Lord of Evil

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

Oh right, I knew I forgot something. Gimme a minute.

Edit: Fixed it. Sorry 'bout that.

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

@Lord of Evil

Also, you have a problem with your character sheets.

@PaulHaynek

Where?

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

A young boy sat on a bench on the sidewalk, nibbling at a piece of taiyaki in his hand, glancing every so often at the doorway of a nearby cafe. He had a furrowed brow and a worried expression, an expression that would normally garner some sympathy from a passerby had it not been covered by a sporty red cap the boy had on his head. As it was the passersby barely gave the boy a second thought, which was exactly the way he wanted it.

Kael had been sitting on the bench, sans mask, for some time, trapped by none other than a dilemma. On the one hand, he wanted to go into the cafe. on the other hand was the fact that there were a lot of people in there. In reality there was probably no reason not to go in, since it was highly unlikely any of them had the intention of harming the young boy. But at the same time, it was impossible to rule out the risk. What if one of the customers was a demon serial killer in disguise who wanted nothing more than to murder unsuspecting young devils like Kael? Or what if it was one of his relatives instead, here to drag him to one of his dreaded family reunions? Among the countless reasons not to go inside, one was that he didn't really need to be there. His shift wasn't until later that day, in trough hours of the cafe. But he did want to be in there, and why he wanted in had nothing to do with seeing his master in a uniform serving customers. No really.

He continued to chew thoughtfully on the fish-shaped delight in his hand. When he came into the human world was amazed that humans could come up with something so interesting. He'd bought some to share with the rest in an effort to perhaps foster friendly relations among his master's peerage. He'd hardly talked to any of them ever since he joined, and that was making him worried. Teamwork was crucial for the rating game, after all, and Kael didn't want to hold his master back. Hence, he'd devised a plan to garner a positive image by providing his new teammates with gifts. But the big flaw with the plan was that Kael didn't know what to do afterwards, with a more minor flaw being his inability to enter the premises. It was simple enough in theory; use the food as bait to start the conversation, carry it into other topics. But the number of topics he could actually talk about with his colleagues was close to 0, unless one of them had secret assassin training (he was pretty sure they hadn't but the possibility was always there), and even if he had something to talk about it would only go well if he didn't stutter through the whole thing. And that was a pretty big if.

Kael was broken out of his musings as he spied a priest out of the corner of his eye. He immediately froze and tried to make himself even smaller as he walked by. He stared at the priest from under his hat as the clergyman walked by, watching him enter the cafe. Any demon knew about the danger of crosses and holy water and the like, but the most dangerous people for any demon were always the source of those: priests. He had heard they were all crazed demon hunting fanatics with no other purpose in life than exterminating demons. Although maybe things had changed recently, but the man doubtlessly had foul intentions for the cafe and its inhabitants.

Kael pulled his mask back up and began to rise from his seat when a sudden blur entered his vision. He hastily stepped back as a familiar brown-haired blur streaked past his seat. He watched, bewildered as she crashed into the cafe, apparently unaware of the holy power gracing the cafe. Kael was once again conflicted. The priest demanded immediate action and considering the person who just blundered into the cafe was a teammate it looked like the situation would be favorable. But this was the one teammate he really couldn't deal with. It wasn't about him talking to her it was her communicating with him. His brief attempt at conversation had sapped his energy rapidly as he tried to keep up with her apparently endless joyful energy. He was afraid she would one day drag him off to who knew where and do all kinds of things to him, like take his picture, or forcing him to sing a funny song, or something. Every single carefully laid plan had crumbled under the seemingly insurmountable girl and he wasn't ready to face her again just yet. Still, the situation was potentially dire and his master could have need of his assistance.

Kael sighed heavily before getting off the bench. This wasn't something he could avoid forever and social contact with someone he couldn't understand would be a small price to pay. Steeling himself, Kael slowly approached the door to enter into the cafe. As he opened the door, however, he was suddenly met with the scene inside the cafe, with the maelstrom of a girl wrapped around his master, and he lost all of his courage. Kael slowly let the door close before taking refuge under one of the front windows, face beet red, with his mind awhirl. He hadn't been expecting that particular scene. He felt incredibly awkward as he thought about trying to walk into that scene. Maybe he should stay outside a little longer...

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

@Lord of Evil I can draw him for you.

@TheHangedMan

Sure. I kind of feel bad for asking but I've got nothing, so anything will do at this point.

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

Oh, and I'm just about done with the knight. If someone could help me find a picture though that would be great. Anyway, tell me if something's wrong with it.

Kael

Appearance: Short white hair, dark brown eyes, 5 foot, ornate black facemask covering his mouth. Rather small for his age and has an easily recognisable appearance, but it's easy to forget the rest of his facial features.

Name: Kael Shadowsword

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Race: Devil (shadow demon)

Chess Piece: Knight

Sacred Gear: None

Magic

Shadow magic
Kael is a reasonably proficient user in his demon clan's special brand of magic, shadow magic, featuring many stealth based abilities. It does, however, have options for an all out fight, although it's naturally weaker in a prolonged battle as its techniques are revealed. Kael can use several forms of shadow magic:

• Shadow dive
  Kael melts into shadow, disappearing from the physical world. Kael can dive into a shadow (not his own) and stays in it for a limited time, losing the ability to be sensed or damaged by normal means. This goes both ways, however. Kael can't attack or see out of the shadow he's in, though he retains his sense of hearing. He can also sense when the shadow he's in is connected to another, and can 'swim' between shadows as a form of movement. If the shadow he's in disappears, however, and there is no new connection, he is forced out of his dive.
• Shadow Bind
  By temporarily binding the physical realm with the shadow world, Kael can interfere with his targets through interacting with their shadows. More specifically, Kael can immobilise a target by pinning their shadow. A physical object lying on a part of a shadow translates the immobilisation of that part on the shadow's physical counterpart, although it can't do direct damage. This state doesn't last very long, about a minute, and can be resisted by those aware of it, but proves useful as a mix-up in between a string of attacks. Like shadow dive if the shadow is dissipated then the effects dissipate as well, but as well as that, this skill is very risky to use in pitch darkness since there's no way of knowing what you'll do if you blindly pin something.
• Shadow space
  With mastery of shadow magic comes a deeper understanding of shadows, and a user's shadow can be very deep indeed. Kael can effectively compress a small object and store it into his shadow, to take out when needed. He can't store anything large, nor can he store things that are alive. At most he can store things like daggers, shortsword, cds and the like. His storage space is also limited in size, ultimately adding up to the total surface area of his natural shadow.

Skills: High dexterity and finesse. Excellent stealth skills, good at not being noticed generally, despite his odd appearance. Very observant.

Personality: Kael is incredibly socially awkward, though slightly less so around friends or people he knows of. He's constantly prone to worrying and overthinking things, but in stressful situations he's able to put it behind him in order to achieve maximum efficiency. When given orders by colleagues he follows them without question. He's usually quiet and content to sit back and watch, although he can be surprisingly aggressive at times when him or his companions are called into question. Aside from all that he holds absolute loyalty to those he considers trustworthy and will not hesitate to lay down his life if necessary.

History (it's long)

Kael is part of a small clan of demons who use rare shadow magic. An ancient clan that once operated under a great demon lord whose name has been lost to time. A small clan with a ruling council of major families rather than a leader, they chose to divide themselves out of necessity and disperse across hell. Every so often a member of the clan appears and declares fealty to a master and will serve them from the shadows for a time before disappearing just as they arrived, though some stay with their masters until either master or servant dies.

Even as a part of this small clan, little was really expected of Kael as he grew. He was small, weak and clumsy, prone to stuttering in front of strangers and generally ill-suited to serve a master. In stark contrast to Kael was his older brother, a prodigy of the clan whose weapon skills and control of shadow magic far exceeded what few clan mates he could find to practise with. He was the apple of their parents' eyes and Kael was in the unfortunate position of constantly being compared to him. Still, his brother showed him lots of love when he could and they often played together, even though the only game he could ever win was hide and seek. When his brother wasn't around, usually when he was off doing the clan's training, Kael would go off and explore by himself. He liked observing things from places where he couldn't be seen, slowly learning the ins and outs of the area by himself. It was during one of these sessions that he happened to see Delilah Dantalion and her parents, running away from something. Even at that young age he could tell that she was beautiful, but that wasn't it. She carried herself with a poise and dignity he'd never seen before and he found himself captivated, even as they approached his hiding spot. He stared at the family as they ran, and as they passed by the girl looked back and their eyes met. Kael jumped back instinctively; it was the first time anyone had noticed him despite his best efforts to conceal himself, but that wasn't the only reason. Kael lay there for a long time, trying to make sense of his feelings. Even as the trio's pursuers thundered past his hiding spot, he simply lay where he fell. He got up after a time, still not sure how he felt. But Kael knew that she was his ideal master.

From then on he trained hard to master his clan's skills. Along with that he collected what little information he could about the mysterious girl so he could find her again. When the time came for him to choose a master he knew exactly where to go: the human world. Many things drew his attention when he arrived but he set it all aside for the time being. Seeking the girl he'd seen so many years ago he found the cafe she managed and immediately professed his desire to serve under her. Accepting him as her knight, Kael was fully ready to lay down his life for this person, though he was sure that she would not have remembered a boy she'd seen for only a second all those years ago.

Other:

• He doesn't know much about the human world.
• He's really into period dramas and has some measure of appreciation for anime.
• Freaked out by unexpected loud noises.
• Favourite character is probably Azazel, for various reasons. Close second is Lucifer for being pretty chill.

@PaulHaynek

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

...

Can Pure Devils be part of a Peerage?

@PaulHaynek

Think so. Grayfia is Rias's brother's queen as well as a pure devil.

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

That was probably a whole lot longer than it needed to be. Anyway, I might be able to get my knight up tonight. Toknight.

Don't look at me like that I had to do it

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

Sato was doing what he usually did during operational hours; washing dishes. An important job in any kind of food establishment, particularly in a cafe where the number of people coming for a day would be impossible until they actually came. Not only did he have to make sure to clean dishes as they arrived, but it was important to do it properly in order to keep the cafe as hygienic as possible. An important, if inglorious, job, but it was also a tedious job, and it was fairly boring to boot. Still, it gave Sato some time to think, and god knew he needed some of that these days.

Sato lifted a plate out of the frothy mass and inspected it, pausing to wipe away a stain the hot soapy water had somehow missed, before placing it on a rack by the dishwasher. Washing dishes was practically second nature for him, almost comforting in its routine. As he loaded more plates into the frothing sink, Sato began to sift through the thoughts swimming in his head. Working in a cafe was nothing new, but with a devil as the proprietress it was a different story.

As he worked he glanced outside the kitchen to where she worked in the cafe proper. She looked young, much younger than people who usually owned eateries. And she'd told him some pretty weird stuff about devils fighting each other and something she'd called 'the rating game', but he hadn't been doing much of that in the past few weeks. Well, he wasn't really complaining about that. So long as he got payed, anyway. He briefly wondered what exactly a devil was doing running a cafe. From what he'd been told it seemed there were plenty of other devils here and there with their own peerages, whatever that meant, but he couldn't figure out why one would want to run a cafe. Maybe she was planning some great evil on the human race. Or maybe she just really wanted to make some money. Why exactly had she done something like this?
Oh wait. Sato suddenly thought. I don't care.

Well, maybe he did care a little. But even if she was planning on destroying human kind or whatever, it wasn't like he would do much about it. He owed her a serious debt, after all. And besides, a good relationship was based on trust. He was pretty sure she knew what she was doing and he was content to leave it at that. Still, from what she'd said it sounded like he'd fight someone or other some day, and while that day hadn't come, he wasn't looking forward to it. But he would handle that when it came.

It took a little while to notice but Sato realised that he couldn't hear the voice of Delilah, nor that of Asia in the cafe, which was odd considering their popularity. He glanced over and spotted a rather conspicuous man, outfitted in clothing that marked him out as a priest of some sort. Sato narrowed his eyes as he scrubbed the dishes. According to Delilah her peerage were all devils, and as such should be careful around holy symbols like crosses and holy water. Sato never went to church so he didn't think it would be a big deal. And maybe this wouldn't turn out to be anything either - priests went to cafes, surely. He was pretty sure that they didn't come dressed up like that but he couldn't rule out the possibility of some oddball priests. But at the same time, he couldn't rule out the possibility that the priest was here for a less savory reason.

Sato sighed and went back to the dishes. Stacking the plates on the rack he soon put the lot into the dishwasher. He got back to his work at a different pace. He slowed down a little, taking his time with each plate, never taking more than what could be finished fast. If the priest was here for a meal then he was a customer. But if he came here for some other reason then Sato was primed and ready to go. A shame that the priest was here before Sato's lunch break, but there was no helping that. If the holy guy tried anything funny then Sato wanted to be ready to intervene at any time.

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

@TheHangedMan I'd go for option A, seems easier to deal with, but that's somewhat less interesting all things considered, so I'd also go for option B.

So I guess I can't really help you there but anyway, I'd pick whichever one is easier for you. If it helps any my knight will be pretty socially inept too.

Highschool DxD: The Devils' Due [ENDED]

Sort of close to finishing on my end, though I need to finish up an assignment over the weekend. Aiming to get it up after though. I'll be done Monday at the latest, hopefully. Although, I'm not sure an assassin type works as a knight piece.