Issei sat shirtless and cross-legged in the middle of one of Takamagahara's many training grounds.
He meditated, trying to get a feel for the energy inside him.
Inside him was a massive well of power.
It was a mix of magic, draconic and divine energy, meshing together in a paradoxically chaotic harmony.
It was because of that that it was difficult for him to manipulate each energy separately.
Every spell, every technique he had used up to this point had been powered by that mix of energy.
And it had not presented any problems. If anything, the mix served to increase the potency of his techniques.
But now, that mix was working against him, because he was now attempting to learn a technique that was not only impossibly difficult for someone who was not a full God to master, but required pure, undiluted divine energy, with absolutely no impurities.
Issei was currently learning how to manifest a Divine Avatar, one of the techniques that fell under Shinjutsu, Divine Arts.
Needless to say, it was not going well.
A red aura was manifested around him, with a massive red ethereal ribcage within, surrounding him.
That was about as far as he was able to go without the Yasakani-no-Magatama.
Already, sweat was dripping down his face from the sheer concentration and exertion that had been needed to create the ribcage.
Amaterasu, the one overseeing his training, shook her head.
"No good. You're pouring out plenty of power, but only about 5% is pure enough to be used. That's why that ribcage is the best you can do." Amaterasu said with a sigh.
The ribcage dissipated as Issei allowed his concentration to break and took in deep breaths.
"This is much more difficult than I imagined."
"Of course. The manipulation of divine energy is as instinctual as breathing to a God, but not so much for other beings, even ones who are directly descended from Gods like you. Compared to others who attempted to do the same in the past, you are progressing quite quickly."
"…It took me a week just to learn how to make these ribs, and they're so fragile that my finger flick can crack them." Issei deadpanned.
"Which is farther than anyone else has gotten in the same period of time. Including your parents, I might add."
"There's no point in doing this if I can't do it fast. Qlipoth could strike again at any moment."
'They could strike at Ophis at any moment' was left unsaid, but Amaterasu heard it and nodded in understanding.
"I know it's frustrating. Which is why I'm helping you. Hold still."
Amaterasu approached him and pressed a hand against his bare back.
Issei felt his grandmother's divine energy entering his body, and pulling on his own reserves.
Slowly, a red aura lit up around him.
It was pure, divine power.
"Can you feel it? I'm separating your divine energy from the rest and helping you draw it out. Now, try to create a Divine Avatar again."
Issei obeyed and latched onto the divine power Amaterasu was helping him draw out, slowly molding it.
The results were immediate.
The ribcage reappeared, much faster than it had before, having become more solid and opaque.
The spine grew longer as more vertebrae appeared, followed by the collarbones and shoulder blades.
The arms came next, with two lower arms sprouting from the elbow, giving it a total of four arms, each ending in sharp bony fingers as long as Issei was tall.
Finally, a skull appeared at the upper end of the spine, possessing yellow balls of fire in its eye sockets in place of actual eyeballs, and its teeth set in a sardonic grin.
However, it ended there. Nothing appeared beneath the bottom of the spine.
All that had manifested was the upper part of a skeleton.
"…It's certainly an improvement, but you're still being too wasteful. About 70% of your divine power is still not doing anything. Your control is as terrible as ever, I see." Amaterasu said as she rubbed her temples, looking like she was having a headache.
Something he sympathized with. Trying to learn a divine technique wasn't doing wonders for his poor mortal mind.
Issei allowed his incomplete Avatar to dissipate once more.
It had certainly been less strenuous with Amaterasu helping him to filter out his divine energy.
Feeling like an iron pike was being jabbed repeatedly into his brain was certainly better than a cattle prod.
This technique was extremely delicate, requiring extremely precise control to use and maintain.
Some Gods naturally possessed that level of control.
Tsukuyomi, for example, had such fine control over his power that he could do this in his sleep.
Others did not, the prime example being his own grandfather.
Susanoo was the God of Storms and Seas, amongst other things, and neither of those domains like to be restrained or controlled, which was why it was easier for Susanno to simply let his power run wild than exert any control over it.
Issei had only ever seen Susanoo's Divine Avatar once, and it had only been for a short while because the Shinto God of Storms couldn't restrain himself for much longer than a few minutes.
Issei, having taken after the most tempestuous of the Shinto trinity, had the same problem.
In addition to his powers over storms, he was also the Sekiryuutei.
The power of a Dragon, one who outmatched most Gods, no less, appreciated being restrained even less.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Ddraige was dormant right now, sleeping to regain the power he had expanded to save his life.
His draconic energy was much more subdued as a result.
Issei's current level of control was actually finer than anything he had managed before.
If Ddraige were awake, that already terrible level of control would become even more atrocious.
Perhaps Ddraige would be able to help with his control, but considering how all the stories he had heard of the Welsh Dragon tended to involve catastrophic levels of destruction, he wasn't betting that Ddraige was very good with self-restraint.
This was going to take a very, very long time if Issei could not achieve a fine enough level of control before Ddraige awakened.
Things would be easier if he had the Yasakani-no-Magatama to help him, but that would create a new weakness for enemies to take advantage off.
All they had to do was knock the Yasakani-no-Magatama off of him, and he would be able to maintain his Divine Avatar.
"I still don't know why you insist on learning how to do this. There are plenty of avenues you could have pursued that would be much easier. For example, you could have continued and completed your training in Senjutsu."
She had a point.
He could hardly be called a master of Senjutsu.
Being able to turn his body into pure charged particles seemed impressive, but considering that he could only maintain it for a few minutes before he ran the risk of losing any chance of returning to his original state, it really wasn't much of an accomplishment.
And if one were to consider that masters of Senjutsu could directly manipulate time and space to almost the same degree that Gods of those domains could…
At best, he could only say that he was intermediately skilled at using Senjutsu, nowhere near the level of a true master.
He hadn't gotten very far in his Senjutsu training.
First, because it also required fine control.
And second and most importantly, he really didn't like his teacher.
No, that wasn't accurate.
He didn't dislike his teacher.
He was just…very uncomfortable around her.
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto was a very pleasant person, and a highly competent teacher, but…
…Well, to put it simply, Issei wasn't sure whether or not he would be able to keep his libido under control around her.
Ame-no-Uzume was Amaterasu's handmaiden, the one who had brought the head of the Shinto Gods out of Ama-no-Iwato after her spat with Susanoo.
And she had done so by basically stripping off her clothes in front of most of Takamagahara's most important Gods and dancing until they started laughing, luring Amaterasu out using her curiosity.
She was not just the Goddess of Dawn, Mirth and Revelry.
She was also a Goddess of Sensuality.
Her usual attire was one that would get her immediately arrested for indecency in the human world today, if anyone could stop gawking at her perfect form long enough to actually do so.
Her personality alternated between a cheerful, clever woman and an experienced seductress capable of charming any male, mortal or not.
And Issei had spent much of his puberty in her presence trying to learn Senjutsu.
The keyword being 'trying'.
His already terrible control wasn't exactly helped by him needing to keep his penis under control the entire time.
And if Ophis ever found out how he had been reacting to her…
…Well, let's just say some things were better left to the imagination.
Part of the reason he had been eager to get out of Takamagahara and back to Kuou was to get away from her and her many boner-inducing mannerisms.
And now that he was back here…his brain was yelling 'Hell no!" while his libido was screaming 'Hell yeah!'
He decided to go with his brain.
"Don't need it. It's just wasting time that I could be spending working on this."
"Or it could contribute to helping with this. Or don't you want to become strong enough to protect your mate?" Amaterasu countered.
Issei twitched at the low blow, but did not retort.
He couldn't deny the uses of continuing his studies into Senjutsu.
While requiring a level of control similar to that needed to manifest a proper Divine Avatar, the difference was that he already had a strong foundation in Senjutsu, which he could continue to build upon.
By the time he had reached a level of Senjutsu that could be used effectively in combat against opponents of Qlipoth's caliber, his control in general should already be good enough to manifest a Divine Avatar of the same level as the one he had used against Rizevim using the golden Yasakani-no-Magatama that allowed its user mastery over Shinjutsu.
He had been brought lower than he ever had before, and his reserves were on fumes, but with the Yasakani-no-Magatama that Michael had returned to the Shinto Faction, he had still been able to create a full body Divine Avatar with enough power to wound a Super Devil, even if it had dissipated after the one attack.
That kind of power would be invaluable in fighting Qlipoth, especially Rizevim, who possessed the cheat-like ability to negate the powers of any and all Sacred Gears.
Penetrate was nice and all, being able to ignore Rizevim's Sacred Gear Canceller, but so far, he could only apply it to physical attacks.
It certainly didn't help that Ddraige yelled the names of all of Boosted Gear's abilities when they were being used, making it somewhat predictable.
The Biblical God evidently had a horrible sense of humor.
In any case, being able to create a Divine Avatar, even one that wasn't fully complete, would be a great boon.
Not only against Qlipoth, but also against anyone who wished Ophis harm.
Which had recently broadened to include most of the Factions around the world, now that they knew of her presence.
Issei was stubborn and headstrong, but he would do anything to protect Ophis.
Which meant that he was going to have to bite the bullet.
"…Yeah, alright. I'll continue my training in Senjutsu." Issei relented with a sigh.
Amaterasu smiled as brightly as the domain she most famously reigned over.
"Good. Ame-no-Uzume will be pleased. She has missed you since you left."
"Missed teasing me with that overly salacious body of hers, I'm sure." Issei thought to himself with a roll of his eyes.
Still, he resolved himself to continue his Senjutsu training.
For Ophis's sake.
Vali too sat cross-legged in the middle of one of the Grigori's training grounds, completely unaware that his destined rival was in an identical position.
His Sacred Gear had been manifested, the two wings of light sprouting from his back as he meditated.
Unlike Issei, Vali was not attempting to train in something completely new.
What he was attempting was something he had already been working on for months now.
He was creating an alternative power to Juggernaut Drive.
The ultimate form of the Heavenly Dragons' Sacred Gears was powerful, but Vali did not appreciate having to fight to maintain his sanity while using it.
It prevented him from focusing fully on the battle, and it would only hold until his reserves were completely drained, at which point he would completely lose his sanity as Juggernaut Drive switched to using his life force as a battery instead.
With the partial reconciliation between the past Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou, the strain on Vali's sanity was no longer as great as before, but the risk of losing control was still present, as lowered as it was.
And somehow, it didn't seem as powerful as it should be.
Supposedly, Juggernaut Drive temporarily removed the seal that the Biblical God had placed on Ddraige and Albion's powers, but the power boost Vali received while using Juggernaut Drive just didn't seem to be on par with the two legendary Dragons whose power ranked in the World's Top 10 Strongest.
Vali theorized that it was in part due to the other seal that YHWH had placed on Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, the one that had been partially released when the past Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou had chosen to put aside their mutual enmity for each other to unite against a common enemy, allowing Issei and him to access Penetrate and Reflect, two of Ddraige's and Albion's abilities that were thought to have been lost when they were sealed away.
The whole reason YHWH had sealed Ddraige and Albion away was because they were destroying the world with the force behind their clashes.
If the possessors of the Sacred Gears would continue those clashes, there was no way he would allow them access to their full power and massive arsenal of abilities.
When that seal had been partially released, both he and Issei, in Juggernaut Drive at the time, experienced a great boost in their power in addition to their access to Penetrate and Reflect, enough to allow them to completely overpower Grendel and Ladon, who had been pressing them before.
However, his theory was that the seal was only half of the reason.
The other was that the consciousness of the past possessors within the Sacred Gears were interfering.
When they and the current possessor were united in purpose, or when the current possessor had lost his own will, leaving only the past possessors' will, such as when Juggernaut Drive devoured the current possessor's sanity, the current possessor would receive a massive boost in power, which was why Juggernaut Drive was so immensely powerful when the user was not exerting any control over the form.
However, when the current possessor was fighting against them to use Juggernaut Drive, the power they received was lesser.
When he and Issei used Juggernaut Drive, it was not to continue the age long rivalry between the Sekiryuutei and the Hakuryuukou.
It was to fight against a common enemy.
However, that ran against the collective resentment of the past possessors, who possessed immense grudges against each other.
And though they were only remnants of the previous possessors, they were still human, and YHWH had made Sacred Gears to respond to human desires.
Thus, when he, Issei and the past possessors clashed in purpose, the schism caused a decrease in power as the Sacred Gear System attempted to realize the desires of both sides.
Thus, when they had decided to unite against the two Evil Dragons, their purposes no longer opposed each other, and the Sacred Gear System was able to give them a greater boost in power.
With the Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou partially reconciled, Juggernaut Drive's power should be greater than it was before as long as he and Issei could get the past possessors to go along with them.
And under normal circumstances, Vali would not have minded taking the time to dive into the core of Divine Dividing to reason with the past possessors.
However, he currently did not have that luxury.
Rizevim was now active and out in the open, and who knew when he would make his next move?
Vali needed to hurry and obtain the alternative power to Juggernaut Drive.
It was something that wasn't known to many, but Rizevim's Sacred Gear Canceller possessed a limit.
At least, that was what Azazel had theorized, because the only truly absolute beings in the world numbered 3: Ophis, Great Red and Trihexa.
If Rizevim was not almighty, then surely his Sacred Gear Canceller had a limit.
If the power of a Sacred Gear-based attack exceeded that limit, it could not be negated, and Rizevim would have to take the full brunt.
The battle at the conference had already proven that the power of the Heavenly Dragons' Sacred Gears' Balance Breakers was not enough.
However, if it was the same power that Ddraige and Albion possessed when they were alive, the same power that made Gods fear them and allowed them to reach the prestigious ranks of the World's Top 10 Strongest…
Surely even Rizevim was not capable of stopping a power capable of killing Gods.
And even if he was, it would be fine if Vali didn't use an attack that was directly influenced by Divine Dividing.
His physical capabilities would theoretically reach new levels, and that combined with an attack not derived from Divine Dividing's powers should be enough to end Rizevim's life.
Vali's goal in his training was to seal off the consciousness of the previous possessors.
If they could not interfere, the overall power of Juggernaut Drive would not decrease.
However, that alone was not enough.
Vali had no intentions of continuing to use Juggernaut Drive if he could help it.
Even with the consciousness of the past possessors sealed off, that fact remained that Juggernaut Drive was built to run off of the user's life force.
And as much as Vali hated Rizevim and wished to end his life with his own two hands, he had no intentions of dying in the process.
Rizevim had already taken too much from him, and Vali would not give him that final satisfaction of knowing that even in death, he had managed to deprive his grandson of one last thing.
What Vali sought was another power, one that would consume his reserves rather than his life force.
It wouldn't last long, but he could train with it until he could maintain it for longer periods of time.
That was infinitely preferable to risking his life whenever he stayed in Juggernaut Drive after his reserves had been drained.
However, this was much easier said than done.
Creating a new form was easier than one would think.
As had been said already, Sacred Gears responded to the emotions of the possessor.
With a strong enough will, Divine Dividing would respond and create a new form specifically made for Vali, one that would bring out his full potential.
And that will would take the form of a chant, much like the one that was used to activate Juggernaut Drive.
One that exemplified Vali's nature at its very core.
However, it was the other part that was currently troubling him.
Sealing off a specific part of a Sacred Gear was much harder than sealing the whole thing.
It was only thanks to Azazel's research that he had progressed as far as he had.
He could seal off the consciousness of the past possessors, but currently, it took too long for him to do so for it to be feasible in a real fight, and the seal was not perfect, slowly breaking down over the period of five minutes.
He had been stuck at this impasse for almost a week now, unable to progress any further.
It was a source of major frustration for him, especially with the urgency of the current situation.
And as if on cue, he heard a metaphorical cracking as the seal he had placed on the consciousness of the past possessors earlier broke yet again for the 5th time since he had started training today.
At exactly the five minute mark, again.
Vali gritted his teeth tightly, feeling all of his built-up anger begin to rise to the surface.
"Doesn't look like it's going well."
Vali snapped out of his red haze, and looked up to see Azazel approaching him.
He was not smiling in his usual self-assured, impish manner, like he was the only one privy to a good joke.
He was looking rather surly, much like the expression Vali so often saw on Shemhaza's and Baraqiel's faces when they had to deal with the Viceroy's antics.
He supposed that there really wasn't much to be happy about these days, now that the threat of the 7 Evil Dragons, the son of Lucifer, the Zoroastrian God of Evil and the Imperial Beast of the Apocalypse was looming over their heads.
Azazel hadn't been smiling much after the attack on the conference, but it had gotten especially bad after the fiasco in Romania.
It probably wasn't too heartening to go through all the trouble of infiltrating the Tepes territory in Romania to retrieve Sephiroth Graal and cripple Qlipoth's operations, only to find out that Rizevim had stayed one step ahead of them the entire time, taking one of the Subspecies Sephiroth Graal with him and shifting their base elsewhere.
Just that one Sephiroth Graal was enough to keep their operations running, which meant, despite successfully retrieving the Sephiroth Graal possessor, they had failed the mission.
Speaking of the Sephiroth Graal possessor, Valerie Tepes was currently hospitalized in one of the Grigori's medical wards.
While her life was no longer in danger once one of the two Sephiroth Graals extracted from her had been returned, but with the last one still Rizevim's possession, she remained in a coma, with no signs of awakening.
Azazel was looking into ways to wake her up without needing the last Sephiroth Graal, but with the threat that Qlipoth posed at the moment, and the alliance's lack of information on their full roster and when and where they would strike next, that particular venture was understandably not particularly high on his list of priorities.
Her friend, Gasper Vladi, Rias Gremory's Mutated Bishop, had been visiting the Grigori almost every day, in part to visit his comatose friend, and in part to train the power he had reportedly awakened in Romania.
A power that was so immense that Azazel had apparently felt threatened simply by being in his presence.
In fact, he was here today as well.
Vali went to spy on the Dhamphir-turned-Devil's training once, and had witnessed the pitch black darkness that had erupted from the androgynous boy's body.
An immaculate darkness that had set off a lot of alarms in his head, his instincts screaming at him to stay as far away as possible.
That was apparently a Balance Breaker, but it sure as hell didn't look or feel like any Balance Breaker Vali had seen.
That was one opponent Vali was happy to not fight.
But, in any case…
"No, I'm not getting anywhere. Anything you can do about that?"
"Without potentially breaking Divine Dividing in the process? No. Forget about that. Get up." Azazel said in a no-nonsense tone.
"What is it?" Vali asked with a frown as he got to his feet.
"We are going to spar right now." Azazel said as he created a spear of Holy energy in his hand and pointed it straight at Vali.
Vali's eyebrows rose up to his fringe in surprise.
"I don't mind, but why?"
"Look at it objectively. The chances of you getting this down before Qlipoth makes their next move are slim at best. Aside from the 7 Evil Dragons, Rizevim, Angra Mainyu, Euclid Lucifuge and Walburga, we have no idea who their members are. Every Faction around the world has a fuckton of enemies, and any of them could be a part of Qlipoth. And that's not counting the potential traitors in each Faction. Point is, out of the billions, even trillions of beings in existence, only a few dozen are stronger than you. But any of them could be in Qlipoth. What are you going to do if you run into one of them, and you're not ready to use that new form yet?" Azazel questioned rhetorically.
"…So, this is training."
"Not just for you. For me too. You've probably already noticed, but all of the leaders are out of shape. Most of us haven't seen real combat since the Great War."
Vali agreed.
Rizevim was strong, and as a Super Devil, was stronger than Michael and Azazel.
However, the leader of Heaven and the Viceroy of the Fallen Angels should not have been defeated simply because they had been stabbed in the lungs and stomach.
If it had been a lower-ranked fighter, Vali could understand, but Azazel and Michael were Faction leaders who had fought on the frontlines of the Great War.
Wounds like those should have only been mild inconveniences, not debilitating.
But, Michael and Azazel had gone down right after that.
The only explanation was that they no longer possessed the same legendary power that inspired absolute fear in their enemies so many centuries ago.
It was something that had been rather evident even before the conference, during the Kokabiel incident.
Kokabiel may have been the weakest of the 4 main leaders of the Grigori, but there was a reason he was once known as the Seraph of the Stars before his fall.
Once upon a time, before Azazel's fall into the first Fallen Angel, Kokabiel commanded a legion of Angels.
They varied in power and rank, but together under Kokabiel's command, they were feared as the Stars of Heaven, the Devils' worst nightmare outside of YHWH himself.
Their strategy in battle was simple in concept, but utterly terrifying in application.
At the beginning of any sortie, the Stars of Heaven would be the first to take the field, soaring high above their enemies and bombarding the battleground with spears of light.
It seemed like a mundane strategy, but this was a time when Angels still had a massive population, with the Stars of Heaven alone having a reported 365,000 members.
365000 Angels of varying power, spearheaded by one of Heaven's Seraphs, all firing spears of light from above.
Out of every attack conducted by the Stars of Heaven, there had only been one confirmed survivor, a member of the Phenex Clan, whose trait had bought him just enough time to describe the attack as 'a torrent of falling stars' to the Original Yondai Maou in a delusional haze before succumbing to his wounds.
That was where the name 'Stars of Heaven' had originated.
Humans liked to believe that it had been them who had invented the artillery, but it was a concept that had been created and perfected by Kokabiel and his legion back when mankind was still playing with sticks and stones.
And then the end came.
During another clash between Heaven and Hell, the Stars of Heaven had led the charge once again.
However, the Devils had finally wizened up to their strategies, and had deployed decoys onto the battlefield, having them take the attack in place of them.
Once the Stars of Heaven had exhausted themselves and the barrage had ended, the Devils leapt out from the shadows and utterly annihilated them.
Kokabiel had been the only survivor, needing months to recover from the injuries that marred his entire body.
And even then, it had only been his physical wounds that had healed.
The Seraph of the Stars had been driven into madness by the deaths of his brothers and men, and on more than one occasion had beseeched his father to allow him to return to the battlefield and seek vengeance for his fallen comrades.
YHWH had refused on every occasion.
Perhaps that was what had led to Kokabiel's decision to join Azazel in his fall.
If Kokabiel had possessed the same power he did back then, there was no way that Hyoudo Issei could have defeated him without needing to resort to Juggernaut Drive.
That was how powerful the weakest of the 4 main leaders of the Grigori had once been.
But, Issei hadn't even needed the Scale Mail to win, much less Juggernaut Drive.
Which only further evidenced that despite being a renowned warmonger, even Kokabiel hadn't seen real combat since the days of the Great War.
If the one Cadre who fervently advocated battle and violence in an age of relative peace hadn't experienced a real battle in centuries, what did that say about the others?
So yes, Azazel was out of shape.
Immensely so.
He was probably still stronger than anyone in the Grigori outside of Vali himself, and maybe Ikuse Tobio, the possessor of Canis Lycaon, but his power was diminished, a far cry from what it once had been.
Perhaps it was no wonder that Rizevim had defeated him and Michael so easily.
Getting him back to his original level of power was impossible without months, if not years, of training, but if he could get anywhere close, it would definitely be a great help.
Especially against Rizevim.
Super Devil though he may be, Rizevim was still fundamentally a Devil, with a weakness against Holy energy.
Vali nodded and created a sword of magic and demonic energy, something he had been practicing to use on Rizevim.
"Let's do it." Vali said as he brandished his sword.
And in what would be the first of many spars to come, foster father and foster son clashed.
Issei twitched once, and then twice, even as a red hue slowly began to spread across his face.
Two perfectly round fleshy orbs, barely covered by a poor semblance of clothing, jiggled right in front of his face.
"Oh my, Issei-chan, you're such a flatterer! You certainly make this old girl feel good about herself."
The person the two orbs were attached to giggled when she noticed his blush.
She was a beautiful, voluptuous woman with long flowing black hair not unlike Amaterasu's, decorated with a floral kanzashi, and eyes the burnt orange color of the dawn sky.
Her clothes, if they could be called that, consisted of a purple and gold bikini top, outfitted with gold ornaments on its straps, that did almost nothing to conceal her mammary organs, barely covering the nipples and little else, panties of the same color which covered about as much of her crotch as her bra did her breasts, with similar ornaments and a knotted rope resembling a yorishiro, a ceremonial rope tried around trees to attract spirits, at its back, and a translucent skirt that was open at the front.
They were regal yet sensual, much like the two extremes of their wearer's personality.
"Can we please return to the lesson, Ame-no-Uzume-sama?" Issei pleaded with the woman.
The Shinto Goddess of Dawn giggled, but relented.
This was exactly the kind of situation that Issei had been hoping to avoid.
He was still in the same training ground as before, but now, instead of Amaterasu overseeing his Shinjutsu training, Ame-no-Uzume had taken her place to continue teaching him Senjutsu.
"Ufufufu…Alright, make sure you're watching carefully." Ame-no-Uzume giggled one last time before adopting a more serious expression.
She clasped her hands together and concentrated.
Immediately, a glowing green outline appeared around her body as she steadily took in natural energy.
Issei marveled at how fast she was able to take in natural energy.
He wouldn't be able to do the same at even half the speed.
Especially not in Takamagahara of all places.
Divine realms were exactly what their nomenclature would suggest them to be, realms metaphysically connected, but separate from the mortal plane.
Separate from Earth, the source of natural energy.
As such, it was understandably difficult to draw on natural energy here.
It was certainly possible with the metaphysical connection Takamagahara had with Earth in the form of Kinkaku-ji, but the difference was the same as trying to sip a drink through a very thin straw rather just gulping it down manually.
It was a slow and sometimes painful process if one were to overexert themselves.
As much as he had struggled to perform Senjutsu during the attack on the conference, it had actually been easier than it had been when he was practicing here.
In fact, the whole reason he had trouble with it then was because he had been blindsided by the sheer amount of natural energy, and the malice that came along with it, that he had taken in.
The fact that Ame-no-Uzume could do it so seamlessly in Takamagahara spoke volumes of her mastery over the art.
The green glow around her settled down and entered her body.
Tattoo-like markings spread across her face, connecting to a half sun symbol that had appeared on her forehead.
Her hands unclasped and went back down to her sides as she turned to face him, her burnt orange eyes now having a tint of green in them and radiating power.
The marks of a Sage, someone who could properly use Senjutsu.
And the degree of the marks on her face was sign of a level of mastery that would put them above most supernatural beings.
And Issei knew for a fact that that was nowhere close to the limit of what Ame-no-Uzume could accomplish.
"That's how it's done. By the time this training is over, you'll be two or three steps closer to attaining this state."
"…Two or three steps?" Issei questioned with a deadpan expression.
That wasn't very inspiring.
And it usually wasn't something a teacher would say to motivate a student.
"Well, I'd like to say that you would be as good as me, but your control is quite possibly the worst I have ever seen after your grandfather. It will take a while before you come anywhere close to my level." The goddess laughed.
Issei sighed.
Why did he think that this was a good idea again?
Oh yeah, trying to get stronger to protect Ophis.
Right.
"Well, anyway, let's get you started. Do you still remember all the training drills I put you through?"
"How could I forget?" Issei asked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.
Outside of his training with Susanoo, the Senjutsu training drills Ame-no-Uzume put him through were the most painful part of his years here in Takamagahara.
As expected of the training needed to master an art that was said to be on par with most divine powers, even the easiest drill was unbelievably grueling.
A normal human would probably pass out from exhaustion without even getting halfway through.
First of all, two things were needed before one could even consider learning Senjutsu.
The first was a massive reserve.
This hadn't been a problem for Issei. Being a demigod, he had been endowed with greater reserves than most Ultimate-Class Devils and their counterparts in the other Factions, but the minimum required was at a level that was rare to find outside of Faction leaders and their top members.
The second requirement was a strong body, strong enough to withstand the strain of using Senjutsu.
Now this, Issei didn't have when he started learning.
That was natural, because he had only been 11 when he started.
He was stronger than almost anyone his age, but his body was not conditioned for something as strenuous as Senjutsu.
The first year of his Senjutsu training had been dedicated almost completely to physical conditioning.
Now, it would be easy for him, but when he was 11, with the body of a child, though admittedly more robust than a human his age?
It had been hellish.
He couldn't even remember just how many times he had thrown up, or passed out.
Though, it was thanks to that hellish training that his body was as strong as it was now.
It was after the first year that the truly grueling part of his training started.
His Senjutsu training for the second year was also dedicated to only one drill.
Sitting absolutely still for hours on end.
It sounded mundane, easy even, but it was much harder than most people would think.
For one thing, sitting still for too long posed a health hazard. It was more dangerous than people gave it credit for.
Probably because the average person doesn't sit on their ass all day.
And secondly, something that only a handful of people would sympathize with, Issei could not sit still.
Being born a demigod meant that all of Issei's senses and instincts were basically in overdrive, which made stay still for too long rather difficult even for the average demigod.
But for Issei, who was directly descended from Susanoo, a God of Storms and Seas and hated restraint more than anything else?
It was torture.
It had taken him almost a full 6 months before he finally developed the patience to actually try to sit still long enough.
His training for the remaining half of the year was devoted to learning how to actually sit still.
And by sitting still, he meant really fricking still.
In comparison to the Earth itself, a human life was fleeting, barely registering as a bleep.
As such, nature was slow.
Slower to evolve, slower to adapt than most of the creatures that inhabited the planet.
As such, in order to become one with nature, one had to remain absolutely still, to match nature's own pace, and take in natural energy.
It was only in the third year that Ame-no-Uzume started teaching him how to draw in natural energy.
It was easy on Earth, because he could literally sit down anywhere, and the planet's proportionally gargantuan pool of natural energy would right underneath him.
In Takamagahara, not so much.
The Divine Realm belonging to the Shinto Faction was chock full of divine energy, not natural energy, and it was difficult to push his senses past the ocean of godly essence and reach the gate to the mortal realm, where he could pull natural energy from.
That part had actually only taken him a month to get down.
The rest of the third year was devoted to balancing the natural energy with his own reserves, and also battling against its malice.
The malice part was relatively easy to tackle.
Compared to using Senjutsu on earth, the amount of natural energy he could draw on while in Takamagahara in the same period of time was low, low enough that he could pretty much endure the proportionately low amount of malice that came with it.
Balancing the natural energy with his reserves had been the problem.
He was fairly competent at it now, but accurately gauging reserves was not something that came easily to anyone, not just him.
Anyone could guess how much of their reserves they had left, but Senjutsu was an art that required extremely precise measurement, especially for a practitioner that didn't have a natural affinity for it, like Issei.
Just too little, and Senjutsu Chakra would not be created.
Just too much, and he ran the risk of killing himself, or going on a rampage from being overwhelmed by malice.
He had spent most of the third year learning to accurately gauge the extent of his growing reserves, and balance it with the same amount of natural energy, with Ame-no-Uzume on standby to force excess natural energy out of him before it could have any consequences.
It…was a bit humiliating to be struck over the head with an engraved wooden fan over and over again every time he took in too much natural energy, which served as motivation for him to get it right.
He had gotten it down by the end of the third year, and the fourth and final year was devoted to refining the technique, during which he had developed Buyu no Aragami, though failing to work out its flaws before he left for Kuou.
"So, I'm continuing from where we left off?"
Issei got a very bad feeling when Ame-no-Uzume started laughing out loud.
"Hahahaha! Of course not! We're starting over from the beginning! Don't worry, since you've already done it before, it should go faster this time around!"
…Shit.
"Ha…Ha…"
Vali panted heavily, trying to regulate his breathing.
His clothes were torn in multiple places, mostly centered around his torso, with burns visible through the resulting holes in the fabric.
His spar with Azazel had ended up becoming much more intense than he initially thought, mostly because Shemhaza and Baraqiel ended up joining in halfway through.
The three Grigori leaders were scattered around the wrecked training ground, each with varying degrees of injuries.
In their current conditions, Vali was stronger than any of them individually, even without his Balance Breaker.
That was how talented he was.
Or perhaps it was a clear indicator of how weak they had become since their prime.
But in any case, the three of them had been comrades-in-arms for countless centuries, even before they had fallen.
They knew each other's fighting styles, their strengths and weaknesses inside out.
And they could cover for each other frighteningly well, as Vali found out.
That was why he was covered in burns.
Despite only being a Half-Devil, he still possessed a weakness to Holy energy, though it was admittedly not as great as full-blooded Devils.
However, in spite of their weakened states, Azazel, Shemhaza and Baraqiel were still the leaders of the Grigori for a reason.
Their mastery over their Holy powers was exceptional.
If the weapons of light, or in Baraqiel's case, Holy Lightning, that they had created had made direct contact with Vali, he doubted he would be standing at the moment.
In the worst case scenario, he might have even died if they had gotten serious.
The only reason he hadn't gotten away with only burns was because he had managed to hit all of them with Divide at least once.
If he hadn't reduced their power beforehand, he would be ash in the wind by now.
But, he had somehow managed to claim victory over the three of them.
He had completely exhausted himself in the effort though. A strong breeze could probably knock him over right now.
His inadequacies had been made clear to him in the spar.
Thanks to his natural talent and inborn power, not to mention a Longinus Gear, he hadn't had any trouble taking on most opponents, not until he had met Hyoudo Issei all those years ago and engaged his destined rival in battle, one that was interrupted in the end by Azazel and Susanoo.
And after that, he hadn't met an opponent who had been anywhere near as strong as the current Sekiryuutei had been.
He was simply not used to fighting those who were capable of measuring up to him, or maybe even beyond that.
His response time and technique dulled when the battle dragged on for more than a few seconds.
It was not just evident in this spar.
It had happened during the attack on the conference too.
He had easily torn the Grendel and Ladon clones apart, but when matched against the original Grendel himself, he, along with Issei, were toyed with like children before adults, until they activated Juggernaut Drive, allowing them to gain the upper hand until the original Ladon decided to step in.
Vali would like to say that it had been because the originals were much stronger than the clones, and could even power by devouring said clones, but that was only half the reason at best.
It was only because Penetrate and Reflect were particularly effective against Grendel and Ladon that they had ended up winning.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Azazel had suggested that they spar.
The Viceroy must have noticed Vali's weakness by now, and was aiming to overcome it as soon as possible.
Just the way he liked it.
"Let's keep going…!" Vali panted out.
"Bah! Give us old men a break! We can't keep up with the energy of you young'uns!" Azazel gritted out, laying on his back in exhaustion.
"You're the one who said we don't have much time left. So, let's keep going!"
"Don't worry. We won't be your only opponents today. I've arranged for someone else to spar with you."
Vali blinked, not expecting that.
"Who?"
"That would be me, Vali-kun."
Vali turned, and froze at the sight of the person walking towards him.
A very familiar man with shoulder-length crimson hair, blue-green eyes, dressed in ceremonial armor.
Sirzechs Lucifer, formerly Sirzechs Gremory, was standing before him.
The current Lucifer and the great grandson of the original Lucifer stared at each other, the former with an uncharacteristically serious gaze, and the other with surprise in his eyes.
Then, Sirzechs undid the clasps on his armor, causing the metal pieces to fall to the ground with a long clang.
"Vali-kun, you, who possesses the blood of the original Lucifer…as the current Lucifer, I will personally test your power." Sirzechs declared solemnly as he entered a martial arts stance.
Immense demonic energy started rolling off of him as his limbs were encased in the reddish-black hue of the Baal Clan's Power of Destruction, buffeting Vali and almost succeeding in knocking him off his feet.
With Sirzechs's usual joviality, it was easy to forget that he was the hero of the Underworld's civil war, the man who, along with Serafall Sitri, Ajuka Astaroth, and Falbium Glasya-Labolas, had put an end to the conflict between the Old Maou Faction and the Current Maou Faction almost singlehandedly, beating down the children of the original Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus easily.
A Super Devil, just like Rizevim, who was rumored to actually be stronger than the son of the Morningstar.
Vali was about to fight that very same man.
Despite the exhaustion that weighed his body down and the bead of cold sweat dripping down his forehead, Vali could not help the grin that was threatening to split his face.
No one had been able to excite like this! No one except Hyoudo Issei!
"Balance Breaker!"
[Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!]
Albion roared in response to Vali's command.
The white Scale Mail manifested and enveloped Vali in a flash of white light.
Against the current Lucifer, he would need at least this much to win, even if Sirzechs didn't use his full power.
Renewed strength and increased exhaustion entered his body at the same time, causing him to momentarily spasm, but he ignored that in favor of focusing on his new sparring partner.
"Let's go!" Vali roared gleefully as he lunged at the Crimson Lucifer.
One week passed in relative peace since the incident in Romania.
And then two, then three and four.
There hadn't even been a peep of activity from Qlipoth in all that time.
It was a welcome peace for the Factions around the world, allowing them more time to formulate plans and strategies to employ against the terrorist organization.
But at the same time, it was incredibly suspicious, heightening their paranoia.
No one could see this as anything but the false calm before a massive storm.
It would have been fine if that period of accord had gone on forever, but of course, that was just wishful thinking.
For at the end of the fourth week of silence, all of the Factions allied against Qlipoth received a distress signal from the Greek God of the Dead, Hades.
Qlipoth had invaded his territory, the Realm of the Dead, their aim unknown.
For most of the Factions who knew little about the Realm of the Dead, this provoked no more reaction from them than it would if Qlipoth had attacked anywhere else.
But for the Biblical Faction, who knew exactly what horrors were sealed in the depths of Hades's domain, this was the worst possible news.
For they knew exactly what Qlipoth was after.
Their aim was one of the many beings sealed in one of the Underworld's Five Rivers, the Cocytus.
With the frozen river, there lay a certain being.
A being that was so old and had been sealed away so long ago that only the oldest members of the Biblical Faction still remembered that he was there.
And they knew him to be one of the few things in existence that actually had a chance of neutralizing Ophis.
They knew that a battle would soon erupt, not just between Qlipoth and the allied Factions, but also among the allied Factions themselves, over the Dragon Eater, Samael.
This is a pretty short chapter by my standards, but I guess that's what's to be expected from an interlude.
This was really just a filler to bridge the gap between the Romania incident and the battle for Samael.
Both Issei and Vali are training, though whether they will produce any results in time for the upcoming battle remains to be seen.
Next chapter will obviously be the battle for Samael.
That's all for now.
As always, please read and review.