SWNOVELXO Chapter 9: Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The group of girls truly wanted to stay over and watch how Marcus work. But… they have school! And since Serafall is here and they don't want to look like they can't do their duties.
Especially since they were the ones who asked to come to the human world in the first place! They needed to attend their classes. Thus leaving the Genius inventor alone with Satan.
It was the first day in human school for Rias and Sona but their mind was not on the classes.
All they could think of is the guy downstairs setting up a surveillance system for their town. Especially when Serafall has hyped him up to the point that they had to see him at work!
And so the moment the last bell rung they rushed downstairs to see what is going on.
…
…
…
"What is that!?" Rias asked with wide eyes.
"It looks like a diamond…" Sona said while adjusting her glasses.
"I know it looks like a diamond but diamonds don't glow or emit white glowing particles…" The redhead said with an eye roll.
"True. But I am saying how I see things." Sona said herself as she shrugged at her.
After their small shock, they walked into the room. Looking around the room they could see that it was almost a ritual room combined with some sort of Sci-fi reactor room.
Some sort of Glass panels were spinning around the diamond assuming they are absorbing the magic energy which is emitted by the diamond-shaped thing…
Not only that but there are runic carvings spread out through the whole room. Walls, ceiling, ground. Nothing was spared by this point the pair are wondering how quickly does this man work. Even a devil take his time when doing rituals like these…
Yet, he did all this at the same time when they were attending their classes.
"Ummm… I thought Barrier things like that are magical… why there is a computer terminal of some sort there." Rias asked Sona with a confused look.
"Why are you asking me? You think I have a clue what is going on here?" The younger Sitri almost hissed at Rias from annoyance. And frankly, she is feeling inadequate. She saw runes from at least 3 different cultures. And she can bet that others are from other supernatural cultures.
Meaning that Marcus is more learned than her! And she spend most of her life in a library! Her brain is trying to come up with some sort of explanation of how this is physically possible…
"I thought you know more than I do…" Rias said with a casual shrug.
All she got back from her friend was a hiss. The younger Sitri just hissed like a cat at Rias. Who found it in a way amusing.
"No I don't… this is beyond me," Sona said to her redhead friend before looking around for me. Moments later she finally saw Marcus.
The genius inventor had a table with a futuristic laptop on top of it. There are several cables connected to it. These cables are connected to the Diamond-shaped barrier reactor.
Then Sona saw that her older sister was sitting on the table with a book in hand. This means that her older sibling was here the whole time.
All the younger Sitri could think of this situation is that yes… The Satan Leviathan is pretty much infatuated with a human inventor to the point that she spends the whole time with him regardless of anything…even work...
She wonders what will happen if people in Underworld will learn of this?
A shiver went down. Just imagining the chaos. One of the most powerful devil females infatuated with a human.
"You two are here. Nice. Come over. Let me explain some things."
Hearing his voice both of them stiffed for a bit. Nonetheless, they quickly walked over.
Serafall for a second lifted her head and looked at the pair. She smiled before continuing to read.
Sona didn't know it was a good type of smile or a bad type of smile… well, time will tell.
"First the barrier core." Marcus pointed at the diamond-shaped core casually from his chair. And yeah he got a comfortable PC chair from somewhere.
"The official name is Diamond Core Heart. It's something I have designed and created myself. The core reactor was carved with magical intent to give more sturdiness. It has three protection layers. Since it has a slightly different purpose from mine one the first two layers are spread through the whole city.
The first layer is surveillance, the magic spread out through the city observes its population once a certain threshold of magic is reacted the magic will react to it and you will know. This is where the second layer comes in place. Observation. Once that threshold is reached, magic will show you who it is and where it is. And lastly the third layer. The third layer is protection. It can only be activated manually from this area. It turns school into a fortress that even Ultimate Class Devils will have an issue of breaking through the Diamond barrier." Marcus explained to them in a single explanation without even breaking his facial expression.
Both listened with abrupt attention. The pair were quite fascinated and awed by what they heard. This thing can protect from ultimate class devils attacks?
"Where does it gets its power? I do believe Shinto Pantheon will be...dissatisfied if they learn that we drained Japan of magic to kick start this…" Sona said with some concern.
"It's based on Marcus M.T.M technique," Serafall said from the side as she was playing with her.
"What do those letters stand for?" The younger Sitri asked very curious about this... technique.
"Motion to Magic. The core was kick-started by a motion that created magic. Once that is done that magic enters what is called a loop of magic creation. A loop-based reactor. In other words, it creates magic from nothing… and it will last forever." The older sister of Sona explained with a casual shrug.
"So you did listen to my explanation," Marcus said with faked awe.
"Of course I did!" She exclaimed, almost angrily.
"Well, it was hard to see that when you were spacing out." The genius inventor shrugged at her.
"Of course I was spacing out! You just told me that the reactor will last as long as the planet! I was shocked and awed and all the other stuff when one is gobsmacked…" The Leviathan said that in a single breath.
"Hmm… right, well I went through that days ago when I finished the math behind it. I guess you need real proof." He said with a shrug.
"Hmm? You still awed by your stuff?" She asked curious forgetting about previous comments for a moment.
"On theoretical level. When I realise that I got it down and the items possibilities." He explained to her as his gaze returned on the pair who were listening attentively to what he was saying.
"Now for the part which I need you two," Marcus said that as he got up from the chair and started walking towards the computer terminal.
"I will add you two into the system. At this moment the Core is only working in this room. To make it citywide you will need to send your peerage members to mark the boundaries of the barrier."
"I understand/I will do it." Both nodded and answered at the same time. Marcus prefers them this way, after all, he watched the anime and knows how these two can be and how much trouble they can end up in.
Now, it will be even better. They are going to get monitored by him 24/7… meaning that the moment he knows when they are slacking in their jobs he can instantly report to either Venelana or Serafall. He might not be their father but they are part of his tests… and he has fired people for less in his previous life.
"Good to hear." He nodded at their response before walking over to the computer terminal and starting to press the on the screen.
"It's a touch screen!" The redhead whispered at Sona. Who in turn nodded looking very curious. All she could see are letters and numbers on the screen. She has no idea what is going on.
That was until the screen went dark and then restarted itself.
This time it has shown Aurora Borealis, before the lights formed into letters showing Aurora Terminal v1.0
Seconds later the letters faded out and showed the very futuristic terminal for Rias. It looked like something ripped off from an anime or video game.
She could see the terminal taking readings from the diamond core. Showing them in numerical values and lots of spinning icons… the redhead felt its… way over her head.
After pressing on the terminal Marcus looked back at the pair.
"Put your hand on the screen. It will register and link you to the barrier." After saying that he took a step back and made some space for the pair.
Both of them nodded seriously it looked like they are about to do something intensively big… the genius inventor internally rolled his eyes.
The first one to step was Sona who looked at the screen and saw a window which days [Register New User] bellow the letters there was a palm image.
She knew that moment that she has to put her hand on that specific area.
Without wasting time she put her hand. The next moment she felt some drain on her magic.
Her eyes widened. That moment she understood that this was a seamless magical machine!
She could not see the difference between magic and technology by this point! It was just that good!
Soon enough she saw her image. And full 3d profile has been constructed on her! even her occupation has been filled up! This was the most powerful registering tool she has seen.
[User Number: 01]
[User Name: Sona Sitri]
[User Species: Pureblood Devil From 72 Pillars]
[User Occupation: City Overseer]
[User Clearance: Barrier User]
"It did all that from taking a bit of my magic?" Sona asked with sweat rolling down her forehead. This stuff is incredible!
"Indeed. It did reading on your magic. Now Gremory you up next."
Hearing that. The younger Sitri walked away and gave more space for Rias. Marcus quickly pressed to register a new user once more.
The redhead quickly did the same as her best friend did. Only she didn't mingle much in front of the terminal. She was satisfied to see how perfect the 3D copy the terminal did on her.
[User Number: 02]
[User Name: Rias Gremory]
[User Species: Pureblood Devil From 72 Pillars]
[User Occupation: City Overseer]
[User Clearance: Barrier User]
"Now that you two are connected. Let's test it out." He said that before looking at Serafall.
"Sera make your presence known."
Hearing his command the Leviathan for a moment called forth her magic.
That moment both Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory experienced something akin to a vision.
They saw Serafall channelling her magic in the basement next to the Diamond Core Heart.
"This is incredible… we will be able to sense anyone in the town?" Sona asked that while making sure her glasses didn't fall off. Now she understood the full scale of this barrier system.
It's simply priceless!
Serafall smiled seeing how her little sister finally understood what this means.
"Indeed. The moment someone raises their power beyond a certain level it will react. I made it especially potent against non-devil magic users. Meaning that you will be notified the moment someone like an angel or fallen angel appears in the city." Marcus explained to them.
"This is incredible… it's like a system of some sort of barriers!" Sona said that realising what this means.
Serafall smiled for a bit. If only her baby sister knew that this was based from Heaven system! She would probably pass out!
"You can see it in more detail if you get closer to the diamond core." He said that with a smile. And Sona quickly walked over and got a closer look.
Seconds later the younger Sitri gasped.
"It's… like a complete ecosystem of some sort!" Seeing how Sona reacted Rias walked over and checked herself.
"It's...beautiful…"
"And complex! Most importantly it's magically based! It's like technology but created through pure magic!" The younger black-haired devil said with awe that of a small child. She then looked at Marcus with stars in her eyes.
"How did you make all those magics from different pantheons works so seamlessly! This is simply incredible!"
"Well they are like a puzzle, the difficult part is figuring out the shape and where you have to place it in big imagine." He explained simply.
"But...that should take hundreds of years of studying!"
"Or someone a little bit smarter than normal people finds a pattern and figures it out." He said with a shrug.
"...Yes… 'little bit'…" Sona said that while her eyebrow twitched quite a bit. She had the urge to punch him but she resisted it.
A little bit even does describe what he just did. In layman terms, Marcus 'unified' the whole world's magical languages into one universal and then used it to make the magical equivalent of a computer.
If it's a 'little bit' then she should be considered a vegetable then…
And the rest of humanity drooling meatbags…
"Indeed. This is nothing more than a little brother to what I have built in my place…"
That moment Sona gulped down. If this is a little brother then what kind of size he has in his place?
'Wait! Sister said that he has Pantheon worthy protection… does she mean in the literal sense?' The younger Sitri eyes widened, she then paled…
Now she started to see true worth of him. No wonder Serafall threatened her multiple times over that meeting.
"...For the next part, I want your peerage members to split up and place these markers just outside the city limit. It will work like boundaries. Once it does the Diamond Core Heart surveillance will activate." Marcus pulled out a pair of briefcases out of thin air and gave them to the confused pair of girls.
"Inside of these, there are instructions on how to do it. Think of this as first mission from me as my devil contractors." He said that quite seriously and the pair quickly nodded.
"Leave it to us." Sona professionally said that while fixing her glasses, she is going to perfect this no matter what. Same with Rias.
~~~~~~Few Days Later~~~~~~
For the past few days, Marcus has been living in the Sitri Estate over in Kuoh.
Even then Sona had no chance to have a proper conversation with him!
And it was just infuriating! A man which she sees as the next genius of the millennia is living under the same roof as her and she has no chance to ask… tons of questions!
It was just annoying! Nonetheless, it has her fault as well. Because she spend countless hours with markers and testing this incredible surveillance system!
Once it was set up she could utilise something akin to the eye of bird view and check the city from the top.
It was just that great! Not that this happiness lasted for long as she realised that Marcus will be leaving soon. Since officially he was on holiday leave. Since Japan doesn't have those two weeks Christmas Holidays like European countries do. So, on paper, he is on holiday leave to Japan.
And he will be going back to his country soon. This means she doesn't have much time left! That's why she decided to look for him and… befriend? Maybe get some missions? Learning more from him? This was one of those moments when she didn't quite have time to think of a plan…
In the end, she arrived at one of the living rooms where she knows he was staying.
She was about to call him but she felt her sister's presence! That moment Sona quickly reeled in her magic as much as possible and decided to listen in!
This was the perfect moment to find out how deep is her older sisters relationship with him!
Slowly she positioned herself so that she could have a look. Leaning close to the wall as much as possible.
Finally, she was able to see him without any obstructions!
Moments later her cheeks instantly exploded with blush. She saw her sister sitting on his lap in a very intimate position while he was reading something from a device.
"How long do you think it will take for those two to figure out that they can track Sacred Gear holders?" Sona heard Marcus voice. The younger Sitri assumed that he was asking this her older sister.
'We can find Sacred Gears with this? Just how good is this Diamond Core Heart?' Sona's heartbeat accelerated just thinking how quickly she will be able to fill up her peerage if this is true!
"Fufufu… how many secrets did you leave for those two?"
The younger Sitri blushed more when she heard how seductive her older sister was sounding!
'Did they already go the whole way!? Damn sister! he is as old as I am! Still though… he is… hot...and...super smart… well calling him just smart is an insult… genius maybe? Yes, genius… And his body is…. That confidence…' Sona shook her head. Her mind was going into gutter! She needs to learn more instead of having these thoughts!
"Quite a bit, they will learn those if they are driven. So, instead of going in circles give me a non-bias version of what you think."
The younger Sitri was impressed how he was holding back against her seductive older sister! She was quite impressed by his resilience.
*Sigh*
"Fine. If you insist. Sona will discover most of the functions first. Since she is more driven than Rias. Who is by all accounts just playing around?" The Leviathan explained what she was thinking. Her younger sister was slightly feeling proud of herself that her older sister has such a positive non-biased view of her.
"Gremory is not playing around. She is running away. She believes that all her problems will solve by themselves. That is what I found out about her. This girl is a classic princess who believes things will fix themselves. Simply put, she is waiting for her hero to pick her up. Once that is done she will start moving."
Sona paled hearing that. He already has completely figured Rias out? But, he was not even around her!!!
'What kind of monstrous existence is this guy!?' The younger Sitri felt chills going down her spine!
All she heard was Serafall's laugh.
"That's why I like you so much! You could easily be a Satan!" The older Sister of Sona laughed with an extremely amused tone.
"You must be joking. You want me to govern? I will turn the whole population into test subjects if I become a leader." She heard him say with a dull tone.
Just imagine a whole population turned into a test subject made Sona shiver. This sounds what a real Diabolic Devil would do!
"Hah! You didn't see Sona or Rias complain! They were excited to test your things!"
That moment the younger Sitri realised that yes… she is already a test subject! She didn't even realize it!
"Nope. You just want me to become devil and take Lucifer position or something…" He said that with a sigh.
Sona already could imagine that. Serafall probably wants that so that she could flaunt her boyfriend by that time Husband to the rest of devils… more specifically the council…
"Maybe~~~ any girl wants to show off their boyfriend to the rest of the world!" The Leviathan said with a cute voice. By this point, Sona can see that her sister is getting very touchy with the genius inventor.
"And your way is by making me an office worker?" He asked her with a dumbfounded look. He already stopped reading from the device and instead looked at Serafall.
"Who knows~~~ by that point you could revolutionize paperwork. Maybe it would even become an interesting activity…"
"Hmm, probably, I already have several ideas just by thinking towards that direction."
"See! You can do anything! If you put your mind into it~~~ and you would be the most perfect and most powerful Lucifer if you truly would want!"
'Oh by Satans she wants him to reincarnate! Well, that is obvious...but would he?' Sona was shell shocked and same time excited and terrified by this idea.
*Snort*
"You need better offers than that. Little Sera…"
*Slap*
The younger Sitri blushed seeing and hearing that. He just slapped Serafall's ass!
"All I can offer is myself… in any form you want~~~"
'I need to get out of here!' Sona quickly realised what is going to happen next! She quickly dashed off! Her blushing reached a completely different level. Never did she expect Marcus to do things like that to her sister! Who is one of Underworld's strongest and is a leader!
This was beyond anything she thought!
~~~~~~Next Morning~~~~~~
The next morning in the living room Sona was having breakfast when her older sister entered the room.
Serafall walked over to her little sister who could not even look at her older sibling without blushing.
The older Sitri leaned forward and started whispering into her ear.
"Marcus gave you a head start yesterday, don't waste it. It's very rare for him to do that. It would seem my countless hours and days of seductions paid off… in some way."
The Leviathan's words made Sona pale and turn whiter than she ever was.
They knew she was there! They knew the whole time and still acted like she was not there.
"You do realise that you using his system for tracking? The very same one which he designed, created, tailored. We most definitely knew you were there So-tan! That's why use this moment to gather your peerage." Serafall patted her little sister head before starting to walk and get some coffee…
"Sister… isn't he the same age as me? And you…"
The black-haired Satan started laughing after hearing that.
"If you using age like that So-tan then you very much have wasted your life... and me? I should kill myself for wasting centuries…
Just don't… don't... use age to measure him… otherwise, you will lose any drive you have for anything… because you will feel inadequate." The older sister said to her younger sibling very seriously.
"...Yes… I suppose you are right… it's just so difficult… while we were spending time-wasting in class he put that core in the Academy basement… I felt like I wasted my day!" Sona said that angrily forgetting what she saw yesterday.
"You feel that just by being next to him one day. I spend three years with him now Sona. I saw him make everything and I know how you feel, even more than you can imagine. By this point, I realize that you have to focus on what you are good at. I know I am good at reading people as I am the one who is responsible for the diplomacy of my race.
If his achievements make you like that, then use that to make yourself better." Serafall said that from personal experience. She felt very much completely weak and even pathetic in front of a teenage human… it was an experience she doesn't want anyone to feel.
"... I see… thank you for giving me advice sister… it's nice to have you around like that…" Sona said with a small embarrassed smile.
"Oh...So-tan so cute~~~" Serafall hugged her baby sister…
"Gah!!! Release me! Y-You smell like man's perfume!!!" Sona said with a bright red face after getting out of her hold.
"Hehehe~~~ embarrassed?" The Leviathan said with an amused laugh.
"Y-You should get a shower you will be going to the office today right?" The younger Sitri said with a flushed expression.
"Don't worry~~~" The older sibling said with sing a song voice, she started walking towards the kitchens ignoring the previous comment.
~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~
[Target Located]
[Unique Magical Signature detected]
[Scanning…]
…
…
...
[78% Visual fit according to the previous description of the target.]
[Possible 'Longinus' Boosted Gear host found!]
I lifted my Aurora glasses after reading the latest notification.
Finally, I have found the target. Finding him like this was annoying … for the simple reason that his magical signature was that weak. It's below regular human even…
So he was like… swimming below anyone radar…
But, there is an easy way to find him. Just apply a specific filter and he will stand out like a sore thumb. There is only one guy in the whole of Kuoh who has the below-average amount of magic.
After finding him I did some tracking and Aurora did some routine observation. Building up his daily schedule, after that was done I went to a location where he would likely pass and simply waited for him.
Putting on my glasses I tracked him through Diamond Core surveillance.
Seeing that he was quite close I pressed a button on Castor's handle and a thin card-like object came out. That was the cartridge. Storing it into my cartridge deck I pulled out another and inserted into it the gun.
[Castor loaded with Stun cartridge]
Reading the notification and dismissing it mentally, I simply waited while leaning against a wall.
A few minutes later I saw a brown haired teen with a silly grin on his face walk into the road I was waiting for him.
He was going home after watching hentai with his two idiot friends. Going home quite late… alone… well best time to mug someone… but, this is Japan. The crime rates are extremely low. So, the perv is not even afraid of going home late…
Nonetheless, this time it's going to be different…
Lifting Castor, I pointed at him and pressed the trigger.
"Hmm?"
The brown-haired teen turned around and saw a bolt of electricity slam into him.
His whole body twitched, as quite a bit of electricity smashed into him.
Before collapsing on the ground.
I holstered the gun and walked over. Aurora did a scan on him through magic, the guy was perfectly fine, only his body went into an unconscious state.
I got on one of my knees and put my right hand on him. Several white magical circles appeared around him. I quickly did a quick scan, checking out if he truly hold the Booster Gear.
"So, it is. Good. This means that I didn't waste 30 minutes of my life waiting for this waste of oxygen." I stopped with the scan. While mentally connecting to my Ars Goetia.
"Sera come to my place," I said that while getting back on my feet.
Moments later Leviathan circle appeared next to me and moments later Serafall was standing next to me.
"Master? Where… who is he?" She looked around before spotting the downed pervert.
"Meet the Red Dragon Emperor," I said plainly.
"W-What? He is this generation Red Dragon Emperor!? But, I can't sense anything from him!" She exclaimed for a moment while focusing on the downed form. Her sense were digging into him.
"Put your hand on him send some magic to check," I said with an eye roll.
Sera did just that as she scanned him properly.
"Yes… I can sense faint dragon energy… how did you even find him!?" She stopped with her scan and turned around and looked at me.
"I found him when I did a scan of the city population. He has remarkably low...extremely low amount of magic. But for some reason emits dragon energy. So a check later I found out that he is this generation of Red Dragon Emperor." I said with a shrug.
Before getting serious.
"Take him to Sitri Estate. I will do a proper scan on Booster Gear over there. He will make a perfect subject for those two girls. I want to see which of them will find him first and recruit as their Peerage member."
She blushed for a bit after hearing it. Nonetheless, she cast an extra sleeping spell on him before sending him away in another magic circle.
"That's quite devil-like of you. Treating poor little human-like some test subject. You truly would make a good Satan~~~. Still though… how do you know he will accept being in a peerage after unlocking his Booster Gear?" Serafall asked me that as she leaned forward to cuddle with me.
"Because his dream is to be Harem King. And he said that at least 6 times in the past 3 days and mentioned Oppai at least 47 times in a single day... today… he is the perfect individual to be exploited by a devil. Promise some 'Oppai' and a Harem and he will be willing to sell his soul." I said that with a dull voice.
Nonetheless, I gave the glasses to Serafall who read over the file on this guy…
"This... Issei Hyoudou… what… weird human he is… my money is that he will be Rias peerage member… my So-tan would kill him or trade him the moment she can." The Leviathan said with an amused look.
"True. Still, I want to see who will discover him first." I said that while wrapping my hand around her waist.
"Yes. This will be a good test for them. With a prize of being a Longinus user in a peerage. It would seem your visit here isn't as dry you have thought!" The black-haired devil lady said with a happy tone. She took off the glasses and looked very happy with this development.
"Yes. It's quite fascinating how many Sacred Gear users are in this town." I mentioned the weirdness of this place, before mentioning the matter at hand.
"Why don't you take me back I still need to scan that pervert and drop him in his house."