Spear Devil - 012

[A/N: Just had this rush of inspriation for htis story and had to write a few chapters to not let it get away. 

And no, I did not completely switch stories. I have another chatper for The Wanderer half-ready though and will be releasing it tomorrow or the day after.]

Chapter 012 – Modifications

[April – 2008]

Michael was distraught, deeply so. Standing before the truly enormous apparatus that was the Sacred Gear System in the Seventh Heaven, a frown sat on his normally calm face.

As the one in control of God's System and supervisor of the Sacred Gear System, he could glean upon some of the mysteries behind these two Systems, even though most of the Sacred Gear System was simply unfathomable even for a being of his power and intellect.

He knew that his Creator, the God of the Bible, was naturally a figure with wisdom and knowledge far beyond everyone else. God had been a scholar without peers, even if his power may not have been as great as Michael sometimes wished it had been.

This meant that even Michael who had managed to gain control over the Systems created by God, did not fully understand them nor was he able to draw on their power like 'he' had been able to.

Still, even with his limited control and insight into those Systems, Michael had been able to sense it when one of the most powerful Sacred Gears in existence had been destroyed, even though he did not understand how such a thing was possible.

The Sacred Gears were protected by the System left behind by God, and even when their wielders changed into devils this did not change.

Even Azazel's endless experiments on the Sacred Gears he had gathered, had not led to the outright destruction of one. Some had been damaged, though the System left behind by God had simply recalled the Sacred Gears after their wielder's deaths and repaired them, before granting them to other humans.

The fact that the Boosted Gear had just been ripped completely from the System could only mean that it had been destroyed beyond repair, which horrified Michael like nothing else had been able to for the past few thousand years, as this was proof that God's System had failed, utterly at that.

And yet, Michael was helpless about what to do with this knowledge. He couldn't just go and find the one responsible, as his control over the Sacred Gear System was too limited and didn't even allow him to locate the wielders of the gears.

The Boosted Gear was lost to Heaven forever. And that, after he had just allowed the wielder of Twilight Healing to be expelled from the Church to maintain the faith and image of Christianity.

Not to mention the rumors he had heard about the Pendragon heir refusing to join the fighting force of the Church like his predecessors had done, Arthur seemingly setting out on his own after taking the heirloom blade Caliburn with him.

Michael really didn't really know if it was just bad luck or something else, but things didn't look too promising for the Faction he ruled. The Heaven's Faction was undoubtedly the weakest amongst the three Biblical Factions after the wars of the past, as their numbers couldn't be replenished with God's death.

As such, every loss, no matter how minor it seemed, was a loss that was hard for Heaven to recover from, not to mention that the tensions between the three factions didn't just disappear because the war was over.

Every weakness of Heaven's Faction was a possible opportunity for the Devils and the Fallen to exploit, which they didn't hesitate to do most of the time. This wasn't a period of peace, it was just a cold war which was the prelude for the next war, as painful as it was to admit that.

Peace amongst the Biblical Factions seemed simply impossible, even though Michael truly hoped he was wrong in this assessment.

…

Waiting for Liam to finish his sketch, gave me a bit of time to take a closer look at the Support System, which made me realize that I could make some adjustments to my Status page mentally.

It seemed that while the System didn't have sentience, it did have some rudimentary intelligence that made it possible to make some minor modifications.

I didn't hesitate to revamp it to make it look less cluttered, the skill tab having already a fair amount of content.

While doing so I also took a closer look at the Sound Concealment skill, as it was the only skill with an upper level of five instead of ten. Though it made sense, as hiding sound was more of a parlor trick than a true skill, it could be considered a minor ability at best when compared to my other powers.

Satisfied with the results, I gave it a once over.

[Status:

Name: Akira Sasaki

Race: Human/Dragon

(Racial Traits/Skills: Dragon's Wisdom – Perfect Memory & Soul Fortress, Longevity – Ageless, Dragon Fear, Shapeshifting – Dragon Form)

Physique: 5.3

Dragon Aura: 16.3

Free Attribute Points: 8.0

Other Rewards: One-Time-Use Path-Changing Ticket(Rare)

Strengthening Path: Weapon Absorption

Spearmanship: Master

Affinity(Attribute): Fire[9/10]

Resistances: Fire[9/10], Dragon-Slaying[1/10]

Weaknesses: Dragon-Slaying[9/10]

Skills: Sound Concealment[2/5], Telepathic Communication[2/10], Transference[5/10], Aura Concealment, Power Multiplication, Penetration]

I had taken the skills that could be considered racial skills and traits and pulled them from the skill tab, which made things a lot neater. Power Multiplication, Penetration, Transference, and Telepathic Communication weren't really racial skills, though they could be considered personal skills of Ddraig, so I left them in the skill section.

"Ok, I am finished. Come, take a look.", Liam suddenly called out, causing me to focus back on the present and dismissing the Status page in my mind.

Moving to the counter, I saw the sketch of a mean-looking black dragon. Sharp claws, intricate scales, deep detailed eyes, and some red shadows on its body, which made it seem as if a volcano was contained in its chest, pulsing with heat and fire.

Simply put, it was perfect. Liam truly was a great artist, as the dragon looked life-like and intimidating, raw.

"I can use some special ink for the red highlights, so every time you use some magic they will kind of light up. Gives it a mean finish, can't really do that with normal ink. Or humans.", he added with an excited glint in his eyes, seemingly full of anticipation for it like I was.

“It's perfect. Where goes which part though?”, I asked, not quite seeing on which surface Liam planned to tattoo it, as it seemed bigger than I had space for on my arm.

"Well, I made some sketches for just your arm, but it wouldn't look right. There is too little space on an arm to make a realistic tattoo of this size. And if I make it smaller it would just look out of place."; Liam explained with a wry smile.

"So I just drew up this one without limiting myself to the space on your arm. And as it is now, this would go on the side of your ribcage. The dragonhead would come to rest above your head, while its body and limbs would sit on the side and on your shoulder as if the dragon twists around your arm."

"The wings and limbs would extend down over the whole left side of your ribcage, front and back, while the tail curves itself around your shoulder and kinda wraps itself around your arm, the sharp end sitting on the back of your hand."

"I know, it's not what you wanted, but this is the best I can do. If you want a bad tattoo from some artist that doesn't give a fuck about how bad his work looks once done, then you shouldn't have come here.", he added with an uncaring shrug, though I understood what he meant.

Liam was an artist and if I wanted him to do his best with a tattoo that I would most likely carry for the rest of my life, then I had to give him the freedom to do what he did best.

And while this didn't seem to be the best strategy for Liam to gain more customers, I understood that this was part of his professionalism and pride as an artist. He simply refused to produce second-rate tattoos that would cause regret in his customers and himself, which was something I could respect.

"While I like it, something like this seems much more expensive than a full-sleeve tattoo.", I stated, expressing my willingness and concerns.

I only had around two million yen to spend on this, which didn't seem enough considering that his prices were triple for tattoos that used magical ink. From what I knew about tattoos of this size, which admittedly wasn't much, they could cost several thousand dollars, or in this case several hundred thousand yen.

Tripling that would mean that my money might not be enough, even though I had no problem with Liam's proposal.

“Well, considering it's not what you originally came for, and the fact that you didn't try and argue with me about something I am clearly better equipped to make a decision about, I want 1.3 million yen. And that just barely covers the cost of the ink.", Liam stated seriously.

One point three million yen would be around 8500 dollars, which seemed a lot but really wasn't for something like this.

“Alright, the price is fine by me. But can you do it in one sitting?”, I agreed.

Smirking, Liam replied: "You know the reason most tattoos of this size are split into multiple sessions is that most humans simply can't take the pain, while most human artists can't focus for that long?"

"You are no human and neither am I.", he added with what I can only describe as a Cheshire grin, "Give me twelve hours, and it will be done."

Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw that it was only five pm which meant that I could get this done before I had to go to school tomorrow if Liam kept to his schedule.

“Then let's get started.”, I announced with a draconic smile of my own.