Chess and Gems Chapter 5 Meeting New Farm

.

.

.

I do not own Puella Magi Madoka Magica nor Highschool Dxd

"I presume that you had watched the battle between me and the Fallen Angels?" Homura asked Rias.

Rias nodded. "Yes, from that battle I grasped your potential." Rias responded, and then looked at Homura in the eyes. "I want to be clear. If we do not hurt Madoka in any way, shape or form, you will not hurt us, right?"

Homura's eyebrow rose. She didn't think that Rias would be able to find out what she was protecting so fast. "Yes." Homura responded.

"Good." Rias said, and she looked at Madoka, "Um, I presumed that you changed your mind about involving Madoka in our, business?"

Madoka nodded energetically. Homura was originally against this idea of Madoka joining, but apparently her other personality apparently made it a good idea of Madoka joining, and she did make a promise, so, Homura could only reluctantly agree.

Homura was many things but not an oath breaker. She may not take promises that she can't fulfill, but the promises that she does she will fulfill it even if it means killing her.

She already made a promise that nearly killed her.

Save Madoka.

"Yes, um, hello Rias Gremony, my name is Madoka Kaname and I am the younger sister of Homura Kaname." Madoka introduced herself politely, "Um, Homura didn't really fulfill me the exact details of what you normally do as devils, so, if you mind?"

Rias laughed. "You have a cute younger sister, Homura." Rias said warmly, "Well, as devils we go around making contracts, subjugating stray devils, and playing some games with other devils. Really, that's it."

Madoka nodded. "Alright. Wait, just to make sure the contracts doesn't have to do anything related to souls, right?"

Rias waved her hand. "Only in the rarest of cases."

Madoka nodded again, and then realized what Rias had truly said. "Wait, you guys barter with souls?!"

Kiba and Akeno laughed alongside with Rias. "Issei fell in the same trap." Kiba smiled, "We do at times use souls as a price for an exchange, but normally the person must be wishing something gigantic, for example wishing to become the prime minister of Japan."

"Ara ara not all contracts are successful." Akeno explained even more, "The devil making the contract must be able to do what was promised. We can't simply change the rules of society just because someone wish for us to do it."

"Oh." Madoka nodded, "That makes sense."

"Speaking of which," Rias turned her head to Issei, "We did not really get to see your power, Issei."

"Me?" Issei pointed to himself, "What do you mean, me?"

"All this time we were focused on Homura." Rias said, apologetically, "We did not pay you much attention at all. Yes, I'm sorry for my neglect for you."

"Um, that's alright Bucchou!" Issei bowed his head, "We were all pretty worried for Homura at that point!"

Homura could only nod at what Rias said about being focused on Homura. These past two days Homura was definitely in the center of attention, because of the Fallen Angels hounding after her life. It made sense that Rias's attention was on Homura, on analyzing her strengths and weaknesses.

Right now, Homura would guess that Rias had pegged Homura as a lone wolf, which worked perfectly. Homura will provide some covering fire while Rias's peerage would simply take out the enemy the same way as they would have done in the past. Homura would definitely have to restrict her sniper abilities to allow Rias to take the down the enemy; otherwise, they'll start questioning how she managed to become a professional sniper.

"Well, you didn't have to be worried at all." Homura brushed off Rias's concern, "As you could see here, I handled the situation particularly well."

Rias seemed to agree with Homura. "Thanks to you, I managed to get another peerage member." Rias grinned, making Homura turn a baleful eye to Asia, who was sitting right next to Koneko, eating cookies.

"And I presumed," Homura made a logical guess, "That Asia turned into a devil?"

Asia nodded. "Yes." Asia clasped her hand in front of her, "Sona convinced me that I should become a devil so that I could enjoy the Devil's protection. My soul will probably go to hell, so, please god – GAH!"

Asia clenched her head. "My head!"

"Devils can't really stand the word of the big guy, even we have a slight headache." Akeno smiled, "Ara ara, how cute of an expression."

"But than," Asia looked around, bewildered, "How am I suppose to pray to god – GAH – ouch, that hurts!"

"Cute." Koneko muttered as Asia was sent reeling, grabbing her head.

Inwardly, Homura smirked. Definitely a bit of Madoka inside of Asia. Best not to reveal that she could freely muttered God without any consequences, well, it was actually a long story.

In the past, she definitely had some minor headaches whenever somebody said god; however, Homura changed the concept of god in her mind to the image of Madoka, and well, it seemed that people saying god no longer had a definite effect.

It seemed that the devil's typical weakness only applies when it came to Christian Mythology; Homura managed to cover them up by creating her own mythology, the Madoka Mythology, thus completely nullifying Homura's weakness to the word God.

The other three weakness were light attacks, crosses, and holy water. Homura had yet to experience a light attack or holy water, but she was pretty confident that none of them could fatally disable her. As she learned with the cross, those attacks would most likely burn her but not mess with her mind mentally, and due to her Magical Girl Abilities she simply repaired the burnt skin and block out any pain.

So, all in all, Homura did not have any weaknesses of a devil. She could only be brought down like a human, just normally. Although she would be a pretty agile and strong human at that. And she was a magical girl, so there was not much out there that could take her down without using an ability. Which concerns her, for she didn't really get a full grasp on everyone's abilities, yet.

Rias faked cough, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "Well, Issei, show off your new sacred gear."

Issei looked hesitantly. "Alright." Issei closed his eyes, and for a second nothing happened.

Then on his right had formed a crimson red gauntlet matching the same color as Rias's hair. It stretched all the way down to Issei's elbow, and throughout the gauntlet had jagged spikes running along it. In the middle of Issei's hand was a green gem, similar to Homura's Soul Gem when she was in her magical girl form. So that's Boosted Gear, huh?

Homura had grilled information about what Issei was capable of. Madoka was a bit too, friendly with him and Homura knew that by staying around Issei her innocence will start to wane. However, Homura admitted that Issei had definitely a big heart, and even if he becomes a devil, he will protect Madoka if Homura requested him to do it. Thus, Homura was well-concerned for Issei's powers and made a deal with Great Red. She'll develop a new weapon in exchange for information, a fair trade.

"Why does it look different!" Issei yelped, making Rias gaze at the gear.

"Your sacred Gear is not Twice Critical. It's Boosted Gear." Rias looked like a toddler with a new toy, "I truly have picked up a treasure."

"What's boosted gear?" Kiba looked at Rias, which made Akeno laugh.

"Boosted Gear is a sacred gear that allows you to boost your power every ten seconds." Akeno smiled, "It carries the soul of the legendary Welsh Dragon; it allows you to boost your power every ten seconds."

Homura, even though she heard that several times already from Great Red, still had to restrain her urge to accuse Rias for being a liar. If that kind of power existed in her dimension, that would had changed fighting witches. She even heard of its ability to transfer the gathered power to another person; imagining Mami's Tiro Finale with boosted powers as Great Red described, Homura shivered. Five shots like that, and Walpurgishnacht would have been defeated.

Unfortunately for Issei, that sacred gear's powers were inaccessible; only Ddraig, the Welsh Dragon, could truly use the full power of boosting. So, there was no reason to fear that Issei would accidentally level the whole of Kuoh City to the ground because his powers were extremely weak. And before, he could not fully access the Welsh's Dragon's powers because he was not traumatized at all to the point in which his survival instincts awoke.

Rias's thoughts seemed to echo after Homura's. "Boosted Gear may be great," Rias said, looking at Issei who was smiling and raising his hands, "However, it truly depend on the power of the user. Judging from your magical power you showed earlier, the maximum amount of boosts would be three times."

Multiplying the power by six is nothing to scoff at, but since Issei was reincarnated human who's special power prior was to peek at women, well, if the base isn't strong nothing would be able to change it easily.

Issei stopped pumping his fists into the air. "So my dream to become the harem king wouldn't-" Issei started, but was promptly silenced when Homura slyly turned into her magical girl form, slid a pistol out of her shield and started cleaning it. "Um, so I'm really weak?"

Everyone except for Asia and Madoka (who were starting to discuss girly matters) knew that Homura was quietly threatening Issei, but they elected to remain silent. "Yes." Kiba said, "By devil standards you are extremely weak; the only benefit you have so far is the fact that you have a Sacred Gear."

"Even so, you are still a force to be reckoned with." Akeno said, smiling dangerously, "Ara ara, Boosted Gear is a Longinus, which has the ability to kill a God."

Kill? A god?

It could, kill Madoka?

"Really?" Issei's eyes gleamed as he stood up, "I'm that powerful?"

It had the power, to kill Madoka?

"Nope." Akeno smiled, making Issei crash, "You have less than a one percent chance of even scratching god, ara ara your reaction is amusing."

Homura let loose a sigh of relief. Good, if it was a god killer weapon, which somebody neglected to mention, she would have instantly killed Issei and run away. But, since the percentage of scratching a god with Boosted Gear was astronomically small, Homura didn't have to truly worry about the power of Issei.

Makes her want Issei even more to be on her side now. Just in case a god or two becomes Madoka's enemy.

"Can you try boosting your power in front of me?" Rias asked.

"Um, okay?" Issei replied with a question, which made the green gem brighten.

"BOOST!"

"I feel much stronger now from previous times!" Issei said, making a weird pose, "So this is what power is like?"

"Yes." Rias said, with a devil smile, "Now that we managed to determine what your power is, I will tell you how the peerage system works. It will relate to tonight's assignment."

Oh? As Homura recalled, devils normally deal with politics, fight stray devils, and fulfill contracts. Since the first was too high level for Issei to deal with right now and the last having no real relevancy to the rules of Devil's Society, it would most likely be fighting stray devils. Great, a way for Homura to acquire Evil Pieces.

The Evil Pieces that she had gotten from Great Red was essentially a whole chess board, excluding the king. So far she had one more charge on her queen evil piece. The Evil Pieces here are definitely, definitely more potent that the Grief Seeds or the Grief Cubes gained from fighting witches and wraiths. So, she wasn't really pressed for items that cleansed her soul gem.

However, she did not want to rely on Great Red forever for his hospitality; he had given them too much, thus Homura would like to be a bit more….self-sufficient. Also, even though the evil pieces could hold up more charges, her soul gem darkens at an extreme rate here in this dimension. It may be due to the existence of her being a devil, for it didn't get corrupted this fast before becoming one, so she was using the evil pieces at an accelerated rate. She used so far seven charges in the past two days, which, by Homura's standards, were considered as intense, and she had thirty three charges.

Due to her devil nature that stops Homura from becoming Homulily she didn't really have to worry about becoming a witch, but she knew that having the powers of a magical girl at hand was very convenient. Thus, if it every came to a case in which she was hounded after for a week or so, she wanted to ensure she had enough supplies for a month to survive and regroup with Madoka.

"The peerage system is a way in which Devils could sustain their numbers." Rias started to explain, "The devils had created this system due to a massive war a long time ago called the Great War. The casualties were so great that the three factions, the Devils, the Fallen Angels, and the Angels had to call for a ceasefire. However, the damage was already dealt and the devils found themselves underpopulated. Thus, we created a system in which we reincarnate any race into a devil."

"Any race?" Issei asked, and Rias nodded.

"Kiba used to be a human, Koneko used to be a nekometa, and Akeno here, um, has very complex issues when it came to her heritage." Rias stuttered at the end, making Akeno nod to Rias.

Homura knew that Akeno was half Fallen Angel; she asked Great Red. Apparently her father was a Fallen Angel who fell in love with a Shinto priestess, her mother, and that mother in question was viciously murdered right in front of Akeno's eyes. Homura could sympathize with Akeno, but she did not agree that Baraqiel, her father, was responsible. Rather, it was better to grit her teeth and move on. Though she wasn't one to say it though. She did destroy the world a hundred times,

"Thus, we have a way to resupply our numbers." Rias said, "However, these reincarnated humans have a tendency to start at the bottom of our society. There are three ways in rising in Devil Society: one was to complete requests, just like you had done with Homura, another is to participate in a rating game, which I'll explain later, and the last is to hunt down stray devils who killed their master and become a demon. Tonight, we'll go on a Demon Hunt."

With that, Rias smiled and planned out how to take down the reported demon as quickly as possible.

"That, wasn't what I was expecting." Issei commented, "Are they normally this weak?"

Rias could only sigh and look at Homura, who blinked. "I eliminated the Demon as quick as possible." Homura said as she hefted up her sniper rifle, "With that, the Demon has been killed."

"But, you know what, forget it. Next time, let us gain some combat experience." Rias said as she perceived the demon, or what was left of it.

It was pretty terrifying at first, a demon shooting lasers from her breasts and screaming. That would have worked for some training – only for that demon to give out a death screech as a bullet slammed into her head and instantly killing the demon.

The whole peerage looked at Homura who was closing her eyes while holding out a sniper rifle with one hand.

"Alright." Homura said as she walked over to the body. "Alright, I'm going to need this."

Homura plunged her hand into the demon's carcass (very glory, making Rias puke a little bit in her mouth) and took out a simple chess piece. "Perfect. A Queen."

"Why do you need that?" Rias asked. The chess pieces that the demons drop are tainted, corrupted. Beelzebub had tried to find a way to purify the pieces, to reuse them but they simply can't be purified.

"Personal reasons." Homura stated, "As long as I get these, I'm satisfied."

Homura turned around and dissipated her Sacred Gear. "Now, I would like to finish up my homework tonight." Homura stated, "I'm going. Now."

With that, Homura left the scene, leaving Rias and her peerage trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Do you know what happened?" Rias sighed, making Akeno laugh.

"Ara ara, Homura is quickly becoming one of my favorites." Akeno stated, "But, she is true. We still have some homework to finish."

"But still, to see Homura as composed as today really surprises me." Kiba commented, "She must have experienced something much more worse to make her flinch."

The moment that Homura was from earshot from the rest of the peerage, Homura immediately put on her earpiece.

"Great Red."

"Yes? You need something?" He asked.

"Right, I have faced against a witch who just wanted to eat cheese. I faced against a witch who kills you with dark arms. I faced against a witch who played music while killing you. I faced against a witch who ended the whole world hundreds of times over and over again."

Homura took a deep mental breath. "But none of that prepared me for that monstrosity back then." Homura replied, "Really? Shooting lasers from her breasts?"

"….Oh." Great Red just stated, "Oh indeed."

"Right, we'll definitely keeping Madoka away from this one, no matter how much she pleads. At least from this trip I managed to get the Demon's magical signature." Homura replied. Now, having properly seen a Demon and identified the signature, she could hunt whatever Demons that come to town for Madoka.

"Okay. I'll keep an eye on her whenever a demon comes to town, which is quite often." Great Red said, making Homura sigh in relief. "But seriously, when will you do 'that'?"

Homura's eyebrow raised. "That?"

"Yup. Since you two had successfully kissed –" Homura blushed at the memory of doing so, those gentle red lips and the salty taste of her tears, not the point Homura! "When are you going to move to home base and have sex?"

Great Red winced as he experienced that rarely felt headache soared through his head.

The cause of that?'

Apparently Homura had managed to short-circuit the earpiece that he was using to communicate with Great Red, which meant that she experienced so much thoughts at that one precise moment that it couldn't handle it anymore.

These Magical Girls were quite something to look and laugh about.

Well, Great Red thought as he looked at the still corpse of Homura Akemi, Should probably contact Madoka to pick her up. Maybe she'll be assertive enough to get into bed with-

Great Red shook his head a couple of thoughts? What was he thinking? Two underage girls having sex with each other? He's not a goddamn pervert!

That role was designated to Issei.

What was he thinking about before?

Right, contact Madoka.

Author's Notice

I'm so sorry for skimping on my uploads, my tests are coming up and I have been lacking the motivation to write (since I started dreaming of other stories). However, my dreams soon turned it's attention towards Chess and Gems, so see at least another two uploads soon!