It Started With Devils & Artefacts

"Hi" Regular Speech

'Hi' Thought

"(Hi)" Marcus's mechanically synthesised voice

[Hi] Quinella/Aurora talking

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus stared at his image reflected by the mirror. The second session was done and his body has gained some permanent muscles.

The whole jumpy thing was back. But, according to Quinella, it will only be for a short time compared to last. As the adaptability of his body has increased. 

And unlike the previous season, this one improved his overall performance.

Yet, his assistant had a frown on her beautiful face.

"What's on your mind? You look distressed." Marcus asked her as he looked at his image, turning slightly aside, he noticed he was just a little bit taller.

[Nothing. It's just that, there was a 3.1% chance of miscalculation that happened on my part.] She said with a sigh.

"You mean, the fact that I, again, gained too much?" Marcus asked with an amused look as he turned towards her.

[Yes. I thought with the latest patch I will have a below 1% chance of miscalculation. But, once again genetics eludes me.] She massaged her temples with a frustrated look.

"While we know more about genetics than any other nation in the world. Life is still the most complex thing we've researched so far.

In truth just studying this alone results in our other technologies advancing rapidly, solely because we spend so many resources on this.

The processing facilities only went through three expansions. Increasing your processing power by another 50%, that, in turn, made our other studies like weaponry manufacturing look like children playing in the sandbox."

Marcus said with a shrug. It is the truth. Just by rerouting some of the resources from genetic research to any other branch of studying… Aurora manages to rapidly solve any of the 'riddles' I might face.

That just shows how extremely complex uncovering everything about life is. One of the reasons why Marcus is building DNA from scratch instead of modifying it on someone else is because it can lead to many unforeseen results. Even the one he is currently studying can lead to that as well.

[I know. But, it's not enough for me. As your ultimate creation. The bar I set for myself is the highest of them all.] Quinella said with an extremely serious face.

"I see. In the end, you only need more data. The next session is a week away. So you have plenty of time to figure things out." The teen inventor said to his artificial intelligence.

[Indeed. Then I shall return to analysing it.] The Quinella figure dissolved into polygons. Leaving only Marcus and the blonde girlfriend of his, who was watching the Interaction between her Master and the silver-haired woman.

"The changes are much more visible this time." Seeing that the coast is clear, the blonde decided to move in.

"You are taller, muscles are more refined, shoulders broader. And yet, three more sessions are still waiting for you." Latia said as she inspected him from different angles, walking around and checking him out from different sides.

"Hmm. This was the first proper upgrade. The last session was nothing more than fixing the inherited issues." Marcus said with a casual shrug. He grabbed a shirt and put it on, followed by a lab coat.

"Still impressive for the first upgrade. Your magic signature went over into the Ultimate class. Not many devils can achieve that even through their whole lives." Latia said back with a proud tone.

Marcus wanted to retort that they didn't even try and train their magic. Seriously, even he, someone who hates training, does it! But, then again, he decided not to say anything and instead just pull her into a hug.

"Mmhh~~~ even your hugging is much better. Yes, this is very good." The blonde said with a knowing look. It was quite obvious that she wanted something but that will have to wait.

His devil ladies are always scheming, even Venelana who stays away from him so that she can keep her sanity intact—as much as possible.

Even she is trying to scheme, which is just amusing to him.

"I know right? Now that this session is over. Let me show you a section of the base that no one else saw apart from me and Quinella." Marcus gently pulled the girl towards the exit.

"Oh? Let's go then. I feel quite honoured to technically be the first one to see it." Latia quickly adjusted as they started walking.

~~~

Latia's eyes widened as she realised what she saw…

'An army… a Satan-forsaken army! So, it is finally happening…' The blonde thought with a shell shocked look as she saw rows and rows of soldiers dressed in dull grey and blue armours. All of them were armed with futuristic armour and rifles.

What truly made her horrified, though, was that she could sense the strength of a high-class being emitting from all of them.

Not only that, but they also had high discipline. The way they moved in this wide-open area, going through drills of several different training rounds.

'This is nothing like the Devil army or the Fallen army, they don't have such disciplines. Working in tight formations? Most of the devils would laugh right back at their face hearing that.' 

"Great isn't it? I finished their designs just a couple of days ago. Quinella is still going through the DNA make-up." Marcus stated proudly.

Latia slightly sweatdropped before nodding back at him. While she is currently quite terrified for her race, she was not going to show it on her face.

"I see… May I know the reason why you made a professional army in the first place?" She asked him curiously.

Marcus wrapped his hands around her from behind as he looked at the several hundred S.P.B.A. soldiers doing their things below them.

"I will not be going alone and collecting things by myself in future, thus my army. The first one to taste its power is going to be the Vampire faction which has the Sephiroth Graal." Marcus said with a casual tone.

It sent chills down Latia who realised that her boyfriend doesn't even care about the enemies he would make.

'Then again, the Vampires don't have allies. They are isolationist even worse than the Shinto Pantheon.' The blonde thought about the supernatural faction in Transylvania.

She doesn't even have much on them to begin with… that just shows how much they've isolated themselves from the rest of the world.

But, how then, does Marcus know about the Sephiroth Graal!?

"I see… I do... hope... you are not planning to send them to the Underworld?" She asked with some nervousness.

"Don't be silly. I already have my pillars, you are here for a reason and that's also why I am hiding my existence as Solomon's successor. Besides, all of you will be sad if I am to destroy your homes. Worst case scenario, I would just occupy it and install some sort of government that will be loyal to me."

Latia sighed with relief. Thankfully he is not planning an all-out genocide.

"I don't want to brag but my government will be much better. After all, I would introduce all my inventions to my subjects. Even fix that low birth rate issue of yours." 

His girlfriend's eyes widened for a second. Should they do a coup d'état? It is quite possible, but for that to work, they would need a bit of preparation.

Then she realised that her boyfriend was simply messing with her!!! There was not much to gain for him if he were to take over the devil faction!

From her understanding of him, only some materialistic items would be worth his interest, like the Sacred Gears or some artefacts… those were not something her species are known to have. They have their unique magic, sure. But, most of it was already known to him and for the rest, he could just summon with his Solomon Circle and bind those devils with Ars Goetia.

Latia could only sigh in relief, while, at the same time, pout at him. He was just messing with her!

"That's a lie! And you know it! You don't want to rule anything! I saw how you checked through all the reports I'd brought, you skimmed through them all while only properly checking the people's education." Latia said with an angry pout.

"I did only invest some time into reading it because it was your hard work and I also made sure they had the appropriate education to work in my shops." He said in an obvious tone.

"But, I already did it!" She said with a small stomp. Latia already did all that! Marcus already told her to accept people with appropriate education! There was no need for him to check!

"I know. That's why there was nothing else for me to check in those files." He said with another bored shrug.

The beauty just groaned from annoyance. Doesn't he care about their experiences and such; what kind of bonuses these people will bring to the company as a whole!?

"Grrr… My point is that, you don't care. And you wouldn't want to invade the underworld just for the sake of ruling. My bet is that you would just do what your predecessor did. Solomon ruled quite a small kingdom; it was enough for him. You are doing about the same with your birth country. You would, as they say, 'flex' on them and then return to your country." She explained her thoughts on what he would do. And she would be right… if he didn't have an army that was slightly unsettling...

Nonetheless, after realising all this, she relaxed quite a bit.

Marcus just hugged her more. Yep, she is smart and she, quite accurately, described what he would do. That's why she is cute!

~~~~~~Kouh~~~~~~

Rias was sitting in her chair, deep in thought. She was thinking about how lucky she was with her Pawn situation. She got a Longinus User! 

All of her 8 pawns were used to reincarnate him. She was over the moon with this gain. The redhead thought she could rub it on Sona.

But…

"So, it was Issei Hyoudou? Never thought the Red Heavenly Emperor was him." Sona said with a casual shrug as she fixed her glasses.

It was not the reaction Rias expected.

"You knew?"

"About the Red Dragon Emperor being in Kuoh? Yes, I knew. I was searching for him for quite a bit of time. It never crossed my mind that it was this pervert." Sona said with an eye roll. She never bothered to properly scan the brown-haired pervert with the Diamond Core Heart. 

She only had a casual scan on him when he entered the academy grounds for the first time.

The younger Sitri was quite baffled that someone with such a low level of magic can even exist on this Earth.

"...How did you even know there was a Longinus gear user in Kuoh?" The Gremory Heiress asked with a baffled look.

But then, she realised that, most likely, Serafall told her. Meaning that Marcus Goldman already knows…

"Honestly...I am quite thankful that you took him off my hand. I don't want a walking bomb anywhere near me." 

"What do you mean by that?" Rias asked with wide eyes. 

"Listen. While the Sacred Gears are amazing and everything. They are artefacts created over 4000 years ago, some are fresher than others. Like the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing. But, they are still items bound to people's souls.

According to research done by our employer, Sacred Gears would regularly go through maintenance in Heaven. But, for the past 2000 years, nothing of this sort has been done. Meaning that no maintenance has been done to them. While they don't just break like that. There are caches to be cleared after each circle. The gears, like Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, collect samples from previous users and store them inside the gear.

The Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, through an overflow of cache, developed Juggernaut Drive. This developed because the hold over the dragon energy inside the gear became much looser." Sona explained smoothly. She became quite interested with the gears because she has one herself and, in general, it sounds quite fascinating.

"I see… so… that's what happened…" Rias massaged her brows from frustration.

"Hmm?"

"Ddraig himself panicked when he realised that all his hard work on the gear was gone." 

"What do you mean?"

"Marcus Goldman most likely kidnapped Issei and scanned the Gear." Rias said with a straight face.

That sounded insane… but then the Sitri Heiress remembered who they were talking about.

"...Most likely true… I faced the Scale Mail version of the Red Dragon Emperor in one of the simulations." Sona said in a smug tone. Her relationship with Marcus is much better than Rias. The redhead hasn't even seen him since the installation of Diamond Heart Core.

Serafall confirmed that. So, Sona knows that she is way above in this little competition they are both having.

"What!? He can emulate it!? Or did he recreate it? Even Ddraig confirmed that Issei can't access Balance Breaker anymore!" Rias exclaimed with an annoyed look.

"Heh… most likely, you will need to talk with our employer so that he could alter the gear and Balance Breaker can be achieved.

After all the original Sacred Gears were built the way that Balance Breaker should not exist in the first place. It's a bug in the system which pushes the gear to do what it should not. As you can imagine, it will have long term consequences."

"Like the Juggernaut Drive. I get it." The Gremory Heiress said with a sigh.

"Nonetheless, I would have preferred it if it didn't go through maintenance. The Balance Breaker would have helped me quite a bit against Riser." 

"Rias do you even hear yourself? Do you really think that pervert could achieve Balance Breaker before your fated duel against Riser? It takes years to even train to react to the threshold needed to achieve Balance Breaker. The gear needs to reach a critical point to 'evolve' . I have read files on that." 

Rias pouted angrily hearing how Sona has access to stuff she does not!

"Uhhh… this is not fair, Sona! I have been working my butt off for the past several months! And I still have not gotten any help from our employer!"

The Sitri Heiress deadpanned for a moment.

"That's because it took me over a year and a half to even get noticed by him." The black-haired devil girl rolled her eyes while saying that.

Rias instantly looked downtrodden, she had only been trying seriously for the past couple of months. Waking up early, training magic, training the Power of Destruction, running mock fights, even physical training…

For someone who never tried training this hard before, it was quite difficult. Especially since she is a devil and devils grow stronger with age…

She doesn't even need to train to be strong in the first place. But then, her father decided to saddle her with a marriage on her eighteen birthday.

"True… Anyways, thanks for your help. Now I know what happened to Issei's gear. Ddraig was quite devastated that he lost centuries of work he had been doing on the gear." 

Sona nodded at her. Internally, she was thankful that the brown-haired pervert wasn't going to be a big issue to them. She experienced herself how dangerous Scale Mails can be in the right hands.

~~~~~~Eastern Baltic Coast~~~~~~

"Mistress… the magic saturation in that direction… it's off the charts." Atalanta said to her Goddess after returning from one of her scouting missions.

"Hmm… towards Lithuania…he is Eastern European… wise choice to hide in such a small country…" The Goddess of Hunt crossed her arms. Thinking for a moment.

"We can assume that the high magic concentration is monitored by him, meaning that he most likely has barriers of some sort spread through the whole nation." The Goddess stated her theory.

"This means that the moment we enter his lands he will know that we are there," Atalanta said with an understanding look.

"Indeed. And I doubt he will reveal himself to us just like that. This means we will need to find him either way." Artemis said with a thoughtful look. She is trying to think similarly to how that annoying brat does.

"It's not a big nation. Nothing compared to Siberian or the Canadian wilderness." Atalanta said with a confident look.

"True. But don't forget we are tracking a human, not an animal so we will be going through towns." The Goddess of hunt said with some annoyance.

"Last time I checked, this nation barely has any population." 

"That means they will be cautious of a group of females dressed like hunters." The Silver-haired Goddess pointed out.

And Atalanta could only frown. This could only mean that they will be taking quite a bit of time with this as well. Even if the nation is small…

"Let's go!" Artemis shouted out quite eagerly.

'FINALLY! Some clues! You brat! I can't believe it took me nearly half a year to find anything about you! Now that I know where you come from I will find you eventually!' 

The Silver-haired Goddess of Hunt has no doubt it's where that inventor brat was hiding. This country has no supernatural presence, no big significance to any Pantheon.

And no one ever reported about there being a large amount of saturated magic in this area before. Meaning that it's very recent.

All the hints point to this brat. Now she was getting excited to get her revenge!

~~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~

The space centre is finished. Well, it's technically just a launching pad with the biggest Assembly Line ever built; my production speed went up by several multiple times with just this.

But now, I can build space stations or my own airships…

That's right, the first thing this place is going to do is make my flagship, the Confiscator. 

And not the space station I was planning…

"So, where are we going? Another place has been finished?" Serafall asked giddily as we were walking towards the train platform at my home base.

The blonde next to me is looking very curiously. This is the first time I am bringing her to use one of the trains. It's either a coincidence or just weird timing but she has never used it before. For the simple reason that she leaves home before I leave and comes back when I am already at home.

Meaning she never got the chance to use it.

"Yep. My Space Centre is finished. Though, it's more like a launching pad and the largest assembly line to date." I clarified to her.

"...how big are we talking about? The one you have at home is already enormous." Serafall asked with a gulp.

"My total production speed went up by 300% after it was done. Latia, how is land acquisition coming along?" I asked the blonde next to my left.

"You build your house in the national reserve… the processing facility in a forest which we've already acquired, the launching pad is in quite a remote area which was quite easy to get. The portion of the railway which you want to build outside; I acquired some of the land. But quite a bit is owned by other people. Not to mention the coastline… you can't buy any of that. Your nation only has 39 kilometres of sea access and you decided to build the docks right on the national reserve... again…" Latia gave her report with an eye roll. 

"We can always get people to move out. Offer money, if they don't want to move, offer money again, with hypnosis to boost. And the docks… I'm going to build them underground then." I said with a casual shrug.

"You...truly want your railway that much?" Latia asked me with a bit of disbelief.

"I do. It helps me relax and think of things in these short journeys that I take." I explained to her as we arrived at the train platform.

Moments later the white and soft bronze coloured maglev train arrived. Right on time. Well, since it is controlled by my Aurora, the train was prepared right around the time I decided to go to the new area.

Moments later the doors slid open with a hiss. The train's interior looked quite similar to the commercial ones used by regular people, the difference was, it's extremely cutting edge and personally made so. Holograms are all over it.

If this was a public one, one can assume these holograms would be used to advertise products and other things.

For now, I just use them for decorations…

[This is the base. The train is bound for the Space Centre. The next stop is the Space Centre.]

Both girls looked at me after hearing the announcement done by the robotic version of Aurora. Well, I did use her prototype voice for this.

"What? I am sticking with the roles. All the trains have an announcement system." I said with an eye roll.

"... You are the only one who is using it. I don't see the reason why you need to go that far for this." Latia said with a sigh.

"For now. Yes, only me. But, soon enough it will be my army or you girls. We will see…" As I said that, they both just eye-rolled at me.

Well, once I disable the teleportation trick we're gonna see then…

Anyways, we got comfortable as the train started to move. Well, it took some time for the pair to even realise that the train had moved.

"So-tan told me that Rias got that Hyoudou brat as a Pawn. It took them a year and a half to find him. I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed that it took them so long." Serafall mentioned something to me which I had completely forgotten about.

"Hmm? Well, that took some time." I brushed my finger and a window screen appeared in front of me. I quickly accessed the Diamond Core Hearts menu and went to the one installed in Kuoh.

I did a quick overview, the system is up to date. With several hacking attempts, which is amusing on its own. Some 'smart' devils tried to hack the console. 

Without any success, of course. After all, it's controlled by a sadistic A.I. Quinella terrified the shit out of them when she sealed their magic. After that, the hacking stopped. To a certain extent…

Some lunatics tried either way. Still though Sona took care of these retarded people. Once again this reminded me how stupid people are in this place.

After checking the system, I went over the logs and found how Rias got her Pawn. It was quite straightforward.

"And this is how you abandon your humanity… Rias only needed to smile and mention that he can get his harem. And so Issei Hyoudou became a devil…" I showed them the recording that the Diamond Heart Core did.

A small chat between Rias and Hyoudou. The brown-haired kid had a perverted smile on his face the whole time.

The Gremory Heiress quite easily persuaded him to join.

"Why would Rias want this pervert? One could see how he undresses her with his eyes. Is he that valuable?" Latia said with a distasteful frown.

With casual hand motion, I showed her the Sacred Gear he has.

"The Red Dragon Emperor… I see… but how valuable is he truly now with your existence here? I mean, to have someone this...perverted and barely restrained looking…" 

Whoa, Latia is not holding back at all. Is she that distasteful towards perverts? No wonder I know nothing of her. She most likely barely made it into the books as it is…

"Nothing much by this point. It only has Boost and Transfer. The Balance Breaker and Juggernaut Drive disappeared after the maintenance was done." Serafall said from my other side.

"Then it's just average gear at best. Not worthy enough to experience a perverted gaze like that!" Latia said with a frown.

"Rias is an exhibitionist, you can imagine she likes being stared at, like that," I said with a shrug.

"Eh? She is? I didn't know that!" The black-haired devil on my right shouted.

"Yep. So, she most likely likes being gazed at like that." 

The blonde shivered hearing that.

"I see… I guess…she has her own taste and I have mine." She snuggled into me while saying that.

"Well. At least now I am getting more valuable data from her. Her progress as well as her peerage's progress is much more fascinating to obverse."

"But, you don't even observe it! Only now did you do it!" Serafall said with a pout.

"And it's more than enough. Quinella gives me a summary of what Gremory and Sitri did over the period. It's more than enough." I explained to the pouting girl. Showing her the summary windows.

It's, quite simply, statistics… with some things being pointed out.

"You know… having the hard work done into numbers like this doesn't quite show the amount of effort they put in." She still argued. And with another hand swipe, I showed her another statistic which is the effort level…

"You have an answer to everything don't you?" She pouted more at me.

"If I don't, I am sure my A.I. has it or is working on it. It's like having an army of researchers working with me at all times." I said that with a smile and she just huffed back. Not realising that it's pointless for her to argue about this. Assuming she wants to goad me into getting some more stuff for Sona as the girl has been working quite hard. I mean truly hard for the past several weeks. If she is trying this hard she will develop her Balance Breaker soon enough and with it, she will enter into the realms of Early Ultimate Class being.

[Next station is the Space Centre. The train terminates here.] Hearing the announcement, I closed the holographic window and got ready to move. 

The pair followed after me. Moments later the train doors opened and we exited into an identical-looking station. With the difference being a much larger corridor which leads out of the station.

This is so that a large number of beings could walk from the train to the platform. Then again I could simply just use the space abilities I am synthesising from Caliburn.

The problem with that, however, is that Caliburn power works only with motion not when there is no motion. Quite easily solvable, simply by separating those two but, that opens up another can of worms.

I could use Teleportation. But again, if one uses it a lot it can be traced back. So, until the proper method is invented I will just use my train network which is a fast method of transportation. And I am not thinking about excuses here…

Simply facts…

A very short walk through the corridor and we've arrived at an extremely wide-open area. If one were to glance at the ceiling, they could barely see it as it's around 300 metres away.

And a portion of the ceiling can be opened.

"This is quite a big area! Are you going to build space ships here!?" Serafall jokingly asked me.

"Space stations and Airships and yes, eventually spaceships, if need be. But by that point, they can be assembled in space." I explained in a very casual tone.

Sera's blue eyes widened to a comical level.

"You… I was only joking… I thought you were joking back when you showed your plan. I thought it was going to take you years to reach this point." She said while shaking her head.

"Joking? Don't be silly. Why would I joke about something I can build?" Her words were quite amusing to me. Why would I be joking? Space is quite the fascinating place to explore. The possibilities are endless to explore and build from it.

"Anyways, some work has already started. Quinella already is working on Ars Almadel Salomonis." I motioned for them to follow me.

This place, one can imagine, is like a very empty hangar with lots of lights on the walls. Those are Realitus Holographic projectors. The walls can move and be arranged depending on the project this place is working on.

At the moment, the labour bots are currently working at the heart of my space station.

"That… sounds quite ominous…" Serafall said with a gulp.

"You don't name things after Solomon… unless it's something big, I can imagine…" Latia said with a slightly sweaty forehead.

"You are right. Because it is going to be a around-370 metres long space station. Half of it will be the Rail system." I motioned with my hand and a holographic window appeared showing the design for the space station.

[Apsos-class station]

['Ars Almadel Salomonis']

When they saw the image they paled. Probably because it looks like a massive space gun. 

"It's a massive space gun… are you planning on bombarding any nuisance out of the way with this?" Latia asked with wide eyes as she realised that was exactly what I was going to do. And yes, I will be erasing anything out of my way instead of sending my army to deal with it.

After all, they exist only to collect loot for me, not fight wars…

"Part of it, yes, as the name Apsos stands for All Purpose Space Observation Station. Meaning it can send drones, scale mails down to Earth and continue to upgrade itself with the latest innovation.

Though, there is still some time away until it's ready. At the moment they are working on the heart of it. The station will have four Diamond Core Hearts.

Four Assembly lines, two hangar bays for drones, and Scale mails or space variation of the Starscream models, human habitable areas, observation deck, and of course the main Rail gun.

The main gun itself will have a revolver function which allows it to shoot different variations of load from P.O.D to Healing abilities, and of course, if people piss me off the ICBM version of it. Bringing a country to the stone age. With mere words… maybe even with a mere thought in the future…

Anyways, In future, it will also have docking capabilities for the spaceships. It will most likely be much bigger in future. The new airship, which is still in the planning stages, is going to be around 250 metres. So the station needs to be around a kilometre long." I said with a thoughtful look, thinking about the models for space exploration. Well, I have not thought about it, yet.

"By the way girls. Did you know that there is no magic in space?" I asked the pair who are looking extra pale after seeing Ars Almadel Salomonis. Well, it was supposed to be awe-inspiring. So, I will let this one slide.

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