The next day after school, Issei trained Kiba, Koneko and Akeno. But Issei was currently sparring with Kiba.
Sloppy, that's all Issei could tell about Kiba's stance. A single parry causes Kiba to lose his balance. He seemed to like bringing his sword too far forward. Hence, when parried, Kiba would lose his balance as the entire weight of his body isn't evenly spread. Instead, it's all in front of him.
"Your stance is wrong again," Issei said. He sighed as Kiba seemed to consistently break his stance. "I told you to stop changing it because you want to increase your speed. Keep doing that, and I can promise you, you'd die in a real fight. The stance is not just there for balance, but to also make sure that you have no opening".
"I know, you already told me that countless times, but my old stance has become a habit," Kiba said. He was ashamed that he was having trouble fixing his stance. It wasn't his fault as he had never had a proper instructor before...Well, Okita Souji did train him for a little while. "I'm trying as best as I could, but I'm struggling".
"If that's the case, then you have to go through the training I made you do last week," Issei said. Kiba shivered. The brutality of the training was ruthless. He never wants to experience it again. "Either you try and fix your stance now, or I make you correct it with my special training".
Kiba's stance tightened immediately, and all the openings he had earlier were gone. At least in the eye of those with lesser experience and talent than Issei. Seeing that Kiba could fix his stance, he went for a strike.
Kiba held his balance with the proper stance even when he parried Issei's strike. He also wasn't making any useless movement as he did earlier. Issei smiled at this since Kiba was learning. However, Kiba dropped to the ground a few minutes later due to exhaustion.
"See? You can do it after all," Issei said. He looked at Kiba, who was on the ground punting. He then took out a sword from his inventory. This wasn't something he received from the Gacha but his own creation. He stabbed the sword into the ground. "Once you're done, I want you to try and take this sword out of the ground. But be careful. The lower your control over your Demonic Power, the more it will burn you".
"W-Wait! Why do I have to do this?" Kiba asked. He had excellent control over his Demonic Power. He didn't need help with it. Or so he thought. "I have control over my Demonic Power. I don't need training for it".
"Really?!" Issei said. With his Fiery Eyes Golden Pupils, he can tell that Kiba has a rudimentary control of his Demonic Energy, enough for it not to accidentally kill anyone or let it leak, but that's it. He has no finesse or fine control over it. "If you think you have great control over it, then pick up the sword without being burned".
With confidence, Kiba touches the grip of the sword. Immediately flames erupted from the sword. It was so intense that Kiba was flung 20 metres away from the sword.
"Ha-ha-ha! Brilliant!" Issei said. He looked at Kiba with a smirk. "You call that having control over your Demonic Powers? With finer control over one's Demonic Power, the longer they can last in a fight since they aren't wasting any energy and only using what is necessary. On the other hand, you may not be leaking Demonic Power, but you use excessive amounts".
Kiba was stubborn and tried to grab the sword by the grip once more, and the result was the same. So, Issei made him sit cross-legged and meditate. He was told to feel his Demonic Power and make the energy as still as water. Only then would he be ready to try and pull the sword from the ground.
While Kiba was being made to meditate, Issei called Akeno over. He asked her to pull the sword from the ground. This was to show Kiba what would happen when someone with control over Demonic Power touches the sword. Nothing.
No flames erupted since no Demonic Energy was seeping into the sword. Goes to show how much control Akeno has over her Demonic Powers. Then again, it's not surprising since Akeno is a pure magic user. That would change soon since Issei believes everyone should learn hand-to-hand combat.
Before the training ends for the day, Issei wanted to have a spar with Koneko to see how far she has progressed with her Re-Taekwondo. Koneko was eager to have a spar. She couldn't wait to show Issei how far she's gotten and how hard she's been training.
Koneko used Bo-Bup to get behind Issei instantly, but Issei was able to easily follow her movement. Hence her connecting attack, Arang, had to be cancelled as it would be a waste of energy to follow through when it would obviously be blocked, dodged, or parried. So, she changed her attack to Ground Drawer.
Unfortunately, Koneko wasn't strong enough to push Issei. She knew this. That's why she followed it with a Baek Rok. But that was still not able to make him move a single step. So, Koneko stepped it up a bit more. She performed a Gor Yo, a two horizontal kicks performed in quick succession at the head of the opponent. Yet, it still did nothing.
After a few more minutes of sparring, Koneko was getting exhausted. So, Issei ended the spar. For some reason, Koneko saw Issei smiling at her. She was confused. She wasn't able to do anything against him.
"Well done, Koneko," Issei praised her. Koneko was not sure why Issei was praising. "I know that you think you don't deserve the praise since you couldn't do anything against me, but your stance and connecting attacks were all wonderfully executed. There were some issues here and there, but you're doing well".
Koneko blushed. She was getting high praise from someone with whom she stood no chance. But it felt nice to have her skills acknowledged.
With the sparring over, the training for the day was over. Everyone headed back inside the ORC room for a bit of rest.
Thirty minutes later, Sona and her Peerage arrived in the ORC.
"Hmm…" Akeno said. She looked at the Sona and her Peerage. "What brings you all here?".
"Both of us have just increased our number of servants," Sona said. She then looked at Issei, who wasn't paying attention to her. "So, I thought we should exchange greeting again".
"Correction," Rias said. She gave a sigh. "You were the only one to have increased their number of servants. On the other hand, I have the same number".
"Right, I forgot about that," Sona said. She forgot that Rias couldn't bring Issei to her Peerage for several reasons. "I forgot that I was the one that suggested you make a deal with him instead. Him being here means you were able to make a deal, yes?".
"I have," Rias said. She had a smile on her face since she's seen how much stronger her Peerage had become with Issei's tutelage. "And the part of my deal has already been paid".
"Oh?" Sona said. With a powerful person like Issei. Sona thought he would ask for something quite challenging to achieve. But to hear that Rias already has done her part of the deal was shocking. "That's interesting. What was the exchange about?".
"Issei would train my Akeno and Kiba. And I would help him look for a person," Rias said. "But as it turns out, the person he was looking for was Akeno. So, I was able to complete my end of the deal in no time".
"Oh, right," Akeno said. She looked at Issei, and she told him who it was in front of them. "Issei, this lady's name is Sona Sitri. She's the next head of the House of Sitri, an upper-class devil family".
"I know who she is," Issei said. He did because Serafall would talk about her a lot. Issei is a bit of an otaku and loves magical girls. So, he went to a convention nearby and met Serafall. With Fiery Eyes Golden Pupils, he knew the new friend he made was a Devil but didn't care. "I've heard all about her from Serafall".
"Eh!" Akeno, Rias, Sona, Kiba and Tsubaki were surprised that Issei knew Serafall. As for Koneko, she was surprised, but she was too busy enjoying Issei's petting of her head. Rias then continued. "H-How do you know Leviathan-sama?".
"Levia-tan?" Issei said. Serafall was someone he occasionally spoke to when a new magical girl episode came out. Issei's life isn't always about training, after all. He has his own guilty pleasure. "We occasionally contact each other".
"Y-You call Leviathan-sama as L-Levia-tan," Tsubaki said. Her stoic look broke. She was so shocked that Issei would call one of the strongest female Devils Levia-tan. "T-That's absurd!".
"Hey! Don't blame me for that!" Issei said. It was Serafall that insisted he called her that. "She was the one that insisted on being called that. I wanted to call her either Sera-chan or simply Sera, but her eyes, her puppy eyes got to me. So, I started calling her Levia-tan".
Sona facepalmed at what Issei said. Her sister definitely made Issei call her Levia-tan. There was no doubt about it.
"Anyways, I only came here to introduce my new servants and say that we're heading to get familiars next week," Sona said. She then fixed her glasses that slid down her nose. "Since you don't have any new members, you wouldn't have a need to enter the familiar forest".
While Sona and Rias spoke to each other, Issei smelt a scent coming from somewhere. He sniffed the air and smelt it on Saji. Upon coming closer to him, Issei realised what the smell was. Dragon.
"Oh, you have a Dragon-type Sacred Gear," Issei said. Saji was surprised that Issei figured it out. "Your dragon scent has a different smell. That could only mean that you're an Evil Dragon.
Or at least you're Sacred Gear is. I only know of one Evil Dragon that was turned into a Sacred Gear. Vritra. But yours is incomplete. You're missing parts. Which one do you have?".
"What the?!" Saji said. Even Sona was surprised that Issei could tell that Saji was a Dragon-type Sacred Gear wielder. "H-How did you figure that out? By smelling?".
"Yup. Your scent is weak, but it's there," Issei said. "Though, I wonder why your Dragon's soul is separated into multiple pieces?".
"H-How are you even smelling my Dragon scent?" Saji asked. He was confused about how Issei could smell his weak Dragon scent. "Even Koneko was barely able to smell it".
"That's a secret," Issei said. He was then curious if Saji had complete control over his Sacred Gear. "So? How good are you with your Sacred Gear? Do you want to have a spar with me?".
Saji was about to accept, but Sona shut him up before he could accept. Unlike the others of her Peerage, Sona knows the power of Issei. And she wasn't going to let Saji do something stupid like accept the sparring invitation when she knew he stood no chance of even scratching the opposition.