Sup? New chapter! Also, thanks for reviewing everyone! Thanks to Shand for looking through this chapter...

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Like always, tell me if anything is wrong or bothers you o/

"Where is Gasper, Kaito?" Asia said. She poked her head out of the room as I got in, looking at me curiously. In my left hand was a large cardboard box. "What's that?" she asked.

"It is a cardboard box, Asia," I said. We looked at each other for a few more minutes as the box shook suddenly. I heard someone yelp from within. Staring at the box with a tired expression, I sighed. Yes, Gasper was inside this box. She refused to get out of it, and since dragging a screeching teenager through the city would be way more trouble than it is worth, I let her stay inside it.

"Okay," I said, "it is a talking cardboard box."

"Wait, really?" Asia asked.

"I want to see what's inside!" Kala interrupted, before reaching out for the box. Before I could react, she had already grabbed it, and was opening the lid of the box.

Idiot.

Gasper and Kala stared at each other.

"…"

"…"

Gasper almost definitely had scopophobia- the fear of being stared at. Kala opening up the box and looking at her caused her to start tearing up and cry loudly.

"E-eh, what's this little girl doing here?" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me.

"This is the newest member of our 'group', Rias Gremory's Bishop, Gasper," I said. "Did you really have to make her cry, Kala?"

"Good Morning, Gasper-Senpai," Asia bowed when she heard about that, "I shall be under your care from now on. It's an honor to have met a Bishop like me, even though we haven't seen each other's faces."

Gasper was painfully shy. Socially anxious, she didn't like showing her face to others, even covering it with a paper bag as a compromise. Gasper looked at Asia rigidly- or at least I believe she tried to.

Such a shame, Asia was excited to meet her senior bishop, anticipating the meeting with all her heart. Then again, Gasper was certainly a unique character especially to those watching her for the first time.

"W-wait, there is no need to cry Gasper!" Kalawarner said, her voice panicked, "Er, let me take care of you for a bit!"

The person in question, Gasper was trembling. She seemed a little scared of Kala, looking at her with a sad look on her face. With trembling fingers, Kala reached out for Gasper, lifting her out of the box.

"Noooooo!" screamed Gasper, and immediately everyone freezes. My body stops at its place, unmovable, although I could still see what was happening around me, at least. Gasper got back inside the box, before moving out of my line of sight, and soon my body freed itself. Kala blinked, surprised as Gasper and her box disappeared from her hand. Gasper stopped time and ran away from Kala with an impressive speed. Both me and Kala's time was 'frozen' for a few seconds. I glared at Kala for a while, before moving towards the box at the corner of the room

I talked to Gasper in a hushed voice. "Sorry Gasper," I said, "Kala was pretty scary, right?"

The sound of sobs came from the cardboard box, as well as high pitched screams. Seriously, Gasper was almost too much of a pain. What was I thinking when I took her in again?

Right, a time stopping assassin...

I am beat. Gasper probably wouldn't be out for a bit, and I'd rather not force her into anything yet. I leave Gasper in the corner and walk towards Asia and Kala.

"Please pack clothes and food, Kala," I said, "We will be going somewhere the moment Gasper comes out."

Kala walked next to me and whispered, "What's up with this girl?"

"She has a sad backstory," I said, "Gasper's father is from a noble family of vampires but since her mother was a human mistress, she wasn't pure blooded. I heard they hate dhampirs even more than devils, the vampires who scorn those who are non pure bloods, even if it's their sibling, their treatment is quite discriminatory.

"Gasper was bullied by her siblings since childhood, even when she went to the human world, she was treated as a monster, she had no place she could call home.

"However, she possesses the unique abilities of vampires as well as the abilities of a human. She was born with a special sacred gear, as well as Vampiric powers, and even if she doesn't want them her powers will simply grow stronger and stronger. But it wasn't good for her, as even when she wanted to make friends with someone, her Sacred Gear would activate."

"Even if she wants to become friends, sometimes by some chance her sacred gear gets activated, it will stop the other person."

"But what's the problem?" Asia said. "Why would they not want to be friends because of a mistake?"

"If you think about it a little, it should be clear to you," Kalawarner said , "They didn't know what Gasper did, or would do when they are frozen in time. 'When I am frozen in time, what will happen to me?' must be something they ask. It would have definitely bugged me, even if the other person didn't think about it."

"The people who Gasper froze in time must have thought that," I said, "They might even wonder whether she is lying or really can't control her sacred gear! When suspicion arises in people's hearts, there is no place for friendship in it. They must have started to fear Gasper."

Gasper probably experienced it time and time again. It's an unhappiness experienced by those born with Sacred Gears in this world, an unhappiness tasted by Asia Argento too. From being called a Holy Maiden to being branded as a heretical witch, while she didn't deserve that, it still happened because of her Sacred Gear.

"Sacred Gears," Asia said. "They were supposed to be Gifts from God- ow," Asia winced as she talked about God, "but they don't really seem to help much, do they? They are useful tools... yet, they can cause others intense sadness as well." Asia looked sadly at the shaking box in the corner before nodding. "I will talk to her later," she said, "but for now let us get ready to move to the Forest."

Familiar Forest

I was the first to wake up in the morning, shaking away yesterday's fatigues with the help of Gamer's Body. It was pretty handy, to not be tired or annoyed because of us having to change locations in the middle of the night.

"Oi, Gasper," I poked her, "Wake up. If you are a Daywalker then you should be able to run about in the daylight." Getting Gasper out of her cardboard box was the hardest part of the day.

Gasper shivered, before waking up with a start. "I am up! I am up!" she shouted, "No need to throw water on me!"

You do it once and they never let you live it down. "So, time for you to wake up."

"But why," she whined, "killing random creatures is useless! What's the point of that?"

Observe.

Gasper Vladi
[Daywalker]
Level- 7
Tier III [5X Stat Multiplier]

HP- 100%
HP Regen- 5%/min
MP- 100%
HP Regen- 2%/min
STR- 50
VIT- 30
INT- 70
WIS- 40
DEX- 60
CHA- 20
POINTS: 80

"Well," I said, distributing her stat points. Perhaps more DEX would be good for her, "How about now?" I placed my hand on her shoulders, before making it light up with magic.

She cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed with the theatrics, before she moved. In the blink of an eye she was at the other end of the ceiling, a surprised expression on her face.

"Alright," I said, "A healthy spirit stays in a healthy body, so today I will be chasing you throughout the forest."

"Wait, wha-"

I launched myself towards her. "Remember, if I catch you, you will have to eat garlic!" I move slow enough to let her get a bit of a head start, before she starts running away from the clearing. Asia and Kalawarner would be up in a while anyway.

By the time we stop, the sun is properly up and I didn't actually manage to catch Gasper. She did improve very quickly, though it might just be because of her skills leveling up, as well as the increased speed she got because of me pushing her points into DEX, WIS and INT.

She panted, tired with running all throughout the forest, before looking at me curiously. She reached out her hand, holding it out towards me.

"Oh yeah," I took out a bottle from my inventory, filled with the blood of various creatures of this forest, and handed it over to Gaspar. She drank it, and I watched some of her stats increase. Again.

Vampires are broken. Hell, everyone in DxD is broken except humans! Gasper could improve a lot more if I let her have my blood, or the blood of anyone more powerful than her.

"Why do you have me run every time?" Gasper asked curiously in between sips.

"Well, mostly because I want to tire you out," I said, "your eyes work when you are excited, so by the time you are done running away from me you have used your Sacred Gear enough times for it to lose some of its extra charge."

She nodded. "So not using it for all those years did affect me?" she said, a little sheepishly. The number of times she froze me midair was a lot, though at least I could maintain awareness because of Gamer's Mind.

"Yep," I said, "and now that you no longer have the [Overcharged] drawback, we can finally start practicing with your Sacred Gears."

"Right now?"

I threw a rock at Gasper with all my strength. The rocks I threw froze the moment they entered Gasper's field of vision. Only for a few minutes it could stop the objects, but any living creature- such as an insect- which entered his vision was frozen solid too.

There is no problem with her stopping things, but her control is shot to hell. It is a powerful sacred gear- the closer you enter her field of vision, the longer you remain frozen. The farther you are, the wider her field of vision is but the stoppage gets shorter. Plus, if you were significantly more powerful than her, you were immune to it

Because Gasper is unable to effectively use her sacred gear, only certain things within her field of vision can be stopped.. That was my conclusion from watching her for so long.

But it was still impossible for her to invoke it consciously, there were also accidental cases when the moment she glanced towards someone and a part of their body became slightly stopped.

Oh god, those are such a pain in the ass. During those times, Gasper would yell out "Sorry!" and try to run away. Catching her after waiting for her abilities to wear off and convincing her to use her Sacred Gear again was troublesome too.

The Gear would be amazing if only she could stop the rock coming towards her, but even that was very difficult. Training her might be more difficult than I thought. After all, the Gear's Ability was one thing, but training its owner was very difficult.

"How is it? Do you find using it easier now, Gasper?"

And so we made progress with her Gear today. Not much, but progress was progress, and Gasper herself grew stronger by the day. Now, if only I could get her to watch JoJo.

"Why?" Gasper interrupted my thoughts.

"Why what?" I said.

"Why are you wasting time with me? I... don't want such a sacred gear! B-Because I stop everyone! I scare them! I make them dislike me! Even I dislike it! I don't want to stop my f-friends and c-comrades... Any more of having to look at the face of my cherished ones' stopped. I-I don't want that." Gasper sobbed.

Of course, Gasper was chased out of her house, and even out of the Gremory House, at least from her perspective. Plus, as a Dhampir she didn't belong to any world, neither the human world or the vampire world, and encountered many troubles on the roadside. She even lost her life to a vampire on the roadside, where she was picked up by Rias.

Even in those days, because of her Sacred Gear, Gasper was too powerful for Rias to control, and was ordered to be sealed by the Higher Ups. It was only a few days ago, when Rias absolutely needed her help, was her seal lifted.

"Are you really that scared? Of your sacred gear and of people?"

"..." Gasper didn't say anything.

"It makes sense for you to be scared," I said. "You had to suffer a lot, didn't you?"

"Y-yes," she said, "which is why I want you to leave me alone."

"To be honest," I said, "I have been scared too," I used the Boosted Gear, letting the Gauntlet appear on my right hand. "This is the Boosted Gear, one of the Longinus," I said as Gasper looked at the gauntlet. "I would prefer to be a regular human, normal and happy, but I can't because of this. I feel it changing my body into something else, I don't know much about Devils and Dragons, but I want to know." I looked at Gasper, "I want to proceed further, learn more, grow more powerful!"

After all, there wasn't anything else for me.

"But why?" Gasper asked, "You might lose something important, you know? Isn't a simple life where you are loved better?"

"Because."

"Because?" she said.

"Yes, I want to do it because I am selfish, and I want to." I said, "Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, and there is no way in hell I am leaving all this unexplored now that I know about it. I will do better. Much better than now, and eventually I might just give up, but for now, I shall simply see where this path leads."

"B-but, I am a hikikomori. An intensely shy person who can't even properly use her Sacred Gear, and everyone hates me! Even Rias sent me here to get better!" she said.

"What do you want to do, Gasper?" I said.

"I just want to stay in a box and remain hidden!" she said.

"Are you really happy with that?" I asked. Gasper didn't reply.

"Well," I said, "as for everyone hating you, that's just plain wrong. I don't hate you."

I touched her head, slowly patting it as I stared into her crimson eyes. Her Sacred Gear was in there, right? The ability to stop time. Gasper blinked in surprise, looking at me uncertainly.

"Of course, we just met, but you remind me a lot of Asia, you know?" I said, "Well, and myself too. You have power, a lot of power, but you have no idea what to use it for... and can't leave Rias without being branded stray."

She nodded.

"Well then, how about we two team up?" I said, "I will get you more powerful, and you can simply ask Rias to go on trips until you find something which makes you happy? I might look like a weak human, but I do have the Legendary Dragon's Power within me, you know?" I smiled, but Gasper looked troubled. "Would you like to drink my blood?" I remembered in cannon she could control her powers after drinking Issei's blood. "The blood from the Red Dragon Emperor might help you control your Sacred Gear"

"Lend me your power . Let's support Rias together . If you're scared of something then I'll send it flying away . Even if I am like this, I house the legendary dragon's power, you know?"

She shook her head. "I am scared of drinking blood directly from living beings," she said, "I am afraid... even of my own innate powers. What happens if you turn into a vampire? If that happens then I will..."

"You really hate yourself, don't you, Gasper?" I said. "Honestly, I am pretty jealous of you and your abilities you know?"

Gasper jumps with a surprised expression on her face.

"It's true, to have all the powers of a vampire without any flaws, like drinking blood to grow stronger? That's amazing!" I said, "Especially when I see your ability to pause time, that would be so useful! Freezing time would be amazing Gasper!"

Gasper blushed, her face reddening as she looked away from me. "Kaito, you are a nice person," she said, "this is the first time someone ever said they were jealous of me! Well, I would not be living up to your expectations if I gave up now, right?" She smiled.

"Yes!" I said, "Though we should head back to the camp now, Gasper!"

Each step left a fresh, crisp footprint in the snow. The Familiar Forest was a cold place, snow and hail and sleet raining down upon the foliage like the wrath of an angry god. Or a Dragon, for I suspected Tiamat wouldn't be happy to see me, covered in blood and the skin of lesser Dragons at the trail leading up to the mountains. The last of the sunlight sinks behind the mountains, greens and purples melting into a dull grey under the moonlight, signifying the passage of one more day.

About a week had passed since we first arrived at Familiar Forest and set up camp in the foothills of the mountains within it. For our first few days, wolves about as large as rhinoceros prowled the land, harassing us until our level was high enough for them to be no threat. Even then it took a few warning kills before they left us completely again.

It was rare for Devils to camp inside the forest, most of them stayed but for a night here- more specifically, the night of the full moon.

[Congratulations! You Have Leveled Up!]

Ah, how long did I wait to see this wonderful screen? Level ups got a lot harder with time, especially the experience required for each level up. At least I still had my Boosted Gear, without which I would certainly be dead by now. For now though, there were more Dragons to rip through, and some power experimentation.

[Well, better now than never, though don't forget about Gasper, Asia and Kalawarner]

Eh, they will be fine staying alone in the dark for a few hours.

[...]

Are you not telling me something?

[Yeah, a lot of things, but continue with the experimentation for now]

It didn't take me long to move over to a secluded and slightly less bloody area of the Forest. Moving further into the tundra, I walked until I reached a clearing further away from the trees, where any of the wild beasts could ambush me. Instead of the trees, all I saw were tree stumps. Someone had cut these trees down, and I might as well use them.

Now, as for mana. In a nutshell, mana was the science and art of manipulating reality via an application of willpower and metaphysical programming. More willpower for me and other supernatural creatures, while humanity leaned quite heavily on metaphysical programming.

Now, that probably doesn't tell you much so just imagine a world where Aristotle was right about the structure of reality for a moment. Basically everything in existence is composed of physical matter in the material realm, Physis, while the metaphysical form is referred to as essence in the data realm, Logos. Both of these are connected, so if one is altered, the other follows suit.

Magic was basically taking advantage of the duality- which was apparently real in this world, so props to Aristotle- and forced reality to change. Essentially, every time we used magic I rejected your reality and substituted my own, as the quote from Dungeonmaster goes.

I closed my eyes, and expanded my awareness. Peering into Logos, if you will and looking at the world through a haze of blue. I glanced at my hands, at the blue halo surrounding them. It moved, ebbing and waning like the ocean tide. It moved as I wished it to, just a mental poke or two before it hastened to my every command.

I knew, or rather felt strongly that all of my 'Spells' which the system gave me were more of... runes imprinted onto my soul. After all, how else would I be able to ignore most of the conventional steps of magic and immediately start casting it?

Taking a deep breath, I activated the first spell. Immediately, a pattern emerged, forcing my mana into a small ball which was immediately sent barrelling towards the trees. It was quick, so quick that had I not been specifically looking for it I would have missed it. I hummed as I forced the spell to activate again and again, until I felt the pattern change. It still forced my... aura into those patterns, but this time it felt a little less insistent. More natural, gentler and quicker.

[Mana Ball has leveled up!]

[Mana Ball has leveled up!]

[Mana Ball has leveled up!]

[Mana Ball has leveled up!]

[Your Understanding of Magic Has Increased!]

This was confirmation enough. Now, what was the difference between something like this and the Boosted Gear.

Ddraig...

Yes, Partner, the Dragon responded and immediately I felt red spark up inside my soul. To be more specific, my left hand.

Like a spark slowly expanding into a bonfire, an angry, swirling symbol appeared on my left hand, contorting my energy around it. It pulsed, suddenly flooding my body with mana as I boosted.

'Curious,' I pulled myself out of the trance and looked at the Boosted Gear.

Boost. Boost. Boost.

While it didn't exactly double my level, which meant I didn't get any benefits from the 2X stat multiplier from tiering up, all my stats did double. More magic, more everything, all because I offed a pervert a few weeks ago.

"Mana Strings!" I pointed my fingers at the trunk, tendrils of mana rising up from my body like tentacles out of a Lovecraftian horror. This time, instead of assuming direct control, I used mana sense again forcing myself to control the strings. With a fierce war cry, the tendrils launched me towards the tree. With a loud bang, they grabbed onto the trees, weaving a net of mana which grabbed onto my body and sent me hurtling towards the clearing.

These strings were versatile. A shame I never really thought of using them before, which should have been my first thought considering the number of anime I have seen where there is that one guy who uses razor sharp wires to cut through everything.

The wires wrap around the stump, pulling at it with all their might. More of them joined the first, slowly pulling until I couldn't add anymore.

Right, I might need to level this skill up.

[... Mana Strings Has Leveled Up] X19

[Through Repeated Use, You Have Gained The Skill Multiprocessing]

[Multiprocessing Has Leveled Up] X2

I looked at the notifications, a satisfied grin on my face. Sure, it might have taken a long time where I should have been hunting for food. But killing wildlife myself was too inefficient, especially when almost everyone in my party was tiers higher than me simply by the virtue of being a more OP race.

Logically, I should have just accepted Rias' offer, but being under that brat would have been grating, and changing my species now, after boasting about taking pride in myself, would be pretty embarrassing.

[You Have Levelled Up]

See? Much more efficient to leave the grinding to my party members. I looked at their numbers increase from my place. Kalawarner was probably carrying Asia and Gasper. Asia might be useful by healing her constantly, but Gasper was surely screaming about being paired with a Fallen Angel.

Shrugging, I got back to my feet, and made a mana string. I made only a single one this time, before slashing with it. The thin string sliced through the tree line, cutting the trees closer to me, while leaving thin gashes at the ones which were further away.

Satisfied, I connected my string to a tree trunk, before activating the boosted gear. It charged me, my energy feeling a lot denser. A wide grinned came onto my face as I accumulated energy before shoving it through the tree. I pushed against the tree and it exploded.

Splinters went flying everywhere, wooden stakes shooting out from it towards me. I jumped backwards, dodging the spears, though a few did graze me, hitting my chest and legs. I suppose they made it look as if I got out of a fierce battle, blood flowing from my ankles.

Makes me feel a little sad to see the trees being destroyed, what with the tree crisis which is about to hit Earth. Then again, this Earth had nature gods and goddesses, so I doubted things would get too bad.

[You Have Learned the Skill Mana Channeling]

Mana Channeling: You can project your mana and spells through your mana strings, sending spells through the other sides, or just recharging others with mana. Doesn't work both ways.

Yet.

Well, this will make exploding things a lot easier, though I wonder if I could refill other people's mana gauges with that? Perhaps I should keep it off limits from actual battles, at least until I found... volunteers to test it out.

There should be plenty of them in this forest. After all, night time was the time when the monsters- the real ones anyway- came out, lolloping in their ungainly ways. Moving slowly, grazing as they go, were the Tampas.

Tampas was perhaps the wrong word for these massive bulls, nimble as a rabbit and ready to charge towards anyone at a moment's notice, dark eyes staring in more directions than any predator can. I look at them from afar, gazing at them languidly moving in the darkness and take aim.

Ddraig always told me to use traps, but I liked my little stake out ritual. The knots were never my thing, and staying around in the morning digging holes was not my favored way to pass time, at least not until I managed to find a spell to do it for me.

For now, though, it was a little hard. Especially when I was forced to spend most of my mornings with my girls and Gasper. She was skittish and scared of every single noise, my responsibility, at least for this month. Perhaps even more if I succeeded in NTRing her away from Rias.

I look at the beasts grazing peacefully, and force the Boosted Gear to appear on my left arm. I was hoarding up levels for it, waiting for a while before I chose the Skill Path I wished to go down. Wouldn't be much use to impulsively spend them only to find something which synergized a lot better, after all.

With the familiar feeling of mana draining me, I let lose my Magic Ball, attached to a String this time. It curved through the air, turning around and ensnaring one of the beasts before the rest could react. Immediately, my string tightened, cutting smoothly towards the beast's thick muscles and sending it tumbling to the ground in multiple pieces. They scatter after that, and I don't have the patience to chase them around for more.

Perhaps it would be better to challenge singular, more powerful foes as a party once we raised Asia and Gasper up to par.

I pause for a bit, before staring into the darkness. I could hear something there, a faint melody of sorts. Some kind of metallic tinkling sound, like the laughter of a bird made of metal and wires, its hinges creaking as it laughed.

Curiosity drove me as I ran through the forest, ignoring the weaker creatures which scurried out of my way. Like a discount Spiderman, I sent my mana string out to grab onto branches like a grapple hook, before slinging me forwards only to repeat the cycle.

The sound grew clearer as the snow started falling faster, spinning through the air. The sound of whistles mixed in with the song, whistles and chimes and bells mixing in with the cacophonous chorus to produce an ear piercing noise with no rhyme or metric.

Soon, I reached its source, a workshop of metal and ice hidden at the very end of the forest. It stood, dark and wicked, a gleaming structure of ice reinforced with metal right in the middle of the dark woods.

What could it be, I wondered, hoping to catch a glimpse at the Workshop. Yet, the windows were closed shut, and the doors were locked shut. Magically shut, for no amount of force could move it.

[The Workshop]

Get The Workshop Key to Enter

Well, the key is hidden somewhere nearby, I assume?

[Yes, though it isn't easy to get it]

...don't tell me it is a fetch quest.

[Okay then, I wouldn't tell you it is a fetch quest]

Fucking hell, I hated that shit when I was playing video games. The only thing which could possibly be worse is an escort mission. Wait, isn't what I am doing right now technically an escort mission?

I walk away from the metal doors. Something to check out later, perhaps when I have a few more levels under my belt. Perhaps get the others to team with me.

I shrug and walk away, swinging away towards the camp we had set up temporarily. I follow the smoke rising up from the tree tops.

Smoke... rising up? I increased my pace, hurrying faster towards them. Now, there was no problem with fire, but we just tried to genocide a large number of monsters. At least I did, and I doubted they were happy about our attempts to cull their population. Which meant that they could be looking for us, and lighting a fire meant we were installing a beacon signaling where we are sleeping to everyone.

Which was pretty dumb, and while it didn't matter in the middle of the plains where it was difficult to set up ambushes, it was suicidal to do so here.

Seriously, this is too much like an escort mission!

A guest told me to stop writing, so I wrote the next chapter :P

So I replied to some of the reviews through PMs, before deciding to add replies in here. OH, and thanks to everyone who pointed out the pronoun errors xd

Damien NightFall: No benefit to training her up right now, yeah.

Rice with Chest-Nuts: Huh, Chainsaw Man looks cool, but the cover is DIO from JoJo
phelipebr:Yep, Gasper is probably in the harem.

BigRig2.0: 'I am out', bruh you literally reviewed 'trash fic' on the first chapter at September, why are you still reading? Like, I don't have a problem with people disliking what I wrote, but did you only post that review for attention?

Sultan Asil Arslan: The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated
Acqua OfThe Back: Thank you mate!
Spartan3909: I make no Mulan references, good sir! Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow! xD
jp0625: Now, should I call them the Council of Lolis or the Loli Brigade?
Mola King: It wasn't in the plot, mostly cause devil genocide sounds a little too... extra?

Well, I couldn't get all the reviews, but I am glad y'all decided to read! Updates might get a little more frequent now that they are only 5k words long.