บท 3: Even The Little Ones Are Brutal.
Vander closed his eyes after having exhausted his energy with dealing with both Ripper and Daisy. They were both much harder to deal with than he expected at the start. The soul connection he had to both of them was much deeper than the start, but he was nowhere closer to getting their respect.
They were only two out of 10 familiars and he had barely managed to gain some trust with them. He sighed as his familiars were actually stronger than he expected as each one was magical in nature.
"Don't take it to heart. Not just anyone is lucky like you."
He looked next to him where Koneko was still eating.
"If by lucky you mean being soul bonded to 10 blood-thirsty beasts that want nothing more than to eat everyone around me. I am very lucky, to be honest as I have not minded it much. I still want to get them to accept me."
She nodded.
"I am sure you will. Just keep practicing. Maybe just be careful with Ripper."
He chucked as Ripper was cute when compared to the others he was being careful with.
"Say that when you meet Daisy. Don't ask me to summon her though, she will kill everyone in this town before she moves on for more prey."
Koneko raised an eyebrow at that.
"She must be strong for you to be so afraid of her."
"Strong is an understatement."
While they were talking Akeno came back.
"Vander, you are not homeless. I checked the school records with a bit of magic and found out you live in a small apartment not far from the school. You just forgot about it."
Vander sighed in relief he was not going to have to sleep on the street.
"If it is not too much of a bother, but can you take me there?"
Rias who was still sitting on the couch now dressed nodded. It was not an issue as Vander was prone to episodes where he forgot things.
"Sure, but can we talk about the offer for you to join my peerage. It comes with quite a few perks you know. Even monetary ones to match."
Vander was not someone with pride that pierced the Heavens so he nodded. That reminded him of Cultivation Novels whcih he liked, but he was not like those murder hobos.
"Alright, what are the perks?"
Rias smiled as she got a file to explain them.
"You might not realize it, but it comes with quite a few legal perks. Full medical and dental coverage for your entire life. If you do your duties as a Devil to get contracts you can exchange the amount for rewards, either magical resources or monetary.
Besides those you also get magical perks. Devils are inherently quite a bit stronger than regular humans. You live on average 10,000 years which can be extended if you get stronger and your magical and soul abilities are boosted.
That would offer you quite a bit of relief from the strain of having 10 Soul Bonded familiars after all. Only it does make you weak to holy weapons, crosses, and light from exorists. On top of it, you also get the backing of the Gremory family one of the remaining great clans of Devils. I am the heiress after all."
Vander went into deep thought as he still did not know enough about his own High Human biology. He had no issue with anything as he knew that he could become a Super Devil if he broke the limits of Devils however if he could do the same as a High Human it might be pointless.
He needed to make sure of his own limits as a High Human before he accepted fully.
"Alright, the dental and medical coverage alone would have attracted me considering I am poor. The other perks with the increased power of the soul and mind would really attract my attention as I desperately need any boost to my soul."
Rias smiled as she honestly felt she got someone with just as much potential as a Longinous user.
"We can do it right away so-"
"Hold your horses."
She froze as she heard Vander talk.
"Not yet, I am sure that being a Devil is good and all, but I feel that if I can get stronger while I am still human will do some good. Let's say that I begin training for a month or something to get me used to being part of the Supernatural.
It will also give me time to hopefully managed to tame Ripper to not lunge at all of you."
Rias cleared her voice with a nod.
"Alright, that seemed to be just fine. After school, you can join my peerage in its training. I also got to decide what pieces to use on you after all. How much do you know of the Evil Piece system?"
Old Vander would know it all, but with the soul damage he had right now was going to be hard. He could barely remember his own family for example.
"Not a lot, only that Devils can turn others into Devils through it."
Rias nodded.
"Exactly, I won't bore you with the history as that can come later. We High-Class Devils are given chess pieces starting with a Queen which is Akeno for me. Two Knights which for me one is Kiba which makes them very fast.
Two Rooks which Koneko is one which makes them physically strong. Two Bishops that are gifted at magic and healing so probably not that. Finally, we have pawns that give a basic boost, but they can promote to any of the other pieces.
It might be a good idea for me to learn where your talents lie, magic, speed, physical might, or being a Pawn that is average. I also do not know if your pets will affect how many pieces. I can also ask a favor of my sister-in-law if it will be better for you to be a Queen piece."
"Sister-in-law?"
Rias nodded.
"My Sister in Law has a full set of Evil Pieces including a mutation queen piece. She is one of the strongest female devils, but she does not participate in politics so you would have a chance to be far freer than with me. My goal is to reach the top of the Rating Games which I will also have to explain."
Just as she was about to do just that Kiba walked in with a stack of books in his hands.
"Nothing Rias. I have not found a single thing on what species Ripper is. I checked both Underworld and Earth monster beastearies, but I did not find anything. Is it possible that he is a mutant of something else?"
Rias now was more curious about that. Those books contained every species of monster and demonic beast recorded with the efforts of the Gremory clan that existed for countless millennia.
"Maybe. Is it possible that he is a part dragon as he did have as much mana as I have demonic power which is quite impressive? He was faster than Kiba and who knows how physically strong he was so it might be possible. That or he awakened his ancient dragon blood for some reason."
While she was in deep thought Vander got up.
"How are we going to go to my home? Walk or car?"
Akeno shook her head.
"Nothing so complicated, I will simply teleport you there."
Rias nodded.
"I will bother you for now Akeno. Vander try to remember your home, but even if you do we can just lead you there. Your training will start tomorrow, so get plenty of rest today."
Akeno walked next to Vander as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you ready?"
He nodded.
"Go ahead."
A large red magic circle opened under their feet which flashed in bright light. Rias, Kiba and Koneko glanced at where they used to be. Rias smiled at the sight as Vander could already teleport.
"I knew he could do it already. His magic amount is extremely high for a human and is even higher than Ripper who equals mine. Must be because his familiars need mana as well so they drain him quickly. Without them, he might have as much talent as my brother."
While she was deep in thought Vander and Akeno appeared in a fairly decent apartment. It was tidy, but kind of plain as there was nothing on the walls. No family pictures, decorations, or religious symbols.
"Were here Vander. This is your residence or your record says so at least."
He nodded as he sat on the black couch.
"Thanks, I guess."
As he sat down he closed his eyes to focus on his familiars as he needed to get all of them to accept him. Akeno instead of leaving sat down next to him fairly close, but he had already sent his mind into his familiar space of the next creature.
Metriphodon was the only hybrid flier he had, but when he entered the small forest he made it was flying at speeds where he could barely see it. The wind and fire flashed boosting its speed to far greater heights.
"Wow, glad I got you."
The creature glanced down at him as a small tornado of wind and fire gathered in its mouth. It fired it toward him which then expanded to many times the original size. Vander did not move out the way as she waved his hand causing the attack to curve away.
The creature's eyes opened wide as it did not expect him to be able to do that.
"Are you just going to keep attacking me? Do you not realize if I die here you all will die as well?"
Now that he got a look at the creature he saw it was bigger than he expected. It was as large as a very large person and looked like it was designed for battle. Fire and wind gathered on the wings as it boosted its power to barrel roll toward him.
It was much faster than Ripper or Daisy, but its power took a hit as a result. It would still be strong enough to shred a steel plate with nothing, but its claws. Vander dodged out of the way at the last second before he grabbed it.
He held it tightly as he felt it struggle to get away from him. He refused to let go even when he got claws or bitten. The damage he received was felt real, but he did not suffer any lasting injuries. Only this drained his mana at fast speeds to deal with the damage.
A tornado of fire erupted under his feet which caused him to suffer in agony while the creature was left unharmed. It could not fly as he had its wings pinned to the ground, but he still refused to let go at all.
The struggle went on for another 10 minutes as it would not stop fighting him. However, after 10 minutes he drained its magic reserves while he still had some to spare. Even then he was exhausted mentally from the suffering he went through to subdue the creature.
If it was in the real world he would have died hundreds of times before he could do anything against it.
"Are you going to listen to me or will you keep being so stubborn?"
It tried to bite him, but he created a muzzle for it so it could no longer bite. He sat down against a rock and he held it to his body like it was some kind of pet. Even if it was a bit bigger than he was he still had the advantage of it being his soul scape.
"You need a name and I already got the perfect one, Terror. You caused me too much trouble."
Vander reached for the muzzle and pulled it off.
"You are about as tired as I am if not more. Just take that chance to relax."
He knew that it was a hybrid of a Metriacanthosaurus which made it extremely bloodthirsty. After all, it was an Ingenue creation so it was not even close to a real animal and he could feel it.
"You know I can give you plenty of targets to use that bloodthirst on if you become more than a prisoner."
Terror stopped struggling as it knew that Vander was speaking the truth. The Soul Connection was not one-sided so it could feel his intentions. He was totally honest about what he wanted to do.
Feeling that honesty made Terror squawk in acceptance. The moment he felt the acceptance he felt the Soul Connection he had with him become much stronger than before. He awoke with Akeno leaning on him.
He ignored her as she was just teasing him to see if she could get a reaction out of him. He held his hand out in front of him and began to open a magic circle. Seeing that made Akeno panick.
"WAIT!"
She thought he forgot where he was and he was going to summon Ripper.
"Relax, Terror is not as brutal as him."
In front of him appeared the large flying creature that glanced at Akeno with salivating maw.
"Not her."
Terror looked around and noticed he could not leave as this apartment had no windows. He squawked in anger as he clawed the wall right open and walked into the next apartment where a man was watching.
Seeing a large creature just tear your wall open and walk into your house was pretty shocking. Before Akeno could put them to sleep Terror opened his mouth and launched a ball of fire into the man's chest.
The fireball looked solid in the chest which then flashed in an eruption of flames that turned them, man, into dust. Vander looked at Terror who immediately did as he wanted.
"Note to self, make sure to not summon around people."
Akeno had killed before, but seeing it happen so fast was a surprise
"Vander, what is that?"
Vander walked toward Terror and scooped him up into his hands.
"This is Terror. He is the smallest familiar I have. Still a killing machine so I have little control over him. At least he won't kill me though."
Terror began to chuff in a way that sounded like laughter. Akeno waved her hand and set up a bounded field around the apartment.
"Where did you find these eggs?"
"Oh, I just remember was when I was 5 I used to live in America. I was always told by my parents to not go into the woods, but I as a kid did not listen. I went into the woods and then everything changed.
The normal-looking woods started to look different. Everything glowed, strange creatures that looked like dinosaurs were everywhere. I walked around and stole eggs which included Ripper and Terror."
Akeno opened her eyes wide as she realized what happened.
"I see, you stepped through a random gate. They sometimes open randomly where they send you to other realms so you got lucky. Still, him killing a man is different. What are we going to do?"
Vander shrugged.
"Just fix the wall and damage and act as if he just disappeared. It's not like we can make all people forget him so I got a good idea. After they can't find where he is I can rent the apartment and remove the wall to give me more space."
Akeno was surprised by how calm he was.
"How are you so calm?"
"Oh, when your soul is connected to 10 creatures that want nothing more than to kill I no longer care. Still feel bad for how unlucky he was, but my loyalties lie with me."
Vander ran his hand on Terror's red scales near his face. Akeno sighed as this had not happened in a while.
"This never happened, but do not let this happen again. You need to make sure you got better control over your pets. What if you summon one of your stronger ones and they get out of control?"
He heard Daisy roaring in agreement so he decided to be more careful.
"Yeah, I will be careful. I got to start with Terror here so only now accepted me somewhat."
Akeno glanced at Terror with squinted eyes.
"You are going to be put through strict training reptile. I have to go report this to Rias, I will fix things here though."
She waved her hand and fixed the burn marks and the shredded wall. Vander glanced down at Terror and sent him back into the familiar space. He scratched the back of his head as he kind it let it happen.
"Well see you Akeno. Sorry about the dead guy."
"Don't joke about this, but yeah. See you."
She teleported away as she needed to make a report to Rias. As for Vander he looked in the fridge and found it was full to the brim.
"Great. I am eating good tonight."
He was more interested in eating than he was about having gotten some guy killed. He would later learn that man was a former pedophile, but he only learned that later. No one would care if he went missing so he would be just fine.
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