Highschool DxD: Dragon's Ascent

~Takumi Katsuragi~

After staying with Rias' peerage for a bit longer I moved back to my mansion, I may like Kuoh Academy but definitely enough to the point where I would be sitting through classes for absolutely no reason. Since currently I had matters to attend to.

A lot of matters to attend to actually.

...Shit my to-do list was long. Let's take the most important tasks on hand right now.

My current to-do list consists of:

-Build the base of my new body

-Get Holy Lightning from Akeno

-Get the Phenex Immortality from either Rayne or Ravel

-Start on my new body

-Abuse Heavenly Comprehension to learn a fuckton of spells

-Evolve Sealing and Enchanting

The first order of business was getting both Sealing and Enchanting to Adept level. I had already gotten 1/5 progress with the enchanting promotion quest with the Leon Monarch Gauntlets which was creating 5 mid-tier items. It was the other condition that was posing a problem for me.

[Create a sacred gear 0/1]

So, uh, how the fuck do I do that? I mean, Heavenly Comprehension's Insight tells me what a sacred gear is supposed to be, an item bound to the user's very soul and works in natural tandem with them. But that didn't mean I knew how to make them. How the fuck do you make an item that fuses with someone's soul?

And then there was Sealing's annoying ass quest too.

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[Skill Promotion: Sealing - Intermediate]

Skill Promotion condition: Seal 5 different High-Rank Beings(Must not be willing)[1/5]

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Sealing was complicated work, all right? I spent a lot of time working on Riser's seal, if you mess up or overlook a part of a seal the enemy can break out of it without too much problem. So right now I was in my studying in my study while 3 tripletasking.

I was in my study upstairs working on new seals trying a min-max seal matrix that would allow me to seal high-rank beings easier and more reliably.

Then I was using my sub-body to work on the elixir concoctions for my new body, I was mostly done with the preparations except for just a few adjustments and additions.

And lastly, I was communicating with Arc with mind magic about the construction of my new body. Currently, Arc was fully focusing on the construction of my base body blueprint rather than the other projects or Homunculi Creation.

Before starting my study I sent some texts to Grayfia giving her a list of things I needed her to do. First of all was asking for her to acquire me some rare metals with my money from the clans that had the materials I needed since she was more well-connected than I was she would have an easier time doing so.

Then, I sent her on yet another fetch quest, asking her and Sera to knock out and bring me 2 high-tier beasts each. The Thunder Bird that can generate lightning and control air, a water elemental that controls water and dwells in the emerald sea of the underworld.

For Sera to capture, an Ifrit, a high-rank spirit of flame that dwells only in the Devil side of the underworld. Then lastly a Mountain Mimic, I don't know if they can actually find one since they are supposed to be super rare but they had the ability to merge with the terrain to trap and kill anyone that steps on them.

There were reasons why I wanted these 4 in particular. It was their abilities and nature, I was going to use them for enchanting and alchemy. I planned to use their souls, especially in making my own sacred gears. And for some to adjust my new body's specs.

Speaking of sacred gears...

I had asked Azazel for a detailed manual and encyclopedia of Sacred Gears in order to get a better understanding of them and to get some inspiration before coming back to Earth.

And frankly? There is actually an unexpected amount of sacred gears that were documented.

It includes most of the sacred gears that have been seen throughout history and ones that are speculated. It also included notable known past users and catalogued abilities.

There were niche but cool ones like the Seeker's Lantern which when manifested and held by the users led them to what they considered a treasure. Perfect for the kind of folk that like spelunking but not much use elsewhere, maybe if you were a miner or were searching for rare ores?

There were a lot of sacred gears around but the number of sacred gear users were lower due to the number of people who just never awaken them or get discovered in the modern age. The number of sacred users gets lower and lower as time passes since the current era was one of peace.

And there was the recent increase of people with incompatible sacred gears, being born with sacred gears that did not fit their soul or physique and suffering because of it. This was due to the neglect of the heaven system after the death of God. Normally they are supposed to go to users who can make good use of them properly and are compatible with them as a person.

It was quite enlightening and fun to look through the list of Sacred Gears.

Now, the one I was most interested in was called Divergent Avatar, or called the Mirror Image. Based on the abilities of Shinto gods and their abilities to clone themselves. It was quite a rare one too, only seen a few times total and properly documented even less.

Its most famous user was St. Argyle of the church 200 years ago, being an infamous executor responsible for slaying dozens of devils. It was said that he could create 4 clones of himself that he was able to fight alongside seamlessly. A true feat considering the clones weren't separate entities but literal extensions of your body you had to manually control.

'Takumi...' I heard Ddraig call out inside my head as I was drawing some seals on parchment while having Boosted Gear on.

Okay, hear me out.

'Takumi, no, no more sacred gears.'

But Ddraig! It lets me clone myself! It would be so convenient!

'Takumi, my dear partner, do you have a death wish?'

Ddraig, you know I am a man of ambition! I could do so much with Divergent Avatar!

'Partner there is a difference between ambition and suicidal ideation. And you are currently firmly in the suicidal ideation part. You can't handle 4 sacred gears at once, there is a limit to even what you can endure.'

Well, that's true... but...

You see, I can't keep 4 powerful sacred gears in my body, but I can keep a sacred gear inside of my body until I decipher its abilities enough and get accustomed enough with it that I can reverse engineer its effect and learn it with Heavenly Comprehension.

Besides, I don't think I will be able to grab Forbidden Balor View for a while. Grabbing a sacred gear from an untrained unathletic teen with specularly low talent is one thing and taking a sacred gear fused into the soul of a souped-up darkness Alucard with one of the highest potentials in existence that is also warped and contains the shard of a god is another.

'I see, so you aren't completely off in the deep end just yet partner. That's good to know. Don't spread yourself too thin, plenty of my past users have fallen trying to reach too far too fast.'

I know, speaking of seals and me needing to get better at them, I should probably go to Kyoto sooner or later, probably after I handle Kokabiel so that I don't get blindsided by him in Kyoto. They were the masters of sealing after all.

Well, there were the Olympian and Asgardian Pantheons that most definitely had better seals but I didn't want to mess with that anytime soon. I am not even Ultimate Class yet, in my base without using Boosted Gear I am probably about as strong as the average High-Class being. The problem here was the fact that the high class had massive variability and the gap between High and Ultimate was even bigger than the bottom and peak of high class.

It's annoying not even being the strongest in my age range, Sairaorg was there and that motherfucker could beat Kokabiel's ass so hard he could probably turn him into a pacifist.

Speaking of Sairaorg, didn't his peerage have a bunch of exotic subjects and lost bloodline abilities? I kinda want those, maybe I could lure him to fight against me with a sufficient bait? I am eligible to fight in Rating Games after all and was going to have 2 peerage members when the Phenex's arrived in my house.

In theory, if I put out a very... very limited quantity of something that Sairaorg would desparately want wouldn't he challenge me to a rating game to get his hands on one of them? But I have to wait for that. After all, I am rather weak as I have found out.

First of all, I have something to discuss with Azazel for some plans I need to make. Sairaorg was just a project of interest, Kokabiel was a looming threat.

It's clear to me that I can't take down Kokabiel with raw power. Reaching Ultimate Rank in power by the time I reached him was unreasonable for even me.

So the real solution to this was to simply stack the deck against Kokabiel. What was that idiot going to do when I pulled out with Holy and Light resistance, Light counter and anti-Fallen Angel abilities? As I was thinking about countermeasures the System Prompted me again, probably sensing what I was intending.

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[New Quest: Kokabiel and the Excalibur Subjugation]

[Kokabiel and the Excalibur Subjugation]

Description: You know the drill, you know how the lake of fate flows. the exorcists will arrive in your town and so will Kokabiel, a Cadre with a penchant for war and murder. And what better way to start a war than to kill the rising star of the underworld and sisters of two satans?

Annihilate him and his plans, prove yourself worthy to inherit the throne. Put the fear of you in his heart.

Condition: Kill or Seal Kokabiel and Valper Galilei

Bonus Condition: Kill or Seal Kokabiel and Valper Galilei without outside help beyond High-tier

Rewards:

-Library of Heaven Keyshard

-Ability: [Power of Light]

-Iter Melius Upgrade

Bonus Reward:

-Holy Affinity

-Library of Heaven Keyshard

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Yeah, it couldn't have been clearer about what it wanted me to do. 2 more Library Shards, that meant a key to the library and the ability to take another piece of knowledge as long as I... expanded my harem.

My system has a very unconventional way of asking me to prove myself. Anyway, with the quest urging me even more I should really contact Azazel.

Whelp here goes nothing.

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

"Ahahahaha!" Azazel doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach and being unable to stop himself, even choking on his wine as I stood there watching him laugh. We had already talked about the other materials I wanted alongside a detecter to find sacred gears as well as his assistance in finding a Divergent Avatar with his Grigori agents but when I breached the last topic Azazel burst out laughing.

"Are you done? Was it really that funny?"

Azazel raised a hand to stop before his laughter still died down, leaning back on his seat and releasing a sigh of relief he wiped a tear from his cheek before speaking.

"Yeah, it definitely was. I mean, it's just a little ridiculous, just a month or two ago you looked like you just about shit yourself when I let myself into your house and now here you are really asking to milk one of the Cadre. It's just hilarious." I sighed while taking a sip of my cranberry juice like it was wine.

"So, you mean it is not very possible? It's just breast milk, not like she is donating blood or giving up an arm, she can just drink the potion and send a batch to me after. I really need a decent sample for my newest project." Azazel waved his hand languidly.

"Nah, I am just laughing at the fact that you are asking this so casually and so formally. I never said you had no chance, Benemune fell because she had sex with a human man after all, with the right incentives you can devil get your hands on her breasts. I never got to though, whenever I asked she just looked at me with the most disgusted look and said she would stab me in the balls if I tried haha!" I put a hand on my chin thoughtfully.

"Hmm, right incentive huh? Well, I have enchanted items but you can probably do better than me. I can't exactly give her Elixirs since I can't exactly make them affect Ultimate Rank beings. How about Fertility Potions, would she be interested in-"

*Pfffft*

I casually used Dominator's Touch to fling away the wine Azazel had just spit at me, Azazel looked at me with a dumbfounded face.

"Takumi-kun, what the hell? I was speaking more along the lines of gifting her the good stuff like this wine, she has been pestering me for my stash, also sharing your discoveries with her milk and stuff. Not fertility potions." Oh.

Oooh.

"Oh, okay then, please just ignore the last part. In fact, I have a large stash of incredibly good wine, I was even working on more. If that works for her that works for me."

"...Takumi-kun could we return to the part where you were talking about fertility potions again? Those seemed really important." I shook my head and crossed my arms in an x shape.

"Well, I was experimenting with Fertility Potions and stuff but it's not very important. I was thinking I could try to produce a working prototype using her breast milk as a base but again, it's still a work in progress. If it works I am planning to sell some limited doses at my Emporium." Azazel looked deep into my eyes with a serious look.

"Takumi, I know you know how important and world-breaking stuff like that is, I will talk to Benemue, if nothing comes up she should be here in at least 3 days. We can discuss the implications of a fertility potion at a later date, for now, I will convince her even if I have to get on my knees to do so." Before Azazel got up to leave I reached into my inventory and pulled out a bottle of Golden Hydra Wine and tossed it over to Azazel.

"Make sure to give this to her as a gift I guess since she wants one. In the meantime, I have to work on a lactation potion that will work on an Ultimate Class Fallen Angel." Azazel smiled and took the bottle.

"A damn shame I can't take this one for my own stash but I am sure she will appreciate it. Farewell Takumi-kun, I will call when I get a decisive time."

With that, Azazel left and I leaned back with a sigh of relief. Thankfully that was one headache out of the way.

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~Takumi Katsuragi~

As I was walking back out from my basement lounge area where I had just had a discussion with Azazel I saw a familiar face. The moment Asia saw me her face lit up and she ran towards me, she was in the Kuoh Academy girl's uniform.

When she reached me she gave me a big ol' hug, wrapping her arms around me, not knowing what to do I wrapped my arms around her as well.

"Takumi-san! You're back! I was so worried when I heard you were going to hell, but Kalawarner-san told me you would be fine so I trusted her but I am so relieved you are back. I missed you very much!" Well, that's certainly adorable. I put a hand on her head and gently petted her.

"I'm happy you care so much Asia-chan. So, you started Kuoh Academy already? How is it going?" She nodded happily.

"Yes, I did! Souna-san helped me get accustomed to the school and everyone at the student council are very helpful, Rias-san and Akeno-san also really helped me become familiar with the school. In fact, I sometimes help the Student Council when they need healing, I expected them to be more scary because they were devils but they weren't." It's good that Asia has been getting along with the others, I may not interact with her as much but I still cared for her after all.

"That's good Asia, I'm glad school's going great for you. I would come with you but I don't exactly have that much free time on my hands." Asia gave me a worried look after observing me for a second.

"Takumi-san, are you okay? You seem really... stressed." No I'm no-

No, there is no point in denying it, I am only fooling myself. Yeah, I am actually pretty damn stressed about my current plans and what I need to do.

"Yeah, a bit. Say, Asia, want to watch a movie together? I could pop us some popcorn and watch some anime or movies together to relax a little." Asia brightened up hearing that.

"Really? Yes, I would be glad to! I never got to watch movies back in the church!" I smiled and rolled up my sleeves.

"Then allow me to blow blow your mind."

I could do with some casual fun to blow off some steam.

A/N: Damn, this chapter took long. After so long Takumi's finally back on the grind and he is back on it hard, he is making some real progress toward his new body. Mainly with Benemune's milk, what do you think he needs that for?

Also, Takumi decided to take the tactical approach to Kokabiel because as he said, there is no safe way to reach Kokabiel's level by the time arrives so he is pulling what he did to Riser but like a 1000x worse on Kokabiel and make him regret existing. Also, I didn't forget about Asia existence, I gave her and Takumi a sweet scene at the end to show that Takumi actually learns from his mistakes and is taking actual breaks this time instead of powering through his own mental state.

What did you guys think about the chapter and Takumi's plans? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about it.

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