Good Evening All! I turned around this weekend, and another month had passed since the last update; it feels like this year and last have both gone by so quickly what with everything going on in the world at large. Hope everyone is well where they are; as always, thank you for taking the time to read. As for this week, this chapter pretty much wrote itself. The problem with having so many characters in play is that it feels wrong to not give everyone at least a little screentime when possible, thus what should take a few chapters ends up taking many more. On the plus side, at least everyone will have a little "meat on their bones" character wise once the main story develops.
As always, please check the end of the chapter for clarifications and please do drop a line if you have something constructive to add.
Please do enjoy yourself.
The week following Valper's execution was surprisingly quiet; perhaps worryingly so in Kiba's case. The young Gremory knight wandered around school in a daze, much to the concern of his friends. Rias was beside herself with worry, and multiple members of both the Gremory and Andromalius peerage members sought out Sasuke for more details on his mysterious behavior throughout the week.
He told them all the same thing.
"When he's ready, he will speak of it. Or not. The choice will be his, so focus on your own affairs for the time being."
It was not as if there weren't plenty of things for both peerages to occupy themselves with. Tobio had started up the host club at Kuoh Academy as promised, causing the predominantly female population to lose their collective minds as he and Kiba presided over the grand opening. Kiba's smile was far more artificial than usual, but only those closest to him noticed the subtle shift. Once Issei saw the incredible amount of attention and fawning Tobio received as a host in the first few days the club was open, he immediately begged his new mentor to allow him to join the club. Tobio, in his usual even demeanor, explained at length as to why a known pervert as a host would cause irreparable harm to the clubs reputation. However, after much pleading, Issei was allowed to enter the club on a probationary period as a dishwasher with the promise that he would not cause any particularly disrupting commotions and keep out of sight. Needless to say, the kitchen was often filled with perverted tittering as the reprobate used his occasional breaks to peep out of the few windows at the passing girls that frequented the establishment.
Outside of the club opening, business as usual kept the two peerages occupied during the week. The Gremory peerage was primarily focused on cheering Kiba up, along with maintaining their usual duties around Kuoh town. As for the Andromalius peerage, the rating game with Sairaorg Bael loomed large, especially since Sasuke announced his intention to forgo participation. Considering that Vali Lucifer was leading the Andromalius peerage, it was unlikely that Sairaorg would have the luxury of taking the "King's seat" as Riser and Rias had done for most of the battle. As to why Sasuke refused to take place himself, he simply stated "My presence would be counterproductive on multiple fronts. By participating, the group would experience a general loss of battle experience, interested parties would have an opportunity to gain or confirm information regarding my abilities, and to a lesser degree there is the loss of status to consider. Why would a Pillar Lord be needed to handle such a young peerage when the group allegedly has multiple veterans present?"
Vali was ecstatic at the turn of events; he would finally be allowed to unleash himself to his hearts content without Sasuke's participation cutting his fun short. Tobio was more cautious.
"My liege, are you certain you will not reconsider? I realize that Sairaorg and his group are young, but they are quite powerful and have incredibly good teamwork and planning. I doubt there are many veteran teams in existence that could match them right now, unless one of the old monsters from the war wanted to come out and crush them."
Sasuke motioned him to continue.
"To put it simply, we are a ragtag group at the moment. Vali is a very powerful loose canon, but Sairaorg could potentially match him if he was able to mitigate his Albion abilities. I too am experienced, but against multiple rating game veterans? I could be hard pressed, especially since..."
Tobio trailed off while vaguely gesturing to the rest of the team.
Issei immediately puffed out his chest.
"What, do you think we aren't up to fighting a few of their pieces? Don't look down on us humans!"
Tobio sighed gustily while Sasuke smirked.
"Issei, Tobio is also human, he is just on a totally different tier of power than the rest of you."
Issei visibly deflated as Sasuke turned back to Tobio.
"You are not wrong in your assessment. Indeed, I am throwing you to the wolves on purpose to see what happens."
Multiple eyebrows raised among the assembled peerage as Sasuke chuckled.
"Needless to say, in a real life and death struggle I would not merely sit on the sideline unless I was certain of your victory. In this case though, this mockery of battle where there are little to no repercussions to being killed, I have no compunctions on letting you flex your wings a bit."
Tobio still remained skeptical.
"What if we lose though my liege? Will this not be a black mark on the House of Andromalius, a Pillar Lord losing to a young devil peerage?"
Sasuke smiled coldly.
"That outcome would not upset me; I would welcome potential sharks to come try and take a bite out of me so that I can fully demonstrate the cost of such folly."
Tobio looked at him with slightly widened eyes before settling once more and nodding.
"So a win win scenario then. If you are victorious in the rating game without participating yourself, they cannot say that your strength was needed to crush a young peerage. If we were to lose, then you can flush out your potential enemies and have an excuse to excise them once they begin hostilities against you. Very efficient my liege."
Tobio gave a shallow bow of respect as Sasuke smirked.
"Im so glad to have your approval. Now, on to other matters; I want you to take control of training the rest of the peerage."
Vali immediately began swearing up a storm while Tobio watched him with an amused glance.
"I'm honored my liege; but surely your Queen should be the one in charge of such an endeavor, no?"
It was Vali's turn to look smug as he stared down Sasuke, daring him to disagree.
Suddenly the world turned cold as a hint of killing intent was directed at Vali, causing him to grin in excitement as Sasuke rolled his eyes internally at Tsarmina's laughter.
Tsarmina took form once again as she perched on Sasuke's shoulders.
"Shall we punish him for his temerity Father?"
Vali sneered.
"You're welcome to try, grub."
Tsarmina turned a baleful eye in Vali's direction as a fat spark of electricity traveled her length.
"Trash should know their place, especially a half-breed such as yourself."
Suddenly the world felt heavy as the pawns hit the dirt on one knee, struggling to stay conscious as Sasuke expressed his displeasure on the world.
"Enough, both of you. Vali, I believe it's time that you get your monthly bout. It will be with me, right now."
Vali smirked as he saluted and transported to a nearby field, donning his armor as Asia hastened to setup the magical forcefields.
Tsarmina hissed in pleasure as she changed to her sword form.
"That won't be necessary Tsarmina; I will face him with no weapons and you will take time to reflect on your behavior."
Tsarmina angrily whirled back to her serpentine form.
"This is ridiculous Father! Why will you not allow me to punish..."
"Because it is not your place. I am in charge of this organization, and you are my soul bonded familiar. I give you many liberties, but at the end of the day your position in this organization is and always will be symbolic. You will meditate on that until such a time as you can fully control yourself."
Tsarmina hummed in outrage as sparks flew along her body before she went to her room, firmly leaving her tattoo form over Sasuke's face in loud sullen protest.
Sasuke cracked his neck as he and Tobio walked towards the training field in question.
"It is not my place to comment on your treatment of the soul familiar...but perhaps you were a little hard on her my liege."
Sasuke grunted.
"No, it's not your place."
Tobio bowed his head briefly before Sasuke continued.
"If she is going to be bonded to me long term, it's better that we establish our relationship at the beginning even if it is rocky. Once she matures, she will see the wisdom in my occasional heavy handedness."
Tobio grinned.
"I see you have much to learn about children my Liege."
Sasuke snorted.
"I am not going to coddle her. If she was a true child then I would be much more gentle with her, but she is bound to my fate and will have to fight for her life in the very soon future. Better that she is still alive to hold resentment over her lack of coddling than to be dead from her lack of situational reality."
Tobio bowed once more as he exited the force field, leaving the King and Queen alone in the impenetrable barrier.
Vali cheered.
"About time King! I've gotten sick to death of fighting these weaklings."
Sasuke was silent as he stared down his Queen.
"Tell me Vali; what has been the result of your last three fights?"
Vali scowled.
"Three fights, three losses. That's three times you should have been dead, yet you still talk about the weakness of your comrades."
Vali gritted his teeth.
"You're awfully cocky today King; I may just knock that crown off your head if you're not careful."
Sasuke scoffed.
"Only the weak make empty threats. Three fights lost, and not a single thing learned the entire time. Release your Balance breaker, if you still can."
Vali stared his king down coldly as he began summoning the legendary final form of Albion.
"You'll be sorry for this King."
Sasuke calmly watched as Vali finished powering up before disappearing from his senses entirely. Calmly dodging, Sasuke's Sharingan lazily spun as he seemed to flow around the lightning fast blows like water. Multiple minutes of this passed before Vali changed tactics.
"Divide!"
Sasuke quickly dodged the move as a frustrated Vali attempted to land a hit on him, only striking air as the unflappable Sasuke looked increasingly dissapointed.
Vali practically foamed at the mouth as he began frantically pulling out every tool in his arsenal; spells and Divide attempts all failed to reach the seemingly untouchable Sasuke as he flowed around each one. Finally, Sasuke hit the exhausted Vali with a straight jab before using a summersault axe kick to crater him into the ground, instantly dispelling his balance breaker.
Sasuke walked up to a dazed Vali and firmly planted a foot on his chest.
"Pathetic."
Vali gave him a hate filled gaze before turning away in self disgust.
"Do you want to know why?"
Vali nodded once as a frowning Tobio watched with his arms folded, obviously not caring for this post fight interplay.
Sasuke leaned forward slightly, deepening the cracks on the ground as Vali's eyes shot to him.
"Its because you are arrogant as hell when you have no reason to be, and talking down to the weak only reinforces how you you have not achieved true strength yet."
Vali's eyes blazed.
"You don't know what you're talking about King! Before last month I have won nearly every single battle against my opponents!"
Sasuke snorted.
"And who were you fighting, some beefed up stray devils? An overweight Lord that had never held a sword in his life? Some mercenaries that couldn't hack a position in a serious peerage?"
Vali's silence answered for him.
"I have no doubt that against most opponents, your overwhelming ability through Albion would be enough to finish them. Once you add the balance breaker to that, there are few opponents indeed that can match your raw power. But raw strength isn't nearly enough when you get to the true upper tier of combat."
Vali was entranced as Sasuke continued.
"The pinnacle of combatants are hardened veterans; men and women that have survived countless battles and learned dozens of fighting styles and abilities along the way. They have overwhelming strength, but more importantly they know how to use it with devastating skill and planning. You were rushed to the top because of the abilities you were born with, but you have almost never had to truly struggle in your battles. Most of your early fights allowed you to decimate your opponents with a simple flex of your abilities, and this gave you a false sense of ego and accomplishment that carries on to this day."
Vali, for once, was absolutely serious.
"I don't understand though King; I've only lost a few battles while I have won countless others. How then am I weak when I tower over most opponents?"
"Simply put, you learned how to approach battle all wrong. You go in overconfident and play with your opponent, when you have no contingency for when things don't go according to plan. If you are truly outmatched in battle, especially before you reach the pinnacle of your strength, you must know when to retreat and fight another day. You must also know when you are facing an opponent you cannot prevail against. Two of your three losses were completely preventable, had you not gone and provoked both myself and Sirzechs into soundly defeating you."
Vali sat in the crater, quietly mulling over Sasuke's stark yet accurate evaluation of his abilities.
"What do you suggest?"
Sasuke pointed to the nearby field where Issei and the six pawns were sparring with each other in pairs.
"Self improvement, with no regard for arrogance. Even I, with almost no true challengers as of yet, train myself every day and do not allow arrogance to cloud my mind during battle. I never play with the opponent no matter the circumstance, nor do I pick fights unless there is a clear reason to do so. Part of your problem is that you have few peers, thus you end up either picking on the weak and gaining false confidence, or biting off more than you can chew and losing due to your lack of skill for the weight class you are fighting in."
Sasuke held out his hand as Vali accepted, leveraging himself out of the surprisingly deep crater.
"Take the rest of this week and train by yourself. I want you to think about what your long term goals are now that your grandfather is dead, and how you are going to accomplish them. Further, consider how you would best benefit the peerage now that your training duties have been passed to a more worthy candidate."
Vali half sneered, but his heart obviously wasn't in it. As he stalked off, he waved away a concerned Tobio and disappeared over the nearby hill to continue his training alone as ordered.
Tobio threw up his hands and stomped off, quickly getting his fellow humans in hand and drilling them mercilessly to release his frustration. Sasuke watched with some amusement as the enhanced humans dripped with sweat, a tireless Asia making sure they were hydrated as she tended their wounds from each sparring session. As the young men all began running with Issei at the lead, it struck Sasuke as ironic that Issei was finally first in his group at something other than perversion. His hellish training under Sasuke before having an enhanced body allowed him to now be quite the physical specimen, his physique turning more than a few female heads at school. It also didn't hurt that his time around the local Yakuza had made him something of a de facto leader when necessary, giving him a sure step and a confident gaze that had not been present before. Perhaps most amusing was the few girls that had tried to make a pass at the newly improved Issei; complete incomprehension from the boy as he took their coy questions literally and left them thoroughly puzzled as he walked off. For all that Issei had studied the female body, he really did know nothing about how they expressed interest. Perhaps that was for the best though; plenty of time for that once he had established himself as a powerful figure and need not worry about being targeted for his supposed resident dragon.
Speaking of which, Sasuke frowned as he considered Issei's predicament. For all that he could occasionally draw power and benefit from his tenant, the old Dragon had never shown a spark of awareness outside the few times he had scanned Issei with his Sharingan. The more time went on, the more sure Sasuke was that Ddraig had no intention of ever waking up. Much like a certain nine tailed fox, the powerful being was obviously quite fine with ignoring the host as much as possible. Not that it was a problem though; Issei was coming along quite nicely, all things considered. He would never be a natural with the sword, and he was fairly awkward in armor, but he had quite a bit of scrap and improvisation that allowed him to win most of his sparring sessions against the older Yakuza Lieutenants. Even if the dragon never awakened, he would be able to defend himself from most threats within a few decades and could leave behind all the supernatural trappings if he so chose. Hopefully once his system cleared out his raging hormones he could think beyond having multiple harems, or at least have a more realistic picture of what it would actually look like.
Sasuke paced around the practice field, noting with approval the pawns straightening their backs as they saw him observing their training exercises. For his own amusement, he had adopted the infamous naming system from the Land of Lightning and simply named them A-F based on their respective strength levels. A was capable of holding his own against Issei, which was surprising given Issei's own recent growth.
Exchanging a nod with Tobio, Sasuke strode to the edge of the field and stared out into the distance with a frown. Far on the horizon, he saw dark anvil shaped clouds gathering as the breeze picked up. Nature, it seemed, agreed with him. A storm was on the horizon, and it would likely arrive sooner than he had expected. Stretching, Sasuke shook his head as he picked up a bamboo bokken and ran through forms in a blur, the air cracking like thunder with his swings.
When it arrived, he would be prepared.
As promised, Sasuke has to curb the hotheads of the group at times, though this older more experienced version is able to take a constructive approach after so many years in the field. Plus, Vali has some striking similarities to a certain Uchiha youth at times, so an older Sasuke is going to redirect that fast before it gets him killed. Realistically Sasuke should have died many times over, especially if Itachi had really been a soulless killer instead of protecting him from the shadows for so many years. In the same way, while I am not overly versed in the original DxD, it seems to me that Vali is a rather one trick pony with Albion, and high level opponents would be able to nullify a one trick ability fairly quickly. As for Tsarmina, she's just a bit of a brat at times per previous mention. Sasuke can be hard on her, but that's just because she's just another child soldier at the end of the day in his eyes, and he knows how to train and discipline those fairly effectively. If Sasuke had actual children (he humors Tsarmina but at the end of the day she is a soul familiar and part of him, not his actual child) he would not be as hard on them since they wouldn't be doing field work until they were significantly older. He's definitely not looking to emulate his father by having them joining the equivalent of spec ops as pre-teens like Itachi.