146Before you read this and you're new; first of all, hi. This here is the sequel to my other fic, Play The Game Differently, a DxD fic I started in April of 2020. If you are new, you might be asking if you should read the first part before this, and I say... not really? Don't get me wrong; you'll be confused af at certain parts, but I think you should be able to read this without reading the previous part. I'm gonna add mini-recaps through character's thoughts and dialogues throughout the fic anyway, so there's that.
And yes, this is a fem!Mc fic. There won't be any romance or anything though, and the power of friendship will certainly fail a lot here, so this is a warning that this will get dark. Major character deaths, corruption, etc etc.
But I hope you enjoy this anyway.
Taking a nice, quiet walk through the town of Magnolia was one of Makarov's favorite times, especially with a guild as rowdy as his. He loved Fairy Tail with all of his heart and was proud of every single one of his children, but goodness they were far too loud and energetic for his liking. Unlike most other guilds, however, Makarov did not care whether they were weak or strong. He welcomed any good-hearted individual, or anyone really. The real requirement is dependent on the current Guildmaster, and the short old man was lax enough to let a lot of people join without any kind of test at all.
Mages considered weaklings? They're in.
People with dark pasts? No problem.
Supposed monsters or devils? Why not.
He sighed as he remembered three of his guild members, the Strauss siblings – specifically Mirajane. He already managed to talk about her past and help her get over it recently, but it still hurt his heart every time he thought about it. Parents died when she was simply thirteen years old, leaving her to take of her younger siblings by herself.
But that's not the worst of it.
A demon attacked the village and took over the church. It terrorized the people for weeks, then in a fit of anger and recklessness, Mirajane went to defeat it, and the surprising bit is that she actually managed to do it. What was supposed to be a day of joy and celebration turned into the complete opposite, however, as Mira's magical power awakened.
Take Over magic gives the user the ability to "take over" the strength and form of monsters and entities. It increases the user's power, strength, speed and sometimes even grants them certain special skills like wings or night vision. It was generally a useful type of magic, and legendary users were able to take over the powers and forms of the demons from the Book of Zeref.
But with the magicless' shortsighted view, they turned their fear and hatred towards Mira as she managed to take over the demon's powers and form. Scorned, Mirajane took her siblings, Lisanna and Elfman, and left the village. They wandered over most of Fiore until finally landing on Fairy Tail, where Makarov welcomed them with opened arms.
Mira wanted to leave their siblings alone in the guild, thinking that a monster like her does not belong to be with them, but luckily, both Lisanna and Elfman shared the same Take Over magic. Makarov convinced her to stay and offered to train her in its uses, to which she agreed almost instantly.
He smiled as he remembered her excited face as she learned more and more of her powers, and at the time, Makarov was quite impressed by her. She was a prodigy, plain and simple.
Thankfully, everything turned out great for them all, but he was still quite angry at the townsfolk who scorned Mira. How could they do such a thing to a child no less? Did they lose their hearts along with whatever that demon took? He acknowledged the fact that the magicless are not quite knowledgeable about the outside world, neither are they knowledgeable about monsters or magic, but how could they be so heartless?
He sighed slightly. When he first heard of the Strauss' story, he was fuming for days.
All in all, however, everything has turned out alright in the end.
Boom!
Makarov froze midstep as a large explosion rang true in the distance behind him. He quickly turned around and saw a giant ice spear through what seems to be Fairy Tail's building roof. Another explosion, this time a stream of fire going through and destroying the other side of the roof, making Makarov feel his rage boiling.
"YOU DAMNED KIDS!" He screamed as he ran back.
It appears that Natsu and Gray once again got in a fight. The most problematic two of his guild, always getting into fights for the stupidest reasons he's seen or heard in his long life. They were kids, true, but by Mavis their reasons are stupid even for their young age!
It was so common that people paid the explosion barely any mind. A simple glance at the place or a wince at the noise, and that's it. They were too used to the mages of Fairy Tail getting into fights that it's a fucking tourist attraction at this point.
But then, something caught his attention, making him stop.
He turned to his right, and walking on the sidewalk was a little girl, barely four years old from the look of it, holding a giant red and black sniper. It was a strange contraption, filled with unknown magical energy – he wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he didn't care either as the girl was sobbing.
And her sobs were… they felt weak, tired, scared – there were many emotions in her shaky voice. He couldn't see her face as the sniper hid it, but he saw her long, silky back-length hair. Her clothes was ripped apart and she was covered in bruises and scars. Her very appearance made Makarov's heart clench. What could've happened to this child?
He changed his trajectory and walked slowly towards the girl, not wanting to startle her.
The girl then shivered, whipping her head to look at him, making him freeze. Her wide eyes were bright crimson, her nose looked as if it was sculptured by a skilled carver, her lips were pretty pink, and her pale face was flawless – it disturbed him how this child looks so… doll-like. Made by the gods themselves to be perfect.
But he shook that out of his mind as the child quickly backed away, looking at him fearfully.
"S-stay back…" She whispered loudly enough for him to hear.
How did she notice him? He was sure to not make any noise with his steps, and there were many people walking around. How did she know he was walking towards her specifically?
"Child, please calm down." He soothed, slowly walking towards her. "Are you lost? I can help you."
"N-no…" She shook her head. "I-I said go away…"
"You look injured." He persisted, taking a few more steps. "Come with me; I promise I won't hurt you."
She did not respond, but he saw her relax slightly.
That was good. This means he can press on more firmly now.
"My name is Makarov Dreyar." He introduced himself. "Can you tell me yours?"
"...M-mommy said to not tell strangers my name…" She said timidly, her lips trembling as if she was afraid of him being angry.
"That is alright." He nodded with a disarming smile, taking one more step. "But can you tell me how old you are?"
"...F-four…"
So young… He thought, feeling furious at whoever did this. What a cruel world we live in...
"Well, then." Makarov continued. "Would you like to join my guild? I can take care of you there. We can give you new clothes, food, and whatever you could wish for."
Just then, something growled. Makarov blinked at the girl's reddening face, then he chuckled slightly.
"I suppose you're hungry?" He asked, prompting her to nod slowly. "Don't worry, you'll get to eat anything you want, free of charge."
"...R-really?"
"Really." Makarov nodded, putting a hand on her head.
But that was the worst move he could've done to this unstable child.
The girl's pupils turned into pinpricks as she gasped, and before Makarov could react, he was suddenly flung into a building by a powerful force. He coughed up blood as searing pain went through his stomach. He wasn't heavily wounded, but it still hurt him a lot, and when he quickly collected his thoughts, his eyes widened at the damage in front of him.
The entire plaza was turned into nothing as if a giant monster rampaged and pulverized the entire place. Civilians that were there were either dead or dying as he saw some bisected into two, others turned into headless corpses, and even some frozen in ice.
The little girl was at the center of it all, engulfed by a giant black and red column of pure magic, and the ground beneath her directly was simply an icy floor as she tightly gripped the musket. Her eyes were feral; fear, grief, and overwhelming rage filling them. The magic she let out was simply incredible – even surpassing his own. But what concerned him was how it felt.
As if many elements were merged into one, an amalgamation of ice, destruction, darkness, light – there were many, but those four were the most powerful, especially the first two. It quite honestly terrified him, and as she snarled at him, he mistook her for one of Zeref's creations for only a split-second.
No being could hold so much hatred in their hearts, not even the worst of monsters.
What could have happened to this child to turn her into this?
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed.
Makarov winced, then used his magic to grow in size. He hates using his magic on children like this, but she was too dangerous and too unstable at the moment. He needs to knock her out, or at least stop her from rampaging.
The girl took a few steps back, growling and snarling at him. Makarov quickly moved to stop her, then suddenly, the scale wings of a dragon erupted from her back. Makarov couldn't help but freeze at the sight, and without uttering another word, the girl flapped her wings and flew away at an admittedly impressive speed, breaking the sound barrier and leaving the scene in seconds.
He sighed deeply as he returned to his original size, then his eyes sharpened. Whoever that child is, they need to find her now before anyone else could. She was strong, but she very clearly did not know how to control her powers very well.
If someone with malicious intent got their hands on her, or god forbid a dark guild, he could never forgive himself.
From the looks of it, she flew to the east of Magnolia, and most likely towards the heart of Fiore. Thank goodness not towards the Empire, where many of the more powerful monsters, or Danger Beasts as they are called there, exist.
They need to move and find her before anything else does.
And quickly.
(The Game)
This… is a mess.
Granted, it never thought it'd survive and it was all through luck that they both did, but it has never seen so, so many mistakes and errors before. The Game would sigh if it could, but it has no physical body, and the one it's currently stuck with is broken in sorrow and rage.
After his attack, The Game quickly did whatever it could to save Akane's soul from shattering. The attack she was hit with could wipe out universes with ease, and it targeted her soul specifically. At that moment, The Game granted Akane millions of perks at once to protect it, and while it worked, it didn't go as perfectly as it hoped.
Her soul was cracked, most of her skills and perks corrupted, like Gamer's Mind/Body, or outright deleted, like her Time Freezing skill. And when she saw her two offsprings disappear, assuming that they most likely perished… she snapped.
That wasn't the end of it, however. Seeing her home and universe completely vanish in an instant broke her, Gamer's Mind not being there to save her sanity. She was consumed by her darkness – quite literally – and is simply a mindless beast slaughtering whatever she sees. Completely and utterly hostile to anything that moves, whether it's humans, monsters, animals – it didn't matter.
Thankfully, it seems Devour was mostly left untouched, albeit weakened tremendously. She was slowly growing stronger as she's killing everything, and in turn, empowering The Game. It knew that it couldn't fix everything at once it cut the connection with A.D.M.I.N, its main source of power.
It needs to fix as much as it could manually.
Whatever has been corrupted could possibly be fixed, and The Game would start with a few of the weaker skills before starting on the more powerful ones. Fixing Gamer's Mind would most likely take years, and if it does that now, it wouldn't be able to fix the others at the same time.
Though, fixing all of this…
The Game grouped a few skills together and slowly went through certain ones, handpicking the most useful ones, then decided.
With the skills it chose, Akane will regain her sanity in no less than ten years. Her slaughtering and killing could accelerate the process, but not by much. Months at best.
In any case; The Game will not be able to survive without Akane's sanity and admittedly impressive adaptive capabilities, and Akane will not be able to survive with The Game either. They're in this together, and if they don't work with one another, then they're both doomed to fail.
Worry not.
The Game sent a message to its host, trying to reassure her.
We will win this…
Akane let out a guttural roar as she ripped the head of a bounty hunter, her claws of pure darkness cutting through whatever weak spells other mages throw her way.
...or die trying.
Because right now, and even with Akane's muddled and broken mind, they share one goal.
Kill The Admin.
Here we are, the first chapter, or the first prologue, of Play The Game Again. Two more prologues, then I'll take a break from this so I can re-read Fairy Tail and Akame Ga Kill, write down the important plot points and crap, and then I'll come back to it. It's gonna take a while, I know, but I'll try to not fall in the hole that is powercreep, but we'll see.
Strap yourself in boys, methinks this is gonna be a wilder ride than the last.