Author notes 1
Hi guys, we are starting the meeting for peace!
Basically. Shenanigans and lies.
This is the first part. Too long for a single chapter. Enjoy.
Things we will talk about in author notes 2:
- Part 2.
- About skipping some unimportant events and explanations everyone knows.
- My funniest anecdote reading fanfiction.
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-Samuel Pov-
"You are a meathead." I said to Xenovia, who was laying down on the floor looking at the sky; she was easily defeated in the spar.
Even going easy on her, but it's understandable. It's me after all.
Well, she was tougher than I thought, even enduring ten hits from Aerondight. The sword charges were piling up against her, even with the nerf in her favor being a sword for "monsters."
She glares at me, a bit angry because it's true.
"You don't use magic and you are very dependent on your sword, always expecting to physically overwhelm your enemy. That's a mistake, Xenovia." I pointed out.
She let out a tired sigh.
"What if you lose your sword or an enemy takes it from you? Or the enemy is a magician who is bombing you from the distance? What if the enemy is physically stronger than you, like in this case?" I kept going.
"Grrr...*sigh*" she growled but let out a sigh after that. She knows I'm right.
She has her pride as the wielder of Durandal, I get it... so being defeated that easily wounded her ego, but she can't get mad at me hehe. I'm kinda her lord right now.
"...Then how do I get stronger?" she said, still on the floor.
"Glad you asked. You need to milk the two power systems of this world."
"What?" Xenovia asked, confused.
"You will learn magic from now on so you can counter every type of enemy. You lose your sword? Use magic and create a temporary one. A magician is bombing you from the distance? Teleport or use his same tactic. You lack strength? Empower yourself with magic." I threw some of many solutions to her.
"I see... you said two?" she said.
"The other one is senjutsu, but you will learn magic first. The most basic elemental spells, how to channel them into the sword, and teleportation." No need to overwhelm her with two power systems at the same time.
"Now?"
"Tomorrow. You are done for today." I said while looking at Durandal. Good alchemical work but it's a fucking ugly sword.
It has like a tooth on the side, totally unsightly.
What the hell is that hand protection on one side only? Can work if you have a massive hand like Vasco Strada, but Xenovia's case is waaay different.
You have hand protection on all sides like a rapier, or you don't. Pick one.
And besides, it's a greatsword. Why would a greatsword have hand protection?
Shit is making me mad.
We need to have the fashion soul at a high standard girl.
"Up." I grabbed her hand and made her stand in one go.
"Durandal has flaws in its design." I stated to her.
She blinked at me.
"Flaws?"
"The horrible tsundere fang." I touched the thing, "the poorly thought hand protection on only one side." I kept going, "the poorly designed overall proportions." I touched a little below the tsundere fang of the sword.
"It's a legendary weapon..." Xenovia said, trying to defend her sword.
Legendary weapon my ass.
But it's a good alchemy work.
"True. It's a master craft but the design is dogshit. The sum of these factors does not give you good balance, let alone if you are going to clash swords, much less with a sword that is on the same tier."
Xenovia's eye twitched.
She was getting a bit angry. Before the airhead opened her mouth, I interrupted.
"Good for you, I can change the sword. I know alchemy, so you will have an overall better Durandal. Sounds good to you?"
Forcing a little here. It's her sword after all, but I give her the chance to choose.
"Okay, I trust you." she said with a nod.
?
She is not lying...then she really is a bit of an airhead.
Later I will use Tattletale power on her to make sure there is no scheme from the church or anyone else.
"Let's go, I will show you your new room." The small guest room will suffice. Better than any rubbish in the church.
As we walk inside, she asked me,
"So how will I call you? Master (Goshujinsama)?" Xenovia asked me with a smile.
First time an "anime girl" calling me that. Pfff.
Look at her trying to tease me. You are years too early, girl.
"Lord? My liege?" she kept going.
That one is reserved for Beru or Igris when I make them.
"We are not Japanese, so Samuel is okay." I said.
We kept walking until we arrived.
"Here it is." I opened the door. "You can use the bathroom on the first floor."
"Besides, we are going to the meeting of the three factions for peace in two days... you will need an upgrade in your outfit. You are not from the church anymore." I said.
"Peace...I see..." she said, touching her white tunic.
Am I gonna use magic and alchemy to play fashion souls with her? Obviously.
Then I will put my hands on Durandal to make it a bit better and learn from it.
"Rest. Tomorrow we will do that, and I will talk about some rules and how I want you to behave in that meeting." I said.
I can't have her bum ass in my house being a freeloader. Hope what I learn from Durandal is worth it or she will become a housemaid too. Haha.
.
..
...
(Next day)
I sat down with Xenovia as I drew outfit ideas for her.
"I notice your style is white and black. White tunic and... your black suit." I said slowly, looking at her.
Is the joke intended Ishibumi? Be honest.
"Why the black tight suit anyways? Did the priests molest children for real?" I joked around with a serious expression.
"NO!" She blushed a bit.
"The church really approves that?" I asked for real this time.
"It allows good mobility when fighting. There are no other perverse motives!" Xenovia said.
"...Right."
It's an ecchi world after all. Just look at Gabriel and her "attire," or the lack of it...
"We're going to keep the black and white but add golden for obvious reasons... and the crest of my family. Knights used to showcase it on their shields, but now we will improvise." I said.
"I see you live alone." Xenovia stated while I kept drawing the new outfit idea.
"My parents passed away some time ago." The parents of Samuel Lancaster.
"So you are alone now..." she said more quietly.
"Kinda? They had a peaceful death, that's the best I could ask for. And besides, everyone dies one day." I said while I kept drawing as she kept watching me.
I'm grateful I don't have the cliché plot of someone killing my "family" when I came to this world.
Something similar Vali said to Issei...he would kill his parents so Issei becomes some avenger to make things interesting.
Well...if everything goes as I planned for the meeting, Vali is not becoming a traitor edgelord.
Hehe, I have a surprise for the bastard.
"You have family?" I asked her.
"I have someone that I consider family..." she said, looking away with a complex expression.
Griselda, huh.
Or like the fandom calls her, Mommy Quarta.
"I see...well, take a look. What do you think?" I showed her the "conceptual art" of her new outfit.
(Image)
Tight ropes like her suit beneath, goodbye to the long tunic, but in exchange, she got a white suit with black and golden details.
And of course, the most important part...golden details.
I will put the crest behind the suit.
"Wow." she said.
I can draw well enough. One of many things I got from assimilations.
"It will be ready in a couple of hours with some enchantments to fit your measurements and other things to make life easier." I said.
"Oh, I see. I was ready to strip naked so you can take measurements, but I guess that works too." she said, nodding with her deadpan face.
Is she stupid?
Or is she trying to get a reaction out of me?
"Pull out Durandal. I will work with the sword too." I ignored her earlier comment.
"Okay... be careful with the sword." she said and pulled out Durandal.
Time to make it good.
Maybe later I will fuse the Excaliburs with Durandal like in canon if they keep being ass. Maybe.
"Now go. Go explore the house or outside, I already modified the ward so they will recognize you. No more incidents like before." I teased.
Yesterday after training she walked head-on into the barrier. PFFF.
I forgor...yeah, I totally forgot. Nothing like I wanted to have a good laugh or something...yeah, absolutely.
Her eye twitched as she blushed a bit, turning around and leaving.
You are 100 years too early trying to tease me, girl.
.
..
...
It's the meeting day as we prepare to go.
"Everything ready?" I asked her.
"Yes." she nodded.
I gave her the new Durandal yesterday. Now it's a straighter greatsword, no weird stuff, same colors, good base for future alchemical modifications.
I learned a couple of things from that. Worth it.
"Remember well everything I said?" I asked.
"Un." She nodded once again.
Rules of the house and how I wanted my knight to behave in the meeting and in general.
And a quick check of the current situation of the supernatural world.
Khaos Brigade stuff later.
"Let's go." I teleported both of us to the meeting.
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-Third Person Pov-
Samuel was the last one at the meeting.
Fashionably late.
All the people there widened their eyes when they saw the two newcomers.
Samuel was wearing his royal suit with his family crest.
If Serafall took the hint and wore her formal suit, of course Samuel would dress according to the situation too.
Irina's jaw dropped, not at Samuel but at her "former" friend's clothes.
"Xenovia..." she muttered.
Samuel kept walking with confident steps until he arrived at the great round table where the leaders of the three factions were sitting.
Only four chairs were there. Sirzechs, Serafall, Michael, and Azazel were sitting.
But bro was him.
Before anyone said anything,
He pulled a golden big chair from the rings he had in his hands, similar to a throne adorned with details and gems.
Sirzechs blinked...Serafall smiled...Azazel got a big grin...Michael had his usual calm face with a small smile.
The other teens couldn't believe the massive balls of Samuel to pull that stunt.
Rias and Sona's entire peerage was present behind Sirzechs and Serafall.
Like hell he would stand behind the leaders like some good boy.
Samuel, of course, was auramaxxing.
He sat in a pose similar to the jarls in Skyrim, Xenovia standing to his side to "protect" him.
Vali scoffed at the fit. He doesn't like when he is not the protagonist.
"Greetings. Samuel Lancaster, Head of the Lancaster House." he said in a firm but calm voice.
The Abrahamic pantheon was there.
Michael from Heaven.
Azazel from the Grigori.
Sirzechs from Hell.
Samuel unofficially was there representing the humans.
He was the champion of humanity, but nobody knew.
Yet.
Cao Cao in shambles.
Those who already knew each other exchanged polite greetings.
"I'm Michael, leader of the Heaven faction. Nice to meet you, Lancaster. I hear a lot of things about you." the blond angelic man said to Samuel.
"I bet. And nice to meet you too." Lancaster said.
"Indeed, we hear a lot of things about you, kiddo." Azazel said with his usual demeanor.
"We can start this meeting." Samuel waved his hand indifferently.
"We'd like to ask about the Kokabiel incident and the events that occurred there." Michael said, looking in Samuel's direction.
Samuel was calm, closing his eyes. He didn't talk.
Sirzechs got the clue, so he called Rias and Sona to explain.
Rias pretty much gave a recap of what happened. Kokabiel, Kiba, the Balance Breaker, the death of Valper, Samuel's arrival, the rod he used, Kokabiel's wings turning white and...
The golden night after Kokabiel's death.
After the recap, Sona confirmed what happened as a witness.
Silence flooded the room.
"Jeez, kiddo, you are pretty ruthless~" Azazel was the first to speak, saying that with a smile.
"Lancaster, can you tell us what is that rod you used against Kokabiel?" Michael said seriously and went directly to the point.
A power that rivals Michael (and maybe surpasses him) is no joke.
For the first time, Samuel opened his eyes to talk...and lie.
"It's called the Rod of Light." Samuel said to Michael.
Why lie about the name? Simple.
Saying its true name can raise more questions, putting him at a disadvantage.
Who is Arafel after all? He's not an angel nor does he exist in the DxD world.
Samuel came to one possible conclusion.
In Darksiders 2 they misspelled the name of the rod.
It's well known that Raphael was an angel that used a rod and other light-based weapons...
Arafel...Raphael.
It's a possibility, but if Samuel can make the connection...other people can too.
And the rod is from the Abrahamic pantheon in Darksiders too. So it's possible some people can even feel the familiarity.
If that happened they would pressure Michael...or maybe Michael would act out of necessity...and bad things could happen to Heaven if they awakened Samuel's wrath.
Samuel, not giving a chance for that to happen, decided to lie and that's it. There is no longer the possibility of him destroying Heaven, and besides, he does not want that.
"...I see, then—" Michael was cut off.
"The rod can restore the purity of the fallen angels? What are its other capabilities? Why do you have such a weapon? No offense, kid, you are crazy strong but..." Azazel, in his insatiable curiosity, blurted out what everyone was thinking, first time in a long time he did that.
"The rod can purify all impure things. It's a weapon from my noble house." he said, his well-prepared lies.
"Since when?" Azazel asked wide-eyed.
Azazel, the first thing he did after meeting Lancaster, was investigate the Lancaster noble house. Its demise in the Great War. Its last members and of course... Samuel Lancaster himself.
Of course, about Samuel, he didn't find anything other than his Devilnet profile. The other stuff was interesting but useless, they were dead people from an almost dead noble house.
Obviously, he found it absolutely insane that the Lancasters had such a powerful weapon.
"Many generations. You will not find the rod's origins because my family didn't know either. You can say the answer was lost in time." Samuel shut down any other questions.
"It's normal that the old noble houses have their hidden cards. For example, the Pendragon family has their fake Excaliburs. The Lancasters? We have the Rod of Light." Samuel, as usual, was bullshitting his way to the top.
Silence followed.
The leaders of the factions agreed with him, giving a reluctant nod.
But Michael found something strange in that statement.
"Fake Excaliburs?" Michael asked.
Everyone looked at Lancaster, who had a grin.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it's some sort of rumor that said the true Excalibur was lost and your guys have the inferior version around, those Excalibur pieces." Samuel explained lazily, feigning ignorance.
Everyone readjusted their chairs after such bullshit was spouted.
"That's false, Lancaster... thats was the true Excalibur that was broken long ago," Michael said.
And Michael was right.
What is Lancaster playing at now?
It's simple.
He is foreshadowing with lies.
It's a possibility for him to get an Excalibur from the gacha, a Saber package, Emiya, or the golden dude himself, Gilgamesh.
Doing this, he is planting the seeds of doubt.
When he "finds" his own Excalibur, nobody will say anything, right? Mostly.
"Meh, it's a rumor. To be honest, I heard the Excalibur was fused in the Kokabiel incident and broke easily against the holy demonic sword? That shit is the Excalibur from the old tales? Personally, I don't think so."
"The sword of promised victory, my ass. That piece of crap broke so easily like some shitty katana," Samuel kept going, shitting on the Excalibur, and the katanas took one too, why not.
If the katanas have a million haters, then Samuel is one of them.
If the katanas have ten haters, then Samuel is one of them.
If the katanas have only one hater, then it is Samuel.
If the katanas have no haters, then that means Samuel is no longer on earth.
If the world loves katanas, then Samuel is against the world.
Amen.
"I don't think that's the case, Lancaster..." Michael said with a calm smile.
"I think your lack of faith is disturbing." Samuel joked.
Sirzechs spit the water he was drinking.
Lancaster caught him at the wrong time, with his guard down, using the right line.
Who said that to Michael, the leader of Heaven of all people?
"Hahaha." Azazel didn't care and just laughed.
Vali just giggled behind him.
If the edgelord is giggling, you know it's over.
Serafall was gripping his leg so hard, trying not to laugh, barely holding it together.
Point to Sirzechs for not laughing after he spit his drink.
"My apologies." Sirzechs said with a nod, receiving a handkerchief from Grayfia. And a glare from her too.
After a bit, everyone was ready to keep going again.
"You are a funny guy, Lancaster. I have some questions I would like to ask." Azazel said, his behavior changing a little.
"Sure." Of course, Samuel would answer what benefits him, and if not, he would lie.
"I didn't know the House of Lancaster was still in the game, to be honest." the fallen said, probing the young man.
"Ah well, I don't look the other way in that regard, you know?" Samuel jabbed back. "Sure, the House of Lancaster is still crumbling because I'm the last member... but at the same time, it's the strongest of what was in the past. Stronger than the other crumbling noble houses of England. And it will keep getting stronger," Samuel stated.
"And why is that?" Azazel said with curiosity.
Samuel Lancaster was a puzzle box full of surprises. Shame he would never know.
"Because I'm here." Samuel's voice became ethereal saying that line.
"..." Azazel and the others.
Vali snorted at that.
'Cheeky asshole' Vali thought.
"Well, to kill Kokabiel like that...you are strong. What are your specializations?" The always shameless Azazel asked.
The others wanted to know too, but they let the shameless bastard Azazel take it for the team.
Bad luck for them, Samuel Lancaster was a bigger shameless bastard, and with a silver tongue.
"Piano and calligraphy." Samuel threw one of the Ayanokouji specials as a response.
Azazel blinked.
"That's not what I mean." Azazel locked his glare with Samuel, going for that route because nothing was working.
"Tea ceremony too." Samuel glared back.
After a couple of seconds, Azazel let out a sigh.
He knew Samuel Lancaster would be complicated.
Shameless, prideful, and powerful is a complicated combination if you want answers from that person, in Azazel's case.
And now Azazel knew one more thing...he is fearless.
"Let's just say I'm built different." Samuel concluded at that.
"I can see you are teaming up with Xenovia now?" Michael said, taking the conversation away from Azazel.
Irina was looking at Samuel and Xenovia now. Interested in what kind of life her friend had after being excommunicated.
"Not the word I would use. She wanted to follow me, and I accepted her as a knight of the House of Lancaster."
"Can I know why?" Michael asked.
I signaled Xenovia to speak.
"Similar beliefs and situations." Xenovia kept it short. Maybe too short.
Irina had a puzzled expression.
Michael was about to speak but—
"Good thing in difficult times young love is still blooming haha, good for you kid, it's not a good thing to be a ruthless battle junkie, believe me, I know about a certain someone like that." Azazel said to Samuel while pointing back to his adopted son.
Vali just groaned at Azazel.
Samuel just gave him a flat stare.
"It's good to know you have a soft spot for women." Azazel teased, trying to get back at him.
Xenovia's face went red at the bullshit Azazel was spouting.
Little did he know, Samuel at that time was having a soft spot for Durandal!
"Its ironic and funny coming from the one who fell from Heaven because of a woman." Samuel said to Azazel.
If Loki has a silver tongue...then at this point Samuel has a fucking diamond tongue.
Azazel's eye twitched. His shit eating grin disappear from his face.
Serafall exploded laughing. She couldn't hold it anymore.
Now Sirzechs its the one holding the laugh.
"He got you there, old man." Vali said with a smirk.
Samuel, in every way...was built different.
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Author notes 2:
Welcome to Author Notes 2. Mostly I rant here or talk about misc things, today is kinda the same.
Let's start with the topics.
- Part 2
Next chapter is Part 2, a bit more of the meeting, the attack, Vali shenanigans (this one will be huge), and in the end... well... I don't want to ruin the surprise.
I wanted to do one long-ass chapter but nah.
Next topic.
- About skipping parts and explanations everyone knows.
As you can see, sometimes I skip boring or unimportant parts/explanations, because everyone knows at this point and they are fucking boring to do or explain again. I like to have fun while writing, heh.
We are fanfiction goblins readers...hungry for new content... so I will assume 90% of people know about the DxD plot, from the novel, anime, or the other thousands of fanfics on the multiple fanfic pages that exist.
Training against Riser, Forest of Familiars are some examples that come to my mind right now...
Well, in these two cases, Samuel has no place there for obvious reasons, so perhaps they are not good examples, but you understand what I mean.
I'm focusing on new interactions and new events generated by the butterfly effect.
I warn you now that the butterfly effect is not going to be some crazy spiral shit that goes into a horrible situation.
Next topic.
- My funniest anecdote reading fanfiction.
The other day I was talking with some friends in Discord about fanfics we've read along the years. We talked about our funniest experiences reading fics.
Mine was a shitty Chinese Classroom of the Elite fic... yeah.
Hear me out.
I don't remember the name because it was years ago, but it was here in Webnovel.
Classical Chinese fic with the usual Chinese slang (dog, seniors, calling the girls "beauty," etc.)
It was shit. But I'm a DOG always hungry for new content, so I decided to read the poison anyway.
It was a protagonist OC.
He was talking to Albert (Albert is a Black dude character from COTE.)
Of course, if you read COTE you know Albert talks almost nothing. So the MC, not receiving a response, said — and I remember it to this day:
"Come on, say something, don't be so dark."
I lost my shit.
I laughed so hard and for so long that my family came to my room to see what was happening.
My god...the shitty translation worked wonders in that one.
You can tell me if you want what was your funniest experience reading fanfiction. Here or in the general comments.
Next chapter will be somewhat fat, see you in the next one guys.