[Hajime POV]
As I entered the castle, Brady, Boomer, Mason, and Mikayla all followed me inside.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. Woah," Brady started.
"You mean to tell us we have a brother who's king of another island. Mason, did you know?"
Mason hesitantly spoke up, "I knew of your brother, but not that he was a king."
"Why didn't you say anything then?"
"Because he thought Boz died," I spoke up, wanting to prevent Mason from having to deal with the awkwardness. I knew enough about what happened, and since I dropped it on them, I might as well tell them everything.
"Back when you were being brought to Chicago, a storm struck the boat. Your brother was thrown overboard, but there wasn't much they could do until the storm passed. After their search for him turned up nothing, your parents hid his existence so they wouldn't be reminded of what had happened.
As for him being a king, he landed on Mindu and was raised by apes before being adopted by the king and queen of Mindu."
Mikayla, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke up, "What's this about a plug that sinks the island?"
"The island has a plug that, if pulled, will sink the island into the sea. I figured it'd be a good idea to tell them about it before they see it, so they don't ask about what it is as they're pulling it."
Mikayla, funnily enough, nodded at me, likely having experienced such a thing, possibly multiple times.
"You do know that the odds they'll pull the plug are higher now, right?"
"Maybe, but at the very least, it will likely be because they did it themselves, rather than by accident or curiosity.
Anyway, mind giving me the tour of my new castle?"
Mikayla started walking me around the castle while Mason and the guards took care of the twins' things.
"Right, I still can't believe those fools bet their kingdom. Actually, I can believe it, I'm surprised they hadn't done it sooner."
"It honestly wouldn't have been so easy had they been older."
"Really?"
"With age comes wisdom. They're teenagers who've recently inherited a kingdom and were bullied in school. They have no experience being responsible or talking to others.
Had they ruled for a few years, they'd likely have had enough political experience to tell something was off the moment I offered my challenge."
"Speaking of that, I've been curious about some things. How did you manage to do all that out in the courtyard?"
"I won't explain everything since it's a little complex, but I'm technically not from this planet-"
"You're an alien? So was that spaceship you talked about real?"
"Sort of, and yes, it was. I meant I'm not from this universe. I'm from a different version of Earth —a more magical one. My powers grant me things randomly, such as the powers I demonstrated earlier, as well as my magic weapons and spaceship.
My powers let me temporarily visit this universe for a sort of vacation, though I have some ideas on how to 'stay' longer than normal." I explained.
While I was back home, I couldn't reveal this information freely, but it didn't matter here. I was not only the strongest, but also the current leader. Though I would eventually try to permanently connect the two worlds, by then I'd have already revealed my sacred gear to Tsubaki, Akeno, Yasaka, Kunou, and anyone else I was close to.
Since I would be leaving soon, I immediately started testing something.
Forming hand seals, I created a shadow clone with a small portion of chakra. The clone immediately left to test out my idea.
"Okay, what was that thing? I saw you use them outside to heal the guards."
"They're called shadow clones-"
-----
The tour lasted almost two hours.
I had Mikayla show me the entire castle, which I committed to memory.
The tour was a minor knowledge exchange. Mikayla shared some basics about Kinkow and the nearby islands with me, while I told her about my world and my powers.
She was especially excited when I said she had the potential to learn magic.
Apparently, despite her family serving the Kinkow Royal Family for centuries, none of them were able to learn magic, which was a rare skill on the island.
I had a few guesses as to why this was.
It might simply be that they were incompatible with any of Kinkow's magics. So incompatible that they stopped trying to learn magic altogether.
Another option was that it was a genetic mutation that removed their ability to use magic, possibly in exchange for their supernatural strength. At the same time, Mikayla had another mutation that allowed her to retain her strength while also granting her magic.
Either way, her family didn't possess any magical knowledge, as they could never use it.
It makes sense considering how several of the magic users on the island were families with centuries of practice.
Whenever a new magic user appeared on the island, it was considered a huge deal since that meant Kinkow's future strength grew.
Unfortunately, most could never do more than a few quality-of-life tricks, like cleaning magic, but it was still something.
Unlike them, though, I had something else, otherworldly knowledge and a dream.
I planned on trying to teach Mikayla human magic from my world. Though it required calculations, it would still benefit the island if they could use the magic. If she could use it, then it was possible to teach the rest of the island and increase the island's power.
As for why I planned on training her despite her family's lack of magic talent? She was a heroine. If anyone could learn magic quickly, it'd be her, especially one from another world. It's better to train her anyway, since her family is loyal to the ruler of Kinkow, who is currently me.
That could wait for now, though.
Right now, I stood in front of the vault.
Two things particularly interested me.
The Great Book was the first thing. Its knowledge of Kinkow made it the most important thing to me at the moment.
I was only here for two weeks, and I was currently on my third day. That meant I needed to know about all the possible things I could use and take before leaving. If there was something that only existed here but was extremely useful in DxD, I could create a monopoly.
I was also planning on using this time to train with my shadow clones. With the countless threats from the dark side, I could quickly increase my assimilation progression.
With my takeover of both the kingdom and the tarantula people, as well as the fight against the guards, my progress has grown to 65% and 11%, respectively; and with the help of the things on this island, I could train some of my abilities a lot more without care.
Soul magic back in DxD is considered forbidden since training to any real proficiency requires thousands of souls, something not even bounty hunting can help with. Here though? Not an issue. If anything, soul magic seems to be more prevalent on Kinkow.
In the season three finale, not only does the mummy revive into Kaita, but Boz and Boomer each see their parents' ghosts; and in the season two finale, Brady and Boomer saw their ancestors' ghosts.
Although it appears to be connected to the royal family, that shouldn't be a problem, thanks to the contract. It might have even increased my assimilation percentage.
I was currently looking at the second thing, the Bat Medallion.
Picking it up, I felt a minor aura coming from it that flowed in the direction of the tarantula tribe.
Deciding to try creating something with it, I went to one of the training rooms in the castle that was empty.
-----
Taking the medallion from my pocket, I placed it down before activating my soul fruit.
I planned on turning it into a homie.
Big Mom made homies out of everything, but her strongest homies were made with fire, a thundercloud, and a hat, and each gained special abilities that increased her combat power. That was something I planned to replicate.
However, I wouldn't just replicate what she did; I would improve it.
Big Mom, despite perfecting the ability, never brought out its true potential. She could have used it on the most powerful swords or devil fruits, theoretically increasing her strength more than it already was.
A sword that trains itself to Mihawk's level or a sentient and loyal devil fruit, she'd become one of the most terrifying people in the world.
For example, she had a road poneglyph, an unbreakable piece of stone.
While I understand why she might not want to reveal what's written on it and might not even be able to affect it with her fruit, if it were able to become a homie, her defensive abilities would possibly become stronger than Kaido's, since he could never break a poneglyph.
Another example was using it on a mirror from Brulee's devil fruit. In theory, it might absorb some of the fruit's powers, creating someone else capable of using the Mirror Fruit Dimension.
And what about corpses? Could she use it on Roger's corpse and create someone just as strong as him, or at least capable of using most of Roger's strength?
As I said, she wasted her true potential by wanting to bring life to every possible object in Totto Land.
While the creation, abilities, and lifespan of homies aren't shown, Carmel's memories show it's much simpler than you would think.
The more soul energy or lifespan you invest in a homie, the stronger they are, and they only die when that soul energy is removed. Their abilities are usually determined by the object, like with Prometheus and Zeus. Napoleon is different because his powers were determined by both Big Mom's intent to have a sword and the fact that he displayed swords on himself, despite the weakness of that logic.
Now, what does all that mean for me?
Well, firstly, my gacha can provide me with rare and powerful objects of all kinds. The best stuff I could try it on is my Thanagarian Mace, Excalibur Blessing, Yatsufusa, a fire flower, a healing potion, and Jack Sparrow's compass. Any of those objects are special enough that turning them into homies would make them much stronger than any homie Big Mom made.
But before anything else, I needed to try making a homie first.
The bat medallion would be a good homie. Its most notable ability was the control of tarantula people, but it also possessed several dark magics that the wearer could utilize.
Turning it into a homie would probably amplify its abilities or create new related ones, and I was curious about it.
Imbuing the energy into the medallion, it started to glow.
A few minutes later, the bat medallion now looked more bat than medallion.
It had grown from a few inches to two feet tall, while the chain of the medallion was wrapped around it like a sash.
The biggest change, though, was that it now looked like an actual bat. Not only that, but it could fly, which was extremely useful.
Naming him Drakul, a simple yet meaningful name, I immediately began testing what he was capable of doing.
-----
[Mikayla POV]
I was looking for the new king, whom I'd left after showing him the vault.
I had work to do, namely helping Boomer and Brady move out. I still couldn't believe that we had a new king, but I felt bad for the twins.
After speaking with King Hajime, I found that he was surprisingly competent, despite his age.
He was almost ten years old, and yet he was capable of fighting and beating all of Kinkow's best warriors.
It was as humiliating and shocking as it was enlightening.
Once I left to help the former kings, I felt guilty about what I had been thinking.
The new king seemed like he was infinitely more capable than the twins.
As bad as I might've felt, I also felt optimistic.
Though everything the new king mentioned was horrifying and shocking, it also meant that Kinkow had an unbeatable leader.
A one-man army capable of creating multiple copies of himself, he was... impressive, to say the least.
When most of the twins' belongings were packed, I set out looking for the king so we could determine when he wanted his coronation.
As I arrived at the room where he was, I was surprised to see that he was undergoing training of any kind.
The twins rarely trained.
When they did train, it was always because we forced them, and they complained the entire time.
Keeping quiet to avoid distracting him, I watched as he did something to the bat medallion, causing it to shift its look.
It grew in size, eventually becoming as big as a machete, but even crazier was that it came to life!
Slipping out of the room, I immediately went to inform my father about it, knowing we'd need to reevaluate the capabilities of our new king.
__________
Author's Note:
I got the idea to make the Bat Medallion from another fanfic, which reminded me that homies have unique powers (something I had completely forgotten about). I figured a magic medallion would be an interesting choice for it.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!