Life 4: A Spark in the Dark

If Noé had to describe the nature of the days since being "recruited", he didn't really have a good word for it. Boring, perhaps, would be the best way for him to describe it.

No thanks to his lack of a familiar, Rias had him starting quite literally from rock bottom in terms of Devil work: Passing out flyers. Or more precisely, running around town and dropping flyers into the mailboxes of humans around Kuoh who either pinged the radar or were repeated "customers" of the services provided by Rias's peerage. Quite luckily for Noé, such a thing was quick to do since he'd long since invested in acquiring and getting the license to drive a motorcycle since he was the proper age to do so in Japan. Were it another country he'd have gone right for a car, but such wasn't the case here at least.

But if Noé could say he liked effectively being a mailman for Rias in between his work with his dad, he'd be lying through his teeth. Not quite hate, but certainly nothing short of complete tedium. Tedium he took out when given chances, be it at the arcade… or in the current case, on a heavy bag he was hitting loudly enough to echo across the gym with heavy metal blaring in his earbuds. One within the gym in Kuoh Academy to be precise, currently occupied by the members of the boxing club.

And the pace Noé had set for himself didn't slow as someone plucked one of the wireless earbuds from his right ear.

"You must have had a pretty rough night if you're going that hard!" Out of the corner of his eye, Noé spotted another boy currently rolling the stolen earbud in his fingers; The captain of the boxing club and another classmate of his to be precise. "So, how's the club with Gremory been since she drafted you into it?"

"It's…" Noé paused between a rush of punches on the back, stopping and placing his hands on the target. "Annoying more than anything. 'Great Elder Sister' my ass!" and he punctuated the sentence with a jab that sent the bag lilting upwards, stopping it with a quick knee as it came back forwards. "Practically just running around town all dang evening checking out stupid rumors. You know how it is with this occult nonsense."

"Eh, Kuoh's full of rumors like that," The captain chuckled, tossing Noé his earbud back. "So, I guess it pays to have someone looking into them, even if they're all just random internet nonsense," Oh you have no idea. Noé looked to the side to hide his stilted expression. For a town basically out in the middle of nowhere and of next to no rapport, Kuoh had a surprising amount of supernatural activity to it. He chalked it up to the very fact it was so out of the way.

"I suppose you could say that," but play it off he continued to do. "So, what ya' need, Cap'n?"

"Well since you seem so intent to beat the piss out of this poor heavy bag here…" the teenager tapped the notable indent Noé's last punch had left in the object. "How about showing some of the first years how it's done hm? I know you're not an official member but you're damn good, so how about a friendly match?"

Noé turned and looked to the rest of the club off practicing on the mats set across the half of the gym they were using. It wasn't a very large club to be sure what with Kuoh's currently quite small male population when it came to the boy's clubs for certain sports. But it was certainly enough that over his attendance Noé was more than acquainted with several of the members and it certainly proved to be helpful in sharpening his skills for when he did need them. Considering the way he'd gone about it with the Boosted Gear, boxing had proved a rather useful set of skills to learn.

"Eh why not?" Noé shrugged as he pulled out his remaining ear bud. "Oi! If some of ya'll are done clear the mat! Me and Cap'n are gonna give the new kids a show!"

"Oi you heard him! Cap'n and Edelweiss are gonna spar, clear the mat!"

"Huh? Wait… isn't that guy that third year who runs all the gangs in town?!"

"I thought he was the Council's Hellhound!"

"… did a new nickname start going around?" Noé grumbled at hearing what had to be something new. Sighing, he turned to the first year who'd said so. "Oi! You, shrimp, where the hell did that one come from?"

"W-Well…" the student stammered, "W-We heard from this other guy about the time you saved the school festival last year! Th-The time you and some guys you know beat back this huge gang that wanted to make a mess of things! And that you did it with the permission of the Student Council!"

"Tsuno that little shit…" Noé sighed as he shook his head. "Look here! Word from your senior so listen up! Don't go listening to whatever wild rumors you hear, cause a lot of them are just made up by idiots!"

"But it is absolutely true that that's what happened last year," the captain said, Noé's brow cricking. "But Edelweiss definitely isn't the leader of all the gangs… they just respect him for kicking their collective asses year after year!"

"Can you not just add fuel to the fire?!" Noé snapped, the captain chuckling. "Peh, guess I can blow this off in the spar anyway! Let's go!"

Since the intent of the two was more to demonstrate rather than actually fight, neither teenager put on any protective gear since there was no intent to land a blow to begin with. Though for Noé it isn't like that would have been the issue anyway. He was thankful that he was quite good at keeping his strength in check, as being half-devil meant that as a pure baseline, he was far stronger than the average human by leaps and bounds.

Meaning that as he and the captain began trading blows in their demonstration spar, Noé was pulling his punches even more so than would technically be needed. Since quite frankly if he hit anyone in the room seriously, they'd be liable to end up on the opposite side of the wall.

But even then Noé allowed his body to simply flow through motions that by now he had practiced thousands of times over: Sliding dodges, weaving past jabs and hooks, being sure to make the motions of his return punches follow up from his legs to his hands first. All of it was practiced both in this gym and in his own off time before he applied it to the way he fought in actual situations. Of course, applying some of these ideas to fighting certain things was a far different task than others who were of a more human size.

The gym was silent except for the sounds of Noé and the Captain's exertion as they traded restrained blows, especially from the first years as they watched the two continue the spar. It was maybe only a few minutes, but it felt longer as punches were dodged and exchanged. And in a quick second, Noé spotted an ever so brief lag in the next punch the Captain was throwing. Daring to let a smirk flash, Noé's left arm flew up, deflecting the fist to the side, and with a quick twist of his torso, his right fist flew up and stopped just shy of the captain's nose.

"There it is!" One of the other third years cheered. "Edelweiss's signature Shield and Spear!"

"Does he ever miss that?"

"Don't go giving it some name," Noé scoffed, shaking his head as he slicked his now sweat matted hair back. "It's just a parry and counter, no need for any fancy title."

"And yet it never fails to win the match," The captain chuckled. "Seriously, you should've joined us officially ages ago. You're crazy strong and way too good at this to just do this for training. Or is street fighting more fun?"

"Hah!" Noé scoffed, "You know I help my dad out at work most of the time. The only reason I got poached like I did by Gremory was because we made an agreement. That and… well let's call it family related things. I couldn't say no if I wanted to."

"SAY WHAT?!" One of the club members shouted, being quickly quieted by two of the others.

"Sounds like complicated stuff we shouldn't dig into," The captain said, shooting a look at the shouter's way. "A shame at the very least. Anyway, give Daidouji some regards. If he wants to drop by and spar again, he's totally free… when he's not busy picking chicks up in town anyway."

"Hahaha, you're insulting his favorite pastime now," Noé chuckled as he sauntered over to his bag. And as he was undoing the wrappings on his arms, his phone giving a sudden buzz drew his attention. And his brow quickly furrowed when he saw it was a message from Rias. Dammit… it's been almost a week, no way she's gonna keep my passing out these damn flyers for that long. He sighed as he typed in a quick reply and grabbed his things. Better to see what she wanted than waste time muttering about it.

Noé didn't bother much to announce himself as he busted the door to the ORC in with a swing of his arm, strolling past the couches as Rias looked up from her desk while he tossed his bag onto the empty couch and began rifling through it as his hair and eyes returned to their real colors.

"Ah, Edelweiss…" Rias trailed off as she took stock of Noé's arrival, realizing he was in fact still dressed in his workout attire and clearly still fresh from his routines. "Um… mind my asking why you arrived like you just got done running ten kilometers?"

"Workouts with the boxing club, it's normal for me. This place has a shower in it right?" Noé got a nod in reply as he finally found his uniform. "Good, cause I'm using it. Tell me what you need after."

"Uh, wait, what?" Rias barely got a word in as Noé sauntered past the curtain and to the room beyond, the sounds of the shower started coming not a second later. "He didn't even give a proper greeting."

"It seems our new friend values efficiency," Akeno chuckled, sorting through some papers in her hands. "Noé-kun, is the shower fine in there?"

"A shower is a shower!" Noé yelled back. And not much sooner after that, Noé came back out from the curtain, pulling a towel off his hair… and still absent a shirt, considering said item and his blazer were in fact tucked in an armor.

"My my," Akeno chuckled, Noé not paying much mind as he began to put his shirt on. "You look so slim when dressed, but you're actually quite fit aren't you?"

"Hm?" Noé stopped as he was a bout to finish, taking a gander down as he noted Akeno and Rias's looks. Yuuto was busy reading and Koneko was snacking without a care. He did have to admit he made sure to keep himself in shape, but Noé had personally never thought about it much. He did have a decent degree of muscle definition going for him though, but even then, he remained rather lithe in frame. "Well considering all the combat practice I do that's kinda natural isn't it?"

"Quite so," Akeno chuckled, then looking to the somewhat flabbergasted looking Rias, "President? Is something the matter."

"Still just a bit surprised is all," Rias cleared her throat, and now Noé caught the slight flush on her face as he put his blazer on. "Ahem, I called you here for some business, as you can expect."

"It's not more damn flyers, is it?" Noé asked, fiddling with the part of his hair he normally braided, choosing not to finish the process and let the strands hang loose.

"Not quite," Rias chuckled. "As of today, consider yourself off of flyer duty. Rather, you're going to begin handling extra summoning requests. Koneko ended up with one extra today and so we need it to be covered. If it wouldn't be a problem, of course."

"So, fillin' in for the shorty huh?" Noé murmured. "Can't guess who'd be summoning her but… well no skin off my back. So, what do I get out of this huh?"

"Of course. Tell me, do you know why it is Devil's reincarnate humans to be our Servants?" Rias inquired, which Noé nodded to.

"It was a system that began development after the Great War way back when. Devils have low birthrates, which doesn't pair well with their near immortal lives. So new Devils simply couldn't be born fast enough to make up for the losses." he answered, Rias nodding, in the manner of a teacher proud that their student got their question right. Maybe mentor would be a decent phrase… Noé thought.

"Of course. But because humans who are reincarnated don't start out as the strongest of Devils, it was devised for there to be an incentive system. Reincarnated Devils can rise in the ranks based on their merits, and those who are able to achieve High Class status are then granted Evil Pieces of their own to then create their own Peerage, and thus bring in more Devils. Make sense?" Rias produced an ivory white, gold accented pawn piece as she made her point, "Now, you may not be a member of my Peerage, but, as a half-blood born outside of normal Devil society, you'd be considered a Low Rank. Of course, though, it's not like family and bloodline doesn't matter in our society, but, everyone starts out as a novice after all."

"Ah I get it. So basically, what you're saying I'm getting out of this is the chance to do whatever I need to rise up through this nonsense. And at some point, get a handle of my own peerage."

"And you have the bonus of being, let's say 'sponsored', by the House of Gremory. You do this right, and your future as a proper Devil could be a very bright one."

"Heh… something about 'Devil' and 'bright' seemingly says they don't belong in the same sentence."

"Quite."

Noé had to admit there was a good point to that. While her personally couldn't say he was terribly interested in the idea. But he could certainly say he had questions about his nature and why such a set up was even happening. Rias obviously didn't have the answers for him. And if he wanted to go about asking anyone, well, first he would need to get into a position to ask those questions in the first place. And he couldn't simply place his faith in the good will of Devils to give him proper answers when, as far as some of them were concerned, he was just some random half-blood the Gremory's plucked off the streets.

"So, in layman's terms, I get contracts from particularly greedy humans, I have the chance to move up the ranks from being some oh-so lowly half-blood of an unknown bloodline." Sarcasm laced Noé's words response, but Rias nodded despite it.

"And that's why I called you. As long as you're not counted as a Stray, even a master-less Devil like you can rise up in the ranks."

"Wow, quite the compliment you just gave me there Gremory."

"Ahem, sorry, that just came out."

"Suuuure… whatever, contract it is right?"

As was a lesson Noé had long since learned, Devils in the modern day also didn't quite perform what one would call the "classic" style of contract. Taking souls, as it turned out, was horribly inefficient for business. Van had explained it to Noé in terms of resources: "If you can only ever use a resource one time and that's it, then it has no inherent value." Noé thought it was something of a cold way to look at people, but it made sense in his mind. Why simply grant one request a person has that then ends with them dead, when it would be far more effective to turn that person into a customer?

From the perspective of business, it made perfect sense.

"Ah, right, what about going to the place this contractor lives at?" As Noé was handed a slip of paper by Akeno, he cast his eyes to the magic circle on the floor. "Because I doubt I can use that thing myself."

"That's a simple enough fix," said Rias, standing and approaching Noé. "If you'd hold a hand out, please."

Doing as asked, Noé showed the palm of his right hand. Rias gently grasped his wrist and traced a finger along his palm, a rose sigil appearing on the skin as she drew her finger away with a flick of red following it.

"This is the mark of my Household. While not a Servant, it'll at least let others know you work with me, and that you're not some Stray. Think of it as a kind of ID tag."

"That sounds more like a pet thing," Noé remarked. He quickly picked up that by focusing, he could make the mark appear and vanish at will. "But, whatever. Might be useful if anyone gets smart and picks a fight again like those idiot fallens from the other day."

"Ah, yes, about that," Rias said, "If you do get attacked again, I ask you try not to do too much damage. If they attack you, then it's self-defense and you can do what's needed to drive them off. But, don't give them a reason to try and come after you in response. Because as things are now, what you do will reflect on me as well, servant or not. Understood?"

Noé took a moment to think on Rias's tone. For lack of better words, he found it rather prissy in attitude. Seems not having a proper leash on what I do annoys her a bit. He thought with a smirk. But it wasn't like he would intend to cause trouble. And if he did get attacked again, well, too bad for the ones who decided on such a bad idea.

"Yeah yeah, I get it. I'll be sure to get this one covered."

"…Thank you for helping me out," Koneko's quiet reply came with the smallest bow of her head.

"No problem. So, we getting this started?" Noé turned around and hopped onto the circle, folding his arms as he waited.

"Just give me a moment more," Akeno giggled in an amused manner as she held a hand out. The circle under Noé's feet began filling in with red until it was fully formed, a copy of it beginning to form and rise out from the original.

"You'll be able to handle this without trouble, right?" Rias asked.

"Ah don't worry. I'm a lot better with people than you may think I am. Alright then, I'll be back with something, hopefully."

Noé waved to the other Devils as the flow under him got bright enough to drown out any other image in front of him in a wash of red. And in the next moment, he could feel the air around him change well enough. A bit stuffy even, like he was…

"What the hell?!"

In the apartment of some single dude in his thirties… Noé sighed as he opened his eyes and was beset by a shocked expression greeting him. The urge to smirk couldn't be resisted, and Noé fell victim to it. The room he was now in was a small one-room Japanese apartment, the walls marked by shelves and surprisingly tidy by his own observations.

The client himself was a skinny, somewhat unhealthy looking man. From the slip he'd been given, Noé at least knew his name was Morisawa.

"Yo. Sorry it's not who you expected, but the shorty is kinda busy, so I'm filling in, the name's Noé," he greeted, and Morisawa let out an annoyed groan.

"I didn't call for some hafu pretty-boy, I called for Koneko-chan! She always appears from these flyers when I use them!" The man said. Noé just sighed and put his arms behind his head.

"Look man, I'm basically just a temp higher taking on extra work. The shrimp had another summons and my butt got called up to handle it. A guy like you can understand that I'm sure," And to show proof, Noé showed his right palm, the mark appearing. It seemed to be enough, because Morisawa sat down at his desk chair.

"Ahh, so it's not gonna be Koneko-chan this time?"

"Like I said, shrimp's busy tonight so they have me filling in."

"So, what, you some kind of Devil freelancer?"

"More like… newfound associate. This ain't my normal job," Noé sighed as he leaned against a wall. Well… might as well ask, he concluded. "So, you seem to be a pretty regular guy. What the hell would make you wanna start summoning Devils every now and again?"

"I'm a government worker," Morisawa answered, "But the thing is, I'm so diligent about work I don't really interact with other people much. At some point I started getting desperate for some kind of interaction, and next I knew one of those leaflets was in my mailbox. After that… well guess I'm a repeat customer ever since… but maaaan, I was hoping to get a Devil in the cute category tonight. I even called her name."

"Unfortunately, the group Koneko is with is kinda on the small side," Noé snarked. "It's either her or one of two onee-san types… or then the other guy. So just to get it out of the way, what were you planning?"

Whatever hopes Noé may have had, he felt them dash away as the man reached into a corner and pulled out what was clearly a cosplay outfit… and an awfully familiar one at that.

"I have her cosplay!"

"What." Noé took a closer look at the outfit in Morisawa's grasp, blinking a bit as it clicked. "A Nagato Yuki outfit?"

"Oh, so you know the series?"

"Who doesn't? I'm pretty sure even people who don't watch anime that much know about Melancholy. Particularly when that dang dance was super popular."

"Devil-kun, do you also like Nagato?"

"I see the appeal, but Haruhi is more my type."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I like girls who'd be fun to hang out with. I've kinda got a thing with getting wrapped up in weird shit anyway so not like it'd change my life. That and she's got a nice bod," Noé paused as he caught himself perhaps getting a bit too casual with this. Why am I saying this out loud? What the hell…? "But, look we ain't here to talk taste in anime chicks. Since I obviously can't jump into a skirt, gotta figure something out."

"You got a point," Morisawa placed the uniform back where it had been, rolling his chair back around. "So, since you're a Devil, what's your schtick? You all have special talents, don't you? Koneko-chan told me she has amazing strength. She was able to carry me like a princess!"

This guy has no shame… Noé felt a bit disturbed as he conjured the image of this grown man being lifted up by the tiny Koneko, shaking his head so as to not let it get burned into his thoughts. He didn't want that stuck in his mind for sure.

"Well, I wouldn't much call it a talent, but I got these," With flick of his arms, the Myrmidon appeared on Noé's arms, Morisawa letting out an impressive whistle as the scaled metal shifted into place. "To be honest I'm actually half-human, so I got this fancy thing as a bonus to that."

"Hmm, hybrids usually do have more power than purebloods at times."

"Bro, we don't work like Saiyans. It was just luck."

"Oho, so you also know Dragon Ball huh?" Noé had a sudden odd feeling about where this was going as Morisawa moved his chair to a small closet on the side. "Then feast your eyes on this!"

The man threw the door open, revealing a built in book shelf filled end to end in manga volumes. Noé leaned in, his eyes widening as he saw the neatly arranged volumes.

"No freaking way, are these original prints?!" Morisawa nodded with a smug grin on his face. "Freakin' hell, these things must be worth a fortune with the condition they're in. Impressive, though I'm personally more of a Tokusatsu fan."

"Ohh? Which series?"

"Kamen Rider."

"Hehhh? I guy your age would've only seen Heisei series shows then. Most of you kids don't appreciate the classics."

"Try me," Noé felt ever so irked at that statement. And when he felt irked, or rather, challenged, he felt like he just couldn't back down.

"What was the actual Rider to first have multiple forms?" Morisawa's question came with Noé giving a smug grin as he stood straight.

"You're soft balling me! It was Black RX, obviously. Kuuga was just the series that codified the idea of Riders having multiple forms to change between."

"Hah! I'll admit that was an easy one. Then let's got a bit further back why don't we? To the original! How did Takeshi Hongo become the original Kamen Rider Ichigo?"

"Experimentation by the Shocker organization. His powers as a Rider are thanks to him and Nigou being cyborgs who were able to break free of Shocker's brainwashing to fight against them."

The two sat down at the table, gleams in their eyes as the clear challenge Noé presented to the older man became clear.

"Well then kid, seems you actually know your stuff. I think I know what tonight's request is gonna be."

"Bring it geezer! I can keep answering questions all night!"

"I cannot believe I actually spent that time running roughshod about Kamen Rider and Toku trivia… my lord I need to keep myself in check sometimes."

Noé sighed as he proceeded down the road away from Morisawa's apartments. He could have teleported back to the ORC room but after that he felt the need for some fresh air and time to think. Any success at actually getting a proper contract through fell out since all Morisawa could think of were things that would have cost the guy his soul. He certainly wasn't looking forward to what Rias was likely to say in response to that. He could only guess it would leave him annoyed.

"Pah whatever. Freaking starving… might as well run to a place for some food… something cheap and easy would do it…"

Noé stopped when he felt a presence. He heard the flapping of wings behind him, turning to find himself faced with one of the four fallens who had attacked him before, the woman in the revealing attire as it happened.

"Well, well, back for round two huh?" Noé hummed. "How's the one who's wing I blasted healing up? Did she lose it?"

"A wound like that is simple enough for us to fix," The fallen said, producing her spear with a flick of her wrist. Noé raised his brow as she raised the weapon. "And we intend to get payback for that humiliation."

"Really now?" Noé chuckled as he rolled his shoulders. "You couldn't even scratch me going four on one. You think you can manage all on your own?"

"We were caught off guard back then. But now that we know what you're capable of, don't expect me to make the same mistake twice! You'll die by the hand of Kalawarner tonight, Devil!"

"Ddraig!"

[BOOST!]

In a flash of red, Noé threw his left arm out, blocking Kalawarner's spear as she lunged at him. As the spear's light began to fade from the contact, Kalawarner drew it back, producing a second spear in her free hand. Noé recognized the coming feint and drew back, letting the spear shoot over him and shifting to the side as the first spear was swung back down. In the opening that the dual strike created, Noé's right arm flew forward, the gauntlet shifting open and spilling with emerald light as he threw the haymaker between the spears.

And on contact with Kalawarner, the light spilling from the gauntlet burst in time to the blow, sending the Fallen Angel careening into the air, the pressure of the blow shredding some of her attire and spilling blood as she leveled out.

"You can still run, you know?!" Noé called out. "After a blow like that you're not gonna be swinging as hard again. I'm not fond of killing people I don't have to. Besides, you lot are just scouts, right? No point wasting your life on this."

"It's true, we were only sent here to scout the area and verify the information we were given," Kalawarner admitted, "And in hindsight Raynare deciding to make our first move to attack was quite stupid… but, now that we've confirmed your nature and your powers, letting you live is out of the question! Besides, what's one half-breed? Unlike the Devils who oversee this area, killing you won't cause a mess."

"Yeah, about that…" Noé dismissed his right gauntlet, turning his hand to reveal the crest now marking his palm. He smirked when Kalawarner's eyes widened. "This half-breed just got himself a sponsor. So sorry to say, but it would cause an issue if you went after me now."

"The Gremory crest?! You have got to be kidding me…" Kalawarner growled, brandishing her spears. She then scoffed, looking up with a snarl. "In the end though it remains reason enough to kill you! We can't allow our enemies in this territory to get their hands on a power like yours after all."

"How much is it going to take to drive home that you can't win?!"

Noé growled as he dodged the incoming series of slashes and jabs. Blowing through one of the spears with his right hand, he swung his leg around and planted a solid roundhouse to Kalawarner's side, feeling the sick crunch of bones under his leg as he flung her down the street. As the Fallen rose again, her left arm was hanging limp at her side, a clear break in the upper arm.

"Damn you!" As the Fallen Angel threw her remaining spear with all the power forced into it she could muster, Noé dropped back as he lowered his right hand, intent to gather his own power to it as the spear sailed towards him. Just end it quickly… whether I kill her or not at this point may not really matter… much as I don't like the idea, she's clearly not backing down from this! So fine!

But it wasn't emerald light that gathered around Noé's gauntlet as he began to raise it up. The energy that began to burst from the crimson plates instead was a near-black crimson. And as Noé's arm shot out, that burst of energy expanded and burst outwards, shooting forward like a dragon's maw as that dark crimson flashed to bright red, taking the spear of light with it as the "maw" snapped down on Kalawarner. A violent scream pierced the air as that burst of power shot upwards, taking Kalawarner into the sky and bursting apart.

"What the… hell?" Noé could only stare in disbelief as black feathers drifted down alongside flecks of dark crimson light. Looking at his right hand, that power was still drifting from his arm, even as the Boosted Gear was dismissed. That had not been the dragon's power, but instead, it was clear to him now whatever he had done, it was something else that he had suddenly drawn out… and something he hadn't been able to control despite his intentions.

"Partner, you okay?" Ddraig spoke up, Noé slowly nodding. "Why so shaken? It's not like this is the first time you've killed somebody."

"That was…" Noé caught himself before he could finish the sentence. Different? Who am I kidding? Even if I've killed before, even if they were Stray Devils… it doesn't change the fact I wasn't trying to this time. "Ddraig, do you have any idea what that was?"

"Like I can say. Like I said, this is the first time I've had a half-Devil as a vessel. That power was as new to me as it was you. Look, that Fallen Angel was practically begging for it. It's her fault she didn't back down when you gave her the chance."

"I know that!" Noé shouted, his fist shaking as he clamped it shut, dispersing the remnants of that power around it. "But it's one thing to intend to do it, and another for something to go out of your control. Dammit… I need to ask dad what the fuck this is. No way he'll stay quiet about something like this!"