"Is it over?"
Rias stopped in front of the abandoned old church.
The church belonged to the Church's territory.
Although this place had been abandoned, Rias would not approach it unless absolutely necessary.
But this time was a necessary situation.
Her gaze swept around the church, and finding nothing, Rias looked upward.
In her gaze, a young man with two pairs of black wings on his back slowly descended from the sky.
"Cain, this look of yours..."
"An unexpected gain while cleaning up the Fallen Angels."
With a thought from Cain, another pair of black wings like a bat's grew from his waist.
Seeing this scene, Rias understood.
Cain didn't just have the fallen angel bloodline.
Instead, just like devouring the devil chess pieces, he had obtained the fallen angel bloodline using a similar method.
As for what that method was...
Glancing at the abnormally silent abandoned old church, and combining it with the intelligence Kiba Yuuto had provided not long ago.
A shocking conjecture rose in Rias's mind.
"Cain, you couldn't have... those Fallen Angels..."
Rias didn't finish her sentence, but Cain also knew what she wanted to ask, so he nodded.
"Don't worry, I didn't eat them raw."
"..."
Is that the point?!
Rias hesitated to speak, feeling that Cain's focus was a bit strange.
"Ara ara, possessing both Devil Bloodline and fallen angel bloodline at the same time, what a terrifying ability."
Himejima Akeno's voice came from behind.
Because their strength was somewhat inferior, she, Kiba Yuuto, and the others arrived at the scene a step later than Rias.
Although she missed the explanation, just by looking at Cain's current appearance, she could understand what had happened.
"Is this the legendary Red Dragon Emperor?"
Kiba Yuuto subconsciously tensed his body; he could feel an extremely dangerous aura from Cain.
It was like an ant facing a giant; to avoid being stepped to death when the other party walked, he needed to remain vigilant at all times.
Seemingly noticing his condition, Cain retracted the wings on his back with a thought, and his aura was pulled back into his body.
"No need to be nervous, I have no ill will toward you."
"...Hello, I am Kiba Yuuto."
Kiba Yuuto suppressed the negative emotions rising in his heart and nodded slightly to greet Cain.
After the two had greeted each other, Rias's voice sounded: "Cain, can you explain what happened here? Why did you get into a fight with the Fallen Angels?"
"To be precise, the Fallen Angels made the first move; I was just forced to fight back." Cain threw the blame back and explained the course of events along the way.
After listening, Rias and the others looked at each other with inexplicably complicated moods, not knowing what to say for a moment.
If Cain wasn't lying, then it was indeed the Fallen Angels' fault first, as they had made the first move.
However to kill the perpetrator as well as all of the opponent's companions...
Considering Cain's ability to grow stronger by devouring corpses, it was hard for Rias not to suspect that this was intentional.
Various conspiracy theories rose in Rias's mind, but in the end, she said nothing and only nodded.
"I probably understand the course of events. Leave the clean-up work to me; I'll handle it."
On one side were the Fallen Angels they fought to the death, and on the other was the Red Dragon Emperor, who was powerful and with whom they had common interests.
Even a fool would know which side to help.
Taking over the aftermath work, Rias took out a wooden box engraved with a Magic Array from her bosom.
"Cain, this is for you."
"devil chess pieces?"
Cain opened the wooden box, and thirteen devil chess pieces, including the Queen piece, came into view.
Counting the two Pawn pieces he ate yesterday, it was exactly one complete set of devil chess pieces.
"These were sent by my brother and the Satan Beelzebub not long ago; they asked me to hand them over to you."
Rias explained the source of the devil chess pieces.
Cain nodded slightly, not too surprised.
As the cornerstone for the continuation of Devils, the production quantity of devil chess pieces was very limited.
That Rias could take out a set of devil chess pieces to give him, the only explanation was a gesture of goodwill from the Satans.
Accepting the goodwill, Cain summoned the Mist with a thought and devoured all these devil chess pieces, which turned into strengthening energy and Devil Bloodline that fed back into his body.
The increase from the strengthening energy was negligible for Cain, but the purity of the Devil Bloodline was significantly improved.
In terms of quality, it had already surpassed the bloodline representing the four-winged Fallen Angel and was second only to the Dragon Bloodline.
Of course, there wasn't much difference between the two for Cain.
His own strength was too great.
In game terms, his panel's base attributes were as high as tens of thousands, and low-concentration bloodlines that only added a few hundred points of attributes were optional for his strengthening.
To significantly increase his strength, he either needed to further increase the concentration of the Devil Bloodline and fallen angel bloodline to bring enough numerical bonuses, or have enough mechanics like the boosted gear.
However, having them was better than not, and having more bloodlines also allowed him to obtain some bloodline talents, such as the fallen angel bloodline's control over light power and the Devil Bloodline's magic power enhancement.
Feeling the total amount of magic power increasing within him, Cain retracted the aura on his body's surface and looked at Rias.
"Tell your brother and the Satan Beelzebub for me that I like their gift very much."
"That's good."
A smile appeared on Rias's face.
After seeing the way Cain obtained the fallen angel bloodline, even she understood how terrifying Cain's potential was.
Being able to befriend him with a box of devil chess pieces was definitely not a loss for the Devils.
After that, Rias had Kiba Yuuto create a magic sword to let Cain test the effect.
But unfortunately, it failed this time.
Kiba Yuuto's Sword Birth, in essence, uses the power of a Sacred Gear to replicate the effects of a demonic sword through magical energy. It isn't creating a demonic sword out of nothing.
In this situation, devouring Kiba Yuuto's demonic sword was equivalent to eating a clump of magical energy; it was only natural that it failed.
Both Cain and Rias had anticipated this result, so they weren't overly disappointed.
After chatting for a while, Cain left the cleanup work to Rias and returned home.
"Huh? Didn't you say you'd be out all night? Why are you back so early?"
Kuroka, who was lazily lying on the sofa playing with her phone, tilted her head with a look of confusion on her face.
"I said I might be back late today while testing my abilities. Don't go adding lines to my script without permission."
"So, are you finished with the testing, Nyaa?"
"Pretty much. I've figured out the general effects of the new ability. Next is further development."
Cain sat down on the other side and began organizing his gains.
Excluding the devil chess pieces he tried yesterday, today he had devoured a Sacred Gear, a Fallen Angel's corpse, and the corpses of Church members.
Combining this with the failed attempt on the forged demonic sword, Cain vaguely realized the Mist's criteria for judging 'food'.
Items or bloodlines possessing supernatural power.
However, there was another question: why didn't he sense the aroma of food from Rias?
As a pure-blooded devil, her bloodline absolutely met the Mist's criteria.
Furthermore, the same applied to those Fallen Angels.
It was very strange that he hadn't sensed much while they were alive, yet they emitted the aroma of food after death.
"Why do you look so serious?"
A black tail brushed against Cain's arm.
Kuroka had leaned in close to Cain at some point, her arms around his neck and her cheek pressed against his.
"If you have any troubles, you can tell me, Nyaa."
"It's not exactly a trouble."
Cain didn't hide anything and told her about the Mist's strange criteria.
After listening, Kuroka tilted her head. "Is it possible that it's influenced by you, Cain?"
Cain was puzzled. "My influence? What do you mean?"
Kuroka raised her hand and summoned a cloud of white Mist. "Look, this is ordinary smoke used to block vision. But as long as I activate Senjutsu to change its structure, it can become a lethal poison Mist specifically for devils. By extension, I can also make it a poison Mist for Fallen Angels or humans."
The white cloud in Kuroka's hand shifted, sometimes turning green and sometimes pink. During this process, the aura of the Mist constantly changed as well.
"Ultimately, abilities are controlled by their master. According to what you said, that gluttonous Mist isn't Ddraig's power, but your own talent, Cain."
"If that's the case, could it be that you subconsciously refuse to eat living people, but don't mind recycling dead corpses? That would create such a contradictory situation."
"Influenced by me?"
Cain rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
He had to admit that the answer Kuroka provided was very interesting, and the logic indeed held up.
But all of this was based on one premise, that the Mist from the Mist Plaza was his innate talent.
So, was the answer 'yes' or 'no'?
"I don't know."
A high-quality response surfaced in Cain's mind.
The idea that the Mist was an innate talent was something he had made up on the spot to fool Ddraig, and it subsequently became the explanation he gave to Rias and the others.
In reality, he still knew nothing about the Mist, nothing about the Mist Plaza residing deep within his soul, and he didn't even have a way to investigate it.
However, that didn't mean Kuroka's explanation was worthless; perhaps it was a direction to explore.
The reason he had casually fabricated might not necessarily be impossible; it just required a bit more exploration.
"Thanks, Kuroka."
Looking at the cat-eared girl before him, a smile appeared on Cain's face. "I'm truly impressed. I didn't expect you to be useful occasionally."
"Hey! What do you mean 'occasionally'!" Kuroka was very dissatisfied with this response. "I've helped you plenty before! Don't forget who taught you Senjutsu! It was me, Nyaa!"
Cain nodded slightly. "You're right. So it's time to teach me Senjutsu. Let's continue from where we left off yesterday."
Kuroka puffed out her cheeks. "Don't change the subject! Apologize quickly, or I'll get angry, Nyaa!"
Cain raised a finger and poked Kuroka's puffed-out cheek, deflating it. "I'll treat you to a feast tonight."
Kuroka's eyes lit up. "Deal!"
...
"Thanks."
"Hmm? Why the sudden thanks?"
Chef Cain scratched his head in confusion.
In his memory, he hadn't helped DXD Cain much; on the contrary, he had gained many conveniences by relying on the other's power.
"Your culinary skills are very useful."
DXD Cain's explanation came through.
Following that, a series of agreement voices rang out.
"Indeed."
"+1."
"Can't argue with that."
Led by DanMachi Cain, the various Cains nodded one after another, giving a thumbs up to DXD Cain's statement.
As his power continued to grow, Chef Cain's culinary skills were also constantly iterating and updating.
Integrating swordsmanship into cooking, integrating magic into cooking, integrating Senjutsu into cooking...
Utilizing the supernatural powers he possessed, Chef Cain continuously innovated, digging out the potential of ingredients to the extreme and upgrading the method of infusing one's heart into the cuisine.
If DanMachi Cain had chosen 'Luck' as his first developmental ability when breaking through from Level 1 to Level 2, he would have increased by at least 2 to 3 levels by now.
With this level of culinary skill, whether it could be used in battle was one thing, but at least in daily life, he wouldn't be mistreating his stomach.
"You guys suddenly praising me like this makes me a bit uncomfortable." Chef Cain scratched his head and gave a simple smile. "How about you all call me 'Godfather'? That way I'll have more motivation."
"Get out." DXD Cain flicked his finger, and a gust of wind blew Chef Cain far away.
This was no longer an ordinary Cain; he had to be struck down with a heavy fist.
After dealing with Chef Cain, DXD Cain ended the topic he had started and looked toward the others.
"Regarding the Mist, what do you all think?"
"Are you referring to the theory that the Mist is our talent? I think it's possible," Demon Slayer Cain replied.
"+1," Prince of Tennis Cain echoed.
"I actually think the possibility of the Mist being an innate talent isn't high. How could there be such an uncontrollable talent?" One-Punch Cain expressed a different view.
Drawing everyone's gaze toward him, One-Punch Cain continued, "Rather than an innate talent, I think the Mist Plaza is more like an artifact or a tool. For some unknown reason, we became the masters of this tool, which is why we can freely control the Mist here."
"That also sounds quite reasonable," Demon Slayer Cain nodded thoughtfully.
"+1," Prince of Tennis Cain echoed again.
"You two freeloaders, get lost." DanMachi Cain shooed away Demon Slayer Cain and Prince of Tennis Cain and took up the topic.
"Actually, whether the Mist Plaza is an innate talent or a Sacred Gear-like artifact isn't important. I think what's truly important is how to utilize the Mist here."
"From the changes in the boosted gear, we can see that this Mist possesses the power of devouring and feedback. If we can utilize it, everyone's growth speed will increase."
"I agree with that, but the problem is we haven't found a second way to mobilize the Mist." DXD Cain raised his hand, gathering the surrounding Mist into his palm.
The Mist of the Mist Plaza was a versatile power.
Here, they could freely create items with the Mist like omnipotent gods, possessing great power.
But as soon as they left the Mist Plaza, everything brought by the Mist would dissipate as if it never existed.
Up until now, DXD Cain, the only one who had successfully obtained the Mist's power, had done so by using the boosted gear as a transit station to indirectly bring it out.
And on this point, DanMachi Cain and One-Punch Cain were equally well aware.
After a brief silence, One-Punch Cain broke the quiet.
"I remember that Sacred Gears in the DXD World possess the ability to constantly evolve using the host's will as fuel. Could that be the reason why the boosted gear can carry the Mist?"
"It's possible." A look of contemplation appeared on DXD Cain's face. "Perhaps my next focus can be on the manufacturing methods of Sacred Gears. If I can understand the principles of Sacred Gears, maybe I can find a way to utilize the Mist."
"Then I'll leave it to you," One-Punch Cain said.
Although he had one punch man as a safety net, the One-Punch man world was still too dangerous; anything could happen.
In order to gain the ability to protect himself, he could be said to be the one among those present who craved the Mist's power the most.
"Speaking of which, has your Monster physique met the conditions for replication?" After finishing the discussion about the Mist, One-Punch Cain looked toward DanMachi Cain and asked.
DanMachi Cain nodded. "I'm planning to start trying after I go back. You guys can look forward to it."
Perhaps because his talents had also been stacked, or perhaps he received a boost from the 'Returning to One'.
In the case of learning only a single Senjutsu, DXD Cain quickly mastered the Senjutsu for healing the soul.
And through the sharing just now, DanMachi Cain also mastered soul Senjutsu.
Combined with his research over these past few days, he already had the conditions to replicate the Monster physique.
After bidding farewell to DXD Cain and the others, DanMachi Cain left the Mist Plaza, and his consciousness returned to reality.
...
DanMachi World, Night.
Airmid, who had just finished work, arrived at the Hestia Familia.
Because she had been coming frequently lately, the guard at the main gate easily let her through.
Heading all the way to the backyard, Airmid saw Cain and Filvis as usual.
However, compared to before, Ryuu and Haruhime were also present today, and even Hestia was nearby.
"Why are there so many people?"
A look of confusion appeared on Airmid's face.
"I'm preparing to try replicating the Monster physique."
Cain didn't hide it and replied truthfully.
After hearing his words, the confusion on Airmid's face grew even stronger. "Why so sudden? Do you have a way to solve the soul connection and soul damage?"
"Yeah, I've already settled it." Cain mobilized the magical energy in his body and demonstrated the soul Senjutsu to Airmid.
"You really have quite a lot of abilities on you." After watching, Airmid's lips twitched, her expression somewhat subtle.
During these days of researching Filvis with Cain, she had not only gained a sufficient understanding of the Monster physique but also a certain understanding of Cain's abilities.
Counting this soul Senjutsu, the magic he mastered was already more than three, which didn't seem like a normal situation no matter how you looked at it.
However, Airmid wasn't someone with excessive curiosity. Once she confirmed that Cain had enough ability to handle the situation, her expression turned serious as she asked, "When do we start?"
"As soon as Lili brings the experimental materials, we'll begin."
"Experimental materials?"
"Yeah, you know how dangerous the Monster physique modification is. You didn't think I'd start by operating on myself, did you?" Cain replied with a matter-of-fact expression.
He valued his life very much.
How could he possibly do something so reckless?
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.