Before you even give it a shot

Even after Tobi and Kouki left, the underground training hall was in a still silence as Noah called Multiverse Quest Board interference within his mind, a screen always popping in front of his vision.

Except for the extra line in Visited World, everything was normal as usual.

'Open Store.'

He internally said before the words blurred before another interference opened.

[Store]

[100 SP → +1 MP]

[1000 SP → +10 MP]

[10000 SP → +100 MP]

[500 SP → Scythe Mastery (GrandMaster)]

[10 SP → Barrier Mastery (Apprentice)]

[50 SP → Barrier Mastery (Intermediate)]

[100 SP → Barrier Mastery (Master)]

[500 SP → Barrier Mastery (Grandmaster)]

[100 SP → Reversal (Complete)]

[500 SP → Martial Arts (Grandmaster)]

.

.

.

'As I thought, it is there!' Noah felt a burst of excitement rushing to his body, making him creepily laugh while staring into the void.

"... Is he alright?"

Initially, they were curious about the titles Noah had but knowing that he doesn't seem to be in a good mood after Tobio called him with those titles, they thought there must be a dark past behind them.

But now seeing him creepily laughing while staring into the void, they wondered if he was alright or not.

"Rias!" Noah turned before calling her, stunning her as she straightened her back due to the suddenness of the situation.

"Y-yes!"

"Shot a small blast of, like a very small blast, Demonic Energy on me."

"What?"

"Do it." Noah urged, his eyes shining like a kid who got his favorite toy staring at Rias.

Though weirded out, she raised her hand and threw a ball of pure Demonic Energy words at Noah.

Watching the ball coming towards him, he raised his hand and said.

<>

The dark reddish mass of Demonic Energy shone before it turned into a pure golden ball, stunning both Rias and Sona as they stared at the ball with astonishment.

"Holy Power?! How?!" Sona and Rias exclaimed at the same time, their questioning gaze turning towards Noah who was examining the ball of pure Holy Power.

"It works!" He shouted excitedly before his gaze turned towards Rias, a glint of light passing through his eyes.

'What would happen if I used Reversal on Power of Destruction? Can I create anything out of nothing? Since the reverse of PoD is Power of Creation, no? What if I used it on an Instant Death spell? Ahhhh there is so much I want to try with it!'

He felt like a kid getting his favorite toy during Christmas right now.

He was so excited to try out different things with Reversal that he seemed to forget he wasn't the only one present in the training area.

'Though I ended up spending all my accumulated SP… at least I got something worthwhile from it.'

"How did you do it?" Rias asked, staring at Noah. "Is this the ability you were talking about?"

"Indeed." Coming out of his own thoughts, he turned to look towards her and nodded. "Isn't it amazing? It allows me to reverse the effect of any ability and item, like how it reverses the nature of Demonic Energy into Holy Power."

Rias and Sona's eyes widened, disbelief at the fact that such an ability exists in the world.

But then Sona asked, "Grigori would never give such an ability so easily. There should be some fault in it, right?"

"I would expect nothing less from you, Sona." Noah smiled before adding. "The only downfall of this ability is that it uses the life force of the user when used, so it isn't the most convenient ability out there."

It was not that he wasn't willing to tell them that he has already perfected the ability, but he wasn't willing to let Grigori know that he has perfected the ability.

If they come to know, if the supernatural world comes to know, he can see them demanding how he did it.

And he isn't some overlord who can deny everyone.

So at one point, the perfected Reversal would be out in the world.

Noah didn't want that to happen, so for now, he decided to hide the fact that he can perfect the ability.

After all, if only he uses the ability, it doesn't matter since everything that will come from his mouth will become 'truth'.

But if someone else used it, it means that there is another person who knows THE truth.

He can't risk that.

"But with this ability, you should be able to win the Rating Game with Riser—just hurt him and use Reversal on his regeneration, it will turn it into damage instead. I'm sure that should be enough to defeat him—though make sure to use it on leg or hand, can't have you blow his head and then stop him from healing it."

While rubbing his chin, he continued.

"With the lifespan of Devils, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to use it two or three times before getting hit by damage in return."

After hearing it, Rias and Sona both got slightly worried.

"Are you alright?" Rias asked, walking close to him.

With human lifespan, using it once or twice already should burden them.

To them, since Noah just used it, his lifespan should have decreased considerably.

And for humans whose lifespan was 100 or so, it was indeed a worrying matter to them.

"Actually… I'm not…" Noah suddenly said, his face becoming slightly pale, stunning both Rias and Sona. "I think… I urgently need a lap pillow to regain my lost years."

"..."

While Sona sighed, feeling tired, Rias smiled before gently kissing his cheek and softly saying.

"Thank you."

Staring at the blushing face, Noah softly smiled.

"You're welcome." He said. "Anyway, even though you have a way to defeat Riser, I just hope you don't slack on your training. Since if you can't even reach Riser, it would be useless."

Rias nodded seriously.

Even though she knew that training only will help her defeat Riser's Peerage but not Riser himself, Rias didn't slack off.

Since you never know when or where a miracle will happen, with such ironic thinking, Rias kept on training with her Peerage.

Though she was still slightly worried about the number advantage Riser had; Reversal gave her hope to cover that too.

"Since the deal is completed, I'll go home then. It is alright quite late and I'm tired." Noah said while stretching his body. "I'll teach you how to use Reversal later."

Saying so, he left the training ground.

The sun was already down and the night sky had taken over the world.

Reaching home, Noah who still held initial excitement started to experiment with Reversal.

Initially, he had gotten Reversal purely because he wanted an ability to counter Gojo's infinity—knowing that he didn't have a way to defeat him after he mastered Reversed Cursed Technique, Noah's massive ego took quite a hit (of course that was not taking Inverted Spear of Heaven in account).

For a narcissistic person like him, he didn't like the fact that there were people stronger than him.

That's why, the moment he had found Fallen Angels following after him, he had decided to get Reversal out of Grigori.

The fact that the ability could be upgraded to perfection was indeed a pleasant surprise to him.

Since he knew the store could upgrade everything he had, he knew how expensive everything was there.

He didn't have much hope in upgrading Reversal the moment he got it. That's why he felt quite happy in doing so.

"Now I wonder if I can get my hands on Power of Destruction somehow." Rubbing his chin, with a bathrobe on and staring at the clear sky, Noah muttered to himself. "The fact that I can reverse it to create Power of Creation is just way too fucking tempting."

The only problem was that Power of Destruction was an inherited technique of the Bael Clan, and much like the inherited cursed technique, Noah knew he can't just learn it by normal means.

"But that is the point… I'm not normal." He smirked.

Once he unlocks Super-Tier Magic, he can use Wish Upon A Star to learn the Power of Destruction.

He wasn't conceited enough to think that this magic will allow him to realize ANY wish he had, but it should be enough to let him learn existing stuff.

"If I remember correctly, it allowed Ainz to steal the talent from some dude. If I use it on a Bael Clansmen with Power of Destruction, I can possibly steal it for myself."

The only problem was that he had no idea what it would take in return for granting a wish.

In YGGDRASIL, it took experience points—and if he remembered correctly, it was the same in New World.

He didn't know if it would be the same in this world too.

'Whatever. I still have a long way to reach Super-Tier Magic, I'll have my future self to think about it.'

As he was thinking about stuff, he felt his phone vibrating.

Turning around, he walked towards the table and picked his phone up—an unknown number.

Initially, he was about to cancel it but then he decided to pick it up.

"Noah, it's me Azazel, how are you doing?" Hearing the voice of the middle-aged man from the other side, Noah raised a brow before answering.

"Was doing great till I heard your voice. What does the Leader of Grigori want from an ordinary person like me? Just to let you know, I'm busy staring down at the masses outside of my window."

On the other side, Azazel's brow twitched before he replied.

"Now don't be so distant. At this point, we are like brothers in arms."

"Do you happen to fap too much? Cuz' I think you are starting to have delusions. We only talked on the phone for like ten minutes, how can we be considered brothers?" He asked. "How about sending me some OP Sacred Gear and then we talk about it?"

"..." Azazel wanted to say that he just got Sacred Gear, a piece of personal training equipment, and ability from him, but he decided to ignore Noah's banter. "Actually, I have a request to make."

"I'm listening." Though he didn't want to make any deals with the cunning fox, Noah still opened his ears to listen.

"Since you captured Raynare and her team, we were able to collect some, let's say, proof to arrest one of the cradles of Grigori. I must thank you for that."

Noah's eyes narrowed. He wondered why Azazel would tell him something like this. He decided to remain silent and listen.

"But even with that proof at hand, we can't just brazenly capture one of the leaders. This means, that Kokabiel is still free just that his authority over Grigori would be quite restricted till further investigation.

The reason why I'm telling you this is because the initial order to kill you was given by Kokabiel and not me. And now that he knows he can't use Grigori to his means, I'm sure he would make a direct approach to you. Be careful."

Noah sighed. He already knew that the order to kill him was given by Kokabiel, but it didn't make sense to him.

After all, killing him would never start a war. The worst it could do would be Mikoto killing Kokabiel to avenge him.

So Noah knew that Kokabiel's purpose was not to kill him but to check how strong he currently is.

'I guess since I hit 17 this year, people have started to make a move on me.' He internally thought. 'I have to be careful from now on. No matter what, I can't fight with the whole supernatural world as I am right now.'

Noah knew he needed powerful allies, and more so, he needed to become powerful himself.

Since the protection of YGGDRASIL was only till he hit 17, now he was a fat sheep in front of the supernatural world.

'But I guess, from Azazel's tone, I can treat him like a potential ally. Otherwise, he would not tell me this to clear his name, more so when he would get nothing out of it except for showing his goodwill towards me. I should keep my relationship with him cordial for now.'

From the start, Noah never treated anyone as if they were anime characters.

Since the moment he found himself in DxD, his mind had already put every other anime world to the same level as his previous world.

To him, he was living in a world where he knew people and they MIGHT act the way he has seen them. That's all.

He wasn't naive to think that after that mishmash of Project K with DxD, it would still remain as the world ruled by boob power.

After all, even in the original, except for boob power, politics and power struggle was still there. And with new characters from Project K and him, it has increased further to a new degree.

It was too dangerous to think everything was the same.

"I'll keep that in mind." Noah answered. "Next time when you come to Kuoh, tell me, I'll take you to the best strip club out here."

"Hahaha! I'll take you up for that offer." Azazel laughed, understanding the underlying meaning in Noah's tone. "Anyway, my request was if you can look after a certain person for me? It won't be for long. Once I finish my talk with the Heavens, I will take her back. Till then, I want you to look after her."

"I ca—" He was about to deny him since he knew who he was talking about. And to be honest, he never liked to babysit people, but his words stopped the moment a quest popped in front of him.

[Azazel has generated a quest]

[Nun's Protection]

[Protect Asia Argento under you till Azazel finishes the deal with Heaven]

[Reward: 10 SP per day till Asia Argento is under your protection]

'If I somehow enroll Asia into school, and then have her under my protection… Fuck! She is walking SP farm! Four months of doing nothing but looking after her alone would allow me to jump a Tier! Hell Yah! I'm in!'

"Were you saying something?" Azazel inquired.

"Yes. I was saying I can do it. I can't deny it now that my dear friend, Azazel, you have asked now, can I?"

"..." Azazel felt something was missing, seeing Noah's attitude changing all of sudden, but then he thought it was Noah being weird before nodding. "I'll contact you once she is in Kuoh then."

"Good. I'll eagerly await your call."

Ending the call, Noah placed his phone down before walking back to the balcony.

"Kekekekehahahaha!" His hand over his face, he loudly laughed.

Just the moment before he was wondering how to increase his SP, the world threw an olive branch directly to his face.

He couldn't help but laugh loudly.

"SHUT THE FUCK, YOU BASTARD! IT IS LATE AT NIGHT, LET ME SLEEP!"

"Ungrateful bitches. If you can't participate in someone's happiness, then at least don't interfere either."

Clicking his tongue, he went inside not before calling his neighbor gay and went to sleep. It was a long day and he felt tired.

+++

Q: When will Author start with the regular update?

A: Idk. Let me be honest with you, I barely get one and a half hours of sleep these days. I sleep at 4 am (eat for the fast at 3)and wake up at 6:45 since got classes from 8 till 2 PM. Come home at 3 (if there is no other curriculum to do like swimming and shit), and sleep till 6:30 and open fast till 7. Then I do some random stuff till 9 before I sit on the PC and study and write in-between till 3 while also watching streams on discord. See? It is not that I don't want to be regular, but that I DO NOT have time to be regular. I hope you understand. Peace.