Chapter Four - Uh… Midas Used Gold

Vin couldn't remember what he was dreaming of that night, but he knew that it was comparatively better to what he was facing right now. He had awoken not half a minute ago to the sound of knocking on his door; his face feeling clammy and gross as he woke on a pillow much to damp for his liking. Smacking his lips, he could taste the gross film that covered his tongue. Yep, dehydrated.

"Vin, are you in there?" The voice of Ethan muffled through the door, "It's time for breakfast, you cool if I come in?"

Vin slowly sat up in bed, "Uhhh… mmm, come in."

The door, and Vin took a double take as the figure standing in his doorway wasn't Ethan, but a small girl with long brown hair tied in a bun.

Lisa.

His breath hitched, but as he blinked, the visage of his little sister left his sight. Instead, there stood Ethan, clad in a simple pair of basketball shorts and a baggy long sleeve shirt. Slowly, Vin forced himself to calm down.

You left your family, no need to develop schizophrenia over it, geez.

"Damn, you look like shit," Ethan observed ever so eloquently.

Vin grumbled, still far too early in the morning to be dealing with sass, "Mmmh… Fuck you too…"

That elicited a bark of a laugh from Ethan, "Yeah, yeah, just be lucky it's me waking you up, and not Griselda. Trust me, the first time I tried to sleep in, the woman came in, dragged me by my ear into that kitchen, and then proceeded to work me so hard that afternoon that I felt I was going to pass out."

Under the threat of such a thing, Vin threw the covers off his lower body, and forced himself to take his first groggy steps over to his desk to retrieve his phone.

"What time is it anyway?" Vin mumbled to himself, as he tapped his phone, before groaning, "5:30? Are you for real?"

Looking over his shoulder, Vin caught another of Ethan's smirks, "Yep! Now c'mon, we have time to change later. Just… put on some pants first. Or not: your choice."

Looking down, Vin gazed over his current state of dress. The same shirt he arrived in, and probably the same boxers. He probably threw his jeans somewhere in his sleep.

"I'll meet up with you. Give me a sec," Vin responded.

Ethan began to back out of the room, firing finger guns at Vin as he walked out, "Gotcha, you do that."

As the door closed, Vin turned to his new problem, the still unpacked cardboard box filled with his clothing. He sighed as he grabbed his keyring off his desk. Guess he was going digging this morning.

Eventually, Vin managed to scrape together a pair of sweatpants and a new t-shirt to wear for the moment, before heading out into the common room.

As he arrived, Vin realized that breakfast seemed to be a much more casual affair than dinner in the dorm. While dinner had everyone sitting around a single table to eat together, breakfast saw everyone scattered around the room, eating all manner of things, from cereals to fresh fruits.

"Morning Vin," Vanessa greeted from her spot on the couch, before going back to watch, huh, SpongeBob? Vin hadn't seen an episode of that in years.

"Um," Vin stared at the large pantry cupboards in the common room's kitchenette.

"Bottom cupboard on the right is cereal, you'll find bowls in the top-middle cupboard, and spoons are in the top drawer to the right of the sink," Xenovia provided helpfully from her spot at the table.

"Ah, Thanks."

"..."

Vin quickly made himself a bowl of cereal, and plopped himself down on the couch in between Vanessa and Irina. Taking a big mouthful of his breakfast as he turned to gaze at the television.

"First day here, and you're already sitting with the ladies, huh?" Vanessa smirked, "Bold move."

Vin blushed at the insinuation. Ah, so Vanessa was one of those types, huh? Given her greeting, he… probably should have seen that coming.

"Don't be like that, Vanessa. Vinny's too sweet to try something like that. Right, Vinny?"

Oof. Shot through the heart, Irina. Did… that count as getting friend zoned? Did he really just get friend zoned on his first morning here?

At least his lack of luck was consistent…

"Oh? What's the matter, Irina? Too scared that Vin's rugged charms are going to tempt you away from your childhood beloved, hmm?" Vanessa taunted in a scandalous tone, bringing heat to both Irina and Vin's cheeks.

He knew she was just teasing, but really? Vanessa, watch what you say, or someone will interpret that as indirect flirting, damn it!

"V-Vanessa, don't bring that up! It's embar~ass~ing!" Irina pouted as she flailed around.

"Really? But you were so into it when we talked about it before," Vanessa wrapped her arms around herself like she was giving herself a hug, "Oh, my darling Issei! I'll return to you one day, and we can finally be together, hand in hand for all of eternity!"

Irina's blush reached critical levels, "VANESSA!"

Oh god, Vin had to change this topic or else.

Vin coughed, drawing the two girl's attention, "Soooo… SpongeBob, am I right?"

You really nailed it, Vin. Ten outta fuckin' ten.

Surprisingly, an unexpected third party arrived to help. Coming to sit at the foot of the couch was Ezekiel, clad in his signature cape… and was that a sword?! Yeah, he had a ornate black and gold sword which rested sheathed in a scabbard of the same color which he held in his left hand. Crossing his legs as he sat down, Ezekiel let the end of his sword rest in his lap, as the hilt laid up against his shoulder.

"I personally derive great enjoyment from the antics of the SpongeBob, and his most trusted of allies, Patrick Star. Within the universe of this entertainment, I'd have to say that my muse would be the cephalopod, Squidward. His dry humor provides a refreshing perspective that I quite enjoy," Ezekiel closed his eyes, and gave a small smirk, "Hmph, how ironic that the driest personality becomes the one that is the most refreshing. Sinclair agrees with my epiphany."

Vin raised a brow, "Um… whose Sinclair?"

"Oh! I can answer that!" Irina chimed in, "You see that sword? Zeke claims that there's a dragon inside of it! And only the most worthy of people can be trusted with it's immeasurable power. You can only hear Sinclair if you're the one who is bonded to the sword. I think that most people don't believe him, but I do!"

Vin turned to Ezekiel, who had a blush on his face, and was suddenly very interested in the floor he sat on. Oh, that's how it was… poor guy.

"Zeke says that Sinclair taught him to speak like that, since he has to be dignified if he's gonna be the wielder of his power. It's kind of cute, he's like Zeke's dragon dad!" Irina turned to Ezekiel with a bright smile on her face, "Did I get that all right, Zeke?"

Ezekiel continued to blush, but managed to murmur out a response, "Uh… Y-yeah. You got it right."

Ah, being flustered: ever the Chuunibyou's weakness. Vin grew a small smile at the sight.

"I see everyone's eaten," Griselda entered the room, already dressed perfectly in her usual robes, "Head over to the showers, and get changed. After that, you're free to do what you wish."

"Huh, free day? We usually don't get one of those…" Vanessa mumbled.

"Vin, Ezekiel, I want the two of you to come with me to the training grounds once you get changed. We're going to begin Vin's training proper today."

Oh, well this was starting quick. But hey, he guessed it was in the job description.

"Griselda," Xenovia stood up from the table, "Am I allowed to use the training grounds?"

Griselda sighed, "Yes Xenovia, you may."

Xenovia nodded, before immediately heading up the hall.

"Vin, you may find the showers at the end of the hall. Take a right, and you'll find the boys bathrooms. Afterwards, change into the uniform I left you on your desk. Understood?" Griselda asked.

"Y-yes! Understood," Vin replied.

Griselda eased into a smile, "Good, now go. I want to see you on the grounds in the next twenty minutes."


Suffice to say, Vin had a very quick shower that morning. Determined after Ethan's warning to never arrive late for anything Griselda asked him for.

Coming out of the male bath house, a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hands working to dry out his long hair, finally free of it's usual ponytail; Vin arrived at his door, using his hip to casually push it open, only to find a folded stack of black clothing resting on his bed.

Dropping the towels as soon as his door clicked shut, Vin marched over to his wardrobe, throwing on a quick pair of boxers, before finally turning to investigate the clothes left for him.

Quickly, Vin discovered that the clothes were a one piece, short-sleeved jumpsuit covered in straps, and belts, made of black leather, and a long, gunmetal grey duster coat similarly colored in a harness of some kind; it's sleeves buttoned up to show off his forearms.

He balked at the suit in his hands, "Oh my god, the church is giving me a leather-daddy costume, what has my life come to?"

Maybe he could just… not wear it? Yeah, that seemed preferable.

Dragged me by my ear into the kitchen, and then proceeded to work me so hard that I felt like I was going to pass out…

A nervous drop of sweat dropped down Vin's brow. Okay, maybe it wasn't optional. God damnit…

Reluctantly, Vin found a zipper at the back of the jumpsuit, and after a few minutes of finagling with the heinous article of cloth, he finally got himself fully dressed and zipped into his outfit. He gazed at the mirror that rested against his wall. With the coat… Honestly, it actually didn't look too bad. He was a bit afraid it was going to leave too little to the imagination, but he actually did feel like he was wearing a piece of combat gear. Sturdy, surprisingly flexible, and breathable too. Idly, Vin tugged on the tight clothing hugging his chest, how the hell did they manage to make leather of all things this… well, non-leathery?

Without too much time left to ponder, the sound of knocking drew his attention to the door.

"Vin… it is finally time for the two of us to step out into the crux of fate, have you prepared yourself accordingly?"

Vin opened the door, there stood Ezekiel, wearing the exact same style of jumpsuit as him, just instead of a coat, the cape that Vin still hadn't seen Ezekiel without was tightly clasped to the outfits shoulders.

"Your garb suits you," Ezekiel commented.

"Uh, thanks," Vin scratched the back of his neck.

His cape billowing out behind him, Ezekiel spun on his heel, "Come, it's best if we do not leave our teacher waiting. I shall show you the way."

Silently following behind Ezekiel, the two walked past the common room, and out the door, back into the hallway near the elevator. Turning to the wall on his left, Ezekiel grasped the doorknob, before opening it up, allowing Vin to step on through. Vin mumbled his thanks, as he took in the room with awe.

The ceilings were high, easily over four stories tall; with bright fluorescent panels shining false sunlight down onto the massive arena of a room. The walls were a solid grey, but upon closer inspection, Vin quickly found that it was due to the walls being completely covered in metal plating.

Looking on, Vin could already see Xenovia off to the far side of the training hall, barely more than a spec of blue and green hair, flipping around like an acrobat, some sort of massive wooden training sword in hand. Hammering away at training dummies with such force and speed that Vin could feel the bursts of air push around to accompany each loud thwack when Xenovia's sword connected with a dummy. He was genuinely surprised and quite horrified to see that the wooden sword that Xenovia was holding somehow stood up to the abuse it was receiving.

Before he could continue to gawk shamelessly at the incredibly athletic swordswoman, the sound of footsteps finally drew his attention; looking over, he found Griselda walking up to him and Ezekiel.

"Ah, there you two are," Griselda gave Vin's clothing a quick once-over, "Does everything feel alright with your outfit, Vin? That will be your combat outfit for whenever you train or go on missions, so it's important to ensure everything is perfect."

Idly stretching his arms, Vin nodded.

"Very good," Griselda nodded, before addressing the two boys, "For today's training, we'll first need to determine what exactly we're working with…"

Griselda pointedly looked over at Vin.

"The main focus of today will be unlocking and diagnosing your Sacred Gear. The sooner we find out the precise type of Sacred Gear we're working with, the sooner I can come up with some more specialized training for you."

Waving a hand, Griselda instructed the two boys to follow her, as they padded across the polished hardwood floor, until reaching a decently-sized circle marked on the floor on the left side of the room.

"Vin, I want you to have a spar with Ezekiel, so we can attempt to awaken your Sacred Gear. Unfortunately, due to… recent events, we no longer have an active Sacred Gear user on standby anymore to help instruct you on the basics of using a Sacred Gear; so Ezekiel's the closest option."

Another Sacred Gear user? What did he miss?

"The good news is," Griselda explained, holding up a notepad, "Thanks to reviewing security footage from your initial awakening, we've managed to narrow down the list of potential candidates after determining what category of Sacred Gear you have. A creation type, certainly an interesting ability to have."

Vin looked down at his hands, a creation type, huh? It kind of made sense, summoning giant crystals. However, as much as he loved the super power to summon crystals, Vin wasn't really too jazzed to try fighting the chuunibyou next to him, especially after seeing what kind of damage Xenovia could do.

"So," Vin rubbed his hands together, "What do I have to do to uh… get my Sacred Gear?"

Griselda waved idly, "Just try focusing on your fingers, I think."

Focusing on his fingers. Alright, he could do that. Just… focus on his fingers.

"..."

Focus more…

"..."

C'mon…

Griselda looked at Vin in disappointment, before she turned to Ezekiel.

"Begin," Griselda instructed.

And with that, Ezekiel was off like a rocket.

Drawing his blade in a beautiful flurry, the steel glinted dully under the artificial light, before the blade itself burst into violet flames. Without so much as a warning, the chuunibyou burst forth towards Vin, the blade of the sword dragging parallel to the ground, threatening to slash at Vin in a devastating rising arc.

"What the shit!" Eyes wide, Vin acted on instinct, leaping backwards, narrowly dodging the hiss of Ezekiel's sword. Too shocked to think properly, Vin misjudged his steps, resulting in the brunette falling onto his back.

Without any form of hesitation, Ezekiel poised his sword upward, preparing for a downward thrust towards Vin's body. Quickly, Vin rolled to avoid, feeling the heat emanating off of Ezekiel's weapon asit buried itself in the floor not five inches from his body.

He needed to fight back, and quickly. Vin's nerves were shot, adrenaline bouncing up and down in his chest. This was a trial by fire, alright. He was going to lose an arm at this rate! Images faintly bubbled in Vin's head, making the boy go pale at the thought of catching the sword's edge.

Sitting up, Vin found himself perfectly in the line of fire for another of Ezekiel's blows. This time, instead of freeing his sword from the floor, Ezekiel had used his own weapon as a fulcrum, letting him swing himself around at incredible speeds. Vin barely had time to react, before the toes of Ezekiel's boot swung around, meeting his face with a sickening crunch of cartilage and flesh, which tossed him backward several feet, leaving him in an ugly heap.

It was at that moment, lying face-up on the floor, his nose most likely broken as the copper-like taste of blood filled his mouth; that Vin came to a horrifying realization.

He had to summon his Sacred Gear and fight back, or he'd die.

Breath picking up, Vin began to hyperventilate. Each gulp of air was sharp and painful, yet he still forced each and every gurgling and choking breath out of his mouth. In his peripheral vision, he could see Ezekiel stalking towards him, sword in hand.

Eyes darting down to his sprawled hands, Vin mentally screamed at them, a mixture of adrenaline and fear coursed through his mind as he did. The figure got closer and closer, and Vin's attempts to summon his Sacred Gear grew more and more desperate. Vin closed his eyes, as he prepared to succumb to his fate.

...He had never thought that the burning feeling in his fingers would feel so good.

Vin cracked open his eyes. Maybe it was the delirium brought on by the pain, but time really seemed to slow down. There, Vin looked to his hands, and found the comforting sight of his rings resting on his fingers.

He cracked a painful, bloody smile. Took you fucking long enough.

...And proceeded to slam his hand on the ground, as the world white.

Finally, it was Ezekiel's turn to barely have time to react. One moment, he had been walking towards the downed form of Vin. Mostly to help him up. Griselda had spoken to him in private before training, expressing how she wanted Ezekiel to fight Vin like he was trying to kill him, in order to coax out the Sacred Gear. Honestly, he hadn't thought it to be a good idea, but he wasn't the teacher, he was the student; thus, the choice wasn't his to be making.

He had been only a few paces away from the rookie when they slammed their hand on the ground, and Ezekiel came face-to-face with a massive pillar of quartz-like crystals barreling headlong in his direction at the speed of a freight train. With no option, Ezekiel braced his blade just in time, as the crystals struck their target, sending him flying backward himself, hairline cuts from invasive crystal edges dotting his clothing and skin. Landing like a cat on his feet, Ezekiel assessed the damage. Nothing major, but it could have been dangerous if he hadn't recognized the warning signs of attack in time.

Slowly, Vin forced himself to his feet, his blood-filled smile never leaving his face.

"This is for the kick, asshole!"

Vin began to run towards Ezekiel, his hands waving in various motions, causing crystals to burst forth from the ground in various directions, all converging on one point, where Ezekiel stood.

Not letting himself get surprised once more, Ezekiel grasped the hilt of his sword in both hands, and in blinding speed began to slice apart the crystals as they neared him. Eventually, the chuunibyou found an opening, and leapt over and onto one of the crystals, running along the spire's edge, before using it as a platform to leap over the next wave of crystals, all the while slicing a few that got too close.

Landing a few feet before Vin, Ezekiel darted forward, just as Vin reared back his right arm for a punch. A horribly telegraphed punch. One that Ezekiel easily ducked right under, before proceeding to bury the pummel of his sword right into Vin's stomach.

Vin made a wheezing noise, as a large gob of blood and drool came bursting out of his mouth. As Ezekiel pulled back, Vin crumpled like a piece of paper, falling to the ground as all the crystals suddenly shattered, their shards quickly evaporating into nothing.

"Alright, stop," Griselda commanded, as she walked over, flipping through her notepad, "We have a lot to work on here."

"First off all, Vin, do you feel alright?" Griselda crouched down to eye level with the brutalized teen.

"Ugh… Mhnevahh betterrrrr…" Vin slurred.

Digging into her robes, Griselda pulled out a small vial of green liquid, holding it up to Vin's lips, "Drink this, it'll make your nose better, and get rid of the pain. Ezekiel, good form, but do try to limit yourself when sparring now. We no longer have Argento to rely on, and these only heal so much."

Ezekiel nodded as Vin tentatively gulped down the mixture, instantly feeling relief spread throughout his face. That is, until the bones in his nose started to shift back into place, which even with the supposed pain-numbing effects of the drink, was the most physically painful thing Vin had ever felt. He… may have screamed a little as it happened. A little.

Around half a minute later, Vin was back at full capacity, a small packet of tissues in his hands as he set about wiping blood from his now healed face.

"I've gathered enough information with that little spar, and can now say with a fair degree of confidence that I've determined the identity of your Sacred Gear," Griselda explained, flipping through her notepad.

"Oh, what is it?" Vin asked, he would be lying if he said he wasn't just a tiny bit excited to figure out exactly what his superpower was. And who could blame him?

"Vin, your Sacred Gear is a creation type gear known as 'Midas' Rings'," Griselda declared.

What.

"Griselda, do you mean Midas, as in King Midas?"

"Yes."

"Uh, Midas used gold, not crystals."

"Correct, however everything about Midas' Rings lines up with your Sacred Gear. The powers exhibited are the same, through the same hand movements. They say they manifest as a set of rings… Everything here points to you having Midas' Rings as your Sacred Gear."

"Um, okay. But why the hell am I not making gold then?"

Griselda shot him a flat look. Oh shit... Right, Vin forgot he was talking to a nun sometimes.

"While I'm by no means a Sacred Gear expert, I'd say that it's most likely just a mutation, a glitch in the system, so to speak."

Vin raised an eyebrow, "But I thought you said that Sacred Gear's were blessings directly from God. How could they glitch?"

For what must have been less than a millisecond, something changed in Griselda. Her face remained the exact same, and her posture was the same as ever, but somewhere in her eyes, Vin could see a brief flash of… something, he couldn't quite tell. Just as quickly as it came, it disappeared all the same.

"I don't know, potentially some sort of outside interference. As I just said, I am not an expert on the subject, anything I managed to gather was just from the Vatican's archives."

Griselda turned around on her heels, "Take the rest of the day off, you two. Tomorrow, Vin, we shall begin training you to summon your Sacred Gear without issues."

And without another word, Griselda left the training hall.

Drawing his attention with the click of a sword, Vin gazed over to his cape-clad opponent, who had sheathed his sword, and extended a hand towards Vin.

"You dueled well."

Vin chuckled bitterly as he grasped Ezekiel's hand.

"Yeah, well you still whooped my ass."

He nodded, "I look forward to crossing blades with you more in the future. Your power is one that is impressive. Sinclair agrees with that sentiment."

"Ah, um, thanks."

"I shall retire to my quarters for today. Fare thee well, master of crystals."

"See you."

Vin watched on as Ezekiel swept out of the hall as well. Upon hearing the door click shut, Vin looked down at his ring-clad hand, clenching it in a fist.

Praise aside, Vin felt that his impression today was… horrible. He was drafted into an insane order of basically super-humans, and on his very first showing, he couldn't use his powers, got brutalized, and then, even after getting his shit together, he went down in one blow. It was a frustrating feeling, seeing his peers like Xenovia and Ezekiel moving around and attacking with such power and grace, and then to have him just eat dirt so hard. In the end, he couldn't even land a proper hit on Ezekiel.

Vin's self-loathing was cut off suddenly, as a hand came to rest on his shoulder. Looking back, Vin found the blue-nette standing before him, a thoroughly unimpressed look on her face. Or was that just her regular look? Vin still had to work on figuring out exactly how to tell what Xenovia was thinking: she had one hell of a poker face.

"Ah, hey Xen-"

"That was pathetic."

Vin grit his stained teeth at the scathing comment, "Yeah, well you guys probably have years of experience on me."

"That's true, but there's still no reason to whiff an attack like that," Xenovia scoffed, "Do you really call that a punch? It was horrendous."

This audacity of this bitch… "Well geez, thanks for the vote of confidence. Fine then, how about you show me what a proper punch is like?"

"Sure," and in an instant, Xenovia drove a punch into Vin's stomach with what felt like enough force to dent steel.

Vin wheezed in place as he cradled his stomach, "What the fuck?! Don't just punch me, I meant show me how to throw a proper punch!"

Xenovia's eyes lit up in understanding, and the slightest bit of shame, "Ah, I see. I… I apologize then."

"It's... It's alright," Vin replied as he slowly recovered, "Just… show me how to do one."

"Right, come over here," Xenovia directed him over to one of the training dummies on the far right side of the room.

"You were swinging wide and slow. It's easy for people to keep track of attacks like that, and then hit you right back just as easily. You need to punch straight, like this."

Xenovia cocked back, before firing a punch at the dummy that sent a resounding thwack throughout the entire room. As she removed her fist, Vin could still see the small crater formed in the dummy's material.

"Now you try," Xenovia directed, as Vin took her place at the dummy, and attempted to follow Xenovia's instructions. Keep it straight, cock back, and… THWACK!

The resulting punch was better, but it was still pretty disappointing. Plus, his hand hurt now, probably a result of his adrenaline finally wearing off.

"Hmmm, you need to be a lot stronger," Xenovia idly observed. Of course she would say that, it's probably easy for the woman who could lift over eight hundred pounds to say tha- wait a minute...

"What do you do to train, then?" Vin looked over from the dummy.

Xenovia perked up, "Hm?"

"I said what do you do to train? You seem to be pretty strong, so you obviously know what you're doing."

She smirked, her grin teasing, cocky. Oh how he wanted to wipe that smirk off her face.

"I'm not sure you're ready for what I do for training," Xenovia replied.

"Try me then," Vin smirked back, sizing her up in challenge, "I have nothing better to do anymore."

Vin could see Xenovia's eyes alight with challenge, with excitement. Oh boy, he'd really done it now, hadn't he?

"Very well then, Vin. I'll help train you. Everyday, after your training with Griselda, you'll come to me, and I'll work you to the brink."

The borderline ravenous excitement present in Xenovia's eyes nearly caused the boy to falter, but hey, momma didn't raise no quitter. If he was going to become a strong enough exorcist to protect his family from whatever could be out there, then he was going to have to get better, fast.

"Let's get started then," Vin smirked.


Frankly, I haven't written fight scenes in almost half a year now; and combined with the fact that I've just gotten off studying for midterms and writing multiple papers for university, it's safe to say that this chapter didn't necessarily turn out how I wanted it. I don't even necessarily know what I wanted it to be like, but hey that's the price of writing one-third of a chapter one day, and then being forced to put it on hold for two-three days before writing the last two-thirds.

I think honestly, I'm just feeling a little burnt out, and the chapter sort of suffered because of it. I'll get better in one or two days, when my ideas start flowing again, and I have the motivation to put pencil to paper once more. Ultimately, the chapter is fine, the longest one I've ever written for this fic, as a matter of fact; at the very least, I hit all the beats I wanted to hit.

But on a brighter note, hey! We finally see Vin's Sacred Gear getting an official name here, that being [Midas' Rings]. The name obviously comes from King Midas, who while not being the first person in canon to have the Sacred Gear, is the namesake arguably because he was the user with the largest historical impact. [Midas' Rings] allows the user to create constructs made of gold using movements of their hands.

The Sacred Gear is held by a few different people across the world, so it's not a one-of-a-kind Sacred Gear, but it's still awfully curious that Vin's makes crystal structures. Wonder why… hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Yeah, I'm making Vin work for any improvement he's getting. Sorry, but no one could possibly be a perfect natural at using magic superpowers after a life of never knowing they even have them. So expect many more instances of Vin getting his shit kicked in, all while growing with the combined tutelage of Griselda and Xenovia. He may just yet become a good fighter, but for now… Vin kind of sucks ass.

Other details, uh, Asia's name is shadow dropped in this chapter. I figured that in this rendition of canon, she would have been at the Vatican a few times as a holy maiden, and probably healed some members of the Exorcist Gang at one point. Her, Xenovia, and Irina never had any connection, probably never really exchanged words even. But it would make sense, and it would explain how Xenovia and Irina recognized Asia by sight when they first saw her.

Alright, now onto the:

REVIEW ROUNDUP

wolf354 zxc says:

"Great chapter. Could the Pairing be just Vin and Xenovia?"

Perhaps. But I want to establish a friendship and connection between them first. Partners/friends first, then romance second.

Thanks for the positive comment, by the way. These things always put a smile on my face.

Crestowl says:

"The author's actually responding to comments? What an actual god, keep this up! Good chapter, nothing too special or exciting, but this period is a transition period, so that is to be expected. But why is my 6th sense telling me these new OCs are gonna be cannon fodder?"

He returns! Yes, I am responding to comments, just because I love to have discussion and conversation with this community, both from a writing perspective, and because I simply love High School DxD.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm a god; you all are the gods, seriously. In the immortal words of Tenacious D, "And we said nay, we are but men. Rock."

Yeah, these chapters are supposed to be more of a gradual buildup. This arc as a whole will be a rise into more action-heavy storytelling. I already have a rough outline for this story, and I already know how to end this arc, so I'll let you know that a lot of these more miscellaneous tasks like unpacking a room, or a movie night, or something like that are chapters that are moreso outlets to explore character dynamics and relationships. But worry not, the action will come.

;)

Thanks as always for taking the time to leave a review! Even now when I'm feeling slightly burned out, these reviews are starting to rouse the creative motors within me. You rock, and have a great day!

As the Ghost Whispers says:

"A lot of Issei hate comes from disliking his canon self for various reasons. I grew to dislike Issei more and more as the LNs went on, both for his lack of genuine character growth and the author's inability to make him consider any moral arguments in any depth.

As for Xenovia, all I can say is that I think you're giving DxD canon way too much credit. How Xenovia ended up in Rias' peerage and the subsequent complete re-write of her character made no sense with what is established about her before or after.

No actual Catholic would ever believe a Fallen Angel telling them that God is dead (this goes against the most fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith), no actual Catholic would ever be okay with being turned into a demon under any circumstances, and the idea that a Catholic girl who isn't a nun wouldn't be allowed to have kids is laughable. Assuming it's within the context of marriage, the Catholic Church is a-okay with women having kids.

So, yeah, I can't say I think keeping Xenovia's personality on the track it jumped to in canon is a good idea."

Wow, this is a long one, let me dive into it point by point.

First of all, I understand that some people just don't like Issei as a character even in canon, that's perfectly fine. Like everyone else in the story, I have a few ideas to try and give him some depth and character development that you're saying he's lacking. Maybe I am giving Issei too much credit, probably, I like to read into characters a lot, and sometimes that can lead to me having different perceptions of characters compared to others.

As for Xenovia, well I have plans to circumnavigate a lot of the criticism you mention about DxD canon Xenovia. As for the part about how she shouldn't trust Kokabiel's word that God is dead, I think it's justified since she sees the thought process laid out before her, Kiba just got a sword that by all laws of the universe should not be able to exist, and Kokabiel killed one of his own allies for discovering the truth. Plus, even if she didn't believe him, she still called the church, and asked them herself, and well… yeah, they ended up confirming it as true, and excommunicated her as a result.

In terms of Xenovia turning into a devil, let's break it down: after being excommunicated, she's homeless, her best friend thinks she's a traitor, she's broke, can't return back to Griselda due to being excommunicated; all roads lead to her turning to the group of people who helped her and Irina out, and obviously have demonstrated that they really care about each other. It was a decision made in impulse and possibly a little bit of spite towards the church for excommunicating her.

Finally, this last point about Xenovia and kids is on me: I didn't word it very clearly last time, so let me clear up the misconception here. It's not that Xenovia could never have kids at the church, it's that she never had a family at the church, Griselda has never, and is never considered by Xenovia to be her mother, just her guardian and mentor. Plus, I do actually doubt that the church would let Xenovia have kids, at least for a long time, since Xenovia is their precious Durandal wielder. They can't have her getting pregnant. It's like how Asia couldn't have a normal life while in the church due to her being constantly treated less like a person and more like a precious resource. So when I say, "Xenovia want's kids because she wants to have what she couldn't have in the church: a family," what I really mean is that Xenovia, due to her position as a warrior and resource of the church could never live the normal life she wanted, she couldn't be Xenovia: the young woman, she probably couldn't have kids, etc. Make more sense? I hope so.

I hope that nothing I said here came off as sarcastic or like I was looking down on you by the way. I think it's great to have conversations like these, it shows different perspectives, and that's important to consider when writing. Also, it's incredibly high praise to be one of only four fanfictions you have favorited on your profile, so I think that speaks to the fact that you're by no means bashing my story. So, thanks for the long and detailed review, and you have a wonderful day!

Tyrant Overlord Killidia says:

"Unlike 'As the Ghost Whispers', I actually am semi-fond of canon Issei and the notion that he doesn't experience any genuine character growth is in my opinion nonsense. While Volume 10 hasn't been officially translated yet, Raynare betraying his trust, spearing him, and then leaving him to die all the way back in Volume 1 set a really nasty case of relationship trauma into Issei that is only truly resolved in Volume 10. It also really doesn't help that the anime doubles down on Issei's perverted antics and downplays his more positive traits.

Now Issei... yeah, there are those who don't like him but Issei views women as actual people instead of as objects to use, abuse, break, and discard like the aforementioned Riser and the nun-hunting serial rapist Diodora Astaroth. His desire to rape and kill Asia actually pissed off Issei to the extent where he uses Balance Breaker and delivers an epic beatdown to Diodora. Issei may peek on a girl, but he would never force himself onto one.

Vin getting Xenovia... honestly, I don't really count Xenovia as part of Issei's harem so I am not bothered by it happening. I know that I should be since I don't like harem stealing, but how easily Xenovia was forgiven by Issei for wanting to kill Asia seemed weird to me."

Love to see stuff like this, discussion is the key to creativity, after all.

I definitely agree with you, that Issei does experience character development. Some of it is pretty downplayed, at least in the anime, like you said, but I love how Issei's character nuances play out, like in truth, the guy is really scared of making genuine connections with women for a while after Raynare. He's afraid of whole-heartedly loving a woman, because the first time ended so badly. Maybe it's my high school psychology class experience talking here, but I always thought that Issei's fixation on breasts could be something more than just lust, and honestly, I think there's a very good case to be made for Issei, perhaps on a deeper subconscious level, being attracted so much to breasts because they symbolize a protective, warm, motherly quality that is symbolic of safety, something that Issei would no doubt want to have after being traumatized by Raynare.

I'm glad to see that you're on board with the whole Vin/Xenovia pairing, especially as someone who hates harem stealing. The truth is, I was worried that people like you, who don't like it when one of the girl's is arbitrarily paired with a random OC, weren't going to enjoy the story, or that it was going to sour your enjoyment or something like that. I'm working on ways to circumnavigate those issues, mainly by setting up Vin and Xenovia's relationship as a friendship first, that later on gains romantic connotations, and also setting the time where Vin and Xenovia get to know each other a good nine months before Xenovia and Issei even meet, which will hopefully allow for Vin and Xenovia to pair up in a more 'natural' way.

Thanks for leaving the review, and taking the time to have good, constructive discussion with other users while not being even remotely toxic about it. We need more people like you in the DxD community, so mad props to you.


Alright, that wraps up this Review Roundup, and thanks again to everyone who left a review! Make sure to leave a review if you want to be featured in the next chapter's Review Roundup. Follow and favorite if you genuinely enjoyed what you've read. Chapter five will come out relatively soon, no more time than a week, I promise. All the support has been phenomenal, you all are the best motivators and fans a writer could ever ask for. Rock on, and I'll see you next time!