Chapter Twenty-One
Daichi met the group up in the mountains near the city where Rias planned to host their little training camp. Issei was just about ready to pass out after the hike to the summit with his backpack loaded up. Shirone and Kiba looked remarkably unaffected and Daichi gave the pair a grin.
"Ah! Kageyama! You handsome bastard! What are you doing here?!" Issei sprung to his feet once he had recovered enough, immediately pointing at Daichi and glaring.
Daichi stared blankly, his ears and tails on full display.
He turned to Rias with a look that said more than words ever could who just shrugged and smiled in return.
"I'm here to train you, Red Dragon Idiot."
"HUUUH?! How do you know about the supernatural!?"
Daichi turned around behind him, just to double check that he didn't have an illusion over his tails then turned back, his face set with lidded eyes as if he was looking at a particularly stupid insect. Rias finally took pity on the situation and explained as Daichi contemplated his decision to spare the waste of air in front of him.
"Daichi is what's known as a kitsune yokai, it's why he has tails and animal ears. Koneko is a nekomata as well, though she keeps her ears and tail hidden."
"Yokai are real?!"
"Yes, you fucking idiot. Now shut up so we can get started. Today will be the only easy day you have for the next week and a half. I have to evaluate your current level in everything. The next nine days will be the worst of your life, I guarantee it, but you'll be much more powerful at the end, and I'm not just talking about Issei. Everybody here will be undergoing training of some kind." Kiba, Shirone, and Akeno nodded in acceptance while Rias began moving to put their luggage away.
"Rias." Daichi's voice stopped her. "I said everybody, that includes you. I'll handle the bags. To start, Akeno, I need you to teach Issei how to access his magic. He has absolutely pitiful reserves, so we won't be focusing on that, but he needs to know what it looks and feels like." He'd be copying the cooking task as well, Issei's Dress Break was too powerful of a move to ignore. Something that can disregard defenses and destroy armor and magical artifacts instantly was an ace Issei couldn't afford not to have, even if it was a move powered by his perversion. "Rias, while I take care of the luggage, I want you to conjure the largest amount of your Power of Destruction you can manage, and hold it until you lose control. This will build stamina and power for your main ability. It's a crutch you rely on too much, but ten days isn't enough time to fix that."
Daichi turned his attention to Shirone and Kiba, ignoring Rias as she slightly pouted.
"Kiba, you and Shirone will apply these talismans to your body. You'll add one per day. They will not be removed under any circumstances. You will eat, sleep, and bathe with the talismans adhered. They increase your local gravity by a set percentage. It'll improve your speed and strength at the same time which will lean into both of your physical priorities. While under the talisman affects, Kiba, you are to practice with your sacred gear. Swords, sword forms, creating swords, destroying swords, swords with special properties, anything you can imagine, you need to attempt."
"Shirone, we'll be starting your senjutsu training." Daichi leveled a glare at the girl who opened her mouth to protest, flicking his eyes to Rias who made to object as well. "No. I will not coddle you. We will work through whatever issue you seem to have with your natural ability within these ten days. It's too short of a timeframe for you to come anywhere close to mastering the practice, but starting you on the path is the minimum we should be able to accomplish."
"You all have your assignments. Our time is limited, get to it while I deposit all this crap inside."
The peerage sprung into action, Issei looking around in confusion for a moment until Akeno pulled him into the living room of the home in order to begin his instruction. Rias stayed in the courtyard, a ball of destruction slowly growing in size and power over her head like a Spirit Bomb from Drag So-Ball Z while Kiba found a nearby clearing and began his training, a talisman pasted to his chest as he began summoning swords and experimenting with his power per his instructions. Shirone did the same, finding a nearby clearing, though she started by simply exercising under the additional strain as she waited for Daichi to begin her instruction.
She wasn't pleased. In fact, she was terrified, but she had received orders and Rias hadn't countermanded the instructions. It was all she could do to distract herself with the physical activity as she tensely waited.
Daichi sat lazily sprawled next to Grayfia as the Rating Game began, screens showing the various locations of each teams' members floating around them as she explained the rules and procedures. He casually kept tabs on Rias' team as they went about setting up traps and obstructions. They were far more powerful than they would have been in canon after enduring nine days of training hell, but Daichi wasn't holding his breath for them pulling out a win. They were all still far too damaged, caught up in their own problems to work as a team needed.
He watched as Shirone took her familiar along with Kiba to establish traps in the surrounding area. The only difference from canon thus far was a small intermingling of Senjutsu in addition to the magic-based constructions she was placing. She still hadn't fully resolved her trauma over the art, but it was steps in the right direction, even if she had only barely brushed the surface of the foundational aspects of the practice.
There wasn't much Daichi could do for Kiba other than make him faster, stronger, and more imaginative with his abilities. Daichi wasn't a swordsman, so he could offer nothing as far as technique went, and getting Kiba to un-erect his hate boner for Excalibur wasn't even remotely in the cards.
His eyes flicked over to the screen following Akeno as she utilized her familiar to perform a similar function to Shirone. She was likely still holding at least a small grudge from the abuse he put her through, though he had managed to finally get her to overcome her stupid hang-up of utilizing her holy energy. It was highly atrophied, and honestly wouldn't make much of a difference in this fight, but she could remedy that with time.
Rias dumped Issei off of her lap as Akeno checked in and they began their second phase.
Grayfia cast a glance at Daichi's reclined form before finally voicing the question she had been holding back for several minutes.
"What's your opinion on how this will play out?"
Daichi's eyes flicked over to her form and slowly scanned her down, then back up before he hummed in thought.
"It'll be closer than it would have been ten days ago, but Riser will ultimately win because Rias is soft, and the rest of them are naïve. The moment he begins putting the screws to one of her beloved family members she'll fold, but until then, Riser's peerage will likely be steamrolled until he's forced to act."
Grayfia cocked an eyebrow at Daichi's analysis.
"You don't have much faith in Rias or her people, do you?" It was a rhetorical question and Daichi simply shrugged noncommittally but answered anyway.
"Not really. She's a little bit better now that I've given her a bit of discipline and direction, but up until this point her and her group have been coddled and spoiled. None of them are delicate and yet have been treated like they were while being allowed to do as they please. The only reason they'll do as well as they will is from my outside influence, not any of their personal ability."
"Rather conceited of you."
Daichi shrugged again.
"Is it conceited if it's the truth?"
Shirone and Issei began their fight in the gymnasium as the pair chatted back and forth. Augmenting her already boosted physical abilities with a trickle of nature energy, it was over in less than ten moves. The Chun Li cosplayer overextended a kick and was promptly picked up, rotated and slammed into the ground while Issei managed to dodge the several opening attacks of his three opponents, taking advantage of their openings to apply his Dress Break in order to incapacitate them.
"You're just as bad as that black fox! Nasty! Pervert! Scum!" One of the twins yelled out.
Daichi blinked in bemusement.
"Don't look at me like that, Strongest Queen. He came up with that himself. I destroyed their modesty with a purpose, he just does it because he's a pervert and wants to see boobs."
Akeno dropped her lightning on the building moments later and Daichi shook his head. He had no part to play in developing the strategy they were utilizing and was mentally picking it apart as the game wore on.
Destroying the gym with such a massive expenditure of magic was wasteful, especially since the four enemies were already incapacitated. Simply removing them from the board would have been enough and kept Akeno as a silent backline threat. Instead, Shirone was blown away as Yubelluna made her move and was retired in turn which was a larger blow to Rias than the four taken from Riser moments before.
He did have to give credit where it was due, however. The traps leading into an illusion where Kiba was waiting was a good use of resources, even if it was a rather low-level strategy. This was a low-level battle, after all. It especially showed in moments where people chose to talk and monologue while on a battlefield. That was silly. Ego should never get in the way of the kill. You annihilate your enemy and move on to the next, giving them time to react or build up to an attack was stupid.
Kiba and Issei sprung the track field trap as a large portion of Riser's remaining peerage confronted the pair. Rias made her move and snuck by as the engagement began. Kiba went sword to sword against Karlamine and Daichi had to struggle not to facepalm. The kid had a sacred gear that literally made swords based off his imagination and he still never thought to use it even after all the training Daichi punished him with to try and break that habit.
Riser's sister not taking advantage of their numbers to simply overwhelm the pair was another thing that Daichi was internally groaning about. Who the fuck stands around watching as the enemy fights your forces one at a time? That's stupid as fuck, and it showed as Issei started on the backfoot but slowly began dismantling the rook, Isabella.
"It looks like Rias Gremory trained you well." She complimented as she dodged one of Issei's strikes. Issei tisked in irritation at the reminder of the past week and a half.
"As much as I wish I could give all the credit to Pres, that damn fox is a slave driver." Issei landed a blow against Isabella's guard sending her skidding back but Issei didn't let up, quickly reengaging. "That bastard ripped me apart more times than I can count, but I guess that damn Okami knows what he's talking about." He punctuated his sentence with a Dress Break combo into a point-blank Dragon Shot. With Isabella retired, Kiba finally stopped playing around and utilized his Sword Birth to retire Karlamine, the pair working together to take two each of the remaining four enemies.
Issei found himself quickly on the defensive, blocking and dodging as the pair of nekomata dashed in and out, landing blows in a whiplash combination. Kiba was similarly ducking and weaving, though it was more to avoid the massive swings of Siris' greatsword as she attempted to bash him out of the arena. Fortunately for Daichi's sanity, there were no passionate words of friendship or motivational dialogues this time.
Instead, Issei unleashed Second Liberation in a coordinated combo with Kiba, effectively eliminating the remaining members of the enemy peerage. Still wasteful, but Daichi couldn't blame them for pulling out that trump card at this stage of the battle. It did eliminate five enemies in one move, even if it was ultimately unnecessary and only saved them some time.
Meanwhile, Akeno was finishing up with the Bomb Queen, or so she thought, as Yubelluna quaffed a vial of Phoenix Tears. It wasn't quite as one sided as canon, as Akeno had managed to land several blows before her fatigue finally caught up with her, but it didn't matter in the end. Kiba was retired soon after, leaving Issei and Rias as the sole players on the field. Issei thankfully didn't waste any time, peeling off into the school building and promoting himself to a queen. Without Asia to keep Rias and himself together with her healing, they would be hard pressed to outlast Yubelluna and Riser together, especially with another bottle of Tears in play with Ravel as she had yet to be retired.
The pair took a stand atop the building, Rias doing a surprisingly decent job of attacking and defending against Riser's flames, even if one of her tits still somehow managed to hang out of her partially destroyed uniform. With Issei boosting and harassing Riser in melee and Rias now trading ranged attacks with the Bomb Queen, this final battle was actually much more interesting than the rather anti-climactic battle of canon, but it could only go on for so long. Riser was, after all, rather indestructible at their current level, and neither of them had the stomach to resort to the means by which they would need in order to win.
True to Daichi's running inner commentary, Issei was soon spent, his boosting finally taking its toll as he stumbled. Riser took advantage, a rising knee intercepting Issei's falling form. It became a one-sided beat down from that moment forward, though Issei showed his remarkable willpower to keep moving forward despite the odds. Rias could do little else than watch, Yubelluna keeping her in check as Riser began systematically dismantling Issei who refused to stay down until finally, she couldn't take watching her servant accept any more abuse. With tears flowing, she finally uttered the words Daichi was waiting for.
"I resign."