BXBX NOVEL Chapter 44 - 42
Akeno's P.O.V.
... I want to kill him. I know I can't, I am not strong enough to even try (unfortunately) and the bounded fields here are such that I would most certainly be unable to do it now, but I still wish I could or would do it, even if only to show defiance.
Seeing Buchou, my precious king who saved me when I needed it the most, having such an expression of defeat, it is truly not something I wanted to ever experience. She has already cried in front of me after the engagement party, me having to promise her that everything will be alright.
I have already decided that, if Riser ever wants to simply fuck buchou I would take her place. I know I can't stop her from one day having to have a child with him, but until that time I will take her place if that is what it takes to protect Buchou..
That is just how dedicated I am to Rias, but seeing her expression as her requests, her arguments, her begging, is all being ignored or shut down by this little human is simply infuriating. Can't he see that she is just someone asking him for help, not for herself but for someone who works under her?
For Satan's sake, she is even saying she is willing to offer all sorts of things if he can just heal Issei from what this very beast did. Land, gold, women (not her peerage or herself, of course), titles, treasures, anything, and everything, and to that his answer is always.
"How many times do I need to say 'fuck no' for you to understand?" Soma said in that infuriating tone.
Rias bites her lips and lowers her head and, after a bit, spoke.
"What if I offer myself?"
"RIAS?" I said in shock at her words.
Buchou just shakes her head and looks back at me, her gaze determined as she tries to give me a reassuring smile as she speaks.
"Akeno, if that is what it would take then so be it. Better my body be used like this for now than saving myself for Riser of all people. At least, this way, me saving my purity for these years would have had meaning."
... Buchou, you are far too nice for us all, but please don't do it. I can still remember the nights we would sleep in the same bed after I had a nightmare and you would talk to me until I fell asleep, telling me your dreams.
Iknow. In your dreams, you wished to have your first time with someone you truly loved, to be like one of those princesses in fairy tales that you so enjoyed.
I wanted to speak, to say I will replace her if this bastard just wants a hole to put his micro dick in, but that irritating voice came again.
"Not interested." Soma said making both me and Rias gape at his words.
"What?"
I can't tell who said this, if it was me or Rias. Rias Gremory was a well-known beauty of the devil race, even in this school who knows how many people have lusted after her, including Lucifer herself. This answer, the disinterest, it makes no sense.
Regardless, this ingrate bastard keeps on talking as if to taunt Rias.
"Look, you are hot. I won't deny you look like you would be a good fuck all things considered, but honestly? I am not into **** or banging a deadfish, and considering how clearly unwilling you are you either would just lay there and not do shit or pretend to like it but not be a willing participant in the slightest, which constitutes **** in my eyes." He says with disinterest as if WE were the stupid ones to even question his decision.
The gall of his!
Regardless of my ire, he keeps talking.
"Besides, it is not like I am desperate for girls to have sex with that are either just as good, or better, than you in my eyes. I have a few possible ones I could go to at most any day, including the other 'king' in town which, as it so happens, I am engaged to. Hells, if I am to have sex just to trade something I would go to some hot professional whore instead, it would be simpler, cheaper, and she would at least be a more willing and enthusiastic participant than you. As such, I have no need or true desire for you or your body." Soma said, stunning me a bit.
I guess offering myself as I was about to wouldn't work then either. It is at the same time a great relief, especially since I wouldn't want to have sex with him at any rate, but this is also a worry since Rias clearly is desperate and I don't know what else she would be willing to do for this.
Soma then looked right at Rias's eyes with a stern expression before continuing.
"If you think you can make me do whatever you want as if I was your dog just by just opening your legs and say 'come', then stop. I am not some stupid hormonal teenager who is unable to think with the head above my shoulders, and helping the pervert is not something just having you to fuck would be worth it."
"Then HOW MUCH it actually costs?" Rias shouted.
Soma turned to the secretary he had beside him and spoke.
"Mami, be a dear and go fetch me a computer please."
"Very well."
Right afterward the girl left and while we waited I saw how the cup of tea in his hand was still warm with some vapor emanating from it while the one in Buchou's hands was cold.
That he didn't even provide the bare minimum of hospitality annoys me by a lot.
... I am getting annoyed quite easily these days, huh. I guess it might be the stress of us losing to Riser and the fact that Rias is thinking of trading us away as to not let Riser have any power over us. We have heard the rumors, how Riser sometimes 'lend' some of his girls to others.
I have noticed that it was just a few girls who seem to actually enjoy being with other men and this is Riser's way of letting them enjoy it since he does sleep around a lot with other girls and no one ever accused him of forcing his peerage members into sleeping with anyone and the girls, when found in this situation, were known for being very enthusiastic. I guess the idea that similars attract makes sense, Phenexes are famously promiscuous and love having multiple partners so Riser finding Peerage members with similar kinks would make some sense.
However, Rias worries he might not have such a care about me or Koneko and try to sell us out.
I honestly quite doubt it, but Rias is stubborn, as she fears for us getting such a fate, and has been seriously thinking of trading me and Koneko-chan away when the marriage happens.
After a while, the secretary girl returned with a computer.
"Thank you." Soma says before starting to search for something. He ignores us as he continues his research for a while before turning to us. "A brain operation costs around one hundred fifty thousand dollars, considering what I would be doing is quite a few steps above that it would cost triple that to a total of four hundred fifty thousand dollars, but let us round the value up since I like round numbers and to compensate me for the time I will have to spend actually doing the operation. So, I would be willing to do it for a measly half a million dollars."
Rias looks relieved as she hears this.
"Just that? That is easy for the Gremo-"
"Nope." Soma interrupts. "I am not interested in the money of the 'Gremory clan'. If you want me to heal him YOU will have to obtain half a million by your own means without any help of the Gremory or any other devil clans or using your magical or supernatural abilities." Soma says and stops for a bit as if t let his words sink in.
They do for me but Rias seems to not really understand what he means yet, which is worrisome. Regardless, he continues.
"I heard from Riser how you wanted to act like a normal human, thus why you came to this world. It is a commendable, if ridiculous, goal in my eyes. You are a devil, accepting oneself is the first step towards being a better person. But, if you want to act like a human so much you will have to work with your own two hands to get me some money. It will be in the terms of the Geass, you cannot use your influence as a devil, and neither can you accept or receive any sort of assistance, directly or otherwise, of your family or other devils or supernatural beings. You can have your Peerage members help, but the conditions are the same for them as they cannot use any sort of magic or supernatural power or assistance to obtain the money. You must obtain it using only mundane ways without any sort of magic assistance or anything of the sort."
GULP
That, that one is very hard. Getting money the human way is hard. Very, very hard, especially for just a high school girl. I can't see how Rias can possibly do thi-
"Easy enough, is that all?" Rias said confidently.
... She really is a princess, huh. No real notion of the value of money or work, I will have to work hard to help her in getting the money she wants.
"No, in fact, I want to clarify some things." Soma said before raising a finger. "First, I won't fully heal the perverted excuse for a living being. What I am offering is just lessening the symptoms to a manageable degree, but orgasms would be completely impossible, and sustaining an erection for more than a few minutes would still hurt to a debilitating extent."
"And I have to pay you for not fully healing him?" Rias shouts.
"Welcome to the normal medicine field where you pay a lot more than you thought you would and don't usually get your wishes fully fulfilled." Soma said with a wave of his hand. "I also have two more requests if I am to heal him."
"Not much of a healing, but fine at least he would be able to leave his room in the hospital. What else do you want?"
"That you apologize." Soma said, making my king raise a brow.
"What? Apologize for who?"
"I want you to apologize to every single female your servant spied on or perved upon from the moment he became your responsibility up until now. You must explain that it was your own lack of ability that made him act as beastly as that and you take full responsibility for his actions. If they make a complain and tell you what happened you must listen to them and guard those words to memory as to not forget what sort of person you allowed to run rampant." Soma said.
"It was just some harmless acts, no one got hurt." Rias said in discontent. She never likes hearing bad things about any of us and she likes to see the best in everyone.
Besides, truth be told he IS harmless in our eyes since he is certainly not the worst of perverts we have seen and he just looks. Just taking a peek doesn't hurt, so that is okay, right?
"Would you look at that? With just some words the price for my generous assistance got up to six hundred thousand and you will need to bow your head to every single girl he perved upon regardless of their status in life. Please, try and defend him and his actions once again, I would love to hear about you giving a ninety degrees bow to all females in school and getting a full million dollars for a work that would cost me all of six seconds to make, Riser would love to hear about this tale and some footage of you begging forgiveness to dozens of humans."
Rias bites her tongue before she spats in anger.
"What else?"
"You will come with me. I will have Kiyoharu help you understand more about Aya-chan and then you will go on seiza in front of her and beg for her forgiveness with your head pressed hard on the floor, not getting up until she forgives you and you fully understand what you let this girl go through and all its implications. You seem like you would need to actually feel you are in someone else's flesh if you are to truly understand why I am doing this, so that is exactly what I am going to do."
... At least this will be in private. As long as no one knows Buchou lowered her head in seiza to apologize to a human everything should be fine enough. Sigh, why do so much for the pervert if she can just wait a while more as her family find suitable healers and take care of everything for her? We can just seal little Issei until the time we find the healer, it might take a few years but it is not that long in devil terms.
But, orders are orders and if Buchou wants to go through with it I shall accompany her.
"I understand, is that all or are there any more conditions?" Rias asked.
"Just one more. I want to meet the damphir you have locked in the old school building and, if I find him a danger to the other students of Kuoh Academy, I want to be allowed to set up a bounded field that should be capable of-"
That was as far as he got as Buchou stood up with the power of destruction around her, her powers flaring as she stared daggers at Soma.
"I will not let someone dangerous like you be around Gasper, much less set up who knows what bounded fields around where he, me, and the rest of my peerage is."
Soma, hearing this, shrugged his shoulders.
"You decide really, I don't care either way. You have my conditions, you can think about it and decide if you want to take it or not. If not, it is not like I will be losing my sleep over your servant writhing in pain and agony due to his own overexcited imagination. Your brother won't touch me for now since I am close to the Phenex and Sitri houses and am also close to the Norse, if I give you conditions like those I gave you can't even say I am actively torturing your servant as you can easily enough save the little... what was his name again? Oh, wait, I don't care about who that perverted failure is, just that he paid for hurting Aya. I just gave you these conditions since I can't make myself care enough about the perverted failure of existence to risk my or my friend's future wellbeing just for the sake of making that pervert suffer.
"So, you can go back and think about it carefully. Think about what is more important to you, your pride or your servant. Also, just so you know, the gates are always open in case you someday change your mind, but every day that passes until you accept my conditions will cost an extra hundred thousand dollars to be paid, and all exclusively from your own work without any help from your house or the supernatural, directly or otherwise."
Rias nodded her head and stood up to walk away, I followed but as we were leaving he couldn't help but speak up one last time.
"I would hurry if I were you to decide, if you take too long you might really have to whore yourself out to get that sort of money, not that it seems like you would find it so hard since you were already offering that just now for me. Oh, and don't worry about your purity or whatever. Last I heard, Riser told me he prefers women with experience over virgins so you can go wild to get that sort of cash."
I turned, my anger well beyond the boiling point as I raised my hand to blast him for the insult.
CRASH
"And would you look at that, I guess your Queen isn't that smart either. She seems to have forgotten about the bounded fields. Be a dear and carry her out before she dies in my living room, I wouldn't want her to die here since her blood would stain the carpet and it is brand new."
That was the last I heard as I felt someone pulling me along even as I struggled to breathe, my body injured all over, and if not for my Queen piece giving me an increase in physique to sustain damage I would have died.
As I passed out from the pain all I could do was stare at Rias whose eyes were red with tears as she took me out of the doorway.
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3° Person P.O.V.
"Well, that was more boring than I expected." Soma said as he saw the two female devils leaving his house.
Mami, who was beside him, spoke up.
"Are you sure that is okay? You did leave the Gremory Queen quite hurt there and the negotiations seem to have failed."
"Humph, I didn't hurt the Gremory Queen, she hurt herself in my Bounded Fields when she ignored my warnings and tried to attack me. And as for the negotiations, I am not in much of a worry about it, all I did there was try to help out my friend and that would be about it." Soma said with a wave of his hand.
"Huh?"
"Think, Mami, think. Miss Gremory will be marrying Riser in a few months at most, by making her apologize to everyone she let her servant offend she would be able to see the results of her actions or lack thereof, thus making her think more before she acts. And by making her need to work for once in her life she would get out of being a spoiled princess and would most likely be much more amenable to this marriage as her illusions about how 'human society' is would shatter. With that, she would at least be more tolerable to Riser to marry since right now I can't see their marriage having any happy ending."
Mami thought for a bit and nodded her head.
"I see, I guess that makes sense. And for the vampire?"
"I heard from Riser how the vampire has a powerful sacred gear in his eyes but he is sealed away, if I can get Rias to let me meet him I can find some form of trade with the vampire to obtain that gear and finally complete my mystic eyes that I was trying to finish. I care much more about my personal power than hurting some insignificant asshole." Soma said with a shrug.
If he was planning on making the most powerful set of Mystic Eyes possible of course he would study those around and the Forbidden Valor View was one that attracted his attention. Right now the mystic eyes he was preparing was able to petrify, control gravity, complete perception of the surroundings, and a few other usefull skills. If he can combine all this with the ability to influence time in any way, which Soma is confident he can go further than just stopping thanks to his understanding of Time Accel, he would become even stronger.
When he got that he would no longer need to have any worries about getting more powerful and can just focus all his attention on his study of the Heaven's Feel.
If the price was letting Issei get a hard-on for a few minutes without rolling in the ground in pain, but still never able to spread his genes for the future generations, then it was a price well worth it.
"... Very well sir. Would you need my help with anything right now?" Mami asked and Soma thought for a bit before answering.
"I guess. I have never really trained with you and, if you will be helping me in the future, I believe we should rectify that. I also know a thing or two about weapons of war and I believe I can help you become all the stronger." Soma said before looking at her and smirking a bit. "Tell me, how would you like to learn some illusion magic and we expand a bit on the concept of what a 'weapon of war' is?"
Mami's gear was honestly absurd. The ability to make any weapon of war, that is simply absurdly powerful if used right and Soma is sure he can help her achieve a much higher peak. And as to illusion magic, if she can make any weapon and stay hidden then the final effects can only be imagined right now, she would truly be exceptional and would certainly become a strong asset to Soma moving forward
At any rate, helping those working for him to get stronger was a good use of his time, and studying the Third Magic right now wouldn't work since he needed intervals between each session of training.
///---///
AN:
Pretty sure many people will complain about this chapter as 'bashing' or something, but I honestly don't think it actually is. I am just trying to keep the characters properly, Rias does look like someone who would be willing to use her body that way considering she let Issei take off her clothes during combat to mess with her boobs and she trying to fuck him to escape marriage. She wouldn't want to give Riser the 'taste' of being her first man and she would be willing to do anything to save Issei, that is just how she is.
Rias in this fic is not a bad person, she is just self-centered and has never had any true difficulties with Soma making her face those difficulties one after another. Soma calls her out in her BS and is trying to force her to grow up since she is marrying his friend soon and wouldn't like to have to hear Riser bitching about his bitch of a wife.
As for Soma's wish for Gasper's SG, is it any surprise he wants that? He wants to get stronger and becoming more powerful is more important than some nobody (in his eyes) being punished forever. It is simple as that, Soma doesn't care enough about Issei to jeopardy his own growth moving forward. Hope you guys enjoyed it and next chapter will come out... eventually (no clue really, but at most in a bit over a week ;)
Reviews are welcome, bye bye.