The victory celebration was a rather subdued occasion. Still, it was a happy party, Obsidian mused.

The adult himself didn't speak much with any of them, beside some casual small talk and jokes on Riser's costs. Most of the time, he only observed their interactions and stayed silent.

It was heartwarming to observe. From Rias' toast to her peerage and telling them how proud she was of them, to the idle talking and relaxed mood.

The toast was something most of her peerage needed. Their mood lightened up considerably when Rias took time to describe each ones importance in the fight at the time.

She was a good king, Obsidian thought. It didn't remove the doubts, but it lifted a weight of her peerage's shoulder. He could see that in their relaxed faces when they talked to each other with smiles.

There were three things that stood out to the adult in that party however.

First, the fact that Rias wanted to talk to him about his abilities. She wasn't flat out saying it, but the tone of her voice during their small talk and the specific looking stare she had were evidence enough.

Fair enough, Obsidian thought. He might as well give them a bone after everything that happened.

Anyway, second thing that stood out.

Issei was becoming a man. At least the adult hoped so.

He did witness how the boy was being flirted with back in Kyoto, but that was a little more superficial.

And the guy could not seal the damn deal.

This time however, Obsidian had more hopes. Because he could run away from kitsune he didn't know, but there was no way he could avoid two people in his peerage.

Asia and Rias specifically. The latter was getting overly touchy with him, blantantly flirting with him. The former got jealous by the latter's actions and tried to counteract that, sandwiching Issei between the two girls.

He looked like he was in heaven and hell respectively.

Naturally, Obsidian ignored the pleading look in his face. If he wanted to be a harem king, he gotta deal with it himself.

The third thing was the fact that Koneko stared at them weirdly and Obsidian had a small feeling why. It were glances only, but she did it often enough to warrant suspicion.

He needed to talk to the youkai, sooner or later.

It was due time anyway. Like, at least a year.

Anyway, it was a fun party that went on until midnight or so.

Which led us to this moment, where Obsidian yawned loudly in annoyance as he scratched his tummy under his black full body pyjama, while glaring at Issei in his school uniform.

Said pervert sat in seiza and shrunk at the cold stare of his friend.

Both of them had to suppress a shiver. It was a little cold on his garden, with only grass and a tree house.

"You were there at the party. You know I am exhausted," the Vietnamese stated in a dry tone and the student scratched his head with an awkward grin.

"Sorry, but you are the only guy I knew in the area who could train me...So, no hard feelings?"

"Don't you train enough?" Obsidian asked in a flat tone. To his surprise however, the boy glared at him.

"Obviously not enough! I need to get stronger to protect my future harem! Last time was way too close, I have to make sure that won't happen again!" He exclaimed with passion and raised his left fist.

Good thing he put up a bounded field or Issei would have woken up the entire neighborhood, Obsidian mused.

Anyway, the adult groaned and scratched his hair in agitation.

"Couldn't that wait until, I don't know, afternoon? Instead to...seven in the morning? On a Sunday?" He glared at the clock and huffed, rubbing his eyes a little.

"It could, but..." Issei lowered his head in shame. "I feel so pumped up that I want to get started as soon as possible."

Obsidian bit his lip.

Damn it, he could not say no to this kid. The fact that he looked like a poor puppy made it harder to resist.

Still, he managed to prevail. Somewhat. That low self esteem had to go away.

Lazily scratching his head under his hood, the adult tilted his head.

"Didn't you take out a lot of people by yourselves? You make good progress already."

"I didn't beat Riser."

The student's low voice sounded borderline depressed, but also like a fact. Obsidian's face softened and crossed his arm.

"Issei-"

The boy shook his head, interrupting any cheering words that formed in the adults mouth. Issei let out a dark chuckle and stared at the ground.

"No, I get it. I shouldn't be too greedy with my achievements..." He let out a sigh and looked up, a sad smile on his face. "But one enemy I couldn't beat. One factor that I could have stopped from harming my friends and peerage."

Obsidian took a deep breath.

He hated that of Issei. The notion of the boy having to handle everything on his own or else he would feel like a failure.

The worst was, Issei had somewhat of a point.

If he beat Riser sooner, none of his peerage would have needed to suffer.

But in that way of thinking, hell awaited. No pun intended.

Last resort then.

Bluntness.

Going on his knees, Obsidian put a hand on Issei's shoulder with a wry smile.

"You really need to work on the self esteem." His expression softened up and squeezed Issei's shoulder a little, voice growing quieter as well. "You are strong. You always were."

"But it doesn't hurt to get stronger," Issei muttered weakly and Obsidian realized he wouldn't get through him. Not deep enough to matter.

Because this boy cared.

Sometimes, Obsidian believed, he cared too much. Issei would hurt himself by trying to shoulder all responsibility on himself. To not feel useless in his life and not lose the good life he had thus far.

Obsidian sighed.

He wouldn't be able to change his mind. It wasn't his job, but the job of other people.

All the adult could do was to make sure that he could do that...and help the teenager, whether he noticed or not.

Because that was his job as a friend and a pseudo mentor.

Healing, safety and making him feel better about himself in a less harmful way…

That was the job of family.

With that in mind, Obsidian cracked his neck and took a few steps back.

Issei raised his head and tilted his head in confusion.

A pervert shouldn't look this cute, the Sorcerer thought and cleared his throat, glancing to the side.

"You know what, sure. Maybe makes me awake. And would shut you up."

Dear lord, he became a tsundere.

Luckily Issei ignored his blush and obvious lie and stood up with a wide grin. Slapping Obsidian's back, the Sacred Gear user laughed loudly.

"I knew I could count on you!" After sharing a smile with his older friend, Issei took a step back, crossing his arms behind his head. "So...how are we going to do this? A karate master? A master magician! Oh, maybe a beautiful strategist with big boobs?!"

"None of that." After the boy's shoulders slumped slightly, Obsidian raised his finger with a smirk. "One hint. You have a dragon inside you."

"I don't-Oh no."

Dread filled the boy's face and the Sorcerer's grin grew wider.

"Therefore...I will train you like a dragon." Clapping his hand, the adult began to pace around in his garden. "Naturally, with a dragon. And I researched a bit into Ddraig. A lot of dragons he killed still hold grudges. And they would love to take it out on his host." His grin became a lot darker as he chuckled in an evil manner and stared at Issei. "You better learn how to do the dragon skin trick again."

"You just do that because it's faster, right?" The boy asked in a flat tone after a small pause and Obsidian shrugged.

"Hey, I already have an anchor point with you and nobody in the vicinity wants to fight you."

"That just means you're lazy!" Issei yelled and pointed at him angrily.

"We know each other for two years and you only figured that one out now?" Obsidian waved his right hand before extending said hand towards Issei, with the palm in front. "Seriously, if I extended my search area, it would become chat roulette. I would have to go through all the dicks first."

For a moment, the Sacred Gear user stared at his friend. Then he shook his head with a smirk and went into his fighting position, left hand gesturing Obsidian to him.

"Alright, bring it!" With that exclamation, Boosted Gear was summoned and the jewel glowed in excitement.

The adult mirrorer the excitement with the same grin and extended his bounded field in seconds. Then, magic power surged out of the Sorcerer as he held his right arm with his left hand on his biceps.

"Challenger number one is…!"