DxD: Gambling With Fate

The Puppet in front of Dulio was one of the Prototypes of Adam created by the group led by Yomiel.

By using Annihilation Maker, they were able to create a 'creature' with similar properties of the same stone used to make Evil Pieces and then implanted the assumed effects of the Evil Pieces through Innovation Clear to create 'Pseudo Evil Pieces.'

However, they only had power inside Innovation Clear's domain, but inside this domain, they had strength comparable to a Semi-Ultimate Class Being just from pure physical strength.

Having tortured the young High Class Devil, they were even able to obtain information regarding a piece that they hadn't originally known about. It seemed that the existence of the King Pieces wasn't important to the House of Belphegor if a member knew of its existence.

With the miniscule knowledge of the King Piece from the Belphegor Devil, they were able to create more advanced 'Pseudo King Pieces,' which gave much more energy than their normal Evil Pieces.

It was truly unfortunate that they were only able to get Innovate Clear, because even though they could create anything from their imagination, the limitation of nothing being able to come out of the alternate dimension created by Innovate Clear was a regretful point.

If they were able to get their hands on Telos Karma, it would have been a much easier goal, but in Yomiel's words, a Trinity allowed for a closer connection to the Biblical God.

For God was the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Zenith Tempest was a crucial aspect of the operation, being the Breath of Life to give life to Adam. Innovate Clear was needed in order to start the process.

They wouldn't need Annihilation Maker if they were able to get ahold of a blood sample of someone before the Great Flood to create a clone instead, but that was virtually impossible in this day and age.

Noa, who was just about to explain a possible solution, sneezed.

…What the fuck was that? Noa didn't even know sneezing was possible with Noah's body.

…Eh, who cared?

Dulio looked warily at the Puppet. This has to be an enemy, right? Seeing as the Puppet was able to move without the distortion in space, Dulio concluded that whatever was making the change in space was currently deactivated for now.

This Labyrinth couldn't actually be infinitely big, Dulio was now much more confident that if he made enough noise Noa and Lavinia would be able to get to him somehow.

Dulio automatically created a large wave of water originating from himself to prevent the Puppet from approaching, deciding to keep his distance. With space no longer changing, the more collateral damage the better.

--+--

"Why did we only send one Adam Prototype, Lord Yomiel?"

With space no longer constantly changing, the old Magician and Yomiel were able to get a visual on Dulio. Yet despite the old Magician's wish of getting Dulio and finishing the job immediately, and taking away his Sacred Gear, Yomiel had declined.

"You don't understand Satanael's Sacred Gear Remover at all, do you?"

Yomiel glanced at the old Magician in disdain.

While he did employ the old Magician and his students and had a near magnanimous view on humans, existences like the old Magician who believed that humans were tools for his own goal, Yomiel hypocritically disliked such beings.

After all, if one abandoned their Humanity as a Human then they were just monsters wearing human skin.

Sin without Salvation.

Yomiel was fine being the villain in someone else's story if it meant Salvation.

However, the old Magician that he employed? That man had abandoned his humanity in order to crawl his own path.

"Only if the compatibility is high can we actually start to use the Sacred Gear remover. After all, Sacred Gears obtained through Satanael's Prototype Sacred Gear Remover can no longer grow. What will you do if Zenith Tempest isn't strong enough? Are you willing to take that risk?"

Yomiel looked down on the old Magician, freezing him in his tracks.

Even if the old Magician had decades of experience in the field and killed countless specimens to attain his goals, being under the gaze of someone who lived literal eons wasn't a simple matter.

"Do not believe I cannot kill you where you stand, Aleister. I can wait for my goal. But can you?"

…Tsk.

"...My apologies for overstepping, Lord Yomiel."

Yomiel nonchalantly looked away, as if Aleister was no longer an issue, back to the screen showcasing Dulio's battle against the Adam Prototype.

--+--

"...This is way harder than I expected."

Having the 'Yanqing' disease, it felt like all of Dulio's true opponents were always strong as hell… was he really supposed to be this weak?

Dulio's expression turned serious, thinking back to the battle. The Puppet in front of him seemed to be resistant to almost every Element he had.

Lightning was merely absorbed, Water deflected, Flames went weak.

However, it looked like the Puppet was weak to one specific element.

Earth.

But the Puppet wasn't resistant to physical force so if he blew the winds hard enough, the Puppet was ragdolled back. Dulio also had a hint of a hypothesis on what the Puppet was based on.

Adam.

While it was a bit of a stretch to determine what the Puppet was based on just because of a missing rib and a male physique, the Puppet's weakness to the Earth element in general gave somewhat of a hint.

As an Exorcist Trainee who seemed to be learning like it was a 9-5, it would be more or less unusual if he wasn't pretty knowledgeable on the Bible.

With the knowledge that some beings had natural weaknesses, like Vampires to Silver, Dulio could think up a few weaknesses to the Adam(Tentative) doll in front of him.

First, Snakes. That was literally impossible for him, so not much more thought for that one.

Second, women. Well, more or less Eve. That was also a bust. He couldn't just up and change genders like flipping a switch, not that he would be willing even if the option existed.

But the best option was the third option. Earth.

Genesis 3:17-19.

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,'

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

 through painful toil you will eat food from it

 all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

 and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow 

 you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

 since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

 and to dust you will return."

With this as a basis, it made sense why the Puppet was weak to the Earth. Even if the Puppet in front of him wasn't really Adam, if he was meant to be a copy, then the World would naturally give him the following weaknesses.

That was the purpose of God's System.

This was why the Supernatural could not naturally escape their fate. Reincarnated Devils were still weak to light. Propagated Vampires were weak to silver. The list went on.

This classification applied to fake or replicas as well.

So this Adam Puppet must be weak to Dust or the ground in general.

Oh boy oh boy did he have the perfect move.

The now shortened Stone Artillery. Despite using 4 elements in its creation, it was all essentially to shoot a stone bullet at high speeds.

However, time to deploy his move was paramount, even if he was able to decrease the time, seeing as all the Adam Puppet had was its durability and physical ability, even if it was at an inhuman level.

Dulio immediately used a burst of wind to propel himself at a distance, manifesting a large number of artillery barrels. This was a perfect time to say one of Noa's quotes whenever he missed a shot.

He didn't know whether the Adam Puppet could hear anything or if it even had a brain, but even Ewald had said that despite the unchivalrous nature of trash talking, it was a valid way to fight.

"My accuracy is One Hundred Percent! You just don't know what I'm aiming at!"

*BOOM*

Multitudes of stone bullets shot at the same time, and automatically reloaded before shooting once more. While the Adam Puppet was able to dodge the multiple bullets in the beginning, as the number increased, bullets started to eventually graze the Puppet.

Cracks appeared where the stone hit, but didn't break the Puppet.

…Wait if the dude's weak to dust why am I pelting this guy with rocks?

Dulio made a modification to the stone bullets, changing them similar to particles of sand into a small capsule, creating a shotgun variant. While the dust wasn't able to go far, Dulio supplemented the shotgun shells with a constant long burst of wind.

After a few more seconds, Dulio just ditched the barrels and just created a large-scale sand blaster.

The sand and dust hit the Adam Puppet, quickly making work of the Puppet. As if it was programmed that way, the first thing the puppet did was protect the purple core which housed the Fake King Piece.

However, the hands disintegrated when the puppet tried to reach the core, until the core also followed suit.

Dulio kept the sand blaster on for a few more seconds just in case.

He stopped, and the Labyrinth went silent. Instead of the original hallway, the battleground was more like a large room due to the destruction of the walls.

…That wasn't that bad, was it? Now that he knew the puppet's weakness, it didn't seem that hard…?

However, Yomiel, who was observing Dulio's fight, clicked his tongue. The wielder of Zenith Tempest was weaker than what was needed… "Unsatisfactory." He mumbled.

Hearing Yomiel's mumble, someone opened their mouth. "...Lord Yomiel, if strength matters, couldn't we just enhance it with Innovate Clear…?" Another Magician asked nearby.

Yomiel's eyes turned to the Magician who asked, but his face twisted into a scowl "If Zenith Tempest's strength becomes fake, the concept of Nature will be fake, Adam will also be fake." Not only that, but Sacred Gears as a creation of God, were resistant to the concept of 'Fake' in general, for they were 'Real' existences.

So in a sense, Yomiel needed Dulio to become stronger in a short time. The easiest and fastest way was to prematurely awaken Dulio's Balance Breaker.

But with Dulio now knowing Prototype Adam's weakness, even if he sent more, they would only be mowed down. Yomiel looked to Aleister. 

"Release your own prototype."

"...Pardon?" Aleister gave a false confused expression, but was inwardly sweating. How did he know? While Yomiel didn't care for Aleister's 'hidden' experiments, with the possibility that his experiments would result in the delay of the Creation of Adam, he kept up his results.

"Do you believe you have secrets with unauthorized experiments that aren't hidden before me?"

Aleister paused in his tracks. Was he bluffing? He had even made sure there wasn't any surveillance!

"Release your 'Fake Angel.'"

That made Aleister scowl. While he may be under Yomiel due to his strength and convenience, that didn't mean he didn't have his own convictions. His Holy Guardian Angel was real! He just needed a vessel to manifest them onto this plane.

But Yomiel didn't pay attention to Aleister's change in mood.

"Are you declining?"

Aleister paused. His progress wasn't even close to what he desired. While Innovate Clear made for the perfect experimenting ground, his goal wasn't near. But battle data may be important…

Damn it.

"...Yes, Lord Yomiel."

Aleister gave a glance to his students.

"...Release it."

The Prototype Vessel of Aiwass.

--+--

A/N: Spent most of my time today reading wikipedia articles on Aleister and occultism...

Also, what's yall's favorite font? personally mines Calibri. The elite font.

Also, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann opening started playing while I was writing this (Elite anime btw) and I was thinking, Simon lowkey slams the DxD verse. Someone should 100% create a fanfic like that. Would 100% read.

--+--

Powerstone Goals

1500 PS - Extra Chap

3000 PS - Extra Chap

4500 PS - Extra Chap

Max is 3 extra chaps a week.

Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.

Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.

Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.