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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 7: Petty but Effective

The building that I've grown accustomed to in the last three days was once again rumbling as the umpteenth spar with Azazel continued.

The Fallen Angel was powerful, experienced and seemingly with never-ending energy. He hardly looked winded after 12 consecutive spars and I was starting to understand that my growth in power wasn't going to be neither a quick, nor an easy one.

The leader of Grigori was somewhat focused, the smile that had characterized the spars the first day disappeared towards the end of the second day. I was getting faster, receptive and incredibly unforgiving when lazy openings were offered.

Real damage on him was minimal, but the annoyance that the firepower of some of my attacks caused on him was enough to make the man take a stronger pace. That had initially meant a sudden switch of speeds and reactions, his attacks getting a little faster and more difficult to deal with.

Yet any attack on me meant a possible opening for me to use on his defenses, which would be exploited by deploying my strongest attacks.

The first Shadow-related techniques revealed to be quite the blessing and, just like Azazel had stated two days ago, it did help in keeping up with my opponent's pacing and swift moves.

It was actually a very simple form, the Shadow Duet, which enabled the user to follow up an enemy's speed by latching some magic on his shadow.

It was like attaching a small boat to a very fast gunship with a strong chain., the example also bringing up the glaring issues of this basic technique:

The user's body had to be able to sustain already that kind of speed, the spell wasn't going to nullify the straining a pace beyond the user's limits was going to cause;

While the 'connection' was subtle and difficult to perceive during a fight, if it is found my the enemy, it can be broken or influenced to act on the opposite end, properly destroying the advantage without notice.

The spell was useful in aiding up my offensive capabilities, but paled to the second spell I ended up learning from the USB. The Silent Step of Darkness wasn't a spell made for battles, but rather as a stealth/infiltration technique.

By using someone/something's shadow, I could easily make my steps soundless and bolster my speed through several shadows.

The utility it had in this fight?

With Azazel's constant attacking, his shadow was shifting with him and… gave me the chance of being one step forward, dodging his punches and kicks during close quarter without much effort spent there.

And that was why bare-handed fighting became a very frustrating activity for the leader of Grigori… and made him retaliate by dropping literal magical napalm during Magic training.

The bright side of getting this much attention in that compartment was that my barriers got a tiny bit stronger, managing to hold two of the man's Light Spears before collapsing.

It wasn't enough to make this a safe alternative to dodging or using my own Spears to deflect the others, but I was starting to give a little more hope that I could develop some strong protective spell that could do more than just be the 'scapegoat' for attacks.

With the constant use of Spells and the meditation I had to endure with Azazel joking around with some adult topics, my Core was starting to produce and contain much more energy than before.

I could now create eight spears at the same time, but while I could go as far as twelve, their quality would get lesser the more I went beyond that 'safe' number.

I had generally improved and, to be honest, I was quite sure that with this pace I was going to get strong enough to make some 'impact' very soon-

"Enough for today~!" Azazel announced with a small smile without notice, dropping his stance immediately and… making me trip face-first at the sudden declaration.

"What do you mean 'Enough'?! We weren't done!" My outburst was met with a groan from the man.

"Look kid, you might have the Tears of Phoenix keeping you going, but I have nothing to recover the massive input I am deploying." He explained quickly. "Plus, we need to talk about something important."

I blinked at that bit and nodded, approaching slowly the sighing man. "What is it about?"

"Do you remember when I said that my replacement, the one that was going to continue to train you, was supposed to arrive today?"

I narrowed my eyes at that reminder. "Yes. What happened?"

"He is trying to bail out of this." The leader of Grigori hummed. "Not because of you, he doesn't even know you to be this much of a prude already. His problem is… he doesn't want to be there in Kuoh."

"But why?" Was my quick query. I mean, there were several Fallen Angels that would avoid the dual Gremory-Shitori fief, but I don't see one in specific that would give a 'nope' to Azazel… and the man being mostly fine with that.

"Personal issues and… the situation is that I can't go personally to snatch him away from where he is." He turned and pointed at me. "'You' will go and do that for me."

… "What?"

"I need you to go and get him in Kuoh town, do whatever is necessary like helping him with his current mission or out-right try to kidnap him." Then he scrunched his face in thought. "Actually, don't try to forcefully smuggle him out, he might be quite stronger than you."

"How much strong?" I had to consider every situation and kidnapping might be one of those available.

"Strong enough to kill you without trying." He remarked without hesitation. "Plus he will not be alone and the ward is incredibly easy to anger… "

He hummed again. "Actually, you should anger his ward. I want to see his hilarious reaction."

"I assume that this one shouldn't be able to kill me?"

"Oh no, he could and will try to kill you if you even joke around him." The leader of Grigori stated calmly. "But I am confident enough to know you would avoid getting killed by him with what you have."

"So he is dangerous but… still someone I can face against and hope for a victory?"

Azazel thought about it. "Maybe." He nodded. "You could give some trouble, maybe even knock him out before he can get serious."

So someone arrogant… I have some idea of whom he was referring to. I just hope that I wasn't seriously going to face him of all people wherever I was going to sent to.

"By the way, where am I supposed to go exactly?"

For some reason the man gave off a smile bigger than usual.

"Kyoto." He finally replied. "I will come to pick you up tomorrow by dinner-time."

I was a little tense when Sona asked for more details over this supposed 'odd-job' in the old Capital of the nation. Albeit very lenient and permissive when the situation allowed, the heiress of the Sitri clan was also one that didn't like leaving a strange situation unanswered.

Mentioning the fact I would have to be away from Kuoh town for the following two-three days was enough to spark some surprise, curiosity and suspicion.

The latter emotion was minuscule and overshadowed by the other two, the questions that ensued from that small meeting giving me some insight of why she was suspecting me of something.

While Rias had ditched the idea of approaching me directly, seemingly limiting her attempts to mere glancing and studying me from afar, the President of the Student Council decided to admit to have received 'considerable pressure' from her friend.

"While your point is valid about Asia-san having the right to have some time to decide which club to pick… couldn't you just-"

God-fucking-dammit, I am starting to get annoyed now at this attempt to coerce the girl in the OCR.

But while the allure of rebuffing that proposal was strong, I knew that I had to avoid getting caught by my own irritation in some trap I couldn't get out from. Rias might lack the proper influence to push me in the corner, but she knew that the political landscape of the Academy played similarly to a chessboard.

Yet that view wasn't a complete insight over the whole state of things, as there were some advantages that only those that looked around knew about.

So, much to Sona's surprise, I smiled and nodded. "I will see how to solve this situation then." Then I frowned, giving off a very stern and serious look. "But I hope that you will not crack under this kind of pressure, Sona-buchou."

She blinked in surprise. "B-Beg your pardon? Are you saying that-"

"Sona." She frowned at the lack of honorifics but looked quite shocked. "I've known you for what? Four months now? I think I can recognize when something is coming from your mind as those generally have a superb level of logic to them that I can't help but accept them instantly. You are usually very objective and impartial, yet you are flawed in properly curtailing the fact you were pushed into this."

The girl kept quiet, we were alone in the Council's classroom for this special discussion and that meant I had to pick my words carefully now. Sona was smart and very perceptive to things around her, but also relatively naive and easy to mislead when particular individuals had a grip over her.

"Y-you-" There was a long pause after that botched attempt to reply, this ending with a tired sigh from her. "You are correct."

She leaned on her chair. "Rias has been pointing out that you were quite stern about keeping 'Asia from picking the club she wanted'-"

I opened my mouth but the president held her hand, gesturing me to keep quiet. "Tsubaki-san was quick enough to rectify this 'mistaken' thought as she was present when the encounter happened and she had spared few words with Asia-san to confirm your point of view for this situation."

I blinked in surprise at this. I mean, I was fairly close to Tsubaki, nothing of romantic as she had been keen to state that she was not interested in pursuing anything serious with anyone right now, but to think that she would go out of her way to confirm my version was… touching.

"Still, I have realized that during our last encounter Rias-san had mentioned some facts that weighted heavily over the school's current situation." Sona mentioned and I quickly connected this to the coalition she and the redhead shared for this territory. "Her father is an influential donor to the Academy, his funds help to sustain a steady income to maintain our present's situation."

I can see where she was trying to go… but I could see her looking away while giving this last bit. Rias was far too much a softie to contemplate pulling a 'rich-girl' act and get Zeoticus to pull out his donations to the school. The Academy was her base was and having it closing down would have been a stupid risk to take to expand her peerage.

But I had to give it to Sona, if I hadn't known the situation to the fullest and didn't know about the tell-tale signs of her lying, I might have thought badly of the Gremory's heiress.

"Then I will make sure to avoid any situation that could warrant any reason for her… to make a scene." My words caused the girl to nod nervously as it seemed like she herself trying to digest her own lie even now.

"I will leave you to this matter. I hope that… you understand my concerns and why this happened." I nodded at her hesitant self.

"I do, Sona-buchou. But I want to say only this to you." I said with a serious tone. "I know that, if you give some thought over this matter, some way to circumvent this predicament can be found and I believe you will do that."

The following smile, a hopeful one, was what made the girl pause in her tracks, eyes darting away as she considered those words and nodding a goodbye as she spent some more time alone.

Meanwhile I was already walking towards Asia's and Issei's classroom, it was already lunch-time and school generally ended early on Fridays as Saturdays and Sundays were school-free. Spotting the brunet and the blonde was easy thing, both were chatting amiably as usual and Issei waved in my direction once he saw me coming.

"Senpai, it's good to see you and-"

The boy's boisterous greeting was interrupted by Asia, the girl giggling as she spoke over him. "Senpai, today Issei-kun did protect me!"

I blinked twice, surprise painted in my face at the sudden statement. "What?"

"I-It wasn't a big time. Matsuda and Motohama were pushy with Asia and I tell them to don't bother her-"

"Then you punched Matsuda-san when he ignored you." The girl's smile was incredibly bright, as bright as the blush currently visible in Issei's face. "Issei-kun is that kind."

The boy stammered a little, the flattering compliment coming from such sweet girl was quite the achievement for part of his dream. "A-Asia-chan is just too kind. S-She did make me some bento today too."

This time it was the former nun's turn to blush a clear red. "I-I just wanted to give you a gift for… helping me around so much."

...It was just too cute. Both of them were when interacting with each other and… I contemplated going for a checkup and see if I got some diabetes from that scene alone.

"I am happy to see that you are this close to each other." A new round of blushes resounded within the two Kohais. "But I'm here to say two important things."

My words got them to sober up as I did give them a serious glance. "This weekend I will be out of Kuoh for some job out of town. I should be back by Monday but if there are any issues I wish to be contacted without hesitation." I looked at both younger students. "Understood?"

They shared a nod and I sighed in relief. "Good, now we focus on you, Asia-chan."

The girl blinked and frowned. "M-Me?"

"There had been some pressure about you having to join a club today and do you remember the idea I gave to you yesterday about that possible club?" Her eyes glowed a little in remembrance and she nodded happily.

"The Theater club?"

I nodded myself, remembering having suggested to the blonde that the club was offering the chance to work a volunteering course that allowed people to participate in charity events and perform freely for hospital children.

The idea of making people smile through their bad days, especially children, was something that thrilled the girl quite instantly. Of course I had to check if there were any requirements that could obstruct the girl from applying for this setting and I found nothing that could be problematic in the least.

"I think it's time you join a club."

She almost squealed at my words and the three of us walked towards the section of the school housing the particular club. The Amphitheater was mostly known to the students as the place where important announcements and events happened, very few knew that it was also used as the 'headquarters' for the Theater club.

There were two presidents of the club, sort of consuls, and the club was evenly split between male and female students. Previously an all-girls club, the former president permitted aspiring male actors to join and have their own representative.

Surprisingly enough, this was considered one of the clubs that received quite the support from the several of the school's donors. It was just this well-organized and administered that the resulting events were considered the Academy's prime delight.

Having already spared some words with both club's presidents, enlisting Asia was just a matter of few moments and the girl was officially made part of the volunteering group.

Holding the copy of the certificate that rendered her effectively part of the club, I told her that she merely had to go to the student council's room and hand this out to Tsubaki.

As we were turning the corner of one of the halls, we found our path blocked by few individuals.

Rias looked partly smug, Kiba, Koneko and Akeno few steps behind her, the girl possibly expecting a quick victory from this encounter as she had a flier in her hands and… much to her future dismay, I decided to do something completely unexpected for her plans.

I patted Asia's shoulder and stated few words. "I think I will be going, please remember to leave the certificate of your official acceptance to the club to Sona-san."

The blonde nodded happily and I decided to leave Rias to deal with her unexpected defeat. Her eyes had widened by the time I had passed her and I was fairly sure she realized almost instantly what was going on but…

I was happily going to ignore all of that today. I still had to focus on prepare my luggage for the small trip to Kyoto and I couldn't afford to-

BZZT

I blinked as my arm shot protectively on my chest, the sudden electric shock forcing me to back away from… Akeno.

I didn't look back, but I was fairly sure that she didn't do anything as I was passing. Yet, as our elbows were close to each other, a sudden spark reached out for my arm. It wasn't painful, just 'shocking'.

And as Hoitsu continued for his path back home, Akeno looked back at him as he retreated away, her arm held close as she felt the same electric sensation.

AN

Hehehehe, this last bit might hint to something a little more… deeper. But it isn't!

Akeno-chan is actually 'not' in Issei's harem for this story but… she will be a fun girl to write about. Lots of potential at the fact she is both a sadist and a masochist… eheheheheh.

Some little opening about the skills that will appear in the next two chapters and, before anyone asks: No, the Kyoto Segment will not be a copy and paste of the show happening. The Khaos Brigade is still forming and they would hardly care to try and take on the Yokai faction this early on.

The third chibi is coming soon! XD

P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin

REVIEW Q&A!

Strife666: Mostly yes. While MC's body has some degree of adaptability, most of it comes from his mind. It's his capacity to plan the best ways to integrate spells and new powers within himself that allows him to evolve. Speaking of which, there will be a fourth category of Spells coming with those two chapters.

User may be a smug prick: I am just writing and… I don't seem to be able to stop! XD

GGPD: As of now, integrating Demonic energy this early in the story could be fatal for MC. That is why (if it will happen) it will happen a bit later than now. Demonic energy clash terribly with the holy energy, that is why Devils are weak to Light spells.

RedBurningDragon: About Akeno, something along those lines but not about Grigori. She will actually have to spend some time thinking what is the MC. Until this point I didn't know there was another parallel work in this Universe (will have to read that before doing anything about it but it is a strong maybe-ish of the yes-kind.) and I don't know what is that pairing, you should give me the names as I don't recognize it.