Highschool DxD: Dragon's Ascent

After my meeting with Rias, I managed to secure some more funding and more ingredients since I managed to impress Rias a fair bit, she was more than willing to bankroll my Alchemy addiction.

This time along with supernatural materials I found interesting I also requested a decent quantity of rather asinine to acquire mundane materials.

It would be good to explore the more... offensive sides of alchemy I can make use of since my coming-up operation requires it. I had a thorn in my side I needed to remove.

It was my time to act on the crow issue, first of all, the fallen angels. They are a problem and they have to go, the same thing with their excommunicated priest army and Freed.

I can't rely on the support of the Devils because one: I don't want to owe them and two: Because I cannot let them know about the extractinator in the basement. If I do it would be quite easy to correlate the guy who is supposed to have a sacred gear not having a sacred gear but the local magician having one after taking down the crows.

So it's my job to take them down, they haven't tried to honeytrap me with Raynare nor have I gotten struck by a stray light spear so I don't know if they will approach me on their own volition soon or at all.

But that's fine too, maybe even better. I can take the fight to them if that's what they want. If I make some very combustible potions I could pipe bomb them or I could make some poison gas to either kill them or smoke them out of there and when they do I will strike them with my mana arrow.

Well, that's the ideal scenario anyway. 

But just in case that doesn't come to pass I want to get some extra firepower on my side. After all, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

For that, I decided to focus on a very useful aspect of Alchemy one that I had yet to touch on for good reasons.

Poisons.

After all, I was not going to go into a building full of battle-hardened exorcists equipped with nothing but my Kelvin Catalyst and exaggerated swagger.

No, in the first place, there was no need to confront them head-on. After all, there is no such thing as exp to gain from killing people. So, why not approach the fight as an actual Alchemist?

How do you take on several dozen enemies cramped into a basement with a single exit and no access to outside air outside of that?

You are right on the money. Poison Gas.

They already walked into the chamber of their own volition, I just needed to give them the gas. 

But what gas would I use? Well, actually it was rather simple.

Turns out, there are a lot of fruits such as cherries that contain cyanide. So, with Alchemy you can extract that bad boy and mix it with some other painful stuff like Nightshade and Hemlock and you get this bad boy in my hands.

A large glass ampule sealed shut transmutation with a shitton of light green and purple poisonous gas condensed inside that is simply begging softly and sweetly to be let out. 

I enchanted the glass with reinforcement so that no random tumble could break the thing, you would need to chuck this real had against a hard surface to break it now. 

And after that, I focused on something that I could use to take out the fallen angels or at least injure them to a great degree. For that, I decided to try out the new feature of Intermediate Alchemy. Using the more conceptual features of ingredients.

For this potion, I used these ingredients, Sodium, Gunpowder, Sulfur, Firebloom(Underworld-exclusive dlc plant) and magic water as the base. 

I used sodium as the base, for a specific attribute it had. Reacting violently when being exposed to air. So what happens if you stack some more attributes such as Explosion, Fire, Explosion and Fire to that base? 

Hehehehe.

[Intermediate Explosion Potion I]

A highly reactive and explosive potion that will spontaneously combust and create a large explosion when exposed to air.

DO NOT DRINK

In my hands was a potion that looked like a lava lamp on the inside. This little thing could blow my house to smithereens if I dropped the vial on the ground. Very good. I just needed to throw the potion where I wanted and it would go kabloom.

Quite expensive and annoying to make but definitely worth it for the fireworks. 

Also, the magic water I used as a base that came from the Intermediate Alchemy was quite simple to explain. It was technically a potion in and of itself, but it was simply water that was suffused with mana through an alchemy circle for a period of time until it became a stronger base for potions, allowing it to hold more alchemical properties and properly express them in an even more potent manner.

Basically, it was Water 2, Electric Boogaloo. 

Tasted like week-old tap water with hints of iron and static.

Speaking of static, I needed something to take care of close range, for long-range I had my explosive vial and my mana arrow, for mid-range I had my kelvin catalyst, for close range I just had these hands.

And while those are certainly more than qualified as weapons I should have something just in case.

So I started working on a new... catalyst, that's what I call my transmutation gloves anyway. One that was far more focused directly on combat, unlike Kelvin Catalyst which is more for versatility.

Now, what was the element that was the best for inflicting the most damage that was available to me? Not fire or combustion since collateral damage and all. 

And then it came to me, a lightbulb shone above my head in inspiration.

My research on Alkhestry and the manipulation of energy would be very handy for this.

From the moment I was able to tap into the manipulation of energy one question rang through my mind.

How can I turn this into a weapon?

And now it seemed like that question would be answered with this new fresh and funky inspiration I had.

You see, I seem to have found a very practical application of Alkahestry and Transmutation combined together.

Alright, a science lesson with Mr. Takumi kids. Why does lightning happen and how does it happen? Or just electricity for that matter.

The answer is simple, lightning or electricity happens due to the potential difference between two points causing electrons to move from the positively charged point to the negatively charged point.

Alright, science lesson over, I know no one cares about how you create lightning in the palm of your hands, they care about the fact that you created lightning in your hands.

The main point was, with some clever manipulation of Alkahestry and Transmutation along with 6 cans of energy drink and an all-nighter resulting in a complex matrix of transmutation circles(That was probably twice the complexity it needed to be but if it works it works) dyed along a enhanced silk black glove with yellow ink enchanted with the effect desired.

Looking at the notification I felt a slightly manic smile grace my lips.

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[Transmutation(Novice) Lv.9] => [Transmutation(Novice) Lv.10(MAX)]

[You have created the item: Ampere Catalyst]

[Ampere Catalyst]

Through the combination of Alkahestry and Transmutation, this catalyst is capable of harnessing and manipulating lightning. Scales with Transmutation.

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I held my gloved hand up, running mana through it and activating the alchemical matrix inside as arcs of electricity formed in between my fingers like snakes of lightning slithering around. 

Running even more electricity through it the arcs of electricity got larger and more violent, I could direct the flow of electricity with my thoughts. 

I have to do it, or I will never be satisfied. 

I held my hand outstretched in front of me with my palm open as light crackled in my fingertips, and then suddenly the lightning was discharged from my hands, several arcs of lightning electrified and started breaking apart the wall as I laughed manically.

"POWER!!!! UNLIMITED POWER!!!!" 

The power of lightning I harness with my very own hands ravaged the wall of my basement bringing a sense of catharsis to me. This was what I was born for, this was what mad science was invented for. 

I could finally strike my enemies with millions of volts of lightning. The range is quite short, and the power falls off significantly with distance but it is lightning in my hands!

With my physical preparations complete I opened up my status.

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Statistics:

Vitality: 33

Mana: 73

Endurance: 41

Strength: 39

Agility: 35

Magic Power: 81

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Not too shabby, my body was about as fit as the normal human body could theoretically become relative to my size. My abs felt rock and you could grate cheese on them, my body as a whole was sturdy too, when I wear baggy clothes like my uniform it doesn't show but I am incredibly athletic and my body reflects that. 

I would say I have made all of the preparations I need to take on the Fallen Angels. Poison, explosives, a variety of elemental attacks, strength potion, healing and mana potions. With the time I have left, there isn't much more I can do if I want to meet my deadline of taking the Boosted Gear before Issei gets noticed.

Alright, I am going to start on my mission today.

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

After spending the school day training my mana concealment and hanging out with Rias and the other Occult Research Club I was walking back home after school to take care of the final preparations to assault the church when I noticed something.

Something felt eerie. Everything was too quiet. If I knew something from my previous life it's that if you had a gut feeling you should trust it. If I trusted in my gut I would have never opened that pipe bomb.

Silently without making much noise, I reached into my school bag and discreetly wore my Kelving Catalyst on my left hand and my Ampere Catalyst on the right.

I also checked if all my potions were in my bag, internally ready to create a mana arrow the moment something off happened.

And then.

An iridescent barrier was erected around the area I was in. My instincts screamed.

*Swish!* *Crash!*

I jumped and rolled away just in time to dodge a spear of light that was embedded deep into the concrete where I stood prior. 

Shit. 

It wasn't that they didn't notice me.

They just just didn't bother with the honeytrap. No...

They were waiting to ambush me. 

I turned my head mechanically toward the fallen angel hovering ominously in the air with her crow wings spread, she was a busty older woman wearing a rouge business suit with a lot of cleavage holding a spear of crackling energy.

This was not very great.

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[Emergencey Mission: Fallen Fight]

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{If you liked the chapter then don't forget to drop some stones}

A/N: Sometimes in life, things do not go according to plan and sometimes life does everything in its power to fuck over that plan. But when life tries to fuck you you have to fuck it back harder, and harder Takumi will.

What did you think about this chapter? And what do you think about the fallen angels and what should happen to them? I would love to receive your input about it, your comments help motivate me!

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