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The Book of Solomon - Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2025-06-04 04:12:32 +0000 UTCRaynare shuddered in ecstasy as she watched the light leaving Issei's eyes. Nothing fulfilled her quite like playing with virgins before she killed them. The look of confused incomprehension on their face as 'innocent' Yuuma stabbed them to death was just priceless. Seeing them die confused and wondering why it was happening just did things to her that no man, or woman, could.
“You've GOT to be fucking kidding me!”
Raynare instantly spun around while summoning one of her spears into her hand. She clicked her tongue in annoyance at seeing another teenager standing on the opposite side of the fountain from where she was floating. She hadn't bothered putting up a barrier because the park had always been empty at this time when she'd scouted it out. She also didn't want to go through the bother of putting up a barrier when her plan was to simply stab Issei, let him die, then fly off. A minute or less, all told.
Now this.
She let out an annoyed sigh at having to kill some random kid. Killing Issei hadn't been personal. He had a Sacred Gear and could have become a threat to Lord Azazel if he'd joined either of those devil bitches playing student in Kuoh. Obviously they couldn't kill them or the members of their peerages, but they could easily kill any potential recruits they found.
She focused her violet eyes on the boy who was still looking at her with a look she couldn't quite identify. Well, it didn't matter. She hefted her spear up and prepared to throw it, “Sorry kid, it's your bad luck to come here at this moment. Blame fate, or maybe God, as you join that other idiot in death.”
She cocked her arm back then launched her spear with more speed and strength than any human, even a peak athlete, could hope to match making it downright impossible for an average looking teen to dodge. So, one could imagine her surprise when the boy looking at her calmly took a step to the left and left the spear fly right past him without even glancing at it.
“Yeaaaah, I don't think so.”
She watched, confused, as the boy lifted his hand and pointed his palm in her direction. Her confusion vanished and was replaced with fear when a blazing magic circle appeared in from of his palm. A goddamn mage! She didn't have a clue what he was about to cast and she didn't care. Anyone with a brain knew you did NOT go into a fight against an unknown mage. While physically weaker than even the weakest fallen angels, like her she would only admit to herself, that didn't mean they weren't a serious threat. Mage's were tricky and if you didn't know their tricks you could easily fall into a trap. She'd seen fallen much stronger than herself die uselessly against Low Class mages because they underestimated them.
Raynare stretched her wings and prepared to take off straight up into the sky as the question of what the spell would be was answered. A massive pillar of flames easily over three meters in diameter came flying toward her. She desperately slammed her wings down and propelled herself into the air with as much force as she could muster. To her great relief she managed to just barely fly over the flames. She didn't stop there though. She was not going to stick around and fight so she flapped her wings again and flew higher and faster. She put all her effort into gaining altitude and distance from the mage. She had to warn the others to keep an eye out for him.
-----Line Break-----
Solomon watched Raynare fly off while lowering his hand. The whole encounter had lasted less than a minute yet his heart was hammering within his chest while adrenaline flooded his system. That was his first real fight against the supernatural and it was fucking terrifying! He was damned lucky that being a Dhampire meant that he was way stronger than her physically or that spear would have... speared him. Ugh.
He lowered his hand and looked at the damage his spell had caused. The fountain was utterly destroyed and there was a thick scorch mark all along the concrete path. As he looked further he noticed something that made him instantly queasy. He hadn't paid too much attention to where the fire spell had been aimed other than at Raynare. He'd also pumped a lot of mana into it, because he could, and that had some pretty bad results for Issei's body.
Issei's body had been bathed in the magical flames destroying it pretty badly. Solomon felt a little guilty about that, but what was he supposed to do? NOT attack the crazy fallen angel that tried to kill him? He didn't have much time to think about it as a red light flooded the area and two girls around his physical age teleported into the park.
Oh. Shit.
-----Line Break-----
Rias stopped working on the constant paperwork she had to do as part of the contracts they fulfilled within Kuoh. The flier she'd had her familiar give Issei Hyoudou had just triggered. She'd been watching the boy for a while, looking for an opportunity to bring him into her peerage. While she wasn't shy and could have just walked up to the horndog to recruit him, the problem was that she'd never recruited someone like that before.
All of her current peerage members had either been found on the brink of death or given to her by her brother, as in the case of cute little Koneko. Akeno, Kiba, and Gasper had all been on the brink of death when she happened to run into them so she just brought them back and that was that. So, as embarrassing as it was to admit, she had no experience on just talking someone into joining her peerage.
Because of that lack of experience she'd been taking a bit too long to recruit the boy. Then she'd noticed the fallen angel bitch sniffing around him and knew she had to do something. She'd given him one of her summoning pamphlets through her familiar so he could summon her if something happened on his 'date' with the fallen angel. Now that he was summoning her, something clearly had.
“Akeno.”
At the call a buxom young woman that any Japanese man would refer to as a perfect Yamato Nadeshiko, stepped out of the small kitchen where she'd been preparing some of her famous tea, “Yes, Rias?”
“It's time, he's summoning me.”
Akeno left the kitchen while Rias climbed to her feet. Together to two 'great beauties' of Kuoh high school walked across the well appointed Victorian room to a magic circle inlayed into the floor. While it wasn't strictly required to teleport, a premade circle made it a whole lot easier and more cost effective. Akeno activated the circle while Rias set the coordinates. Bright red light filled the room and blocked their vision until they arrived at their destination, which turned out to be the public park.
They took a brief moment to get their bearings before Rias looked for Issei's location. The moment she found it, she regretted it. Something bad had happened here. She could see the signs of a battle in her peripheral vision but her focus was on the very badly damaged corpse that had once been Issei Hyoudou. It was very badly burned, the scent of cooked meat filling her nostrils. A small part of her calmly noted that his body was far beyond the means of the Evil Pieces to repair and revive. The majority of her was focused on not vomiting up everything she'd eaten in the last week.
Akeno was immediately by her side and offering her what comfort she could. Despite being devils they didn't often deal with things like this. Even as devil they were only seventeen year old girls, after all. They hadn't had to participate in any of the wars and the most 'fighting' they'd done was the occasional spar. Nothing had prepared them for the sight in front of them.
Although, due to her past, Akeno was able to handle things just the slightest bit better than Rias. After all, she'd seen death up close and personal before, even if it wasn't nearly so gruesome.
After taking a little bit of time to get herself under control, Rias addressed Akeno, “We need to find out what happened. This doesn't look like an attack by a fallen angel.”
-----Line Break-----
Solomon had sat back, hidden in shadow that he blended into without trying thanks to his race, and watched the two young women who'd teleported in. Part of him was just absolutely flabbergasted that two people could look so stunning.
Rias with her long crimson hair, stunning blue eyes, and pale white skin was an absolute bomshell with a large bust and full thighs. She might have been a teenager on the cusp of adulthood, but her body screamed 'woman' to anyone with eyes.
Her companion, Akeno, was much the same. Akeno had long dark hair held back in a ponytail, vivid purple eyes, and skin only slightly darker than Rias's own pale white. Much like Rias she had a large bust, even larger than Rias actually, and very thick thighs. She too had a body that screamed 'woman' to all who observed her.
Hearing her talk about finding out what happened left him with a choice. He could easily use the shadows to slip away without them even noticing and just leave the whole thing as a mystery for them to solve. It seemed unlikely they would ever trace anything to him. Or, he could step out of the shadows and try to explain what had happened so they could have a bit of closure and all the information they needed to understand the situation.
Sometimes he hated feeling like he should be mature.
He carefully stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to the pair who instantly noticed his presence. He lifted his hands up in the universal sign of 'I'm unarmed' and spoke calmly, “I can tell you what happened.”
Two pairs of cautious eyes studied him as both took stances in preparation of using magic to defend themselves. Though neither could sense anything from him, they didn't let their guards down. Rias, as the King of her peerage, was the one to speak, “Who are you? What are you doing here? Did you kill that boy?!”
Solomon waved his hands to gesture for her to calm down, “Easy, easy. First, no I most certainly did not kill the boy. That would be the fallen angel that was here. Let me explain.”
Rias gestured for him to go ahead, so he did, “I was just out for a walk minding my own business and enjoying the night air. I come around the corner here and see a fallen angel woman flying in the air while the boy over their was run through with a light spear. He fell down and that was that for him. After that the fallen angel noticed me and decided that as a witness I needed to die too.”
“Then why aren't you dead?” called out Akeno.
Solomon gave her an unimpressed look, “I was getting to that. She attacked me thinking I was just some random human. I dodged her attack and returned fire... with fire.” He coughed, “She dodged and chose to run like hell instead of stick around and die. Then you two teleported in and that's about it.”
Rias looked furious, “So it's your fault his body is so badly damaged?!”
Solomon rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, my bad. He was in line with the fallen angel and became collateral damage as a result. He'll definitely need a closed casket.”
That last comment seemed to infuriate Rias, “So it's your fault I can't resurrect him! Do you have any idea what you've done?! He was my last chance!”
As she yelled at him an aura of magic roared to life around her causing her hair to dance and her eyes to practically glow, “You've cost me my freedom!”
Solomon stared at her blandly, “Seriously? Going to try to pin this on me? If you wanted him in your stupid peerage so badly then maybe you should have recruited him before the fallen angel had a chance to kill him! It's not my fault you didn't get off of your glorious ass and recruit him before he died! Or... were you hoping he'd get himself hurt, or even dead, so you could recruit him without his permission?”
Rias winced at the accusation. She hadn't hoped he would get hurt, but she had definitely prepared for such a situation and would have gladly taken advantage of it. Her aura faded with her anger that was soon replaced with guilt. She pushed the guilt aside and tried to get something out of the boy across from her, “You damaged his body beyond my means of reviving, you owe me.”
Solomon snorted, loudly, “I don't owe you shit. There's no such thing as 'dibs' in the supernatural world. You didn't get off your ass and recruit him before he was murdered, that's your problem. No way in hell will I allow you to make it mine. I don't give a fuck who you're related to.”
“So, you know who I am. Then you should also know I'm in charge of this area and anyone staying here should introduce themselves to me, as is only proper.”
He snorted, “First, I only just arrived an hour or so ago. Second, I have no intention of sticking around. Third, I don't give a fly fuck what is proper. I do what I want when I want and there's nothing you can do about it.”
“Oh? What about me then?”
Solomon froze and felt a shiver run down his spine. He recognized that voice. A voice he'd thought he'd lost after so much teleporting and his nice new little buddy wrapped around his wrist. Slowly, mechanically, he turned his head and grimaced. Standing right there was the last person he wanted to see, “Serafall, what a surprise. I thought for sure I'd lost you.”
Serafall, not outwardly showing too much of her frustration or anger at Solomon gave him a very strained smile, “After what you did in that mall you almost did. Speaking of, by all rights I could imprison you for what you pulled. No, if not for Rias-chan over there I wouldn't have been able to hunt you down after you hid your magic, however you did that.”
It might not have looked like it, but she was definitely glaring at him. He was certain that if she had heat vision he would be a crispy critter by now. Rias, finally recovering from the surprise appearance of Serafall calls out to her, “Serafall? What are you doing here? Do you know that bastard?”
Serafall let out an uncharacteristic grunt of annoyance, “Yes, I do know him, unfortunately. What's he done now?”
Rias pointed to Issei's well cooked corpse, “I planned to recruit this boy into my peerage. Thanks to him the boy's body is far too damaged to be viable!”
Serafall pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment before glaring at Solomon, “Why were you burning a high schooler's body?”
“Hey! That was an accident. I was trying to torch the fallen angel bitch who killed him before she could kill me! It's not my fault the lazy red head didn't recruit him before he got killed! There's no dibs here people!”
“Are you sure you didn't kill him?”
Solomon glared at Serafall, “Hey, I might be a sarcastic asshole but I'm no murderer. Besides, if I did want to kill him it wouldn't have been with fire! Why waste a good meal?”
Rias and Akeno looked horrified at his last comment, “Meal? What the hell are you?!” came from Rias.
Solomon popped out his wings. Like a Devil's wings they looked bat like. Unlike a Devil's they were thick and leathery. He gave them a little flap as the two girls stared at a sight they recognized, “I'm a Dhampire. If I was going to kill the guy I'd have drained him dry. Except, I ain't gay so I'm not about to nom on some dudes neck for a snack. Any of you three on the other hand...”
Honestly, Solomon was super curious about how blood would taste as a Dhampire. Would it just taste coppery and metallic like it did as a normal mortal? Would it be the ambrosia of the gods? Or perhaps something in between? Oh! Would his bite be an aphrodisiac or just painful? He wanted to know now!
He tucked his wings away once more and sighed, “Now that that's taken care of I'm just going to...”
He was cut off when Serafalls hand slapped down on his shoulder and squeezed tightly, “You're not going anywhere this time. You're coming with me and answering all of my questions. And no more of that amnesia bullshit!”
Rias and Akeno were pretty thrown by Serafall's attitude and actions, but even after only dealing with Solomon for a short time they understood it perfectly. Even so, Rias was the one to ask, “Amnesia?” One could tell from her tone how skeptical she sounded.
“Hey! Don't say it like that! Yes, I have amnesia, I have no personal memories of my life. I'm guessing it wasn't so great anyway. I don't care if you believe me or not because it's the damned truth!”
Serafall, taking no chances, continued to grip his shoulder tight enough that he couldn't escape from her. Magically he might be quite powerful, physically? The short woman had him beat, easily. That was something he would definitely need to work on in the near future!
Serafall glanced to Rias, “Sorry about this Rias, but realitically, even if this little bastard had killed the boy, there would be nothing anyone could do about it. It's not like he could be turned over to the mundane police and our laws don't cover mundane matters. I really hate admitting it, but he's right. There's no dibs in the supernatural world.”
Keeping a tight grip on Solomon, Serafall continued, “I have to go now. Tell Sona-tan that I'll come by and see her soon!”
With that a magic circle sprang to life beneath Solomon and Serafall that swiftly teleported them back to the underworld. When the light of the teleportation spell faded away, Solomon found himself standing in the middle of a well appointed office on the top floor of a massive skyscraper. It was easy to tell that thanks to the incredible view out of a bank of floor to ceiling windows. He let out an appreciative whistle even while Serafall forced him to move toward the desk and made him sit in one of the chairs facing it.
While keeping her tight grip on him, she placed her hand on the desk and channeled a thread of magic into it to trigger the security precautions on her office. Specifically the anti-teleportation ones. Thanks to Ajuka that particular defense covered every form of teleportation he could manage to imagine.
The moment she released her grip on him, Solomon attempted to teleport himself to freedom once again. To his dismay, the attempt failed. The smirk Serafall gave him let him know his attempt to flee hadn't gone unnoticed, as did her sly comment, “You're not getting away this time.”
Solomon grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest like a petulant child, and no matter what anyone might say, he definitely did not pout. Serafall, looking smug, took her seat across from him, “Now that you can't get away anymore. It's time we had a nice long talk about your recent actions.”
“Look, lady. I don't know how many ways I can say it, but I honestly have no idea who I am or where I'm from. And I don't care. Why can't you just leave me the hell alone?”
“Normally, I would have. Even if you are an unknown Ultimate Class being. However, your entrance into the Underworld means I have to investigate. Great Red doesn't make it a habit of opening portals, let alone sending someone through one, alive.”
“Okay, listen carefully because this is seriously all I know on the topic. I woke up in the Dimensional Gap with no memories and in a lot of pain. Pain that I felt in mind, body, and soul. Only after my suffering ended did I come face to face with that red bastard. He slapped my ass out of the gap and into your territory. That's it. Done. Finito. No more to the tale as you were there for most of the rest of it. As far as I'm concerned, you've actually been there for most of my life... which is super weird.”
Serafall gave him an unimpressed look, “And I suppose I'm supposed to believe that you just happened to teleport into Kuoh and randomly came across the scene of a fallen angel murdering a human all within the territory of my little sister?”
“Hey! It was completely random, I swear it. That was all a complete coincidence and nothing more. You think I wanted to be anywhere near any devils? Please. I just want to be let alone to find my way and make myself a new life. Is that too much to ask?”
Serafall placed her elbows on her desk and threaded her fingers together, “It just might be. Let's say I did believe your amnesia story, which I don't, that doesn't mean other people aren't looking for you. As a Dhampire you are at least the son of a human and a vampire. The current vampire factions are the main people likely to be looking for you. As the Satan in charge of foreign affairs, it is literally my job to find out who is responsible for you.”
“If you want to waste your time looking, feel free because I honestly don't care.”
Serafall frowned slightly, “You don't care that you might have family out there worried about you and looking for you?”
He shrugged his shoulders, “Not really because I know there's no one like that. It's just a feeling, but I'm certain I have no friends of family looking anywhere for me.”
Her frown deepened and she even looked slightly saddened, “That sounds like a lonely existence. I only do what I do for my family, to protect them.”
Solomon just shrugged, “It's not a big deal. I can just make a whole new family. One filled with people I actually care about... As soon as I find a way to lose you for good.”
Serafall snorted, “That's not going to happen. I've got you now and you're not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Solomon grunted, “Fine. Now what.”
Serafall arched an eyebrow at how quickly he seemed to give up, though she didn't believe him for a moment. She expected he would be looking for a way to escape the moment he thought he could get away with it. She'd have to keep a close eye on him, “Now I figure out a way to get you to tell the truth, then punish you for what you did in the mall.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, “Up until then you hadn't broken any laws, but doing blatant magic in front of civilians like that? It's not just devil law, but the law of the whole supernatural world that you broke. At the very minimum that would be a massive fine. If it's not your first offense, if you have a record, it could also mean imprisonment for you.”
Solomon snorted, “I doubt I have a record anywhere. So. Now what?”
“Now? Now I lock you up in a guest suite and do some investigating. Since you're being so uncooperative in giving me your real name and insisting on that late amnesia excuse, I will also be getting someone to examine you to prove you're lying. Once I have all the information I need, we can discuss the full ramifications of your actions.”
Solomon just grunted in annoyance causing Serafall to roll her eyes. The Satan climbed to her feet and walked back around her desk to the side he was on, “So, are you going to follow me, or am I going to have to drag you there? Oh, just so you don't get any bright ideas, the whole building is locked down against any form of magical travel.”
He let out a long drawn out sigh and climbed to his feet. He gave her a sullen look as he moved to follow her. Despite towering over her by nearly a foot there was no doubt in his mind who was in charge. He might not have a way to sense magic, something he planned to fix soon, but he was certain she was stronger than him both magically and physically. As long as he couldn't teleport, he couldn't escape her.
It didn't help that he had absolutely no idea how to actually fight someone. All his 'training' from the Rare Candies was just solo training with some shadowboxing at best. He'd never been in a major fight in his life. He knew, even if he was more powerful than Serafall that she would curb stomp him due to sheer experience alone. Even if he chowed down on his remaining eighteen candies that would only equal nine years of training. She literally had hundreds of years of combat experience, nine years meant piss all.
He'd definitely have to find some sparring partners to refine his martial arts, swordsmanship, and magical combat skills. As long as he got some real experience he knew his growth in those fields would be explosive. He was essentially a savant in those fields.
After a short ride down a few floors on an elevator and a walk down a bland hallway, Serafall stopped by a door and gestured for Solomon to proceed her into the room. He opened the door and found himself looking into what was, essentially, a hotel suite. It included a small kitchen with a sink, mini-fridge,stove top, toaster oven, and microwave, a little sitting area, a bathroom, and a large comfortable looking bed.
Honestly, aside from lacking a television or computer, it was a pretty nice looking little space. He kinda low-key hated that. It'd be easier to be surly if he was stuck in a dungeon or something. He honestly found the lack of distractions to be a good thing, it would let him focus on training his skills while he was stuck there.
Serafall stood in the doorway, “This will be your room. Don't bother trying to escape. While these rooms weren't originally designed to be prison cells, they were designed to be strong enough to withstand magical attacks even from me to protect my guests.”
Solomon grunted in acknowledgment and walked toward the bed. Regardless of anything else, it had been a very long day and the bed looked exceedingly comfortable. He ignored Serafall as his clothing shifted into just a pair of pajama pants leaving him completely shirtless. Not that she even seemed to notice, despite the fair amount of beefcake on display. Solomon might not have been huge, but his muscles looked like they were sculpted out of marble.
Serafall silently shut, and locked, the door behind Solomon, confident he wouldn't be escaping anytime soon. She held no illusions about the room holding him forever. The rooms were designed to keep people out, not in, but a little improvisation turned it into a decent prison cell. Though if she had to keep him for more than a week, a real prison cell might be required. Sometimes she felt like she was a little too nice, she hadn't even stripped him of everything before locking him up!
She was especially tempted to steal his clothing. Clothes that could change with a thought?! She couldn't even begin to calculate how much money she would save on magical girl outfits alone! Maybe she'd ask him about getting one for herself, after she figured out who the hell he was and why he insisted on lying to her with that stupid amnesia story.
-----Line Break-----
Solomon let out an annoyed groan as he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, a crack in the curtains was letting a beam of light in that landed right on his head. While he was immune to the deadly rays of the sun, unlike purebloods, he still found the light to be highly annoying and uncomfortable. He hadn't noticed it yesterday, too much on his mind, but now that he wanted to sleep he found it rather infuriating.
Unable to escape the light, even by burying himself under the pillows and comforter, he got out of bed and stomped over to the window to violently slam it closed to cut off the light. He imediately threw himself back onto the bed with a loud huff of annoyance, only to let out a long depressed groan when the sound of loud knocking came from the door to his room.
“Go away! It's took early!”
“It's after noon!” came Serafall's reply.
Solomon didn't reply and chose to simply bury himself into the bed and ignore the world around him. He might need to practice his skills, but it wasn't something he was in a rush to do.
Of course, Serafall wasn't about to give up that easily. She slammed her small fist on the door with the power of a cannonball, “Get up! It's time for you to get checked out so we can track down whoever is responsible for you!”
Solomon groaned loudly and shouted back, “Don't wanna!”
Not about to take no for an answer, Serafall opened the door and calmly walked over to the bed. Without a care in the world she ripped the comforter clean off of Solomon, “I don't care what you want. You can either come willingly, or I can drag you out of here like the petulant child you're acting like.”
Solomon let out a deep groan but began moving, “Fine dammit. Give me some time to get cleaned off at least.”
He walked past her and made his way into the bathroom. Naturally, he slammed the door shut like a petulant child. He stored his mage outfit in his pocket dimension closet and selected a nice outfit instead. Interestingly, the closet didn't seem the care that he'd left the Rare Candies in the pocket of his Mage outfit. However, if he tried to put on one the floor, the closet wouldn't close. So, he was allowed to leave things in his pockets, but not just lying around on the floor. Good to know.
After taking care of his needs, he rejoins Serafall who'd been waiting while impatiently tapping her foot and looking at her empty wrist, “Took you long enough.”
Solomon grunted and gestured toward the door with his chin, “Let's just get this over with.”
Serafall smirked and grabbed his shoulder. The next instant there was a flash of light as she teleported them directly to their destination, one warded against people without a pass teleporting in or out. Not that Solomon would try with Serafall touching him since that would just drag her along. He also didn't bother trying once she let go of him, there was no point.
Why? Because standing directly in front of them was the smartest man in the underworld, Ajuka Beelzebub. He was pretty certain the odds of pulling anything off with the green haired Satan standing directly in front of him was minimal. Ajuka's Kankara Formula was just plain bullshit, and that was coming from him! Everything he could do, Ajuka could counter and turn right back against him. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if there was a way to beat the Satan of the Technology Department.
Ajuka glanced at Serafall, “This is him?”
Serafall placed her hand on Solomon's back and shoved him forward, “Yup. He's all yours now.”
With that Serafall teleported out leaving the pair alone. Solomon felt uncomfortable while Ajuka examined him. He felt like he was being dissected by the other man's eyes. After a long silence, Ajuka spoke, “Follow me.”
He turned on his heels and began walking down a hallway, clearly expecting Solomon to follow. Looking around and seeing nothing but more bland empty hallways in any other direction, he chose to follow Ajuka. He had no illusions about being able to escape from the devil he was following.
Before long, Ajuka led him into a room that looked empty except for a circular pad in the middle of the floor. Ajuka pointed to it, “Stand on the platform.”
Slouching and internally grumbling to himself, Solomon does as asked. Ajuka pulls out a tablet from a coat pocket and begins tapping away on it. From the ceiling a robotic arm drops down and aims a box shaped device directly at Solomon's head. A laser light in the shape of a bar comes out of it and rests on Solomon's forehead.
Ajuka hums and asks, “What's your name.”
“I don't remember my real name so I've decided to call myself Solomon.”
Ajuka tapped away at his pad, “When and where were you born?”
He shrugged, “No idea.”
Ajuka continued to ask Solomon questions about himself and his past, all of which had the same general answer of 'I don't know'. After a few minutes of questions and tablet tapping, the robotic arm moves back up into the ceiling and a dozen more drops down each topped with a different tool of some sort. The arms begin waving around leaving Solomon to wonder just what they were doing. He assumed some scanners of some sort, but no ideas beyond that. Ajuka never looked up from the tablet, even when the devices all retracted back into the ceiling. It was another five minutes of silence and Ajuka tapping away before the Satan bothered to talk to Solomon, “We're done. Follow me.”
Solomon grunted and did as told. At least the whole process hadn't involved needles or anything invasive. His mind and soul might be protected by CYOA fiat, but his body was just as vulnerable as any other.
By the time they made it to where Serafall had dropped him off, she had already returned and was waiting for them. Without a word she grabbed Solomon and teleported him back to his room. She left a moment later leaving him on his own once more. Seeing as how sleep was out of the question now that he was wide awake, he decided to get some practice in. He conjured a simple arming sword with Sword Birth and began practicing with it. It was a good thing he didn't need food anymore or he'd be bitching about the lack of it in the room.
-----Line Break-----
Serafall returned to Ajuka's office after dropping off her 'guest' in his room. Upon entering the office she found Ajuka still poking away at his tablet as he went over the data from the scans. Before she could say anything, he spoke up, “He's not lying.”
Serafall pouted, “Seriously?”
He simply nodded, “His amnesia is real. The portions of his brain related to memory storage and retrieval show clear signs of damage. Whatever was done to him erased large swaths of his personal history while leaving his general knowledge untouched. It would have been an exceedingly dangerous thing to do, even with precision magic. Once tiny mistake and it turns from precise erasure to total erasure. Even so, the effects it has had on him are quite obvious.”
“What do you mean?”
Ajuka looked up at her with an arched eyebrow, “His attitude and total irreverence, it's a coping mechanism for what he's lost. Just try to imagine, for just a moment, forgetting everything your parents ever told you, every action they ever took to show their love for you. Forgetting your sister and your feelings for her, your desire to protect her. Imagine losing all the lessons they taught you on how to live properly. It's a miracle he has what little manners he's managed to show.”
Serafall considered it for a brief moment and did not like the conclusions she was reaching. She let out a bone weary sigh but nodded in acceptance, “So, he wasn't lying, as unbelievable as that is.”
Ajuka nodded, “He was not. At least, not about that.”
She looked at him shrewdly, “Explain. What did you find?”
“Ajuka's gaze returned to his tablet, “Everything he told you was true, as far as I've been able to discern. However, he definitely didn't tell you everything about himself. He is a Dhampire, though there's no way to tell who his parents are without contacting the Vampire Factions and asking around about them missing him. Something I would recommend against given the way the purebloods treat his kind. He'd likely end up slaughtering most, if not all, of them.”
Serafall hummed, “I knew he was Ultimate Class, but you think he's that strong?”
Ajuka nodded, “My scans show that he has not one, but two Sacred Gears.”
Serafall goggled at that, “Seriously?! Being born with just one is rare enough, but two? That's nearly unheard of. Almost every time someone has two it's because they gained the second one through other means.”
Ajuka hummed in agreement, “True, but my scan show that the sacred gears have been inside of him for as long as he's been alive, approximately forty-eight hours.”
Serafall jerked at that, “What?!”
“He is less than two days old. I wouldn't have noticed if not for the deep tissue scanner I built to help improve the efficiency of the Evil Pieces. Like every living thing with a genetic structure, his genes have telomeres. In humans the shortening of the telomeres on their DNA strands is what leads to aging. In the case of longer lived species it's either a case of having significantly longer and more robust telomeres or having regenerating telomeres that leads to a longer lifespan. In the case of Dhampires, it's regenerative. Even so, it's possible to see what was original and what was regenerated. The ratio between the two is what allowed me to calculate his age.”
Serafall was silent as she took all of that in. She didn't doubt Ajuka, not when it came to anything even remotely scientific. After absorbing the information she can't help asking, “How is that possible?”
Ajuka sighed and shook his head, “All I have is speculation. My best guess is someone created the body and inserted a soul, somehow. How and to what purpose eludes me, especially if they made him only to throw him into the Dimensional Gap where he likely would have been destroyed. Perhaps they believed he was a failure of some sort? As for who could do something like this? I haven't a clue. Normally I might have considered the Old Satan Faction, only they would have made a Devil, not a Dhampire.”
Serafall could agree with that. No way in hell would those assholes make anything other than a devil in their image. She sighed but had no idea what to do with the information. So, she moved back onto a topic they'd only briefly touched, “You mentioned he had two Sacred Gears?”
Ajuka nodded, “He does. I can't tell what they are, but one of them is reading as stronger than the other. Possibly a Longinus, but I'm not certain. For some reason the magical scanners were having a little difficulty in getting proper scans, unlike the ones aimed at his physical body. If we want to know more we'll have to ask. Though I find it unlikely that he even knows they exist within him, given his age.”
She agreed with that, it did seem unlikely and nothing she'd seen him do pointed toward any specific Sacred Gear that she knew of, “Is there anything else I need to know before I talk to him again?”
Ajuka nodded, “Yes, I believe one of his Sacred Gears is a copy of Sword Birth.”
He tapped a few keys on his tablet and a video began playing on one of his walls that showed Solomon summoning a sword and beginning to swing it around. The pair watched for a few moments until Ajuka spoke again, “I believe I need to amend his file. He is clearly a sword prodigy.” At Serafall's questioning look, he began pointing things out, “When he first started he was a little clumsy, though there was some skill. Since they he's consistently made minor improvements to his form. Small ones, hard to notice, but there nonetheless. He would likely become a master in just a decade or so if left on his own, faster with a proper teacher.”
Serafall groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Troublesome. He's nothing but a big ball of trouble!”
Ajuka hummed in agreement as he turned off the display, “We will need to discreetly look into Solomon's origins. If someone is out there performing experiments like the ones I suspected created Solomon, it is a danger to everyone. We'll need to speak with the others and come up with a plan of investigation. This isn't just some small thing we can overlook. Whoever made Solomon made him exceptionally powerful, stuck two Sacred Gears within him, and could do it all again. If what I suspect is true and he was dumped in the Dimensional Gap as a disposal method for a failure... I would hate to see what is considered a success.”
Ajuka didn't voice his hundreds of other concerns, not limited to obvious questions such as 'why not take the two Sacred Gears back out before trashing Solomon?' or 'why only erase personal memories and not everything all at once?' the later being significantly easier to do. There was a lot about Solomon that didn't make sense and he would do his best to suss out every last detail. Unfortunately, those details were unlikely to come from the being in question.
-----Line Break-----
Solomon sighed to himself as he stepped out of his steaming bathroom in nothing but a nice fluffy towel. It was his second shower of the day but he felt he needed it after his workout. The first sword he'd made had felt as heavy as a toothpick in his hands so after getting used to swinging a sword for real, he'd used Sword Birth to create a sword that got heavier as more magical power was fed into it. Once he fed enough into it the sword weighed enough to feel like a normal sword in his hands. He didn't have a scale to check, but it had to weigh a few hundred pounds, at least.
He paused in towelling his hair when he saw the unwanted guest in his suite. Serafall stood before him and the moment she noticed she had his attention, she went into action. Once more wearing a magical girl outfit she spun a wand around in her hand while performing a pirouette that lifted her skirt just enough to hint at what was beneath, “Miracle Girl Levi-tan is here to save the day!”
Solomon stared at her blandly, then chose to do the mature thing for once and ignored her completely while walking by into the main room of his suite. A flex of will opened the portal to his clothing dimension and another produced a complete causal outfit from the sneakers to an optional baseball cap.
Still ignoring Serafall as she pouted outrageously behind him, he took off the towel around his waist and started getting dressed. He had no memories of ever being body shy so he saw no need to be all uptight and prudish about it. Besides which, he was required to have a harem of one hundred women so he might as well get used to being naked in front of the opposite sex. He didn't want to find out what the punishment for failure would be.
He completely ignored the wolf wistle and the feeling of being watched as he dressed. It didn't take long, it was just jeans, a t-shirt, and an open front hoodie. He sat on the bed and faced Serafall while pulling on his socks, “What do you want?”
“I spoke with Ajuka and he confirmed that you do, actually have honest to Lucifer, amnesia.”
Solomon put on a look of shock that was completely and utterly over the top and fake, “Oh my god. It's like I told you that a dozen times.” came out in a completely flat voice.
Serafall gave him her most devastating pout, though it had no outward effect, “Can you blame me for not believing you? It's the most cliché of cliché's for a reason! I've never heard of a real case of amnesia affecting a supernatural creature before. It's not my fault I thought you were lying.”
She gave him the hairy eyeball, “I was also not the only one to lie. You didn't tell me you have two Sacred Gears.”
“First, I didn't lie, what I have and can do is none of your business. Second, you didn't ask. Now that you know I'm not lying, can I go or what?”
She shrugged, “Or what. You still broke a big law in that mall and that has to have consequences, even if it is your first offense.”
He rolled his eyes and let out a huff, “Just give me a fine or community service or something. It's not like I went on national TV or something extreme like that.”
She crosses her arms under her breasts, pushing them together and up to try and tease him, “Even if we did that, how would you pay a fine? And if you left where would you go?”
He shrugged, “I'll figure something out.” He tapped his chin, “Maybe find myself a sponsor and work as a contracted magician or something. There's plenty of things I can do.”
Serafall, seeing no reaction from him, changes poses. This time she places her hands behind her back and bends over a bit while swinging herself back and forth. He had an excellent view down the front of her skimpy top to see plenty of cleavage, “How about joining my peerage?”
Originally, she would have wanted to get him into Sona's peerage, but Sona had nowhere near enough strength to reincarnate Solomon into a devil, not even if she used all eight of her pawns at once. She jerked a bit in surprised when he threw his head back and laughed. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance and glared at him lightly, “What's so funny?! You should be honored! I've only ever brought one other being into my peerage. You'd have all of my attention to yourself!”
Solomon snorted, “Pass. HARD pass.”
Besides, she couldn't reincarnate him. No one could. His soul was protected so the Evil Pieces simply wouldn't work on him, no matter who used them on him. There was literally nothing he would gain by becoming a devil anyway. He was already immortal, so that meant nothing. Access to Devil Magic was also useless since his 'The Mage', on top of giving him imagination magic, made it possible for him to learn how to copy the abilities of any pillar house, with enough study. Wings? Already got 'em. Shapeshifting? Got it, and more. Frankly, being a devil would be a downgrade to him!
Then, on top of the downgrade he would become a slave, a second class citizen, and have to deal with the greatest evil of all time. Something worse than Trihexia. Something that could conquer and destroy even the most powerful beings in the multiverse...
Politics and the accompanying bureaucracy.
Serafall let out a cute little huff and lightly stomped her foot on the ground causing her chest to jiggle enticingly, “So you know how many people would literally kill to be offered to join my peerage? All of them!”
Again, Solomon rolled his eyes, “Still a hard pass. Becoming a devil would literally be a downgrade of the highest order from me. Name one benefit I would gain from joining your peerage.”
Serafall immediately knew the standard stuff was out. As a Dhampire he had the majority of the things a devil did so she skipped right over that and got to something she knew he didn't have, “I can let you live a life of absolute luxury. I'm quite rich you know! You could indulge as much as you wanted! That's not too shabby right?”
He gave her a flat look, “Are you suggesting that I literally sell myself to a devil? Seriously?” He leaned forward and loudly whispered, “That's not just a no, but a fuck no.”
Serafall sighed and dropped her act for a bit. She wouldn't force him to join her peerage. Devil's already had a bad enough reputation for doing just that and if it ever got out that the Satan of Foreign Affairs did something like that? Her reputation would be destroyed in an instant. On top of which, it was a proven fact that people forced to join a peerage against their will were significantly more likely to go stray. She didn't want to even begin to imagine what would happen if an ultimate class devil went stray. In short, it would be a disaster of epic proportions. It would also, once again, destroy her reputation utterly.
She once more crossed her arms under her breasts, though not to tease this time, “Fine.” she grinned playfully, “I think some community service would be a good option for your punishment. I'll even make sure you get paid a fair wage for your work.”
Solomon frowned. That... sounded weird and a bit sketchy, “I thought the point of community service was to serve the community pro-bono.”
Serafall shrugged, “You'll need money to rent a place, buy food, and other such things. Just shut up and accept it. Now, as I was saying, community service. I'm going to send you to Kuoh under the Stewardship of Sona Sitri. You will work for her for a total of two hundred and fifty hours. Whatever she needs help with, you will help her. In exchange you will be paid thirty-five hundred yen an hour and I will have an identity made for you to use in the human world.”
He just stared at her as she continued, “Oh, and don't even think you can run away. I'm going to have Ajuka 'lojack' your ass until your punishment is served.”
Solomon clicked his tongue in annoyance because that was exactly what he was planning to do, “Fine.”
Serafall grinned brightly, “Yay! Tomorrow we can head to the human realm and get you all squared away! I'll even be nice and throw in an apartment for free!” she narrowed her eyes as she instantly switched from playful to deadly serious, “But if you make So-tan cry I will do horribly unspeakable things to you!”
Solomon numbly nodded, not doubting her for a moment. He knew just how cray Serafall was about Sona. He wasn't sure which siscon was worse, Serafall or Sirzechs. Both were pretty bad, though. She nodded at his acceptance and spun around a few time to flare her skirt before heading to the door, “Good! Don't forget to be up nice and early tomorrow morning!”
Solomon watched Serafall leave and let out a deep sigh of regret. Maybe using civilians as an escape strategy wasn't so smart. He wanted nothing to do with the events that would happen in Kuoh, yet here he was being forced to go to the city to serve Sona, temporarily. He had no doubt Rias would find some stupid ass way to drag him into her problems. At least she couldn't recruit him!
Though, as he relaxed, he did wonder just what the hell she was going to do now that she didn't have the Bullshit that was Issei to pull her ass out of the marriage. Oh well, not his fucking problem.
-----Line Break-----
“Sooooooo-tan!”
“N-nee-san?! Oof!”
Solomon stood on the spot they'd teleported in at and watched quietly as Serafall attack Sona with a flying tackle then proceeded to hug the stuffing out of her, “Ahhhh I needed a refill of So-tanergy.”
He wasn't the only one giving Serafall a flat look for her comment. He ignored the curious looks he was getting from Sona's peerage and took a look around the room they were in. If he wasn't mistaken, they were in the student council room at Kuoh Academy High School.
He did notice he was getting some curious looks from the girls, though the one male in the room was sending out a serious glare. Guess he didn't like having another male invade his 'territory'. Oh well, sucks to be him because Solomon would be sticking around for a while. Not that he had a choice. Ajuka had delighted in telling him just how fucked he would be if he left Kuoh without permission. The 'lojack' was a simple spell circle temporarily placed on him. If he left Kuoh, it would disable his ability to use any form of magic, which was some bullshit!
Fucking big brained Ajuka pulling off some pure BS just because he could!
He was brought out of his internal complaints by his name being called, “What? I wasn't paying any attention.”
Serafall sighed while Sona gave him a look of disapproval. Serafall repeated herself, “I was just explaining to So-tan why we were here and the details of your punishment.”
Solomon grunted, “Fine.”
Serafall smirked and, reluctantly, let go of Sona to pull some paperwork out of her cleavage. How the hell did she fit an entire manila folder between her breasts?! Sure, they were decently large, looking even bigger on her petite frame, but they weren't that big! She held the folder out to him, “Your identity. I'll leave a copy of the necessary information with So-tan so she can enroll you properly.”
He paused, running the last thing Serafall said over again in his mind. Relizing he heard her right he stares at her, “The fuck you say?”
Serafall smirked wickedly as she opened the folder and showed him the identification card she'd had made, “We didn't know how old you were exactly, so we went with seventeen, which means you're a high school student and need to attend school.”
Solomon gave her a heated glare, “The hell?! I don't want to go to school. That's some bullshit.”
Serafall looked like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth as she gave him her most innocent look, “but Solomon, if you don't go to school like a good little boy, you could be caught by a police officer and you know what will happen if you break even human laws without a good enough reason.”
Solomon grimaced with distaste. Part of being lojack'd was agreeing to the terms of his scentencing. In this case, she was referring to the clause on breaking the law. Breaking Devil law would be an automatic extension of his punishment. If it was a more important law, that necessitated trial, he would be put on trial. Human laws he had a little more leeway with as long as he had a good enough reason to justify his actions, he would be let off. Of course, this required him being CAUGHT just like any other law.
He snatched the folder out of her hand and began going over it, choosing to ignore her and the fact that she'd played the hell out of him. No wonder she got him an apartment. He'd planned to find a part time job and now he wouldn't have the time for it. He'd be stuck in school for a large part of the day and serving as Sona's helper for the rest of it.
God this just sucked so much!
-----Line Break-----
Shortly after Serafall finally took her leave, Solomon found himself sitting across from Sona as she sat at her desk. She studied him as she casually asked, “Sorting through everything my sister said, I'm left to understand that you are here as a part of your community service. While here you are to work for me in any capacity I need that you can fulfill, am I understanding correctly?”
Solomon slouched in his seat and nodded sullenly. He was still ticked at being tricked into going to high school a second time. Even worse, the surname Serafall had chosen pissed him off! He was now officially Solomon Payne, which sounded awesome! She even left a note about Payne being derived from the Latin word paganus meaning 'heathen' or 'pagan' which was totally awesome! So why was he pissed? Because he didn't think of it! He now owed her for giving him such a badass name and he hated that fact. It almost would have been better if she gave him a joke name like 'Fokker' or 'Cummings' so he could be made for a good reason!
He gave Sona a nod at her question, “Yeah, that's right. I'll do what I can, but don't expect me to put my heart and soul into anything.” He eyed her up, his eyes having been changed to their natural blood red for the day, “And don't expect to recruit me into your peerage. You're too weak to do so and I am completely uninterested in becoming someone else's slave.”
Sona didn't say anything about that and instead looked at the information Serafall had given her, “Yes, I expected as much since you're clearly listed as being Ultimate Class in strength. Despite being a rather high up in the ranks of High Class, I am definitely not strong enough to recruit you, yet.”
Solomon snorted, “No need to linger on the topic, move on.”
That got him quite a few dirty looks, especially for the guy.. .what was his name? As he tried to remember the boy practically shouted, “Who do you think you're talking to like that?! Show Sona-kaicho the respect she deserves!”
Solomon slowly turned his head to level his gaze at the blonde boy, “Servants are meant to listen, not speak. Now be a good boy and be silent.”
Obviously that was exactly the right thing to say as Saji clenched his fist and summoned his Sacred Gear. The device that appeared on his left wrist looked a lot like a stylized chameleon. Solomon studied it for a moment, trying to remember what he could about it. Something about absorbing? He focused on the boy as he pointed an accusatory finger at Solomon, “I can't agree to someone like you working around Sona-kaicho!”
Solomon stared at him rather blandly before he slowly turned back to facing Sona while casually dismissing the guy, “Good for you.”
He was kind of surprised Sona hadn't said anything to the boy, but seeing the way she was studying him, he understood why she hadn't. She was letting the idiot go off and make a fool of himself to test Solomon himself to see what he would do in reply. Frankly, the blonde meant nothing and his words were less than hot air to him.
Seeing Solomon not rising to the bait, she finally acted, “That's enough Saji. He is here on the orders of my sister, there is nothing we can do about it.”
“But Kaicho!”
“Enough Saji!” she paused as she studied Solomon, “Although... Perhaps a bit of an exhibition to show what you're capable of?”
Solomon gave her a bland stare, “If that's what you want. It's your time to waste.”
Sona nodded, “Then its settled.”
It was Sunday and school wouldn't resume until tomorrow morning. They had the entire place all to themselves, well almost. Rias and her peerage were on campus as well but they had their own things to do. Sona led Solomon and her entire peerage out to one of the athletic fields.
Solomon stood across from Saji and couldn't have looked more bored if he tried. He might not have any real combat experience, but neither did Saji. Though Solomon did have one thing Saji didn't, skill. This was a complete waste of his time, still it meant he didn't have to do anything else at the moment so it wasn't all bad.
Sona lifted her hand into the air, “On three.”
Saji took a terrible stance and blatantly aimed the mouth of his gauntlet directly at Solomon broadcasting his intention for all to see.
“One.”
Solomon sighed and pulled just his right hand out of his pocket, the left remained tucked away. One arm should be more than enough for this.
“Two.”
Seeing the lazy stance and single arm at the ready pissed Saji off so he shouted, “I'm going to show Kaicho just how little we need you around!”
Did... did that dumb blonde think Solomon was there to steal Sona's heart from him or something?! Hard fucking pass!
Sona brought her arm down, “ONE!”
“Absortion line!”
Shouting out his attack like a complete moron, Saji's gauntlet launched a blue glowing line from it's mouth. Solomon casually moved his right arm into the path of the attack and allowed it to hit. The line quickly wrapped around his forearm several times and began draining energy from him. Given the rate it was going at... He could withstand it for all of eternity. It didn't even come close to overpowering his natural regeneration.
“HA! I've got you now! My Sacred Gear allows me to absorb the energy of my enemies and use it for myself! It's indestructible so don't think you can ever escape it now! I will drain you until you have nothing left and there's nothing you can do about it!”
Clearly Saji was still completely new to his Sacred Gear and very inexperienced with it if he truly believed what he was saying. Oh well. Time to teach the boy his first lesson. Solomon gave his wrist and little twist and wrapped his fingers around the line, “Indestructible huh? You should be really careful you don't latch it onto people who are your physical superiors.”
Saji looked like a confused puppy as he asked, “What do you mean?”
Instead of verbally answering, Solomon used his drastically superior physical strength to violently pull on Absorption Line. Saji lets out a startled yell as he's easily pulled off of his feet and sent flying through the air, straight into Solomon's prepared clothesline. There's a loud 'GURK!' as Saji folds in half over Solomon's arm, which might as well have been made of steel for all the give it had.
Solomon gives his arm a little shake causing Saji to fall off of it and land roughly on the ground. He gives his hand a little look, the line having already faded away when Saji lost consciousness. He stuck his hand in his pocket as he faced a surprised looking group of girls, though he focused on Sona, “If there's nothing else, I'll be heading to my new apartment to check it out.”
He didn't actually wait for a reply before turning around and walking off. At least that was fifteen minutes off of this sentence, the smallest unit of time he could use for any given task. Only two hundred forty-nine hours and forty-five minutes to go.
-----Line Break-----
AN
Alrighty then, that's chapter 2 done and coming in at 10.6k words. Some stuff happened. Let me know what you think! Especially about Solomon's punishment. Bet you didn't see that coming? Especially since I have a habit of sticking my OC's into Rias's peerage. This one literally cannot become a devil.
On the other hand... I have NO idea how I'm going to deal with Issei being dead-dead. That'll be fun to figure out going forward. Though it will be funny as hell to throw Raynare under the bus by telling Vali that she killed his fated rival and he has to wait at least another 15 years for him to show up again. lol.
I look forward to your feedback!
Comments
maddmann1991
Just all the don't give a f**** Great chapter
Cody S.
With permission, yes. Sona can send him out of town on errands and stuff if she wants and, of course, the Satans can tell him to do things. There are limits, like they can't order him to do something suicidal or anything like that. But if Sona needed some paperwork delivered to the Yokai, she could order Solomn to be a delivery boy.
TinyDeath
For clarification, can he leave Kuoh temporarily with permission? Say to complete a task, go to the Underworld, or if he's with an approved person like Sona or Rias? It's kind of funny thinking that they have an immortal super-vampire (Dhampir) magically bound to the town. Reminds me of Negima.
