Sitting on the dock with her feet barely grazing the water, she smiled, tilting her head up and to the side at the sound of familiar footsteps. "Finally free of your duties for today?" Before responding, he sat next to her, his tussled black hair was the same as always, just like his kind grin and the scythe he casually tossed to the side.
"You know I'd love to appear immediately when you come, but duty calls." He winked, his grin turning a bit mischievous. "Unless, of course, you want to free me of my burden?" The look of absolute disgust she gave him had him cackling. "Thought not, so how ya been?"
She sighed, leaning against his shoulder as she did so. "Boring as always. Everyone misses you still, of course. At least they say they do when we talk. We haven't done much of that recently, what with them starting their mortal and immortal lives." It wasn't bitterness that intruded into her voice, so much as the cold acceptance of her reality. While they had that choice, she didn't.
Her life had been practically chosen for her since birth, especially after she slaughtered them, even the human population that had been kept unaware about the supernatural world for thousands of years now knew about her and what she had done.
His hand wrapped around her waist, his touch as gentle as always. "Illusion magic still not working then?"
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I'm too strong. Our world wasn't meant to have magic in the first place, and so most places can't handle my presence for too long. Even when I manage to perfectly control my magic and illusions, I stand out. It's gotten to the point where I'd rather just paint and tend to my garden."
"You sound so old for someone not even twenty-one. Did I get so busy that I missed a few years? Perhaps I'm actually looking at a century-old lady now?" His voice was gentle, layered with a joking tone but also a chide. His eyes twinkled with the unspoken 'never give up'.
Her eyes opened just so she could roll them at him. "I'll have you know my birth certificate says I'm twenty-five." She tactfully ignored the unspoken message, instead leaning into the joke. "Being stuck in a singular battle in the middle of a timeloop just happened to really help with my skin remaining so young."
An amused huff escaped his lips. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with you being unaging since eighteen." An honest and open look appeared on his face, his mischievous grin turning into something gentle. "You could stay here with me, you know? You're strong enough that being in Limbo won't affect your soul, and it's not like anything exists that could kill your real body."
Something gentle and tender appeared on her face as well. "I'd love to see you every day once more, but just because I wouldn't be affected doesn't mean the souls in Limbo wouldn't be."
He sighed, nodding his head in acceptance. "So, you're being alien forever?"
"I have my family still." He shot her a look, eyebrows raised. She bit her lip. Damn him, he knows me too well. Or he's been looking at Earth again. "Okay, so maybe my aunts and uncles are starting to struggle to be near me, too. But my brother isn't!"
"How long?" His response was so simple, and could have meant many things. But she understood, and it had her heart shuddering in agony. Every year, she grew stronger, and it didn't matter what she did. It didn't matter if she didn't feast on blood, didn't sleep, didn't practice magic. She continued to grow stronger every year. How long until my brother can't stand being near me anymore? While she was basically a baby and he a mere child in age compared to most of their family, they were the strongest.
But for every drop of magic he gained with age? She gained hundreds, if not thousands. She was an aberration, the cause of coincidentally perfect breeding via drunk hate-fucking. "Two, maybe three years."
His arm around her tightened, and for a brief moment, she felt his power swell inside of him, something distinct from her or even them, even though one of them had forced his position—his duty upon him. Then again, he had always been different. How else could just a regular old human have caught her eye? He released a breath. "You know, if we were still dating dating instead of sexual and romantic immortal life-partners, I'd probably be yelling at you for keeping this from me."
Laughter bubbled out of her, something only he could do nowadays—honestly, even back then, he was one of the rare few who could get her out of her own world—and a moment later, he broke down into snickers. "That was so bad. Sexual and romantic immortal life-partners? Fuck, that sounds so cheesy. I can't tell if that's a porn line, a horrible rom-com, or something even worse."
His lips tugged up. "Seemed pretty suave to me."
"And that's why I'm the only one you've ever dated."
He wriggled his eyebrows. "I don't know, a lot of old ladies seemed to dig me nowadays."
With a voice drier than the sahara she quipped back at him. "Oh? Excuse me then, don't let me get in your way. I think I see a 97-year-old grannie coming, Mr. Ferryman. Go get that sandpaper, babe. I bet it'll feel reaaaaaaal good. That one quite literally died of old age."
There was a moment where he cringed at the idea and her wording, before his eyes crinkled in amusement. "Technically speaking, old age isn't a cause of death. But Anne-Marie there happened to die of pneumonia at the ripe old age of 98." With those last words, his voice pitched, seeming smug and punchable at the fact that she was just off on the age.
She giggled instead of getting mad, and he squeezed her again before unwrapping his arm from her and standing up. "I should probably ferry her across real quick. She's earned her rest." He rooted around in his jeans' pockets, pulling out a phone. How the hell does that thing even work here? "This little thing I made is just a prototype, which will hopefully bring some excitement around here. Mind testing it while I'm gone?" She didn't have to answer for him to know her answer, and so he tossed it down to her, which she easily caught. Did he build cell towers here? How does this thing even work?
Amused and baffled, she clicked on the phone and swiped it open as he picked up his scythe and stepped onto the small rowboat next to the dock. Blue eyes blinked in utter confusion as a web browser was already pulled up. She stared at what was on it. Is he asking me to… do a CYOA? More specifically, a CYOA for an ecchi anime. Even for their unique relationship, that was strange.
Tapping the home button in sheer confusion and then pulling up the apps, she found that the browser was the only app installed. She blinked once, then twice. Hearing the water splashing, she looked up at the lake, seeing him already rowing the old woman across, and piercing through his illusion-spell he always used so that he didn't just look like a regular old teenager during his duties, she saw him grinning at her, his eyes twinkling in amusement. I'll be damned. He actually did mean for me to try out the CYOA.
"Well. This is certainly an interesting twist to our relationship." Still, she agreed to do it and filling out an adventure based on a universe that ran on half a brain cell and porn logic wasn't too bad. She was physically stuck as a teenager after all, and only semi-regularly had sex with her quite dead ex-boyfriend, who was only one of two beings who could be near her for long, and he was very busy ferrying every and helping every person that died on earth repent. So… it's not like she was unused to seeing weird porn shit. Needless to say, she got horny and frustrated A LOT.
Even if doing anything remotely relating to weird ecchi-slash-porn shit for him was completely new. Then again, maybe if we weren't the most powerful supernatural beings and actually had to long distance it wouldn't be. As it is, we can just act out and create whatever 'adventure' we want. It was with that realization that she began to fill out the CYOA. After selecting normal difficulty for points, she almost immediately rolled her eyes. I don't get any games that let you character-insert with the intention of it being 'you' taking over their life. Purposefully doing that is evil on a whole different level.
Needless to say, she didn't choose reincarnation either and selected Drop-In. Honestly, choosing the reincarnation option here might even be worse. Create a person and then just delete them? No, thank you.
The decision to be a hybrid of a vampire and something wasn't even really a decision. She grew up around vampires. Her family were vampires, and she was part vampire. 'This' adventure version of her would naturally want to still be part vampire. Or a Dhampir, as it was called in DxD. Obviously, that other part wasn't going to be a Devil because that would just be a waste of points. The Evil Pieces existed for a reason.
Originally selecting Werewolf for the other half, she quickly changed to something else. Nekoshou. While it was a toss-up between that and Nine-Tailed Kitsune, the mere idea of a Vampire Neko was too amusing not to do. Also, for some reason, they cost more than the Devil race, who literally had the most broken magic in the entire franchise. So the suboptimal choice made it even more hilarious. Besides, Devils only get two wings, whereas Nekoshou can grow more tails!
Done with the race section, she quickly flew by the body section. Female, obviously. Voluptuous build because she actually liked how her body looked, medium height–which would be an upgrade, fair skin, blue eyes, and red hair. So basically just herself, except inevitably ecchified. I already boobily breast. Poor imagination me, you would suffer so much. As for age, being a teen was the only option. It was DxD after all.
Done with that, she opened up the perks tab only to immediately roll her eyes again. Because, of course, having a 'peak body' would somehow cost equal perk points to being beautiful. Naturally, she didn't select peak body because she wasn't a whus but did in fact select beautiful.
She didn't need some stupid reality-bending perk to give her power. That same mentality cut her off from a lot of the perks, but whatever. She didn't need a mind-controlled teacher, 'friend', reality-bending charisma, or anything of that sort. The ability to always be clean, to not be spied on, not needing to eat, her soul remain untouched, and to never grow tired of life? Well, that was completely different.
Looking over Strong Force of Will had goosebumps breaking out across her skin. The mere idea of choosing something that increased her 'will' made her want to puke. How could anyone doing a CYOA while immersing themselves in the world and the idea of actually living it out, willingly sign up for their mind being controlled to enhance something as nebulous as will? It just made no sense to her.
The only thing even relating to power she picked up was Mimic The Pillars, if only because the mere idea of a Neko Vampire chucking out the power of destruction was hilarious.
Moving on to the drawbacks section, that quickly passed by as well. There were so many different weapon types, most of which she could use, that removing her ability to use five types of them for six months was just free points. Then again, he probably didn't have this in mind for me, I'm just the test runner. Most people don't even know how to throw a punch, let alone how to John Wick pencil a dude. Taking Can't Reveal, Faded Memories, Obsession, Eventful Start, Horrible Start, and I Promise was a no-brainer.
She personally hated when the 'I'm a reincarnation and your world is fake' storyline was used. Then there was the fact that she was already obsessed with all forms of fried pastry, took all promises seriously, and the mere thought of something on the level of an average fallen angel, youkai, stray devil, exorcist, or anything else was hilarious.
Even if she were in basically a blank slate new body. Just with the natural powers of darkness and mist that vampires had alone, she could think of hundreds of ways to fight. Honestly, I'm kind of a sucky first test.
Moving on to the powers part, she tapped on the 72 Pillars section first, only to blink in a bit of shock mixed with amusement. Lots of fanon and made-up abilities here. Guess he wanted to hit all 72, though. While the original plan was to grab Power of Destruction, how could any respectable person choose not to grab Lucifer's clan trait that even his Super Devil son didn't have?
Especially as a Nekohmpir. Nah, just Neko Vampire that was lame. That madman would be frothing at the mouth at the mere idea of it, which was again—hilarious. Huh, I thought I got over my problems with authority.
Or maybe she just thought she did because she became the authority. Shrugging it off, she elected not to choose anything from 'other powers', otherwise known as out-of-context stuff. Looking over the talent boosting section, she disappointingly found it filled with only overpowered and undercosted upgrades. Or the option to sparkle in the sun, which… yeah, no. So she simply chose Natural-Born Genius for balance testing's sake.
She already was a Natural-Born Genius, but it felt a bit unfair for this if she took nothing, and yet basically already had the feature that cost 12 perk points. Going to the regular powers tab, she once more ignored powers that wouldn't make sense to have, and also those that she naturally got from being a Vampire or Nekoshou. Instead, she chose Summoning Magic, Teleportation Magic, and Elemental Magic.
Then again, she only chose Elemental Magic because she knew that already, and so it once more only felt fair if she selected it to waste her points. In location, she quickly chose Kuoh and Slash/Dog time start since it was only a few years before DxD canon start. It lets 'me' start a bit younger with time to get used to the new body and world. Also, to relax. That 'me' will be pretty lucky. I can't imagine being able to roam around a city again, be near people, talk to them, and once more have inspiration for my art.
She was kind of jealous, actually. Pausing, she took a few moments to get her emotions and thus her magic under control, mournfully looking around at the destruction her brief bout of jealousy and depression caused. Whoops. Sorry trees. I'll fix you before I leave! Promise to the trees made, she started back in clicking on Continuity Modifiers. Looking them over, she snickered at reversed gender roles, but didn't select it. Instead, she chose Just Better, because duh. Who wouldn't want the world to be a better place? Especially for humans, who were basically the cannon fodder, sacrificial lambs, and faith-farming slave race of the DxD world.
After that, she chose Political DxD just for the sake of the world actually making a modicum of sense, and Message Boards. Because who didn't love Message Boards? Dead Gods that I killed, please bless Worm and Worm fics for popularizing it. Snickering once more to herself, she carefully read over the 'Stronger World' change before finally deciding not to pick it.
Mainly because it was pointless besides making the world worse for humanity and farming for points. On top of the fact that any anime or manga couldn't actually properly show the power of the world because it was focused one overpowered, nonsensical, and totally unrealistic main character. Kind of sounds like me, but with less harem and a lot more sadness and death. There was also the fact that there was a shit ton of people in DxD who had a lot of power and couldn't control it. Giving Sirzechs of all people 20%, let alone 200% more raw magic, could literally cause the end of the world.
Trust me, adventure me who wants more points. Baaad idea. I doubt the current me would even count as Satan class, or if I did, the very bottom of it. And I'm terrified of the mere prospect of getting 200% more power out of nowhere. HIM? Hell no. Shit, if I boosted the world's power, there might accidentally be 144 Pillar Clans instead of 72! Skipping over Sacred Gears, she quickly went through the items section. Money? Yoink. Rare Candies? Yoink. Flask of Infinite 'mundane' beverages I.E Blood? Yoink. Infinite battery life phone? Obviously. An apartment in my own personal dimension? That's the fucking dream. There were, of course, a lot of actually powerful items here. She acknowledged that she did. Really.
She just didn't want any of them. Especially the weapons that were actually from DxD. Taking them would just be a dick move. If 'she' wanted them, then 'she' could grab them herself, instead of just warping reality to have it from the start. Scrolling through the items list once more time she picked up an infinite wardrobe of high-class clothes/accessories and a simple, regular weapon.
Taking a moment to think over the CYOA so far while she was scrolling through the next section, which was all about other world additions, of which she knew she'd select none of them, she lightly bit her lip. He really is going to need to work on the point balancing for this. Or maybe I'm just playing far too weird. Honestly, it was probably that one.
Skipping over companions completely—because eww mind control again, she looked over the missions tab before settling on Wedding Crash and Ascension to the Throne of Heaven. Not because she wanted to be God or the 'only one possible reward for saving the princess' I.E marriage and eternal love, even if Rias was hot and she swung every-which possible way. No, that wasn't why she chose them.
It's just that those two were the only sane missions she had available to her that would actually do good, or at least decent for the world if she strived toward them. Choosing Pet of Revelation would almost guarantee the destruction of the world, and the other three missions were grayed out.
There was also the fact that the 'if you fail' part of Ascension to the Throne of Heaven could be interpreted as the system being destroyed within twenty years AFTER failing. So, she felt fine picking that one.
Even if this was just make-believe, she at least wanted to take it somewhat seriously for the person she cared about most in the world… even if it was still kinda weird he chose his first 'attempt' at electronic entertainment in purgatory to be a CYOA for an ecchi manga.
Finally, she opened up the skill section only to snort. Yeah, definently not made for me. Martial Arts was clearly meant to be the point sink. Sadly, she didn't need it. Now, if it were worded to be a master of martial arts in the DxD world, maybe that would be a different story. But regular old earth human martial arts? Yeah, no. She had been better than that at seventeen, let alone whatever her highly debatable age was now.
It didn't help that a lot of the other skills she already had. Such as Nature Survivalist, Visual Arts, Cooking, Polyglot, Tactics, and partially Bill Nye and Math Joe. The rest she didn't really even want to take. Sure, having a software degree could probably help for something, but having mostly useless knowledge on the level of a degree could also just be harmful and distracting.
If 'she' needed to learn it, then 'she' would. Instead, she took Governing, Psychology Degree, and Ambidextrous. She had little experience in governing, and that was something that took a LOT of experience. DxD having more psychologists was just factually needed and a good thing, and she didn't want to risk losing her ambidexterity.
With the last section done, she converted all of her remaining 'IP' over to 'PP' to get rid of her deficit, and found herself exactly at 0 for both. Damn, am I good at math. Didn't even have to rebuild or add drawbacks. The sound of moving water reached her ears once more, and she looked up. Wondered where he was. That one took a while. Standing up, she dusted off her pants and held out the phone to give it back to him as he docked the rowboat.
"Aside from making me do an ecchi CYOA with surprisingly no nudity in it, it was decent. It does have some major point balancing issues, but it's not hard to make the build you want even on normal difficulty."
He smirked as he stepped out of the boat, his black hair even more curlier and tussled than usual from the lake wind. "It's the Devil point cost that tripped you up, isn't it?" She raised her eyebrow in an obvious 'duh,' and a snicker left his lips. "It's because anyone doing it would obviously know a million easy ways to become a devil if they wanted to. So the low point cost is to encourage picking it, instead of going hybrid of two decently strong races and then just becoming a devil for free."
That made enough sense. At least for her. He looked at the phone, scrolling through her build, a look of complete bafflement appeared on his face. "You didn't choose the obviously broken Peak Body or Instant Death Proof? Or any of the broken Pillars Powers, but instead the 'magical light that hurts angels and gods' power that'll cause an uproar in the underworld and have the cruelest and most insane super devil interested in you?"
She shrugged. "I don't like things that don't make sense, affect people, or change my mind. Doesn't feel right. It's why I chose no companions either. I only even picked up that genius perk and Elemental Magic just for balance purposes because I already have experience with all forms of elemental magic, and as for genius, I'm obviously me. I was originally going to choose Power of Destruction, but I saw Lucifer and couldn't stop giggling at the thought of Rizevim being jealous some vampire halfbreed had his daddy's prized power, and he didn't."
A strange look appeared on his face, something almost akin to dread. But that made no sense, because it was just testing out his little product for purgatory. Maybe he's just realizing how many changes he'll have to make for 'weird' players like me?
"You didn't even pick the de-ecchi the world option? You complained so much about how cruel and bordering on sexual-harassment the school uniforms were, and how the 'perverts' kept getting away with everything." There was definitely confusion in his voice, but there was still that strange emotion she couldn't quite identify or make sense of. But she could at least fix his confusion!
"It's a CYOA based on an ecchi world, love. Sure, it's disgusting, and I'd probably rip the dick off anyone who did it in real life. Because eww, mandatory uniforms on teenage girls should NOT have skirts that short. And there definitely shouldn't be peepholes in high schools. But it's just fantasy, and that fantasy is hot."
His eyebrows twitched, and there was a quiver in his voice. "I… didn't expect this for your build. Are you sure this is what you want to go with?" Okay, there's definitely something strange going on with him. Did that old lady say something? Sometimes he does get a bit weird when he's been working too hard and has had too many people bare their souls to him…
"I'm sure." He paled, the blood draining from his face. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what's going on? You're acting a bit weird, and you look really pale out of nowhere. When's the last time you took a break? I haven't seen you like this since you first started, and you put too much pressure on yourself."
He swallowed heavily while still staring at the phone. "You know how we talked about how you're having to separate from the world more and more? How in a few years, even your brother is going to be the same?" He inhaled heavily, "Or how you're growing more withdrawn, and getting depressed again like you were when we met again back at school?"
Why does th— Her thoughts paused. She looked from him, down to the phone. A few seconds that felt like eternity passed as she blankly stared at the phone, at the CYOA. Her gaze gilded back up to his face, the person she cherished and loved most in the world. Her fellow immortal, fellow aberration. Her lover, best friends, and, once upon a time, possible husband and possible father to her children. He was also the only ferryman of the afterlife, where he shepherded all souls, and had created this CYOA and had given it to her to test.
She sighed, her hand on his shoulder sliding up to caress his cheek. "I love you more than the stars in the sky. But even for you, this was pretty stupid, my little bird."
He chuckled, tears building in his eyes. "I thought when I said I needed you to test it that you'd try to break it, make as strong a build as possible."
A smile formed on her lips, her own eyes beginning to water. "That's just not who I am. Millions of people could have tested that, but who would have chosen to be a good person? To have a little bit of fun?"
He laughed, the tears in his throat obvious from the strain of it. "I guess that's why I was attracted to you, why I've always loved you. I should have known better. Shit, you're gonna hate the hentai physics."
"I already breastily boob without a bra anyway or in the wrong shirts, what's doing always as well?" Laughter bubbled up out of her lips at the end, yet it couldn't hide her turbulent emotions. Her regret, sorrow, and hint of disgust at the fact that she didn't choose that one simple option that could have saved her from the Breast Dragon Emperor's existence. "To think that our eternity together would be so short…"
She trailed off, the reality of the situation hitting her. I'll probably never see him again, huh? Tears rolled down his face, and she felt her own finally fall at the sight of his. "I was stupid and desperate. I didn't want to see you like that again, let alone for eternity. I'm so sorry."
Her other hand came up, cupping his other cheek. "Don't be. We love eachother and hate eachother because we're so similar. We choose to do what is best for others, even when it's dumb or seems insane to everyone else. I didn't hate you when you chose to stay the ferryman, chose to stay away from me. I won't hate you now, I can't." She pulled him in for a kiss, and he reciprocated, lips locking for the last time.
A few seconds later, he pulled back. "You took teleportation magic, so if one day you do get strong enough, make sure to visit."
Pushing back her emotions for later, she smirked, licking her lips while she did so. "Of course. I'll just have to be as strong as the people who bitch slapped Great Red."
"Not that strong luckily…" He trailed off, "I'm going to be honest when I say I didn't make that but—"
She cut him off. "Obviously, you don't have the power to do whatever is about to happen to me."
He nodded and continued, " —when I made this deal, and we talked details, I completely forgot about ExE existing. It's just so bad I think I blacked it out." There was regret, horror, and a tinge of fear in his voice. "The fact that you're going to a world with something like Great Red and Ophis was one thing with you knowing the plot, but those things…" He trailed off, his hands and voice trembling.
She pecked a gentle kiss on his cheek. "It's okay. We both know the life I was going to have to live here is no life. Even if I do end up dying, I'll have died trying to actually exist. It doesn't matter if those abominations exist, or if I'm about to live in most sane women's worst nightmare. At least I'll be able to actually live for a few years while doing my best."
A shaky breath left him before he smiled. "Then I hope it's a glorious life and that we'll see each other again one day."
"It will be, and we will, my love. I've got to tell you all about the hentai sex I'll get to have!" She looked down at the phone for a brief second. Smiling widely like an idiot, her heavy emotions eased as he laughed when he caught her look, and realization struck him. I'll miss seeing you, but at least I won't have to miss hearing your voice. Her senses blared, and she looked up. "Oh fuck off."
The last thing she heard, besides the blaring of a sixteen-wheeler truck's horn, was what was a mix of a wheeze, a laugh, and a cry of horror from her partner. Whatever being he made a deal with. Thank you for letting us have that conversation, but if I find out you screwed him over, I will do my best to erase you from existence. No matter how slim and pathetic that chance is.
Her vision faded to black as her body was atomized.