Chapter 40 - 38

It has been a month since the engagement party between Rias and Riser happened and things most certainly did not calm down much for Soma since then.

At the bachelor party, Soma ended up sleeping with a royal succubus by the name Shamshiel Shahar. She was a beauty without a doubt and they enjoyed the night thoroughly, but when it was time to go she did not want to let Soma leave and he had to run away from the bedroom where they were locked in a heated 'discussion' about the pros and cons of leaving. That was an arduous discussion that lasted around 35 hours, but by the end of it Soma just barely managed to escape after exhausting the succubus in question.

... Soon after that Soma showed signs of unlocking his Touki, but if anyone was to ask how he unlocked it, he would deny any allegations about it being related to his activities in bed with the beautiful succubus. Nope, most certainly not because of overworking himself. He unlocked his touki while working hard the normal and righteous way, not due to overextending himself beyond all normal limits in bed just to not be the 'loser' in that type of battle.

Besides that, he spent this month working on his projects, especially working on finalizing the changes in his body. It was by no means easy, but only upon concluding it did he feel confident enough to walk outside without much fear, having sent a familiar he made to the school in his place during this time to keep up appearances and allow him to completely focus on his body modifications. Even the books and information about the supernatural were left on a corner for now so as to not let Soma have distracting thoughts while he finished preparing himself for any possible emergency, the fight with Sairaorg made Soma realize how he still needed a lot of strength if he wanted to feel safe in this world while acting however he wanted.

The only other serious matter Soma took care of this month was the vampire situation in town Sairaorg told him about, unfortunately, he was unable to get in contact with the vampire due to some regulations and whatnot, so he did what he could, during the night when no one was around, setting up an extra bounded field around the Old School Building where the Vampire was, making it so that if any dead apostle ever were to take even a single step outside the perimeter, Soma would be warned

By the end of the month, as Soma finished exchanging his second lung for a more efficient one able to take in more oxygen while increasing the amount of air he could breathe, he was finally satisfied with his body changes and now only needed one final step.

"So, what exactly do you want me to do?" Mittelt asked as she stood in Soma's workshop with him sitting on a chair examining some documents.

"Simple, I am about to unlock the seals keeping the changes in my right arm from the rest of my body. The changes include an exponential growth in the quantity and quality of the muscle fiber of my body. I modified my bones to handle the rise in pressure and my organs were also all modified to be more elastic and compact while also being resistant enough to handle the increase in pressure." Soma said as he moved his eyes from the documents to a machine he had in front of him, examining it thoroughly one last time to make sure everything was functioning correctly. "I changed my skin as well to be as resistant as diamonds while also being extremely elastic so it should be able to handle my increase of mass efficiently. Your job is to observe and, if my skin breaks at any time, use the gear I gave you to heal me up."

Soma explained offhandedly causing Mittelt to stare at him, then looked around at the workshop that included all sorts of organs of different species, several unique items, and several reagents and equipment she has never seen before, and the portal to a whole new world that was about 40% of the size of Japan by now. Mittelt takes everything in before speaking.

"... No offense, but are you the bastard child of Azazel?" Mittelt asks and Soma just turns his face to her for a moment before speaking.

"... Didn't I tell you before? I am 100% human."

"Uhum, yeah I totally believe you." Mittelt said in the absolute fakest voice she ever produced. She honestly still was quite sure about him being a child of Azazel, that Fallen was promiscuous enough for this not to be a surprise and she sensed Soma using the light of God several times this month to help in forging things or power up the defensive measures around the house.

It didn't help Soma's case of not being related to Azazel that Soma had made the Kaleidosticks that Mittelt had the displeasure of facing once during training with Aya. Those things were bloody Longinus as far as Mittelt was concerned, and that Aya now had it and that cheat-like gear she used was just BS. Not only that, Soma distributed other Kaleidosticks to some others and they ALL should be Longinus class artifacts. Mittelt's contacts in Grigory had told her that Azazel had spent a whole week sulking after he received records of the fight when Aya showed the power of that gear.

Shaking her head at the thoughts of her working for the illegitimate child of her former boss, Mittelt noticed how the machine in front of Soma was taking so much of his attention and couldn't help but ask.

"And? What is up with that machine?"

"Oh, this?" Soma said distractedly as he finished the inspection of his machine. "It is a mana conversion machine that would allow me to absorb any form of magic attack without a physical component, like energy attacks, air, light, or fire magic, and convert them into pure magic energy that would be then stored in my bones through the runes I etched onto them. With this it is theoretically possible to make me completely immune to any form of direct magic that lacks physical form, which should improve my chances of survival in combat considering what I've seen so far."

As Soma explained the function of the mystic code, Mittelt gaped at the absurdity of it.

"Wait, wait, wait. You want to put a machine inside yourself while ALSO modifying your body structure as a whole to a point where no part of you would be the original." She said and Soma nodded instantly as a matter of fact. "What is left of you that hasn't changed at this point?"

"... My brain." He said and she looked deadpan, as if that should be the most obvious thing and he might as well have said he didn't leave anything. What sort of madman would decide to mess with his own brain anyway? "But I will modify it soon enough, when I implant my mystic eyes I am still preparing. I had some initial changes done with my current eyes but I should replace them when I finish preparing the final product."

"... You are abnormal." She said and Soma smiled brightly at that.

"Thanks for the compliment."

"How was that possibly a compliment?"

"Because normal is boring, but abnormal is unique and interesting." He said and laughed slightly.

... Needless to say, Soma has spent the last 96 hours working and he barely stopped to eat, much less sleep, during this whole process. In all honesty, it was most likely not the ideal time for him to be doing this sort of procedure, but even if he went to sleep to rest before it he would just repeat the same checks as he would fret over the procedure and if it would work properly.

Having done all preparations and pre-checks, Soma took his own sword and slit his stomach open to put the magic converter in his body, placing it deep inside and letting it touch his own spine. As soon as it was inside him Soma deactivated most of his pain perceptors sensibility, leaving him only able to feel a fraction of the pain he was inflicting on his body as he undid the seal he put on his right arm, letting the 'infection' he inflicted on his arm previously spread.

As his muscles began to grow and condense inside his frame, the magic converter was fixated in place, when it reached that stage in the process Soma had to carefully use his alchemy to change the part touching his spine and connecting the artificial magic circuits he made inside the machine to his own nerves which he modified in a process much like the changes done in the creation of a vessel of the Holy Grail.

The only reason why it was not a danger to his life was due to Soma's care in making the machine and his own understanding of the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel.

While Soma was unable to live as a spiritual entity yet, with unlimited energy reserves and being completely impossible to be killed, sealed, or destroyed, he was still the second most proficient person when it came down to it. The problem of those who were made to be the vessel of the Holy Grail was the natural deterioration of the soul and most importantly, that the soul couldn't handle the excess energy brought by the excessive number of magic circuits.

But, with Soma's understanding, how could he change his body in a defective fashion like that? No, Soma had changed his nerves to become close to Pseudo-magic circuits and they would not send the energy taken from the outside to Soma's soul, but to the magic converter which would then take that mana and store it into Soma's bones. This pseudo-state was to let his nerves adapt into slowly turning into magic circuits instead of doing so forcefully and stunting or damaging his body or soul. In time Soma was confident his nerves would all become magic circuits, even if their quality would be terrible.

This process would take several hours, possibly a whole day as Soma's body mass continued to increase and his nerves and body were changing and adapting.

As such he laid in the 'pod' he had prepared, filled with nutrient liquid to help his body during the transformation. It would also help monitor his body to warn the nurse/Mittelt in case anything went wrong while Soma focused only on his body modifications.

As for said Mittelt? She only looked on and shook her head at Soma's words.

"At this point, is a chimeric human an apt description? Or should it be an Android chimeric human? It is so hard to decide."

///---///

While Soma was modifying his body into an amalgamation of parts that just barely could be classified as human, other things were happening as well.

In the formerly abandoned church, the three church representatives were having an important meeting.

"So, it has come to this." Irina said seriously as she looked at the orders in her hands.

"I am afraid so. This is one of the worst-case scenarios we were expecting, but these are our orders." Mirana said with a sigh.

"But, how are we even supposed to do this?" Irina questioned before looking at the more experienced and older exorcist in front of her and questioned. "You are older than me and I heard you have a lot of experience, what should we do?"

"How am I supposed to know? I am not that much more experienced than you. If anything, don't YOU have more experience than me in regards to that?"

"Me? I don't have much experience either! Come on, you must have some ideas."

While the two church exorcists were discussing this with flushed cheeks the third one sighed in exasperation.

"How is it that I, who am the youngest, feel like the only one that is not a little kid right now?" Lint said with great irritation. She then took the orders and read it over before looking at the two other exorcists and raising a brow. "Is this what is troubling you two?"

"Of course. I mean, these orders are so weird." Irina said. "The superiors asked us to get closer to Soma 'no matter what way'. There was even mention to try and seduce him to the Church side or, at the very least, away from making a full alliance with the devils."

Lint shrugged at those words.

"Unfortunately we did get the information about how he was able to produce high-end items and was able to create a potion formula that would solve the devils' fertility problem. Right now we know he is close to the devils due to his cousin and the Phenexes, the fallen also have some connection thanks to the fallen angel working for him, and even the Norse are close to him considering he is dating a Valkyrie. Of the forces in the area, it is only us and the Shinto that have no actual connection with him, but he is still close to the Yakuza in town which are related to Nurarihyon so the Shinto already have an in with him as well." Mirana said in exasperation.

"Yeah, whatever you say. I just think the higher-ups want something from him, maybe his body modification techniques or something." Lint said with a shrug.

One could not ignore the Church and Heaven's ability to get information when they wanted to, especially from the devils and fallen angels. The three sides have been in a cold war for hundreds of years and it showed. None of the leaders expected any secret to staying secret in their factions unless they used strict information security protocols, which the party filled with noble devils and servants most certainly wasn't.

The abnormalities from Soma's body, how he was able to physically fight head on with the strongest devil youth, one who had unlocked Touki no less, while Soma himself did not have Touki or was using holy energy was most certainly noticed.

The analysts that got a copy of the fight could only say he modified his body, and that obviously attracted the attention of the higher-ups. If they could produce several exorcists able to have that degree of physical abilities constantly, the power of the church as a whole would be elevated to a whole new level. Considering this, using honey traps was expected.

Besides, of the three women already in town, all of them were beautiful. Mirana had a plump and sexy body while having an innocent aura that made men want her. Irina was a 'sporty' girl with good proportions and an outgoing personality that blended well with others while also having good proportions and a nice smile. Even Lint was very attractive with her unique black and white hair and eyes like rubies. Besides, it was an established fact that Soma was known for being promiscuous with his relationships.

"So, we have to seduce Soma or find some way to get him closer to the church." Lint said as she thought for a while before shrugging. "We can try being direct."

""Huh?"" Both Mirana and Irina look at the youngest of them in shock, thinking the girl meant they should just take off their clothes and, and-

"Oh, come on. Why do the both of you blush so much all the time?" Lint complained at the atomic blushes in the faces of the two hidden perverts in front of her. "I didn't mean to just try and have sex with him right away just because the higher-ups said so. I will just directly ask what would it take to share some of his knowledge and for better connections between him and Heaven."

"Oh." The two said, a bit ashamed at their very imaginative minds right now.

"Look, how about if tomorrow I go and talk with Aya-chan about a meeting with Soma? We are in the same class anyway and she is a rather nice girl, miles better than Kiyoharu at any rate. She gives me the creeps sometimes," Lint said, shivering slightly at the memories of her first meeting with Kiyoharu.

///---///

"Hello, I am Lint." Lint said, trying to act nice to Kiyoharu to help in approaching Soma later on. She wanted to be close just in case her superiors wanted intel on him or anything, he did have one of the Ecaliburs now and she expected the higher-ups would want it back eventually.

Kiyoharu just smiled and shook her hand back.

"Hello to you too, and don't worry, Soma-kun is a nice person, a great friend despite his issues, and I am sure that if you approach him honestly, you can get along with him. But, just a heads up, if you still intend to use me to get to him next time," Kiyoharu's smiling eyes then turned deadly cold. "It won't end well for you."

After hearing the warning Lint was completely immobilized, all commands she tried to send her body failed as she saw her own hand go to her neck and hold it tight for a few moments. After that, she was able to move freely again, but she could only gasp and look up at the smiling Kiyoharu.

"So, nice to meet you, Lint-chan! I hope we can become the best of friends." Kiyoharu said before walking away from the now terrified exorcist.

///---///

Yeah, after that one meeting Lint made damn sure to not get on the bad side of Kiyoharu, she enjoyed living thank you very much. Thankfully, Kiyoharu did not intervene when she tried approaching Aya, even if Ravel watched over the interaction like a hawk most of the time.

Regardless, now it was just a matter of trying her luck and, failing that, going directly to Soma's house to talk.

///---///

Meanwhile, it was a full month since Issei had gone into a coma, and it had only been two days since he woke up from it. It took him twenty-eight days of being brutally beaten inside his mind for him to decide not to perve on a girl. If anything, this result was honestly faster than one would expect, but then again the beatings were always extremely painful.

Rias, Akeno, and Kiba were all too happy to go see their friend. It took two days for the doctors to make sure he was healthy and mentally stable enough to accept visitors considering the mental trauma he went through during that period of time.

As Rias and the rest of the peerage arrived at the hospital they saw Koneko sitting right outside the door of Issei's room. She had a slightly sour expression on her face. Seeing this, Rias quickly approached to find out what happened.

"Koneko-chan, did something happen?" Rias asked, patting Konenko's head affectionately and quickly soothing Koneko.

It had to be said, even if Rias was far from the ideal king, she knew well enough how to treat her servants, even if she lacked the will or strength to be tough on them when they needed it, or bring up past traumas that would upset them even when it would help on the long run. There was a reason why her servants, as damaged as they all are, were unquestionably and absolutely loyal to the redhead.

Koneko looked slightly torn before she spoke.

"It will be easier to see for yourself." As Koneko replied she opened the door so everyone could get inside.

Sitting on the bed with his hand on his forehead was Issei. His expression was slightly pained as he saw everyone getting inside, beside Issei was an old male doctor who was checking something and frowning at the results.

"Buchou!" Issei says excitedly upon seeing Rias, and as his eyes roam her body as if by instinct his mind moves to places he shouldn't, and almost instantly. "GGGHHAAAAA! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Issei shouts in pain as he clutches at his head.

Rias, Akeno, and Kiba were shocked and tried to get closer only for the doctor to stop them and instead force Issei to look at the pages of a magazine filled with oily old man in speedos, causing his headache to lessen. It was a weird solution they've found, but it was the only workable one right now.

As Issei was recovering the doctor quickly motions everyone to move outside as follows them.

"What, what was that? Is this some sort of curse? Can it be cured?" Rias asks in fear for the health of her Pawn.

"If it is some sort of curse or evil spirit I can help." Akeno offers as well, not wanting to see Rias distressed over Issei's situation, and perhaps worrying slightly about his condition. Well, even if there was some worry for Issei's wellbeing, it was not even a tenth of the worry she felt in regards to Rias' distress.

All things considered, Akeno wasn't particularly caring or interested in the young pervert who lost so humiliatingly to a mere human. If he was strong then she could overlook his other character flaws, but as it is, that is just not happening.

"It is no curse nor anything we are able to cure." the doctor said.

"Then what is it?" Rias questioned and the doctor was unsure how to explain it.

Thankfully, someone else decided to speak up.

"Pervert-senpai is now allergic to his own erections."

That shocked the rest of Rias' peerage. The doctor coughed at the blunt explanation given and decided to elaborate.

"To be more precise, during the act of getting an erection a certain chemical is released, namely guanylate cyclase, which is an enzyme that helps activate an erection, now has an adverse effect on him, causing the meninge. The effect is similar to an allergic reaction, by causing an inflammation in the area around his brain. Issei's meninges are ultra-sensitive towards this enzyme. As such, if he even gets slightly sexually aroused, regardless if it is from an external source or his own imagination, he will feel pain. In other words, your Rook's words are regretfully correct Miss Gremory, Issei Hyoudou is now 'allergic' to getting an erection."

And THAT was the real punishment Soma prepared for Issei for daring to strip Aya like that, just suffering was not enough, he would lose the one thing that defined him as a person.

The young pervert would now no longer be physically or mentally able to be a pervert. And with this not being a curse or magic cast on him, but instead being a biological change, there was hardly any solution for it unless someone convinced Soma to change it back to how it was, but was Soma willing to do that?

Fuck. No.

Alternatively, they could get someone specialized in biology manipulation magic to help, but it would take a lot of dedicated effort to find anyone with that specific skill set. People with that kind of skill set would be incredibly hard to find, mostly be eccentric (as that type of magic is very rare to be found considering its requirements in control of magic, understanding of biology, alchemy, and more), and most likely will not want to waste their time on Issei and, even if they were willing to help, it was still an operation in the brain area. The risk of death was very high.

So, unless Rias knew someone who was capable in this specific area, knew how to do the operation, and was easy to find, there would be no saving Issei.

As she reached that thought a certain male that infuriated her more than even Riser crossed her mind.

"Fuck."

///---///

AN:

So, I am back, I beat COVID even if I still feel like shit. I hope you guys liked the true punishment for Issei. The beat down and the mental trauma weren't enough, THIS is the real deal. As for if Soma will heal Issei, I am not sure when or IF he will do that.

Second, sorry for not posting earlier today. I was in my workplace and that normally means more time to write, but I had no access to the internet due to a storm so I could only post it now.

And final, should I write lemons in a separate story? Kinda like Extra story just for lemons, not sure how well I will do it but I can try.

Oh, and should Soma bang any of the church girls? If so, who?

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you all get well. Bye.