Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV.
Finally, I had sealed Ottar and Horn. I had put them to sleep with their permission, and then used a time bubble to set the seal quickly. I was impressed that Horn was a T6, but that was good. With both of them, the amount of available credits had risen to 729. That gave us plenty of room to maneuver.
Ottar (T6) from Danmachi
Helun/Horn (Syr Flova)(S6) from Danmachi
"Very well, welcome to the family." I said to them both with a smile, and they nodded.
"Thank you for your blessing, Lady Prince," Ottar said politely. I shook my head.
"I already told you, it's Serena," I said dully. "So, first," I said while continuing to scroll through my phone quickly.
Added Potential x1 [Helun/Horn (Syr Flova) has Pack's telepathic connection (Twilight)] -5
Paper Trail x1 [ Helun /Horn (Syr Flova )] -1 [723]
With this, the number of times I had bought the Pack's telepathic connection had finally reached 10, not including me. That meant that now, my entire entourage received that trait automatically and for free.
And… maybe it wasn't such a good idea. I quickly took control of the connection and managed it. There were beings in my entourage that weren't entirely human or conscious, so the connection was a bit of a headache.
There were no problems with Dobby, other than sending him a message to calm him down. Aria and Ciara were fine too, though I only set up the connection for myself. I left Narcissa's Scissor Blades to her.
The problems were the homunculi created from 2B, A2, Devola, and Popola. Although they were able to understand things slightly and follow orders, their… thoughts weren't really something we should listen to. After all, their cores were composed of philosopher's stones filled with screaming souls.
For now, block their connections to us. I finally welcomed Ottar and Horn into the mental link and gave them all the information they needed to manage it. They seemed surprised before they adjusted.
Now, Paper Trail was the same. With the tenth purchase, not counting myself, the benefit was now free for all of us. Which… didn't really change much. Each purchase was worth 1 credit, so… something is better than nothing, I guess.
"Now let's see... since you won't be joining my Peerage, you won't have access to demonic magic, which... isn't really a problem. Horn won't be entering the fight, and Ottar doesn't use magic as a form of attack, so it doesn't matter."
"The only thing I'll ask you to try and learn is the ability to use teleportation magic, so you can use it yourselves to move around easily with Freya whenever you need to. It'll be good." I explained the idea. They both stopped and nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem for either of you."
"Horn should have more than enough magic; after all, it's her strongest stat. Ottar, on the other hand, has seven levels stacked, and even if magic is his weakest stat, it's more than enough to teleport. Talents should do the rest. I'll show them to you once we're finished here," I said easily.
"I'll teach them," Freya said with an amused smile. I turned to look at her curiously. She just smiled proudly, raised her hand, and a circle appeared in her palm. My eyes widened slightly as I saw the teleportation circle with Freya's symbol in the center. Freya made a fist, proudly interrupting the magic.
"I'm impressed, Freya." I said honestly, and Freya strutted happily.
"And that's not my only trick," Freya said flirtatiously, winking at me. I chuckled.
"I hope to see more surprises. I know you're capable of a lot." I told Freya, and she smiled brightly. I finally nodded.
"So with that settled, finally, the templates." I told them both seriously. They stared at me.
"You know better, Lady Prince; you're more... familiar with these templates," Horn said demurely.
"I know, that's why I just want ideas. What are you looking for? " I asked them both.
"To serve Freya-sama." "To defend Freya-sama." They both said at the same time. I snorted in amusement.
"I know, something more specific?" I said playfully. Horn and Ottar stopped.
"Anything that will help me serve her better," Horn said easily. "She doesn't need anything flashy, anything strong, anything impressive, just skills that will help me serve Freya-sama better," Horn said matter-of-factly. Freya just smiled gently.
"You know you can ask for anything you want, right?" Freya asked with a smile.
"Serving you IS what I want." Horn said without hesitation. Freya just sighed and looked at me expectantly. I chuckled.
"Let's see..." I murmured as I began to think. She didn't need maid skills or anything like that; she had already served Freya for years. She knew everything she needed to know about serving her, so adding a limited staff of maids or butlers wasn't really necessary. That left some power to help her perform those tasks. "What do you think about the clones?" I asked Horn. She blinked.
"Clones?" Horn asked, frowning. I shrugged.
"I'm sure Freya had several people helping her; now you're alone, but if you could multiply yourself, you could solve most of the problems on your own," I told Horn easily, her eyes shining brightly.
"Perfect," Horn said, satisfied. I nodded, thinking.
"Alright, that leaves a... lot of possibilities, really." I hummed before thinking of someone. There are various types of clones, like... many. Quickly rule out any that are scientific cloning or real clones—clones that are alive and act of their own volition, that have their own identity like the Sister Misaka from To Aru.
Ideally, they would be magical clones or clones with some kind of ability, and they would be temporary. And the first thing that came to mind would be Naruto's clones. It was one of Naruto's most iconic moves.
But I quickly dismissed that idea. While Naruto clones would be the easiest choice, the rest of the template would be a waste for Horn. And I don't think she wants the Nine-Tails sealed inside her.
I kept thinking quickly until I finally found someone who would work.
"Sakuya," I finally said. "The ultimate maid," I added playfully. Horn looked at me with interest. Then I mentally relayed all the information to her.
Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou Project. While her power was time manipulation on a ridiculous level, she could use it for many things. And Sakuya was terrifying to the point that I was definitely afraid of her.
Sakuya's time manipulation was on a completely different level than most normal time controllers. The Touhou Project was full of monsters of a ridiculous level.
There were dimensions and people who were timeless, who lived outside of space and time unaffected by either. And yet, Sakuya was able to manipulate both in those places; she was able to freeze time in timeless dimensions and was able to do the same to people outside of time who had resistance to those abilities.
Her control over time was paramount; it was a concept in itself that influenced all others.
She can stop, speed up, slow down, erase, reverse, and compress time, and that's enough to have a whole arsenal of tricks. And she uses them all to be a maid, which would be perfect for Horn.
She would have all the time she wanted to serve Freya, and she could even create clones with her ability. She can compress, fold, and overlap time so that multiple versions of herself could exist simultaneously. Not scary at all.
"It's perfect," Horn said, her eyes sparkling. I chuckled and bought the template right away.
"Okay, that's settled, Ottar." I said, looking at Ottar.
"Anything that helps eliminate Freya-sama's enemies is fine," Ottar said without hesitation, and I chuckled.
"Kratos," I said simply. "It's the best template I could think of for you," I told him honestly, and I gave him all the information about Kratos. Ottar stopped and looked at me intently, his eyes shining brightly, and he nodded. I chuckled as I bought the template.
Template Stacking I x2 [ Helun /Horn (Syr Flova ) has Izayoi Sakuya ( Touhou ), Ottar has Kratos (God of War)] -40 [678]
I'd have to help them both get used to their templates, but starting at a low rank would make it easy for both of them. I'd also like to have some time to look at Kratos's weapons. Most of them were godlike weapons; I was sure I wouldn't be able to replicate them, but they were still really interesting.
"So... with that, we have quite a few credits left. Does anyone want anything else?" I asked them. They all quickly shook their heads.
"Hmm, could I get a template?" Narcissa asked suddenly. I looked at her, surprised.
"Oh?" I asked curiously. Narcissa blushed slightly before shrugging.
"It's nothing special," Narcissa said quickly. "I mean, I thought about it while I was working on your Bridal Cloak. Creating something more magical was... stimulating, inspiring, and challenging. So I wanted to expand a little." Narcissa said shyly. I looked at her gently.
"Of course, Cissy. What did you have planned?" I asked softly. She cleared her throat.
"I was looking at options, and first off, I have to say it was difficult to find something that would work. I was going to ask you for options, but then I remembered where my scissors came from, and I must admit, Ragyou Kiryuuin is my best option," Narcissa finally said. My eyes widened slightly.
Ragyou Kiryuuin from Kill la Kill. I could see how she came to that conclusion, but there was a mistake.
"Actually, it's better if you take Nui Harime's template," I told Narcissa. She looked surprised and somewhat confused. "Ragyou is primarily a scientist. She's the one who experimented with the Life Fibers. She's mainly a textile engineer and researcher, if we're being a bit vague with the definition."
"Whereas Nui Harime is the one who's actually a seamstress and artisan. She's the one who designs the suits using Ragyou's Life Fibers, and she's the one who really knows how to handle and create them."
"If you want to know how to handle and implement supernatural threads in your sewing, then Nui is the one. I'll take care of the rest: ingredients, materials, supernatural threads—whatever you need, just ask."
"Unless you really want Ragyo's template?" I asked honestly. "As I said, she's primarily a researcher, and I doubt you want to spend time in my lab researching new materials," I added playfully. Narcissa blinked slightly before making a face.
"Yeah, no, I'll leave that part to you. The Nui Harime one is fine," Narcissa said immediately. I chuckled and nodded. Then I bought the template right away.
Template Stacking I x1 [Narcissa Malfoy has Harime Nui (Kill la Kill)] -40
"Alright, just make a list of whatever you want once you're used to the template," I told Cissy with a smile. She nodded, smiling slightly. "Anyone else?" I asked, and everyone shook their heads.
"So, what about Campione's template?" Riveria asked gently; I frowned slightly.
"At first glance, there's nothing wrong with Campione's template... It's just that it's not enough on its own," I said, wrinkling my nose. "The one who's really carrying out the usurpation is Pandora with her Circle of Usurpation. Having Campione or Power Add status to be eligible as Campione wouldn't do much good outside of Campione's world."
"So we'd need to buy Pandora, but she costs 500 credits." I said with a grimace as I looked at Pandora. "The other, easier way is to buy the Circle of Usurpation and have us administer the rituals ourselves." I hummed before continuing to look and immediately grimaced. "Yes, the Circle of Usurpation still costs 500 credits." I said with a grimace.
"The same as Pandora?" Lucy asked, surprised. I nodded with a sigh.
"I expected as much. Pandora, although a goddess, doesn't demonstrate any truly strong authority on her own; I don't even think she has any significant authority at all. But the Circle of Usurpation is simply... something else entirely."
"She's capable of giving birth to multiple Campione, beings that are practically natural disasters, stealing the authority of dead gods. Completely ridiculous beings. Actually... I'm not even sure I could beat a Campione." I said curiously while humming.
"Oh?" Bella asked, sounding interested. I shrugged.
"The Campione universe is just ridiculous." I shrugged. "Some of their feats are strong enough to cause problems, and their physical resistances are just ludicrous. Even if you could injure some of them, killing them is ridiculously difficult." I snorted dryly. "Most of them are in T9 or T10 in The Company for a reason."
"Certainly, it depends a lot on the gods, and the authorities the Campione has access to, but the scalability after being able to assassinate the first god is enormous. And all thanks to the Circle of Usurpation."
"The ability to seize authority, and to use it multiple times, for different people and even for the same person, is terrifying," I said honestly.
"So we're buying it? If we're going to be killing gods, and I wholeheartedly support that idea, then it would be good to have that object," Rebecca said with a wild grin.
"I second the motion," Bella said with the same smile. I just snorted and shook my head.
"We would be losing 500 credits." Please clarify once more.
"Investing," Lucius said easily. "Although I won't be participating in your... god-slaying entertainment, the Circle of Usurpation will be truly useful to all of you."
"Riveria isn't wrong to think it's better to have the option to upgrade without templates. Your next template costs half the Circle of Usurpation," Lucius said dryly. I grimaced. Yes, I hadn't planned on getting any more templates anytime soon, especially with The Traveler still growing, but they were both right.
"Besides, you always said that credits are easy to come by," Narcissa said, shrugging. I hummed softly.
"Yeah... there are some missions that give quite a few credits. Or we can just go to some worlds where it would be easy to collect credits." I said with a hum. There really were some worlds where it was ridiculously easy to earn credits.
The first thing that came to mind was Pokémon. Most Pokémon ranged from Tier 3 to Tier 7; there was a wide gap between them, but there were hundreds of each level. That meant thousands and thousands of credits just for catching one of each type of Pokémon.
It would take time, yes, but it wasn't dangerous at all. There were very few Pokémon that could harm me, so I could catch hundreds of them in just a few days.
"Okay, I'll be buying the Circle of Usurpation, at least if one of you needs something. Once I buy it, we'll be a little short on credits. I wanted to buy some defenses with the rest. Luckily, we have discounts on our own defenses, so we'll be even tighter." I looked at the rest of the girls.
"I vote yes to buying it," Bella said simply.
"Me too," Rebecca said.
"I abstain from voting," Narcissa said, shrugging. "I already have what I wanted, and like Lucius, I have no intention of going off to kill gods," Cissy said matter-of-factly.
"Same here," Lucius said amusedly.
"Me too! I'm fine as I am, so I don't need anything! You can spend it on whatever you want," Enid said cheerfully.
"Although being short on credits is a bit worrying, especially if we get into trouble in another world, we always have the IMG Ticket to sell. It's 1000 emergency credits." Ravel said easily. I grimaced.
"Yes, I preferred to keep it saved, but yes, we still have the IMG ticket." I said with a sigh. Once converted to credits, I couldn't buy the ticket again, so it would really only be useful in an emergency.
"Could I kill a machine god?" GLaDOS asked intensely. I snorted.
"When we find one, it'll be yours." I said dryly. GLaDOS just smiled sinisterly.
"I don't care either," Lucy said, shrugging.
"And I suggested it, so I'm in favor," Riveria said simply. Finally, she looked at Freya. She just smiled.
"I have no objection, my Odr. My children will also benefit from it," Freya said, shrugging. I looked at Ottar and Horn, who just stared at me, then at Freya. I just snorted. I saw they'd continue to make the same decision as their goddess. I knew they were both capable of contradicting Freya if necessary, so it was their opinion too.
"Very well, then it's decided. I'll buy the Circle of Usurpation, and with the rest, some necessary defenses." I said simply, and everyone nodded. I took a deep breath. I should be able to use it. It was a divine artifact, yes, but Pandora could allow her children to use it. The Campions counted as demigods. And my own Traveler template was a deity, so I shouldn't have any problem using it. And The Company should take care of linking it to me so I can use it.
Circle of Usurpation ( Campione! ) [-500] [138]
No sooner had I bought it than the object appeared before me as it slowly descended. It resembled a disc, a circular object about the size of a small shield, barely larger than a head. It was covered in drawings and inscriptions; the easiest to notice was the drawing on the front. It looked like the head of a snake or dragon in profile, with eight swords encircling it.
The circle floated gently between us, emanating divine power from all sides. I took a deep breath and nodded. I would have to study it further. I moved my hand and sent it to one of the rooms where I stored things along with the Grails. Finally, I focused and finished buying everything that was missing.
Defenses
Mind II
Information II
Body II
Possession I
Possession II
Destiny I
Paradox I
Wyldscape I
Environmental I
Environmental II
Addiction II
Total: -96 [42]
I grimaced. It was… a good buy, actually. The large number of discounts on the defenses we already had allowed me to buy more than I expected, but not everything I wanted. Still, it should be more than enough. Being stuck with 42 credits wasn't ideal, but it shouldn't be a problem.
Perhaps it would be best to take on a mission after the young demons' meeting. Although, with everything I'd added, I really had a lot to catch up on. Especially me. I had to learn how to use the Circle of Usurpation and see its limits. I had an idea of how the ritual was performed; the relevant information had been downloaded into my mind, but I'd have to see what the real limit was to what I could steal.
"Alright, unless anyone has anything else to add, that's all for now," I said finally, clapping my hands. Everyone shook their heads, and I nodded. Even so, we all stayed for a while, chatting comfortably. It was nice just talking, though Riveria was the first to leave after a while to catch up with Finn and the others.
Author Notes: And very well, to conclude, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'll be taking a short break next week. That means there won't be any chapters on August 7th, and regular posts will resume on August 14th. Thanks for understanding!
A/N: If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you. Or you can also visit my Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/camellya_addams.