It's exactly that, except the story started three months from the start of her world tour, which is approximately zero time compared to how long it would take even genius to manage everything she's done. For that timeline, you're looking at legit comic book supergenius combined with a Xianxia protagonist's absurd rate of "fortunate encounters".
American Magical Girl - (DxD Human SI)
- Thread starter Skelethin
- Start date
- Pronouns
- He
Wait I missed that part.
I might've skimmed over it, which chapter is that?
Well I can't say that you're wrong here, but it's possible it's tied to whatever brought her here? Given how the MC states that her own device is inferior to those in the original Nanoha-verse, she probably found some shortcut of some kind to carry her to the result.
I feel like those concerns are a completely valid perspective though, and I'm really just reaching atm. Depends on how much MC knew before and after transport I'd think, and how much she can cheat with her knowledge. Both of Nanoha, and just Mythos in general cause of the DxD side of things.
Chapter 1.
There's also the fact that there's a numeral 3 in there instead of writing out "three", and the constant use of "yea" which is an actual word still in use today that sounds like "yay" (albeit mostly in the context of voting yea or nay). Those are both jarring, they take me right out of the chapter on seeing them. But, comparatively small potatoes.
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
I hinted at the biggest source of Tina's early advantages, but since you are so distressed about it I can drop some minor info now.
Its the internet. The normal internet with its hidden magical pockets. Because there is no way that the devils have the entirety of all the magical internet completely under their lock and key
Tina went on the internet, and did what is always the best way to get a lot of answers to highly technical stuff - she found a nerd place and then committed the biggest sin online that cannot be forgiven.
She was wrong on the internet.
So she got tons of nerds to eagerly correct her. And she looted all the eagerly sourced knowledge to figure out some unique ways to apply it.
And the only thing lucky about her connection with the tattoo artist was the quality of one she got. She had commissioned a basic and advanced version of a seal she wanted - not hard, should be easy for anyone that knows to look for real magic things on the DxD internet. Because she also found a basic-tier seal expert that did magical tattoos online. Like one does in the information age. And it was only once she realized who she was dealing with did she pull the trigger on getting the good one.
So she learned how to use ki and then unlocked touki on her own since its not supposed to be that hard once you have basic access to senjutsu. She still isn't that good at it.
Tina also learned a lot more from her teacher than she thought she had, and just doesn't know it yet.
Because I don't see the point in writing 40k words of her struggling with the internet and databases and everything else just to get to the bits I actually care about. So I set a baseline of what she can do with her current training and equipment, and am both setting up more training to progress further and explaining how she got to where she is now by going over things as they come up.
Correction... she has three months until her world tour ends.
She is 6 weeks in, and has been doing absolutely absurd levels of shounen-style training near constantly the entire time.
You are also vastly over stating what it is she has actually done. And are underestimating how much work she borrowed from others.
Azazel for example could - if he got a device that wanted to cooperate with him - look at one of her devices and produce one that is more than 4x stronger than her current best one in less than 12 hours. And he would spend the entire time bitching about how easy it is and how stupid he is for not making one first. The hardest part is awakening a spirit with senjutsu to control it.
The use of 'yea' is how I personally use the word all the time, and how I spell it online for conversations and everything. I don't use the 'h' at the end and it always looks weird to me to see 'yeah' so I don't. Its definitely a 'me' thing.
bitching about using 3 months or three months though is just a level of nitpicking that I simply don't care about.
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slenderman1942
Jungle Tyrant
- Location
- Home
Just finished reading start to finish, and I m having a blast. our girl has that lovely gremlin energy of someone who decided, "They told me I could become anything, so I became a problem."
So much fun XD.
So much fun XD.
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
Glad you are enjoying it. And that's exactly the sort of energy I was hoping for.
It feels rushed how we went from (presumably?) baseline human to being someone that could convincingly play Nanoha. Not that it isn't awesome to see people getting befriended.
Is the MC a clone of Nanoha that's seen DxD? That would at least explain her magical chops.
It might be better to start in the middle of kicking butt, and then have flashbacks to playing kick the can with magic, a blooper reel of learning experiencies while trying to git gud, e.g. how not to fill a cartridge, a prototype device undergoing rapid unplanned disassembly, the chorus of various device personalities that lead to Razing Heart.
Is there a collection of abandoned personality cores somewhere? Will they get introduced to Valerie, Gaspar and Lind?
Is the MC a clone of Nanoha that's seen DxD? That would at least explain her magical chops.
It might be better to start in the middle of kicking butt, and then have flashbacks to playing kick the can with magic, a blooper reel of learning experiencies while trying to git gud, e.g. how not to fill a cartridge, a prototype device undergoing rapid unplanned disassembly, the chorus of various device personalities that lead to Razing Heart.
Is there a collection of abandoned personality cores somewhere? Will they get introduced to Valerie, Gaspar and Lind?
I'd note Teana in Nanoha canon DID basically build her own Device from scratch(since nobody makes them in gun shape as Midchildan practioners favor wands and staves, while Belkans favor Glorious Melee) and it worked fine enough to use in live combat until her commanding officer paid to get it rebuilt to Ace Custom.
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
It even was good enough that, except for a couple poor tactical decisions both her and Subaru made, that she could have passed the A-rank certification exam with it on her first try. Which is damn impressive considering how hard and rare that rank is (it explicitly required taking out enemies that used anti magic effects with magic).I'd note Teana in Nanoha canon DID basically build her own Device from scratch(since nobody makes them in gun shape as Midchildan practioners favor wands and staves, while Belkans favor Glorious Melee) and it worked fine enough to use in live combat until her commanding officer paid to get it rebuilt to Ace Custom.
And that's pretty much the entire method behind her research madness.
It's a known(though not always well used) tactic to use even on places like Reddit without needing to invoke the mansplaining rites, as asking questions can easily get ignored or very few answers, confidently stating something wrong will get pages of responses of people desperate to correct you.
I can even understand why. Because it's wrong that means that someone else who doesn't know much about the topic but wants to could end up misinformed. Misinformation is an active problem that needs to be fixed, while someone who doesn't know something is a different kind of problem that the person could fix via research.
- Location
- Oregon, USA
I think the issue people have with this story can be encapsulated by the fact that the MC managed to create a sapient AI in a magic system that relies on mathematics, when we don't see similar feats by anyone in canon that I can think of, period. Closest is God creating the Heaven System, maybe? Except that's not really sapient, just incredibly complex in different ways. That said, it's the premise, so I'm willing to ignore it.
Teana's handmade Device had no loaded AI at all and didn't speak. It was noticeably more crude than the Intelligent Device she got later, and used a physical grappling cord with a magic sticker on the end to help her get around.
And this was, it should be noted, while living in a society that knows how to make Devices and where you can feasibly just buy the parts you need at a local store. I'm going to leave this point alone because apparently nerds on the internet are sufficient to help design an Intelligent Device from first principles, but I still genuinely would have called the maker a... maybe not a genius persay, but still a really good engineer, if they even made Teana's first guns, without the AI, from scratch and first principles.
Also, they do make gun-shaped Devices, they just aren't the standard. Teana made hers that way specifically to follow in her brother's footsteps, and Storm Raider was a sniper rifle. So that's at least three.
Minor note: it was the B rank exam. B rank is considered something of an insurmountable barrier to most mages, with most average mages languishing at C and down.
They spent the entirety of StrikerS at B rank, too. They were probably A rank material by the end of the series, but without certifications what with the big crisis going on.
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I don't know about y'all but I do not require well reasoned power progression in a fanfiction crossover between mathemagical girls and soft core porn*. This is a fun story to read at face value. Why demand strict logic from a fantasy setting that clearly doesn't take itself seriously?
*now with added guns
*now with added guns
Chapter 7 - Romania 4
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
AN: This was almost a recap from an outside(ish) perspective, but it just draaagged ooonnnn so I dropped it. And when I finally wrote the main event I wanted, I ended up getting over two thirds what I would have tried to force in otherwise.
~~~~
American Magical Girl
Chapter 07
~~~
~Maria Karnastein, Member of the Carmilla Faction~
Maria watched the pair of girls walk out of the woods, the taller mage carrying a blonde that was likely to be the dhampir half breed they had originally gone to meet.
Who had, apparently, been some sort of weapon the Tepes had been hoping to develop in hiding.
"That's far enough. We can take her from here." The older vampire called out.
The two humans paused and looked at each other before the orange haired mage in a battered looking outfit answered. "What do you mean by that?"
"That there," Maria nodded towards the dhampir, "is the daughter of King Tepes. While we appreciate what you went through to rescue her, we cannot allow you to take her away."
At the mage's incredulous look, she continued. "It would be best for her to stay with her own kind. If you must, think of this as just politics."
Something passed wordlessly between the exorcist and mage when they looked at each other in response to that, and the church girl almost broke down laughing. The mage just shook her head and gently handed off the passed out blonde girl to her friend.
"You have no idea what it is you are getting into." The human said, her shoulders relaxed as she strutted forward in an attempt to look intimidating.
If it wasn't for how utterly exhausted the girl looked, how close to empty the vampire could feel her mana reserves were, it might have been something other than cutely adorable combined with the earlier display of might that wiped out the castle.
Except for all its strength, that spell had taken an excessively long time to cast, removing it as a threat. Her magic was unusual, though it seemed like she was simply using raw power. Vastly inferior to the properly developed and refined power of the elemental magics most magicians preferred, which seemed an option she seemed lacking completely.
Worse still was the fact the girl currently lacked the amount of raw mana needed to make those types raw power truly threatening. Maria could hardly throw a rock into the building of any Magician's Association worth the name without hitting half a dozen people with over twice her full capacity.
At the end of the day, the mage was little more than a child.
She didn't even have a Sacred Gear. She was just a plain human!
"I think it's you that doesn't understand what they are getting into." Maria said before raising her hand and snapping her fingers.
From amidst the growing darkness of a winter's early twilight, Shadows lashed out from around the human girls. Chains quickly formed from the darkness, locking them in place.
A second later a pulse of mana echoed forth from the mage, threatening to disrupt everything until Maria flexed her will into properly reinforcing her chains.
"Huh." The completely unruffled mage said, apparently noticing the momentary lapse. "So it's the willpower aspect that causes you problems, not the life part? I was wrong then…"
Her companion almost seemed fondly exasperated by the other girl's uncaring reaction, even as the dark chains wrapped more firmly around her and the girl in her arm. All the while giving off absolutely no signs of concern.
Something itched about something being… off.
Instincts that had been honed over centuries were screaming that something about these two human girls, something about how they were holding themselves, how they were reacting, was not the reaction of prey - even dangerous prey - caught in a trap.
Lint Sellzen, the mostly white haired girl currently holding their half blood target, was a relatively known quantity. A product of one of the Church's supersoldier projects, she had forged herself into becoming among the top 5 best exorcists to ever emerge from its hidden halls - and the strongest to remain aligned with the Church.
Maria was under no illusions what would likely happen if they forced this to become lethal.
Lint had access to Seraphim imbued Light weapons, and existed within the realm of skill needed for exorcists to start tapping into Holy power at need. As much as high tier Light was a pain in the ass to deal with, Holy was exponentially worse and far above her paygrade.
It was why this was a simple extraction mission.
With just Lint and the target, it would be a simple matter to separate them long enough to vanish with their quarry, and likely minimal casualties.
"This is why I hate parasites."
Maria couldn't stop herself as she hissed. "You racist..."
"No, it's not because you are vampires." The orange haired mage countered instantly. "There are lots of ways you blood suckers could live in harmony just fine with the rest of society. Or even make it better because of you. It wouldn't even be that hard."
Some sparks start glowing a light, soft blue around the fingers of one of the mage's hands.
"If that's the case, you should be thanking us for- "
"You misunderstand." The mage cut her off, as more sparks gathered around that hand. "It is not what one does when they have nothing that makes someone a parasite. It is what one does when one has excess that truly tells the truth of what they are."
"Those Tepes bastards-"
"So instead you do… this." The scorn and derision in the young human's voice is nearly painful to her enhanced hearing.
Though not as painful as the soft blue sparks turn into flames that suddenly burned away her shadow chains.
Maria forced herself to not scream as she felt something in those flames scorch her slightly even as they burnt away her power.
"You barge in and just try to take with no care for anything else. Even if you get what you want, all that happens is it gets horded away, never to be seen again."
"That…" Her skin itched in the glow of those flames, in a way that was far worse than Light yet not as harsh as Holy…
"Sage…" she whispered in quiet horror.
Burns from Light could be healed, the weakness and destruction inflicted by Holy could be recovered…
But the purification that a Sage could bring didn't leave anything to be healed. It simply returned any undeath to the cycle of rebirth.
Except Sages were exceptionally rare - outside of deeply Buhddist, Taoist, or Shinto areas they were basically unheard of - and any of them that had trained their ability with Purification to the point they could burn away her power with barely a touch…
Maria snapped her fingers again, the chains vanishing, and signaled the team to stand down.
The little exorcist moved to stand next to, and just a step behind, the taller mage while carrying her treasure. The Church girl seemed to pick up something important just happened, but appeared to be missing the details.
Not too much of a surprise, as the last time Maria had seen Purification that strong was a well known Shrine Maiden from the Far East that had been using a ritual tool while being twice this girl's age. Whatever else this girl had been through, her training to get that strong already must be insane.
"We ask that you hand over Valerie Tepes to us of the Carmilla Faction so we may offer the assistance she deserves." Maria gave a slight bow with a professionally pleasant smile on her face. It burned a deep dark place inside her for the vampire to expose this level of… weakness to a human child, but not nearly as badly as that softly glowing ball of light blue flame would if it touched her skin.
"And if I say no?"
"Then we shall endeavor to find ways to… encourage you." Without direct force it would be a lot harder, though there were a lot of ways to hinder travel, especially through the mundane world.
"You will seek to indirectly hinder everything, and probably make any attempt to travel by mundane means an exercise in futility." The mage asked sullenly.
The vampire didn't say anything, though her smile widened a touch. It was nice when she didn't need to spell it out - or worse, actually go through the tedium of proving it.
"Alright Lint, let's go get someone to treat Valerie's soul damage."
"Soul damage?" Maria couldn't stop herself from blurting out.
The mortal glared at her. "The first of many reasons that we wouldn't have gone with you, even if there had been a remote possibility that you weren't about to do the exact same thing we just stopped."
She sighs, and signaled parts of her team to switch to prep distraction and diversions. "We still cannot allow you to leave our territory with the daughter of King Tepes. "
"You see… that's where you are wrong."
Something in the girl's tone was concerning, before a pulse of magic spiked above the mage's hand pulled everyone's attention. A moment later, a thick black tome appeared and dropped into her waiting hand. The tome itself had a cover of treated leather, pitched as dark as the deepest midnight, the binding and cover of which were dominated by an elaborate golden compass rose with gold trim.
The book smoothly opened itself in the human's hand, pages turning rapidly until they stopped on a page and the writing began to glow. A magic circle formed at her feet, similar to the ones that had been seen from her before.
Then the circle shifted, 4 smaller circles spun as they formed a square around the initial one even as lines of magical script connected the smaller circles together without intersecting the original circle.
"I might have misspoken when I told you before Lint that I can't teleport. I certainly can't, but… my little friend here," she waved the hand currently holding the obviously very magical magical tome, "can. Accuracy is super shoddy, and takes a good while to cast. Super obviously, too."
The Church's agent giggles at the extremely brightly glowing magic circle that any vampire - or others even slightly aware of the supernatural - for miles would be able to sense easily.
"We have wards against teleportation. You will not find escaping to be so simple."
"Eeehh… Your wards haven't been updated in over a hundred years, so they are relatively useless." The mage smirks at some joke that the older vampire didn't understand.
"Bye!"
The orange light of the complicated circle erupts and when it fades, the trio is gone.
Maria wasn't sure if she wanted to curse or just be thankful that it hadn't devolved into a fight.
It was only then that the vampire realized the mage had never even drawn her weapons.
~~~
The light fades as the heat hits me like suddenly walking into a screen door made of warmth.
Very glad it was night during the rainy season here. Still really warm, but not so-hot-I-don't-even-sweat warm.
A quick wave of magic with the help of my Tome, and a barrier snaps into existence around us, pulling us into a copy of the local area including the local landmark I landed us near just out phase with normal reality. Mundane means wouldn't find us, though not hard to find with magical training.
I didn't exactly want the US military to show up, thinking we were doing something worth inspecting.
"Good job, Darkness." The text on the pages glows softly, before the book closes softly.
"Ugh, I hate sudden shifts like that." Lint complains even as she looks around, still holding Valerie close. "Where even are we?"
"Welcome!" I cheer, throwing my arms out to highlight the sand, dirt, and desert around, in addition to some power lines, a road, and a tall pyramid-looking building. "To the origin of your religion!"
I got a flat look in response.
Ah, the joys of messing with religious zealots with actual facts and logic.
"Welcome to the city where the first recorded actions of the god who became the God of the Bible happened!"
I turn and direct the exorcist's attention to the grand structure that had been behind her the entire time.
"May I present to you the Ziggurat of Ur!"
"WHAT?!"
~~~~
American Magical Girl
Chapter 07
~~~
~Maria Karnastein, Member of the Carmilla Faction~
Maria watched the pair of girls walk out of the woods, the taller mage carrying a blonde that was likely to be the dhampir half breed they had originally gone to meet.
Who had, apparently, been some sort of weapon the Tepes had been hoping to develop in hiding.
"That's far enough. We can take her from here." The older vampire called out.
The two humans paused and looked at each other before the orange haired mage in a battered looking outfit answered. "What do you mean by that?"
"That there," Maria nodded towards the dhampir, "is the daughter of King Tepes. While we appreciate what you went through to rescue her, we cannot allow you to take her away."
At the mage's incredulous look, she continued. "It would be best for her to stay with her own kind. If you must, think of this as just politics."
Something passed wordlessly between the exorcist and mage when they looked at each other in response to that, and the church girl almost broke down laughing. The mage just shook her head and gently handed off the passed out blonde girl to her friend.
"You have no idea what it is you are getting into." The human said, her shoulders relaxed as she strutted forward in an attempt to look intimidating.
If it wasn't for how utterly exhausted the girl looked, how close to empty the vampire could feel her mana reserves were, it might have been something other than cutely adorable combined with the earlier display of might that wiped out the castle.
Except for all its strength, that spell had taken an excessively long time to cast, removing it as a threat. Her magic was unusual, though it seemed like she was simply using raw power. Vastly inferior to the properly developed and refined power of the elemental magics most magicians preferred, which seemed an option she seemed lacking completely.
Worse still was the fact the girl currently lacked the amount of raw mana needed to make those types raw power truly threatening. Maria could hardly throw a rock into the building of any Magician's Association worth the name without hitting half a dozen people with over twice her full capacity.
At the end of the day, the mage was little more than a child.
She didn't even have a Sacred Gear. She was just a plain human!
"I think it's you that doesn't understand what they are getting into." Maria said before raising her hand and snapping her fingers.
From amidst the growing darkness of a winter's early twilight, Shadows lashed out from around the human girls. Chains quickly formed from the darkness, locking them in place.
A second later a pulse of mana echoed forth from the mage, threatening to disrupt everything until Maria flexed her will into properly reinforcing her chains.
"Huh." The completely unruffled mage said, apparently noticing the momentary lapse. "So it's the willpower aspect that causes you problems, not the life part? I was wrong then…"
Her companion almost seemed fondly exasperated by the other girl's uncaring reaction, even as the dark chains wrapped more firmly around her and the girl in her arm. All the while giving off absolutely no signs of concern.
Something itched about something being… off.
Instincts that had been honed over centuries were screaming that something about these two human girls, something about how they were holding themselves, how they were reacting, was not the reaction of prey - even dangerous prey - caught in a trap.
Lint Sellzen, the mostly white haired girl currently holding their half blood target, was a relatively known quantity. A product of one of the Church's supersoldier projects, she had forged herself into becoming among the top 5 best exorcists to ever emerge from its hidden halls - and the strongest to remain aligned with the Church.
Maria was under no illusions what would likely happen if they forced this to become lethal.
Lint had access to Seraphim imbued Light weapons, and existed within the realm of skill needed for exorcists to start tapping into Holy power at need. As much as high tier Light was a pain in the ass to deal with, Holy was exponentially worse and far above her paygrade.
It was why this was a simple extraction mission.
With just Lint and the target, it would be a simple matter to separate them long enough to vanish with their quarry, and likely minimal casualties.
"This is why I hate parasites."
Maria couldn't stop herself as she hissed. "You racist..."
"No, it's not because you are vampires." The orange haired mage countered instantly. "There are lots of ways you blood suckers could live in harmony just fine with the rest of society. Or even make it better because of you. It wouldn't even be that hard."
Some sparks start glowing a light, soft blue around the fingers of one of the mage's hands.
"If that's the case, you should be thanking us for- "
"You misunderstand." The mage cut her off, as more sparks gathered around that hand. "It is not what one does when they have nothing that makes someone a parasite. It is what one does when one has excess that truly tells the truth of what they are."
"Those Tepes bastards-"
"So instead you do… this." The scorn and derision in the young human's voice is nearly painful to her enhanced hearing.
Though not as painful as the soft blue sparks turn into flames that suddenly burned away her shadow chains.
Maria forced herself to not scream as she felt something in those flames scorch her slightly even as they burnt away her power.
"You barge in and just try to take with no care for anything else. Even if you get what you want, all that happens is it gets horded away, never to be seen again."
"That…" Her skin itched in the glow of those flames, in a way that was far worse than Light yet not as harsh as Holy…
"Sage…" she whispered in quiet horror.
Burns from Light could be healed, the weakness and destruction inflicted by Holy could be recovered…
But the purification that a Sage could bring didn't leave anything to be healed. It simply returned any undeath to the cycle of rebirth.
Except Sages were exceptionally rare - outside of deeply Buhddist, Taoist, or Shinto areas they were basically unheard of - and any of them that had trained their ability with Purification to the point they could burn away her power with barely a touch…
Maria snapped her fingers again, the chains vanishing, and signaled the team to stand down.
The little exorcist moved to stand next to, and just a step behind, the taller mage while carrying her treasure. The Church girl seemed to pick up something important just happened, but appeared to be missing the details.
Not too much of a surprise, as the last time Maria had seen Purification that strong was a well known Shrine Maiden from the Far East that had been using a ritual tool while being twice this girl's age. Whatever else this girl had been through, her training to get that strong already must be insane.
"We ask that you hand over Valerie Tepes to us of the Carmilla Faction so we may offer the assistance she deserves." Maria gave a slight bow with a professionally pleasant smile on her face. It burned a deep dark place inside her for the vampire to expose this level of… weakness to a human child, but not nearly as badly as that softly glowing ball of light blue flame would if it touched her skin.
"And if I say no?"
"Then we shall endeavor to find ways to… encourage you." Without direct force it would be a lot harder, though there were a lot of ways to hinder travel, especially through the mundane world.
"You will seek to indirectly hinder everything, and probably make any attempt to travel by mundane means an exercise in futility." The mage asked sullenly.
The vampire didn't say anything, though her smile widened a touch. It was nice when she didn't need to spell it out - or worse, actually go through the tedium of proving it.
"Alright Lint, let's go get someone to treat Valerie's soul damage."
"Soul damage?" Maria couldn't stop herself from blurting out.
The mortal glared at her. "The first of many reasons that we wouldn't have gone with you, even if there had been a remote possibility that you weren't about to do the exact same thing we just stopped."
She sighs, and signaled parts of her team to switch to prep distraction and diversions. "We still cannot allow you to leave our territory with the daughter of King Tepes. "
"You see… that's where you are wrong."
Something in the girl's tone was concerning, before a pulse of magic spiked above the mage's hand pulled everyone's attention. A moment later, a thick black tome appeared and dropped into her waiting hand. The tome itself had a cover of treated leather, pitched as dark as the deepest midnight, the binding and cover of which were dominated by an elaborate golden compass rose with gold trim.
The book smoothly opened itself in the human's hand, pages turning rapidly until they stopped on a page and the writing began to glow. A magic circle formed at her feet, similar to the ones that had been seen from her before.
Then the circle shifted, 4 smaller circles spun as they formed a square around the initial one even as lines of magical script connected the smaller circles together without intersecting the original circle.
"I might have misspoken when I told you before Lint that I can't teleport. I certainly can't, but… my little friend here," she waved the hand currently holding the obviously very magical magical tome, "can. Accuracy is super shoddy, and takes a good while to cast. Super obviously, too."
The Church's agent giggles at the extremely brightly glowing magic circle that any vampire - or others even slightly aware of the supernatural - for miles would be able to sense easily.
"We have wards against teleportation. You will not find escaping to be so simple."
"Eeehh… Your wards haven't been updated in over a hundred years, so they are relatively useless." The mage smirks at some joke that the older vampire didn't understand.
"Bye!"
The orange light of the complicated circle erupts and when it fades, the trio is gone.
Maria wasn't sure if she wanted to curse or just be thankful that it hadn't devolved into a fight.
It was only then that the vampire realized the mage had never even drawn her weapons.
~~~
The light fades as the heat hits me like suddenly walking into a screen door made of warmth.
Very glad it was night during the rainy season here. Still really warm, but not so-hot-I-don't-even-sweat warm.
A quick wave of magic with the help of my Tome, and a barrier snaps into existence around us, pulling us into a copy of the local area including the local landmark I landed us near just out phase with normal reality. Mundane means wouldn't find us, though not hard to find with magical training.
I didn't exactly want the US military to show up, thinking we were doing something worth inspecting.
"Good job, Darkness." The text on the pages glows softly, before the book closes softly.
"Ugh, I hate sudden shifts like that." Lint complains even as she looks around, still holding Valerie close. "Where even are we?"
"Welcome!" I cheer, throwing my arms out to highlight the sand, dirt, and desert around, in addition to some power lines, a road, and a tall pyramid-looking building. "To the origin of your religion!"
I got a flat look in response.
Ah, the joys of messing with religious zealots with actual facts and logic.
"Welcome to the city where the first recorded actions of the god who became the God of the Bible happened!"
I turn and direct the exorcist's attention to the grand structure that had been behind her the entire time.
"May I present to you the Ziggurat of Ur!"
"WHAT?!"
This dragged on until it suddenly didn't. This fought pretty hard to get even to the 1k mark until tonight when it suddenly jumped to 2k without warning.
And this puts my total 'published' content on QQ to over 50k words for this year done before Christmas. I have roughly another 6k to hit that goal on SB/SV, so even if I don't manage it by Christmas, getting it before the new year should be simple. Which is definitely a record for me.
If I was counting just words written I would be close to double that(more if I count more than just the actual story content), but this still clocks in as the most words I have ever written for stories in a single year ever. Spent more than a decade beta/editing for a few authors, but this is the first time that I have done it as a writer. Its not quite the same challenge as a NaNo, but its still 50k words.
I also got the outline updated, and the next two stops to finish off this arc will answer a lot of questions that people have been asking, and also give a pretty solid marker for how much of an overpowered genius Tina is( or isn't). Really looking forward to getting to it as I continue to take an industrial drill to the foundation of so many aspects of canon.
Let me know what you think of the chapter.
And this puts my total 'published' content on QQ to over 50k words for this year done before Christmas. I have roughly another 6k to hit that goal on SB/SV, so even if I don't manage it by Christmas, getting it before the new year should be simple. Which is definitely a record for me.
If I was counting just words written I would be close to double that(more if I count more than just the actual story content), but this still clocks in as the most words I have ever written for stories in a single year ever. Spent more than a decade beta/editing for a few authors, but this is the first time that I have done it as a writer. Its not quite the same challenge as a NaNo, but its still 50k words.
I also got the outline updated, and the next two stops to finish off this arc will answer a lot of questions that people have been asking, and also give a pretty solid marker for how much of an overpowered genius Tina is( or isn't). Really looking forward to getting to it as I continue to take an industrial drill to the foundation of so many aspects of canon.
Let me know what you think of the chapter.
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- Location
- Oregon, USA
Why would the US military show up here? Do they have a base nearby or something?
- Pronouns
- He
They're close to Iraq. The Ziggurat is around there somewhere.
At this point in time there's probably still fighting going on iirc.
Ahhh, yes, the earliest Christians sure were building them power lines. What, where did you think all of the infrastructure for mobile came from?
It was built 1200 years ago by God! Hallelujah! P.S. Merry Christmas. Today da day.
- Location
- Belgium
Ok, did she find some magical book somewhere that answers to thename Darkness?
Or is that one of her prototype devices, one based upon the Tome of the Night Sky and she just called it Darkness?
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
It's in southern Iraq, and I happened to be stationed at the nearby base on my deployment.
The US military irl had complete control over the Ziggurat of Ur within the outer bounds of a base until they handed it over to a preservation society in 2008.
There is, in fact, power lines that run to the site. I assure you they are quite modern in their origin.Ahhh, yes, the earliest Christians sure were building them power lines. What, where did you think all of the infrastructure for mobile came from?
P.S. Merry Christmas. Today da day.
The first prototype that might have ended up a bit extra chuuni and likes both names of Book of Darkness and Tome of the Night Sky.
So the informal name Darkness.
Does it also have some combination either of red gem like eyes or a raging submission kink without proper knowledge of PRICK or RACK? Perhaps both?
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
She will need to develop an avatar at some point...
Though she(the avatar, because the book refuses to actually speak verbally without one) will also be a librarian, so...
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- Location
- United States
I really feel like this girl is leaning hwavily into the Moon Knight Meme of "Random Bullshit Go!"
Not that it is a bad thing. When dropped in a death world like DXD you either go all in and hope for the best, or die.
Still waiting on that meeting with Sarafall.
Not that it is a bad thing. When dropped in a death world like DXD you either go all in and hope for the best, or die.
Still waiting on that meeting with Sarafall.
Chapter 8 - Ur 1
Skelethin
Barebones Writer
AN: Its not Christmas for me yet but that is no reason to not give a gift to those already there. I considered adding the next section, but this is long enough for now. Maybe for an actual Christmas present?
Also blame Clacla for this coming out so fresh. I saw they commented when I was debating to post or wait, so now its getting posted.
~~~~
American Magical Girl
Chapter 08
~~~
"You have some of the oddest preconceptions about me." The woman before me said.
I hadn't expected things to be quite this… easy?
The Ziggurat of Ur was originally dedicated to the moon god Nanna( or Sin/Suen depending on Sumerian or Akkadian respectively). While he had some minor connections to the Sumarian Underworld, I was mostly interested in that it had historically genuine connections with Sumerian divinity.
That one of his daughters is attributed to being Ereshkigal's sister Ishtar(Inanna) was likely helpful.
After offering a prayer to a shrine I had created for the Queen of Kur, I had felt a prompting - not unlike that feeling when you catch a partial glimpse of something tantalizing and feel the need to move closer for a better look - to go down, so I carried Valerie down the long stairs and without noticing I arrived at an underground gate with Lint by my side. Seven answers to seven questions at seven gates later, and I was standing before one of the oldest known goddesses in human history - and as far as I knew - the first major god(dess) of the dead and underworld.
Ereshkigal herself.
The form she greeted me with when I passed the final gate was that of a long haired blonde in a black dress with a modest amount of frills. The skirt was drawn short, exposing long dark leggings and boots. With her hair pulled into twin tails and red eyes, she looked very similar to her Fate incarnation, except that her skin was a darkened bronze looking a bit more like her Alter, Ninkigal, as would be expected of a goddess of a people that lived under such a harsh sun.
"You… are going to need to be a bit more specific if you actually expect any sort of useful answer from me." I finally told her.
With Lint off making sure that Valerie was tucked away comfortably for now, I had a short while that I could answer with full honesty.
"I am a nearly forgotten goddess from a long dead pantheon. Yet you came to me. Instead of Hades, who could likely have fixed anything already, or Anubis who has been enjoying a revival and resurgence. Me." Her voice is filled with honest curiosity. None of the innocence or self-doubt that so plagued her Fate incarnation. She clearly carried the wisdom worthy of a goddess of her lengthy history.
"And then there is that."
I blink at her, completely confused.
She sighs and brings a hand to rub at her temple.
"Deities, especially in their Place of Power, are capable of sensing Faith and Belief in themselves. Especially when a mortal is projecting it as hard as you currently are."
"oh… uuuh, oops?" I offered lamely, hand covering my mouth as I blush rather strongly at the insinuation.
I liked both her and her sister in FGO, and despite parts of their personalities, I had found I really liked the core of both the Primordial Goddesses. Ereshkigal more so as I identified more with her personally, and death-aligned deities always fascinated me with how they represented the different ways people and cultures approached and appreciated the end.
So it was very likely that she was getting a lot of things based on my impressions of her Fate counterpart that seeing and sensing her divinity in person only made stronger.
"Yes. I am." She confirmed. "Though I can't say I mind overmuch. It is refreshing to feel such a strong belief after so terribly long."
A thought tickled my mind I couldn't resist. "Is this your real form?"
Her laugh echoed around us like a series of chiming bells. There was something unusually pleasant about it, even without the touch of divinity it carried.
"Those with divinity can find our forms more… malleable sometimes. It was not uncommon in the past to have a slightly different face for each city that pledged worship, despite being the same goddess under it all." Her words carried her amusement. "So you could say that this is my original form, or that it is not. In the end, and after so long, I couldn't not see this form in your projected Belief towards me and found it pleasing."
I smiled, glad she seemed to enjoy it, even as something in what she said tickled further at my mind. "What does happen to the deities when a pantheon falls out of favor?"
The blonde haired goddess looked me over with her piercing red eyes, her earlier humor slightly faded even as she looked for I know not what. Eventually she sighed and looked away, towards one of the many cages filled with the glowing light of souls that filled her territory.
"It varies. Many scramble to find new pantheons to join or new ways to find and spread worship and belief. It's not that a deity dies when mortals stop worshipping them, they just lose power and influence so many all but fade away to practically nothing over centuries."
"Because they lack the power of belief and worship to continue as they once had." I conclude.
The goddess smiled, raising a finger as she adopted a teaching posture. "Not quite. It is when they spend the Belief they have that diminishes them slowly. A god, once they come into being, does not need further belief or faith to exist. Instead it empowers them to be or do more, and can be spent to go even further."
"So when they run out of believers, these gods try to spend that which is empowering them to gain new ones… only to have each failure make it harder as they are left weaker, so they have to spend even more, eventually making them fade further and further into irrelevance." I can see each step as I describe it, especially with the egos of most holders of divinity.
"You are delightfully well informed on such topics for one so new to the supernatural." Ereshkigal praised me.
"That is also why you are still so strong, isn't it?"
"Oh?" Her only response is a raised eyebrow.
I had yet to be in the presence of any other divinity, but even I could easily tell she was strong. Strong enough that her facing a fully powered, grief stricken berserk Valerie would have been child's play.
The strength of the goddess from a pantheon so old that she featured in stories about the First Hero Gilgamesh, and so forgotten that we can barely read the tablets those stories are written on due to the language having been so long forgotten to time, at least among the mundane.
"The faith and belief of all those souls you safeguard is still yours, isn't it?"
"So very delightful. You are, of course, correct." A pleased smile crossed her lips. "Though that just makes me even more curious as to how you can so quickly grasp what is so far from the mundane?"
I can't bring my eyes to look at her face, a brush of warmth covered my face. "Game theory has come a long way for all sorts of things. There are common parallels to businesses, for example."
She laughs. "That would certainly do it, but it's not everything, is it?"
I continue looking over the different cages, studiously trying to avoid her knowing eyes.
"No, I am not reading your mind, child." She raises an eyebrow at me when my gaze snaps to her. "You are still projecting loud enough that I wouldn't need to."
"Dammit, fine…" I sigh, not really wanting to deal with this next bit. "I have memories. Memories of different worlds, of different possibilities. Most of it isn't remotely accurate, but it still gives me enough to recognize parts of this world I shouldn't normally have any idea of."
"...which is an answer to part of my previous question on why you came to me instead of Hades or Anubis. Because of my portrayal in one of these different possibilities."
I wince slightly at how close, yet far her guess was.
"Oh?" Humor fills her tone. "Avoiding Hades I can understand, that man is entirely too busy with his own things. But you didn't go to Anubis because…"
She looked at me with a growing smirk, as I felt more heat flood my cheeks as the weight of pregnant silence pressed down on me.
"...because I forgot, okay? I forgot he was likely to be a safe option."
"... And because of my portrayal in the other media."
"...and because I liked your portrayal in the other media." I admit quietly, even as her smile grew.
"It's also that you care!" I called out, before she could tease me further. "You take great pride in your work, but most importantly it's clear to me you care about those under your charge."
"Oh really?"
"You take your job seriously, guarding those in your keeping, and have refused to pointlessly waste the belief they left for you to soothe your own ego."
"That is not something you could have known without coming before me." Her words cut right through me.
"No…" I blushed while looking away. "I just had faith and believed in you."
"Hmm… Very well. I shall accept this final trial as completed for now." She turned away fast enough that I couldn't tell if there was a hint of a blush or if that had just been my imagination. "There is still the matter of what it is you expect now that I have granted you and your allies Rights as Guests."
My eyes widened at her outright acknowledging it, before I turned and bowed slightly as I formally addressed the goddess.
"We ask for safe shelter, and what training you are willing to provide during our time with you. Our companion, a dhampir named Valerie Tepes, has grave damage to her soul and we seek your aid in treating her."
"What is wrong with her that you would seek me out?"
"Valerie had awakened the Sacred Gear Sephiroth Graal, and was forced to repeatedly use it to the point it had already started to damage her mind. Then she was provoked into incorrectly or incompletely unlocking Balance Breaker, the backlash of which shredded parts of her soul. I used what skill I have in the Sage Arts to heal what I could, but she is far outside of my skill to properly treat."
"Such a troublesome toy that bastard provided." She muttered, before motioning me to continue.
"In exchange for your assistance, I would offer my assistance in helping to remind the world of you and your family's existence, tailored however you see fit."
"And how, precisely, do you plan to do that?"
"Well…" I admitted just a little sheepishly. "I am a Magical Girl. Once I talk with Serafall…"
I watched her face as the blonde goddess before me completed the obvious results of 'Magical Girl + Serafall', as a wide smile covered her face and she turned to walk towards where the other girls were staying.
"Very well, let's go see the results of the work of that little upstart."
~~~
Also blame Clacla for this coming out so fresh. I saw they commented when I was debating to post or wait, so now its getting posted.
~~~~
American Magical Girl
Chapter 08
~~~
"You have some of the oddest preconceptions about me." The woman before me said.
I hadn't expected things to be quite this… easy?
The Ziggurat of Ur was originally dedicated to the moon god Nanna( or Sin/Suen depending on Sumerian or Akkadian respectively). While he had some minor connections to the Sumarian Underworld, I was mostly interested in that it had historically genuine connections with Sumerian divinity.
That one of his daughters is attributed to being Ereshkigal's sister Ishtar(Inanna) was likely helpful.
After offering a prayer to a shrine I had created for the Queen of Kur, I had felt a prompting - not unlike that feeling when you catch a partial glimpse of something tantalizing and feel the need to move closer for a better look - to go down, so I carried Valerie down the long stairs and without noticing I arrived at an underground gate with Lint by my side. Seven answers to seven questions at seven gates later, and I was standing before one of the oldest known goddesses in human history - and as far as I knew - the first major god(dess) of the dead and underworld.
Ereshkigal herself.
The form she greeted me with when I passed the final gate was that of a long haired blonde in a black dress with a modest amount of frills. The skirt was drawn short, exposing long dark leggings and boots. With her hair pulled into twin tails and red eyes, she looked very similar to her Fate incarnation, except that her skin was a darkened bronze looking a bit more like her Alter, Ninkigal, as would be expected of a goddess of a people that lived under such a harsh sun.
"You… are going to need to be a bit more specific if you actually expect any sort of useful answer from me." I finally told her.
With Lint off making sure that Valerie was tucked away comfortably for now, I had a short while that I could answer with full honesty.
"I am a nearly forgotten goddess from a long dead pantheon. Yet you came to me. Instead of Hades, who could likely have fixed anything already, or Anubis who has been enjoying a revival and resurgence. Me." Her voice is filled with honest curiosity. None of the innocence or self-doubt that so plagued her Fate incarnation. She clearly carried the wisdom worthy of a goddess of her lengthy history.
"And then there is that."
I blink at her, completely confused.
She sighs and brings a hand to rub at her temple.
"Deities, especially in their Place of Power, are capable of sensing Faith and Belief in themselves. Especially when a mortal is projecting it as hard as you currently are."
"oh… uuuh, oops?" I offered lamely, hand covering my mouth as I blush rather strongly at the insinuation.
I liked both her and her sister in FGO, and despite parts of their personalities, I had found I really liked the core of both the Primordial Goddesses. Ereshkigal more so as I identified more with her personally, and death-aligned deities always fascinated me with how they represented the different ways people and cultures approached and appreciated the end.
So it was very likely that she was getting a lot of things based on my impressions of her Fate counterpart that seeing and sensing her divinity in person only made stronger.
"Yes. I am." She confirmed. "Though I can't say I mind overmuch. It is refreshing to feel such a strong belief after so terribly long."
A thought tickled my mind I couldn't resist. "Is this your real form?"
Her laugh echoed around us like a series of chiming bells. There was something unusually pleasant about it, even without the touch of divinity it carried.
"Those with divinity can find our forms more… malleable sometimes. It was not uncommon in the past to have a slightly different face for each city that pledged worship, despite being the same goddess under it all." Her words carried her amusement. "So you could say that this is my original form, or that it is not. In the end, and after so long, I couldn't not see this form in your projected Belief towards me and found it pleasing."
I smiled, glad she seemed to enjoy it, even as something in what she said tickled further at my mind. "What does happen to the deities when a pantheon falls out of favor?"
The blonde haired goddess looked me over with her piercing red eyes, her earlier humor slightly faded even as she looked for I know not what. Eventually she sighed and looked away, towards one of the many cages filled with the glowing light of souls that filled her territory.
"It varies. Many scramble to find new pantheons to join or new ways to find and spread worship and belief. It's not that a deity dies when mortals stop worshipping them, they just lose power and influence so many all but fade away to practically nothing over centuries."
"Because they lack the power of belief and worship to continue as they once had." I conclude.
The goddess smiled, raising a finger as she adopted a teaching posture. "Not quite. It is when they spend the Belief they have that diminishes them slowly. A god, once they come into being, does not need further belief or faith to exist. Instead it empowers them to be or do more, and can be spent to go even further."
"So when they run out of believers, these gods try to spend that which is empowering them to gain new ones… only to have each failure make it harder as they are left weaker, so they have to spend even more, eventually making them fade further and further into irrelevance." I can see each step as I describe it, especially with the egos of most holders of divinity.
"You are delightfully well informed on such topics for one so new to the supernatural." Ereshkigal praised me.
"That is also why you are still so strong, isn't it?"
"Oh?" Her only response is a raised eyebrow.
I had yet to be in the presence of any other divinity, but even I could easily tell she was strong. Strong enough that her facing a fully powered, grief stricken berserk Valerie would have been child's play.
The strength of the goddess from a pantheon so old that she featured in stories about the First Hero Gilgamesh, and so forgotten that we can barely read the tablets those stories are written on due to the language having been so long forgotten to time, at least among the mundane.
"The faith and belief of all those souls you safeguard is still yours, isn't it?"
"So very delightful. You are, of course, correct." A pleased smile crossed her lips. "Though that just makes me even more curious as to how you can so quickly grasp what is so far from the mundane?"
I can't bring my eyes to look at her face, a brush of warmth covered my face. "Game theory has come a long way for all sorts of things. There are common parallels to businesses, for example."
She laughs. "That would certainly do it, but it's not everything, is it?"
I continue looking over the different cages, studiously trying to avoid her knowing eyes.
"No, I am not reading your mind, child." She raises an eyebrow at me when my gaze snaps to her. "You are still projecting loud enough that I wouldn't need to."
"Dammit, fine…" I sigh, not really wanting to deal with this next bit. "I have memories. Memories of different worlds, of different possibilities. Most of it isn't remotely accurate, but it still gives me enough to recognize parts of this world I shouldn't normally have any idea of."
"...which is an answer to part of my previous question on why you came to me instead of Hades or Anubis. Because of my portrayal in one of these different possibilities."
I wince slightly at how close, yet far her guess was.
"Oh?" Humor fills her tone. "Avoiding Hades I can understand, that man is entirely too busy with his own things. But you didn't go to Anubis because…"
She looked at me with a growing smirk, as I felt more heat flood my cheeks as the weight of pregnant silence pressed down on me.
"...because I forgot, okay? I forgot he was likely to be a safe option."
"... And because of my portrayal in the other media."
"...and because I liked your portrayal in the other media." I admit quietly, even as her smile grew.
"It's also that you care!" I called out, before she could tease me further. "You take great pride in your work, but most importantly it's clear to me you care about those under your charge."
"Oh really?"
"You take your job seriously, guarding those in your keeping, and have refused to pointlessly waste the belief they left for you to soothe your own ego."
"That is not something you could have known without coming before me." Her words cut right through me.
"No…" I blushed while looking away. "I just had faith and believed in you."
"Hmm… Very well. I shall accept this final trial as completed for now." She turned away fast enough that I couldn't tell if there was a hint of a blush or if that had just been my imagination. "There is still the matter of what it is you expect now that I have granted you and your allies Rights as Guests."
My eyes widened at her outright acknowledging it, before I turned and bowed slightly as I formally addressed the goddess.
"We ask for safe shelter, and what training you are willing to provide during our time with you. Our companion, a dhampir named Valerie Tepes, has grave damage to her soul and we seek your aid in treating her."
"What is wrong with her that you would seek me out?"
"Valerie had awakened the Sacred Gear Sephiroth Graal, and was forced to repeatedly use it to the point it had already started to damage her mind. Then she was provoked into incorrectly or incompletely unlocking Balance Breaker, the backlash of which shredded parts of her soul. I used what skill I have in the Sage Arts to heal what I could, but she is far outside of my skill to properly treat."
"Such a troublesome toy that bastard provided." She muttered, before motioning me to continue.
"In exchange for your assistance, I would offer my assistance in helping to remind the world of you and your family's existence, tailored however you see fit."
"And how, precisely, do you plan to do that?"
"Well…" I admitted just a little sheepishly. "I am a Magical Girl. Once I talk with Serafall…"
I watched her face as the blonde goddess before me completed the obvious results of 'Magical Girl + Serafall', as a wide smile covered her face and she turned to walk towards where the other girls were staying.
"Very well, let's go see the results of the work of that little upstart."
~~~
A bit more exposition that I hope was at least interesting, while also pouring in some of the world building about why some characters look/seem like they are from Fate.
We have the start of the much calmer and chill downtime arc. Now that Tina isn't dragging Lint off from one fight to the next, its time for her to get some answers!
She might even like some of them!
(some of them might be age/content restricted in certain areas)
Let me know what you think
We have the start of the much calmer and chill downtime arc. Now that Tina isn't dragging Lint off from one fight to the next, its time for her to get some answers!
She might even like some of them!
(some of them might be age/content restricted in certain areas)
Let me know what you think
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- Pronouns
- He
Bruh
Lmao even. FGO Ereshkigal just becoming the face of the Sumerian Underworld Goddess and it's not even Ereshkigal's actual face.
FGO Ishtar is also better than most iterations of Ishtar, so I wonder how that'll come into play given how those two work.