Chapter 8: Peerage is Training – Please Train hard
Alice sat outside the giant shrine, looking up to the sky quietly with her dolls Shanghai next to her. She sighed at the recent events.
She and Patchouli hadn't told Yasaka directly about the possibility of a spy within the Youkai Faction yet. She felt that they should have done so already, yet they were being hesitant. An inkling of fear crept to her on how Yasaka would react once they told her the news. She managed to convince Patchouli not to reveal that piece of information yet and she had agreed for the moment.
However, they couldn't keep that a secret forever. Sooner or later, they'd have to tell Yasaka. The possibility of a spy within Inner Kyoto was too high of a risk to keep unchecked. Yasaka was the leader of the Youkai Faction. There was a chance of her becoming enraged to hear such accusations, having been with the faction for longer than she had been alive. She was a very reasonable person, but was it worth risking it? A plan to try and root out the spy themselves had been considered before tossing it away. With only two other people from Gensokyo, along with herself in Inner Kyoto, it was out of the question. If she wanted to be more technical as well, only Aya would be eligible to take on that task as she and Patchouli would be too busy finding an alternative source to transfer the magical leylines.
"Oh? This looks quite familiar."
A familiar, jesting voice came from behind her and the youkai puppeteer turned her head around in its direction.
"Yukari?" She instinctively said, identifying the Youkai Sage as she saw a classic position she liked to take. She was seated on the gap distortion in the air as if it was a seat, wearing a purple western dress. A parasol was held with one hand, resting on her shoulder to block out the sun despite the shrine roof already doing that.
"Surprise," Yukari stated, smiling enigmatically as she pulled out a shimmering fan from inside the gap. "Sighing as if the world is so troublesome. Sitting on the porch of a massive shrine with nothing better to do. This is very familiar behavior, isn't it?"
Yukari shook her head in mock disbelief. "Honestly, shirking your duties like this when I've placed so much trust in you."
"And you? It's not as if I'm not happy to see you again, up to your usual ways again, but shouldn't you be at the border making sure the transition is going well?" Alice retorted, huffing at the teasing tone of their de-facto leader.
"Ran is handling it at the moment. The immigration is going well, enough that I can rest temporarily. If something were to happen to Ran, I would know instantly." Yukari answered dismissively before a gleam entered her eyes. "I may be weakened, but the distance between here and the border is short enough that I can be there in an instant if trouble arises. Those who threaten Gensokyo's safety will be handled in a fitting manner."
That was enough information to show Alice that despite Yukari being here, she wasn't slacking off.
"In that case, you have good timing. We've run into a situation. Patchouli and I could probably think of a solution sooner or later, but you being here makes it easier," Alice replied seriously.
Yukari gave a small hum of affirmation and stood up from her pseudo-seat to take one next to Alice instead. It promptly disappeared, replaced by the original appearance of the surrounding environment.
"I see. And what's happened recently that actually needs my input?" Yukari responded with a neutral expression.
With that prompt, Alice began detailing the recent events of Inner Kyoto. Patchouli's defeat against Cao Cao and Georg was the first thing mentioned. The powerful human spearman was a cause for concern, but Alice detected no sign of panic or urgency from Yukari. Did that mean he wasn't as big of a threat as Patchouli thought he was?
Nonetheless, she continued on to describe the possible method of how Cao Cao and Georg had managed to infiltrate Inner Kyoto, despite being sealed off by barriers that protected the city. The barrier was untouched, yet the alarms had not being triggered. Alice went on to explain the possibility of a spy being within Inner Kyoto as Cao Cao and Georg had been able to gather information on Patchouli researching to transfer the Kyoto Magical Leylines in a mist form. Possibly someone who was skilled with barriers to let the two infiltrators in discretely. She finished with Patchouli and her deciding that withholding the information was the best choice at the moment as the immigration of the Kyoto Youkai Gensokyo was going well. To reveal it could have unpredictable ramifications.
"It's unlikely that the Youkai Faction will discover a traitor within their midst. The majority of them are far too busy with other events." Yukari finally added, as Alice nodded at her words.
"Maybe. Our task is to protect the Youkai Faction and prove our worth until they completely immigrate to Gensokyo. A few days ago, the majority of the Youkai Council ruled in our favor that they'd speed up the immigration. Those two intruders wanted to stop Patchouli-san for some reason." Alice gave her input, and Yukari raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Then that gives away those two's actions. If you know what they're aiming for, then you don't need to worry about those two even if they have a spy."
Alice frowned unhappily. "How so? Patchouli-san stated that she'd be unlikely to win in battle against them. I might be unable to defeat them as well. Granted, I'm more versatile. But…"
Yukari waved her hand dismissively. "You're too paranoid. You're overthinking it."
"How?"
Yukari laid a hand under her chin, humming while pretending to think of an answer which only served to irritate Alice. Alice's patience prevailed though as Yukari eventually smiled at her.
"The fact that those two revealed themselves in the first place, while even stating their goal to stop Patchouli from finishing her research says plenty about them. Any fool on the opposing side who states their intentions is either confident in their skill, or has stupidity reigning over their logic. He didn't even take Patchouli seriously until it was too late and you and Aya rescued her," she began while Alice remained silent to contemplate over Yukari's words.
"Though there is a small chance I may be wrong, he likely needs Yasaka for something. What that is, it isn't clear. However, knowing enough of their intentions allows you to string them along. You don't need to find them. Sooner or later, they'll have to come to you."
"Wouldn't that be counterproductive? Having them come to us might put the Youkai Faction at risk."
Yukari elegantly scoffed. Alice mentally noted that it should have been impossible, but she did so regardless.
"But it could also turn to your advantage. There's cunning and power in just how decisively you can defeat an opponent when everyone believes they have the upper hand. They'll come eventually. You simply have to prepare for when they do. Have your forces increased unexpectedly. Set traps within your traps. Choose the environment most suitable for you to fight. Predictable behavior ironically is how I've managed to keep my boredom at bay, and Gensokyo alive after all."
Alice couldn't argue with that. Most of Yukari's antics in the past were relatively harmless in the end. That didn't mean she liked her methods too much though.
"If I might recommend something, informing Yasaka would be a good start. Yasaka is the one who can make all the decisions in the end, including adding additional guard. If those two are in a mist form, I doubt it's to the same expanse as Suika's. They can't be everywhere at once. If you're secretive enough, the spy shouldn't be able to catch wind of your activities. Moreso if Yasaka is involved. That should be enough to work with." Yukari concluded as Alice nodded her confirmation.
"Yes, thank you. But…" Alice looked at her questioningly. "I almost forgot to ask, since this went on for a while. What are you here for? Did you need something from us?"
Yukari smiled at the puppeteer, extending her hand into a gap to grab something. Her arm eventually stopped and she began pulling it out. Once it was completely removed from the gap, it closed and Alice's eyes glanced to whatever Yukari had taken from the gap.
Paper envelopes. Several of them were held loosely in Yukari's gloved hand.
"I simply intended to engage in light talk and to play as a messenger for the Gensokyo Team. This is for you." Yukari handed one of the envelopes to Alice which the latter took lightly.
She flipped it over to read who the person sending it was.
"To, Alice-san. From, Reimi Hakurei?" She muttered to herself quietly though Yukari heard anyway.
"Surprise." Yukari chuckled as her once again stated word, held very little enthusiasm as was intended originally. "She requested me to hand each of these to you six personally when I had the time. Do get around to it when you can. She wrote each one herself and she expects a reply eventually. I suspect she'll know if you take too long. After all, her intuition is quite powerful for someone of the Hakurei Line."
"I didn't think I was close enough to Reimi to receive a letter. I visited her frequently with Marisa, but it was more for her benefit rather than my own." Alice commented, slipping the letter delicately into her Grimoire, similarly to a bookmark.
"It may have been for Marisa, but Reimi enjoyed your presence nonetheless. She's young, but she remembers those visits very well." Yukari replied as she stood up from her seat.
"You're leaving already?" Alice questioned, standing up from her spot as well on the porch. "I'd have thought you'd stay longer to give the rest of the letters to Aya and Patchouli."
Yukari opened a gap. "I may have told the Youkai Faction that I was handling important personal business. I'll drop the rest of the letters off personally another time. Reimi told me to after all."
Alice wryly grinned. "I can imagine Suika already commenting. The great Yukari Yakumo, lowered to a kid's mail messenger."
Yukari turned around, grinning all the while. "It's not a bad job, considering who I'm doing it for after all. I wish you the best of luck."
And with that, she walked into the gap, disappearing with no trace of her being there as the gap closed. Alice decided to turn her focus on the letter instead.
"I suppose there's nothing more to do. I'll head back to my room to read this." She concluded, walking back into the depths of the shrine to open Reimi's letter to her.
xXx
The so called, 'vacation home' was more like a mansion, Marisa noted. Rias had led the entire group consisting of the Inaba Clinic and the entirety of her peerage towards the outlying forest path near Kuoh Town. At first the Gensokyo crew had no idea where they were being led to. When they had asked, all Rias told them was that it was a training spot that they could use. They certainly hadn't expected something the size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Suika and Marisa both whistled, impressed at the size of such a 'home.'
"Ya' think Yukari would give us somethin' like this if we make out of here alive?" Marisa questioned, nudging Suika gently.
Suika returned her gesture with a toothy smile. "Maybe when everything blows over, you could ask her fer yourself. I already stay at Reimu's place most of the time nowadays anyway. I'm fine just stickin' around with Reimi."
Reisen turned to Marisa with an unamused expression. "Didn't Alice-san say that she frequently has to clean up your house Marisa? If you can't keep your own house clean, what makes you think it'd be a good idea to handle something bigger?"
Marisa simply shrugged and grinned back. "That's easy! I'll just stuff it with bookshelves so it definitely won't be as messy! And I'll have a bigger room for everything I keep! Then I'll just pay Patchy a visit ta' help fill it up! I'm sure she wouldn't mind so much if I did."
The Lunarian shook her head solemnly and sighed. "That's absolutely beside the point. And even then, given what I hear about your usual reputation and shenanigans, I don't believe she'd be happy to see you at all."
The human witch waved the statement off dismissively. "Nah~! Trust me! I'll get her ta' help me out! Whether she wants to or not!"
"In other words, you'll simply steal her books if she doesn't say yes." Reisen bluntly rephrased.
"Hey… don't phrase it like that. That's a mean way to say it." Marisa sulked, though there was no hint of denial.
"But it's the truth isn't it?" The light, purple-haired female deadpanned at the blonde and upon receiving another grin, she simply sighed at her antics.
Along the road to vacation home, Reisen had taken the time to think over what had happened to lead them to this situation. Rias had requested her assistance for something at the Clinic, but the circumstances were more complicated.
xXx
"Assistance? With what? This doesn't sound like something that would require our healing services." Reisen immediately replied.
Rias gave a head gesture resembling refusal. "No. It doesn't. But from what I know, I need your help anyway. Please, let me explain."
Marisa looked to Reisen, asking her silently what she wanted to do. Common courtesy dictated that they'd at least hear what they had to say before refusing or accepting. The latter silently nodded her acceptance to both the self-proclaimed Witch and high-class devil.
"What is it then, Rias-san?"
"I know that you have no obligation to assist us beyond the circumstances of our contract of providing healing services and informing us of any suspicious activities around the town, but I'd like to request something regardless." Rias began, pausing to allow the moon rabbit to absorb the information.
"And that is?"
"We'd like to formally request the Inaba Clinic to help train us in preparation for our Rating Game against Riser Phenex." She answered, as the two Gensokyo residents looked to her with various features. Marisa with her lips turned downwards into a frown while Reisen remained neutral.
"I understand that you have many questions and though I'd like to answer all of them, I can only answer a few. I'm… under a strict time table."
Marisa was the first to speak up. "In that case, why do ya' need us to help you?"
"To make things short, if I lose the Rating Game, I will be married against my will. I can't accept that and I will defy it no matter what."
Suddenly, it became clear to Reisen on why there was so much tension in the first place. Rias was desperate. Desperate enough to come to them to ask for something that they didn't necessarily have to agree to. They didn't have any personal stake or involvement in her problems, but she ignored it in favor of at least asking anyway. And if the fire in her eyes were any indication, desperation could easily breed strong determination in the face of conflict.
"To that end, I will ask for help from anybody I can get reasonably."
"What about Sona-san?" Reisen mentioned, recalling her from the negotiations. "Wouldn't she be able to help you?"
Rias shook her head in denial. "Though this Rating Game is supposed to be unofficial as I'm not old enough to participate, anybody high enough in devil society will be watching me. Riser has asked that I receive no outside help involving devils to ensure by my own power that I win. Sona is a high-level devil as well. If she helped me, her reputation would be damaged heavily. As her friend, I won't do that to her."
So in other words, Reisen thought, anybody who was involved in devil society wasn't allowed to help Rias. It came to say that since most people Rias probably knew that had power were devils, it certainly cut her off from gaining any potential help. It was a move intended to limit what she could do. Whoever this Riser was, he had an aptitude for cutthroat politics though that may just come with being a devil.
"Riser is cocky, self-absorbed, and arrogant. But he isn't stupid. He wants to make sure that I don't have any way of winning and crush whatever spirit I have."
"But since we're not devils, we don't count towards the restriction. Therefore, we're assets he doesn't know about." Reisen analyzed Rias' train of thought. "And considering you're here, he must have given you something you can use."
Rias nodded heavily. "Yes. He's given us ten days to 'prepare ourselves for the inevitable end.' Just enough time to make us think we have hope, but it's actually not a lot of time at all."
"We know that the Inaba Clinic isn't just skilled at healing services. At least two out of three of you are much stronger than us. Please, help us." Rias practically pleaded as the rest of her peerage joined her with hopeful looks.
Reisen muddled in her thoughts to think of the possible course of actions. Obviously, they could just turn down Rias. They didn't need to involve themselves with Rias' affairs, no matter how bad the circumstances were. It didn't really have anything to do with them from what she knew. On the other hand, this was practically one of the best things that could have happened to the Clinic. Rias, even as a devil, seemed like an honorable person as far as she knew. If the Clinic Team helped her, not only would Rias would be indebted to them, but it would help gain her trust very quickly. It would help them become allies beyond the tentative negotiations they had weeks earlier. It'd make things easier once they eventually revealed to them why they were actually in Kuoh in the first place.
The answer was obvious.
With resolution in her mind, Reisen gave the phrase the devils wanted to hear the most.
"We'll do it."
xXx
Eventually the team was led by Rias to what appeared to be a large dining room, complete with a long fancy, rectangle table. Lined up around it were luxurious chairs around the empty space, easily able to seat more than fifteen people at a time. A large window shone the sunlight in on one side of the wall. Another door laid on another side of the large room, to which the Inaba Clinic assumed led to a kitchen.
"Everyone, please have a seat." The crimson-haired devil requested to which everyone did so at random spots while she took her own place at a farther, narrow end of the table.
"Thank you." She graciously said, taking a quick glance at both her peerage and the three members of the Inaba Clinic. "To reiterate, we'll be having a Rating Game against Riser Phenex in ten days. In the time that we've been given, we'll have to train as hard as we can to match up to his peerage. But, I don't know how to train everyone and what we should be doing. Therefore, I've asked the Inaba Clinic to help us on what we should do to help prepare for the game against Riser."
The entire Peerage turned to the members of the said clinic who were all sitting together on one side of the table.
"Eh-hem," Reisen cleared her throat before beginning. "The first thing we should determine is what exactly the Rating Game is. Our group isn't knowledgeable about it and we accepted your request to help train you on the basis of building trust between us. Thus, it would be helpful if we knew what a Rating Game is and what it's supposed to be. Would you explain that to us please, Rias-san?"
The addressed leader nodded in confirmation. "It seems like a good place to start. The Rating Game consists of a battle between two high-ranking devils, using both themselves and their peerage. It's used in different ways, but the most common one is a show of power to other devils. It's meant to simulate war and nobody can die in a Rating Game. Officially, I'm not allowed to be in one, but the circumstances have changed."
Reisen gave a small hum to show she was listening.
"Each peerage is led by the King, a high-ranking devil such as myself. The Rating Game then has us fight each other in some way. The winning conditions can be different in each one, but the most common one is when the King is defeated in battle or they surrender."
"So, it's basically a team battle and the King is the boss, right? Is that it?" Marisa simplified to which Rias nodded.
"In a way, it is. The peerage itself is the team that protects them."
"I kept hearing 'bout some chess pieces being involved in all this. That have anything to do with all this?" Suika inputted her question.
"Yes." Akeno decided to answer the hidden Oni's question. "Each member of a peerage can be classified as a chess piece and each one has its strengths and weaknesses."
Reisen turned to the raven haired maiden. "I remember Rias introducing you as her Queen. So then you'd be something like her second-in-command, correct?"
Another nod came from her, but the answer came from Rias this time. "That's right. Each piece also has powers connected to them. Generally speaking, each piece increases their general physical prowess. The specialized pieces all grant different abilities though."
She first turned to Issei. "Issei is my Pawn. The Pawn doesn't have any special powers, but if they manage to reach the enemy base in a Rating Game, they can promote to any other piece to gain their powers."
Rias then gestured towards Kiba, sitting next to the perverted young man. "Kiba is my Knight. The Knight's specialty is their speed and mobility, but they don't have very good defenses."
Next to Kiba was the shortest girl of the group, who had remained silent the entire time. "Koneko is my Rook. The Rook's specialty is their physical strength and endurance. They're mean to be in the front, but they're generally slower fighters."
"I am the Queen. The Queen takes all of the strengths of each piece of the other pieces and combines it into one without any of the weaknesses." Akeno finished up and the Inaba Clinic group each gave their own forms of affirmation. "And the King doesn't receive anything as they are the leader."
"This almost seems reminiscent of Chess. I'm not overly familiar with it, but you only have five members. Aren't you supposed to have sixteen members then? You haven't mentioned the Bishop either." Reisen questioned to which Rias grimaced in response.
"The Bishop is a magic-oriented piece. They have increased magical prowess, but are weak to anything that manages to reach them generally. I have one but…" She bit her lip, hesitating momentarily before continuing. "I can't have him out at the moment, for good reason. This is everybody I'll have to fight with."
"So I can assume that you are also missing a Rook, a Bishop, a Knight, and seven Pawns?" Reisen inquisitively probed for more information.
"The first three is right. I don't have members for them. As for the pawns, it's another mechanic of the Peerage System we have. The Evil Pieces I have are meant to judge the potential of a person. The more a person takes, the higher their potential. Issei actually took eight pawns." Rias answered honestly, which caused the Gensokyo Team to look at him with different expressions on their face.
"Him? Seriously?" Marisa scratched her head, puzzled at such a person being capable of that much power. "He didn't really look all that good though when Suika and I fought with him at the church. Blondie did more work than he did."
Issei stood up from his seat, glowering at the witch. "Hey! I… I didn't do that bad! I did alright in the end and that's all that matters!"
"Issei-kun, please sit." Kiba attempted to calm him down, succeeding as he sat back down. Though, the glum look plastered on him clearly showed his reaction to her words.
Reisen cocked an eyebrow. Had something happened recently? Issei had bounced back fairly quickly after the church excursion to save his friend Asia. He didn't seem like someone who would dwell on something like that for so long.
"So that's probably what I saw when she went to heal the kid. I saw her put something in his chest before I left. Was probably the pawns she was talkin' 'bout." Suika whispered quietly to Reisen who gave no reaction as to not arouse suspicion from the peerage."
"Wait, if you've got five people…" Marisa started, turning to Rias after thinking over the information given. "How many does this Riser Phenex have?"
As soon as the question was asked, the mood took a deep turn for the worse for Rias' Peerage. A scowl had formed on Issei immediately while the others had controlled or suppressed grimaces on their faces. Koneko and Rias were tied for the strongest poker face, but the latter was one to answer it.
"Fifteen. Sixteen if you include Riser." Rias replied, successfully keeping the sullen tone out of her voice.
Suika whistled in response. "Wow. Those ain't good odds for ya' guys. If you guys had ta' ask for our help, then you guys already know that ya' can't match up to 'em huh?"
The silence that ensued gave the Inaba Clinic team the answer. In fact, the situation for Rias' Peerage was clearly worse than they thought. Not only were they outnumbered, but most or even all of them couldn't match up to their opponents. Being weaker against a force while being low on manpower was an utter nightmare of an uphill battle. There was no two way around it.
"Ten days isn't a lot of time. I can certainly see what you meant by, 'under a strict time table.'" Reisen stated, trying to be the voice of reason to raise their morale. "None of us can teach you on how to use what you have better, but we can still train you on some of the basics. Our first priority should be to increase everyone's endurance. You can't afford to lose anybody in an outnumbered fight and you'll need to able to last the entirety of it. We can raise your general fighting skills too, but I'll need to think of something to do both. Ten days isn't enough to do both separately."
As she caught the peerages' attention, Rias nodded in confirmation.
"It sounds like a good idea. What do you think we should do first Reisen-san?"
Reisen entered a thinking pose, placing a closed fist under her chin as she began thinking of a plan.
"We'll have to tackle one obstacle at a time…" She muttered quietly to herself. "No… information about Riser's group would be important now. Will that work? Have to have something in place if they get hurt in training…"
An idea suddenly struck Reisen as she finished.
"Ah. I remember." Reisen suddenly said, turning to Rias. "Asia-san. How fast do you think you can bring her here? We're going to need her."
"Asia?" Rias raised a confused eyebrow. "What for?"
"We're going to need to heal your wounds quickly to keep fighting and I believed you mentioned about her being able to. I can use medicine to do it, but it would take a while each time we used it on everyone and it would require you to rest for a long time. It wouldn't be the most efficient use of our time." The hidden Lunarian logically answered.
"She's still back in Kuoh. I can call Sona and ask her to bring her though." Rias corresponded and Reisen gave her approval. "In that case, I'll be right back."
Thus, the King of the Peerage left the room which left the remaining members along with the entirety of the Inaba Clinic Team.
"While she's doing that, could ya' tell us anything about Riser or his peerage? It'll help to know what they can do." Suika redirected the attention, leaning back comfortably in her chair while placing her legs on the table.
"Riser Phenex…" Akeno murmured loudly. "We don't know much about his peerage besides himself and his queen. Riser himself has the abilities of the Phenex in every aspect. He has a mastery over pyrokinesis and has the immortal regeneration of one as well. Rias and I might be able to match up to his peerage members, but not him. The others won't have any chance unfortunately."
"This sounds familiar." Marisa remarked as the peerage members looked at her in confusion. "Eh, just someone I know."
"Riser is very similar to someone we know." Reisen answered for them. "In fact…"
She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to dwell on Kaguya's relationship with Mokou. It was… complicated to say the least.
"Either way. Riser isn't unbeatable. There's a few ways to defeat him that we know if that's all he has. Marisa could probably explain it better."
The Lunarian gestured towards the witch who leaned back in her chair with a confident smile.
"Heh, my turn then! We fought a couple times without usin' our usual rules for fun. It kinda depends on how fast they regenerate, since ours could just revive herself. But the first thing ya' can do is to take him out in one go. That's usually the easiest way ta' just get rid of them. Ya' just need a lota' power ta' do it. Then you can trap them somehow and they won't go anywhere." Marisa grinned as she recalled one of the fights Mokou had with her so long ago. "The other one is ta' just keep killin' him 'till he gives up. Even they'll get tired sooner or later. Ya' just gotta outlast them."
"I don't think any of us are able to do that." Kiba spoke up. "None of us have an attack that powerful to defeat Riser although Buchou might. We might be able to kill him a few times, but even with our Sacred Gears, the battle experience he has over us would be too much."
"I think Rias or Issei mentioned that before too. What's a Sacred Gear anyway?" Suika mentioned, with the peerage looking to her in slight confusion.
"Ahh. I had thought that you guys had known about it already. Simply put, Sacred Gears are items with powerful abilities given to only humans." Akeno answered promptly though Marisa looked a bit baffled.
"But ya' guys are all devils." She pointed out.
The Queen nodded. "Yes. It can only be given to a human. However, if they become another species, they can continue wielding it."
"Oh. Makes sense I guess."
"In that case, what Sacred Gears do you possess? Anything to help tip the advantage to you would help immensely." Reisen decided to gleam more information about the topic.
"I've got Boosted Gear! When we were at the church saving Asia, I thought it just doubled my power, but I can do it every ten seconds now instead of just once!" Issei proclaimed, raising his left arm to his chest and tightening his fist as power began emanating from it.
"Issei-kun and I are the only ones with Sacred Gears. Mine is Sword Birth and I can create as many demonic swords with different abilities as I want." Kiba explained as Reisen took in the information given to her.
"Double your power 'eh?" Marisa reiterated, smirking as an idea began forming. "I think I've got somethin' Issei could use."
"Marisa?" Reisen looked to her a bit worriedly as if sensing her intentions.
Marisa waved off her concerns nonchalantly. "Don't worry Reisen. It's my favorite one, but I've got more than just that ya' know. Besides, they need somethin' ta' take out Riser right? This'll be perfect."
Reisen stared at her for a few moments longer before eventually sighing. "Alright. If that's your decision, I won't say anything."
Suika smirked at the interaction between the two. "Hoh… this'll be interesting. Think he could actually handle it Marisa? He's pretty weak, isn't he?"
"Don't talk like I'm not here…" Issei mumbled though nobody paid any particular mind to what he said.
"He's got the best chance if he can actually double his power. Not like it's all that hard to do in the first place, but it'll probably work for him better than everyone else." Marisa reasoned as she stood up from her chair and twisted her head in Akeno's direction. "There somewhere we can show this off? Yer' gonna like this."
Akeno appeared baffled for a moment before agreeing. "Very well. Follow me. We'll find Rias first and direct everyone outside."
Everyone shook their head and moved to the follow the Queen out of the double doors that led to the dining room. It hadn't taken long to find Rias as she had already been on her way to return to the room. When Akeno explained to her what their intentions were, Rias quickly agreed to the proposition. The latter began leading them outside to the massive backyard of the 'vacation home' and as Marisa took her position in the enormous clearing, the other spectators gave her a wide berth.
"Give 'em a show Marisa!" Suika cheered on the sideline, waving her arms up and down like an excited child.
"Heh, don't worry! I won't disappoint!" Marisa confidently stated before turning to Issei.
"Ready kid? Yer' gonna be doin' this attack for yerself, so watch and learn!" Marisa beamed as she pulled out her trademark mini-Hakkero out of her apron pouch.
"That tool again…" Rias whispered to herself as she eyed it warily.
Marisa dramatically tossed her tool into the air, catching it on its way down. She then aimed it upwards a distant mountain, gathering her magical power and guiding it to the legendary catalyst in her hands. She could feel the power forming in her chest and directed it to her arms. It flowed into the tool, coalescing in it as the magical tool began heating up in her hand steadily. The familiar warmth in her hand was a comforting feeling. She certainly hadn't fired one off for a while, circumstances definitely not allowing her to.
But now was the time to cut loose. If they wanted to see for themselves what she'd be showing, then she would give them the best she got. This was the perfect time to flex her imaginary, magical muscle.
The power finally finished gathering in the mini-Hakkero. It throbbed every second, almost as if it were taking heavy breaths and was simply waiting to release the stored power.
"Love Sign [Master Spark]!"
Pure, unadulterated power burst from the center of the magical catalyst in the form of a laser. As distance was gained, the laser expanded outwards until it reached the length and width that Marisa had judged satisfactory. The familiar humming noise of the Master Spark filled her ears as it blasted across the sky at high speed in the direction of her distant target, the mountain. Marisa's witch hat almost flew off her head from the pure force of the laser, though it was kept on with one hand holding it down. She grinned with utter excitement at finally being able to release her power, no longer having to hold back so much of it in the Inaba Clinic's endeavor to stay hidden or to not completely destroy everything in Kuoh Town. The feeling of power and exhilaration Marisa felt each time she fired one of her signature moves off couldn't be matched at this current moment.
The Master Spark shot into the distance, completely incinerating any trees in its path as it was engulfed in its laser. The ground almost shook from its force and the grass was shoved aside from the heavy wind cast from the Master Spark's jet-like speed. Finally, the obstacle known as the mountain was its only target left.
It didn't last a second. The upper part of the mountain was disintegrated just as easily as the trees the Master Spark practically mowed down with little resistance. With her target destroyed, Marisa decided to stop fueling the Master Spark. She held on for a few seconds longer before slowly releasing the flow of her magic into the mini-Hakkero. The Master Spark reacted in kind, slowly compressing itself and becoming smaller to fit the disappearing fuel for it. After a few seconds, the Master Spark disappeared and the results were clear to everybody.
Numerous trees of the forest unlucky enough to be in its path had been burnt beyond repair. The grass, once straight and pointed in the direction of the sky had been permanently turned aside from the force of the laser. Finally, the upper half of the mountain, which had once stood strong with its base, had vanished. The bottom half which had survived had a semi-circle in it, a testament of the destruction it had recently suffered.
"Phew." Marisa said to herself, putting her mini-Hakkero away. "I haven't done that in a while! Feels like it's been forever!"
She turned to the audience to look for their reactions.
"Yo! How'd I do?" She asked jokingly towards her fellow Gensokyo members.
"Ten outta ten!" Suika shouted, raising ten fingers to show her score all while grinning.
"You looked excited to be firing one again. It really has been a while since I've seen it. It doesn't look any less impressive than before." Reisen commented, smiling happily for her friend.
Marisa practically preened at the praise before turning towards the other spectators, Rias peerage, whom looked on with complete awe in their faces.
"When Sona said that something like that could destroy an entire mountain… she wasn't joking at all." Rias quietly remembered the analysis that her friend had done on the mini-Hakkero.
"Easily a high level attack. Even Riser wouldn't be able to take on something like this." Akeno stated, looking at the powerful human. "The concept behind it seems simple, but the amount of power in it is something I don't think I could provide."
"Yes. Something like that would easily take out Riser," Kiba agreed as he turned to Issei. "And you'll be learning that Issei-kun? My, you sure have your work cut out for you."
Koneko simply nodded. "Yes."
Issei on the other hand, looked gob-smacked at the sight of such an attack at his disposal. "C-Could I really do something like that? If I could, I could easily beat the yakitori bastard!"
The self-proclaimed Ordinary Witch turned to the brown haired boy, smirking all the while. "The theory behind it is so easy; technically everyone with even a tiny amount of magic could do it. All it is is building up power and storing it, then letting it go all at once so it floods. But if you don't have enough power, it won't really do anything. Since yer' Sacred whatever can double yer' power, ya' can just keep doing that 'till you have enough for it. That's why outta everyone here, ya' probably have the best chance of usin' it."
"S-So I could do it right now?" Issei asked eagerly, almost salivating at such an attack being in his grasp.
Marisa scoffed, waving off his enthusiasm. "Pfft, yeah right kid. If what I saw at the church said anything, even if ya' doubled yer' power ten times, ya' wouldn't be able ta' do it."
And just like that, Issei's hopes and dreams crashed like waves against a rock
"But…" Marisa cut in. "That doesn't mean ya' can't get there. I'm sure Reisen's got somethin' in mind to help train everyone."
The entirety of the group focused their attention on the moon rabbit, who nodded.
"We'll have to start with endurance training immediately. The easiest way to do that would be exercise over a long amount of time. Since we won't have the time to do that, we'll have to do the next best thing."
"And what would that be?" Rias asked, though she had an idea of what it was going to be.
The lilac-haired lady turned to the group the devils. "Forceful fighting. With it, we can also help simulate the condition of being outnumbered easily. There are more details I'd need to work out, and taking to account that Asia-san hasn't arrived yet, we'll have to wait a bit longer."
And wait they did. The afternoon began in earnest as Akeno went into the kitchen to prepare lunch for everyone while they waited for their sole, magical healer to arrive. Lunch came in the form of sandwiches which no one objected to. Eating too much would only have it come back out through the mouth in the form of puke as Reisen had warned. She didn't fail to mention the potential stomach cramps everyone would face once combat practice went underway as well.
The members of Rias' peerage all discussed among themselves as they were eating, the power of the Master Spark. They each had their own comments earlier, but now that their thoughts had settled a bit more, further elaboration could go underway. For Rias, the item that Sona stated would most likely be able to destroy a mountain happened just in front of her eyes. She didn't think Sona intended it to be a literally true, but it turned out to be the case. Only Akeno Himejima and Issei weren't very apprehensive about Marisa's attack. The latter was excited to be learning about such a move. The former for her own… tastes but as a magic specialist, there were most definitely hints of heat and light magic detected within that attack. Issei wouldn't be able to duplicate an attack like that seeing. His magic was practically non-existent, demonstrated by not even being able to use a devil summoning circle properly, one of the easiest feats of magic a devil could perform. It'd be a different attack, but the appearance would most likely be similar enough.
Rias Gremory felt slightly lucky to have Marisa Kirisame under an agreement. If the attack really was fueled by light, it was something that could utterly exterminate them. There'd be nothing left of them as Devils if they were hit by such an attack.
As lunch finished, Asia Argento arrived with her entourage of Sona Sitri along with Tsubaki Shinra via walking.
"Issei-san!" Asia cried out happily as she rushed over to Issei with joy.
The boy instantly began conversing privately with her, though Rias decided to turn her attention to her friend.
"Sona, you're here. Thanks for bringing Asia. We'll need all the help we can get." Rias graciously thanked her as Sona took it in stride.
"Think nothing of it. I can't help you directly due to my status as a high-class devil, but I can perform miniscule tasks like this easily. I can simply dismiss it as visiting a friend in her time of need." Sona's violet eyes glinted with mischievous calculation.
"Then as a high-class devil myself, it'd be remiss of me to turn down your support." Rias jested back as the both of them smiled at each other.
"I'm sorry for cutting in…" Reisen interrupted, not wanting any of her comrades to rile up the two devil peerages any further. "But now that Asia is here, it's best if we began right away. I've had time over lunch to think of how we would help train you and I think I have a solution. First, may have I have a volunteer from your peerage to fight Rias?"
Issei immediately raised his arm first. "I'll go!"
"Good. And then to help emulate being outnumbered in a three or possibly four on one scenario, I'll need two more volunteers from Rias' peerage to fight Issei." Reisen requested for more and this time, they were a bit more hesitant on wanting to step up.
"I'll go." Koneko spoke up, stepping into the open space.
"Wait wait wait! I'm going to fight Koneko-chan!?" Issei began panicking, looking between the Lunarian and the Rook with strong symptoms of fear.
"Actually, Issei doesn't have very much battle experience unlike the rest of us. Would you be willing to have just Koneko?" Rias requested for the Pawn's sake, who was now looking at her as if she was a savior in disguise.
Reisen paused for a moment to give it some thought. Marisa and Suika had both told her that Issei was very inexperienced. His only involvement in battle was the successful attempt to save Asia. He had help from both Suika and Marisa, on top of Kiba. Koneko was there, but she was relegated to watching an unconscious prisoner. As far as they knew, he hadn't done anything else involving duels or combat. Rias had forced some training on him, but it was nothing compared to having actual duels or spars. Deciding that Rias was reasonable enough, the moon rabbit decided to acquiesce to her.
"Okay. It'll just be three then."
Issei whooped in cheer at his fortunate turn of fate before realizing that he still had two other people to fight.
"Umm. Who are the other two that I'm going to fight then if they're not from our peerage?" He asked Reisen curiously.
She simply turned to her two allies, both of whom were grinning deviously.
"Ahh. Best of luck Issei-kun. I think you'll need it." Kiba placed a sympathizing hand on his shoulder as the aforementioned person began babbling in response.
"Alright kid! Get ready!" Suika smacked a fist into her palm. "Marisa and I are decent at holding back, but our attacks are pretty destructive."
He began screaming in panic as he ran away into the forest for cover. Koneko instantly followed him, as did Suika and Marisa.
Reisen sighed. If Issei's first response at being outnumbered was to run away from superior opponents, then he was undoubtedly the worst of Rias' peerage in combat ability. Running into the trees to limit their movement was a good idea, but he most likely did it out of survival instinct rather than actually thinking it through on the spot.
"Will Issei-san be okay?" Asia asked with slight trepidation for his safety.
"He'll be fine." Rias assured her, though his painful wail into the air did nothing to do that. "He'll have to do this sooner or later. It's something all of us will. They won't hurt him too bad will they?"
Reisen shook her head in denial. "They won't. Marisa and Suika-san's attacks are destructive like they said. You already know that from seeing Marisa's Master Spark, but the both of them know how to control it. He'll only have to survive for a few minutes or so before I have another one of your peerage members replace him. As the days go on though, each session will be longer so be prepared. Asia is here to heal up any wounds you'll undoubtedly receive."
Rias gave a grim smile. "If it'll help defeat Riser, then it's for the best."
xXx
Issei had never run away in his life quicker than before. Even faster than when he was caught peeping on the Kendo Club girls when they were changing. And all of this was because three females, two who physically looked no older than fifteen had more strength than ten men combined. He barely ducked in time as another tree flew over his head. Yet another one thrown by Suika or Koneko who most definitely lifted in some form or capacity. What a world he had brought himself into.
"How droll… Partner."
The deep voice he heard alone was a new acquaintance as well. One that came in form of a red, draconic gauntlet that he now wielded as a Sacred Gear.
"Ddraig!? Help me! Can't you take over my body or something and fight them? You're supposed to be some Heavenly Dragon right!?" He cried out in panic as he banked left in an attempt to lose line of sight from one of the physical powerhouses chasing him.
"If I could take over your body, I would have done so already. No dragon runs from a fight so easily! As the one bearing me, the Red Dragon Emperor, the Great Welsh, you're the weakest host I've ever had!"
The deep, cutting words would have damaged his self-esteem, if he hadn't already known that. His training from Rias days before this training trip had even occurred, he knew. Deep down within himself, he knew that as a Pawn, he was the weakest member of the peerage. The battle with Raynare in his bid to save Asia had made that very clear. He could have made the argument that as a Pawn, he was deigned to be a sacrificial piece. But he wasn't satisfied with that. His acquaintance most definitely wasn't either.
"We are stuck together until you are killed. As a devil, your natural lifespan will be long and I won't allow your current weakness to represent us for that amount of time! The White One will never let me live it down!"
White One? Who was he talking about?
"Are you satisfied with your current situation, Partner? Running away like some dog in a desperate bid for survival? Is this how it will be whenever you come across a battle against the odds?"
No, he definitely wasn't. He'd have to turn around and fight sooner or later. He couldn't do what he was currently doing against Riser, hoping for a fair one-on-one scenario.
"The Magician, the other devil and that child will beat you around. However, you have an easy solution. If your current self cannot handle it, then perhaps boosting yourself will allow you to fight back. Don't simply run away from everything like you do during your perverted escapades. I was somewhat impressed by your determination to save that nun. Surely, you can do it again to save your current master."
Right. Rias-buchou had everything on the line in the upcoming Rating Game. If they lost… No, he couldn't think about that. They had to win for her sake. There wasn't any way around it. He was defeated in one attack by the yakitori bastard. He couldn't have that happen again.
"Will I have a chance if I boost myself all the way up?" He asked quietly as his sprinting slowly crawled into a jog.
"From what I could see, not even a small glimmer."
Yeah, that was sort of what he expected. Seeing both Marisa and Suika fighting at the run-down church had cemented their strength in his mind. Going up against that seemed hopeless.
"However, every moment of training will pay for itself even more. The amount of times you may boost will rise. As your body becomes stronger, so does the boost. Now turn around and fight! At least make them work for it. It's disgusting to see you run like this."
Issei stopped running and turned around into the depths of the forest. It appeared he had lost them for now, but it wouldn't be long before they appeared again. He took the opportunity to raise his Sacred Gear to his chest to activate its power.
[Boost!]
Before he could get a second boost though, he ground behind him exploded.
"Wahhhhh!" He was unable to hold back a cry of pain as the force shunted him forward and tumbled him across the ground. Though it caught him by surprise, he was able to get back up quickly face his attacker. She was seated on a broom that was high above the ground. It seemed the trees had done very little to slow down her flight speed in her pursuit of him.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Marisa exclaimed excitedly at having found Issei.
"Seeing as you're new with nobody to teach you, I may as well help you, Partner. Your body still can't handle more than a few boosts, but it should be enough for this training session. Stall her somehow while you boost yourself up. Do anything you can until you can build up your power."
"Ready kid? I'll be goin' easy on you, but do your best!" Marisa encouraged before raising an arm to launch a few giant stars upon his position.
Each of them was colored differently, but Issei didn't let its flashy and admittedly, beautiful colors distract him. He rolled out of the way of the attack and began using the trees as cover to block some of the shots. There was a small pause before she circled around his tree barrier and released another barrage.
[Boost!]
The power ebbed in him as he felt a strange combination in himself. He felt his body becoming lighter, as if a heavy burden had been released. At the same time however, he could feel Boosted Gear's drawback of straining his body like it added an invisible weight on it. Nonetheless, he found it easier to move out of the way of Marisa's second salvo of magical star bullets. They were slow enough that he could get out of the way.
All of a sudden, his back cried out in pain as somewhat smashed against it and pushed him forward.
"Don't let yer' guard down kid!" Suika advised loudly from behind.
Issei cut through the pain and turned around to see another fist aimed at him. He sidestepped just in time as another jab sailed next to his head. A sidewinder was thrown out though Issei instinctively leapt back to avoid it. Believing that she had overextended, he shifted forwards to give a firm punch straight at Suika's chest.
"Aggh!" He cried out in pain.
It was a complete mistake. His Boost-enhanced fist bounced back against Suika's unmarred skin. Whereas his knuckles were now throbbing, Suika showed no signs of being injured. In fact, she was smiling at his attempt. He immediately backed away from her.
[Boost!]
Boost number three. Would he be able to damage her now? Was it worth the risk?
"Hey. Don't forget about me!" Marisa warned as she bombarded Issei with her usual set of bullets.
With third Boost enhancing him though, it was even easier to dodge another slow volley from Marisa. As he was left unscathed, Suika leapt at him with fists swinging.
He banked to the right. He dodged successfully and he prepared to counterattack immediately.
"Look out!"
Too late.
Suika surprised him with a follow-up roundhouse kick and he was sent flying in the direction of a tree. To further accentuate his failure, Koneko leapt out of the bushes and grabbed him by his hands. Wasting no time with talk, she threw him back towards Suika.
Unable to regain control of himself, Suika punched him in square in the stomach perfectly. Issei felt spit flying out of his mouth as he was bounced off her fist like a ragdoll.
[Boost!]
Like before, he rolled across the ground with no control. As he stopped, he forcefully pushed himself back up and coughed a few times in an attempt to regain his breath. He could once again feel power flowing through him, but the weight on his body was heavier than ever. It wouldn't stop him from moving, but he was sure any more and he'd be unable to take it.
"That's the last Boost you can handle Partner so it's time to fight back. All of them are too much for you though so just go for the weakest one."
"Which one's that!? I can't tell which one with how much they've been beating the crap out of me!" He mentally shouted to Ddraig as he took a few steps back to be able to face each opponent.
"The one with the white hair. You can't reach the Magician and you can't even damage the orange-haired one from what I saw so don't bother."
"Koneko-chan? Alright then!"
"Wait! Don't just go charging in!"
He charged in with recklessly towards the Rook who prepared herself for his attack. Throwing a fist at her without much thought, she easily stepped out of the way, took a step forward and kicked him in the direction he had run in. His momentum turned against him, he fell onto the dirt floor.
Taking the opportunity, Suika leapt onto his back. He tried in vain to get her off, but her surprisingly high weight made it impossible. The strain on his body was too much and he eventually gave up all hope of being able to fight back. His struggling ended as his face planted onto the ground in defeat.
[Reset!]
With the Boost now gone, he was too tired to do anything Bruises littered his body and his breathing was quick as blood pumped into his body quicker to compensate. With the automatic Reset command though, his power was utterly drained and he could no longer move. The Boosted Gear also disappeared, returning Issei's arm to normal.
"Guess it's over. That was pretty reckless, and that's comin' from me." Marisa chided as she flew down on her broom where the training group was.
"Weak." Koneko bluntly stated. "Aim for your opponent's sense of balance. Then try to deliver a precise blow."
"She's right. That was utterly pathetic, Partner. You have a lot to work on."
"Shut up Ddraig…" Issei muttered to the Sacred Gear, though he was unable to really argue with his comment.
"Generally speakin', that's the basic. There's a lotta ways do that, but yeah." Suika added as she got off the teenager. "It was a nice try I guess, but ya' really have no idea what yer' doin' huh."
That was more of a statement than a question, Issei realized. He shook his head, agreeing with it nonetheless.
"How long did he last anyway?" Marisa asked to nobody in particular.
"Ehh… five. Maybe six minutes." Suika randomly threw out an estimate as she picked Issei off the floor. He gave a small yelp as she did so and she placed his body over her shoulder to carry and support him. "Most of that was just runnin' away though."
Marisa sighed, turning to the exhausted Sacred Gear holder. "Yeah, that's bad. Coulda' been worse at least, but Master Spark's a no-go fer him fer sure if this keeps up. He's gonna need to get better fast."
"Hey. I'm right here you know." Issei complained as he hung off of Suika's shoulder. "Is it that bad?"
"Yes." Koneko immediately answered with no hesitation.
"Awful." Marisa supplemented.
"Yup." Suika delivered honestly.
Issei released a sigh of defeat. "This sucks…"
Suika patted him on the head awkwardly with her free arm. "Don't worry kid. You'll get better. 'Sides, with us fighting, the bar's raised pretty high. Yer' not the only one who'll end up like this, tell ya' that. Could even help volunteer fightin' everybody so ya' get better quicker."
Marisa sniggered at the sight of a much smaller girl carrying an older teenager on her shoulder all while patting him on the head. She was sure that if Aya were here, she would have taken a picture and just spread it around all over Gensokyo with hew newspaper article. The honest truth would be exaggerated or distorted somehow, but no doubt it would bring lots of laughs. Gensokyo honestly needed it at the moment in her opinion considering its current situation.
Suika seemed to have caught her look, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Yeah… that sounds like a good idea. If I'm going to get better, I'll need to be in every fight I can." Issei concurred as he jiggled around clumsily on Suika's smaller shoulder, supported by her encircled arm around his body.
"Good attitude ta' have." Suika approved. "Now let's get back ta' the others. Still got four more people to get through."
Marisa scoffed, placing her hands around her waist cockily. "More like blast through. I already said before that none of 'em could even remotely get close to beatin' us."
She got back on her broom and turned to the training group. "Anyway, I'll fly ahead to tell someone else to prep up for their time. Unless Koneko wants to go next?"
The stoic devil shook her head. "No."
"Okay. I'll see ya' guys at the end."
And with that she ascended high above the trees for a high vantage and began flying off towards the vacation home. Suika with Issei on hand, along with Koneko started walking in the direction where Marisa had flown to leave.
"That girl carrying you…"
"Hmm? What's up Ddraig?" He gave the mental thought to the dragon imprisoned within the Sacred Gear.
"That's not any ordinary girl, as you already know. Some kind of spell is concealing a part of her. I felt it when you punched her earlier. The same feeling came from the other girl next to you, but there's no spell. They're both hiding something."
"What do you think it is?" Issei asked mentally, being extra careful to try and keep his face as passive as possible in case Suika or Koneko saw it.
"I don't know. It's not as if I could just dispel it. It's too difficult for me to discern in this state, but it's an impressive spell, whatever it is. As for the other one, she can naturally conceal it. You can keep it to yourself, or you could tell the others about it."
Issei gave it some thought, all while still being mounted on Suika's sturdy, yet small shoulder.
"No. I'm sure they have their reasons. Maybe in the future I'll ask them. I don't know them that well, but I trust them. They helped me save Asia and I won't forget that. I should at least respect their privacy, right?"
"… Privacy. This coming from, no doubt, the most perverted human host I've ever had. The one who spies on girls regularly, all for the sake for some human mammaries. You're an interesting Partner, I'll admit."
"S-Shut up! Breasts are the best things in the world! Don't insult them with that word!" Issei accidentally shouted in his defense for his hobby.
Suika looked at him in confusion. "Uhh. Who are you talkin' to, kid?"
Koneko glowered at the teenager. "Pervert."
"N-Nobody! Don't worry about it!" Issei quickly tried to dismiss, completely ignoring Koneko's scathing comment about him.
Ddraig meanwhile, was guffawing loudly at his expense.
"Interesting indeed. But…" Ddraig stopped his laughter and immediately took on a more serious tone. "One more piece of advice for you, Partner. Power begets power. Those who have power, especially my hosts, almost always attract others with power. Their lives are constantly riddled with conflict. You had a taste of it when that Fallen Angel first came after you, remember?"
"Yeah. I couldn't forget, even if I wanted to."
It was an unforgettable event. It was still fresh in his mind, being only a few weeks ago. He never thought that having a girlfriend would end up with her killing him. Nor did he ever think he would become a devil, attempting to rescue someone considered to be in an opposing faction. It honesty was a complicated manner for him. Even to this day, he didn't really know how to sum it all up or his feelings on the matter. Everything turned out fine in the end though at least and that was the most he could ask for.
"That's just a taste of what you'll face throughout your life. She wanted you dead because of your power. It's because of her that I had to reveal myself after that."
"You picked the worst time to show up! You just randomly talked to me in front of my parents! I thought I was going insane!"
And it was true. Having to explain to his parents that he heard something coming from his arm would have made for an awkward situation. His first instinct was thinking himself tired until Ddraig had attempted to speak with him again. Forcefully.
"It was still necessary. To hold my presence back anymore is pointless. Your only option now is to get strong Partner. I won't allow you, my host and representative, to be weak. We dragons are powerful creatures of pride. Though I still loathe you for the weakest host I've had, it's not as if I can choose who bears me and at least you have potential. And you're amusing. Therefore, let us survive the coming conflicts, Partner."
"Yeah. I don't want to die before I achieve my dream of being a harem king after all! We have to get strong so we can survive!"
Ddraig couldn't resist the roar with laughter at hearing Issei's dream. Issei countered with more defenses at such a dream, though Ddraig said nothing in response.
Still, Issei thought, at least Ddraig was sorta friendly. His relationship with him was a little complicated, but it wasn't a negative one at least. To him, he was another friend helping him (albeit for his own reasons), just like the person carrying him on her shoulder and the girl stoically walking next to her.
xXx
Kiba was the last volunteer to step up to the training session. The others had all had their turn and none of them looked as if they fared very well. His first impression after seeing Issei emerge from the forest completely bruised and battered was slight trepidation. Asia had healed him to the point where there were no visible injuries left on him, but his exhaustion lingered. Apparently, it was a downside of Asia's Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing. It could heal the wounds of any race, be it devil or angel, but it could never take away the physical or mental exhaustion one felt.
Kiba sweat from perspiration from having to crank his speed to the maximum output. He had to if he didn't want a fist from the one he knew was a physical fighter that virtually surpassed Koneko in every way. She was much faster than he had originally thought. The long purple skirt she had did nothing to inhibit her movements.
He used his momentum to swing yet another one of his created demonic blades against Suika, one more time.
It broke like glass just as easily as the last one against her arm.
"Ya' know that's not gonna work." Suika pointed out again as she spun and went for a sweep kick. He jumped just in time.
It ended up being a terrible mistake. Unable to further maneuver himself in the air, Marisa rammed into him with her broom.
"Grk!" He bit back a grunt of pain as he was sent flying through the air.
Issei leapt from the bushes to try and capitalize on where Kiba would land, but the latter recovered in time. He got back up on his feet to evade a punch from his fellow Sacred Gear wielder.
Issei continued his assault, throwing punch after punch.
Kiba ducked under the first one. He sidestepped the second one. He slipped away out of a swing from the third one.
"Damn it! Stand still you damn handsome!" Issei frustratingly yelled as his attacks continued missing.
When the fourth caused Issei to overextend, Kiba hurriedly formed the sturdiest sword he could think of and slashed at Issei instinctively.
"Waaggh!" He shouted as he was forced back from his wound.
Kiba was given no time to push the attack as Akeno came in to help cover for Issei with her thunder magic. Thunder crackled in her hands as it shot forward in Kiba's direction. The Knight used his speed to get out of the way just in time, but more magic was thrown his way with Marisa bombarding him with her star bullets. Using his knight speed again to make his way through the barrage, he managed to evade the attack.
Or so he thought.
"Argggh!" The swordsman shouted in pain as a forceful punch on his back shoved him towards Marisa's volley of colorful stars.
They weren't explosive, but the blunt force knocked the wind out of him and onto the ground. His vision was muddled as he tried to reorient himself in time. However, he wasn't given any as Suika stood over his body and nonchalantly stepped on his chest.
And with that, Kiba knew he was defeated. He could still try to create a sword, but none of them held up against Suika's tough skin. On top of that, he was used to fighting Stray Devils where the odds were generally in the peerage's favor. This was the first time he had been so outnumbered.
"Alright. Fight's over Kiba." Suika announced as she stepped off of him and extended a hand towards him. He graciously took it and pulled himself back up. He panted heavily in exhaustion.
Never before had he been so pushed to this extent. Most fights tended to end before it got this far. Nor had he had to exert so much energy trying to stand up against the numerous attacks. Was this what awaited them when they eventually fought Riser? He had nothing against Issei, but even though he was relatively new to fighting, he had forced a distraction probably knowing that he couldn't beat him alone. Not only that, the others would cover for his inexperience. Being outnumbered was an exhausting experience, but he felt it a necessary one considering the circumstances.
"Are you okay, Yuuto-kun?" Akeno asked him out of concern as she flew down to help support him on one of her shoulders. Issei, despite his exhaustion from both his own session and joining in to fight him, took up supporting Kiba on his other shoulder.
"I'm fine. I just didn't expect this to be so difficult." He replied respectfully. "It's certainly a new and unique experience."
"Yeah. Trust me Kiba I didn't even last five minutes fighting. Don't worry, we'll all get better!" Issei sympathized, helping him over to where Rias, Sona, her Queen, and Asia awaited.
The sun was still high in the air as exhaustion filled every single member of Rias' peerage. Akeno and Rias still managed to look elegant as befitting of their status in the school they attended, but one close look would tell anyone that they had traversed through a physical ordeal of some kind. Torn school uniforms were common on Rias' peerage as Sona looked on in interest at the results.
"I see how this training method would be effective. Riser won't hesitate to win using members to outnumber Rias in a fight. It's a forceful method, but may pay off in the long term if you can adapt to it quickly." Sona informed Rias as the latter agreed to it.
"Unfortunately, we won't have much time to rest. In order to push your endurance capabilities to the limit, we'll have to have another round for each person." Reisen delivered the news that the trainees either took in grimly, or complained openly in Issei's case. "Is there anybody who would like to volunteer first?"
This time, nobody was enthusiastic to be the first to raise their hand.
"Nobody?" Suika pouted. "Fine."
She then pointed to Issei who looked at her in confusion.
"Kid! Yer' up first again!"
"What? Why me?" He complained half-heartedly, mostly due to his tiredness.
"I just like ya'. Now get up and get ready." Suika grinned with excitement as the boy grumbled in defeat and stood up.
"You're all monsters! Devils!" Issei whined, his body stumbling a bit though his wounds were healed due to Asia's healing.
Marisa snickered at the irony of the statement, seeing as technically, it applied to Suika and Reisen in a sense. "'Yer' the devil though."
The logic wasn't lost on him as he groaned at how true that statement was.
"We'll also still need two volunteers to assist us in outnumbering Issei." Reisen noted, looking over to Rias' peerage.
There was no collective groan, but the thought of having to go through another session brought many painful winces indeed.
xXx
The second session had not been all that much better than the first. At least with the initial one, Rias' peerage had been full of energy. Now that they were exhausted, their performance was worse overall in that their movements were increasingly sluggish. However, they were beginning to familiarize themselves to being attacked unexpectedly which Reisen chalked up to being a very strong positive point. According to her, she expected better results the next day. Nobody, even Issei, complained about the arduous training they were being put through. Sona and Tsubaki eventually left to return to Kuoh, though Asia would be staying for the entirety of the training period as an on-site healer. As the day passed, the group decided to eat together for dinner, Reisen called Marisa and Suika to another lavish room of the vacation home.
"How are the both of you feeling? You've been fighting almost all day. Are you alright?" Reisen asked kindly, looking worriedly at the two of her companions.
Suika gave a thumbs-up at her concerned expression. "Don't worry. It'll take more than this ta' really tire me out. I didn't really try all that hard anyway."
Marisa grinned at Reisen's fretfulness. "Same here. I didn't use any of my Spell Cards. Just the regular bullets. Ta' be honest though, it feels weird to classify our bigger attacks as Spell Cards. I've been callin' them that for years now and I'm not gonna change what I call it, but they're pretty much lethal without Reimu's Spell Card Rules to hold 'em back. Like during the Lunarian Invasion."
And it was true. The most damage a Spell Card in Gensokyo would do in most cases was rip or tear someone's clothing. Here, the results were already clear during their time here. Marisa's Master Spark, as intimidating as it looked, still did nothing more than complete burn off someone's clothes. Their modesty would be in danger, but nothing beyond that. Here, it destroyed a mountain during her demonstration.
"Please be careful. I'm willing to extend some trust to Rias' peerage in helping them, but I don't want to reveal everything we have, including our attacks."
Marisa shrugged casually. "If they have that weakness to light, then I wouldn't be able to use most of my lasers anyway since it'll just kill 'em. I'm stuck usin' my bullets. Ya' don't have to worry on that front."
"But what about you deciding to have Issei-san learn your Master Spark? If it's classified as a light and heat magical attack, he shouldn't be able to use it as a devil right?" Reisen countered logically and Marisa began thumbing her long held possession.
"What I said wasn't a lie, ze." Marisa answered, noticing she had used her long time tic-mark. "Oops. Anyway, if he stores up his own power to use it, it won't actually be the same attack. It'll be his own since it'll use his own power and affinity. Mine is heat, light, and a little bit of water, and unless he has it too, it won't come out the same as mine. It'll be something different."
Reisen was a bit taken aback at the thought process behind it. "I see. That does make sense, now that I think about it. You put more thought into this than I thought."
Marisa pouted at the unintended insult. "Hey! When it comes ta' magic, I'm one of the best, ze!"
Suika snickered. "Careful Marisa. Yer' slippin again. I haven't heard that for a few years though. Why'd ja' stop usin' that anyway?"
"There's a story behind that, but I don't really feel like talkin' about it." Marisa waved dismissively.
"Back on topic then. What were your thoughts on Rias' peerage then? How do you think they fought?" Reisen asked for their opinion and the two of them began thinking to themselves. Marisa placed a hand under her chin while Suika tilted her head sideways in thought.
"Huh… I guess…" Suika was the first one to begin, after gathering her thoughts. "I already knew Issei was gonna be the worse, but I thought they'd be a bit better honestly. Marisa and I weren't really tryin' all that hard and they still got hit a lot. I don't think any of 'em are used to fighting for a long time. Even before the Invasion, our duels could last fer a while. They've got their obvious strengths, like Kiba being decent at moving pretty quick, but there's plenty of others who're better. Koneko's got alright strength, but too slow ta' make it really work well against anybody who's faster."
Reisen shook her head to acknowledge what Suika had given her opinion on. "Okay. What about you Marisa?"
"Same thing. I don't wanna judge Issei since he's still a newbie. Rias and Akeno are decent magic users. It seems like they like ta' fly which is fine, but they're not that great at doing that and fighting at the same time since I hit 'em pretty often. It's not a bad idea though considerin' they can easily get the higher ground and aim fer people there. In power, they're okay. Not Byakuren or Patchy level strong, but good enough. The ground people like Koneko and especially Kiba are fast enough to graze my slower shots. Kiba could probably do well if I made it faster, but he can't really take a hit too well. Koneko definitely can't handle my faster ones. Just the slower ones, but she can take a few good hits unlike him."
Views and estimations given, Reisen compiled it all up in her mind. The training served a double purpose for the Inaba Clinic Team. First was how the Gensokyo Team would hold up against Rias' Peerage if things turned out for the worst. The second was to build with them since they had requested for the assistance in training in the first place. The first purpose was a no-brainer. The devils here stood absolutely no chance against them. As for the second one, that was still an ongoing project for the foreseeable future.
"To be fair, we're comparing them to our standards of fighting. You're one of the fastest humans able to fly Marisa. I'm unsure on how to accurately judge how skilled and powerful they are." Reisen rebutted, playing the devil's advocate temporarily. "Do the both of you think you can keep it up for the rest of the trip?"
The two of them consented, shaking their heads as they did so.
"No worries. As long as we get a bit of rest, I think we can do it." Marisa optimistically said. "Tomorrow, I'll see if Issei can start training up to use his own version of Master Spark ta' see how much work he needs. I'm a little excited to see how it'll turn out. He might be a bit tired to fight after using it though so keep that in mind."
"Okay. If this keeps up, we'll have eight days to prepare ourselves," Reisen finalized as her two companions looked at her questioningly. "They'll need one day at least to rest before the battle. Muscles worked intensely often require a solid resting period in order to recover and be used at their physical peak the next day. It'll also be a good time to learn more about Riser and give advice on how to handle the Rating Game."
"Alright. Think I got it." Suika stretched out her arms in a somewhat, tired fashion as her bones creaked from use. "This Rating Game they have kinda sounds interestin'. It favors all the stronger people though, so I don't think Gensokyo could do it right."
"Heh…" Marisa chuckled at the thought of it. "I'd like to try one sometime while we're in the Outside World. If we could actually get a whole group together, it does sound like it'd be fun."
"I… wouldn't object to the idea," Reisen tenuously admitted. "It's been a while since I've actually fought at all. During the Invasion, I was mostly helping Master keep everyone alive. I actually miss the nonlethal Spell Card Duels. They were fun."
Marisa scratched her head, sighing all the while. "Yeah…, it's really been a while since we've had fun duels like that. I miss… fighting Reimu over the littlest things. But…"
Her eyes, burning with determination, gazed at the other two.
"When, not if, she gets better, we'll all get ta' have fun again 'till the end of our lives. 'Cause we won't fail here. Yukari's countin' on us after all."
Suika raised her purple sake gourd into the air. "Hear hear! I'll bug Reimu to host a party to celebrate her own revival too! Nobody'll object, that's fer sure."
"Then it's agreed. A party, and several Spell Card Duels when we get back. Good goals, coinciding with bringing the Youkai Faction in Kyoto over to solve Gensokyo's population disparity and fighting force. Much better than someone else I know…"
Reisen let loose a small hum of disapproval at said person.
"Just let it be Reisen. It's a pretty funny goal. If he wants to be a Harem King, just let 'em." Suika pat her on the shoulder, unable to resist chuckling softly at the absurdity of such a thing. "Now let's head back. I don't wanna miss dinner and I have a feelin' at least one of 'em's a glutton."
The three of them decided to end it there and returned to the dining room. As they entered, they waved off most of the questions asking what they were doing and simply sat to eat among themselves. The next training day would be just as grueling as the worst for Rias' Peerage, they knew. Issei they noticed, was speaking to Asia about a potential new move he had plans on creating. They assumed he meant the Master Spark and ignored it mostly, but what he had in the works was different than they believed.
xXx
Rias laid back on her king-sized bed with exhaustion overwhelming her every pore of energy. The training was taxing to say the least and practically draining otherwise if one were to assume the worse. She thought she knew what she was getting into when she asked the Inaba Clinic to train them. It turned out false.
Their powers had been confirmed by her very own eyes. Not that she didn't trust her Knight when he had reported what they could do, but seeing it was another thing. The group she had asked to help train them rounded itself incredibly well. Marisa was a magician that seemed borderline impossible to touch in the air. To add it all up, the Master Spark proved without a shadow of any uncertainty that the magical power that Marisa had was superior to both her and Akeno, combined.
Suika was a powerhouse that was invincible against anything resembling a physical attack. Unlike Koneko, she wasn't slow by any means either. In fact, they were almost too strong.
Reisen was the doctor that would definitely keep them healthy in the unlikelihood that they were defeated somehow. Both Reisen and Suika had a spell warping their appearance somehow, but she and Akeno didn't know how to exactly dispel it. Not to mention, it would probably sour the relationship she had with the Inaba Clinic group in the first place.
Her thoughts roamed to the impossible training session her peerage had with them.
The Inaba Clinic Team who had fought ten consecutive battles in a row. At the end, only Marisa looked winded. Several of the fights hadn't lasted more than a few minutes on average, but she thought they'd be exhausted from having to move and attack so much without much time to rest. Her peerage, who cycled in to volunteer on outnumbering the target, didn't attack nearly as often as those two. Most likely, it was a combination of wanting to either save their energy for their own session or already being too physically exhausted to do much else other than throw out a few attacks. However, Marisa and Suika attempted to capitalize on every opening possible. They didn't appear particularly hard to avoid, but if they connected, they were brutal.
It went without a saying that Issei performed the worse, but that could be chalked up to inexperience. He had done somewhat well for someone in his position until the very end. Even that could have been excused as not knowing how to physically attack properly in the first place.
However, everybody in her peerage hadn't really fared all that much better. Koneko landed a few solid hits on Suika, but the latter shrugged them off and counterattacked. She was sure she was holding back, as Rias had told her that from her knowledge, the unknown powerhouse was absurdly stronger than she appeared. The Rook had listened and tried to dodge her brutal attacks, but Marisa frequently took advantage of the momentary opening from not being paid any attention to. Koneko ended up being whittled down until she was left with no energy to continue.
Akeno Himejima, despite being her Queen, was soundly defeated as well. She took to the air with her capability in flight, but Marisa was superior in her flight maneuverability. Her specialization in thunder magic did nothing as Marisa easily dodged on her flying, household cleaning tool known as the broom. It wasn't as if the thunder was slow, but Marisa didn't seem affected by the wind in her face, or inhibited by any of the aerial factors such as being nauseous when spinning or discomfort from suddenly having to shift in one direction. If such things were a nonfactor, it was understandable how Marisa with her rather slow magical attacks had been able to outmaneuver Akeno. Suika didn't show the capability to fly, but she took advantage of Akeno's inattention just as Marisa did with Koneko Toujou. She leapt into the air at a surprising height and managed to deliver a solid blow to her from behind. Akeno had gotten used to it as the fight went on, becoming more alert and wary of unexpected attacks but by then it was too late.
She had fared similarly as Akeno. Her power of destruction spells were easily evaded by Marisa in the air and Suika used the trees to blunt her magic. Issei and Kiba had done the same as the younger-looking girl, knowing her capabilities. Issei had been unable to do anything on his own, although Kiba had forged a demonic sword infused with the power of wind to attack at her from ranged with air slashes. They hadn't been hard to dodge, but a few had grazed her regardless. Then, with speed she didn't think Marisa had, she had rammed her right in the back and blasted her towards the ground. Issei was hesitant to attack her, but Suika had followed up handily, grabbing her and tossing her right back into the air with practically no effort.
Needless to say, the first day of training was a slaughter. She and the others had been utterly demoralized at the end. Nobody showed it visually in front of the Inaba Clinic team, but it all settled in their mind. Their actual fighting experience didn't extend beyond terminating Stray Devils who happened to overstay their welcome in Kuoh. In those fights, they held all the advantages against their opponent and they had become too used to it. Such a drastic shift to being outnumbered was completely out of their element. Everyone in her peerage had previous training as well, with the exception of Issei but it made almost no difference. Never would she or her peerage thought they could be so easily beaten. Or perhaps, they all knew they would, but it had just begun to sink in how out of their depth they were. They weren't used to being so overwhelmed by people they didn't quite know.
"Just who are they? What were they even doing in Kuoh?" She asked herself as her mind tried to think of an answer.
During the negotiations, they had told her that they were seeking to repay a debt to Reimu Touko. That name didn't ring any bells at all and she couldn't think of any reason why they could help her in Kuoh. Were they seeking information of some sort?
They seemed content with just sitting back for the most part. Wouldn't they be a bit more active to repay this debt to Reimu? It made no sense at all. It was very suspicious, yet she couldn't glean any more information at the moment.
She didn't see any lie in Reisen's words though and she couldn't just ask her older brother to investigate the matter. He was busy enough as it is.
Nonetheless, there was no sense dwelling the matter any further. She could only put faith in her peerage that they would overcome this harsh training that Reisen had set up for them. She had to get stronger as well. Riser had given them a small mercy unknowingly, thinking that she was already doomed to fail with the conditions he had imposed on her to prevent her from getting any help from her fellow devils. She had to take full advantage of it if she intended to win her freedom against the immortal Phenex.
She really needed to get some sleep. No doubt she would need every bit of it to rest her weary body and mind.
"I won't lose Riser. I refuse to give up. I won't let you take away my freedom. Or my family." She muttered to herself.
She hoped her peerage would fare better tomorrow. If they gave up, then she would encourage them until they decided to fight again. She wouldn't allow the whims of others to determine her fate. She had no desire to have her peerage serve under Riser either if she lost. And she certainly didn't want to marry the egotistical fool who dared to harm her peerage. No, her family.
xXx
"So… the Master Spark," Marisa began as she started tossing her the mini-Hakkero into the air, catching it nonchalantly. "It's one of the best attacks I've got. It's my favorite one too. I said it yesterday, but the theory behind it is pretty simple."
Immediately after everyone had woken up and had breakfast, courtesy of Reisen and Akeno, Marisa had dragged Issei outside where the practice sessions had been held yesterday. The others had quickly followed to see what she would do with him. Thus, an audience was gathered around the two as Marisa continued tutoring Issei.
"For most people, it's just storing magical power, then releasin' it all at once." She explained as she put away her magical artifact before pointing at his left arm dramatically. "For you, all ya' gotta do is boost your power as much as ya' can and just release it all at once. So let's get started."
Issei nodded and brought his left arm up to his chest.
"Boosted Gear!" He shouted as the appendage transformed into the red draconic gauntlet that he was beginning to become known for.
"First, Boost yerself up as much as you can handle it." Marisa instructed as the gem in Issei's gauntlet flashed green as if responding to her command.
[Boost!]
Another ten seconds passed.
[Boost!]
Another ten.
[Boost!]
And another.
[Boost!]
Issei began sweating as his physical peak was beginning to show.
[Boost!]
Issei began panting heavily. He wasn't necessarily tired, but the physical strain he was under was clearly visible to everybody. He had hit his limit.
Marisa frowned. "That's it? That's all you can push out?"
Issei could do nothing but nod as he attempted to hold onto his stored power as long as he could.
The ordinary witch sighed. "Don't think this is gonna be enough, but I guess we could try anyway."
She then pointed in the direction of a distant hill.
"Alright. What yer gonna do is release all your stored energy at once in one go."
"You haven't heard this command yet. So I'll show you, Partner."
Issei raised his eyebrows instinctively in shock at the voice of Ddraig coming from his gauntlet. Nobody had heard it except him though.
[Explosion!]
Suddenly, the power that he had coalesced in his gauntlet. It shone brightly, red and green light emanating from the draconic arm and its gem in the center of his hand. Unable to hold the power any longer, he opened the palm of his gauntleted hand towards the hill that Marisa had pointed to. A red ball began forming in the center of his palm, forming rapidly. It swiftly drained all of his strength. He almost stumbled as his energy was sapped so quickly, but he could feel the power that had gathered in the palm of his hand.
It was… amazing. Was this how Marisa felt when she let loose her destructive laser? It practically radiated with power. His.
Thought process finished, Issei fired the crimson sphere in his hand at the hill. Like Marisa's Master Spark, it expanded as far as it could as it reached the size of a basketball. Similarly as well, the trees that happened to be in the way were disintegrated and the grass was turned aside like plants being forced aside from the wind. Unlike the Master Spark, the size that Issei's attack stretched to was utterly inferior to it. In the end, it didn't even reach the target, its fuel extinguished due to the user's current capabilities. However, the results were clear. The devastation left behind, while not nearly as massive as Marisa's demonstration yesterday, had shown its worth.
Issei gasped for breath, the surge of power having left him so suddenly due to being used as energy for his most recent attack. Unable to keep a straight posture, he was forced to hunch over from such a draining move.
He took one last look at his undoubtedly most powerful attack before grinning. It was incredible! It left him so tired, but if he managed to get stronger…
He could already imagine what he would do to Riser.
Marisa gazed at the destruction, whistling with mild impression at the results.
"Hey, not bad fer yer' first time." She complimented, patting him on the back and almost knocking him over. "That Boosted Gear really makes it easier for ya' than I thought."
"Heh…" Issei managed a weak chuckle. "See? Don't underestimate me!"
Unable to keep himself steady any further, he dropped backwards onto the ground as he panted heavily for air in his system.
"Yer' not gonna help out much if ya' tire yerself out with just one of those. That wasn't even close to bein' half as big of mine, but it's a good start at least." Marisa praised him as she pulled him back up to his feet. "Oh yeah, yer' gonna need ta' name it."
Issei was taken aback at the sudden statement. "Name my attack?"
"Well yeah. It's not really Master Spark anymore. It's yer's now. Might as well call it somethin' else. Where we come from, we do it all the time." Marisa replied as Issei instantly began thinking of a name.
It didn't take him very long as a perverted smile began to dawn on his expression.
"Wait! I know what I'll call it…" He giggled perversely. "I'll call it… the Oppai Spark!"
At the declaration of such an out-of-place name, nobody could even respond properly. How could they? It was… utterly ridiculous!
"It's perfect! Yeah! The Oppai Spark! The attack that'll beat the stupid yakitori bastard! I can't wait 'till I get to use it on him!" He cheered loudly, already imagining his opponent's face when he managed to blast him with his newly named attack.
"Wow!" Asia broke the silence first, exclaiming in amazement. "That was amazing Issei-san!"
Rias sighed in defeat, pinching the bridge of her nose at his antics. "Issei…"
Akeno simply smiled, giggling with no hesitation at the name. "Fufu, it is fitting of him. Isn't it buchou?"
Kiba shook his head, imitating his King's attitude. "Issei-kun…"
Koneko glowered at the Pawn for even daring to name it that. "Pervert…"
The wielder of the Boosted Gear gave no care though. His excitement was too high to bother with anything that might ruin his good mood. To even add to that, Marisa burst into mirth.
"Ahahahaha!" She slapped her thighs a few times, continuing to guffaw loudly. "That's gotta be one of the stupidest names ever!"
"Yet, it somehow suits him. The renamed 'Oppai Spark.'" Reisen commented, shaking her head in total disappointment. "I'm not even sure what else to say."
"Just don't then." Suika answered, grinning at the group's shenanigans. "It's his attack. He can do what he wants with it."
Reisen released a huff of air in response. "Fine. But he'll still have to train to use it. It's impractical at the moment if it tires him out with just one use. So far, it doesn't even compare to Marisa's."
Suika shrugged. "It's kind of a given. He'll get better eventually. Fer now though, we better get started on the training again."
As Reisen clapped to gain their attention, the other devils glanced at Issei with a small bit of admiration. He was just so ecstatic. They couldn't help but feel as if the training from yesterday was almost impossible. Their spirit had been sapped from having their pride trampled on unintentionally by the Inaba Clinic team. But seeing the pervert whoop with excitement, it was almost infectious.
Nobody could deny that Oppai Spark, for all its stupidity in name, had the potential to be a dangerous attack. And they needed all the help they could get. It most likely wasn't intentional, but Issei had spread his optimism to them through his naming sense and his attitude. It was something they all needed at the moment. It gave them hope that they would pull through this borderline, sadistic training. They still had, from their knowledge, eight days of the same kind of training. Nobody sane would put themselves through that as most would prefer to build themselves up slowly to achieve the same results. It was reasonable to take the path of less pain. But it wasn't something they could do. They were forced to take the harder route, hoping they would pull through.
Issei's attitude just made it a bit easier for them to hope once more.
xXx
As the days rolled by, Rias and her peerage steadily progressed. Whereas a few solid hits would cause them to fold, they now took the brunt of it and continued fighting against the odds. Nobody could deny that the ludicrous training was effective in doing what it did. Not only did it push their endurance to the limits, but they had to stay vigilant from possible attacks on all sides. One decisive failure on a dodge or block could lead to a lengthy session of pain for their mistake as it easily led follow-up attacks. After suffering several of those, all of them had learned quickly to watch their surroundings carefully and to never let their guard down when outnumbered.
And after the end of the days, the entire peerage grouped together, asking whether or not it was okay to sleep for the next few days. At the end of one of them, some of them had gotten particularly discouraged. However, Issei refused to lose spirit in the face of it.
"Don't worry everyone!" He had shouted at the solemn dinner table when the Clinic team was off somewhere. "I know we can do it! We've come this far haven't we? We'll beat that yakitori bastard!"
Rias naturally followed up on it, inspiring the others to hold on just a little longer. The results would come. In fact, they already were. It had just been harder to realize when they kept suffering defeat against the same people.
Even the ever-stoic Koneko couldn't resist a small smile at the attempt to boost morale amongst themselves.
Issei became a consistent source of optimism, vying to keep the spirits of the peerage up against the upcoming adversities. In the near end of things, they had finally successfully adapted to the harsh method of training.
Finally, the second to last day of training had come and passed. That night, they were surprised to hear that they would not be training for the last day. Instead, they would be resting themselves for the Rating Game. When questioned, she answered that allowing the muscles to rest for a few hours to even a solid day allowed it to enter peak physical condition for the next day for a few moments. Thus on the final day, most of them had relegated themselves to simply sitting outside in the afternoon for fresh air.
"I hope I never have to go through something like that again." Issei remarked as he laid back on the grass. "This was the hardest thing I've ever done! Even harder than running away from the kendo club!"
"Even harder than the church?" Kiba pointed out off-handedly, sitting on the grass next to Issei as he grimaced at the memory.
"Well… that too. But I had you, Marisa-san, and Suika-san with me. You protected me against those guys. I was scared I was going to die there for sure when there was so many of those exorcists."
Kiba smile comfortingly. "Don't worry Issei. As a Gremory Knight, I won't allow our enemies to hurt us. You've improved a lot since then, haven't you?"
"Yeah!" Issei raised an enthusiastic arm into the air. "I hope this'll be enough. Last time, even that other pawn knocked me out in one hit. I won't let that happen again!"
"We've trained hard, haven't we?" Kiba questioned rhetorically. "What do you think, Koneko-san?"
The addressed person was snacking on a cookie that had been baked earlier. She gave a small hum in agreement.
"Issei-senpai has improved a lot." She noted, turning to the pervert. "He's very passionate."
He gave a wide grin at the compliment. "Of course! I won't be the weakest anymore!"
Koneko silently nodded in response while Issei noticed something.
"By the way, where's Akeno-san and Buchou? I know Asia's inside, but I thought they'd come relax with us since we finally have a day off."
"Buchou and Akeno are actually off with Reisen-san to see if they can plan some strategies for our Rating Game." Kiba replied, looking off into the distance at some of the numerous practice trees Issei destroyed. "We might be physically ready now, but we don't actually have a plan to fight them."
"Oh right. I almost forgot." Issei sadly stated. "I guess even though we've become a lot stronger, we still need to think of something on how to beat them. I thought we'd be fine now since we've trained so hard. Do you think we can win?"
Kiba gave a small hum, giving deep though to the Pawn's question. "To be honest, I'm still not sure. We stand a much better chance than before. Only Buchou and Akeno would have been fine against Riser's peerage before our trip. I think now we'll be a bigger match for them."
"Riser." Koneko pointed out.
"Yes. Even if we defeat his peerage, we'll still need to beat him. Right now, you're the only one with an attack strong enough to take him out. If you get retired or you get too tired to do it, we might still lose."
Issei sighed in defeat. "So it comes down to me. Suika-san and Marisa-san said that I last a lot longer and fight better now even when I'm boosted all the way up, but I still can't do an Oppai Spark as big as hers. I don't know if it'll work and it still tires me out so much."
Koneko glowered at him for the perverted attack. Kiba simply smiled, amused still at the name.
"From what we saw, most of us think it's enough. None of us have any attacks that destructive, except for maybe Buchou, but it's because of her type of magic."
Issei nodded. "I saw. The red wave of magic right? How could anyone survive something like that?"
"Maybe you should turn that question around at yourself." Kiba chuckled. "Either way, we saw it multiple times during training. It can be blocked with obstacles or dodged. For Riser, it's because as a Phenex, he has very high regeneration so wounding him almost doesn't do anything. I heard that it still saps his energy to regenerate, but he can keep doing it until we lose."
"And that's why Oppai Spark will take him out in one hit right? Wouldn't it just be better to just rush for him right away and take him out so we win?" Issei asked, randomly throwing out a strategy.
Koneko shook her head. "Peerage will protect him. You won't have time to Boost and power up."
"The moment they see you charging up something, they're sure to try and stop you. You'll be interrupted and they already outnumber us so we can't just stay still."
Issei sighed at his tactic being so easily picked apart, scratching his head. "This Rating Game is really hard. Guess that's why Buchou and Akeno-san need to think of something for us with Reisen-san to win."
"Speaking of them…" Kiba began, hand under chin as he thought of something interesting. "Don't you find it strange on how easy Marisa-san and Suika-san took it on us? I've never seen them use any of their techniques from the church. Unless Suika-san doesn't have any."
"Huh?" Issei looked puzzled for a second as he tried to remember. "Oh yeah… I remember Marisa-san shooting a small laser once when she saved me. I never saw her use it again though. I guess it is kind of weird."
"They're strong. Too strong." Koneko commented, voicing out Kiba's thoughts verbally. "Suspicious."
"We only hit Marisa-san a couple times, and I saw her wounded when we did." Kiba added. "But not Suika-san. Nothing worked on her at all."
Issei gave it some more thought before something stood out to him. "Oh yeah. We were getting beat up so much I forgot. But even when I boosted up all the way, Suika-san just shrugged it off. My hand really hurt after that! Yesterday too still, when we were stronger!"
"Koneko-san as well. She's a rook, but it didn't do anything to Suika-san still." Kiba pointed out, "I've been trying to make the sturdiest swords I could too, but they still broke in half against her skin when I slashed at her during training. Buchou and Akeno hit her a few times with their magic and I saw them knock her away, but I didn't see any injuries. Just her torn pink blouse."
It was suspicious. She looked so young, though from how she talked, the three of them knew that she was older than she appeared. Who was she really? Marisa Kirisame was obviously human, being so easily injured. But Suika Ibuki retained no injuries despite being struck several times when the opportunity arose. They had learned to avoid her the majority of the time as nothing worked on her anyway, but they still sometimes instinctively struck back when she got too close.
"She's not a human, devil, angel, or fallen angel."
Issei instinctively turned to his untransformed left arm.
"I know you said you wouldn't ask them, but that doesn't mean you can't come to your own conclusions."
"Issei-kun?" Kiba regained his attention. "Is something wrong?"
Issei waved it off dismissively. "Nah. Nothing like that. Just Ddraig talking to me again."
"Oh right. You mentioned that a few days ago." Kiba recalled. "I didn't think a Sacred Gear could talk to its wielder though, so I was surprised to hear it could."
"Hmph. Those other Sacred Gears are nothing compared to me. I'm the Great Welsh, the Red Dragon Emperor! In the face of my power, nothing can stop me!"
Issei managed to restrain the comment that would have mentioned that Ddraig was a Sacred Gear himself.
"He doesn't want to talk to anybody else except me though. But Ddraig, if Suika-san isn't any of them, then what is she?"
"There is more inhabiting this world than you think. What I just listed is paltry. Vampires, dhampirs, even other dragons exist. None of you have just figured it out yet, Partner."
"Well, do you know then Ddraig?"
"I have my suspicions, but I can't confirm anything."
In other words, Issei thought, Ddraig didn't know either. He didn't think the sealed, prideful dragon would enjoy hearing that though.
"Well, they've helped us a lot. I think we should just let it rest. Besides, will this really matter when we face the yakitori bastard?" Issei questioned, frowning at doubting whom he considered a good acquaintance.
Kiba paused momentarily before shaking his head in denial. "No. I guess you're right. None of this really matters in the end before we face Riser."
"Exactly. But I do have a new move I created just for this!" Issei declared proudly, hand beating his chest once with pride.
Kiba and Koneko both raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"A new move? Like your Oppai Spark?"
"No." Issei denied at first. "Even better than Oppai Spark!"
Something even better than Oppai Spark? It seemed tough already to top anything that Marisa's taught move could do.
"I can use it on one or even lots of people! Trust me, it works great! I've been working with Asia on it secretly for the past few nights when everyone was asleep!" He explained, grinning all the while as Kiba and Koneko looked at him with impressed faces.
"I didn't know you had something like this at all. Could you show us?" Kiba asked, but Issei quickly shook his head.
"Sorry, it's a surprise. I want to show it off in the Rating Game! It's so deadly, everybody won't be able to move!" He proclaimed, fist tightening in sheer anticipation at performing his deadly technique.
"Then I suppose we'll be looking forward to it. Anything to help Buchou and win against Riser." Kiba chuckled, as he leaned back peacefully. Koneko sat next to baked goods in her hand, continuing to munch on them casually.
Issei looked back towards the vacation home however.
"I hope Buchou and Akeno-san are doing okay. Buchou has been kind of distant lately and they've been in there for a while…"
xXx
Tomorrow was the day of reckoning, Rias thought to herself. She currently sat in a chair around a circular table in another part of the vacation room. Seated next to her was her most trusted friend and Queen, Akeno Himejima. Across from her and the table was Reisen Udongein Inaba, the clinic doctor of the Inaba Clinic. Today, aside from sleeping, there would be no rest for her or her closest friend. She was glad that her beloved peerage could relax outside. They deserved all that and more. Now, it was her turn to make sure that the training wasn't wasted by formulating some plans for the Rating Game against Riser. Strategy and information went a very long way towards winning, she knew.
"To reiterate some of the information again, a Rating Game is a battle meant to simulate war between two opposing teams. During it, nobody is killed. When referees or the system deem members of a peerage unable to fight any more or in grave danger, then they are automatically retired by teleporting into a medical section. The best healers are always there to ensure that no permanent is done." Rias began, repeating some of the information that Akeno had told Reisen on the first day. "Each side has a base of operations where each team starts off. Normally, a Pawn can promote with a King's permission when fighting. In a Rating Game though, that's disabled. Instead, the Pawn of each peerage can Promote into any other piece except the King when they reach the opposing base."
"Similar to chess then, when they reach the opposing side." Reisen compared to which Rias nodded in confirmation.
"Exactly. Each side generally brings their full peerage to a Rating Game, whether or not it's complete. Kings can choose not to bring certain pieces, but most teams do."
Reisen gave no visible expression except for the neutral plastered on her face, analyzing the information given to her.
"But if I remember from what Akeno-san said, you only have four people and five if you include yourself. Riser has fifteen; sixteen if you include him." Reisen recalled as the Queen nodded in response.
"That's right. As a result, we're heavily outnumbered. On top of that, Riser has had experience in the Rating Games." Akeno added, further piling on the odds against them.
Reisen frowned, but didn't lose her composure. "How big is the experience gap between the two of you?"
The grimace in both of their unblemished faces told Reisen plenty.
"This is our first Rating Game." Rias started somewhat hesitantly. "Riser has had ten rating games. His current score last I checked was eight to two. The two losses however, were surrenders as a respectful gesture for his opponents."
Thinking about it all now, Rias began to realize just how stacked the odds were against her. Not only could she not receive help from any devils, due to Riser's declaration in favor of a fair fight, but his experience practically dwarfed hers. Despite her disliking most of his current traits, she had to give him credit. He was a true devil in the end, making sure that he had everything in his favor. Even the ten days he had given her, again, was nothing more than a way for her to cling to hope desperately before fully extinguishing every last bit of resistance she had left. To others inexperienced in the ways of politics, it was a symbol of fairness given to her from his 'infinite compassion and mercy.' If she failed, it would appear to others that she was simply too weak.
To those experienced in it however, it was a powerful move. Dangle something almost impossible to reach and watch them reach for it only to fail. It made a great showing of power, something devils valued highly.
"And you explained to me that before, only you and Akeno-san stood any chance of being able to fight Riser's peerage, right?" The Lunarian asked for confirmation to which both nodded to. "Unbelievable…"
"I'm sorry." Rias apologized sincerely. "It does look hopeless. Our politics as devils has always made things hard, especially for people who aren't used to it. I'm already grateful to you and your friends for the training. We've become so much stronger because of it. You don't have to stay any longer if you don't want to. You're not obligated to help me after all."
The lilac-haired girl shook her head. "I said we would help in the best way we could. It'd be impolite if we just left now. It's a hard situation to be sure, but I don't think it's a complete loss."
"Thank you. As one of the heirs of the 72 pillars of the Devil Clans, and as just Rias, I won't ever forget this." The crimson-haired devil openly and gratefully thanked.
The ebony-haired companion bowed respectfully. "Yes. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Anybody who can help my friend, I can respect. Thank you for helping us."
"Akeno…" Rias whispered in awe, though both people occupying the room heard her anyway.
Reisen hummed in order to grab their attention. "If you're going to win, then we'll need to know everything there is. If the Rating Game has two bases, there's an area where you'll be fighting. Do you have a clue where that'll be?"
Rias shook her head. "No. Every Rating Game fought has an area randomly assigned. There can be requests if there are some circumstances involved, but it's generally never done."
"So we don't know where you'll be fighting either…" Reisen murmured quietly, resisting the urge to grab her forehead at such overwhelming odds and the lack of information. "There's almost nothing I can give you except general advice for your current situation then as well as what I know at the moment."
"That's fine. Any little bit you can give us can help." Rias encouraged.
"Starting with being outnumbered first then. You and your peerage have improved drastically, but seeing as I don't know how strong Riser or his peerage is, I don't know if it's enough. There are a few important things to note, and a few strategies you can consider."
Reisen raised a finger, corresponding with the first tip she would give.
"The foremost important thing is to try and keep everyone alive. Losing even one person could be a massive loss. It can hurt morale and lead to even more losses because the people allocated to dealing with that person can help others. Then, it'll be a domino effect until everyone falls. There are a couple exceptions in which sacrificing someone can be considered, especially since it isn't a lethal fight. It has to be well worth the trade though, so be very careful on when you do this. I had to learn that the hard way."
Rias nodded grimly, absorbing the information given to her. She hoped it wouldn't come down to that, loathing the thought of losing anyone in her peerage, but kept it in mind for now. Reisen raised a second finger.
"Secondly, strategies. There are a few that I know that can be helpful. I'm not the best strategist or tactician, but I'm a servant and apprentice to someone who could be considered one. One of them, if you know the layout of an area, is to set out traps in a place where you know lots of enemy forces will be. You can ambush them there, or use it as a diversion while picking off other people."
Reisen raised a third finger.
"You could also send out a strike team to hunt for smaller groups or stray members and quickly take them out. Another team can be a decoy, or a distraction to hold out until your stronger team takes out as many people as you can before regrouping. Hit-and-run tactics essentially until you whittle them down."
Reisen raised a fourth finger.
"The last one is to sabotage them somehow. This one relies on the mind of an enemy commander and troops. You can find ways to give them bad information so that you force them to make certain decisions you can take advantage of. This can go in hand with the previous strategies. With hit-and-run tactics or good traps, you can make them paranoid to do anything while you regroup and formulate another plan."
Rias nodded again, taking in what the doctor was telling her. "All of this seems very difficult to do."
"It's a matter of knowing how skillful your opponents are and how much your own members can handle. The environment can play a tremendous part in various ways, but we don't have the luxury of knowing where you'll be fighting. In most cases, you don't want to be fighting in an open area where they can use superior numbers against you unless you have a trap planned."
And this was what separated her from Riser, Rias thought. He most likely knew all this. Knew that she would try everything she learned and knew to try and grab victory under him. Yet, whereas she had just learned it, he most likely knew it better from his own battle experience.
"Do you think you could use any of these in your Rating Game?" Reisen asked as Rias underwent deep thought at the various strategies handed to her.
"It's a very good start. If only we had time to practice what you told us, we could have had a better chance." Rias answered, cursing mentally the ten day time limit she had. "There's nothing we can do though."
Reisen nodded, lowering two of her fingers while holding up two. "Okay. Riser and his peerage is the only thing left I can think of now. You said none of you really exactly how powerful Riser's peerage was."
Akeno affirmed the statement. "Right. The only information we have on them is his Queen, Yubelluna and Riser himself. Yubelluna is known as the Bomb Queen, able to cause explosions with her magic from a distance. Riser has all the abilities of a Phoenix as I said on the first day."
"Instant regeneration and fire mastery." Reisen recalled, already very familiar with the powers of a Phoenix. "But Marisa already listed two ways to beat him. Kill him multiple times to the point where he runs out of stamina to fight, or defeat him with one attack. You have someone who can do one of those now."
"Issei." The Peerage's King needlessly said, though everyone at the table already knew it.
"Right." The Lunarian confirmed. "However, Marisa told me that he still can't use it to same level of power as she can and that it still tires him out. Be careful if you decide to use the latter method."
The two devils nodded wordlessly. It was essentially their trump card now. He was the perfect one to hold such a thing as well. Issei had been knocked unconscious in one attack by Riser's pawn. There was very little chance he would expect a trump card to come from a person he considered trash as a low-class devil and a weakling. Finally, something was going in their favor which was a method to defeat Riser. It wasn't guaranteed to work, but it was much better than having no definitive way to be able to beat him.
"Finally, the Bomb Queen," Reisen notified them. "Based on abilities alone, being able to get close to her would be ideal. She wouldn't want to blow herself up. Someone who could get in quickly as well would be a good idea. If she has to take time to cast her spell, then someone fast enough can easily evade her explosions. If she is capable of flight, it would make things more difficult but not impossible. Crippling her method of it would be a boon."
Rias already knew the ideal person for fighting her. However, Yubelluna was someone who preferred fighting in the air, much like herself and Akeno. Yuuto didn't fly very often, much less used it for fighting. She and Akeno would be at a disadvantage if they fought her. An explosion courtesy of her magic could happen anywhere in her line of sight. Both of their spells on the other hand, came as a projectile and therefore, could be dodged with retaliation being another explosion. But then again, all they needed to do was cripple her wings and Yuuto could take her own on the ground.
Her mind raced at the possibilities of taking down Riser's Queen. However, she had almost forgotten that diverting more than one person to fight someone wasn't a very likely possibility. She was already spread thin as it was.
"As you can see, experience can mean a lot in battles. Unfortunately, this is all I can offer you Rias-san. Everything else is in your hands now." Reisen finalized, standing up from her chair. "As today is the last day, the Inaba Clinic will officially leave the vacation home. We'll wait to hopefully hear of your victory. I don't think we'd be allowed as spectators, seeing as we're not devils."
"No. Unfortunately, you won't be allowed to watch our Rating Game. But…"
Rias gave a gracious countenance towards Reisen.
"Whether we win or lose tomorrow, we won't forget how you helped us. No matter how bleak it was, we actually have a chance now. Somehow, I'll repay you for your kindness."
"Don't worry about it." Reisen managed to resist performing Marisa's dismissive hand wave. "We helped you for our own reasons. We want to foster the tentative trust between us and this was an ideal opportunity. We do hope that you'll win though. You have good people with you."
"Right. That's why I can't fail them. If I lose, all of us will be forced to serve under Riser by extension because of my marriage to him. I won't let that happen to us." Rias declared with pride as Reisen hummed in approval.
"I'll go gather Marisa and Suika-san to leave. I hope you'll bring good news to us. You already know where we live."
And with that, Reisen left through the large double doors. It made a loud noise as she shut the doors and finally, only the two devils occupied the gathering room.
"Rias…" Akeno said worriedly.
"I'll be okay Akeno. I have a lot to think about. As my Queen and friend, you've been with me at every turn no matter what. Please, go ahead and take a rest with the others. You and everyone deserve it."
Her Queen frowned however and remained stationary.
"I can't Rias. What about you?"
"I'll be okay." She lied, though she knew her most trusted friend had seen through it.
None of them spoke for a while. Tension and silence reigned as the both of them were willing to give up on their desires. Akeno, wanting to attend to Rias as both her concerned friend and Queen. Rias, wanting to give the duly deserved reward to her peerage as well as seeking some time alone.
Eventually, Akeno caved in.
"I'll be outside with the others Rias. If you need me, please come to me." She stated as she left through the same double doors Reisen had earlier.
As her Queen left, with the same loud sound of the door shutting signifying it, Rias let out an exhausted sigh.
She looked out the window to see that the sun was beginning to set. No doubt her peerage would be physically ready for tomorrow. Dinner would be soon and she wouldn't miss that with her peerage.
"Buchou?"
A male voice broke her out her thoughts and she immediately turned the source of it.
"Issei? What are you doing here?"
"Aha well… I passed by Akeno-san on the way here and she said I should check up on you. I was worried about you anyway." He scratched his head sheepishly, a bit embarrassed at having to explain his reasoning.
Of course. If Akeno couldn't accompany and was worried about her, she'd asked someone else. She didn't necessarily state she wanted to be alone and seeing as she had already dismissed Akeno for a break, she sent Issei instead. She didn't know whether to feel exasperated at the devil-ish act she had performed, or flattered that her best friend obviously cared about her so.
"In that case, why don't you have a seat next to me?" She requested, patting an open spot next to her. Issei did just that as he pulled the chair from under the table and seated himself.
"Umm…" Issei began nervously, fidgeting a bit in his chair. "I wanted to say sorry."
"Hmm? What for?"
"I-I got us caught up in this right? The reason we're in this was because I attacked Riser isn't it?" Issei questioned as Rias was taken aback at the self-blame placed on himself. She shook her head.
"Don't be silly Issei. It was an arranged marriage between me and Riser. I was supposed to marry him after university, but I would have picked a fight with him sooner or later. It might as well have been sooner."
"But I saw and heard from everyone." Issei rebutted. "This is a fight we're not supposed to win right? This is supposed to be rigged against us."
Rias remained quiet for a while before solemnly nodding. "Yes. While you were unconscious after trying to attack him, he made several more conditions. Out of pride, I accepted it when I shouldn't have. It was stupid of me to. We were lucky that we got around one of the conditions, since the Inaba Clinic doesn't have any devils so we could actually get help in training."
"So what's wrong Buchou? We've trained so hard for this. We can't lose now." Issei tried to encourage her.
"I'm afraid that I've brought us into something we can't get out of. There's so many things going against us that you could say it was unfair. Nobody showed it, but I could tell most of them were discouraged throughout the trip. Demoralized after being beaten so badly over and over. I've had to stay strong for everybody so they at least knew that had someone to look up to and help them. Akeno did her best too."
Rias bit her lip. "But now I'm scared. Everyone has become stronger and I'm happy for them. The only part left is the strategy from me. Everyone is counting on me now to win this. There's so much at stake other than myself. I can't fail us. If I lose, you'll be forced to serve under Riser by extension of my marriage. That's not what I want for anyone. I'll lose my freedom. I don't know what I would do."
There was just so much pressure on her. Her impulsive decision to accept the Rating Game challenge was incredibly poor. She hadn't taken the time to think it over clearly and it had cost her and her peerage dearly. To take responsibility as the King, she had to be the pillar of support for her peerage. If the others saw her falter during their own weakest moments, then who else could they turn to?
"Buchou!" Issei almost shouted despite being indoors and put a rather forceful hand on her shoulder. "I know. I saw how everyone was getting depressed too, and I tried to help out. Nobody doubts you though still! I trust you! We all trust you no matter what and we all know that you love us like family. Akeno-san, Kiba, Koneko-chan, and I all know that. That's why you can share some of your burden with us too. You don't have to sit alone like this!"
Rias was stunned to hear such a thing from Issei and her face expressed it perfectly. He seemed astounded at his own words too.
"Eh? Umm… maybe that wasn't the right thing to say. But we know that you regret accepting that fight. That's why everyone is here to support you too. When you're sad too, you can talk to us. We're family, right?" He continued, speaking his words from pure instincts instead of thinking it though.
His King remained speechless at his declaration of support. She had to resist a tear coming out of her eye from the joy that rose up in her heart. Unable to hold it any longer, she stood up from her seat and hugged her pawn.
"B-Buchou!?"
His voice was muffled as she pulled him in deeper.
"Thank you Issei." She murmured as she held him tight, even pushing his head right into her bountiful breasts as she knew he liked. The moment he felt the object of his desire smoosh against his face, he made no further movement. He was simply too flabbergasted.
"You're right. I have you, my precious peerage and family. As long as I have you all, I'll fight for us until I can't anymore." She graciously thanked, laying her head on top of his. "I promise that I'll do my best to protect us all better in the future. I won't ever make the same stupid mistake without thinking things through."
Yes, that was a vow that she would uphold to the best of her ability. Some may have called her overprotective over those she cared for, but she saw it as a compliment. She didn't have to be alone in protecting them though, she realized. The ones she cared for would gladly help protect and support each other and her without even being asked. All it took was Issei telling her for her to know.
Tomorrow was the day of reckoning where everything would be decided. She intended to expend some extra hours alone that night to think up of every plan possible to defeat Riser. That plan was tossed out the window and mentally destroyed with her power of destruction. For now, she would explain her actions to her peerage. They would understand, if what Issei said was correct. And they would support her, even if what she made was a poor decision.
This was truly the best peerage she could have.
Beta: Lunar Wave
A/N: Tah-dah! As of now, I have a new beta with the name displayed right there! Therefore, no more of the trashy mistakes that I made as a self-beta. A personal thanks goes to them for reading this monster of a chapter and going through it for mistakes. Sorry for taking so long to get this done. Reality had its way with me. You may interpret that however you like. Anyway, to pitifully make up for the long time of not uploading, this is my longest chapter yet (not including my one-shot). Hopefully, the quality of it suits the length. I could have make it longer, but I decided at one point that enough was enough. There should be a lot less errors now due to the story's new beta. If you haven't already, check out their stories. It's well worth a read.
Anyway, I especially enjoyed being able to write up the demonstration of Master Spark. It's been one of the things that I wanted to write the most, especially since I think Issei is one of the best candidates to receive an attack like that. I'm still having a hard time writing in conversations with multiple people at once, but I hope that improves with time. As usual, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. See you next time!
