X_
Kai
Sitting in the armchair in the living area of my hotel suite, watching Konan take her nap in an effort to distract myself from the brown paper on the coffee table in front of me.
A summoning parchment. With a devil's summoning circle drawn on a paper that looked like it was treated out of some tree by hand.
"We make wishes come true."
That's what's written on the back side of the paper.
I still don't understand why I got this. Why now? This is making less sense to me by the minute. I get Gasper's power and suddenly, not even five minutes later, I get a summoning paper?
'This stinks…' I thought as I remembered how this happened.
We were on our way back. We had lunch, got cotton candy, got a new power, and suddenly, a voluptuous woman with legs for days bumped into me and said, "Here," handing me the paper and leaving.
Now, I wasn't that stupid. I knew about familiars. I just didn't remember them until I saw one.
I also remembered how much hypnosis, memory wipe, and all kinds of mental fuckery happen in this world.
'Maybe coming here was not such a bright idea after all.'
The thought bounced in my skull for a few seconds before I denied it. I refused to acknowledge it even.
I knew why I came to this world. I might have a spotty lore knowledge of what happens, because I consumed copious amounts of half-finished fanfiction about it, but I knew a few things right.
1 – Things don't start going to shit until more than a year after Rias and her peerage arrive in Kuoh Town. Maybe even more. Which means I have time to build myself up and teach Konan.
2 – This world has a lot of factions. Meaning politics, logistics, and bureaucracy are a lot more fucked than in a normal mundane one. That's good.
3 – I came here to bring back Big G. Or at least a successor.
And also to turn myself into a devil without actually becoming a slave. I have the power of a devil; I should become one.
Or maybe a dragon.
Yeah.
…
"Kai…" Konan called as she woke up, rubbing her eyes.
It was distractingly cute.
'And to think, just as I was imagining myself turning into a dragon and boinking ninjas left and right,' I thought, sighing sadly as I stood up.
I helped her wash her face, because, go figure, we have a deeply dependent relationship.
I gave her a glass of juice after that and opened the TV for her.
'Now it was time to practice.'
Taking a deep breath, I brought my leg up against the wall and tried to make it stick.
It did.
I could already do that since this morning. What I couldn't do, however, was stand horizontally on the wall, because gravity is a bitch and I was weak as fuck.
Do you know how much leg and core strength one needs to stand horizontally on a wall, let alone walk?
I don't, but I know for sure I don't have such powers yet.
Still, I have been learning how to control chakra distribution in my leg. Like making just the soles stick, or the toes only.
It's actually quite fun.
I was also thinking about what power to give Konan next, because I sure as hell won't summon or meet any devils without making sure her mind is safe.
…
Half an hour of playing with chakra and I was already bored.
I could see why those with mediocre talent usually die early. Repeating the same thing until it becomes muscle memory is mind-numbingly boring.
'Not like prodigies are any better,' I thought, remembering the stereotype clichés about how arrogant those blessed with talent are.
And just like that, I suddenly knew what power to give Konan.
Sometimes I love how my train of thoughts goes.
Standing up, I dusted myself off—more of a habit than anything—and walked back toward the living room where Konan was sitting, eyes glued to the TV watching Power Rangers.
It's cute how concentrated she looks. The slight crease between her eyebrows, squinting eyes, and pursed lips.
'How cute.'
I sat down beside her, and she automatically crept into me, making me hug her with one arm.
"Hey…"
"Hmmm," she hummed in reply.
"I have new powers for you," I told her.
"Kay." She continued to watch the show, behaving like this was a regular Tuesday.
I know kids are adaptable, but I didn't think she'd just shrug off gaining power like that.
But then again… different priorities.
I summoned my case and opened it for her.
"Choose one."
She did. She didn't even look at the pills.
The familiar grey world greeted me, and I decided to look around. I stood up and tried to walk away, only to reappear standing by my spot after taking the third step away.
It was weird. Useful to know that I couldn't just leave, but weird.
I sat back down and engineered the powers I wanted her to have.
· Immunity to mind altering, hypnosis, possession, and all kinds of outside/foreign influence.
· Immunity to soul altering, manipulation, and all kinds of foreign influence.
· Immunity to emotional manipulation, influence, and all kinds of foreign interference.
· Infinite willpower, grit, drive, and focus.
Activation method: Always active.
Duration: ∞
Side effects: None.
Condition: None.
As soon as I was done, everything returned to how it was before, and Konan took the pill and ate it without even blinking an eye.
The lack of reaction might be because she was busy watching TV, so I didn't bother with her.
I didn't say anything and just sat there watching with her.
…
It was almost six in the evening when I succeeded in making Konan tear her eyes away from the TV.
I might have done something terrible by giving her such focus. I had to shut off the TV just to get her attention more than just grunting and humming.
And now she was pouting.
"So you don't want to go out and eat?" I asked, exasperated.
She just stood up, took my hand, and huffed. "Hmph." She gave me the side eye.
I shook my head and started heading out. Might as well get dinner early.
…
It's easy for me to forget how smart Konan is just because she is a kid.
Walking back toward the hotel, I was busy thinking about the conversation we had over food.
She stopped pouting right as we were halfway down the street when I asked her what she wanted for dinner.
She decided on burgers, of course. So we headed toward the fast food restaurant.
We started talking about the world, powers, my next course of action, etc.
It was amongst these talks that she asked me about my training progress.
I told her.
She did not look impressed. She actually gave me a pity-impressed speech instead.
She did, however, ask why I hadn't just made a deal with her to take some of her talent or copy it or something.
I didn't answer that.
I can't say it's a dumb pride thing.
I really want to try and get power through my own efforts for a while. If only to prove something to myself.
I don't know what I want to prove. But it's something.
"GRRRRR~"
The sound of an animalistic growl snapped me back to reality.
It was coming from the alley on the left, a few steps away. Loud and clear.
I tensed up, cautiously eyeing my surroundings before looking down to see Konan.
She didn't seem fazed or impressed.
She just had a blank expression.
I did notice, however, that she was the one guiding us toward the alley now.
I looked, and I wished I hadn't.
That thing looked disgusting. It looked like a wolf and a chimera monster had a disgusting baby together.
Its head had three eyes on each side. Its mouth was too big. Its nose looked like that of a pig. It had four human arms on each side of its belly, two child-sized legs underneath it. Its fur was in patches, and the exposed skin did not look healthy.
I had to suppress the urge to gag as the smell hit me.
I had not smelled something more disgusting, and I was used to the smell of decomposing corpses.
Konan tried to advance, but I held her back.
"Try to seal the space around us first," I told her.
She nodded seriously, and I saw her suddenly dissolve into papers, quickly creating a big bubble-like construct around us and the beast.
It was then that I noticed the corpse on the ground.
'How did I miss that?' I wondered but didn't have time to question further as I watched Konan start fighting.
Paper spears materialized from the dome and fired at the beast, which just snarled and dodged them.
She suddenly appeared above the beast and kicked it down.
"Grrrrrr!" "Raaawr!"
The hands of the beast started emanating dark energy and firing lasers.
"Fwep! Fwep!"
I watched incredulously at the sight. The hands were moving around and shooting energy beams like a sci-fi movie scene. A disturbing one, but one all the same.
"Konan!" I yelled. "Just wrap him in paper and make him go boom." I mimed the explosion effect with my hands.
"Ugh!" I fell to the ground in pain when I felt something hit my left shoulder.
"Kai!" I heard Konan's shout, followed by a snarl. "You!!!" And then shouting, "Die!" followed by "Boom!"
I tried to sit up to see what was happening, but this shit hurt.
I don't know what he hit me with, but this shit burns.
"Kai!" I felt a small hand holding my head up, and I saw a teary-eyed Konan looking at me with worry.
"I am so sorry! This is all my fault…"
A warm feeling started to spread through my wound, and the pain began to lessen with every second.
"Hey… hey," I touched her cheek, wiping the tears away. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I yelled like an idiot and got hit for it. Lesson learned. Life is not an anime…"
"But I am your bodyguard!" she raised her voice. "I am supposed to protect you!"
"And you did," I said. "I'm alive, aren't I?"
"It's not the same," she murmured.
"Of course it is," I said. "Plus, you seem to be under a misunderstanding. Your job as a bodyguard doesn't start until you're twelve or older."
I don't know how much longer we stayed there, but we kind of started to banter after that. We had some back and forth until I felt like I had been reborn again. My injury gone and my pain a thing of the past.
We continued our walk home while talking about what we did wrong, and I did not miss how Konan seemed to be clinging to me a lot harder than she did earlier.
A small smile graced my lips. This was nice.
I was too relaxed for someone who had just been shot, but I was also glad that I would be in my hotel room soon.
I knew myself well enough, so I knew for a fact that this was the first step of my panicked state.
I was going to start overthinking everything again…
'Ugh! Just great.'
Let's hope I don't do something stupid this time. Last time I tried to deflect with sarcasm and got beaten black and blue.
…
A/N: add to collection and give me power stones