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Thanks for reading!
mI'm opening a pa.tre.eon or a ko/fi to support when I hit 1mill views on this
just to make sure I don't lose focus. No paywall either btw,
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-The Underworld-
-Gremory Mansion Spare Room-
'With every year that I ponder passes, verily the contents of thy mind tend to pass it...'
Or something of the sorts.
What I´m trying to say is, that I´m really not that sure about how the order of thing is supposed to go.
If I remember correctly, what I´m planning to do right now, was merely touched upon in Vol.16-19 of DXD.
And right now, after a fun training session with my devilish pals, I´m gonna fix the broken soul of a sleeping beauty, who was currently sleeping in a crystal coffin.
This girly was a blonde with red eyes, and quite the cute face if I say so myself.
No, it´s not a certain princess of True Ancestors from a series that many pretend to exist. nor is she the deformed chibi abomination that surpassed the original heroine in popularity.
---She was none other than Valerie Tepes.
And man! Or woman in this case, what a life!
Born a Dhampir, a half vampire, half human of King Tepes, she pretty much had the typical princess life of being trapped in a castle, facing boredom fulltime when her childhood friend Gaspar wasn´t around.
---Until her Sacred Gear, [Sepiroth Graal] manifested.
It came forth when she was helping Gaspar escape his abused fate at the Vladi Family, immediately turning into an artifact so absurdly broken it could heal fatal wounds, create new life, and even mess with souls themselves.
A literal miracle machine in the palm of her hand... soul.
Her days were never particularly great, and after this event, they definitely wouldn't get any better.
Naturally, that meant that despite being a so called stain of existence(cuz' dhampir bad, and vampire good), King Tepes put her to work to boost his faction's power.
The issue was, all that power kinda put cracks in her soul and made her turn into a supernatural Schizo.
Well, not really, but overuse contaminated Valerie's mind, so she ended up walking around chatting with souls of the dead from another realm using some kind of indecipherable language before slipping into a coma.
Simply put, [Sephiroth Graal] is a golden grail that came in contact with the blood of J-Dog, of The Bible, J.Christ. which allows the possess to come into contact with the principles of life itself.
The possessor in turn, has the info of concepts relating to life, death, souls, and magic forcefully burned into their brain everytime the use [Sephiroth Graal], which breaks the soul, mind, and heart of the user with eventual overuse.
Which then caused her 'caretakers', and I use that term in the loosest way possible, to lock her in an even lonelier castle, not unlike a S*dney Princess.
And then I just....
-swipe!-
Ahem. Yeah. I did.
Where did she go? Uh, I dunno.
Thing is, though? My little intervention changed our little metaphorical chess board.
She was supposed have her Sacred Gear used by the bad guys to do bad things, but to hell with that!
The villains of DxD are all busted already! If they can't even win with all of those abilities, then I doubt that taking Valerie away from them will hurt them any more than their existence already does.
And it wasn't even part of some grand plan!
Years ago, right after Rias ran into Kiba, I made a trip to Romania in order to learn some witchcraft from the covens there, and wouldn't you know it, I stumbled into a mess with Rias and Grayfia, who were busy hauling Gaspar around.
So here we are, me and Rias, right in front of each other, eye-to-eye, and each one of us holding a Sacred Gear holding Dhampir in our hands.
So... The Tepes faction have been freaking out for a few years now...
But don't worry about that, that... isn't too important right now.
So, focus your eyes here: a villainous-looking prince, dressed royally, descending into an open hall like he owns the place.
He was roguishly handsome with short glossy black hair, piercing red eyes, and a healthy complexion and tall and lean musculature.
Hai, it's me-desu~! ;p
(A/N: diesfromcringe.jpeg)
Allright, I'm sorry. I won't do it again.
Yes, it's me.
I stood before Valerie's glass coffin, gazing down at her with all the longing of a S*dney Prince, and then, oh yes, I began to sing.
That's right, I'm not actually sorry.
-
"Now that I've found you, hear what I have to say~"
"One song, I have but one song~"
"One song only for you~"
"One heart tenderly beating~"
"Ever entreating, constant and true~"
"One love that has possessed me~"
"One love thrilling me through~"
"One song my heart keeps singing~"
"Of one love, only for you~"
-
It was "One S*ng.", the song the prince sung twice to the sleeping princess who bite the poisonous apple, Snow Whi---ahem, Blizzard Caucasian?
As the last note hung in the air, I turned dramatically, gesturing at myself.
How did I learn to do this?
---Practice.
Trust me. I didn't use [Hypnosis] for something as easy and silly as this.
It was all for my debut into proper society in the following weeks.
I was deciding on whether or not I should either become a Idol Singer, an Actor, or an Athlete.
Either way, it's all good for me.
And so there I was, standing before Valerie Tepes' coffin, ready to kiss a soul awake, caught somewhere between canon and my own ridiculous detour.
But hey. That's just how weekends are in my life.
"Now..." I lifted the coffin as I placed my hand on Valerie's heart
[Body Modification]
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-??? Inside Valerie Tepes?-
---Silence.
That's the first thing I noticed after I activated [Body Manipulation].
The silence reminded me of when I went out with friends in my previous life in the woods, and how it was so quiet that my own ears felt like they were ringing.
And, no. It's not tinnitus.
The pitch-black void around me wasn't exactly unfamiliar.
This was where the trickier side of [Body Manipulation] led, after I used the [Spirit Organ] to go deeper into the flesh, and into the soul where I could also tamper with.
And in front of me floated a life-like, three-dimensional model of Valerie Tepes.
Her body seemed whole, perfectly sculpted… but her soul? Now that was another story.
I wasn't here to sculpt or reshape her physically.
I was here to fix what had been broken.
I'm gonna fix her.
Valerie's soul was like a sea of shattered glass. Fragments glittered everywhere, reflecting countless broken selves, countless moments where her essence had been pushed past its limits.
And with every step I took/floated? Well, it felt like wading through razor-thin shards.
All because of that Sacred Gear, that turned Valerie into a living supernatural battery for others.
Don't even get me started on all of the abilities that [Sephiroth Graal] has, like controlling souls, reviving Evil Dragons, healing wounds from forbidden spells, restoring others to peak performance(Vasco), removing racial weakness allowing Vampires to become True Immortals, and even mass mental influence especially of those of Christian Faith...
It even managed to take data from Boosted Gear and created pretty darn strong Scale Mail clones...
At the cost of getting permanently hit with a sanity debuff that's basically the special ability of a certain stronger Jujutsu Sorceror with white hair and blue eyes...
And now I was standing inside the spiritual wreckage it left behind.
"Damn…" I muttered, feeling the weight of it all. "This is more messed up than I thought."
-whirrrrrr-!-
Every time I tried to stitch her soul back together, [Sephiroth Graal]'s aura surged, turning into a suffocating pressure that clawed at me, threatening to pull me apart.
But I kept moving.
I pushed [Light Power] through every fiber of my spirit, as I did my best to repair whatever damage was done to my soul, letting it burn away the dark fog and crushing weight knawing at my soul.
-shine-!-
And after a while, it purified me, kept me tethered when the pressure wanted to scatter my mind into dust.
And then, I did it again. And again.
And again.
I did it repeatedly until I finally saw her.
---Valerie Tepes.
Not her physical body, but her soul. She stood at the center of this fractured world, barefoot on broken glass, a faint white gown clinging to her frame.
Her long blonde hair drifted as though underwater, and her crimson eyes were closed, as if even here she was trapped in an endless sleep.
I exhaled, steadying myself before stepping forward.
"Hey." I poked her. "I'm the guy pulling you out of this nightmare."
"But before I do..." Magic swirled around my wounds as I made a big show of it for Valerie to see.
[Hypnosis]
"Do you mind listening to me...?"
"Yes..?"
Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, uncertain. And those blank red eyes of hers met mine.
"Alright, Valerie. Right now, I'm showing you a healing spell. So deep within your subconciousness that uses [Sephiroth Graal], you will create a similar spell that loops non-stop 'till it becomes a near infinite self-healing spell in your head, okay?"
They say that good artist copy, but great artists steal, so I'll have you rob two shounen series.
One about a funky series about cursed spirits, and another about a very unlucky boy with a special hand who meets a loli nun with a lot on her mind.
Literally.
"Alright."
"Also, and you're gonna help me etch a nifty little skill that lets you memorize and compile knowledge of all different kinds. There probably will be people after what's in your head, so you gotta do it properly so you can keep it and yourself safe, okay?
"---Like an INDEX of sorts, if you will."
"Okay. I can do that."
"Good girl."
"Well, that's it!" I cheered. "My name is Daichi Michinaga! Nice to meet you!"
"Uh, hello? I'm Valerie Tepes," She whispered faintly, but polite. "It's nice to meet you too."
"Glad to hear it," I said. "As I said previously, your long nap's over now. You've got someone waiting for you."
"Who?"
"A sad crossdressing dhampir boy who misses his sister very much."
She blinked. "Gaspar…?"
"Yeah. That he's been one hell of a sad boy without you, but he'll be getting stronger as time passes." I chuckled, patting her head. "Oh, and don't worry, I'll make a man out of him soon enough."
Hearing those words, her lips curved into the faintest smile. "Thank you."
"Save the thanks for when you're fully awake," I told her, extending my hand. "Oh, and by the way, I'm gonna wake you up with a kiss, is that okay with you?"
Suprisingly, despite having a broken soul and emotions shattered into dust, she still smiled faintly as she heard my words, and then slowly reached out.
"Like a prince? Hehe. I don't know what that has to do with it, but sure."
And as her cold fingers touched mine, I saw the sea of fractured glass representing her soul crumble away as light pour in, swallowing us whole.
-woooom!-
-dxd-
My eyes snapped open.
The real world returned, and I inhaled and exhaled furiously like a bodybuilder on a 10 mile run.
"Well, here's to a new life."
Slowly, I stepped forward.
I leaned in slowly. For once, no jokes. No chuuni flair. Just me.
Then, with a careful inhale, I pressed my lips gently against hers.
I used [Worthless] to target the mass of info, spells, and knowledge that fractured Valerie's soul and basically 'push' them back so that once [Sephiroth Graal]'s abilities reactivate, [Hypnosis] will also activate, helping to create those spells and forcefully subdue the side effects on a subconcious level.
---And then she woke up.
Valerie's chest rose with a sudden inhale, her lips parting as if she were taking her first breath in centuries. Her delicate hands twitched against the silk lining of the coffin.
Valerie's ruby gaze slowly opened, unfocused at first, before settling on me.
"You." Her voice was hoarse, but alive. "---You woke me up."
"Yes." I gave a small smile. "So, you've been stuck in your room for quite some time, huh? How's the sun?"
"hehe."
It was a small fragile laugh that even with my modified senses could barely pick up.
"It's nice."
But it was enough, because Valerie Tepes was awake.
Since I was planning on helping Rias, I thought 'Why not get the time-stopping femboy dhampir to help as well'?
Naturally, I had no intentions of letting Valerie join Rias' peerage...
But if this could get Gaspar motivated...
'Hehe... Truly, I am the thinker.'
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Next Chapter: 030: Ecchi Young Man Pounds Dhampir Femboy Into Submission Infront Of His Boss And His Onee-san!
Sorry... It's actually '031: Ecchi Young Man Pounds Dhampir Femboy Into Submission And Makes Him Join The Battle!'
Sorry for the clickbait...
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Trivia Time! (Againx29!!)
Did you know(ofc)
Valerie means "to be healthy, to be strong" in Latin and Tepes means "Impaler" in Romanian
She is the first female Longinus wielder introduced in the story.
Valerie's Sephiroth Graal is the second Sacred Gear to have a subspecies in its base form, the first being Siegfried's Twice Critical.
Sephiroth Graal has many abilities, such as;
Ressurection, Soul Summoning, and Soul Control, like Evil Dragons such as Yamato no Orochi and even deceased humans like Masaomi Yaegaki in canon.
Can collect information on the Red Dragon Emperor's soul and the Boosted Gear to mass-produce Plate Mail armors.
Can Heal grevious wounds, though not on the same level as Twilight Healing.
It can remove racial weaknesses, like it did for Marius Tepes(Valerie's bro), giving him imortality, removing vampiric weaknesses like the sun etc, and regeneration close to the Phenex Clan's, to the point to which he could regen from Rias' POD.
Has the ability to restore physical youth of a living being, like Vasco getting a younger body once again.
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