Prologue: Deal with the Devil

---The Editor's POV---

Well, that just happened. First, me and two friends die and appear in a pitch-black void standard stuff of an isekai novel right. I mention that to my friends reminding Dryad of the tropes since she seems weirdly out of it claiming to see colours but looking around again, yeah this place is empty as all hell. But damn, her voice sounded weird for a second. What was it she said?

"What are you two talking about, can't you two see the ć̴͇͙ò̴̩̆ḷ̸̃̀o̶͖͍͝u̴͉͆̀ṛ̷̗̑s̵͎̿ in the distance"

Then god appears threatening to kill us what an asshole. Then another guy appears killing god claiming to be the devil.

I now feel him looking at me "I do not claim to be the devil child. I am the devil."

Well fuck, guess the devil can read minds.

"Yes I can, and it is rude to think about someone while in telepathy distance."

The devil clears his throat for a seconds before putting on what I can only describe as a customer service smile and voice.

"You three young souls, caused an apocalypse yes? That results in a lot of harmful Karma more so because the world wasn't meant to end yet meaning you three somehow destroyed fate and destiny within your world that is quite an achievement. After all, it means that as your world ended so did every single possible parallel timeline truly a masterpiece of destruction."

Wiping a fake tear from its eye the devil continues. "Now, as a fellow world ender, I can respect new people joining the craft as such I have taken it upon myself to introduce myself and give you two options."

I begin to feel hope rising in my chest. Is this it? could it be my chance for a bullshit multiverse wish fulfilment journey. I see both the devil and my friends looking at me funny. Did I say that outloud?

Mr gunslinger gives a dead-eyed expression and states "No, but you are vibrating so much it's easy to tell what you're thinking."

The devil clears his throat with a faint look of amusement. "Now Option the first, I eat you, this will spare you from the torment that your negative karma will ensure you face in the afterlife. Side benefit, I get to eat. Option the second, I using my phenomenal cosmic power, convert that negative karma into boons for your next life in a world of your choosing. A side benefit I get entertainment and you get the chance to end a second world. I'll give you some time to converse."

---The Artist's POV---

"I say we take it." Of course he does, he basically demanded a dnd campaign from dryad about exactly this. Speaking of, she seems to be staring somewhere far off looking at colours that I can't seem to see. Sighing, I turn to the overactive puppy in orb form.

"You do recall he is The Devil right? No guarantee anything he's saying is real. Being eaten may actually be preferable to whatever he has planned." Of course, I don't actually believe this, how could I, I helped him convince dryad into planning that campaign, still it's easier if I pretend to disagree if only to prompt a debate about it. Who knows, maybe a third being will appear and kill The Devil.

I'll pretend I didn't just hear It snort.

"It is." This comes from dryad who seems to be focused on us now.

"What?"

"It is real."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"̶͖̔T̶͔̾h̸͇͑e̸̬̐̎ ̶̨̓͜͝c̸͇͐̉ō̴̡̤l̷̼̐ͅo̴̡͈̎͂ȕ̶͚r̵̙̣̍͘s̴͍̒͠ ̴̮͋t̵̻̄ọ̷̏l̵̀̍ͅd̵͒ͅ ̴̝̼̚m̶̭̳̓e̷͇̐ͅ.̸̱̙̎̈́"̷͙̣̓͝

I look at the puppy "Okay not gonna question that, so two against one right, so we take the deal."

They both give the best nod possible for a disembodied orb in an empty nothing. The puppy nods a lot more enthusiastically.

I turn to the Devil "I guess we take the deal then."

He gives a brief childish clap in excitement. "Wonderful, it would be such a shame to eat such wonderful potential world enders. Now then let me display the karma that each of you has accrued."

---The Writer's POV---

With a snap 3 glowing grey orbs appear in front of each of us. In front of Marine is an orb only slightly large than himself. In front of Steampunk, an orb that is slightly larger than Marine's and in front of me one slightly larger than Steampunk's.

"Ah but it must be annoying to be just orbs, and we wouldn't want that to disrupt your decision making." With another snap all 3 of us are in blank humanoid forms like mannequins. "So what will you be having."

Again I hear that voice that is not a voice whisper. w̷̗̰̽i̶̥̖̒͘s̷͆͜h̸̳͍́̿ and that prompts something.

Before either of my friends can speak I cut in because I can see Marine about to ask for a system. "A question first, If each of us were to exchange all of our karma for wishes how many would we each receive."

I can feel both Marine and Steampunk looking at me.

The devil gives a slight grin. "Based on your contributions to the end of your world you may receive 5 wishes."

Points to Steampunk "4 Wishes."

Points to Marine "3 Wishes."

Before I respond I hear the not a voice whisper V̸̘̑̔o̶̻͚̓͘i̴̿͜d̸͍̝̏ ̸̤͑r̶̰̳͌u̴̲̤̅̀l̸̼̠̓̂e̴͙͊̍s̴̟̽͝

"I'll accept that trade then, I will exchange all of my Karma for 5 wishes according to the void rules."

Steampunk seems to have caught on "I too will exchange all of my Karma for 4 wishes according to the void rules."

Marine looks between us before shrugging. "Fuck it, I will exchange all of my Karma for 3 wishes according to the void rules."

The devil seems taken aback before a huge grin spreads across his face as he looks at me. "I don't know how you know about those rules but this just became a lot more entertaining. So what will you wish for there are limits naturally though they are fairly intuitive no wishing for anything excessive for instance but according to void rules you all receive one 'grand wish' which is just a way of saying you get to negotiate the specifics of the wish."

Steampunk looks at me. "Soul, Mind, Body and 3 for the group."

Realising what he is suggesting I Nod. I look over at Marine and am surprised to see he seems to get it as well. Did death make him smarter?

I look up at the devil "For the first wish, I would like all 3 of us to receive a class-based auxilliary system with no AI, that has the restriction of only granting passive skills but can also enable us to travel the multiverse after completing a specific mission within the world we are in. I would also like for that to be the only type of mission that the system can grant."

The Devil gives a little nod. "Lucky you used the word auxilliary and added that restriction otherwise it would have cost an extra wish but yeah that's reasonable. You will not be able to spread it to anyone else though as it will not have a party system."

Squaring my now plastic shoulders I speak again "For my second wish, I would like all 3 of us to have the option of selecting 3 races or bloodlines each all of which will be fully manifested as though they were our initial race with all of their upsides and none of the downsides. The 3 bloodlines will not fuse together and should in our travel we receive an additional bloodline through some method it will only be able to fuse with one of our 3 bloodlines."

The devil thinks "That will work, although some of the more extreme benefits possible may be reduced as a result."

"That's Fine."

The devil now turns to look at Steampunk as Marine whispers to me. "Why only passive skills."

I whisper back as Steampunk makes his wish. "Easy to train as any action will affect every passive skill attached to it with no need to activate anything. It will make it easier for a smooth brain like yours."

Steampunk speaks clearly and succinctly "I would like all 3 of us to receive a permanent 2X multiplier to all aspects relating to our growth, such that any form of exercise or training will have twice the results."

Steampunk then looks over at Marine "It's only 2X because it will allow us to always be seen as talented in anything we do in any world that we travel to without being seen as an overwhelming prodigy as that can draw the wrong kind of attention."

The Devil claps drawing our attention to the fact that it has split into 3 different bodies all identical. "So from what you discussed earlier you will no all be making 3 wishes, for my own amusement I will be separating you as you make these wishes, but I will also allow you to customise your appearance while separate so you can shock each other. But before that, what world would you like to go to."

Both Steampunk and I look at Marine to let him pick since we got extra wishes.

He doesn't even hesitate "A world that directly follows the main canon of Danmachi appearing a year before canon begins in a version without any other transmigrator or reincarnation fuckery."

Even the devil look shocked at how quickly he gave that answer but agrees anyway.