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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

High School DxD, New, BorN, Hero and other products related to the DxD Series are all owned by Ichiei Ishibumi, Miyama-Zero, Fujimi Shobo and TNK.

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Chapter 6: Fleeting Normalcy

The shining morning of this new day started what was supposed to be a particularly normal day.

With Raynare and her group pushed away from Kuoh Town and with my cover remaining intact after the ordeal I had to face through to get the threat removed, I was ready to get few hours of relieving normalcy at the Academy and see how things were going at the Student Council.

Well, mostly normalcy as I still had to give a tour of the school to a thrilled Asia. The blonde had excitedly narrated how the strange but kind man (read as 'Azazel') told her that he would have had some words with the principal of the establishment to enlist her in the same year Issei was frequenting.

While the news might have been happily accepted by the brunet at the idea of having such a cute girl around - while also being remembered that I wasn't going to allow him to do anything remotely perverted to the girl, I had to be the one breaking some issues that will immediately appear with this situation.

In the show it isn't never mentioned what level of education Asia had when she reached Japan, nor is it said if she did frequent or not the Catholic private schools that children in Catholic-owned orphanages were supposed to go.

Thus the first question about as she continued to heal me with her Sacred Gear was what was her last school experience before being excommunicated. She had to think about it since the Italian school system was completely different from the Japanese one, but I managed to get a positive response.

First year of Lyceum.

The Italian Lyceum was technically the commonly-known high school, and so that meant that she was going to skip only a year of school by being in the same course as Issei. Not something truly dreadful to deal with but also something that was going to require some adjustments in the girl's homework for the sake of catch up with her peers.

And that was going to be a somewhat easy job thanks to my position within the School Council.

The foreign girl hummed happily as she continued to walk close to me, listening to the various info about the school and the various sections of the building I was providing her with.

"So Issei-san is subscribed to the Occult Research Club… which his made by the other members of the peerage he is part of?"

"Correct." I nodded and gave her a small smile back at her own. "Rias Gremory is one of the two owners of Kuoh's grounds by Devils' laws. The other one is the current Student Council's president, Sona Shitori. Her real last name is 'Sitri' but she wants to be addressed either as 'Sona-san' and 'Shitori-san'."

"Sona-...san. Okay!" I was having a really hard time keeping the urge of patting her head away from hindering my current job. She was adorable and I prayed for said adorable feature to never be weaponized.

After almost ten minutes of walking around and giving Asia a full look of how the Academy looked like inside, we both reached for the door that led to the classroom she was assigned to.

"Remember to not get distracted by Issei during the lessons and to take notes- Also, if Motohama and Matsuda tried to do anything remotely perverted to say 'no' and get Ise to tell them off, okay?"

She nodded, a determined expression in her face that just conveyed all the cuteness someone like her could muster. I blinked when my hand unconsciously went over her head, causing the blonde to look in surprise the moment it start to pat her golden locks. "Remember to relax and to never hesitate in asking for help."

Her body tensed in surprise at the encouraging words, her eyes glowing a little and then- my own eyes widened in shock as I found myself with her arms wrapped around my torso, a giggle left her lips as she concluded the brief hug. "Thank you for helping me around, Senpai. I do appreciate your kindness and support."

I chuckled. "Just avoid trouble, Asia-chan, and you will be super-fine."

A last giggle left her as she moved towards the door, knocking at it and waiting for a response. At the invite from the teacher to join inside, the former nun nodded and waved quickly at me as she finally entered inside the classroom.

I waited few more moments, sighing in relief the moment I decided it was time to go back in my own classroom. I wonder how things were going for Rias now that she wasn't going to have Asia as her Bishop.

It will be a dreadful weakening when she will have to face Riser, but I am fairly sure having Ddraig more active so early on and Issei actively training with him to unlock his potential a little quicker than in Canon will be enough of a re-balance.

Sitting in my usual post, the teacher started with the roll call as he would usually do this at this stage of the day. I took out my notes, a pen and the English textbook, ready to deal with what was supposed to be a normal day at the Academy.

But it was right as I looked up from my desk to give attention to the teacher, I noticed almost instantly something very concerning. Rias' cerulean eyes darted away as she saw me looking her way, my mind screaming at the fact I had caught her interest for some reason.

I tried to not focus too much on her attempt to hide away what had just happened and turned back to the teacher… and found out that Akeno was still staring at me.

While this would have been chilling because of her personality and all, what made her stare the most dreadful to go through was the lack of her usual smile. Instead she was giving me an analytical look, studying me from afar and…

That didn't bode well with me.

In the official room of the Student Council I found some relief away from the newfound issue presented by the fact the Gremory's heiress wanted something from me.

The idea of her wanting to 'recruit' me was already off the table, knowing that Sona wouldn't want the redhead to have a hand in her group. Even through I wasn't in her peerage, the Sitri was quite protective about everyone in her team, especially those loyal and faithful to her orders and capacity of decision-making.

I sighed tiredly as I signed another piece of paper off to the side, right beside me Tsubaki silently doing the part of work she requested to help with. Having been absent for two days now from dealing with Council's duty, there was quite the stack of paperwork to deal with and the Vice-President decided to offer her support in dealing through with all of it.

The bespectacled girl took this time to explain what had happened during the two previous council sessions I had been unable to attend and while also ask how I spent the time while resting away at home.

I had to present a modified story of the 'grocery encounter' but the girl seemed to accept the story I had given her, quite surprised to learn that I met the newest addition of the school in this casual way.

Half an hour of dutifully completing the large workload of three days, I found smiling at the grand result managed today. I gave a quick but meaningful 'thank you' to Tsubaki, the second-in-command nodding and giving a small smile.

Just as I thought that this was going to be how I was going to spend the last hour at school today, an unexpected knocking at the door interrupted the activities within the room. There was a brief pause as we all exchanged some glances about what to do.

Currently in the classroom were Reya, Ruruko, Tsubaki and me.

The first two were formally my assistants, but generally helped around every major member of the council. Slowly gaining some experience, both girls were still unable to fit a proper position with the limited Council's roster. They were trying to put some cardboard boxes inside one of the lockers within the small storage area connected to the classroom as they stopped to hear this sudden noise, almost tripping on each other as they were carrying one of the bigger boxes.

Sona was currently busy with some meeting with the administrators of the school, thus leaving only us in the Council's room.

I blinked and decided to take some action. "You may enter."

With the permission granted, the door opened and Rias Gremory led the trio made by her, Kiba and Akeno inside, eyes directly fixed on me as she approached.

"Sakakibara-san." The redhead greeted with a quick nod, the others deciding to let their leader speak this time around. Which conveniently helped me a lot as I had to deal only with a single individual.

"Gremory-san." I returned the greeting politely, waiting for the young woman to speak… and so she did with a certain confident tone.

"I wish to talk with you about Asia-san." There was that smile, the smile that felt like the world here in Kuoh had to bend to her way. I don't hate nor dislike Rias, it's all about her over-confident behavior she got before the Raiser's Saga that got me quite annoyed of talking with her.

Thus my frown deepened and I let out another curt nod. "Sure, what do you need to know about her?"

And while I looked the perfect example of calm to those looking my face, inside my head a storm was slowly forming, the maelstrom of thoughts and theories about the following discussion being far from positive or good for myself.

But still, I decided to see where this was going and let her speak freely.

"I was thinking of having Asia-san enlisted to the Occult Research Club. I did ask her about the possibility but she seemed adamant to not join it and..." Her eyes narrowed softly. "You were the last one to speak to her and-"

"Are you seriously saying that I would for some reason order her to not join a specific club, Gremory-san? Are you possibly accusing me of something in particular of that sort?"

My tone was glacial and the brief hesitation from Rias at the strong front I was putting at that implied attack seemed to show that she wasn't as strong as she looked to be in confrontations of this kind.

"I-I was referring to the fact you might have said something that could have been badly-interpreted."

My boiling fury kept still as I continued to keep myself stern about this situation. Emotions were going to hinder any chance of dealing with this predicament without issues.

"Asia-san asked if it was necessary to join up a club, stating that she would have liked to have to get hold of her classes and see how to deal with them without any further weight over her head. I reminded her that as per rules, students at Kuoh Academy have a maximum of 2 months to decide to join or not a club."

Her eyes widened and she looked unsure how to continue the discussion. Of course I did mention that it was best for the blonde to enter her club, as if I wanted a God-devoted girl to be deprived of the chance of grasping at her metaphysical crutch.

Because, as much as I wasn't much of a Church's believer, I was one that understood that everyone needs to have someone to pray at when they were at their lowest. Without tangible support, Asia directed her prayers to someone that was 'unquestionably good' and 'that would never turn His back at her'.

If the girl joined the ORC? She would be pressured to become a Bishop, as she would be vulnerable as a human in a group of devils, and would have to then learn about God's death by Kokabiel.

I know it's wrong to lie just like I know that it was a duty to be honest to someone as precious as the girl- but I was also very important to keep her from learning about this disastrous news in the heat of a fight.

I will be the one telling her, once I know that she can easily find a fall back for her hopes in someone like Issei or me. It might sound selfish but… if I had to choose between breaking her heart like that during a battle or in a place and time where she could think properly about this, I think my answer is as clear as a cloudless sky.

Just as the redhead seemed ready to continue with this hopeless situation, I felt the phone I had in the left pocket of my pants vibrate, notifying me about a new message. Slowly I picked the small device and checked whom was it and…

I frowned at the content of the short message and the name of the contact that sent it.

"Tsubaki-san, I think I will have to go now. It's about the late lessons I have to take now." The bespectacled girl blinked at the sudden development but nodded with an understanding glint in her heterochromic eyes.

"I will take this situation off your hands then." The Vice-President stated with a nod as she turned her attention to the trio. "As Hoitsu-san has just finished to tell you, his role doesn't allow him to-"

I walked around the envoy and waved at the other two girls in the room, both smiling and nodding my way as I walked out of the door.

But just as I closed it behind me, I felt like I was being watched until that moment. I could feel something or someone reaching from me while I was going towards the lone entrance to the classroom.

I glanced back and shivered. What was that?

Deciding to not indulge the blessing that allowed me to hastily retreat away from dealing with this odd situation and to face the planned encounter with Azazel, I proceeded to walk towards the school's entrance, sure that at this time of the day most of the students that weren't doing club-work were already out of the Academy.

And yet, as I walked out of the glass doors, I noticed a short figure waiting here. Golden eyes turned my direction as Koneko was waiting by the end of the stairs, holding with one hand behind her back a familiar test-paper.

I blinked and as much as she was trying to appear calm and restrained, a small smile was twitching on her lips. It didn't take a genius to understand that the little Nekomata had just got a good grade out of yesterday's test.

And I was correct.

As we walked through the streets of Kuoh Town, the younger student decided to tell more how her test had gone.

It was surprising to see someone as stoic and usually reserved as Koneko speaking this much openly and in detail about something that had happened to her. Surprising and very adorable.

She didn't spare any brief spur of emotion from showing as she revealed so eagerly the '99/100' she got in the Math exam.

"I never got this high grade before…" She muttered happily while holding the paper. Her tone was incredulous, as if she was dreaming all of this and she couldn't believe it was actually true.

"Preparation is the key of success, Koneko-san." I replied with a small smile of mine. "When you give your all in preparing for a test, you will be scoring some good grade out of it."

The girl considered my words and then hummed in agreement. "But I have to thank you for the support, senpai." She walked quickly in front of me and stopped, causing me to stop too. "You helped me and… I am thankful."

It was tame, but I wasn't expecting much from it. Yet I decided to poke a little at her current attitude.

"By the way, I hope you received some other congratulations." I said with a small smile. "That was certainly an achievement for you and I hope you got some rewards out of it."

She frowned and blinked confused. "Rewards?"

"You know, the classic 'you did amazing', 'Since you have been good, I will buy you some candy-'"

"Are you offering to buy, senpai?" The white-haired girl interrupted with a strange glint in her eyes. "I know a place that sells-"

"I don't have money on me right now, Koneko-san, I am sorry." She deflated at that development, a flinch-worthy scene. Thus I decided to sprung into action.

The girl tensed, much like Asia did earlier that day as my hand patted her head. I expected her to react badly, maybe pummel me away if I went in too aggressive, and yet…

"W-Why?" There was a light stutter, a very adorable one too.

"I think you did good." I replied without hesitation. "You put yourself on the test and got one of the highest scores. That is nothing to scoff at and… good job, Koneko-chan."

The young girl slowly turned around and looked up right at me. There was a minor blush in her cheeks and her eyes were wide open. "You..." Koneko started, her voice lost after few moments of careful head-patting. "You aren't going to tell anyone about this."

A quick but decisive threat. "And I get to reward you like this?"

She didn't reply, trying to pout at little but failing to hide some slivers of happiness appearing on her face.

The situation lasted five more minutes and we parted for our respective ways.

Today was sure looking up for me!

I've jinxed myself.

The first training session with Azazel was supposedly an 'introductory' one, the man offering a brief schedule about the three days he was going to teach me around.

The session was structured in a simple thing:

First we had training with swords as the Fallen Angel wanted my skill with the Lightsaber to be top notch; Magic training was a mix of exercises to increase my already growing Core, learning new spells and practicing what I had learned during spars; the last section was bare-handed fighting, something I was completely ineffective about as the man did have some mad experience about being close and personal against people.

But while said regime looked fairly simple, the truth was completely the opposite.

The leader of Grigori had come prepared for the occasion, bringing in more than forty small bottles with a clear green liquid in those. The man was quick to reveal that those were very expensive health potions called 'Tears of Phoenix', something that was sold primarily by the Phenex family.

Kind of a dreadful reminder of the things that would have to happen in a month from now.

The reason of the insane price was based on the fact that those could heal quickly, restore a body out of fatigue, recharge a Magical Core and that multiple potions can be used repeatedly without running in any dangerous after-effects.

A powerful thing that ended up being my ruin for the four hours of utter pain I had to go through.

Azazel didn't hold his punches, nor his sword's strikes… and his magical nuking. Seriously, I was turned in a fun target that could hardly dodge or counter anything thrown at me.

Something did change the moment I got to read and practice two new spells, Light Mining and Light Barrier.

The L. Barriers created cushions between the attack and the caster, giving me some edge in deflecting or out-right dodge some of his attacks and try to lure him to make use of the Mining spell.

Obviously it was a minor improvement but, as the fist-fight resumed for the 33th time, I managed to get some dodging done and hitting his guard more than once. It was refreshing and would have been awesome if…

THUD

...he hadn't been holding back for the first two hours.

Groaning on the floor, I noticed that there was only two potions left and I dreaded the fact the last round was the 34th of all numbers.

"Now that did sound like an interesting round." The man chuckled as he pulled me off the floor, sighing as he looked around the damaged arena. As he wasn't sparing any blows, I wasn't certainly holding back anything, resulting in the utter devastation visible in the building.

"I got my ass kicked."

"But you lasted longer than the first time. I would say 20 times than your initial time."

I frowned at his attempt to cheer me up. "D-Didn't I last like a minute the first time."

He snorted at my tired reply, my ears catching what seemed to be a that's what she said, further irking my strained brain as I downed the content of the penultimate of the bottles left.

Azazel turned around with a feral smile. "C'mon, one last time." He sighed, his energy showing once more, like a sun ready to explode right on me. "This time… with emotion."

The clash resumed, this time I decided to give my fullest and…

An hour later I fell on the floor with a solid Thud, my body on fire as I went beyond my limits and gained something of an edge against the stronger being.

I noticed how he restrained himself from flying, giving me the chance to unbalance his footing with the creative use of mines bouncing off the barriers. It was like using a cannon against Terminator and the grinning bastard managed to still recover quickly enough to render the initial advantage minimal.

"You almost made me slip. That was some good thinking… and I think this is enough for today's."

I sighed in relief accepting his help to get off the ground for the umpteenth time, drinking quickly the last bottle and taking few moments to recover from that beating.

"Your potential is quite higher than I initially thought. I can see that you will be quite the dangerous individual in the great game once we are done with your training."

As I contemplated his words, Azazel slowly handed me a small USB. "What is it?"

"A tome from Grigori's library. It contains the first ten spells for Shadow-craft."

At my confused look, the leader of the Fallen Angels sighed. "Its a craft that very few individuals can achieve, humans being the prime individuals because of your Earthly Magic."

"Nothing about developing my Light arsenal?" I asked out of curiosity.

He scoffed. "I have already planned to teach you more during the training days, but I want you to learn Shadow-craft on your free time, in the field."

I nodded at his response but decided to ask some more, this time forwarding a question that had been bothering as of late.

"Yesterday you said something strange about my biology and all… what were you talking about?"

He blinked in surprise but smiled. "I guess that has to be a quite the heavy brick to digest and… I think I should have been clearer than that."

The man slowly sat on the ground and I followed his example.

"Your current self, your body and soul, are slightly different than the standard human being. It houses a powerful core that makes use of Holy and Earthly magical energy, something that can be achieved only by Angels or Fallen ones."

I nodded while he pointed at himself, understanding that my case was curious.

"But your current biology isn't neither similar to an Angel nor a Fallen one. You do feel like one, but checking better one with a good sensory ability can see that there is a prevalence of humanity within you, simple mortality only humans can have."

"So you mean that I kept myself a human even with the injection of Holy energy."

"Correct. You are a human being that has merely increased his magical and physical growth. You will get some muscles and maybe swoon some women in the process-" He chuckled at that much to my annoyance. "But you are not able to fully compose the spells you make."

At this I let out a frown. "I thought I did all the right things, conceptualizing and materializing the magic while giving the proper amount of energy."

"That is what a spell generally need, but those that are reserved to Angels and Devils require also a specific essence from the caster, a personification of your will that fuse harmoniously the technique with the energy."

I blinked, realizing what he was talking about.

While fighting Raynare, I did notice that my Spears were slightly weaker than hers, but I thought that it was because mine were basic ones, without any proper reinforcement or something that improved them generally.

But if this was the case, anything I learned that wasn't something humans could generally magically use was going to always be inferior compared to the version used by Angels or Devils.

...Shit.

"So that is why you want me to learn Shadow-related spells?"

The man nodded. "Yep. While I think those will hardly present any powerful attack to use against your enemy, it will give an edge in supporting your allies or giving yourself some time to recover."

I nodded and as I was about to call the day and go home, the man patted my shoulder. "You are going far, Hoitsu, but I have to ask you… what do you wish with this life?"

I frowned. "What?"

"What do you seek with this life? What do you want to achieve by becoming stronger and stronger?"

I blinked and thought about it.

What did I want from this situation? I guess I want to make sure to avoid the deaths of the Canon, the innocents and avoid the awakening of Trihexa.

I wasn't sure that there was something in this world that could help up in dealing with the Dragon of Apocalypse and even training the hardest possible was going to leave me short of something.

There is also the matter of the peace between the Three Factions, fighting the Khaos Brigade, both Hero Faction and Qlipoth.

It wasn't a bleak gaze but neither was a favorable one.

And yet…

"I guess I want to be a hero." I decided to say. "Not the 'I am cool and I have this title' hero, I mean the one that kick asses while chewing some gums."

"You want to save the world?" Azazel asked a bit surprised. "I don't want to kick your dream like I just finished kicking you up, but that sounds quite..."

"Childish?"

"I would say simplistic." He sighed. "You are setting the bar quite high and… I hope you aren't going to become power-hungry because of it."

"Nah." I stated with a nod. "I know the difference of meaning it and using the 'Greater Good' to justify some selfish power-gain. I will be content once I am strong enough to deal with the threats in front of me and-"

"I think there is more to it."

I froze and looked at him. "What?"

"I know that you are hiding things away from everyone, things that, from my understanding, seems to be quite private but important… but I want to really know what you want from this all." The fallen angel gestured around.

"The world, the people here and..." Azazel pointed at me. "Yourself."

I blinked, eyes going once more wide as the man got up from the floor. "But I don't think you are ready, or at least you think you are not. Once you are, please… do tell me."

… "Why?"

"Because I think it's a real good motivation and..." He hummed, looking away for a moment. "I think those around you would share this same idea of mine about it."

…

"You are insane, sir."

He grinned madly. "Try to deal with my work-load and the absence of boobs and booze and then we will see who is the insane."

I reiterate my initial assessment about this man.

Azazel was a nutcase and surprisingly enough… I don't mind that he is one.

AN

Did Akeno feel… something different about our dear MC? (It's not Romantic-related before anyone asks)

I had to quadruple-check the DxD timeline as I found myself lacking some proper dates about some of the events and from my understanding between Raynare Arc and Raiser Arc there is a month of difference.

This month will be a complete divergence from Canon, the MC will start to walk independently from the plot and work with Grigori. What does this mean? Next chapter will happen three days from this one, after the training and (before the hounds waiting there start to maul me up) I have planned a showcase of the new abilities in the next few chapters as some big AU event is planned to happen in those two-three chapters after this one.

What is it about? Find out tomorrow!

P.S. (THIS IS IMPORTANT AND EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT) For those questioning what 'Canon Pairing' and 'Issei' are going to be in this story, let me say that those will be different from what many think. Canon Pairing doesn't imply the full harem, I've plans to make sure some character to not be included or find other pairings along the way. For those who have read carefully chapter 1, I did say that the MC has been around for months before the beginning of Canon (Volume 1 happens in April, MC was around since January) and he didn't stay idle. Issei is not his canon self (or at least he isn't molesting nor cringing around with his love for Oppai). He is still a pervert, he will peep when possible, but he will not go beyond that, maybe even lessening even more.

P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin

REVIEW Q&A!

RedBurningDragon: It's planned to integrate the abilities of other dimensions, yes.

Strife666: Similar but also very different. The Holy Injection was needed to kickstart something already present in his body, forcing his Core to develop Holy energy on its own, while Nagumo is more of a 'I eat, I gain power' kind of absorption.

RoachVit: A Nephilim is a hybrid of Devil and Angel and by the laws of the DxD world, it shouldn't be a thing. Light/Holy energy kill anyone with a hint of Devil blood in them. He is a… Pseudo-Angel.

Guest-Questioner: A Gary Stu (and its female counterpart, Mary Sue) are the kind of characters that generally obtains everything without any difficulty, sometimes even replacing the original protagonist of a story and getting no obstacle in their part. I am sure that the MC is not the case.

Guest 1 (Chapter 5): She was flying, I don't think even a power-tackle from Randy Orton would have reached for her. (But that would have been cool tho)

dragonfighter11: He will have a loli army that isn't technically a harem. I have a pairing with someone interesting and that I wish to develop as a character in this story.