DxD : Actually Satan..?

[Bonus No.1]

Illya's small fists trembled at her sides, barely visible beneath the long sleeves of her white dress.

Her silver hair fluttered in the breeze her eyes never wavered as they stared into Leo's.

"I want to live," she said.

Illya took a breath. "I've spent my whole life thinking there was no way out. That I was just a part of the ritual. A container. Like my mother. I was supposed to die for it. I accepted it."

Her voice faltered—but she didn't stop.

"Then you walked through my front door."

Leo raised an eyebrow, faint amusement ghosting his lips. "You're saying I inspired you?"

"I'm saying," Illya continued, gaze hardening, "that maybe fate can be overturned."

She took a step forward. Berserker tensed behind her, but she ignored him completely.

"You're the devil, right?"

"Yes," Leo answered flatly. No flair. No dramatic tone. Just truth.

"Then I want to make a deal."

Leo tilted his head, intrigued. Now we're talking.

"Go on," he said, almost purring the words.

"You can have anything you want from me," Illya said, voice trembling slightly—but her conviction held. "In return… I want to escape my fate. I want to live. To survive this war. To be something other than a sacrifice...Of you are who you say are it should be well within your abilities."

Leo smirked, lips curving like a knife's edge. "That's cute. Playing it on my ego."

He took a slow step forward, the shadows around him shifting.

"But what's stopping me from just taking everything?" he asked. "I don't need your permission. I could pluck the Lesser Grail from you like a toy. Or kill you, revive you, extract what I want. Or use Sakura. …"

He leaned closer,.

"I don't even need the Lesser Grail. I can reach the Greater Grail directly. To me the lesser grail is just a spare battery."

Illya lowered her head, and for the first time, her voice broke.

"…I can't answer that. I-I thought that since you didn't begin with forcefully taking it i thought you didn't wish to be forceful."

The silence that followed was immense.

Leo watched her.

"…You're smart," he said finally.

Illya looked up, startled—not expecting the words to come so soon.

"Fine," Leo said again, slower this time. "You have a deal."

The wind outside seemed to quiet, as if the very world paused to acknowledge that the Devil had agreed to something. That didn't happen often. Maybe never.

Illya's mouth opened slightly, uncertain if this was sarcasm. But no. His eyes—those swirling, endless, cursed things—held no mischief.

Only intent.

She took a breath, her voice suddenly small. "You'll help me live?"

Leo shrugged. "No promises about a happy life, but I'll make sure it lasts. You don't get sacrificed. Not by the Grail. Not by anyone."

Then he took a step forward, and this time Heracles did move—just slightly. A twitch, a shift. Protective.

Leo waved a hand lazily. "Down, big guy. I'm not harvesting lolis today."

Illya actually almost smiled.

And then Leo continued, voice shifting to business.

"Now… take me to a place where I can begin the extraction of the Grail."

Illya nodded after a pause, slowly stepping down from Heracles' shoulder.

---

Leo decided to copy everything the Einzbern family had developed.

After a quiet walk, the three of them—Leo, Illya, and Berserker—arrived at the main house.

Leo looked around, expecting to see more people.

Illya noticed and casually said,

"I had Berserker kill everyone else."

"Huh. Did you," Leo replied without much emotion.

Illya tried leading him upstairs, but Leo turned in another direction, heading down toward the basement.

Curious, she followed him.

When he opened the door, they entered a large underground chamber filled with rows of glass pods, all connected to a central magic array.

"This is where most of the worker-class homunculi are made," Illya explained.

"But why are we here?" she asked again.

Leo didn't respond and kept walking through the room, ignoring her warning that the array is delicate.

"I was looking for a simpler solution to your problem," he said, "and I think I found one."

At the center of the room stood a strange machine.

It looked both advanced and old—something between technology and magic.

It had several long cylindrical rods, or "keys," inserted into it.

Each one held a sample of genetic material suspended in molten mana—pure, condensed energy.

The Einzbern family crest helped analyze and manage the genetic samples, while the mana kept them stable and alive for use in creating new homunculi.

Leo examined the machine for a moment, then pulled out the oldest-looking key.

"Well, aren't you interesting," he muttered.

Inside was a single strand of white hair.

"This must be the original template," he said, "the one used to make your mother, maybe the rest of your line."

Illya wasn't aware of much of the details on how this machine worked so it was a new thing for her too.

It was likely from the family's founder—the one who first achieved the Third Magic.

After analyzing it, Leo had already designed a more efficient version of the whole system in his mind.

Illya stood behind him, confused and slightly unnerved by Leo's actions.

Her small fingers curled into her skirt as she watched him.

Everything about Leo's presence in this place felt wrong—like placing a god in a machine shop.

Yet somehow, he looked more at home here than anyone in her bloodline ever had.

Leo reached into his coat and drew an empty key—a blank capsule made of crystallized spiritiron and etched with mana circuits.

Something he hadn't had a moment ago.

Illya frowned. "Where did you—"

"I made it," he replied, still not looking at her. "From your stairs. The bannister, actually. Had good material."

Illya blinked. "You made—?"

"Shh. I'm working."

His left hand began to glow.

The lines running across his arm lit up that looked more like circuitry from an ancient celestial engine than any mage's crest.

Leo reached in and extracted from himself a specific thread of genetic data and ability from a particular damphir that was once in the family.

Extreme vitality and Complete regeneration.

It made him able to regenerate fully from a drop of blood.

He pressed the extracted dna into the empty capsule.

The molten mana inside hissed as it absorbed the new genetic code, stabilizing around it like a beast curling around a core of flame.

Illya looked stunned. "You're… forging a new key?"

Leo nodded. "Better one. no loyalty conditioning, no need for soul pre-binding. The original's impressive. But it's restricting on its approach."

"And this helps me how…?" she asked cautiously.

Leo turned to her then.

"You don't have to be the Lesser Grail anymore."

That made her freeze.

He gestured at the machine. "I'm going to extract the Grail core from you. But if I do that as you are, the emptiness it leaves will kill you."

Illya looked down. "…I know."

"But," Leo continued, lifting the newly-forged key, "what if I just… gave you an infinitely better body without the issues you have to house your soul in?"

Illya stared.

Leo looked at her with a strange smile.

"A new body. Same soul. No binding to the Grail. You get to live… completely. Not as an Einzbern doll. Not as a sacrificial bargaining piece."

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"You'll be you. Just… free."

Illya felt her eyes sting.

She didn't exactly ask for this but solving the pre-existing issues that she was ready to live with like unable to grow.

She just asked for him to let her love but he was going an extra mile.

She really liked doing this deal with this devil.

---

After some time of leo poking around the machine

Illya stood behind leo afraid to step on any circuitry.

Sparks of mana flared around him as he replaced old runes and rewired channels.

"The new body should take some days to create, right?" she asked, tilting her head. "So… what are you going to do in the meantime?"

Leo didn't look up right away. He was aligning one of the stabilizers, muttering something under his breath as he adjusted a floating circuit node.

"Days?" he said finally, glancing back at her. "What are you talking about? hours at worst."

Illya blinked, surprised. "An hour?"

"I just need to calibrate it properly. Once that's done, it's just a matter of loading the right data and letting the system run." He turned one of the large crystal dials, and the machine hummed louder in response.

She stepped closer. "That fast…?"

Leo gave a small shrug. "At first, I was just going to patch your current body to survive the extraction—quick fix, keep you from dying, no big deal."

He paused, hands still.

"But now that I've decided to make you a new one…" He looked up at the glowing structure with a subtle smirk. "I'm going to make it perfect."

Illya frowned slightly. "Perfect?"

Leo nodded...without adding any further context.

"Besides," he added with a half-smile, "if I'm going to play creator again, might as well take it seriously."

Illya looked at the machine, then back at Leo.

"…You're doing this out of ego?"

He didn't answer.

---

POV: Gilgamesh

Location: Church grounds, Fuyuki

Tch.

Gilgamesh's boots echoed against the stone floor of the church, each step a reminder that he had deigned to grace this pitiful building with his presence.

The air was stale—thick with the scent of incense and irrelevance.

A place for mongrels to beg and kneel, as if that ever amounted to anything worth divine attention.

He had come only because of a message.

That mongrel had dared to send him a summons—informal, no title.

How utterly pedestrian.

And yet, his curiosity had been piqued.

Not because the mongrel deserved a response, but because he, Gilgamesh, allowed himself to be amused.

He had expected foolishness.

Maybe even a poorly-laid trap.

The King of Heroes stopped mid-step.

As he saw the body of kirei kotomine was buried..

So someone else must've messages him.

Something glimmered faintly along the far wall.

No, not visible to the eye. It was felt, resonating faintly with his divinity.

Written in a familiar Ancient script, sumerian.

More specifically one that could only be read by someone divine.

He turned his gaze.

There it was. Carved invisibly onto the wall.

It read:

"To Gilgamesh, the world's biggest mongrel."

His brow twitched.

"You are really closeted about being in love with Enkidu?...Just admit it."

Now both eyes narrowed.

"Also, erasing historical records was a bad choice. The world deserves to know you cried for three days straight over one (1) pretty man."

A vein pulsed near his temple.

This insult.

This sacrilege—to use the language of the gods for such lowly mockery.

"I see…" he muttered, voice low.

So someone dared.

Someone with knowledge. Someone who could write the words of Sumer, who understood how to veil them from mongrel eyes and aim them straight for his divinity.

"Enkidu,.." he said quietly, eyes scanning the glowing runes.

"You mock our bond with the wit of a sewer rat, yet still touch upon truths buried too deep for your kind."

He clenched his fist.

This was no simple taunt. It was intentional—designed to provoke him, Gilgamesh.

To drag emotions to the surface.

To remind the King of Heroes that he too once wept.

How dare they.

And still… he could not help but scoff.

A slow chuckle escaped him—sharp and golden, like a blade drawn from its sheath.

"To think a mongrel would risk annihilation just for a jest," he said, amused now. "Very well. You've caught my attention."

He turned away from the writing, golden ripples already forming behind him.

"The next time we meet," he said to no one, "I'll let you choose the manner of your death. It's the least I can offer to someone with the audacity to insult a king."

His footsteps echoed once more.

He would find the worm who dared mock the memory of Enkidu—and he would make sure their screams became the next myth he erased from history.

=======================

Power Stones and Reviews please