Chapter 32
Disclaimer: I do not own High school DxD or Fairy Tail they are property of Ichiei Ishibumi and Hiro Masima respectively.
-Gremory Mansion-
Grayfia, Akeno and Xenovia collapsed onto a couch, exhausted and worn out. They had spent the entire day training under Natsu and now they had no more energy left.
"What did Natsu do to you guys?" Rias asked as she looked at the three as they seemed to melt into the couch.
"He made us train in the same way he trained when he first learned his magic," Xenovia replied with a shudder as she remembered the torture they went through.
"You remember the training he made us go through when we visited the Dragon Realm?" Akeno asked the redhead.
"Yeah, that was a traumatic experience for all of us," Rias answered with her own shudder as she remembered the torture they as a group went through.
"This was at least five times worse," Akeno said with a straight face. Rias wanted to argue that it couldn't be worse that what they went through but the straight face in combination with the condition they were in told her Akeno was telling the truth.
"How did you manage to survive?" Rias asked as she processed exactly what they had to have gone through.
"That would be because of the power boost they received when they became my mates," Natsu answered as he entered the room with a plate of snacks. He placed the plate in front of his three mates and watched with a smile as each one of them took on of the snacks and ate them with a smile.
"This will help with your recovery before we continue tomorrow," Natsu said. Akeno and Xenovia's happy smiles instantly vanished into looks of horror.
"That will not happen Natsu. Tomorrow is the day of the Young Devil Gathering and your show match," Grayfia calmly said as she enjoyed her snack.
Natsu gained an excited grin at the prospect of fighting the Four Satans.
"By the way, where is the rest of the ORC?" Natsu asked since it was only Rias that was here apart from him and his mates.
"They haven't come back from their training yet but I suspect they will be here any time now," Rias said as she looked at the clock on the wall.
"I'll go make some more of these snacks then so that they can quickly regain their energy," Natsu said as he began walking to the kitchen again.
"I'll come with you, I would like to see how you made these," Grayfia said as she stood up and followed Natsu who smiled gently at her.
"How are you able to stand up, I can't even feel my legs," Akeno asked but it was too late seeing as Natsu and Grayfia was already out the door.
"Well she is the Strongest Queen as well as Natsu's Alpha mate," Rias said with a shrug.
They talked to one another for a few minutes about their training when the doors opened again revealing Kiba, Koneko, Gasper and Issei.
Issei looked terrible with dirt covering him from head to toe while the other two looked much better, just a little bit exhausted.
"What happened to you Issei?" Rias asked in concern.
"Tannin though it would be a good idea to completely try and kill me," Issei replied with a slight whimper at the end.
"What, why would he do that?" Rias asked in shock.
"I asked him and he said it was to help me unlock my Balance Breaker. The thing is it didn't help at all," Issei replied.
"Well at least you have gotten stronger, even though you couldn't unlock you Balance Breaker," Rias comforted him as she gave him a hug.
"Why do the two of you look like you are about to pass out from exhaustion?" Kiba asked Akeno and Xenovia as he saw them slumped on the couch.
"Natsu put us through something that was five times worse than the 'training', as he called it, he put us through when he took us to the Dragon Realm," Akeno said with a sigh.
"That…" Kiba wasn't able to come up with words to reply to Akeno.
"Luckily Natsu made us these snacks that helped us regain our energy so I feel quite a lot better," Xenovia said.
Koneko who would usually demand some of the snacks just walked to her room without saying anything. Natsu and Grayfia returned as soon as Koneko left the room.
"Here you go," Natsu said as he placed on of the two plates he had in front of the group.
"This will help you recover your energy," Grayfia told the two new additions to the group.
"Where is Koneko?" Natsu asked as he held the other plate he made for the snack fanatic.
"She just went to her room, she looked a bit exhausted," Akeno answered. Natsu saw a worried look come over Rias' face.
"I'll go check up on her," Natsu said as he turned to Koneko's room.
Natsu arrived at Koneko's room and knocked. After not getting an answer he decided to enter since he was concerned for the white-haired girl. He quietly walked over to the bed where Koneko was sitting, almost asleep.
"Hey there, you all right?" Natsu asked in a soft tone as he sat down on the bed next to her.
"Yeah just tired," Koneko answered.
"Here, I brought you some snacks that will help in recovering your energy," Natsu said as he handed her the plate. He smiled as she slowly took one and began to eat with a smile forming on her face.
"Would you mind telling me why you are pushing yourself way past your limits?" Natsu asked after she ate a few and it looked like she would be able to stay awake for a conversation.
"What do you mean?" Koneko asked.
"You have been training yourself in addition to Azazel's training regime. You are burning out by overexerting yourself," Natsu said.
"I have to become stronger," Koneko simple said in a low tone.
"Your past will always be there, it will never disappear. The best thing to do is to embrace it," Natsu said as he began figuring out what troubled her.
"I will never do what she did, I will control it somehow. If I wasn't so weak I would have been able to control it by now," Koneko said in a sad tone.
"You fear the power you hold because of something that happened to someone close to you, am I right?" Natsu asked, just to make sure he understood the situation.
Koneko nodded with a few tears escaping from her eyes, she was surprised at how open she was with Natsu when she would normally try and keep everything bottled up.
Natsu laid his arm around her shoulder to comfort her. Koneko found herself snuggling into the warmth Natsu emitted.
"Tell me more about the past of a Nekoshou, and I will provide everything in my power to help you overcome the fear you have towards yourself," Natsu softly said as he stroked his hand over the white cat-ears that were on Koneko's head.
"How did you know?" Koneko asked, surprised that Natsu knew what she was.
"I'm the Dragon King, there isn't much that escapes my senses," Natsu smiled down to her.
"My sister and I were orphaned at birth. Sometime later we were taken in by a high ranking devil who took us into his peerage. When my sister's power became too great she went insane and killed our master before fleeing and abandoning me. After a while the devils started a manhunt for me, fearing that I would become just like her and tried to kill me. Sirzechs managed to take me into his custody and allowed me to join Rias' peerage where I would be safe," Koneko quickly summarized her life story.
'I heard about the two Nekoshou sisters and how close they were but after they were taken in by that devil. The thing I don't understand it how Koneko's sister would have fallen prey to her power. Something is still shrouded in mystery,' Natsu thought as he heard Koneko's story.
"So you want to become stronger without relying on the powers you have as a Nekomata because you are afraid you will become like your sister?" Natsu asked.
Koneko nodded again as another tear escaped her eye.
"I'll help you become stronger, but you must promise me not to exhaust yourself, meaning you will only follow my training regime. No extra training on the side since too much training can be detrimental to your overall progress," Natsu said with determination.
Koneko looked up at him with hope in her eyes. Finally she might be able to escape the fear of her powers. She began to get sleepy and her eyes began to close.
"I will help you embrace who you truly are," these were the last words she heard from Natsu as she drifted off to sleep.
-The next morning-
The group was enjoying breakfast when Azazel and Sirzechs made their appearances.
"As you all know today is the Young Devil gathering," Sirzechs started.
"And that means that we will not be doing any training since you need to look your best today," Azazel grinned.
A feral grin grew on Natsu's face.
"Then I get to beat you young Satans up," Natsu said with his grin ever present. Grayfia just shook her head with a smile at Natsu's enthusiasm while Akeno let out a giggle.
"Say where is Wendy, didn't you say you will take care of her training yesterday?" Azazel asked when he didn't see the blue-haired girl anywhere.
"She should be back at around lunch today," Natsu casually replied.
"What did you do with her?" Sirzechs asked with a face full of worry.
"I only sent her to someone who wanted to talk to her," Natsu replied.
"Natsu, please tell me what you did with my little sister," Sirzechs asked, attempting to keep calm.
"She is safe, so you don't have to worry. I would never put her in danger," Natsu said with certainty.
"Well, I guess I will just have to trust you on that since you won't tell me anything," Sirzechs sighed.
The morning went by without much interesting happening with everyone waiting around for Wendy to arrive before they prepare for the Young Devil Gathering Party.
They were about to sit down for lunch when a portal opened up beside Natsu and a blue-haired devil came out with a huge smile.
"Had fun with Eossinth?" Natsu asked.
"It was amazing, she took me to Air Mountain and taught me so much," Wendy said with starts in her eyes.
"I can see you following in your mother's footsteps and becoming one of the greatest devils alive," Natsu smiled at her. Wendy gave him a hug while tears started to form in her eyes.
"Thank you so much for everything you have done for me," Wendy said through sniffles.
"I will be there for you for as long as you live," Natsu replied, returning the hug.
'She will be in the same league as you if not better Grandeeney Marvell,' Natsu thought to himself as he reminisced about the woman who granted his brother's wish all those years ago.
The group questioned Wendy about her trading but she kept most of it hidden, wanting to surprise them the next time they are in a battle. The ORC group was not the happiest about that decision but relented after they saw she was adamant on surprising them later.
The day went by and soon they were ready for the gathering. The location was the town hall, where there was enough space and Sirzechs had the dimension set up there for the show match.
The ORC group decided to go in their school uniforms with the exception of Rias, who wore an elegant red dress, Akeno, who had a black kimono with a large white sash around her middle and Wendy who opted for a light blue and green dress.
Natsu dressed in a casual dress shirt and black pants that Grayfia picked out form him as she wore a silver dress that hugged her figure beautifully. The two of them went on ahead of the rest of the ORC group along with Sirzechs and Azazel.
When the ORC group arrived at the gathering hall they saw a large amount of younger devils conversing among themselves before Sona and her peerage came over to them to greet them.
It's good to see you again Rias," Sone greeted the Gremory heiress.
"Same to you Sona. How is your training going?" Rias returned the greeting before inquiring on the training that everyone was seemingly doing.
"It's going all right, we are all increasing our powers," Sona said with pride.
"It's good to see this trip is already bearing fruits," Rias smiled back.
Issei and Saji immediately began trying to one up the other with what they did in their training under Tannin.
"There you are So-tan," Serafall called out as she found her way around a crowed wearing a dark green dress.
"Oh no," Sona said, dreading the things her sister might try.
"Have any of you seen Natsu, I hear we are going to have a show match," Serafall asked as she reached Sona and Rias with their peerages.
"Wait you are going to fight Natsu, don't you remember how that ended last time?" Sona asked in bewilderment.
"This time will be different. One all of us will only use a portion of our powers since Sirzechs couldn't create a dimension strong enough with the given time and it won't be a one-on-one fight," Serafall replied with a happy smile.
"Wait, you will have allies in this fight, who?" Sona asked.
"Not going to tell, you will just have to wait," Serafall smiled mischievously.
-With Sirzechs and Azazel-
"Do you know when everyone will be arriving? I know Michael will be here soon," Sirzechs asked Azazel.
"They will be here soon, and then we can get the events going. Baraqiel is in charge of guarding Odin since some of the Norse Gods had a problem with the alliance," Azazel said.
"Seems like there are a lot who wants to go against progress," Sirzechs sighed.
"The main problem is that the Khaos Brigade is recruiting people as we speak," Azazel said.
-With the ORC-
"The events will soon begin so we should probably get ready," Rias said just before one of the walls broke down, revealing two young devils.
There you have it, Chapter 32. Once again sorry for the late upload, I had my test weak so had to concentrate there. Anyway the next chapter will have the show match in it so be ready for that one. Leave a review of what you thought or if you have any ideas. I am going to put the events concerning Koneko after the match because I have some ideas that I want to happen there. See ya next time.