Training Commences

"Issei Hyoudou" - Talking

'Issei Hyoudou'- Thought

"Issei Hyoudou" - Communication circle/phone

*Sounds*

[ Issei Hyoudou ] - Inanis

"Issei Hyoudou" - Draconic voice

My eyes slowly opened up only to squint again as the light illuminating my room shined onto my eyes. I closed them again, not wanting to remove myself from the comfortable bed that I was laying upon. I tried to shuffle around to a more comfortable position but found myself hindered by a weight. Now that I noticed it, I also noticed that something was on top of me. It wasn't cumbersome, but it wasn't light either, just heavy enough to keep an unaware me from moving.

I opened my eyes, gazing down at a lump under the sheets of my bed, the lump located right on top of my chest, all the way down to my knees. I removed the sheets from the mysterious object, only to jump in surprise at what I found. A naked girl was lying on my chest. She appeared to be a little younger than me, but still reasonably well developed. She had long, black hair running down her. Her skin was light and smooth, like Rias and Akeno's.

My faced turned light red as several thoughts raced through my mind. Primarily about who is she? Why is she here? Why is she naked with me? I could already tell she wasn't a threat to me, although that doesn't mean she was weak, she was defiantly by no means a human, even though she appeared like one.

'OH SHIT' I thought to myself, putting on a panicked expression. I neglected to realize that my wings and tail were still exposed for her to see if she awoke from her slumber. I quickly concealed my draconic features as I sat up in a sitting position.

The shaking around caused the girl to let out a light moan of annoyance, clearly showing that she wasn't pleased about being disturbed. She sat up stretching, letting out a soft yawn. I hid my right hand under the covers while allowing my claws to extend just in case. She may not have been a threat to me, but Asia was still in the house somewhere. Even so, I didn't want to hurt her if I didn't have too.

Her eyes fluttered open, revealing two beautiful sky blue eyes. Now that she was sitting upright I got a better look at her appearance. Her body was well toned and moderately muscled, but still looking soft and smooth. Her dark black hair flowed down, coming to a halt around her mid back. She looked around the room a little, analyzing what was going on, stopping upon locking eyes with me.

What confused me was the fact that she didn't seem fazed or embarrassed at all of where she is and her lack of clothing. The fact that she was naked wasn't too bad for me, even if it was embarrassing, I'm no pervert, so it wasn't hard to just look at her face instead of her bust.

"So.. uh... why are you here?" I asked curiously, trying to break the silence cast over the room. Upon hearing my question her face adopted a confused look, tilting her head to the side slightly. "What do you mean, Master?" She spoke, her voice resonating a soft and calm vibe.

'Master?' I thought to myself curiously. "Why did you call me master? I don't even know who you are." I spoke, trying to pry an answer from her. Her expression grew even more curious until it quickly shifted to an expression that depicted realization. She gave me a small bow as she prepared to speak.

"Forgive me, master, I neglected to show you my human form" She spoke, raising back up from her current bow. 'No way' I thought to myself. I slowly lifted up the blankets more, revealing a black tail emerging from her tail bone. I was surprised to find this, confirming my suspicions that this was Wynter, the Dire Wolf I made my familiar.

I looked back up at her face seeing her brush her hear out of the way, revealing two black wolf ears. "Wynter, you can change forms?" I asked amazed at this discovery. I thought only dragons could change their form with aura manipulation, I had no clue that another race could do it without illusion magic.

"That's correct" She spoke calmly. Her face remaining firm with a stoic expression. "That's awesome, is there anything else you can do?" I asked curiously, trying to inform myself about how she could be useful, as no doubt she would be taking part in the fight with Riser.

"Well, no not really. I do keep the same strength and speed as I had in my normal form" She spoke while thinking if there was anything else she could do. I nodded in silence as I covered her exposed body with the blanket, as to not distract me, I would've done it earlier, but I was interested if she could do anything else.

"Stay covered up here, I'll go get something for you to wear, ok," I said getting up, putting on a tank top and gym shorts. She nodded silently as I walked out of my room, making my way down to Asia's room as I thought about how her having a more human form could be an advantage for us.

Even if she couldn't do anything else, maintain the same strength and speed while being able to wield a weapon or armor would make her much stronger in both offensive aspects and defensive aspects. I could even give her a shadow weapon, possibly shadow armor, although I never tried it. I don't see why it couldn't work.

I knocked on Asia's door. The door wasn't opened immediately. Instead, I heard light scuttering around the room, as well as her sweet voice telling me to hold on. I waited a few seconds in the hallway. Asia opened the door revealing herself in her school clothing with the book Rias gave us.

"Hey sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't happen to have some spare clothing would you?" I asked scratching the back of my head. It felt a little weird asking a girl if she had clothing that I wouldn't quite literally rip trying to wear. Asia looked at me confused as to why I needed some.

"Yes... b-but, why do you need them?" she asked me. I let out a sigh, followed by calling Wynter to come over here. Asia looked confused until she saw a naked girl with a wolf tail and ears. She looked between Wynter and me a few times, shortly after asking it was best not to ask.

"Y-yeah lets go see if anything will fit you... Wynter?" She spoke, showing her apparent confusion as what was going on. I will explain it to her later, probably when we're walking to the club room. I'll also have to explain this to Rias and the other peerage members.

Walking down to the kitchen I grab some leftovers to eat while reading my book on the rating game. Asia came down the staircase, Wynter following her closely. They walked over to the plates that I set out for the two and started eating. "S-So, how long have you known she could do this" Asia questioned, glancing between Wynter and I.

"I didn't know till this morning, I'll have to tell the others" I spoke continuing to read. Asia didn't say anything more and continued to eat. Wynter stayed silent throughout dinner, she seemed quite reserved. After we finished up our breakfast, we started walking to school.

Halfway there we ran into Kiba and Koneko walking down the street together. "H-Hey," Asia shouted waving her hand grabbing their attention. The two looked at Wynter with a confused expression, understandably so. "Hey, you two, who is this?" Kiba asked giving us a warm smile, shortly after examining Wynter.

"Oh yeah, this is my familiar Wynter. Apparently, she can transform, which I didn't learn of this till this morning, she keeps her strength and speed in this form as well." I answered, surprising the two. "Really? I've never heard of that before, none the less its quite beneficial" Kiba stated. "Really? How do you suppose?" Asia asked.

"Well, if she does keep her strengths while she's in this form she could wear armor, or use a weapon. Doing so would increase her potential for both defensive and offensive capabilities. She would also be able to learn techniques, possibly even forms of magic, although I don't know how much magical potential a wolf would have" Kiba said, pondering any other advantages, she would give.

"That's precisely what I was thinking" I spoke. "I've also been thinking about learning how to use a few team abilities or spells, all of my abilities are focused on strengthening myself as I normally went solo" I mentioned intriguing the others. "What did you have in mine?" Koneko asked.

We walked into the school grounds, students giving Wynter their attention as she was new. "Well, I was thinking about learning how to make shadow armor if I can create powerful weapons from the shadows I might be able to do the same with armor for you guys," I spoke. The others listened carefully to my words, processing how helpful that could be.

Kiba decided to speak up about my idea. "That may be a hindrance to me, I'm a knight, after all, I rely on speed. Armor would only slow me down, which is why I don't wear anything but light arm and shin guards" Kiba pointed out.

"That may be true. However assuming it's like my shadow weapons, it should be relatively weightless, while still providing the same amount of protection" I said. "Although I don't know, I've never done it before. We'll just have to test it during training" I concluded. The others giving me a nod. We approached the old school building. Entering the building, and the club room, we were met by our King and Queen with duffle bags.

"Ah, there you all are. Akeno already informed the school, so you will be excused from school for the next 12 days" Rias spoke moving the duffle bags over the transportation circle. "Are we all ready to go?" Akeno asked clasping her hands together with a smile. Akeno and Rias both faltered slightly upon Wynter entering the room.

"And who might this be?" Rias asked sharply. She wasn't necessarily jealous, but more cautious, as a human could've just heard what they said. 'They must think she's a human because she hid her ears and tail in public.

"Right, this is Wynter, my familiar. Apparently, she can transform into a human-like appearance" I said. The two girls relaxed upon hearing that. "That's interesting, I didn't know any other race besides dragons could do that" Akeno spoke, causing Wynter to tilt her head slightly, obviously curious as to why it was so surprising as she didn't know.

"Yeah, none of us did, but hey here she is.. so" I spoke shrugging at what she said. "Will she be training with us?" Rias asked curiously. Wynter looked at me as she wasn't sure what was going on. "Don't worry about it Wynter, I'll explain it later. Also, yeah I intended her to train alongside us" I spoke answering both of them.

"Alright then if that is all and everyone else is ready let's get a move on" Rias spoke with a smile, waving us over to the now glowing transportation circle. We all nodded grabbing the duffle bags that had our individual names written on each one and walked over to the glowing circle. Once we all entered the circle engulfed us in light transporting us to the place we would be training, presumably. The light died down, kicking up a light amount of dust.

As I wiped the small amount of dust off me, I glanced around observing the new location we were taken too. My jaw nearly hit the floor as I saw and expensive multistoried manor on a mountainside, the house holding a courtyard behind and in front of it. The yards and house were surrounded by a thick forest. On one side there was a small lake, completed by a pebble and sand beach.

On the other side appeared to be a steaming hot spring, and considering the amount of wealth that probably went into this place, I'd bet my scales that there was an onsen around here as well. I stumbled back slightly out of awe at the sheer sight of this place, I've never been to such a wealth place before.

"So uh, just out of curiosity, how rich is the Gremory Clan?" I asked "I'm even willing to bet that all the scales currently on my body could amount to the wealth it would've taken to make a place like this," I said dumbfounded.

Asia was also shocked by the appears of the house, though she wasn't near as vocal as I was. The others were just giggling at the display Asia, and I was putting on, as this was nothing new to them.

"Oh, this is nothing. Nothing compared to some of the others, in fact, this one is one of the smaller vacation homes the belonged to the Gremory household" Rias said smiling, unmistakably confident in her family's wealth.

"As for riches, well devils live for a long time, so my family has had millennia to accumulate this mass of value and wealth. I would tell you more about the other homes. However, I don't think that breaking your grasp of reality on value would be very productive on training" She said, happy that I was impressed by the sight.

She turned to address the group behind her, clasping her hands together with a smile. " Now then, everyone gets unpacked and dressed in the clothing in the duffle bags, then we will all meet up here and get to work!" She confidently said.

"RIGHT" we all spoke.

We all walked inside the vast manor, Kiba leading me to where I would be staying as we split up from the others. It was a huge room completed with two full sized beds on opposite ends of the room. The room was connected to a separate that held a modest wash unit inside.

We claimed which bed we wanted, or more like Kiba picked his preference as I didn't care, both of them were plenty soft for me. We both began unpacking our duffle bags and put on the contents that were inside. Kiba had a grey tracksuit, while mine was black.

"I didn't expect for us to be doubling up Kiba" I commented to my roommate. "I would've thought a large manor like this would've had more then enough rooms for us all" I spoke curiously while I was tying my shoes.

"Aw, is it that bad to share a room with me?" Kiba spoke flaunting a fake hurt tone and expression. He over dramatically put one hand on his forehead while looking away, the other arm clutching his suit directly over his heart. "You wound me, your words are so hurtful," he said.

"Please, you're far from the worst company I've had the pleasure of working with," I said sarcastically giving him a light whip from the tip of my tail. Kiba chuckled softly as he rubbed his stomach where the tip of my tail impacted. I finished tying my shoes facing the laughing Knight. I chuckled as well, but for a different reason.

My past self wouldn't have ever thought of having friends like these with me. Honestly, I doubt I deserve it, but hey what can ya do. Kiba stopped laughing, intaking air from his lack of breathing, opening his mouth to say something.

"You're not so bad yourself ya know. For the room situation, well there are only a limited number of rooms available for those outside of the ones claimed by the Gremory family members. These vacations homes are used for a getaway for the Gremory family, a place where they can act like a normal family for once instead of nobles, hence the lack of quarters for the servants. This place is built for entertainment, and to be frank, I'm sure if we looked around long enough, we would find a game room and a theater in here somewhere" Kiba said as he packed his regular clothing in the duffle bag.

"A game room huh? Damn, too bad we'll be training our entire stay here, considering how wealthy they are that supposed game room would be pretty fun" I said, throwing my clothing on my bed instead of packing.

"It is what it is man. Who knows, if we actually pull this off we might have a celebratory party here with her family" Kiba said shrugging it off. The idea of meeting Rias's parents made me a little nervous, I don't even know if her brother is aware of our mating bond. I quickly shook off this feeling refocusing on our current conversation.

"Yeah your right, we can dream. Although I wouldn't worry too much, as I know for a fact that I am significantly stronger than that burnt bird" I spoke confidently. "That much is apparent, yeah, but don't forget about his regenerative factor," Kiba said turning to me.

"Yeah, I haven't, to be honest, that's the only thing holding me back from a 100% sure victory. I could pound that guy into the ground 100 times, and he'd most likely still get up, all I'd be doing is tiring myself out. I could end it with one super strong attack, but that could kill him, and I bet killing a noble devil wouldn't help Rias" I said annoyingly, as I'd love to kill him.

"True that. I could only guess how hard it is for you to hold back your amount of power. Especially considering what Riser said about Rias, your mate" Kiba responded with a slight chuckle afterward. "You nearly injured me for waking you one time, I can imagine what he's going to go through, even if he regenerates it'll still hurt like hell," he said sarcastically.

"How long are you going to go on about that, I apologized after all," I said sourly at his remark, only for him to laugh once more. "You bet. I'm going to enjoy hurting that prick" I spoke with a slightly ominous tone to it.

Now finished with our preparations, we both decided to skip the tedious nuances of wandering through the vast corridors of the manner to find the exit. Instead, I pried the window open by shoving my sharp hard claws under it, lifting it slowly so the window would shatter.

Kiba leaped out the window before me falling three stories, landing lightly with a roll to reduce the chances of injuries, even if they were already unlikely. I shortly followed after him except I took advantage of the fact that I had wings, making one powerful thrust to slow my landing. The flap of my wings blew down on the grass causing them to glisten in the sunlight as they were pressed to the ground.

"My, what a dramatic entrance" Kiba spoke sarcastically. "Why thank you, I strive to impress after all," I said with an equally sarcastic tone, adding a slight bow. He gave a light chuckle while we walked over to the back courtyard.

The girls were all grouped up with their own tracksuit, surprising with matching colors. Koneko's was white, Rias's was red, Akeno's was a purple, Asia's was a green color, and Wynter wore a black one like me. They were all around Wynter talking to her, they must be happy to receive another member that was female. "Were here" Kiba said as we trotted our way over to the group.

"Finally, took you guys long enough" Rias spoke with a slight giggle. 'I wonder why she's so happy' I thought to myself. I would've thought she would've been more serious, same with Akeno.

"Alright everyone, let's get started" She spoke loudly, all of the peerage members lined up before her. "To start with I won't be leading the training schedules, Issei will!" She proclaimed waving for me to come up. The other, as well as I, were confused by her sudden decision, never the less I still walked up.

"Are you sure?" I asked her. "Absolutely. You've trained your entire life, so I'm sure you'll know how to make us stronger then I would. Also, don't think I couldn't tell how you analyze people in seconds" Rias said teasingly. The others were confused at hearing the, except Akeno who just nodded. "That's right, you can analyze your opponents and see their weaknesses and strengths very quickly," Akeno said nodding agreeing with Rias.

"Its a shame you don't analyze me like that," She said seductively with a wink. 'Just gonna overlook that' I thought to myself. "Alright then, I'll do my best Rias" I spoke confidently. Rias smiled at my words and took my place in line.

I stood in her place and looked over each one of them, and while I had a general hypothesis on what would benefit them the most, I had an idea that would confirm it. "Alright," I said loudly gaining their attention. "First I'm going to spar with each and every one of you to get a better idea on your weakness, and how to improve them. Kiba your first" I spoke waving for Kiba to come up.

"Alright then, the rest of you can rest and watch from there if you'd like," I said as Kiba made his way over. The girls did so and sat down on the lush green grass, anxious to see the two males of the group spar, as well as concerned as what I would say.

I turned to Kiba as he summoned a sword from the ground. "Alright Kiba, you better go all out in this fight as I will only hold back enough to not kill you," I said loudly. Obviously, that was a lie, but I figured if he did that he would be pushed to try harder. "Right, I won't hold back either" He spoke confidently clenching his hands on the handle of his blade.

I held my arm out and formed a Claymore made from shadows. The blade would've been quite heavy if it was made of real metal, it was nearly as tall as me. I gripped the handle tightly and cocked it behind me, preparing to dash forward to test his defensive properties.

"Girls would one of you be so kind as to give us a signal?" I asked not turning my gaze from Kiba. Akeno pointed her arm in the sky and shot a lightning bolt into the air. As soon as the bolt exploded, I dashed forward with speed none of them could process, dust kicking up from the cracked ground.

Kiba raised his sword trying to predict where I was moving too. He guesses right as I appeared right where he was blocking. I swung my sword quickly with a powerful slash shattering right through his blade, but missing his body.

Kiba jumped back summoning another sword in his hand. Once again I reappeared in front of him, this time thrusting my claymore at him. He barely moved out of the way, the blade of my sword slashing through his tracksuit, but missing his body. He reared back his arm, then swung the sword down at my side trying to strike me while trying to recoil from my missed slash.

Unfortunately, I caught his sword my hand, stopping the blade instantly. I dissipated my claymore and clenched my fist preparing to punch Kiba right in the gut. However before I made contact, he raised his legs up and formed a small dagger at his foot, blocking my punch. The dagger broke upon impact but slowed my attack enough for him to dodge my punch and back away from me.

I re-summoned my claymore and got in a defensive position. I concluded that his defensive propertied were quite respectable to be able to predict the movements of something couldn't see, as well as the idea to use his foot to summon a blade to slow my attack. Kiba took the hint and prepared two swords in each hand.

He dashed forward at me with haste slashing left and right at me with a large amount of variety, making it harder to predict his next movements. I took instant notice of a few of his problems as he continued to attack me. Our spar continued for a few more minutes of similar actions of Kiba slashing at my defense.

He jumped up and swung both swords down at me, taking advantage of his downward momentum to increase the power of the attack. My wings folded in front of me, protecting me from his slash ultimately.

"Alright, that's enough," I said, allowing my claymore to fade back into the shadows. Kiba dropped his two blades falling back onto the ground panting. "You're a monster man," He said between his labored breaths.

"Dragon to be precise, although I suppose your not technically wrong" I responded sarcastically. "Smart ass" he muttered quietly, causing me to chuckle. The girls stood up and walked over to us. "Asia why don't you heal Kiba" Rias suggested as she examined his exhausted display. She nodded as she proceeded to heal Kiba with her Twilight healing.

"Master certainly is strong, so was the other Knight," Wynter said looking at us. "That he is, he's the strongest one here," Akeno said smiling. "So tell me, how did I do teach," Kiba asked, piquing the curiosity of the others at what I would say. They all listened closely, especially Kiba as he kinda considered me a rival or a level of power that he challenged himself to reach, even if it was impossible.

"As far as it goes for skill alone, you are undoubtedly better them me when it comes to wielding a blade. If your opponent were someone with equal speed and strength to you, I would almost guarantee you to win. Your defense is very impressive for a Knight, and that's a compliment as Knights aren't known for their defense, and you are one of the fastest Knights I've ever seen. Combining all this you could become one of the strongest Knights in history" I said. The others seemed happy from my review, But before they could speak, I interrupted them to continue.

"However, you strikes while indeed fast and hard to predict, lacked power behind them... Not to mention the fact that you didn't take advantage of your sword birth, restraining yourself to only a normal sword. I did also say you had a good defense, but the only reason is because you were able to predict my movements and dodge or block them. If I even landed one of those hits though you would've been out for the count. Also instead of trying to end the fight, you let yourself tire out. If we had a professional referee watching, you would've won the duel." I said concluding my evaluation. The others were confused at what I meant by the last part.

Kiba didn't really acknowledge the point I was trying to make as he formed a frown. "Won the duel but not the fight?" Kiba said curiously. "Exactly. I was able to predict your movements after the first few attacks after understanding you're overall style" I said confusing the others. "But didn't you just say Kiba's attack was hard to predict?" Akeno questions.

"Yes. But his style isn't. In a tournament, he would be nigh undefeatable, but in a war, he might be one of the first ones to fall" I spoke seriously shocking the others at what I said, especially Kiba. "I mean no disrespect to your judging, but Kiba was trained by my brothers Knight. So surely he must be stronger then that" Rias protested against my words, although it is as kindly as possible,

"It's not an issue of my strength Risa. Its an issue with my mentality" Kiba spoke up, finally realizing what I meant. "Indeed, that's his problem" I agreed with him. "Each attack he made was aimed to be specifically non-lethal. What's more, with his speed he could have generated enough momentum to knock the sword out of his opponent's hands and finish them with a killing blow, and even if it wouldn't have worked against my strength, he didn't ever try it. Finally, he only attacked me within or very close to my field of vision, never trying to attack me from behind or use underhanded methods to achieve victory."

"The typical mindset of a chivalrous Knight" Kiba said giving out a hollow laugh. "Courtesy and respect, honor and valor. So that's going to be the thing that holds me back?" He asked. "Most likely. Chivalry is a code that only briefly addresses treating women with respect. The rest and most of it is basically a list of proper and morally acceptable rules of engagement. I'll be straight forward with you, none of you here could beat me in a fight, let alone seriously harm me. My scales and skin are too tough for you all to hurt me, excluding Rias's Power of Destruction, and with my power, I could overpower you all in seconds. However, if someone with equal power and speed read the rules of that book, then they also know how to break the rules or exploit them. That would allow them to turn your battle into a battle of attrition, as the counter acted every move you would make. With obvious results by what we've seen today." I said concluding my explanation.

A frown appeared on Rias's face, clearly thinking about the new issue that has been revealed. Akeno and Koneko both had an impressed expression as they were amazed by the accuracy of my quick evaluation. Asia looked a bit torn between worrying for her peer's injuries, and then awe for both of our fighting prowess.

Wynter's expression was the same as before, but with a slight smile and a gleam of admiration in her eyes. "So, how would you recommend breaking this habit? How long would it take?" Rias asked me. I thought about it for a few minutes before responding.

"I don't know, I doubt anything I do would be able to scratch the guy's common sense on manners, especially when it comes to the opposite gender. Besides, even if I wanted to its most likely been ingrained into his mind by now. However, I do think I can help with your fighting" I concluded looking down at the Knight.

"How so?" He asked with eagerness dripping from his voice. He was obviously happy to be able to improve himself, even if it cost him a little dishonor of having his weaknesses revealed.

"You're going to forge a fire-type sword and make a genuine attempt to kill me with it," I said bluntly. The direct answer startled everyone there, prompting Akeno, Asia, and Rias to all try and protest at my idea. Kiba made a clear visible frown, clearly upset with the idea of trying to kill his friend. Wynter and Koneko were both surprised but trusted my judgment. "I couldn't do that. I can't try and kill you" Kiba said trying to reject my idea, the others nodding in agreement.

"Look, man, I get it. You have a sense of honor that you're not willing to compromise. I understand and appreciate that. However I've seen where that can lead first hand, and they always end up dying." I said bluntly, once again surprising the others around me. They all had a look in their eye, asking why does he know first hand, but none of them built the courage to ask.

"You're going to have to change, especially if you want to fight Riser's peerage. Or did you happen to forget that his entire peerage consists of females?" I said looking down to Kiba while wearing a solemn expression.

Kiba's face dropped as he realized the truth behind my words. "I can help you to some degree. Most swords can't even leave a scratch on me unless its a dragon-slaying sword. A fire sword would do even less, considering that I'm a fire drake. Besides even if by some miracle you manage to pierce my scales, we always have Asia her to heal us up" I stated jesting over to her.

"She needs practice with her sacred gear anyways, so the more roughed up we get will help her get stronger." I also stated pointing out some other benefits to this, trying to sway them to understand my side.

Kiba looked down to the grass, quite for a few moments as he was lost in thought. I stood and dusted the grass of my pant legs. "If it helps, think of this as a war. If we win nothing happens, and it all goes back to the same everyday life. If we lose.." I paused, clenching my hand in anger.

"Then Rias and the other girls in our peerage will lose their freedom and happiness to a man who has no respect for the opposite sex. I think that's worth soiling your dignity and fighting dirty" I concluded, putting distance between Kiba and me to prepare for our fight.

Kiba stayed silent for a while longer, as it was evident that I shattered some part of his reality. Then my eyes widened as Kiba stood up with a cold smile on his face. The others backed up slightly startled by his display. Kiba's blade started glowing a red color, shortly after orange flames bursting from the hilt of his sword violently, engulfing his entire blade.

I was a little surprised by his display as well, his eyes were almost empty as they stared at me, his smile cold an eerie. It kind of reminded me of myself back then. Even if this display wasn't real, he must've been putting himself in a mindset like that to help force him to do this.

The girls were about to give us the signal to start, even if they didn't like the idea of doing this. However, before they could, Kiba dashed forward at me, taking me by surprise as he was really treating this as a war. His swung his flaming blade down at my shoulder from behind me, taking advantage of my surprised state.

I managed to narrowly dodge the swinging blade, clipping the shoulder area of my clothing. The shirt portion of my outfit burnt off of me, revealing my bare body. I flapped my wings forcefully putting distance between Kiba and me, while at the same time knocking him off balance with the force of the wind.

"Good, you're already learning. In a fight to the death, your opponent won't tell you when to start" I said complementing his approach. The shadow claymore formed in my hands blocking Kiba's next strike with ease. And once again the two men of the group, or combat maniacs as the girls would've called us, we're back into the fight again.

"Men.." Rias complained letting out a sigh. "Only if they could think of something more the senseless violence." Rias had to speak slightly louder than usual as the clashes and shrieks of blades colliding filled the air, echoing across the fields as her male servants continued their spar. Although Rias realized spar wasn't the right word for it anymore, this was a fight now.

"Well, violence in a language that all men can speak" Akeno replied, clearly enwrapped by the action in front of her. Akeno's hands were placed against her flushed cheeks as she wiggled her hers, her legs rubbing together. Honestly, there wasn't any form of violence that this girl couldn't get off too.

The spar between Kiba and me lasted a few minutes more. He was clearly improving as he got a few hits on me. I was only using enough power to push him to his limits, as if I went all out, a large portion of this forest would most likely be flattened to a barren wasteland.

"Alright, that's enough you two!" Rias shouted at Kiba and me grabbing both of our attention. "Don't forget that you have to train us to Issei" Akeno followed up. Kiba and I both nodded and began walking back to the girls. They were all examining us to see the results of our battle. Kiba was a bit roughed up, holding claim to a few bruises and scratch marks, his clothing rouged and dirtied. I, on the other hand, didn't have any scratches, and my tracksuit was quite practically destroyed, the upper portion was completely incinerated off of me, as well as the lower portion of my pants. Basically leaving me with shorts and shoes on.

Asia, Rias, and Akeno all had a slight blush at the sight of my muscled body in the bright sunlight. They were quickly shaken from their thought as Kiba, and I reached the group. "Alright Kiba, now I'll assign you you'll own personal agenda to train with by yourself," I said. The others eager to hear what I would say. Asia started healing Kiba as I began to explain what I wanted him to do.

"So to start with, I want you to improve your overall strength, as your defense, speed, and reaction time will improve when we spar. Improving your strength will allow you to strike harder, combining that with your impressive speed will make you a force to be reckoned with. I also want you to practice your creativity with creating your swords, taking full advantage of that will allow you to almost have the upper hand in almost every conflict. You fit the trait of a Knight almost perfectly, combining all of the factors could make you the strongest Knight to walk the world, so long as you improved them all." I concluded.

The others were pleased to hear this, Kiba was ecstatic to hear me say he could very well be one of the strongest knights ever. "Right," Kiba said loudly at my words, as he sat back down in the observes area. I let out a light chuckle at his determination to get stronger. "Alright, Koneko your next," I said waving for her to come up.

"K," she said flatly walking over to the opposite side of me. She stopped where Kiba once stood, preparing herself by getting in a boxing stance. Akeno raised her arm firing a bolt of lighting signaling us to start as it exploded.

"Koneko instantly charged at me like I expected a rook to, although I already noticed she was slow. After closing the distance, she launched a fist directed straight at my diaphragm. I could tell that the punch had a lot of force behind it, but it was just to slow. I sidestepped while pushing her arm to the opposite direction, causing her to miss her target by a wide margin.

She stumbled forward slightly before coming to a halt. She jumped off the ground and swung her foot around trying to strike the side of my head with her heel. I caught her attack and quickly used it to my advantage by throwing her across the field.

She landed on her feet, but still skidded across the ground from the force of the throw. She looked back up to see me directly in front of her. She raised her arms forming an X with her forearms preparing for a strike from my right fist I had cocked back.

Although instead of punching her with my right fist as she thought, I switched my attack to the left fist which she didn't see. After seeing my right fist relaxed she lowered her guard slightly trying to figure out why I didn't hit. Only for her to be sent flying into a tree as my left fist impacted directly into her body.

She fell down on the ground after hitting the tree, her body being supported by her hands and knees. She was gripping her side as the intense pain from my punch. "... he's powerful" She muttered to herself between her labored breaths.

She said this mainly to herself, but thanks to my biological nature I was able to overhear her words. "Why thank you Koneko, now why don't we continue," I said with a slight bow. She stood up and nodded at my words, readying herself for a hard fight.

She lunged forward at me rearing back to hit me. I responded by blocking her punch with my forearm. The power of her punch vibrated throughout my body, showing me that despite her size she was quite formidable. The ground cracked slightly beneath us.

I dug my feet in the earth beneath me as I knocked her arm away from me, while at the same time swinging my own attack at her. Taking advantage of her lack of balance after I knocked her arm out of the way, I threw a hard hit at her. She barely dodged my attack by moving to the side, although the main reason I missed was my own fault as I never fought an opponent with such a small frame.

We continued our spar for around 5ish minutes. After our fight, she was clearly tired from the battle, so I decided that it would best to end this spar here. "Alright Koneko, that's enough," I said relaxing my body. She responded by doing the same, lowering her boxing stance.

She walked over to the observers slowly, clenching the areas that I hit the most. I stood there for a few seconds while thinking about the best way to phrase this. After a few moments of thinking I walked over to the others to give my analysis.

"Alright, so how did she do?" Kiba asked curiously as the three girls tended to her injuries while listening.

"Well to start with she is amazingly strong for her size. Also, her size works in her favor, as a lot of my misses were because I wasn't use to facing such a small opponent. She also kept getting up no matter how much I knocked her down, proving that her defense is true to her rook piece." I said concluding most of the good things about her.

The others seemed happy so far, all but Koneko. "You only listed the good things, I want to hear what I can improve on" She spoke seriously.

"Alright then. First off, you're slow. I know this isn't a majorly important trait for a rook, but if you're too slow, it will become a problem no matter what piece you are. Another thing is that it seems you have a hard time predicting my attacks, which will be necessary for the upcoming fight as we are severely outnumbered. You need to be able to predict your opponent's attack. I also noticed that your forcefully suppressing a lot of power, enough that it could've hurt me if you used it" I concluded.

Koneko recoiled slightly at my last words. ".. I don't know what you're talking about. I tried as hard as I could" She said, rejecting what I said. "I know you're a Nekoshou, don't lie about it. If you tried using your powers, you could've~."

"NO!" Koneko shouted, interrupting what I was going to say. The other peerage members were shocked to hear that I knew she was a Nekoshou. "Alright, its obvious you don't want to talk about it. However, if you continue to suppress your powers, you won't be able to improve much more then you already have. Sorry, I don't mean to be disheartening, but it's true" I said plainly.

The others remained quiet as I said this. The air turned tense and awkward, so tense that you could cut it with a knife. "Alright Akeno, your up now," I said turning back to the field, breaking the tense vibe. "My, it's my turn now my Issei?" Akeno asked walking to the other side of the field. I nodded in response.

"Yes it is, try to focus as I need to see what you're really capable of" I stated preparing for the fight. She released her wings, giving me the indication that she is an air born fighter. I responded by spreading my wings preparing for take off.

Rias pointed her finger to the sky firing off a small blast of destruction. As soon as the ball exploded, Akeno flew into the air charging electricity around her arms. She pointed her hands at me releasing two substantial charges of lighting at me, clearly not holding back.

I held both of my arms out forming a large shield made of shadows, deflecting the lighting away from me as it hit the ground around me. A large flash engulfed our arena from her intense burst of lightning. The light died down revealing a large cloud of dust in the air preventing the others from seeing me.

The dust cloud dissipated revealing one intact patch of grass where I was standing surround by destroyed ground, which is where Akeno's attack landed. She looked around for where I could've gone to from her elevated position.

Her eyes widened as she felt a surge of power from behind her. She quickly turned around, firing a blast once her eyes landed on me. I merely swatted away her blast of lighting. I extended my arm out to her, shadows erupting from the palm of my hand and encasing her in a transparent sphere of shadows. "What did you do?" Akeno asked as she examined the sphere.

"Oh, this? Think of it as a cage" I said with a smirk. "You may have trapped me but what do you plan to do? As long as I'm in here, you can't touch me either." Akeno stated confidently.

"You're not wrong. However, once this cage of yours touches the ground, it will explode" I responded. Akeno's eyes widened as she heard me speak. She quickly fired off a lighting attack trying to break free but to no avail.

I flew up doing a flip, slamming my tail into the top of the sphere, sending it plummeting down to the ground. Once it reaches, my words held true, as a large black explosion erupted from where the orb landed.

I looked down at the impact area, using my elevated height to my advantage. The dust cleared revealing a crater in the ground, Akeno at its center. Her breathing was labored, and her clothing tattered. She slowly flew her way back up equal with my altitude.

"My my, I knew my Issei was strong, but to think you were clever enough to come up with such an attack. It's so exciting" Akeno stated in bliss, her cheeks red. "Uh... thanks?" I responded.

I heard something faint as Akeno started preparing to launch another blast at me. It sounded like Rias complaining about something, something about Akeno calling something hers. Best to ignore it.

Akeno and I spared for around 5 minutes more with a flashy display. Lighting streaking through the sky as I deflected her attacks. "Alright, that should do it" I shouted to Akeno, letting her know our match was over. "Aw, the funs already over?" Akeno pouted as she landed next to me.

"Yeah, for now at least. I still have to access the others you know." I spoke shrugging. "We'll just have to make up for it next time," Akeno said seductively, swaying her hips as she walked in front of me to the group. Asia started to heal Akeno once she reached the group. "So how did she do?" Rias questioned again.

"Alright, well to start with. You have excellent magic control and power, possibly on par if not better then Rias. You're also surprisingly tough for a magic caster. Although that is mainly due to your Queen piece. However, you still have a lot to improve on. Firstly, your magic attacks. I'm aware that you hold the title Priestess of Thunder. However, that doesn't mean you should limit yourself to one type of magic. The other problem I noticed is that you're not using your other Queen traits to the fullest. Your Bishop and Rook trait being the exception, your Knight trait isn't being used very well." I spoke. Akeno nodded at hearing this, showing that she had no objection to my words.

"So for now, I want you to practice using other forms of magical elements. As well as I want you to work on your speed and evasion abilities. You may be able to use the Rook piece well, but if they can't hit you, then there isn't any reason to use the Rook trait. Also for right now, after Asia heals you, I need you to teach Asia the basics of summoning her magical potential. I won't be able to due to my lack of magical prowess. I won't be able to train with her until tomorrow since she doesn't have and offensive capabilities." I said.

"Sure thing, I'll go ahead and do that now while you access your next person," Akeno said happily. "I-I'm sorry, I'm no good," Asia said quietly, looking away from me.

"That's not true. Your one of the most important members for this upcoming fight. You may not have any offensive capabilities, but you can heal us as we fight. Meaning as long as we have you we can get back up, your sacred gear almost completely nullifies their numerical advantage on us." I said smiling at her. My words obviously worked as she put on a smile as she heard me.

"R-Right, then I'll train hard for you," Asia said, confidence and determination shining in her eyes. "I can't wait to see" I replied, patting her head as I stood up.

"Alright, Rias your up," I said to Rias, walking back out to the field. Rias formed a bright smile on her face as she trotted out to the other end of the field. She must be excited and confident to see what I will have to say about her. "Alright Rias, this fight will have one rule in it, unlike the others" I stated.

Rias's expression switch to that of curiosity. "Oh? What may that be Issei?" She asked, her head tilted slightly. "You're only allowed to use your Power of Destruction" I stated, confusing her again. She thought it would be the exact opposite of that.

She nodded anyways deciding not to question my reasons behind it. The only reason I did that is because its the only thing that could defeat Riser, aside from myself, so I need to get a grip on how strong she is with it compared to Riser and her brother.

Akeno fired a blast into the sky, the explosion signaling us to starts. Rias immediately raised her hands into the air. A black and crimson red mass forming at her hands, its size rapidly increasing to massive proportions. This was already her first mistake.

She shot the large blast at me at a decent speed, only for me to easily swat the blast away single-handed. Rias and the others were dumbfounded at how I easily deflected that attack. It almost appeared as if I didn't even try.

She repeated her attack again, only to be met with the exact same results. It appeared as if I waving my hand at a fly. Rias's was getting aggravated at this, all her peerage members managed to get me to at least fight in some way or another, yet all she was able to get me to do is move my arm.

She repeated the process a few more times, her attacks increasing in size each time. The others were surprised to see that it got easier for me each time she increased the size. Rias leaned down propping her arms on her knees.

"So I already see one problem," I said walking forward to her, shaking my head in slight disappointment. "You.. think?" Rias said sarcastically between her panting. "Don't worry too much about it though. Its source is more of a mistake then it is a lack of power" I said, trying to reassure her.

"Really? Then what is it?" She asked, curiosity emanating from her intensely. I honestly felt a little bad, due to our soul link I could feel how upset and dissatisfied she was with herself.

"So your only two problems right now is your lack of creativity when it comes to your attack, and the fact that you're negating your families famed Power of Destruction," I said. Rias looked at me incredulously after hearing me.

"What do you mean? Increasing my power output should also increase the strength of my magic alongside it, right?" She said unconfidently. I only shook my head making a *tch* sound with my teeth.

"If you were using any normal form of magic, then you'd be completely right. However, If your Power of Destruction works anything like my Power of Extinction, then its the opposite" I said, but stopped waiting for Rias to better catch her breath before continuing my lecture.

"Your Power of Destruction and my Power of Extinction are in its very nature, highly unstable magic, which is what gives them its powerful destructive aspects. By adding more magic to your attacks, you end up diluting the magic, which in turns makes it lose its destructive nature" I concluded. However basing the fact that Rias wore a confused expression, tells me that she didn't get what I was trying to say, and it wasn't just her, those on the sidelines didn't seem to get it too well either.

"If you had a.. bicycle, and then removed one of its wheels, that bike would be unstable. So what do you think would happen if you added another wheel to the bike?" I asked, trying not to sound condescending. "It would stabilize?" Rias said unsure of where I was going.

"That's right, it would stabilize. The same concept can apply to your Power of Destruction, along with my Power of Extinction. Adding more magic will make it start to stabilize it, removing its destructive powers." I said, excited that she is finally getting it. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know all of this?" Rias questioned.

"Aside from having my own power similar to yours. Training with Fia and your brother certainly helped me understand the way it works better." I said giving off a slight shrug. "Fia?" Rias questioned.

"Oh, sorry. I mean Grayfia, she's the one who taught me how to use my magic, your brother spared with me every week or so. That's enough talking though, now show me your Power of Destruction. Create a soccer ball sized sphere in your hand." I commanded. Rias did as told, closing her eyes to focus as she raised her arm up. A crimson orb of energy appeared in the palm of her hand.

"Ok good, now watch me and I'll show you what to do next" I instructed, deciding it would be easier to explain the next part if she saw. I held out my arm forming a sphere of Extinction, the sphere was precisely the same as Rias's except mine was black and violet instead of black and red.

Normally, I could solidify the orb as soon as its created, but this time I did it slower so Rias could observe. The sphere viably changed as I hardened it, the change being that its luminosity increased, causing the sphere to shine a brighter violet.

Rias watched closely in awe at how easily I did it. "Ok Rias, you do exactly as I just displayed" I instructed pointing to the sphere of Destruction floating in Rias's palm. I dissipated my sphere, allowing me to observe Rias's attempt closer.

Rias closed her eyes, attempting to amplify her mental focus. It took a few seconds, but eventually, Rias's sphere of Destruction's luminosity increased, her sphere shining a brighter crimson then before.

"Like this?" Rias questioned, extending the orb out from me to examine it. "Yes exactly like that. Now I'm going to create some targets out of shadows, and I want you to throw one hardened orb and one non-hardened so you can see the difference." I spoke. Rias nodded as she started forming the other orb.

I, on the other hand, held my hand out gathering the shadows to form two silhouettes of a human, one of the silhouettes had a thick wall of shadows behind it. "Alright, now throw the weaker one first, specifically at the target without the wall behind it," I instructed, which Rias complied by throwing the orb quickly at the target.

A fair sized explosion erupted from the target as the sphere made contact with the target. After the blast dissipated, the target was revealed laying on the ground. Smoke rolling off the body of the target. Rias and the others were surprised to see this, as both groups expected the target to be vaporized.

"You see? That blast may have been dangerous, but in the end, the target would've eventually healed, given enough time to rest that is." I spoke. "Now throw the hardened one at the other target," I instructed.

"Ok, but if I may ask, why is there a wall behind that one?" Rias questioned, gazing curiously at the thick wall of shadows. "Don't worry about it, you'll see" I said confidently, brushing off her question. She nodded and proceeded to throw the sphere at the target, stunning the others by what happened on contact.

Instead of exploding, the sphere ate right through the target, leaving a hole in the chest of the human silhouette. The sphere then exploded violently when it came into contact with the shadow wall behind it.

"See? When you condense and harden your attacks, it makes them more destructive. So for your training, I want you to practice condensing your magic until you can do it instinctively. You also need to increase your magic capacity, even if you already have a large amount of mana, the Power of Destruction costs quite a bit of it. Your only other problem is that you lack creativity when you attack. Try to come up with other ways of utilizing your Power of Destruction in your offense and defense. Using it in defense makes it very hard to counter." I concluded.

"Right!" She responded with determination to improve. Rias and I made our way back to the sidelines with the others. "Alright Wynter, you're up next," I said waving for her to come over here. "Master what will you have me do?" Wynter questioned.

"Well first, you haven't trained before have you?" I asked, pretty much knowing the answer, but wanting to confirm the answer anyways. "That's correct master. Up until this point I haven't trained outside of my wolf form." She stated. That only made this all the more complicated.

"Alright, I'm going to try and make you a weapon that should suit you pretty well. Then I want you to spar with me using the weapons I made." I instructed. "Yes, master Issei." I held my arm out forming two gauntlet like structures, the ends of each finger holding razor-sharp claws. I figured this would be the best weapon for her to use, because of her time using the natural claws she held as a wolf.

"Alright, now get ready." She did as told preparing herself for the fight, letting a deep growl. I responded by doing the same, deciding it would be fitting to fight her with my natural claws, instead of a weapon.

Akeno fired her lightning into the air signaling our start. Upon the explosion being heard Wynter immediately started closing the distance between us. This shows that she had outstanding reflexes, even if her overall speed was lacking compared to Kiba and me, being around the same as Koneko.

She lunged at me swinging her claws wildly trying to cut me. This was slightly disappointing, even if it was expected. Flailing aimlessly won't win the fight for you, but she doesn't have any form of training in her human body, so I can't really blame her for it.

I continued to dodge her quick rapid strikes with relative ease, occasionally choosing to block her attacks instead of avoiding. Despite all the flaws so far, she was quite strong physically speaking.

Although being a magical wolf made that expected, I still couldn't help but be impressed by what I am seeing overall, excluding her flawed strategy. We continued this pattern for a while until I decided that it was my turn to start attacking.

I caught one of her arms by the wrist mid attack, causing her to falter slightly in her onslaught. I took advantage of this by quickly sending a blow to her abdomen, sending her sliding across the ground. I noticed something during my attack the piqued my interest in her defenses, so I continued to poke at it.

All of my attacks holding the same results as before. "Alright, that's enough" I shouted. She slowly lifted herself off of the ground, wiping the dirt off of her face. We made our way over to the others so they could hear my thoughts.

"So to start, you hold a lot of potential. For not training in a human body your entire life, you did pretty well. Your strength is close to being equal with Koneko, and for not having any evil pieces or physical training, that's very impressive. The next thing you have going for you is your reaction time. During our fight, I noticed that you were able to register and attempt to react to almost all of my attacks, but failing to block due to simply being to slow." I said, concluding all the good aspects so far. Wynter was clearly happy due to her ears being perked up, and her tail wagging behind her.

"Now, that doesn't mean you still don't have any flaws. Your technique was pitiful at best. However, that can be easily fixed by training and practicing. Preferably with Koneko, considering that she also uses her fists in combat. Your other problem is the fact that you're slow. Yet again, that can also be fixed with proper training. You hold a lot of potential, although it will take time, I don't expect you to be completely ready for the fight against Riser, but if you work hard, I bet you could give them a run for their money." I concluded

"It's a shame she might not be able to participate" Rias spoke, letting out a sigh while rubbing her forehead. "I thought familiars could play?" I responded confused, as in the rule book it stated that a devils familiar were permitted to fight alongside them, or aid them.

"Generally speaking that's true. However, she is essentially adding an extra person to the team so they might not allow it." Rias explained. The other peerage member and I were disappointed to hear this, especially Wynter.

"I wouldn't worry yet though, as it isn't guaranteed that she can't compete. Besides knowing that cocky bastard Riser, he would probably be more than glad to add another to our group." Rias reassured. Wynter perked up a little at hearing this, however, was still a little downcast. "Alright, everyone time to discuss your regime for training while we're here," I spoke loudly, gaining the attention of everyone here.

"Firstly, I will spar with each of you for an hour and a half each day, the time that I don't spar with you I want you all to practice improving the weaknesses I discussed with each of you. We will have resting periods during lunch, more specifically 11 AM to 1 PM. The training time itself will start at 9AM and end at 7:30 PM, giving us plenty of time to eat breakfast and dinner, as well as enjoy ourselves a little while we're here. You may think this is a bit lax, but so long as you train hard during the time given, you should see good results." I said loudly giving them their instructions.

"Right!" They all responded.

"Also, Asia and Wynter will have specialized training from the rest. Wynter, I want you to visit Kiba and Koneko regularly to improve your technique with weapons, as well as balance that with your own physical training. Asia, you will do laps between each group, healing them as necessary. During the break at lunch, Akeno and Rias will help give you a crash course on how to manifest your demonic magic. This should increase the amount you can heal before getting exhausted." I spoke looking at the two girls.

"Right," Both of them said, much quitter since both of them had quite voices.

"For the rest of today, you all should work on your weaknesses, as tomorrow I won't go easy on the spars. Each day they will get harder, pushing you to your limits each time, making it necessary for you to improve. I will work on the weaknesses I have, as well as read the hand guide for the Rating Game." I instructed.

"Weakness and you don't go together, friend." Kiba scoffed at my statement. "Yeah, from what I've seen your nearly unstoppable," Rias said agreeing with Kiba.

"I appreciate the compliments, but that's not at all true. Being a dragon makes my mana pool pitiful compared to you all, quite frankly I'm lucky to have any at all. While I can use my sacred gear and void powers with minimal cost, the Power of Extinction is very costly. If I can improve my magic pool, I could use that extremely destructive force more then I normally do" I said, countering their words.

"Not only that, but my skill set itself is a problem for us. Aside from using my barriers, all of my current skills are based for solo fighting, not team fighting. So I need to create ways to use my abilities that could aid you all as well." I concluded. They all looked surprised at hearing this, but I don't really understand why, after all, no one is truly invincible. "Well do you have any ideas?" Asia asked curiously.

"Yeah I have a few, but why would I want to spoil the fun?" I teased, not telling them my ideas. "Now that's just mean." Akeno pouted. "Yeah, but I'll show you all before the fight, probably" I reassured, scratching the back of my neck. "Well, that's enough talking, everyone get to training, I expect a good fight from each of you tomorrow" I instructed to the others.

"Right," they all said, walking off on their own ways to prepare for tomorrow.

I walked off deep into the forest to focus on my training, as I mainly trained by myself in the comforting ambiance of nature. Thoughts rushed through my mind about the fight, as well as some others that have been concerning me for a while. I shook my head, clearing it of those distractions while refocusing on my goal. A feeling of determination lit inside of me.

'King of flames and sky my ass, I'm going to have fun knocking that burnt chicken back into the ground' I thought, before starting my training.

Whelp, I finally got another chapter out, as promised that I would finish this.
I don't have much to say this time, but if you have questions or suggestions don't hesitate to ask. I like answering them anyway.

thanks for reading :D