To the three kids' relief, Ajuka hadn't gone back to the Underworld as he, alongside Serafall and Gil was in talks when they arrived at Sona's house.
"Oh, good afternoon, So-tan, everyone! How's your day?" Serafall greeted them cheerfully.
"Good afternoon, Onee-sama, Beelzebub-sama, Gil-san."
"Ajuka-san, Ajuka-san, can you teach me?!" Issei wasted no time doing what he wanted; asked Ajuka to teach him.
"From what I've observed, Hyoudou Issei-kun, your way of fighting differs from mine, so I am not entirely sure how can I teach you. And I don't think I would have time to regularly teach you, anyway," Ajuka explained to Issei.
Hearing this, Issei sighed. "Why does everybody think I want to be taught how to fight? No! Ajuka-san, please teach me how to be cool on the battlefield!"
…
The silence which was born out of sheer incredulous was broken by a giggle from Serafall. "Ise-kun, Ajuka didn't know how to be cool, he just concentrated because otherwise, his calculation could fail. If you'd let me though, I shall teach you how to entertain crowds as you fight!"
"Yes! Please teach me O Wise Serafall-san!"
"That aside, Beelzebub-sama," Sona tried to divert the conversation back to her pace. Her face held an expression of grimace as she dreaded the result of Issei's tutelage under her sister. It definitely would not be good for her. "Can you teach me how to make the Mirror World? The three of us need a place to practice and inside the Mirror World we could do everything we could without fear of destroyed properties."
"Oh, why don't you say so? I'll make a training room for the three of you in my office building later. I'll tell you when I'm finished," Serafall offhandedly replied to Sona's question.
Sona and Miyu looked at each other, ignoring Issei who was still in dreamland. Problem solved?
Miyu's expression conveyed that she thought so too.
Apparently, it was easy to convince the adults in their life that they need something. Was it a sign that they trusted them? Or was it just Serafall? Big chance it was the latter, Sona thought to herself. As much as she loved her big sister, even she, a rational person, realized that her big sister was way too lax for someone holding such an important position in the Underworld.
But.
As much as Serafall's action embarrassed her, she was still her big sister and she would not trade anything in this world for her.
"If it's like that, then just for today I'll cast the Mirror World for you kids," Ajuka decided with an unusual small smile.
"Heeh~, Ajuka-chan is smiling!" Serafall coyly mentioned as she held Ajuka's shoulder in a vice grip.
"Yes, I did. Why?" Ajuka stoically answered Serafall. And yet even Sona could feel the trepidation that Ajuka currently had being held by Serafall like that. Moreover, ever since she met Ajuka, she had a feeling that he could not handle Serafall's… craziness.
"Tell me why, tell me why, Ajuka-chan!"
"I'm just happy that our future generation is not complacent and ready to work hard to achieve something great."
"You sure do, Ajuka-chan. You sure do," Serafall retorted with a knowing smile.
After that, everyone went to the backyard and there Ajuka cast the Mirror World spell. Issei and the others instantly Install the Class Card they wanted to train. Issei with Archer, Miyu with Saber, and Sona with Caster. Those were, without doubt, their most powerful line-up. Saber's offense was too much and even then her other attributes are good. Archer's versatility could not be doubted, he could be the main or secondary attacker, together with Saber. And then there was Caster who could heal and use magic.
In Issei's opinion, their other cards, while good, was too specialized to use. Lancer for one-shot kill and Rider was too balanced, though her petrifying eyes were useful to contain enemies. Berserker and Assassin, Issei hadn't had the chance to use them so he had no comment.
"Ise-kun, come here, come here. I'll teach you how to entertain crowds!" Serafall grabbed Issei's hand as she dragged him towards a direction. Issei could only look apologetic towards Sona and Miyu, who also had an apologetic expression and a resignation. Truly, nobody could stop Serafall from doing whatever she wanted.
Once they had some distance from the others, Serafall began tutoring him.
"Okay! So, first thing first, you need to take these lessons to your heart, am I understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Issei saluted without meaning to. Her voice suddenly turned commanding towards the end of her sentence.
"Good. Now let's began the lesson. What do you know about entertaining crowds with a fight, Ise-kun?"
Issei tilted his head in confusion. Surely Serafall did not expect him to know the answer, he was, after all, just a normal human had he not involved himself with Miyu's circumstances.
"I accept weird answers too. I just want to know your perspective on that."
His perspective, Issei went deep in thought. He never fought before getting tangled in this saving-the-world business.
His eyes widened in realization as what Serafall asked him stuck inside his mind.
"Flashy," he answered. "I may have only slight experience in fighting thanks to the rogue Class Card, but I have the most experience in watching a fight that entertained the crowds."
That was correct. All the anime, tokusatsu, and live-action stage that Issei watched, every fight there was built on one purpose; to entertain. And indeed, as Issei said, every fight there was flashy.
"One hundred points for you! Yay!" Serafall clapped her hands. "Your answer is correct. Those people who watched entertainers fight, they wanted to be amazed. It's our job to amaze them, and that's why flashy moves work best. However, do remember that not everything flashy works. While it's our job to amaze them, it's also our responsibility to make sure that our enemies stay down."
Serafall let Issei absorbed what she said before she continued.
"It's actually the reason why I develop my ice power. It's flashy, and it works. From what I saw, Ise-kun, the Archer Class Card actually has quite the flashy powerset."
Issei nodded, confirming Serafall's observation. "That's right. Archer's power is quite flashy. It's just, I couldn't utilize its flashy side to entertain crowds good enough. That's why, please teach me, Serafall-sensei!"
"Hm hm~," Serafall nodded with a big smile. "I like that. 'Serafall-sensei'… please call me that whenever we're on our tutoring session. Okay, Ise-kun?"
"Yes!"
"Before we began practicing your moves, I have something to show you. In order for us to show our flashy moves and ensure that it stays on its original intended target, we need to understand one basic concept, and do you know what that one concept is, Ise-kun?"
Issei shook his head.
Serafall suddenly pointed her finger in one random direction. "It's the angle of the audience!"
"The angle of the audience?" Issei repeated in confusion. This was the first time he heard something like this.
"The main differences between a TV Show and a live-action stage is the angle of the audience. It will be hard to replicate TV Show's way of showing things to the audience as TV had multiple points of view for sequential scenes. That's why for entertainers like us we have to fight using the live-action stage method where the audience only has a single point of view.
"Ah, I see," Issei nodded in understanding. "Instead of a TV show, the fight is more like a live-action stage of a play."
"Seems like you're beginning to grasp it, Ise-kun. What is the biggest sin a live-action stage performed could do?"
Issei pondered the question for a while, thinking back on his experience watching so many live-action stages of tokusatsu shows. "The answer is... showing their back towards the audience?" Issei answered still not one hundred percent sure.
"Not quite correct, sometimes, you need to show your back towards the audience. For example, when the enemy is too strong, if the hero faced the audience, the audience cannot feel the menacing dread that the hero should feel. No, instead of facing the audience, the scene should be done in reverse, where the strong enemy is facing the audience. It creates a build-up where the audience felt the enemy is coming towards them," Serafall elaborated using stick figures drawn on the ground as a visual aid.
"You might be asking so when's the payoff? Well," Serafall then drew some more stick figures on the ground. "It's when the hero stood up from the ground. The audience sees a strong reliable back of the hero, and realize that they were protected from the approaching enemy!"
Issei who paid full attention to Serafall's explanation gasped when Serafall finished explaining her correction towards his answer. "You're absolutely right. It's also the moment where we as the audience shout 'You can do it, Hero!' to the hero and he turned his face to glance at us with a nod, acknowledging the people he protects! Then he got power up from our encouragement and finally defeat the enemy!"
"That's correct, Ise-kun. So your answer is not completely right, but also not wrong. The correct answer to the question 'what is the biggest sin a performer can do' is... not acknowledging that they have an audience! Your audience is a part of you, if you don't acknowledge them, you fail as a performer! Your way of thinking began to encroach this territory with your ad-lib of my example, Ise-kun. The audience shouting encouragements towards the hero, and the hero acknowledging the people he protects, it lowers the barrier between the performer and the audience, between what's an act, and what's real, between the stage, and the seats."
"I see... the same principle also applies in this situation. To fight and entertain, I cannot just cut the audience from the fight."
Serafall nodded once more, "And that's part of what makes entertaining the audience while fighting more burdensome than just all-out fighting. You also need to protect them."
Issei let the fact sank in before he nodded in acknowledgment. Serafall had said that the fight would be harder than just pure fight. But it was a risk he needed to take if he wants to entertain people as he fights. After all, he was a fan elevated into an actor!
"Now, let's move to the practice," Serafall made the figure of a person from ice and then carved the kanji for 'face' on top of the ice sculpture. "This here is the placeholder for the audience. Now let's see you facing me, Ise-kun~"
Issei raised his hand and blurted out. "Serafall-sensei, can you go easy on me?"
While Issei was taught privately by Serafall, Sona and Miyu faced off with Gil.
That was right. For some reason, the blonde-haired reincarnated Heroic Spirit wanted to test them. In his own words, he was 'seeing the quality of the hero of this era' which was weird because as much as the three of them were fighting to save the world, they weren't heroes. They were just kids stumbling into the situation unprepared.
So Sona and Miyu tried.
They tried to fight Gil and win.
Unfortunately for them, they couldn't.
No matter how much Excalibur Miyu shot, no matter how many Caster's spells Sona spewed out of her mouth, no matter how many times they tried, they never stood a chance against Gil.
"Is warm-up over now?" Gil taunted as he looked down on the two Magical Girls in Installed form who were panting on the ground.
"...warm-up. He considers this beating as a warm-up." Sona muttered incredulously as she finally understood the gap between Caster's power and Gil's.
"Why wouldn't I consider this a warm-up? I have not seen the quality of this era's heroes, after all. Isn't that right, Phantasmal Creature?" Gil asked the only spectator they have, Ajuka, who stayed on the sideline to watch the fight.
"Gil-kun is correct. However, you also do not explain things properly. How would your intention reach them otherwise?" Ajuka called out from the sideline. "Sona-kun, Miyu-kun. Gil-kun said he wanted to test the current era's heroes. What you two were doing is just borrowing the power of past era's heroes."
Miyu and Sona looked at each other after Ajuka explained things. So it was like that. Both of them nodded and Uninstalled their Class Card at the same time. Now Sona was clad again in the pink frilly magical girl uniform, while Miyu wore the purple counterpart.
With Ruby in her hand, Sona took off to the skies. "Water blast!"
It was one of the basic spells in her arsenal. It- huh. How come the spell failed?
"Geez, Little So-tan. How many times do I have to remind you, the attack name should be much more catchy than just plain water blast. Sigh, if only Issei-san is here... anyway, I'll name it in his place. Kaleidoblast Water Mode!"
From the tip of Ruby's wand, a circle with Sitri family insignia was formed, and a big blast of water that Sona herself did not expect came out. It made her aim wonky and missed the intended target.
"W-What is that?"
"Huh? Oh right. Aside from our first battle, you never fought the rogue Class Card with just my power, huh? Basically, using the power of the Second True Magic Kaleidoscope, I gathered magic power from the alternate realities, specifically your alternate self, to power up the attack."
...what kind of explanation was that?! And how come she only heard about this now?! Wait, did Issei and Miyu even know this?! Sona really really tempted to shout but she held herself back.
At the same time, Miyu shot a barrage of pink magical energies shaped into small balls towards Gil and maneuvered herself to engage him in melee.
Might as well try to use that one spell she accidentally used against Caster from Issei's boost. Though she couldn't be sure how many heads she could form using only her power.
With a single breath, Sona concentrated and formed the circle for her spell.
Below her, Miyu was engaging Gil in close combat. Although, 'engaging' was not a correct word because all Gil had to do to parry her and counter was letting a sword out of his golden ripple power. She had no training in close combat, especially when she did not borrow the power of the Class Card, so the clumsy attempt was easily shut.
That was fine.
She was buying time for Sona to unleash her spell, anyway.
"Trying to distract me, is that correct?" Gil grinned at her. "Good. I need a distraction, in the first place."
So her plan was known to her enemy, she grimaced but focused on her task. Gripping Sapphire who formed a blade tip, Miyu was thankful that Issei missed naming this one. Otherwise, Issei would force her to shout 'Kaleidosword!' or something like that every time she would use the spell.
Oh, shoot!
When her attention was taken by the thought of Issei, she missed Gil firing a bunch of swords towards her.
Discarding the blade, Miyu formed a blue shield in front of her to shield her from the attacks. Since there was no Issei, she did not need to shout 'Kaleidoshield' to form it. She was really thankful that Issei was training separately from them.
"Miyu-san, step aside!"
The magic circle that Sona formed above her lit up in pink as she heard Ruby shouted towards the sky.
"Kaleidragon Water Burst: Twin head variant!"
From the circle, a twin-headed dragon came out and roared as it descended towards Gil and her.
"Hoo, interesting!" Gil looked towards the dragon and crossed his arms. Clearly, he intended to face it head on. Miyu decided to do the smart thing and get away from the point of impact.
The dragon roared, and Gil retaliated by laughing like a crazed maniac. "This is what I want to see! More! Better! Use all your full power!"
From the golden ripple where he stashed his weapons, Gil took out a sword.
Sona did not recognized the sword, but if Issei with Archer Class Card was here, he would gasp as it was the infamous Balmung wielded in the past by Siegfried.
Then.
As the dragon opened its mouth to bite Gil, the golden Heroic Spirit swung the sword and decapitated the Dragon, rendering one of its head off its body. The single head remaining screeched and Gil wasted no time to decapitate it.
The Water Dragon dispersed into water as whatever semblance of control Sona held gone.
"...How?" Sona was speechless as her strongest attack was swatted aside just like that.
"This sword is Balmung. The Balmung from my dimension."
That honestly floored Sona so hard. No matter what you do, Gil could always pull out a weapon to win. Her mind began to work faster to analyze the situation. Considering what he could do, the only possible way to steal a chance to win...
Sona prepared herself to form another magic circle when suddenly Gil called out. "I think I've had enough entertainment for today. You may stop struggling."
Sona descended to the ground beside Miyu, approaching Gil who was conversing with Ajuka.
"So what do you think, Gil-kun?"
"They are not exceptional."
Sona and Miyu winced. They understood that they relied too much on borrowing the Class Card's power, but they did not realize that their own magical girl from was this lacking. To be honest, it stung being pointed out harshly like that.
"That's you judging as one of the past era's heroes, right? So what's your verdict as their opponent?"
At this, Gil grinned good-naturedly. "If I weren't me, I'd be dead for sure."
Ajuka laughed at that honest but still arrogant admission. "Even when praising others, you're vain enough to praise yourself, huh?"
"But the main point I want to make is that as you are now," Gil turned his attention towards the approaching duo. "You won't even scratch the other me who has my better treasure."
Sona knew that. Miyu also knew that. That was the main reason they wanted to train, after all. To prepare themselves to face against the enemies from Miyu's dimension.
"Train yourself even harder than what you think. That's the only way to measure against the other half of me."
Sona and Miyu nodded.
"Now you two can train with each other. I'm curious about what kind of training the fool did with that Phantasmal Creature."
"Probably nonsense you and I can't understand, but I'm also curious."
The two powerful beings continued to converse as they left Sona and Miyu who faced each other now.
In the end, they dispersed the Mirror World after three hours of training.
After the spar with Gil, Sona and Miyu trained to use and make new spells in their basic form. They also trained the other Class Card they had in their disposal, Lancer and Rider. They still don't want to use Berserker because they don't know what could happen and the two still don't want to use Assassin because of their trauma of facing the blackened Servant.
While their body was very exhausted, the two felt like they understood more of their powers now. A fruitful day of training.
As for Issei...
His practical training of sparring with Serafall with occasional interject of lecture in the middle of it actually made Issei exerted himself. Issei was asleep carried by Serafall by the time they ended the training session, his body full of bruises.
Since Caster's cooldown time hasn't ended yet, Sona could not heal Issei, so Serafall ordered a take out as dinner for them in order to hide Issei's bruises from his parents. Miyu and Sona's bruises were not that visible and they could hide it easily.
After dinner, Issei and Miyu were about to head back to their house. Tomorrow they still have school, after all. Ajuka also needed to come back to Underworld with Serafall, while Gil had nothing to do.
So, of course, it was at that time that Ruby, Sapphire, and Ajuka's detection device detected a Class Card activity. The world could be cruel like that.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I could have written this sooner but as usual, I couldn't think on how to write a training chapter. So hopefully next chapter can come sooner because it's showdown time! To be honest this chapter can come this soon because the current world's situation. For the past week I did not commute to my work anymore because of the current pandemic and now I'm working from home which gave me a lot of free time than before. While I'm hoping the situation to be better, I'm gonna milk my free time for all its worth to farm Priconne, GBP, and Konofan write this fic.
Also, my little sis drew me another illustration that you can see in my ko-fi page. Since I can't put the link here, you can see it in my profile if you're interested. Spoiler alert, after you see that you're going to change the opinion for your DxD's best girl.
