I paused at the hand landing on my shoulder and I realized all sound had disappeared. Not to say the library was loud, but there were the sounds of whispers, of pages turning and the books being put down on tables or just generally being moved around. But now?

There was nothing at all.

"Hmm... Did your instincts tell you to leave little king?" A voice whispered into my ears and I took a deep breath and still stiffly turned around and saw what I feared.

She stood tall and regal, her form graced with a slender yet curvaceous figure that spoke of both strength and elegance. Her attire was a testament to her impeccable taste and style, a gown of deep night sky blue that clung to her form like a second skin. Embroidered with intricate patterns of silver thread, it shimmered in the soft light, emphasizing her graceful silhouette.

Beyond just the gown, I could see how the middle was open leaving her midriff open to display several minimal tattoos including what looked to be a womb tattoo and several red stripe tattoos going up her stomach before I cleared my head and finally I looked at her face.

She had long silver hair bound up in braids on the side of her head as well as a ponytail, but her intelligent light blue eyes were what captured my view even as I threw an observation at her and confirmed my fears were true. [Morgan, Le Fay- Soul Shard- Lvl... You are fucked.]

"Something like that," I said taking a breath as Morgan let go of my shoulder.

The breaker of kings hummed in thought before tilting her head to the side as she asked almost playfully. "And do you still plan on leaving knowing I am here? What if I meant you no harm? As I certainly haven't harmed the others who have learned from the book which I used as a projector to speak to you."

'Except it's not a fucking projector, it's literally your soul container!' I wanted to yell at the scary as hell witch that my system was all but screaming at me to run away from. But instead, I evenly responded. "And how many of those people got to meet you?" I simply asked even as I was about to add something along the lines of. ' And, should I refuse?'

"Oh a few have, though their memories of myself were wiped away after I spoke with them, as I will do to you as well." She said evenly and I frowned slightly but she raised a hand with a magical glyph forming in her palm with a flash of light, my vision went white but nothing happened making Morgan blink.

But then with a flicker of light to my side, Kusanagi's true sword form rested at my waist while her human form stood beside me and glared at Morgan. "No," Kusanagi said flatly.

Morgan tittered with humor but there was no hiding the sharpness in her eyes as Kusanagi spoke more. "No, you cannot have him for your wars. He is my swordsman, and I won't let him be used for your meat grinder in putting back together those damned Excalibur shards to bring back your sister from Avalon."

I was really... Really fucking confused right now, and that showed as Morgan and Kusangi both looked at me and sighed. "He was a mundane born right," Morgan said tiredly and Kusanagi nodded weakly.

"Indeed, he is ignorant of the wider world of Earth let alone the far-flung realms." Kusanagi agreed at first then she seemingly realized she was mad and then got her fiery energy back. "And that's even more reason not to get him involved with Fae nonsense!"

I weakly raised a hand and then added my two cents in. "I am fucking confused, can someone give me a lore dump or something as this makes no sense, and why can I not just get the martial art and go on my way?"

The silver-haired beauty smiled and I felt a noose around my neck as she whispered softly in a voice that tickled the ear. "Oh? So you wish to accept the martial art as a gift then?" She questioned.

Before I could even respond, I gasped as a small fist rammed into my gut and as I bent over Kusanagi used her other hand to cover my mouth as she spoke firmly. "No, he does not accept anything as a gift... Jake, she is a queen of the Fae, do not accept anything lest you wish to be enslaved." She warned me and I saw out of the corner of my eye Morgan sighing and rolling her eyes as she snapped a finger to form a throne made out of shiny black wood that she elegantly sat within.

"Oh, for a wielder of the Kusanagi, I wouldn't have dared to enslave him totally. Lest you both decided to perform a suicide attack on me and getting a divine sword's suicidal attack aimed at me is no different from the Longinus being forced into the equivalent of Juggernaut mode... In either case, I will teach you the Raging Dragon, Martial Art young man." She finished and I raised an eyebrow.

"And what will it cost me?" I asked frankly as I knew the rules of the Fae as the Continental did have a guideline on how to entreat with or engage with them.

Morgan in her throne leaned a bit closer towards me even as she made eye contact with me before she spoke. "There are many tasks that which I require assistance with, killing Yaweh's church agents and retrieving my Excalibur fragments as my true body is bound to the realms of Tír na nÓg and Tuatha Dé Danann... In either case, I have many quests you can take under my aegis, kill a Prince or Princess of the Fae Court's or either's Champion or perhaps even steal their Mantle."

All missions my system didn't even bother to give me a quest for... No, there was something else. "What do you actually want?" I asked plainly and as I did, I reached into my inventory and then I took out some little vanilla wafers and some high-quality honey.

And as I did so, I saw Morgan's eyes laser onto the jar of high-quality honey and a hunger filled her eyes. 

Just as Fae hated iron, they adored honey as for whatever reason, honey rotted instantly in their realms, or any place that they lived within for a decent amount of time. Honey could help them heal, recover magic quicker, and do a number of things which made it extremely valuable to them. But few factions would trade anything to them, as the Fae could only eat the honey here on Earth and for the vast majority of Fae... They were dicks so you wouldn't trade simple honey with them as they were more likely to try to simply steal it by binding you up in some magical Fae laws.

To say nothing of how Morgan was supposedly bound to the fae realms, I knew this soul shard wouldn't have gotten honey in the millennia plus it probably had been bouncing around.

Morgan paused and I noticed her lips twitch as she valiantly hid the reflexive licking of the lips at such a luxury item to a Fae being like herself that had gone without for so long. "Well Lady, Le Fay, how about as you share in guest rights and break honeyed bread, you tell me what you desire of me, and we can cordially agree." I offered.

Morgan's sky blue eyes snapped to mine and before there was a greed to use me for something, but now there was a smidgen of respect as she knew now that I wasn't just a beat stick that she could use and dispose of when I ran out of use.

She had no choice but to see me as more than an equal in the breaking of bread/wafers.

"I am gracious of your treat, young king." She spoke after carefully eating the wafers that had a good bit of honey dripped over them and then after making sure she didn't leave any honey on her fingers with some actual disappointment entering her eyes at not seeing more, she continued. "More than anything else, I desire the Excalibur fragments restored to their rightful place in my sister's arms as the reason she fell into her eternal slumber in Avalon was due to Yahweh stealing Excalibur and using it for his stupid games and with it breaking, my sister's very soul broke," Morgan spoke with such pure vitriol and hate in her voice that I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Oh, I wasn't surprised Arthur was a chick. I simped too much for Saber to care really about the history difference, and this was Percy Jackson with DXD being clearly around... So obviously some titty logic was to be suspected. But regardless I had a pressing question. 
"I thought you hated Arthur... Or whatever her name was?" I asked.

Morgan rolled her eyes and visibly took a deep breath before she eyed me with a flat expression. "Young King... History is written by the victors. I will tell you now very clearly Artoria wasn't at all Christian, we hated the Christians for bringing their three-way war into our isles to say nothing of those damned Heavenly Dragons that took the Three Way War as the perfect place to do their mating ritual of violence upon the lands which both brought unimaginable destruction to our lands."

Morgan took a breath and then continued with a sort of nostalgic light in her eyes as she continued. "Was I mad that my right to heirship was overlooked as I was sold off to a marriage instead of inheriting Uther's kingdom? Yes of course, but I even back then, had the blood of the fae within myself which gave me a far longer lifespan to take over the kingdom my father all but gifted to me... My father was also kind enough to marry me to a man who literally was all but infertile, and incapable of even getting it up with how sick he was.

And so I became the Queen of Lot, and then I realized something as Artoria pulled the Holy sword out of Merlin's fake test of rulership."

The villain of King Arthur's tales leaned in and then spoke with a true smile in her eyes. "I realized after being the Queen of Lot, that ruling humans was for suckers... You humans back then slept next to buckets filled with your own piss and shit. I couldn't stand you monkey, mouth breathers in the slightest! At least now the majority of humans aren't living in mud houses and even if you don't have magic, you people live lives that are better than the kings of old and even I did as queen over humans." She finished with some appreciation in her voice

Even as the fae queen ranted, my face had gone utterly flat. As I held in my utter surprise at the tale she was telling me "I was honestly beyond glad for Artoria to become King over the British Isles, and I gladly helped her by sending her, her best knights in Gawain, Agravain, and even Mordred served well for a long while before the stupid girl got twisted by a Fallen whispering into her ears."

It was amazing how history changed with so many factions fucking around in other faction's territories all the time. Hell, the Nemean Lion literally didn't exist in the Greek Faction anymore with how it was still sealed away in the Sacred Gear that God made. Despite the Greeks making several attempts to steal the Sacred Gear from the wielders.

"And thus when Yaweh stole Excalibur from Artoria to use it as the base of a sword based Logninus or something, the damned fool not realizing how Fairy Runes worked, broke the sword and with Artoria's own brand of immortality and spirithood being bound to the sword by both myself and God himself reinforcing those bindings.

"As he wanted to bind her spirit to be within the sword... When the blade shattered, her soul was shattered but thankfully they are all in temporal stasis so she hasn't been driven insane or something during her long slumber." She finished with a sigh and I couldn't help the blink at how much of a dick God was.

But then again... This was also DXD, where the church blended up the souls of orphans to distill holy energy to boost their exorcists.

"So... Beyond the martial art which you promised to teach me for nebulous reasons, what will you give me for an Excalibur Fragment as I doubt I could wield them," I said with a wry smile at the end as Kusanagi gave me a tsundere huff but there was no mistaking the blush in her cheeks at me knowing to not even bother to wield them.

I was a 'kept man' in her eyes now so long as I didn't wield trash unworthy of gracing my hands... And other divine swords.

'How does she feel about an axe though' I couldn't help but wonder as Morgan hummed in thought at my fair question.

And eventually, she answered with an interesting smile. "Well well well... Fate is as per usual Wyrd." She said as her smile turned cool as she eyed me with interest that was clearly anticipation. "I did a bit of scrying on your future and picking up clues on where you are going in the near future, I know you are going to Chicago, and funny enough... Excalibur Blessing is in the city currently as the bastard heir of the Mormon Church has stolen the blade and has fled to the city along with his battle harem following with him, naught but a couple of days ago."

My face twitched at the reminder of how powerful of a witch she was, with her being able to scry my future and put together my future actions. But seemingly uncaring of my expression of her reading my future she continued to speak. "Excalibur Blessing is one of the most potent pieces of Excalibur and has the ability to make any supernatural event five times more potent than it should be..." At my raised eyebrow at that news, she clarified.

"Yes, that means all supernatural effects which include. Rituals, strength, durability, spells, barriers, mind control, literally anything though the cost is two and a half times the normal cost the base level effect would be to the user." She explained briefly and then her form in the now floating chair spun around towards the book that she apparently inhabited somehow.

"Now... As for what compensation you will receive for retrieving and delivering Excalibur Blessing to me?" Morgan's chair rocked back and forth for a moment before she finally continued. "I will personally make you a set of Fairy Armor that will fit you for all time, the armor will protect you from poison, the winds, and water. Will that suffice?" She offered.

Even as Kusanagi nodded like a chicken pecking rice about to answer for me, I still answered with a more even nod as having literal Morgan Le Fay make me armor with such enchantments that were so understated in her simple delivery was no less than a lesser divine construct honestly. "I would be honored, I agree to this deal," I said making her form loosen up as an honest smile crossed over her face then a system ping came up confirming the mission.

[The Corrupted Blessing!] [The holy sword Excalibur Blessing is within the city of Chicago currently, retrieve it from its user Hypno the bastard son of Somnus and the method of you retrieving it will reward you on actions taken] [Warning, Hypnos is the son of the Roman god of sleep and dreams Somnus and is using Excalibur Blessing to boost his mind control powers.] [Reward for retrieval and delivery to Morgan Le Fay- Fairy Suit of Armor made with her best skills- If Hypno is killed, the user will be rewarded and cursed in turn as Somnus would be angry at his most valuable son was killed but others gods will reward you for freeing their own children that have been tampered with.]

I couldn't help a scowl at the mind control bit and then I read more into it and realized how much of a pain in the ass this mission would be as many gods would be involved... And I was thinking it was very likely this asshole was likely in the demi-god camp trying to recruit his own brainwashed army or something.

"Alright. I will do it, I am heading to Chicago within the day in either case." I said confidently and Morgan smiled as a red string bound both our wrists before fading and my system pinged a warning.

[Warning! The user has agreed to his own violation of a fae deal. Should the user fail to complete the mission the fate of the User will be up to the other contract holder in Morgan. Likewise, should you accomplish your mission, Morgan would be bound to make the armor.]

"Good." Morgan purred with her eyes going lidden as a dark smile crossed her face before she stood up from her chair that disappeared into motes of mana with her heel's clicking across the lacquered wood floor. "Now come, I will place the Raging Dragon, martial art within your mind." She said happily and as I walked over to the book I felt Kusanagi return back to my inventory out of sight.

Morgan's method of basically downloading the martial art into my head was extremely simple if not anticlimactic as she simply tapped her book with a single well-manicured fingertip with her nails clicking on the dragon-scaled lined book. And as the finger came back up. It was covered in a dark crimson light that she raised up to eye level between us.

"This will give you the memories of practicing the martial forms within the martial art as well as downloading the relevant formulas for the potions to enhance your physique to fully use the martial art and your body not falling apart with the stress it puts on the body." She explained as the finger came closer to my face and as her small elegant finger tapped my forehead I heard another ding from my system.

[Foreign skill injection detected. Accept download?] [Y/N] After accepting my body tightened and I groaned as Morgan hummed as my mind was then filled with the clearly foreign sensations, of muscles tensing and moving in alien forms. Of my body growing in different inhuman methods, and then becoming not exactly human as I followed the path of the Dream and Infinity.

With a punch I dominated, with a palm, I broke the Dream. With a stomp, I divided the divine, and finally, with an inhale, I became the Infinity.

'These fucking madmen!' I mentally screamed as the reality of the martial art soaked into me as I realized my Gamer body made me perfectly compatible to the same level if not more than Arteria's initial body was when the martial art... No this fucking cultivation/ascendancy method was made.

Morgan didn't understand the Martial Arts at fucking all. She only knew the first half of both sets, the portion of Ddraig that was Domination, and the first half of the second part which was Albion's Dividing. But fucking Merlin and Artoria saw Ddraig and Albion and only saw them as stepping stones to the true pinnacle of dragons in the Dragon Gods, Ophis, and Great Red.

They wanted to make Artoria's body have both the abilities of Great Red in controlling reality and the infinite power of Ophis which embodied infinity.

[Skill - Empyrean Ascendancy- Learned!] [Become the Dream with Infinity, The user with the help of potion baths will turn his body's natural mana into a draconic aura which will boost the User's Emperor and national skills by 30%. Once the User has reached twenty-five percent saturation of draconic aura within the blood, the User may use D'draig's 'Boost' skill to double all status and abilities for a length of time though there will be a large stamina drain according to the number of times boosted.]

That was just the skill... And I realized as I mentally reviewed the fucking potions list, why this martial art was so niche...

"The fucking potions..." I drawled and Morgan's face twitched at my utterly flat face before she couldn't help but giggle at my expression.

"Yes indeed. Those 'potions' are more like an entire realm's worth of resources and the lifeblood of draconic beings, which is no easy thing to acquire... Artoria and Merlin cheated with using the Holy Grail before it got made into the Seppiroth Grall to make infinite dragon blood from D'draig with the cup's ability. But you and literally anyone else in this day and age? Good luck young man." She said with an easy smile as she began to break apart into motes of light and disappear back into the book that was this soul chunk's phylactery.

With Morgan disappearing, the darkness that filled the surroundings faded and I smiled wryly as I heard Arianna's own heels clicking across the ground with her peaking around the corner and calling out while looking straight at the ground. "Are you done?" She asked simply and still clearly not happy with the racist as-hell book.

I simply nodded with a satisfied smile and Arianna smugly swung her arms back and forth as she spoke with a proud grin. "Eh? Pretty good right?" She said leadingly, obviously looking for some praise making me roll my eyes.

But regardless I gave the needy Fallen Angel hybrid a pat on the head before I looked down at my watch and my eyes widened. "Yes it's awesome Arianna but I literally gotta go right now, that book kept me much longer than I expected and I need to get going to Chicago now or I am going to miss the portal!" I said in a rush and then Arianna eeped as I gave her a tight hug that crushed her large breasts against my chest in her slutty librarian outfit she wore before I peeled back and then began almost jogging out of the library much to the glares of people who I passed by.

'Fucking fae time shenanigans... I literally wasn't even in the Fae Realms! Wait does her Phylactery basically make the area a lesser Fairy Gate which distorts time?' I thought as I rushed across the Continental, sending a nod to Charon and thankfully I got lucky. I managed to make the time for the group teleport that was going to the Chicago branch of the Continental.

As my group came out of the portal a loud feminine voice spoke out. "Alright step out of the portal platform, and Aeriy, Lady Colchis is already waiting for you." At that, I saw the aforementioned short woman apparently named Aeriy scampering off to the greeter while holding a suitcase with an overly strong grip making me wonder what she was transporting.

Either way, I left the portal and after getting some information I learned this Continental was built adjacent to the Colchis Mall, which was apparently a mall owned and created by Medea Colchis, who was the guardian and keeper of this Continental as well as the large mall where she used the mall as a supernatural hub to source the many materials she needed for her rituals and other magical experiments.

"Well, she was a powerful demi-god... And supposedly death in the myths doesn't mean much really." I muttered as I walked out of the mall and into the downtown city streets of Chicago towards the target of interest.

The Pedway, A massive mutated offshoot of the ever-expanding maze of Daedalus which was a self-contained reality marble at its beachfront at the surface level was an area where mortals traveled beneath the subterranean levels of Chicago. But the deeper you went, the more chaotic, supernatural, and... Eldritch things became.

"So the Mirror Gate of Skye thingie absorbed part of the Daedalus Maze and became its own twisted reality marble or minature realm tied to the actual Earth?" I muttered with some confusion at the pamphlet I was reading. As I finally finished riding a bus to the more normal entrance to the mortal section of the Pedway and as I got off the bus I reflexively changed my map and I minutely frowned as the whole fucking map was a uniform sea of red.

There weren't red dots anywhere to designate monsters or people with ill intent towards me. The whole area was just one massive red dot in the full radius of my map's circumference around me.

I took a deep breath and then firmed my stance as I walked deeper down the large ramp-like paths leading steeply downwards almost like an open pit mine's road heading towards the core of the Earth. [Warning, User has entered the influence of the Astral Mirror of Skye, all astral and cosmic-based magic and phenomenon's effects are boosted by five hundred percent. Warning, all magic besides astral and cosmic are sealed by eighty-five percent.]

"Jesus Christ." I cursed frowning at the notice. "No fucking wonder the gods don't bother with the Gates of Skye, they are terrified of being ganked probably." I couldn't help but curse but thankfully my magical issues made it so... I was perfectly fine actually. I didn't really get nerfed at all.

But as I continued walking deeper into the Pedway, the endless red spot in the corner of my mind that was my map was broken apart as green dots labeling friendly if not better than neutrals were in the distance and as I kept walking alone I passed through the alleyway I was walking through and finally I reached a large entryway and as I came through it I couldn't help but blink at the sight before me.

The Gate of Skye was a cosmic thing... And even though I was underground there was a sudden breaking point in the brick and stone work above me as a sea of cosmic clouds filled with stars filled the massive vaulted ceiling that stretched for miles above me and in the far distance of literally miles away. Was a town built with thick and stout buildings which was the source of all the green dots of friendlies.

I had traveled to a completely new world and realm in the Gumiho realm but it wasn't really different from Earth... But seeing the Gate of Skye above my head was surreal, a true sight of something beyond human understanding and control. And as the cosmic galaxy above me spun slowly but with clear movement I had a powerful thought. "I call dibs."

 

 

Next 10 chapters are on Patreon and Ko-fi
Hey if you like this and want daily uploads and to read early chapters please drop a tip in my Ko-Fi https://ko-fi.com/azazyel22926 or https://www.patre-on.com/Azazyel and your precious energy stones, it keeps me working on it.
My commission rate is 15$ per thousand words.

Azazyel