Story: HHL DxD

 

 Within the Peerage system that Devils use to replenish their ranks, there were a few oddities here and there. One of them is what are known as Mutation Pieces. These are randomly given out - totally and completely at random, making the whole thing feel like it took inspiration from Gacha - or may even randomly develop from perfectly ordinary Evil Pieces due to a glitch in the system. In effect, if an individual would take more than one Evil Piece to reincarnate normally, the Mutated Piece would be enough to allow that person to become a Devil all by itself. No matter what.

Rias had been granted a Bishop Mutation Piece. Quite handy really. It meant she could resurrect an extremely powerful magic user as a Bishop while keeping her other Bishop for someone else. That's the basics of it really, and all you need to know for the time being.

Well, except for who she used it on. Gasper was his name. A Dhampir. For those unfamiliar, one born of vampire and human stock. A half breed, who had a foot in either world. Usually these beings have some measure of vampiric power with less of the weaknesses. Sometimes they are even more powerful than typical vampires. In Gasper's case-  well, let's get to that later.

Fair warning for those unfamiliar with Gasper's backstory. This is going to go to a few dark places. Not even the fun kind of dark, it's just misery and abuse for quite a while. If you're not interested, I recommend skipping the next paragraph.

It starts with the fact of his birth. The first thing that Gasper did upon this mortal coil, before he even drew breath, was to scare his human mother to death when she caught a glimpse of his 'true form'. That is to say, a mass of darkness who cast curses around like they were going out of style. One can understand why he was so feared. Combine this with the typical prejudice a Dhampir must face - as they have a foot planted in both worlds, neither truly wants them - he wound up growing in isolation and abuse with only one person showing him true kindness, a Vampire named Valerie Tepes.

Incidentally, Valerie helped him escape the castle he was born in, only to be caught and killed by Vampire Hunters. Shortly after this is when Rias happened upon him. Bleeding out. Dying. Some might read something into that, "oh, she planned that somehow" or that her family's ability to find treasure had led her to that very spot. The first is cruel and unnecessary, and very blatantly not in character. The second... does it really matter why she was there, then? All that matters is that she was. She saw that poor boy (albeit one dressed as a girl) and offered him a chance to survive. Which he took. Alas, she had to use her Mutation Piece to save the boy, because - frankly, he's absurdly powerful. His potential is pretty vast, marking him as likely the most terrifying member of Rias' Peerage. Save, of course, Issei at the height of his strength.

This meant he had to be sealed away, for his own good. That was fine by him. The trauma he'd experienced made him quite nervous and agoraphobic. Far better for him to be sealed here, in the basement, where he couldn't hurt anyone. Nor could anyone hurt him.

Thankfully this was the modern age. Such a life was not as terrible as once it might have been. He still had Internet access. Therefore, he could still forge contracts with others. And he could do so while dressed up in cutesy girl clothes, which he honestly felt suited him way, way better than those of a boy anyway!

There we go. A primer on Gasper, Rias' first Bishop. We can now safely join him as he sat in his sealed room, oblivious to what was going on outside. Innocently tapping away at his computer. Forging contracts with those in need of help, acting like a gimmicky (but popular) agony aunt, who would listen to their complaints, ease their worries and set their minds at ease.

Incidentally he was by far the most productive member of the Peerage. That's not a knock on the others, Koneko, Kiba and Akeno brought in a lot of energy (and shortly, Asia would find her niche and exploit it thoroughly too), but Gasper set the bar pretty damn high. Think of it as complimenting him rather than denigrating the others.

"There's a boy I like, but my glasses make me look ugly," a girl wrote. "Please help!"

Gasper looked at the profile picture that accompanied the message, and frowned in concentration. "I don't know what she means. If that is her then she's quite pretty." Although, something was whispering in the back of his mind that her clothes were the problem. Not the glasses. Actually, glasses are rarely ever the problem when it comes to physical beauty. Some are even charmed by them, or have a fetish towards them. Yet still that insecurity remains. An imperfection of the self, centred on and magnified beyond all control. Gasper had seen it in a lot of people. Especially on looking in a mirror.

Unfortunately he was only adept at helping others solve their issues. Himself? Not so much. His fingers flew across the keyboard, offering reassurances and building up her confidence... But then something in the world whispered to him. Go on. Make suggestions about her fashion.

"That jumper is too big for you, and bright blue really isn't your colour," he typed. "Try something black. With frilly around the collar. Oh! And that skirt has to go too, it's far too unflattering. Try some dark jeans, maybe some black fingerpaint. Also! Comb your hair back into a long ponytail - but dye it black first! Darker suits you better."

A flurry of suggestions like that were sent out to her. Normally he wouldn't make such suggestions unless they were asking for fashion tips. In this case though it was like he couldn't help himself. He wanted - no, he needed to see what this girl looked like if she - If she vamped it up a bit. Push her into darker clothes. Get her to wear makeup that makes her skin seem paler. Ruby red lipstick, change the colour of her glasses frame to black to match her new look and -

A reply! With a picture!

"Thank you tremendously, my ghoulishly wonderful Gasper!" You could almost feel the lousy attempt at a Romanian accent dripping from her reply. In the image that came with it was the same girl, but dressed up as if she was heavily considering a Vampirella cosplay for her next con visit, but hadn't quite decided one way or the other and was trying to ease herself into it to see how she turned out. The difference was night and day. The last one, she was insecure. Lacking confidence, and letting that choose her clothes for her, resulting in an appearance that didn't bring out the best in herself. This woman knew what she wanted. Knew how to get it. And was going to get it.

Though Gasper had little interest in such matters normally he licked his lips regardless and nodded in appreciation. "So cute!" he squealed. "Oh, if only I asked her to attach little bat wings to the back of her neck, it would've been perfect!"

He'd been like this all day and not noticed anything amiss. He'd been happily humming to himself like always, working hard to help Rias out in the only way he could. Unable to leave this room, he would forge contract after contract for her sake. A superb distraction from a little thing called 'dealing with his psychological issues' which many people have a bad habit of putting off and putting off because they'd rather procrastinate than face something terrifying inside their own soul.

The door opened. Gasper jumped to his feet and stepped back. He didn't have any rational reason for this. There was only one person who could break the seal that easily to enter the room and check in on him. She'd checked in a couple of times already. To talk. To see how he was doing. Even so, it still made him nervous up until he saw that flash of red hair that was so majestic it somehow preceded her entrance to the room. Like a crimson sunrise. Except, you know, a vampire would be terrified of a sunrise while he was caught in awe of Rias. In fact, she seemed much more radiant today than usual.

It was as if he was more aware of her beauty than usual today, for some reason.

"Rias!" he happily chirped. "Hi Rias! How are you today?"

"I'm doing well Gasper," Rias said. "And yourself? Have you noticed anything peculiar?"

"No!" Gasper replied. He looked her up and down. She really did have something about her, didn't she? What would she look like in a slinky black dress? What would it be like if she dyed that radiant blood crimson hair black? "I feel... Like I kind of want to go outside for a little bit."

That surprised him. But it was there nonetheless. He fidgeted with his clothes, but... He did want to go out. To see girls. To check out the fashions in person. It was a habit he'd gained, nothing perverted about it, but Gasper was a bit of a crossdresser.  He preferred the cutesy clothing that girls wore. Nothing dirty about it.

At least, nothing dirty until all of a sudden <i>literally everything happening in the school was dirty in some way</i>. Kind of hard to maintain purity and innocence when that's going on, whether you're aware of it or not. Gasper was powerful. He was not <i>that</i> kind of powerful.

"I can't allow that," someone else said, and a strange stern girl who, to Gasper's eyes, was definitive evidence that 'glasses = unsexy' was a falsehood. She was a different sort of beauty to Rias, who shone like the sun. This new girl was like the moon. Cold and distant, but you almost couldn't help but stare in wonder. "Especially with what is happening in the school right now."

"Is this a new feeling, Gasper?" Rias asked, gripping his shoulders. "When did you start to want to go out?"

"Um... today?" he muttered. That was a bit weird, huh? Actually, it was when he saw Rias. It felt like, he wanted to go out to check on the variety of the outside world. He peered at the girl that had arrived with Rias. "You know, if you changed that uniform into a tight fitting evening gown dress, you'd be a complete knockout."

The girl's eyes blurred for a moment, which was a bit weird. "A complete... knockout?" she repeated, smoothing her hands at her hips.

"Oh yeah! A pair of high heels. Make the neckline super low, and a slit up the... left side to show off some leg, you'd really come off as powerful and smart as well as beautiful!"

"Powerful... Smart... beautiful?" the girl repeated, starting to grip at her sides. "Ah, what's wrong with me? Why do I want that so badly all of a -"

Slap! Rias slapped her on the face.

"That was payback for earlier, Sona!" Rias said. "When you dragged me back from the precipice of perversion. It seems that dear Gasper is unknowingly channelling the changes that Eve has caused to reality."

"Thank you, Rias!" Sona tersely said, adjusting her glasses. "Until now I had been repressing it, but now I see that I am becoming unbearably horny, and will quite likely go insane if I do not have sex with someone. Man or woman. Are you doing anything later?"

"Issei, most likely," Rias replied, patting Sona on the shoulder. "You're welcome to join us - But what about your pledge to only date or marry someone who has beaten you in chess?"

"Fuck that, I don't want to marry or date him, I just want my full mental capacity back!" Sona shuddered and returned her attention to Gasper. Wow, she was scary. "Has he been using that Internet connection to forge contracts? We should check on those."

"Already done, they're lousy with lust. Eve could probably feed off this for a year."

"Then you cannot use that energy. It'll put you under the control of... all this all the worse."

"Wh-What?" Gasper, ahem, gasped. He rushed up to the two girls and stared up at them, wide eyed, feeling tears forming and threatening to fall from a moment's notice. "You can't use those contracts? But - But I worked soooo hard! Waaaah!"

Let it be known that Gasper, in this form, was an adorable little munchkin whose cuteness was matched only by his power. Him wearing girly clothing only served to magnify this effect, almost as if his cuteness had been given a boost by Issei's Sacred Gear.

"R-Ridiculous!" Sona said, stepping back from him and trembling slightly. "A Devil of our level - the heirs to Pillar families-  should not be overcome by such weak and obvious tactics! Puppy dog eyes shall not avail you here, no matter how effective or practised your technique! Put those eyes away before - "

"Dawwwww!" Rias immediately huggled Gasper. Yes, huggled. Not hugged, the l is deliberate, it's a very specific kind of hug that is exactly the sort implied by how it sounds. "Don't be sad Gasper, we'll find a use for that lustful energy!"

"Yaaaay!" Gaper cheered. Though Sona wasn't exactly happy at this display.

"Oh... whatever..." Sona groused. "It looks like our general concern isn't too bad, in any event. He's not going to time freeze and start doing things to girls while they're still and helpless."

"Eh?! What kind of pervert would do something like that?" Gasper said, while leaning the side of his head on Rias' chest. He snuggled in, as if it were a pillow and he was having trouble falling asleep. "Rias! Sona called me a pervert! Waaah!"

"Shush now," Rias patted him on the head. Ah, how nice! Ah, how reassuring! "If it's any consolation, I think you're something more dangerous than a pervert. You're... just... sort of enabling it to some degree. That's all."

"We can't let him form more contracts until this is over," Sona warned. "If his influence is being spread across the Internet, it could very easily start to encompass the whole world before we know what's happening. That will make it a lot harder for Eve to sort this mess out."

"In that case, let's get that information to Eve right away!" Rias said. Eh? Eh?! "Come on Gasper, you wanted to see the outside world? Well, now's your opportunity!" Ah? Ah?! He was going outside?! Yay! Wait... No? Yay? He didn't know how to feel right now! Gasper was so, so confused!