…

Necromancer Class Quest complete

Objective: Slay 10 enemies with death magic (10/10)

Objective: Raise 10 Undead (10/10)

Objective: Have your undead kill 10 enemies (10/10)

Quest complete

[Welcome to the Game]

Objective: Plant the Dungeon Seed

Objective: Complete your Class Quest

Reward: 'Professions' unlocked

The larger horde had its advantages, and not just because of the increased loot (I really need more skeletons because Isskeleton is getting overworked with all the carrying and digging he's had to do).

Professions? I'm fairly certain I understand

Professions are simple, they're your 'side-class', non-combat focused. You can have a class and a profession at the same time.

Ahh, I understand. If I know anything from MMOs it's that the players who maxed out a crafting profession are always in high demand.

Please select a profession.

[Magical] [Non-Magical] [Hobby] [Other]

Well, magical of course. The others sound interesting but I'm a mage damnit, I'm going to stick with magic since it probably scales well with my current stats.

[Alchemist] [Runesmith] [Wardsmith] [Golem Crafter]

Hm, that's actually pretty tough.

Golem Crafter is out, because I can do something similar with undead, and while it could be useful down the line to have more… socially acceptable minions, I'll pass for now.

Alchemy, Runes or Wards.

Potions, enchanted items or better defences?

Wardsmith could be useful but I'll pass for now, and while runes sound very useful I think I'll go with potions.

Something about it just feels right to me, which isn't exactly the best reasoning to make my choice with but hey, I'm an impulsive guy.

[Alchemist: Novice]

Skills Gained

[Alchemical Mastery: Novice]

You have the knowledge of how to brew potions from magical ingredient, how to identify the alchemical uses of ingredients and how to design your own potions.

[Herbological Mastery: Novice]

You have the knowledge of how to grow and cultivate simple magical plants, and how to harvest them once they are prepared.

A rush of knowledge floods my mind as the secrets of alchemy are revealed to me, I've never had much of a green thumb but that's changed now.

Any decent alchemist should be able to handle the plants they're working with, and the ability to handle simple magical plants includes the knowledge of how to handle just about every type of non-magical plant.

To make it better, my dungeon just gained more options, with options for greenhouses and an alchemical lab.

It's expensive, but I happily burn through my rather unimpressive 'vault' to turn one of the rooms I had dug out in my future 'private' wing into my lab.

Where does the furniture and equipment come from? I neither know nor particularly care.

Still, I have some left over and while Isskeleton has been working hard lately, it's time to put him back to work as I plot out the next floor of my dungeon, because I have an idea for a rather large room I need that doesn't fit into my current floor plan.

Work hard, Isskeleton, I might even give you some armour and real weapons one day.

— Later —

…okay, spending some of my gold on a bedroom in my dungeon might seem wasteful but I have my reasons.

One, my new bed is more comfortable than my shitty apartment bed.

Two, it's closer to my workplace and therefore it's actually going to be saving me time and helping me make more money in the long term.

Three, my new bed is more comfortable than my shitty apartment bed.

My apartment has a relatively stiff single bed, my dungeon bedroom has a king sized bed with fancy sheets and a very comfortable mattress.

So anyway, I'm burning my apartment down later.

While I napped, Isskeleton actually dug out the room I wanted, so I've put it to use.

It's just a mushroom farm, because my Alchemist class came with a small supply of ingredients, mostly mushrooms, which works well considering I live underground where I don't exactly get a lot of natural light.

Sure, I can make a greenhouse room with an artificial alternative, but why spend that much money when I can just grow something that doesn't require it?

Good work, Isskeleton. Issei is so much more manageable when he can't talk or think for himself, he's actually likeable in this form.

I've stuck his soul flask in a drawer in my room, I'll make some kind of storage/treasure room later but for now Issei's soul lives in my sock drawer.

"You don't mind that I nap while you work, do you Isskeleton?" I ask, watching as he tilts his head and rattles at me. "Yes, I thought not. I'd say go take a break but I think the hyenas would see you as a chew toy. I'll make a graveyard for you to hang out in later," I say, patting him on the shoulder with a proud smile.

Yup, this Issei is definitely a more productive member of society.

With my nap done, I can focus on what matters, the spoils of war.

Firstly, I missed a notification that my class had moved up to Apprentice, which gives my spells and perks better scaling, so everything just got a little more powerful which is very nice, plus I got a perk out of it.

[The Undying Army]

Undead that are 'destroyed' will rise again once the battle has ended as long as they are not destroyed by holy power or have holy water sprinkled on their bodies.

Which is obviously very nice, I can take another quest as well but I decided to take my profession quest this time.

Alchemist Profession Quest

Objective: Brew 10 Potions (0/10)

Objective: Harvest 30 Plants (0/30)

Objective: Drink 5 Potions (0/5)

With the essence gathered from the battle, I pause for a moment as I consider just throwing it all into boosting my intelligence before I sigh.

D- wisdom, meaning my mana regeneration sucks ass.

Pumping my essence into it, I increase it up to C. It's expensive but my newfound…perfectly average wisdom says it was the right thing to do.

As for the rest, well I have nowhere near enough for Intelligence anymore since it would have taken everything I had just to bump it up to B+ so I look at what else I can spend it on before smiling.

A new spell? Sure, that seems wise. I'd know, I'm something of a wiseman myself now, if you really squint.

Stiffen Limbs

Imbues premature rigor mortis into the target, stiffening their limbs and making it hard to move. Attempting to move limbs stiffened by this spell is painful.

The power of this spell scales with intelligence.

Huh, I can work with this. It's not damaging but if I get my horde larger I can rely on them to do the damage while I debuff.

I also got another spell tome out of the fight and my first gear drop, which is nice.

The spell tome vanishes as I absorb its necromantic knowledge, smiling as I do.

Unholy Desecration

This ritual allows you to desecrate an area, which weakens all holy and good beings while imbuing demons, undead and dark beings with dark energy, empowering them.

The power of the desecration scales with your intelligence and is retroactive, causing desecrated areas to become more enriched with dark energy as your intelligence rises.

Welp, guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

The gear is a rope necklace with three fangs on it, and after a moment of examining it I sigh.

Amulet of Feral Fury

Increases the damage of unarmed attacks

"…Hey, Isskeleton. Thanks for all your hard work, here take this as your bonus," I say, placing it around his neck as he rattles again. "I'm sure you'll do great with it."

Isskeleton simply rattles away happily, I think. He sounds happy and really, isn't that the only thing that matters?

Yeah, I'm a great master.

Anyway, I'm going back to bed. I might just skip school tomorrow so I can give Sona some time to calm down about the whole zoo thing.

Though… glancing over to the thong sitting on the drawer I pause.

I knew playing hard to get would pay off, and Rias seems to think she's won one over me. Would she still be so smug if I returned them to her in a somewhat less pristine state?

Rias better be careful, she's playing chicken with someone who has very little pride and is extremely competitive. She'll back down first, because I do not lose.

— Sona Sitri — Next Morning

…how did he even manage to smuggle out eleven hyenas?

Well, he teleported obviously. At least he got rid of the cameras?

Did he now have eleven skeletal hyenas chasing him around?

She had questions and for once she wasn't sure she actually wanted the answers.

Sighing, she got to work wiping memories as she made it look like the hyenas had definitely not just vanished into thin air and were in fact transferred to another zoo, grumbling all the while.

The cameras she blamed on a disgruntled ex-employee that nobody could remember the name of and definitely has already been arrested.

…this zoo had a lot of animals, he wasn't coming back, was he? Glancing at the bear and other dangerous animal exhibits, she sighed. He was definitely coming back.

She needed to have a stern talk with Kuro, who would presumably ignore her and do whatever he wanted anyway if she had understood his personality so far.

Did she have to bribe him to not cause trouble for her? If he was in Rias's peerage like Rias wanted, she could at least push the work onto her fellow king who was more than happy to make her deal with the more tedious parts of ruling Kuoh.

Kuro was definitely going to be a pain in her backside.

— Sirzechs Lucifer —

…hm, his plan seemed to have a slight flaw in it.

"I don't think he's coming," Grayfia said calmly, making him chuckle.

"We did get the right apartment, didn't we?" Sirzechs asked, looking around with a slightly confused frown.

"Yes, I found some of his paperwork, this is definitely his apartment," Grayfia confirmed, making him scratch his chin.

His plan to help Kuro make the right decision had definitely hit a little snag.

Where the fuck was Kuro?

— Bonus Scene — Raynare

Reading her orders, she frowned to herself as she wondered what Lord Azazel was planning.

His orders had changed recently, becoming increasingly aggressive and it was almost out of character for him but it was written in his handwriting, with his seal and magical signature on the letter.

Azazel had been much more ruthless in the past, before she even fell from Heaven she'd heard horror stories of his actions in the Great War. It was both worrying and exciting that he seemed to be returning to those days once more.

Regardless of the schemes of those far above her, she had her orders and she knew her place. She was weak, her single pair of wings proved that, which meant she was a pawn for those greater than her to move around even if it stung her pride.

She dreamed of having more wings, of being up there with the other great powers in the Grigori like Azazel and Kokabiel, but she was created to be weak by their beloved father, because not all angels were made equal.

Still, while she might be weak on the larger scale of things, she was still the strongest of her tiny, barely relevant force.

Lord Azazel wanted the mage dead, not wanting to risk Kuro growing to become a threat to his plans, but she had no desire to lose her life attacking an unknown mage and she didn't want to mobilise her entire group, her fellow Fallen and exiled exorcists alike, to deal with one mage and draw the devil's attention.

That said, she was the leader of this little faction, and that came with some benefits.

Mittelt had been a pain in her ass lately, hating being cooped up, and she'd made some rather rude comments about the circumstances that led to her falling…

"Mittelt! I've got a mission for you, from Lord Azazel himself," Raynare said, looking displeased which naturally made the sadistic little shit happy as she thought Azazel had requested her by name.

She needed information on the mage, and if Mittelt happened to get killed because she was too weak, then that was on the brat.

And if she got killed, they could use that as an excuse for her, Kalawarner and Dohnaseek to go and avenge her, claiming the mage attacked Mittelt.