chapters 146-150
C 146
I let out a sigh of relief once Belial completely disintegrated. That fight was closer than I would have liked. If Gabriel hadn't felt me across the Atlantic and come to my rescue, then I knew things would have gotten real bad.
…Unless the Ancient One pulled some kind of crazy magic out of nowhere to banish Belial back to Gehenna.
[She probably would have.]
Gabriel noticed my sour look. "You've made amazing progress so far, Layla. Don't be sad that you couldn't beat Belial on your own. No Angel has ever been able to manage that either! He was always far too slippery. If your sorcerer friends weren't here, then I have no doubt he would have gotten away again." Gabriel explained. "I'm incredibly proud of you! Michael would be amazed when I give him the news that Belial has finally been dealt with. As a former Angel turned true Demon, Belial truly was a blight upon Heaven itself!"
Gabriel's words did make me feel a bit better. Those five levels I just got would also put me one step closer towards becoming a Super Level being myself. I wanted the kind of power to slap around Demon Kings whenever I wanted. Just like Gabriel could! I knew I would get there soon enough though and shouldn't blindly rush towards power. Even if my life was a game, games were meant to be enjoyed.
[You delivered the killing blow to Belial. You have acquired a hidden reward!]
'A hidden reward? What is it?' I asked the System.
[You have earned the Title: Queen of Gehenna! The realm of Gehenna and all the souls within are yours to do with as you please…]
That sounded like the route that an Evil Overlord Gamer would hop on… That wasn't for me. I grimaced as I felt something far away trying to reach out to my very being. It felt completely foul. I suspected it was Gehenna itself trying to connect with its new 'Queen.'
Of course I rejected it!
I was a proud Fallen Angel! I had no interest in being a Queen of one of the Hells. 'I reject the Title! All the souls trapped within are free to leave.' As I thought those words, I felt the tether that was trying to bond me with Gehenna slip away.
[That's your choice as the Gamer. The Title has been discarded and all souls within the realm have been released!]
"Are you alright Layla? You were shivering just now." Gabriel asked in concern.
"I'm okay. By killing Belial, I almost became the new Queen of Gehenna. Of course, I immediately rejected the notion though and blocked the tether the realm tried to tie to me." I explained.
Gabriel frowned. "I was not aware that was even a possibility. I apologize... Had I known, I would have dealt the final blow myself."
I shrugged. "It's fine. Nothing came of it in the end."
Gabriel decided to hesitantly accept the answer. Her senses were telling her I was completely fine anyway. Gabriel glanced around as she too felt fluctuations of magic all around. "Your sorcerer friends seem to be leaving now. Why don't we get out of here as well."
I looked around and could see the majority of Sorcerers, who had come to help trap Belial, were now portaling home. The Ancient One herself was flying towards the two of us.
"This has been the most high-profile fight we Sorcerers have ever been in! I have no doubts that the majority of the world's government bodies now know about our existence…" The Ancient One said to us with a tired sigh.
When I came to her claiming I found Voldemort performing a ritual, I doubt the Ancient One suspected he was in the middle of summoning such a powerful Demon…
"The Hand has truly gone too far with this move. I now declare them official enemies of our realm and enemies of mankind itself! Belial would have caused incalculable damage had we not immediately been here to confront him." She explained.
I was also disturbed that The Hand even had such a ritual available and was willing to give it away. They would have to be dealt with soon. The Ancient One knew that I had a grudge against them, so she told me that she would give me the location of some of their outposts later as thanks.
"Soooo… Do we just leave?" I asked as I gestured all around the area awkwardly.
…
–The Ancient One–
The Ancient One looked around herself. "I too feel saddened that such a beautiful landscape was destroyed by the Demon." She knew she had just the item that could repair all the damage, but…she lacked the power needed to use it on such a large scale. Hundreds of square miles were destroyed after all.
The Ancient One reached towards her neck. The Eye of Agamotto was hanging around her neck. She knew that she didn't have enough power to utilize it to fix the landscape. One of the beings in front of her did though… "Archangel Gabriel…" The Ancient One addressed the golden Angel with some trepidation.
"Yes?" Gabriel responded with a gentle smile.
Before she could change her mind, the Ancient One unlocked the Eye of Agamotto. The infinity stone inside began to float out until it hovered above the Ancient One's palm. She was putting a tremendous amount of trust in Layla and Gabriel here. "I don't have enough power to use this stone to repair the damaged landscape around us. So I can only ask you to do so in my stead."
She laughed as Gabriel and Layla widened their eyes. "You would trust me with an Infinity Stone so casually?" Gabriel asked in genuine surprise.
…
I was blown away by the amount of trust she was showing here towards us.
"I am not so cavalier. I trust Layla, and I know neither you nor her would ever try and take the stone for yourselves." The Ancient One responded.
"Of course, we wouldn't. I know that the Time Stone is humanity's greatest weapon at the moment." I said. I could understand the Ancient One's trepidation in literally handing it over to a being of Gabriel's caliber though. I figured that must have been the reason all the other Sorcerers were immediately sent home after the fight. So they couldn't see the Ancient One doing that.
"I've never actually held one of these Stones before." Gabriel took the stone in her hand. "It's amazing…" She trailed off while looking down at it in awe.
When it touched Gabriel's bare skin, I and the Ancient One were forced to take a step back! If Gabriel felt powerful before, now she felt like an invincible force! Her golden aura was tinted green as the power rolled off her fork.
Gabriel focused her concentration on the Time Stone and commanded it to rewind the ruined landscape all around us…
XXX
C 147
"What the fuck…" Nick Fury said as he and the President watched Layla and her sister literally kill the Devil. He knew it wasn't the actual Devil, of course, but it might as well have been! Red skin, horns, goat legs…it had all of the stereotypes down to a T!
Next to him, the President was recalling the DEFCON 2 status. The President let out a long sigh. "Of course, the Devil rises up from Hell during my Presidency! I'm sure the other party will just love to use this against me in the next election if news of this ever gets out…which it will."
Fury agreed while grimacing. Those temperature fluctuations were so extreme, he had no doubt every advanced country on the planet with satellites in space had seen something of that fight. Not to mention that a fifth of Scotland was now a hellish wasteland…
"Wait, something's happening!" The President said, and Fury looked back at the screen. A massive surge of some kind of green energy started rolling across the landscape! Everywhere it touched, the landscape returned back to how it should have been!\
Fury was stunned at what he was witnessing. That was some Deus Ex Machina shit right there! "Did they just fucking turn back time!?" He exclaimed!
…
"Did you see that, Brother? That was amazing!" The overzealous genius princess of a certain hidden kingdom exclaimed. They had been watching their hidden satellite feeds of that entire battle from start to finish.
"I saw, Shuri…" Prince T'challa said with some trepidation in his voice. He was down in his sister's lab getting his new Black Panther suit refitted when the Wakandan Satellites picked up a disturbance. At first, T'Challa assumed that a nuclear blast had finally been detonated, and the rest of the world was about to kill each other. What he wasn't expecting was for the most famous supernatural being on the planet—and her sister—to be fighting what he assumed was the Devil himself.
The battle that took place was one of titanic proportions. T'Challa once assumed the nation he would one day inherit was the most powerful force on the planet. Today, he was proven wrong. Whether it was the Fallen Angel Layla, the Devil, or the Archangel Gabriel, T'challa knew that it would have only taken a single one of those beings to completely level his beloved kingdom….
"It's too bad even our satellites couldn't pick up any audio from that fight. I would have loved to know what they were saying." Shuri lamented as she spun in her chair. "I really want to go and meet the Angel. Now more than ever! Too bad mother and father won't let me." She finished with a pout.
"It is better this way, Shuri. Wakanda has never exposed itself and father doesn't want our kingdom exposed to the outside world." T'Challa said.
Shuri shrugged. "Eh, it probably already has been. You forget brother, there are a few christians in our kingdom. Not many, but some. And the number of believers has actually been growing since the Angel exposed herself to the world. If it's true that the Angels or the Christian God can hear prayers…then they would definitely know about the true Wakanda…" Shuri elaborated. Shuri herself wondered if Wakanda's own god, Bast, was even real at this point… Generations of Black Panther's claimed she was, but then again they were all pretty doped up on the purple flower whenever they claimed to see her in the spirit world.
…
In the spiritual world connected to Wakanda, a giant Black Panther goddess was shaking in anger and fear. She was angry that she was losing followers to a pantheon that had left their world over a millenia ago–and was now back. She was afraid because that pantheon was terrifyingly strong. The panther goddess knew that had it been her fighting Belial…she would have been instantly killed by the Demon. The power that the two Angel's displayed when facing him was mind boggling towards her. What was worse was that Bast knew that accursed Pantheon had numerous other beings with just as much power!
Bast knew that a meeting of the Godheads Council was going to have to be convened soon after a public battle such as that! The other Gods on Earth were already unhappy that an Angel had returned and so carelessly outed the supernatural world to the humans en masse.
…
There was a certain Pantheon that was completely unaware of the Earth shattering battle that had recently taken place. They were too busy panicking as their Head God was currently throwing a massive tantrum. A precious item of his had been stolen and he threatened to plunge the world into war unless the thief was caught and the item was properly returned to him!
"Where is my Master Bolt!" Thunder streaked across the skies of Olympus as Zeus–the King of the Olympian Gods–raged with fury! He would have his Bolt returned to him or else the world would once again know his wrath!
XXX
C 148:
The Ancient One portaled away as soon as Gabriel returned the Time Stone to her. I knew that the reason the Ancient One was always slightly hesitant with me was due to not being human. Gabriel giving the stone back with zero hesitation had definitely improved both of our reputations with the woman though.
[I've been thinking. It's good that the Ancient One did not hand you the Time Stone…]
'Why is that?' I asked the System.
[There is a possibility that the Eldritch Eye in your Sacred Gear might have tried to eat it the second it touched your skin…]
I cringed. I'd like to say that wouldn't have happened, but the Eye had been more than happy about gobbling up the Space Stone from the Zombie Universe…
"Well, that was an interesting experience." Gabriel commented as she looked around. "I'm glad that I was able to help restore such a beautiful landscape. I'll have to show Michael this place once the worlds come back together. If the system truly collapses, he'll have a lot less work to do by then at least." She said with a shrug.
"Are you leaving now?" I asked her. Gabriel was only supposed to stay a few hours at most, but she'd already been here over a day. I was very thankful for that, of course. Gabriel's impromptu vacation was what ended up saving me.
Gabriel looked depressed. "Yes. I've been away for too long. Michael is probably crying over all the backed-up paperwork. I need to be a good sister and go help him." Gabriel sighed as she spread her arms wide towards me. "One last hug before I go?"
Gabriel and I hugged goodbye. "I'll see you later then. Take care." I said. I opened a portal to send Gabriel back to Earth DxD's heaven.
"I suppose that I might as well head home now too." I muttered out loud as I opened up another portal back to my New York penthouse. Before I could step through though, I heard a boom directly above me in the sky. I looked up and saw a familiar rainbow light descending towards the ground.
The Bifrost slammed down onto the ground nearby! The bright rainbow light died down, and I raised an eyebrow when I saw who had arrived. It was Sif. She was fully donned in a new set of Golden Armor, and her sword was already drawn.
"Layla! My love! I am here to aid you in glorious battle!" Sif declared as she brandished her sword and held it high in the air. "Come, Demon! I shall slay you where you stand!" Sif rapidly looked around the area for the enemy Heimdall probably told her I was facing. She frowned when she didn't see the Demon anywhere. She was a tad bit late…
"You're a bit late for the fight Sif…" I said. "Gabriel and I killed him a few minutes ago. I was just heading home, actually." I said as I gestured to the still open portal next to me…
Sif sheathed her sword and blushed in embarrassment. "I went out of my way to make a heroic entrance and everything to impress Layla, and it was all for naught…" Sif mumbled quietly to herself. I heard everything of course. She turned towards the heavens and scowled. "Damn you, Heimdall! You should have told me the battle was over before you sent me down here!" She yelled while shaking her fist at the sky angrily.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Come on, I just had a crazy battle and now I just want to relax." I said and started walking towards my portal.
…
"Miss Layla! You're back! Oh, and Lady Sif is as well!" Asia said excitedly as Sif and I stepped through the portal. Akeno and Asia were sitting on her couch watching TV. Natasha wasn't in the penthouse though. I wondered if she'd left.
Akeno was frowning at me. "It's about time you came back! In case you forgot, neither Asia nor I have any money here and we're starving! You've been gone for hours!"
"Oh…" I felt bad about that. It completely slipped my mind. 'Now that I think about it, I wonder how Gabriel managed to go around for an entire day with no money either…'
[She's Gabriel…people probably just gave her free shit as soon as they laid eyes on her…]
That's true.
"Layla! If you've taken in two charges, then it's only proper for you to provide them with an allowance." Sif admonished me.
"I'm sorry, you two." I said to Akeno and Asia. I reached into my inventory and pulled out whatever random cash was inside. "Here's…" I took a second to count the money with [Observe], "14,734 dollars… Split that between the two of you until I get your identities here set up. Then you'll both have your own bank accounts and credit cards." I said. I was thankful that I would probably never be hurting for money again at least. Not with my inventory still full of plundered asgardian gold.
Akeno looked at the wads of cash with surprise and Asia was just stuttering speechlessly as she held more money than she'd ever seen before. Akeno took half of the money and quickly put it in her own magical storage space. "At least you're more accommodating than Rias was..."
"Her family was filthy rich though. She didn't give you money?" I asked.
Akeno scoffed. "They were rich, but she didn't get a lot of money from them because they didn't approve of her being in the human world. Most of the money we also got was spent on her growing anime merchandise collection. On top of that, Kuoh wasn't a community swimming in money so the people we mainly formed contracts with were usually broke as well."
The more you know, I guess…
I turned towards Asia who was looking at her pile of cash awkwardly. She didn't know any storage magic… She didn't know any magic at all now that I thought about it.
Thankfully, Sif came to the rescue. She pulled out a small gold ring. "Here you go, young Asia. In Asgard, many people need a way to carry bulk items but the society looks down on magic. Therefore, we buy these storage rings from the Vanir. I don't use it because I have been practicing my own storage magic more often. You may keep it as a gift."
"Asgardians look down on magic, but they still buy magic rings from the Light Elves?" I asked as Asia took the ring from Sif and slipped it on. Asia looked utterly delighted to receive a 'present.' She even had some budding happy tears in her eyes.
Sif shook her head with a sigh. "No one ever claimed Asgard's warriors were the brightest in the universe…"
XXX
C 149
As we were all talking, I heard the elevator to my penthouse arrive on my floor. It opened up and inside was Natasha. "I'm back, girls." She said as she walked in. "Sorry i had to take a call outside, the cell reception in this place isn't that great–" Natasha froze when she saw me and Sif. She slipped her communicator into her pocket and marched up to me with a scowl. "What the hell, Layla!? You just completely took me out of the fight back there!"
"I'm sorry, Nata–"
"And who are you to talk to Layla that way!?" Sif jumped in front of me and cut me off...
"I'm Natasha Romanoff! Layla and I are together, so you can butt out. Whoever you are…" Natasha replied to Sif.
"Well, I am also Layla's lover! I am the Goddess Sif of Asgard!" Sif replied herself.
I watched from the side as the two women registered what each other had just said. Both of my lovers glared at each other before they turned to me.
Uh oh…
[I wish I could eat food. I'd love some popcorn right about now… Good luck Host!]
"Layla! How could you be with such a brazen woman as this that disrespects you so!?" Sif asked while pointing at Natasha.
"Excuse me!? I'm wondering why she would bother with a woman like you who speaks for her and doesnt even give her the time to respond to me!" Natasha spat back.
"I have done no such thing! Tell her, Layla!" Sif claimed indignantly.
"Well actually–" I started to speak but got cut off.
"You've already cut her off twice so far! It was rude!" Natasha said while interrupting me.
"Oh yeah? Well, I'll have you know that…"
…
I walked over towards Akeno and Asia who had taken a seat on the couch and were watching this spectacle play out. I took a seat on the couch next to the two of them as Sif and Natasha continued to throw passive aggressive jabs at each other.
"Um...Miss Layla. Shouldn't you stop them?" Asia asked while looking towards the bickering women with concern.
"Ara. I underestimated you, Aunt Layla. To think you were capable of two timing such beautiful ladies." Akeno smirked at me.
[Technically it's four timing at this point, but who's counting?]
"Welcome to the wonderful world of having a harem. Sometimes your lovers get along great, and sometimes they don't…" I trailed off and was thankful that at least the two of them weren't physically fighting.
"LOVERS!?" Asia asked in shock with a bright red face.
"Ufufu!"
I reached into my inventory and pulled out my phone. I handed it to Akeno. "Go ahead and order a bunch of food. Let's have a celebratory feast! Get whatever you want." I told her. I stood back up and with a sigh, I walked back over towards Sif and Natasha. "This might take a while…" I muttered.
–An hour and a half later–
"Food's here!" Akeno called out from the kitchen and I actually thanked my dead father for the timely intervention! These two had been bickering longer than I had thought possible! Thankfully, they both seemed to be wearing down as time went on and I could hear both of their stomachs growling at this point. I made my way towards the kitchen.
Akeno certainly didn't order frugally. I saw a whole spread of pizzas, wings, ribs, and… "Did you also order Filet Mignon, Akeno?" I asked in surprise.
"Ufufu! You bet I did!" Akeno grinned as she cut into her $200 steak. "The food at the Grigori HQ was alright, but nothing quite beats a Wagyu steak!" Akeno took another bite and moaned.
"Thank you, God, for this incredible feast before us." Asia prayed quickly before she started digging in as well with no hesitation. "I've never been part of a feast before!" Her plate was piled half a foot high with all kinds of food. I'd have to remind Akeno later that Asia was still a human and could still get fat if she ate too much. I wouldn't say anything during Asia's first feast though.
Now that both Natasha and Sif had some food in them, they had calmed down. I was very thankful for that.
"So you're Natasha..." Sif asked as she not so subtly inspected my redheaded lover across the table.
"And you're Sif…" Natasha did the same.
"...You've got some fire in you." Sif complemented her.
"...I could say the same about you." Natasha replied. "I can see why Layla likes you."
"I could say the same as well." Sif grinned back. The two of them locked eyes with each other and came to some kind of non verbal agreement that i wasn't a part of. I let out a sigh of relief now that they were at least being cordial with each other.
"So what are we celebrating with all this food, Miss Layla?" Asia asked me in between bites. "Is today some holiday that I don't know about?" Akeno looked inquisitive as well.
"Nothing too special," I said with a sly grin. "I just killed the King of Gehenna today. He was a Super Level Demon."
""EEEEEEEeeeeehhhhhh!"" Asia and Akeno exclaimed at the same time!
Natasha stopped her conversation with Sif to speak to me. "Oh right. Fury really wants to know everything about that fight. He's especially interested in whatever that green magic was that completely repaired all the damage afterwards."
"You can tell him to give me a call tomorrow. Tonight we're just going to celebrate!"
"Wonderful! Now where do you keep your mead, Layla?" Sif said excitedly while standing up. "I shall fetch us all a mug to make a toast!"
"Um, Sif… Mead isn't really popular on midgard anymore. Hardly anyone actually drinks it anymore." I replied.
Sif slumped back down and looked devastated to hear that. "TELL ME IT ISN'T SO!"
XXX
C 150
After eating tons of delicious food and marathoning a few movies, with everyone, the fun night ended. I headed back towards my own room alone. I was too mentally drained for any other 'activities' tonight, so Sif and Natasha were staying in the guest rooms.
I reflected on that recent battle and realized that I needed more abilities for versatility. I wasn't sure how to go about that though.
"System? Is there any way I can get stronger? Or maybe just get new abilities? Maybe a System Shop or something." I asked as I flopped down onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.
[I'm not the type of Gamer System that comes with a shop… but there is a way for you to gain new abilities quickly.]
I sat back up in excitement. "And what would that be!?"
[Trading for them with other gamers.]
Other Gamers? I know they existed, but I've never actually interacted with another one. "And how would I do that?" Was there some kind of Gamer hub that I was unaware of til this point.
[There's no hub. Well…There used to be, but it got destroyed too many times and people got tired of rebuilding it. You wouldn't actually have to do the trade personally. I can interact with other Systems on my own and facilitate any trades you and another Gamer agree on.]
"That sounds pretty cool. You just contact another System and it tells their Gamer that I want to make a trade?"
[Yes. You'd have to know what you want though. Ideally most Gamer's would only trade for something not available in their own universe.]
"Like what?"
[Things like iconic weapons, powerful magic relics, or the occasional Waifu…]
"Wait!? What was that last one!?" I asked with a frown.
[Waifus… Those tend to be pretty popular to trade.]
"So slavery then." I confirmed. Why was I not really surprised? Give some Gamers their own multiverses and unlimited power and of course they start a slave trade of their favorite Waifu's with each other.
[Yeah… A lot of Gamer's don't see other people as anything but NPCs.]
"I'll just trade with another female gamer then." I decided out loud.
[Statistically, the Waifu trade is made up of about 97% of male Gamers.]
"Great, then." Now I just needed to think about what ability I could get that would quickly grant me a huge power up? Seeing Belial turn into a massive giant actually had me getting slightly jealous. "Hmmm, I've got it! System, are there any female gamers in a Naruto multiverse?" I asked. I wanted a Rinnegan! Chakra existed here as well, so I'd be able to use all of its abilities.
[There is exactly one female Gamer currently in her own Naruto multiverse. She's pretty strong, but she hasn't yet reached the peak. She might be willing to trade. It can't hurt to ask at least. I'll let you know when they respond.]
I thanked the System and slumped back down on my bed. I was going to close my eyes and go to sleep when I felt something strange echo above me.
BOOM! CRACK!
"That's weird…" I said as I looked out the window. A thunderstorm had manifested in the skies completely out of nowhere. I left my bedroom and headed back towards my living room to get a better look. To my surprise, Akeno was already there and was looking out the large windows as well. Her back was towards me.
"You alright Akeno?" I called out to her in concern.
Akeno turned to me and grimaced. "This is divine thunder. It's not natural. For a moment I thought it was my father causing it. It's not."
"Do you miss him?" I asked teasingly. I hadn't realized the father daughter combo had reconciled that much yet.
Akeno blushed a bit and then scoffed. "As if. Who would miss that wet blanket? I was just curious about the sudden thunderstorm."
CRACK!
A massive bolt of thunder shot across the sky. My glass windows vibrated from the shockwave. I had no doubt that people who lived closer to that one probably just had all their windows blown out. Was this Thor? No, I still had a copy of Mjolnir in my inventory and it wasn't reacting to any of this lighting at all. It wasn't Thor. Akeno also said this was divine lighting which meant it probably wasn't Storm from the X-men either. Not that I had even met any of the mutants yet.
"This lighting feels angry. But it doesn't feel like proper rage." Akeno said as she looked up. She called forth a small amount of her own divine lighting into her hand. "This is what hatred feels like." When I focused my senses on the lighting in her hand, I could almost feel Akeno's emotions in it. Her own lighting felt furious! "This is the hatred I feel towards my mothers clan!" She explained with loathing. She clenched her fist and her lightning dispersed. "Whoever is causing this storm doesn't feel actual hatred. What they are doing is currently throwing a tantrum…" She finished with a scoff. Akeno turned around and headed back towards her bedroom. The display of power going on outside was impressive, but the reason for it was apparently pathetic.
'A God of Thunder who is fond of throwing tantrums?' I wondered as I too headed back towards my room. Something was telling me that this event wouldn't be a one time thing.
XXX