Chapter Thirty-Five - Practice Makes…

May 31st, 2013

Day Two of Training

18 Days Remain

Vin stood on the howling, wind-swept peak of the mountain that stood above the very clouds. It was something of a sight that frankly, he probably wouldn't get used to, even long after these three weeks of training were over.

On the teen's right stood Akeno, the raven-haired Queen still sporting the same trademark scowl that had been stuck to her face since early the previous morning. It was painfully evident to everyone that she'd rather been in any other place than here.

The two teens stood there awkwardly, the whistling of the wind being the only sound that passed between them. The tense atmosphere between the two spared no room for levity. Still, the tension ate away at Vin more and more as the two stared out at the sight laid before them. So, throwing caution to the wind, Vin leaned closer.

"It's a nice view, isn't it?" The boy remarked, "I mean, I don't think there's any other place in the world like this."

"It's fine," Akeno grunted.

"And..?"

The half-devil groaned, "Just… Shut up, will you?"

Vin sighed, his shoulder's sinking, "Is this how these next three weeks are going to go?"

"I beg your pardon?" Akeno hissed, the venom in her tone rising.

"You know what, nevermind," Vin shrugged, "If you want to be shitty, be shitty I guess."

Akeno turned, opening her mouth in preparation to launch a sharp-tongued retort, only for their mentor to cut them off.

"There we go," Baraqiel stood back up, tossing the piece of yellow sidewalk chalk on the ground by his feet, and dusting off his hands, "Come over here you two, let me explain this."

As they headed over, Vin's attention was immediately grabbed by the two parallel lines of chalk running on the ground, from one end of the peak to the other, leaving only about one meter in between themselves.

"So, what's with the chalk?" Vin pointed to the discarded piece off to the side.

"I'll get to that," Baraqiel assured, "Now, let me introduce this exercise. This will be something that we repeat every day at the end of your training, think of it as a way to measure your progress each and every day. However, for the sake of gaining a barometer on your abilities beyond the basic combat trial you both performed yesterday, we shall do it before training today."

"Now, your goal in this exercise is simple. You can both see these lines here…" Baraqiel pointed to the two long lines of chalk etched onto the floor.

"I will stand in the area between these two lines at all times during this exercise. Your goal is to make me move beyond either of these lines, through any means necessary," Baraqiel explained, "You can work together, use whatever attacks you've developed, try to push me, try to pull me. I won't directly attack you either. The only restriction is that this exercise only begins and ends when I say so. Simple enough?"

"I don't see the point. We have to make you move, that's it?" Akeno scrunched her nose, "That doesn't exactly seem very valuable. Aren't our attacks supposed to be about hitting harder? Just making someone move isn't all that important. We're wasting our time doing this."

"Very well, I'll sweeten the pot a little bit," Baraqiel hummed, stroking his chin, "How about this, if you can make me move beyond these lines, then it's obvious that you've grown well beyond what I can teach. In that case, you'll be taken right back to the Gremory Estate, and you can do with the remaining days what you wish."

"So what you're saying is…" Akeno raised her eyebrows.

"You'll win a free pass out of spending time with me," Baraqiel gave a small, gruff smirk, "Provided you actually succeed of course."

"Well now…" Akeno walked forward, her hands crackling with electricity, "You should have led with that."

"I take it you're ready to begin then. Vin, what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm good to go," Vin bounced on his toes, Crystal Weaver appearing in a quick flash of light.

"Don't get in my way," Akeno grumbled to Vin as she walked past him.

"Alright, we'll begin on my count," Baraqiel stepped into the area between the lines, "Three… Two… One…"

"You may begin."

As soon as the words left the Cadre's mouth, Akeno's expression contorted to a look of guttural fury. Raising her right hand, a massive beam of pure electricity shot forth with the explosive vitriol of a railgun.

"TAKE THIS!"

The attack soared through the air, right towards the face of their mentor. However, the man simply leaned to the side, as the devastating surprise attack flew harmlessly over his shoulder, and past his head.

Baraqiel turned his head to look at the shot of yellow travel across the sky, until it dissipated harmlessly on the horizon. Slowly turning back to face the teens, Baraqiel's stone-faced demeanor almost looked patronizingly underwhelmed.

Snapping out of his trance, Vin smashed his foot onto the ground at an arc, sending a wave of razor-sharp crystals crashing towards his mentor like a rising wave on the beach.

Vin paled when Baraqiel simply extended his left hand and grabbed the largest of the crystals firmly, stopping the attack dead-on. However, such a display did nothing to stop Akeno, who ran in, fists charged with countless watts of electricity.

She reared back her fist, prepared to dish out a paralyzing beatdown to her father that would hopefully push him backward, or leave him twitching and spasming enough that succeeding would be just a matter of rolling him over the line by an inch.

However, when she went to take her first strike, she didn't expect the large, muscled hand of her father to snap out and grab her forearm in a vice grip. Immediately, the blaring threat of her arm being snapped like a twig forced her off the offensive, and purely on a struggle to break free as fast as possible.

As Akeno squirmed and flailed in a hopeless attempt to shake off her father's hold, Vin found his opportunity. The tension in Baraqiel's left arm showed that he was still actively pushing against his barrage of crystals, so, unless he released Akeno, Baraqiel was out of any hands to stop him.

Vin ran towards the father and daughter, running up his crystals like a ramp, forming a crystal blade on his right hand.

Akeno finally got her wish to be released a second later, when her father's grip left her arm… Only for the heel of his boot to smash into her stomach, sending her flying backward into a painful pile on the rocky floor underfoot.

Vin leapt up into the air, blade raised and ready to strike. Whether it was from the adrenaline or something else, time seemed to slow around him as Vin took in the next moments in horrific detail.

Baraqiel looked upward, locking eyes with the former-exorcist. The cadre squeezed down on the crystals harder, causing the crystals to smash into countless shards. With his now free hand, Baraqiel reached up and clutched Vin's leg.

Vin felt gravity suddenly be upended from him, as Baraqiel swung him around like a ragdoll by his leg, before throwing him far away. The nausea that ravaged his brain left Vin able to properly right himself before landing in a rolling heap near Akeno.

"You have any plan?" Vin groaned as he slowly got up.

Akeno glared hard at the teen, before raising her hand to the sky. With a flourish, a dome of magical circles appeared over Baraqiel's head. Other than raising a brow in interest, the Cadre didn't make any moves to dodge the impending attack, as the sigils crackled with lightning, before launching an unhinged assault of thunder at her father.

Vin looked over, for the briefest moment, Akeno's expression shifted. Light had returned to her eyes as a joyful expression took over from her previously sour disposition. She had thought they won with that strike.

Vin knew better.

Sure enough, all hope was dashed as Baraqiel raised his hand, and with a fierce swipe, he redirected the entire attack to the side harmlessly. The only sign that the attack had ever made an impact was the crackling of energy that now surrounded Baraqiel's right arm. However, it was indisputable that the attack had only served to make him grow stronger, much to the two's horror.

"While I understand that this is your most proficient form of magic, attacking powerful opponent's with magic of the same element they're proficient in is traditionally a bad idea," Baraqiel lectured.

"SHUT UP!" Akeno screamed, her rage finally taking hold in full as she charged towards her father attempting to swing with fists and kicks. However, her father gave her no quarter, parrying and deflecting each and every blow she tried to deliver with what looked to be minimal difficulty.

However, Vin saw that this could be a chance. Unfurling his wings, the boy ran backwards, before leaping off the peak of the mountain. He remained hovering just under the veil of the clouds below, which worked perfectly for allowing him to sneak up on his target. Just low enough to be covered by the clouds, but not low enough that he would risk being struck by lightning as he moved.

Skirting the perimeter of the peak's rocky walls, Vin rapidly looped around the mountain, until he burst out of the clouds, right at Baraqiel's blind spot, his back.

Forming a blade on his hand once again, Vin shot forward, left arm pulled back in preparation to stab at the Fallen Angel.

But did he really want to stab him? That was the goal of the attack, after all… But he was an ally, and stabbing him wasn't exactly something Vin wanted to do.

His brain stalled, and Vin's brief flicker of hesitation was enough to give his mentor all the time he needed.

Ears pricking up in attention, Baraqiel quickly swung both of his arms to the side, forcing Akeno off balance. He thrust his right palm forward, the palm strike sending Akeno tumbling back.

Pivoting on his feet, Baraqiel reared back his right leg as Vin approached rapidly. Like a textbook, goal-winning kick in a soccer match, Baraqiel's massive trunk of a shin slammed into Vin's side. Following through with the kick, the Cadre swung around, the speed of the roundhouse kick carrying Vin along with him, and at the apex of the kick, Vin was sent crashing to the floor like he was shot out of a trebuchet.

Baraqiel crossed his arms as he gazed at the two teens before him. His daughter, Akeno, was breathing in heavy gulps of air from her position on the floor kneeling on her hands and knees, looking up at him with a murderous glare, despite her sweat-soaked, and exhausted body. Meanwhile, Vin laid face-up on the ground further away, his wings still out, laying splayed along the ground as he sputtered and gasped.

With a tumultuous amount of effort, Vin raised his head to gaze at their progress on making the Cadre move. Vin let out a deep, frustrated groan; they hadn't even made him move a single step.

"Alright, I believe this is a good point to stop for now."

Baraqiel clapped his hands together, as he finally stepped out from between the lines, to address the two teens who laid before him.

"I'll share some of my observations with you both. First up, Akeno," Baraqiel turned his sights to the raven-haired Queen, "While some could call it senseless berserking, you did a good job to realize that maintaining pressure was an optimal strategy. However, at certain points, you failed to coordinate with your partner, as well as failed to recognize that your methods of attack were ineffective."

"Don't… Patronize me…" Akeno hissed between deep breaths.

Baraqiel, for his part, largely ignored her scathing comments, and instead turned to face the other combatant.

"Vin. Your attempts to establish teamwork, and to be flexible are commendable. However, you gave up much too quickly when you weren't getting anywhere. Be more assertive, in combat, communication is essential."

"Gotcha," Vin croaked out as he forced himself to sit up and fold away his wings.

"Additionally, your adaptability in combat was good. I noticed that you attempted to use any moment I was restrained or occupied to make any offensive action. You also tried to use the environment to conceal your actions, which is a great skill to have. But, you seemed to exhibit an odd amount of hesitation in combat, which is inexcusable. In real combat, hesitation won't just get you a kick to the side, it'll get you killed, do you understand?"

Vin grit his teeth as his brain recalled similar words recited to him by a certain Stray Devil back in Rome a few months prior…

"You hesitated. No true warrior knows hesitation, because those who would have already died as a result. And you will join them…"

Vin closed his eyes, and nodded, "I understand."

"Good. Don't worry for right now, we have some time to work on that," Baraqiel assured, "For the time being, you two can head back to the lodge and take a shower, since I imagine both of you are not in the best of shapes at the moment. Once you're done, we'll begin your training properly."


By the time Vin made it out of the shower in a fresh pair of clothes and made his way downstairs, Baraqiel and Akeno were already sitting around the living room of the lodge. The father and daughter sat far away from each other, the tense silence polluting the air once more.

Vin sighed. If this was how his training was going to go for these three weeks, he was going to have words.

"I'm all done," Vin announced, desperate to cleave the awkward mood to shreds. Thankfully, it seemed to at least bring Baraqiel out of his silent slump, as the man stood up from his seat by the kitchen table, and made his way over to Vin.

"Follow me, I want to get you started on your training regime. Akeno, I'll come back to get you set up."

Heading over to the lodge's doorway, Vin fastened up his exorcist-issue combat boots before reaching out to pluck his green raincoat off the hanger. Tugging the coat on and throwing up the hood, Vin followed his mentor out into the rain outdoors.

Instead of heading upwards towards the peak like they had been previously, Vin was shocked to find that Baraqiel was taking the path that went behind the lodge, which headed down into the forest that stood at the bottom of the mountain.

The two trekked along for several minutes in silence. The pittering and pattering of raindrops against Vin's raincoat acted like a soothing song to the teen's ears.

Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, "Hey Baraqiel, is there any reason why we're heading into the forest instead of the summit?"

"No, not really. I wanted to have Akeno practice on the summit, that's all," Baraqiel admitted, "I figured you would welcome the change in atmosphere as well."

"Eh, you got me there," Vin shrugged as they reached solid ground once more, heading into the verdant tree-line.

Vin's eyes roamed over the sight before him, the trees acting like thick canopies from the rain, causing little streams of water to pour down like a spout from branches. A beautiful, serene area that echoed with the songs of the rain.

The two Fallen continued their trek into the woods, deeper and deeper, until they soon found a clearing. The long-reaching branches of the trees concealed them from most of the rain, and the opening gave them just enough room to move around freely.

As the two halted in the grove, Vin's curiosity finally got the best of him. Free from the venomous gaze of Akeno, Vin could finally afford to let his guard down a little more, since the ever-present threat of the Gremory Queen attempting to kill him on the spot no longer loomed over him.

"So, what's the plan?" Vin rubbed his hands together, excitement welling up in his body.

"Azazel's made note that there are a few key abilities that Fallen Angels possess that you simply haven't managed to gain a grasp on."

"Probably because I wasn't born a Fallen," Vin shrugged, "Unlike you guys, it's not second nature to me."

"Understandable. Azazel seems to have come to the same conclusion." Baraqiel nodded, "So today, we'll begin the process of learning one of the greatest fundamentals of being a Fallen Angel."

Holding out his hand, Baraqiel's palm crackled and sparked with a golden glow, before a large, straight glowing object shot into reality in his grasp.

"The ability to use and manipulate light magic." Baraqiel announced, "First, I want to get an idea of what your level of control is, so how about you try to manifest a basic light spear right now?"

Vin shuffled awkwardly, "Alright… Let's see here…"

Vin closed his eyes, and raised his right palm at the tree-line before him. How exactly was he even supposed to do this? He had to make a shape, right? Maybe it worked like flight… So, all he had to do was focus on the magical flow within his body. Alright, that was simple enough to do.

Taking slow, deliberate breaths, Vin continued to focus. He just had to 'push' that magic to a place in his body, like he did with his wings when he wanted to fly. So in this case, it would be pushing it to his right ha-

*PSSCCHHHOOOOOHHH!*

Reeling back, Vin's eyes shot open when the light magic he'd been carefully channeling didn't pool like with his wings, but instead immediately shot out in a messy, unfocused spread that covered a decent few feet in front of him. The grass, as well as the tree's nearby were scorched black as ash by the force.

While it certainly showed that it could be an offensive weapon, when brought into comparison to the uniform, meticulously formed light spear that he'd seen Baraqiel create before his eyes a few scant moments prior, Vin felt like his piddly little burst of magic was woefully inadequate.

"...I see…" Baraqiel deadpanned.

Vin flushed with embarrassment.

"..." Baraqiel stroked his chin, before turning away from his pupil, "This is more dire than I thought…"

Vin cringed as his finely-tuned ears picked up on his mentor's nearly-inaudible muttering. He… He didn't do that bad, did he? He got light to come out, at the very least! That had to count for something, right?

"Well…" Baraqiel turned around, "For the positives… It seems the light magic you emitted was… Strangely potent. That blast was frankly pathetic-"

"Well geez, thanks." Vin snarked.

"Let me finish," Baraqiel countered as he walked up to the scorched trees, "A blast like that shouldn't have been able to deal this much damage on its own, especially in a formless shape like that."

The Cadre reached out and gripped one of the tree's bark, ripping off a sizable chunk of the wood, "Look at how deeply the blast scorched the bark. That would only happen with something more concentrated, such as a light spear, for an example."

"That's good, right?"

"Yes and no." Baraqiel tossed the bark to the ground, and walked back to Vin, "It is indeed something that's powerful. With proper control, those light spears could be a force that goes well beyond your current rank as a two-winged Fallen."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here."

"But, this also means gaining a sense of control over it is exceptionally harder than normal. Combined with the fact that, like you've said, you lack the innate senses for these things that all other Fallen possess, your current inability to form light spears makes a lot more sense."

"Then how would I learn how to do it?" Vin stressed, "I get that it's hard, but you're a Cadre, you have to know how these things work, right?"

Baraqiel shifted, a small bead of sweat dripping down his brow.

Vin's gaze narrowed in disbelief, "Shit… You have no idea, do you?"

The Cadre coughed into his closed fist, "You have to understand, I was born as an Angel; I've been capable of performing such functions since the very moment of my inception. Meanwhile, this is the first time we've had to teach a human who has held no prior experience or instinct, so the road is rather tumultuous."

As the despair of the situation set in, Vin fell down onto his bottom, "So I have no real way of learning how to make light spears other than 'feeling it out'?"

"Well, truth be told, I did count on you having a bit more experience with making Light Spears…" Baraqiel droned on, before a lightbulb went off in his head, "Wait! Don't lose hope Vin, I just remembered something!"

The teen lifted his head out of his hands, "Really?!"

"Yes. Allow me to quickly warp myself back to the Grigori to retrieve it." Baraqiel dug around in his coat, before extracting his Grigori pass, "I'll only be about twenty minutes, so please wait here."

Before Vin could say another word, the Cadre was gone. Which left the teen to just sit down under the canopy of a tree and watch the raindrops fall.


"Baraqiel?"

"Yes Vin?"

"What the hell is this?"

Vin looked down at the offending item in disbelief. The pink and baby-blue pastel cover displayed a visual of a happy black-winged family, surrounded by various animals, from cartoon rabbits to unicorns. Centered right in the middle of the cover was the brightly-colored title, 'Childhood Development: The Guide for Parents of Struggling Fallen'.

"I apologize, this was the only resource that I could think of," Baraqiel bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "This is a shortcoming on my part as a mentor."

"No, it's…" Vin took a deep breath through his nose, before sighing, "It's alright. You're probably right. It might be a little embarrassing, but it's probably a good place to start."

"That's a commendable mentality to have." Baraqiel smiled, clapping his hand on Vin's shoulder, "I've been keeping my daughter for a while now, so I should go to begin her training. If you have any issues or questions, just fly up to the summit, alright?"

"Gotcha," Vin nodded.

With a final nod, Baraqiel unfurled his eight wings, and with a mighty flap, took to the air, quickly leaving Vin's sight.

"Well then…" The Crystal Weaver's eyes turned back down to the book in his lap, as he flipped open the front cover, "Might as well get started here. Oh, at least there's a table of contents…"


"Okay, let's take a break now."

Xenovia huffed and puffed, as she leaned against Durandal like a walking stick. Sweat dripped down her face in droves, and her chest rose and fell with each shuddering breath she took.

Gazing up from the ground, Xenovia's eyes landed upon the large swathes of trees and bushes that had been rendered asunder by her strikes.

The Knight refocused as a woman stepped into her field of view. The Vermillion Star. In all of Xenovia's years, she never expected that she'd be granted a chance to be trained under such a prolific sword-saint, yet here she was, standing right before her.

Clad in a simple pair of black jeans, a dark crimson crop top with a black and red leather racer jacket thrown over top, the imagery of the Vermillion Star was far removed from what Xenovia had constructed in her head after hearing stories about the fierce woman from Griselda. While she expected a stoic, noble and uniform swordsman, perhaps clad in robes of some sort, without the sheathed katana strapped to her hip, the woman standing in front of her looked like any girl who you could find on the street, albeit one with noticeable muscle.

The wind whistled through the now-levelled forest, tossing the Vermillion Star's black twin tails, "Are you feeling alright? It seems like swinging that thing around really took it out of you."

"I'll be fine, Vermillion Star," Xenovia wiped the back of her hand under her bangs.

"Eh?" The woman fixed Xenovia with a look, "How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me that. Akane is fine, okay?"

That was the other thing about the Vermillion Star that completely defied Xenovia's expectations, the woman was far, far more casual than she had ever anticipated. Sure, the girl made a name for herself as a bounty hunter, but Xenovia expected someone more like Griselda in terms of professional demeanor. It wasn't a bad change, but it certainly was one.

"Right… Akane…"

Akane's face lit up, "See, was that so hard?"

Xenovia's mentor sat down and patted the earth beside her, prompting Xenovia to walk over and basically crash into a seat.

"So, how do you feel control is going?"

"It's difficult," Xenovia looked over at the massive blue and gold sword laying in the grass, "Whenever I swing, it feels like it moves so naturally, but as soon asI try to stop my swings, or attempt to recover, I can just feel this wave of resistance surge through my hands."

"Hmmm," Akane hummed, "Well, it's somewhat alive, right?"

"Indeed. The thing has a mind of its own."

"So it's like a partnership, huh?"

Xenovia growled, "That's the thing. I've tried to approach it every single way I can, I've tried working with its whims and coordinating myself around it, and the only thing that happens is that it controls me instead of the other way around!"

Akane paused in thought for a moment, before she opened her mouth.

"Can I give it a try?"

"Huh?" Xenovia glanced up in utter confusion, "But, you aren't…"

Akane's eyes met Xenovia's, "Just trust me, alright?"

"Fine, go ahead," Xenovia sat back down, watching as her mentor walked over towards the Holy Sword laying in the grass.

As Akane reached down to grip the weapon, it began to slowly slide away from her grip, as if it detested the very idea of another user wielding it. However, right before it could slip out of the range of her hand, Akane snapped out with her hand, catching the handle of the weapon.

With noticeable exertion, Akane lifted up the weapon, all the muscles in her right arm straining as she went. Keeping her feet planted wide, the Vermillion Star's torso bent back and forth as Durandal attempted to tug itself out of her grasp.

"You're a real piece of work, aren't you?" Akane smiled sarcastically at the weapon in her hands.

Her words seemed to have enraged the legendary blade, as it shook and quivered in clear anger. Akane raised a brow as a burning sensation began to spread across her right palm. Yet, the Vermillion Star simply kept her eyes locked on the sword, apparently amused by the blade's attempts to stave her off.

All at once, Akane's cheerful demeanor vanished. Her eyes draw into a tight, intense glare, her aura flaring with unbridled power as her grip tightened around the weapon like a vice. All at once, every sense of movement from Durandal vanished, leaving the perfectly still blade in Akane's hands.

"That certainly was a bit more temperamental than Sakura ever was…"

"H-How did you do that?" Xenovia lurched forward, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Well, you said that Durandal was 'alive' in a sense," Akane explained, "I just did what you'd do to any misbehaving person, you get strict with it, show them that you're not incapable of holding authority over it."

"Here," Akane twirled Durandal into a reverse grip, holding out the handle to Xenovia, "You give it a try."

"Okay…"

Hesitantly, Xenovia got to her feet, fingers reaching out to clasp around the Holy Sword. As soon as Akane peeled her hand away from the blade, Xenovia could feel herself being overwhelmed by the weapon's influence. Like an insatiable itch, the urge to swing the weapon and exert all the energy within her grew fiercer and fiercer with each passing second.

Xenovia's breath grew heavy as she steeled herself. Hands clenching tightly to the sword, knuckles turning white, Xenovia fought for control as the blade twitched and shook in her grasp. Her inhibition snapped, as her muscles betrayed her goal, sending the sword swinging in a wide arc away from Akane. The shockwave of the swing let out a large crack in the air as it toppled more of the flora in front of her.

"DAMMIT!" Xenovia cursed, gritting her teeth as she tossed the blade to the ground, where it clattered harmlessly, remaining still in the grass.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Akane came up behind Xenovia, "You're not going to get it immediately. Nobody does, trust me, my younger brother is still trying to learn some techniques from me."

"You can let yourself be frustrated. Training is a hard road, and no one can just pave over it instantly. It's all about trial and error, and that can be an infuriating thing to experience," The Vermillion Star comforted, "The most important thing is that you don't let your frustration discourage you from your goal. When I was younger, and still learning to swing a blade, I was a little like you are now: headstrong, passionate, and easy to anger. Every time I failed at something, no matter how small, it felt like I had failed completely and utterly… But then, I would remember all the people who love me, and why exactly I'm doing all this."

Akane reached into her pocket, pulling out her smartphone. She turned it on, and held out the screen so Xenovia could see. The simple lock screen displayed an image of a younger Akane kneeling down beside a young boy with a basic head of black hair. Both of them were smiling ear to ear.

"That's my younger brother, Shin," Akane supplied, "We had just finished his first ever mission alongside me. Back then, we only did missions in Japan. But you know what I see when I look at this image?"

"..."

"It's that smile he has," Akane's eyes remained locked to the phone, nostalgia evident in her gaze, "He's so… happy, so carefree, so proud… Whenever I feel down, I just look at this picture, and I remember… I do all of this so I can protect that smile."

"I see…" Xenovia nodded slowly.

"You have something like that, don't you?" Returning the phone to her pocket, Akane turned to look at Xenovia, "What's your reason?"

"I… I don't really know. I've been moving around so much recently… What I thought my life would be was ripped out from under me when I was excommunicated, then I found myself a Devil, of all things," Xenovia scratched her head, "If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have told you that my goal was to simply live up to the expectations that were set for me. But now… Well, those expectations don't mean much anymore."

"But you still have a reason to fight, no?"

"I do." Xenovia nodded, "I'm a part of a new family now, and while it was one that I never thought I'd join willingly, it's the one I found myself in nonetheless. So, I'm going to fight, to make sure this family doesn't end up like my last one…"

"That's a good goal," Akane smiled.

"I'd like to believe so," Xenovia dusted off her hands, before walking over to where Durandal laid in wait, "We better get back to this. We don't have too much longer in the day, and I made a promise to someone that I'd learn to control Durandal by the time we're done."

"You got over that frustration rather quickly," Akane retorted, "Where did this come from?"

"Well, I just figured… That person wouldn't let something like failure slow them down at all. I can imagine that right now, he's trying as hard as he can, and no matter how many times he might mess up, he won't let it get to him, he'll just keep going…"

A truly touching sentiment from Xenovia, but alas, the Knight was blissfully ignorant of the truth…


"MOTHERFUCKER! C'MON!"

Seven hours into trying to form a single damn light spear, all with nothing to show for it, Vin had firmly moved on from simply taking things in stride.

"There's gotta be something I'm missing here!" Vin ran over to the base of a tree, where the bright, colorful guide book laid open against the trunk. Open on the pages was a simple three panel diagram of the steps to summoning a light spear, but unfortunately, no matter how many times he tried it, nothing would happen.

"Step one: focus your magical energy…" Vin read aloud, "Alright, got that."

Dragging his eyes along the open pages, Vin brought his attention to the next panel, "Step two: try to imagine the shape you want your light magic to take."

Closing his eyes, Vin began to bring up the mental image of his light spear. Straight, simple, nothing too fancy. About a four foot handle, and maybe a foot long blade affixed to the end. Simple enough to grasp.

Vin peeked one eye open to glance at the book, "Step three: While keeping that image in your head, channel your magic into the palm of your hand, then release."

Focusing with all his might, Vin squeezed his eyes shut and moved the invisible flow of magic within his body towards his right hand. The teen could feel the telltale crackles of energy that filled his hand like a warm buzz. Gently, Vin urged the energy to begin to leak from his hand.

However, as soon as he tried it, no matter how little he tried to release, the floodgates would come crashing open in full.

*BBBBZZZZZAAAAAARRRRRRRRTTTTTT!*

Once again, his attempt ended in the messy spattering of light that had been the result of each attempt prior.

"Are you… FUCKING kidding me!?"

Vin toppled backwards to the ground, laying in the damp grass below. The teen's fingers came up to massage his nose. What was he doing wrong? He followed every step to a T, he managed to create a very comprehensive image in his brain, so what was his main issue?

It had to have been that lack of control. Every time he tried to gradually bring his magic out, it would all surge forth at once.

Vin got up once more, dusting himself off. If he could just find a way of regulating that uncontrollable force, then perhaps he could do it, or at least, get a bit more success than he could previously.

The young fallen began to pace back and forth across the grove; brain cycling through options at a rapid pace.

"What if I tried to make something even bigger? Then, maybe all that energy being released at once would be reasonable!"

"Might as well test it out," Vin raised his palm forward, a new image forming in his brain. A larger projectile, not five feet, not six, not even ten… What if he tried something twenty feet tall? A massive spear like the ones that Kokabiel had thrown around?

Calling on all his focus, Vin pushed his magic into his right hand, then outward.

*Crrrrrrasaaaaaassckk!*

"AAARGGHH-!"

Vin flinched back as his right arm twitched and throbbed painfully in his grasp. The attack nearly worked, the smallest little bits had formed, but overall, the strain of constructing something that massive was far too much for Vin to actually handle.

"Fuck, that stings!" Vin hissed, massaging his smoking palm, "But that was promising. It seems like this train of thought is worth looking into. If I can make use of all that energy, then I can properly form something."

"The question is, how do I go about doing that?" Vin questioned aloud, his brain revolving through his options, until an idea hit him like a bullet train.

If his body, and the flow of magic within him was like a pool of energy, then… Shouldn't he be able to distribute the energy within him? He could easily channel it into his wings to fly, and pooling it into his hand was no issue at this point… So what if he just distributed all that energy to a variety of places at once?

Rubbing his palms together as excitement welled up within him, Vin spread his palms out in front of him. The easiest thing to do would likely be to channel all that energy into not just one of his hands, but both at the same time. That way, it could all flow, but the overall strain each hand faced was significantly lower.

But what to base his mental image off of? Dual-wielding spears sounded kind of silly, and incredibly impractical. He needed something that was easy to use in both hands at once…

A scowl crossed Vin's face as the visage of Kokabiel entered his thoughts. The madman wielding a light sword in each hand…

*PPPTTTTSSSSSHHHHHH~*

Vin recoiled back as his control over his magic slipped, causing it to spill out of where he pooled it in his hands. But to his surprise and elation, what came out wasn't two pathetic sputters, but rather, two large, glowing constructs of light, each in the crude shape of a sword.

For a brief moment, Vin was stuck in a raptured awe at the sight. Idly, he moved the swords through the air as they hummed and crackled with electric-like sparks. It certainly seemed far more… unstable compared to the example Baraqiel had provided him, but still, it was by all accounts a success.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, a wide grin broke out along the boy's face, as he turned to the darkening nighttime sky, and let out an unbridled cry of joy.

"YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!"


So, this chapter came out a little later than I initially planned. The main reason it did was because I went on vacation across the country for four days last week, so I was without access to my laptop to write. The other bits of time… Well, I have no excuse. I chipped away at this chapter, and now it's finally finished: the first of a few planned chapters that will span this section of twenty days. We're going to be doing a lot of hopping around in terms of time over the next few chapters, but this one is set entirely on the 2nd day of training.

Other than Vin finally learning a work around for his light spear issue, we also get a scene devoted to Xenovia and her training. We won't be seeing too much of her beyond this little glimpse. Also, I want to mention that Akane, the Vermillion Star isn't actually my own OC, but rather the OC of my friend and frequent reviewer of this fic, Crimcrom. Akane is a lot different here than in his own fic, Azure, but that's to reflect the fact that DxD: Alt. and Azure exist in two different universes.

I want to thank Dr. Strange, and Marvel Movies in general for making the concept of multiverses and alternate universes/parallel worlds more public knowledge, because it makes explaining this next bit so much easier. So, to make it clear: High School DxD: Alternate takes place in a shared multiverse, it's one of countless universes, including but not limited to: Azure, the DxD anime, the DxD light novels, the DxD manga, etc, etc.

So some characters from other fics may make cameo appearances here, in their depictions within the universe of DxD: Alternate. For the most part, you don't have to worry about much of this now, I just wanted to be transparent about what's going on with Akane's appearance, or the few subtle character cameos that are featured in Crimcrom's fic Azure (Which I cannot recommend enough).

However, later on in the story? Hoooooooo boy… Let's just say I didn't name my fic "High School DxD: Alternate" for no reason.

With that said, I want to thank everyone for reading, favoriting, following, and especially leaving feedback on this fic, and all the chapters. It's such a wonderful thing to see, and I wouldn't change it for the world. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving a favorite and follow, as well as a review, as they are invaluable to me.

A last note, but I want to thank all my friends on the DxD Fanon Wiki Discord Server, as they've been a huge help for me with this fic. From helping soundboard ideas, coming up with plot ideas, and a whole lot more. If you ever want to chat with me, or any of the other writers on there, it's a wonderful space. We do OC stuff, help with people coming up with ideas, so if you have any interest in it at all, I highly suggest going to the DxD Fanon Wiki website, and joining the Discord server through there. I hope to see some of you there, since I think it'd be fun to chat!

With all that said, until next time, rock on!