Celestial X Grimoire (DXD Celestial Grimoire)

There was a cold hard blade pressed up against my neck, and the priest who was threatening could kill me at any moment.

"Now, I asked ya brat. What did ya think ye were doin'?" The priest asked menacingly, as he stared down at me.

"I- I…" I stuttered, feeling a sense of fear wash over my body as I quickly tried to fire the Zap into his leg.

But while the bubble-like attack was fired, it just… dissipated over his clothes.

"Huh, not a powerful attack at all. Hmm… you some sort of mage or somethin' kiddo?" The man asked, loosening his grip a small amount.

"Y-yes? I- I think I am…" I said, not really sure exactly what he was asking, before panicking as the blades pressed further into my neck, just barely drawing blood, "I mean, I just learned that spell y-yesterday?"

"Truth. Good" The man said, before removing the blades from my neck and vanishing, before reappearing in front of me, wielding what I was pretty sure was a pair of bayonets of all things, "Now what brings you here?"

"D-do you mean to school? I- what?" I asked confusedly, as the man chuckled a little bit.

"No, I mean to me. I saw you chargin' up that attack… what made you do so?" He asked, and it was as if he could stare into my very soul.

"You uh, you seemed dangerous. I- I thought that you might attack us, so I um… well, I figured it'd be better to hit first?" I said after a moment, only noticing how stupid that idea was when I said it.

"Ah, the tried and true 'strike first and strike hard' method, don't blame ya lad. I'm a scary man" The man said with a menacing grin, "I don't blame ya for attackin' me. Not like it did anythin' anyway"

"So, so we're cool?" I asked, causing him to chuckle a small amount. The sound was honestly the most terrifying thing that I had ever heard.

"Yes lad, we're… 'cool', I don't judge ya for the attempt, now that we're done with this whole little misunderstandin', It'd be rude not to introduce ourselves to the other. The name's Father Anderson" The man, Father Anderson said with a grin, as he extended a hand out to me.

I didn't even notice him put the bayonet away, and I was watching him this whole time.

"Oh, uh I'm Hyoudou Ryuuji. Or, Ryuuji Hyoudou if we're using Western conventions, it's nice to meet you too" I said with a hesitant smile as I shook his hand.

After all, I didn't want to be rude to the man who could have easily killed me with just a flick of his wrists. He was faster than anyone I had ever seen too.

Looking at the small softer smile on his face as I shook his hand, I decided to use Thought Acceleration for the first time.

Everything seemed to slow to a crawl, as the world almost paused around me. So this is what my new spell was like…

I tried to move in order to test this new spell of mine , but found myself almost… trapped in my body. I felt like I couldn't even breathe in this state, but it also seemed that I didn't need to…

It took several seconds in my mind just to minutely even twitch my fingers. Wow, this was actually pretty weird.

After all, my mind was working at such a speed that my body simply couldn't keep up. How fast was I even thinking here?

To the outside world, would it look like my movements are happening in an instant? This definitely has potential.

This was some actually really fascinating magic.

I could do without the slight warm sensation that was enveloping my head though, that was kind of annoying.

But I shouldn't focus on that, and instead refocused on Father Anderson, looking him up and down. Or well, as much as I could when my eyes took seconds to slowly roam his body.

His hand was covered in scar tissue and calluses, the hands of a man who did a lot of work with his hands. In this case, he likely seemed to be some sort of fighter.

I wasn't sure what sort of magic he knew, but if it was gained in the same way that I got it… then the possibilities could be downright endless.

From his attire, I could tell that he was Christian, though I wasn't sure what denomination he was from, and thought better of asking. I didn't want to somehow offend him after all.

And the bayonets that he wielded were hidden underneath his outfit, just barely out of sight. But due to the slowed time and the slight wind causing his jacket to flutter open, I was just barely able to make out the hilt of one of his blades.

I had to stop the spell though, as my head was getting to an uncomfortable level of hotness. Was this the flaw of my spell? Overheating your mind?

But I was now back in normal time, and noticed that Father Anderson was looking at me curiously. Did he somehow notice the use of my spell? Or could he detect magic in some sort of way?

Quick, think of a distraction before he can bring it up!

"So, uh… how did you do that?" I asked, causing him to quirk an eyebrow as he looked down at me, the large priest towering over my form.

"'That'? Do you mean my speed?" He asked, and I nodded, this had the effect of making him give me a grin, "Well lad. That was just sheer physical speed… wasn't even me at my fastest"

Wait, that wasn't his fastest speed? But I couldn't even see him before he was behind me. And that was just physical speed? Did that imply he could enhance it with magic?

What sort of monster was this man?

"Fuck…" I muttered with a look of awe on my face, as I looked at him in a bit of a new light. That is, if he isn't bullshitting me.

But I didn't think he had any real reason to lie, maybe embellish a bit but not outright lie.

"Ha, yeah. I've gotten that reaction quite a bit!" Father Anderson said with a small laugh, before finally letting go of my hand.

"So uh, what brings you here Father Anderson? Are you here to take care of the old abandoned church?" I asked, because that was the only real reason why he'd be here that would make sense to me.

"Oh no, no. I'm just passing through. Have some little pests to deal with, then I'll be off to continue my pilgrimage" He told me, his smile growing sharper as he mentioned those 'pests'.

I didn't know who they were, but I felt kind of bad for whoever they were. I wouldn't want him after me, after all.

"Cool, cool. That makes sense, so I know this might be a bit of a weird question but… how come everything I heard about magic said it was all fake? But the literal day after I get my strange magic abilities, I somehow meet a magic priest?" I asked, causing him to hum as he looked at me with a bit of surprise.

"Wait, you've only had your magic for a day? And you already figured out the calculations for a low-powered concussive beam with minor purification abilities? Impressive" He whistled as he looked at me with a small grin.

"Calculations? What do you mean? I just got this stuff… isn't that how every magic user gets magic?" I asked, but from the look on his face, I was pretty sure that my magic wasn't as… normal as I'd initially thought.

"So his magic wasn't done via calculations?… Could it be some manner of Sacred Gear?" He muttered to himself, but I was able to hear his words rather easily.

"Sacred Gear? What's what?" I asked, causing him to give me a small grin.

"Why, they're blessings from God himself. Artifacts of great power bestowed onto humanity to protect them from the heathen beasts that stalk the land, hunting us… though his gifts were abused by those down below" Father Anderson said, his grin growing sharper as he spoke, a look of anger on his face.

"Abused? How can a blessing be abused?" I asked, honestly confused.

"You don't know? Alright, I'll give you a quick rundown. The Devils, a race of blasphemers and deceivers, the lot of them. One of their Satans managed to discover a way to steal God's blessings. With a device they called Evil Pieces," He told me, a small amount of fury darkening his features, "Heretical objects in the guise of chess pieces that transform other races into Devils, slaves in all but name to their Kings"

That sounded honestly horrible… I didn't know much about Christian mythology, but I've heard of the Devil and Satan. Though I thought that they were the same being.

"That's, well that's horrible. Is there any way to help these people?" I asked after a moment.

"Sadly, there's no known cure for devilfication. The best you can do is end their suffering, that is in the case of those who didn't decide to willingly join the Devils, that is." He said with a saddened look on his face as he sat down on a nearby bench, "The Devils need no consent to change a person's race. And most horrifically of all, it even works a few minutes after death, which would cause some of those poor souls to be forever barred from Heaven's gates despite being just out of reach…"

Hearing that, I couldn't help but imagine one of my sister's childhood friends, the devout little Christian girl Irina… the little tomboy that she was, passing away in her sleep only to be brought back to the world as a Devil, never being able to enter Heaven due to the acts of a demonic bastard.

"Is there any way to stop them?" I asked, a pit of dread forming in my stomach.

"Well yes. Light and Holy Water work remarkably well against them. Holy anything, really. Even scripture from the Bible. Though, their magic is… a lot more powerful than a normal human's, and the Devils here are related to some of more importance" Father Anderson said, causing me to look at him in horror.

"There… there are Devils here?" I asked, causing him to nod. Oh God, what if one of them got to Tomoko?

"Aye, this is officially Devil Territory. I shouldn't even be here… uh, if you do meet one of them. Don't tell them about me" He said, as I nodded. I wasn't going to sell him out… mostly because I wasn't that type of person. Well unless they threatened my family, that is.

But what the fuck? Devils existing was already a lot for me, but they owned Kuoh!?

…And it was just dawning on me that the Christian God was real. Did that mean that Amaterasu and the other Kami were real as well?

What about Yokai? Was I going to be finding Tanuki and Kitsune running through the streets?

"Is- is everything real?" I asked after a moment, as I joined the priest on the bench.

"Well… that depends. Magic's real, God is real, and there are other begins that call themselves gods, those are real. The same could be said for the various monsters that roam this world… honestly, there's so much out there that it's easier to just think of everything as being real in some sense" Father Anderson told me kindly, before taking out a small canteen of water and taking a swig of it.

"What about Vampires?" I asked, mostly because I couldn't help but remember watching some anime about a guy with a vampire harem back in my shameful old NEET days.

I even cringily swore that I'd get a vampire girlfriend… which is kind of funny in retrospect. But Tomoko's basically a vampire if I think about it. Well without the bloodsucking part... then again from how she reacted after she 'claimed' me, she might have more similarities to a vampire than I thought.

"Ah, vampires. They're definitely real, though don't go around believing that a simple clove of garlic will stop them. The Tepes and Carmilla Factions are rather formidable… but there's one Vampire out there, a being that destroys all in her wake. Pray that you never meet her" He told me rather vaguely, before taking another sip.

It was then that I remembered that I was supposed to be at school. Looking at your watch, I saw that it'd been over ten minutes.

Tomoko was going to kill me…

"Alright… so anyway, I should be heading off to school, I don't want to be late," I said, as I slowly got up from the bench.

"That uniform. You're going to Kuoh Academy, yes?" He asked, causing me to nod, "Be careful. The Devils in this town make that academy their main territory. I'd stay clear of them if I were you"

With that warning, I got up to leave… but were stopped by his hand gripping my forearm.

"…Take this, just in case," He said, as he handed me a necklace with a small black cross on it, "Inside the cross is a blade. Hopefully you won't need it, but we can't rely on hope these days"

"Um, thank you," I said, as I went to walk away before… I felt something happening.

Bonewood Staff Warhammer Fantasy: Orcs & Goblins Benevolence (400 CP)

A staff composed completely of one solid bone of unknown origins, bearing many glowing green glyphs. Wielding this staff in battle is easily as effective as walking in with a massive cudgel or a fine longsword, and besides the effectiveness as a hand weapon it makes the user's difficult to harm or hinder using magic. This Magic Resistance is potent enough to completely diffuse spells about half the time and allows him to use magic with greater ease, easily channeling the energies of the magic safely.

Ah shit, my magic was acting up again, wasn't it?

In an instant, I saw green energy warping all around me, and a long shaft manifested in my hand.

Looking down at what I was holding I saw an… absolutely massive staff, made out of some sort of bone, with various glowing green glyphs along it.

"What the!?" I heard Father Anderson exclaim as he got up from the bench and stared at the staff in my hand.

"…The Bonewood Staff" I muttered to myself, as I stared at the weapon.

It was the complete opposite of inconspicuous, standing at over eight feet tall, made out of what looked and felt like bone, and glowing with a menacing green aura.

I felt like I could probably use this as a terrifying melee weapon. It just looked like it was made to crush skulls.

"I've never seen anything like that, well outside of shamanistic rituals… is this your Sacred Gear?" He asked, as he ran a hand along the side of my staff, "Made out of bone… what did you call this? The Bonewood Staff?"

Looking at the staff, I could tell that it was brimming with magical power, and I instinctively knew that I could easily use it to block most forms of magical attacks… sometimes.

Which seemed kind of annoying, what was the point of a shield if it only worked half the time?

But the other thing that it did was honestly interesting, it seemed to be able to amplify my other spells, with this I felt… well not confident in going to school with Devils, but at least a bit safer.

And it seemed that I could also summon and unsummon it at will, testing that out by making it vanish from my hand, before reappearing.

I did that several times, and each time it was nearly instantaneous.

Looking back at Father Anderson, I saw that he was looking at the staff with a heavy interest. Likely believing this was my… Sacred Gear?

I looked at the priest for a moment, and noticed that he was still looking at the staff, a look of interest.

Unsummoning it, the staff disappeared from my grasp and back into wherever it went… my soul? The ether? Some random void?

I don't really know where it went when it was no longer summoned, but I wasn't going to focus on that. Instead, I was going to focus on this rather scary thought that I had.

I remembered that Irina's dad was some sort of priest, and that they had to leave so suddenly. And now that I learned that this was Devil Territory.

Well, it wasn't painting the nicest of pictures.

"I have a question," I said, causing him to look back at me before giving me a small nod.

"Yes? I'm happy to answer any question you may ask, young man" Father Anderson said with a small smile.

"Alright, then I was wondering. Do you know what happened to the Shidou Family? I- I knew their daughter when I was younger, and they just left all of a sudden…" I said a bit awkwardly, causing him to pat me on the shoulder.

"Ah, you mean Touji's family? They're fine. In fact, I do believe I know who you're talking about. Irina Shidou? Last I heard, she's actually become a wielder of one of the Excaliburs. An incredibly high honor in the Church," Father Anderson said with a grin, "I knew that the Shidou's used to operate here before the Belial Incident, but I didn't think their daughter would've had a friend with such potential"

You know what? I'm not even going to ask him what the hell he meant by 'one of the Excaliburs' or whatever the 'Belial Incident' was.

"It's good to know that they're doing well," I said, a soft smile making its way to my face, at least now I knew that she was still alive.

I don't know how I'd be able to face Tomoko, if Irina was dead. Those two were practically inseparable as kids.

"Hey, I need to get to school soon. But do you think we could talk more about this… staff and stuff after school? If that's alright with you" I asked the priest.

"Oh, that's perfectly fine. Here, this is where I'm currently staying" Father Anderson said as he wrote down an address on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

"Well alright thank you, Father Anderson, now I think I should head off now," I said, causing him to give me a single nod as I started to walk away.

Thankfully, I didn't get another magic staff as I was walking away, because that would have been awkward.

But as I was finally reaching the school gates, I heard a tearing sound that caused me to grimace.

…And then I felt a faint buzzing in my mind as I gained knowledge on a new ability.

Undead Traits Warhammer Fantasy: Tomb Kings Transformation (Free)

You are undead. Between life and death. Your flesh and organs have long since rotted from your body, leaving you as naught but bones, animated by your own soul. Your soul remains within your body as a result of countless rituals and spells performed over your form prior to and during your burial. As an undead, you do not age. You have no requirements or ability to do bodily functions such as eating, drinking, sleeping or breathing. You have no organs to damage or blood to bleed. The only way to kill you would be to smash up your bones till nothing the size of a skull or larger remains.

You are enchanted so that, even despite lacking muscles or skin, you can move with superhuman strength and speed, as well as move and think at all. Whilst many lesser Nehekharan undead require the presence of a Liche Priest to maintain awareness and only have the most basic of personalities, you have no requirement for support from a Liche Priest and you maintain your full cognitive functions in this form. However, as you are just old bones, you are quite vulnerable to fire, despite the relative sturdiness of your form.

After the jump ends, this will become an Alt form for you.

It seemed that I had the ability to transform into an undead skeleton of all things.

A member of the living dead, with no flesh, blood, or organs. It lets me turn into just a skeleton.

While in this form, I wouldn't need to breathe, sleep, eat, or drink. And the only way to kill me would be to break me into a fine powder.

And I seemed to have superhuman strength and speed in this form. Easily far outpacing anything that I would have been able to do as a human. Though there was some sort of weakness to fire…

"This is… this is cool" I muttered to myself, thankful that I didn't instantly transform as I crossed the gates.

____

Thanks everyone for the support for this fic, just so you guys know since I haven't explained it, the Celestial Grimoire is basically a massive sheet full of various Jumpchain Perks that are magic-based, it's based on another one called the Celestial Forge that are all 'Crafting-based Perks'.

There are other variants too, such as the Celestial Menagerie (Monsters), Celestial Reliquary (Items), Celestial Dojo (Martial Arts Bullshit), and the Celestial Bordello (Lewd Stuff), but we won't get much into that since we're focused on the Grimoire.

CP stands for 'Celestial Points' and they're gained via writing, basically there's a word threshold to reach for more points, and then I roll a perk, and whether or not I can afford it depends on the price of the perk.