Welcome back after my small work break! So, we're going for a small training montage here! Just this and the next chapter to deal with it and then we can get into the big fight! I just decided to put people with the random party members I thought would work well and... yeah, not much to say about that. Anyway, let's go!

Super hero time!

Shuujin: Training devils? I suppose that could be fun in its own right.

Issei: And you're going to meet the church! You better not go too far!

Shuujin: Please, when do I ever go too far?

Issei:...

S + I: Break the chains! Phone up the future!

"They're all demons among devils… We can't keep up…"

The only one still standing was Asia, cowering in the corner at the absolute beasts that had ravaged them during the battle. How the ground had remained as untouched as it had with all of the devastation that had been thrown at it was a mystery, Rider blowing away the strange green mist that had gathered at the barrel of her ray gun.

"Geez, you guys are kinda bad at dodging, aren't you?" the pink haired girl remarked as she spun the weapon on her finger. "I understand that we limited your movement choices, but Rias was pretty much just standing still! The only one who was really able to do anything was Kiba, and even that ended up in the boy being sent away with a few solid hits."

"You guys work on a special system, right?" Issei recalled, a brief conversation before when they were planning what was going to go down floating forth. "That means as a knight, Kiba is super-fast, but has a weaker defence than the others?"

"The rook, is 'strong' and slow. The bishop, is weaker physically with more magic. The queen, is every piece. The king, is pure power." Ophis listed, sat at Issei's side. The girl had been immediately drawn out of combat after a single blast had threatened to consume the entire arena prepared. It truly was frightening what the girl was capable of sometimes…

"Most fights we work with don't usually pose that much of a threat. I suppose I never expected people to survive a single blast from the power of destruction." The crimson haired king tried to reason, only to receive a small tut, a cup of tea in hand as Onihime regarded her with frozen eyes.

"It's not that we wouldn't survive, it's that you weren't able to hit us in the first place." She coldly stated, the serene smile iced over to hide the true malice. "We won't be so easily beaten by the same power that will fell a demented creature such as a stray devil, undoubtedly the people you talk about considering your display."

"Yeah, I just had to hit the sword guy with a couple blasts and he was immediately down! That's the power of the child of the yokai leader!" Kunou proudly boasted, eyes closed with a hand to her chest before the image of youthful pride was ruined by the pulled down eyelid and tongue that poked out of her lips. "But what's with the other girl?"

"Ara, don't worry about her. She'll just need a little time to recover." Akeno quickly interceded, the girl dressed for some reason in a shrine maiden's outfit. "For now, we should focus on how we are to improve. It's clear that you're all skilled in fighting."

"Beaten by a child. It's the worst." Issei wasn't exactly sure whether Koneko was being serious or not, the white haired girl constantly speaking in a monotone that rivalled Ophis.

"Well, we can split up as people will need their own tasks. Maybe I can come up with something for people to do and the rest of you can just run the group through it?" the brunette suggested, the rest of his group nodding as Rias' peerage watched. "Okay you guys, we just need a little time to plan everything out, and then we can start. I suppose you want a rest?"

"Don't say that when you didn't participate." A small smirk tickled the edges of Rias' mouth, the boy giving a small shrug in response.

"Well, you couldn't handle the girls. I thought that having you go against someone who could call upon all of their powers at will was a bit unfair." Issei countered, pulling out the phone and flipping it open. "The only one I couldn't call upon would be Onihime, but that wouldn't stop her from fighting. Now, let's get planning…"

The plans were relatively simple, the people pairing up and leaving with the written instructions in hand, Ophis drifting to Koneko because of course they would, Kunou happily moving to Rias with a bright grin and Rider cheerfully dragging a somewhat reluctant Kiba; whether it was to go with the cute boy or to shoot the cute boy, Issei didn't want to think about it. That left Onihime to gracefully stroll of with Akeno so the boy was left alongside Asia, still lightly trembling in place.

"I won't ask the obvious. You still think of being killed, don't you?" the boy remarked, not even touching the nun dressed girl and still able to tell that she tensed without looking. "You see an attack and you're helpless to fend it off, even though you were revived the last time."

He wasn't in a rush, perfectly happy with just sitting on the dirt beside her, uncaring for the new cream colour his trousers were becoming thanks to the dust. Bright blue eyes had to eventually peek over the top of her knees, delicately dotted with tears to give the maximum amount of cuteness to the sad look.

"… I can't fight. People come towards me wanting to hurt me with a smile…" the words were whispery, almost non-existent as they escaped the bishop piece. It only took a second before Issei started, a small buzz flying through his brain.

"Of course, after being told that you were the healer of the group, Onihime decided to deal with you first, right?" he asked softly, a small nod escaping Asia. The gambler had made it her signature style to approach with a smile so the attack that pierced you seemed to hurt even more; to do that with Asia was to bring up the fact that the fallen angels most likely would've approached with a smile and then strapped her in to whatever would extract the sacred gear, no doubt torturing her.

"I suppose I could say I went through a similar, but much less painful experience." Issei remarked, the blonde bishop turning with curiosity in her watery eyes. "You were killed by Raynare, right? So was I. I had been so happy when she came into my life, willing to lower herself to going out with someone of my reputation. I had placed it all onto a single date, trying my desperate hardest to give her the gift of a brilliant date. The gift she gave in return was a spear to my stomach."

"…Are you a devil too?" a second was spent to wipe away her tears before Issei answered. It was a natural conclusion to draw after all.

"No. I'm… not too sure what exactly I am, but I wasn't brought back as a devil. I like to think I'm still a human, but who knows?" the woman hadn't exactly given any clues as to whether he had been revived as anything else, but he couldn't ignore the fact that it was a fully possible reality.

"…I was exiled as a heretic, but I still wanted to be a nun. Even when the Lord didn't want me, I was still dedicated to giving all I had to him. But now I'm a devil, I can't even say the Lord's name without getting hurt. I can't even hear it…" Asia explained, Issei gently wrapping an arm around her. She was fortunate that using the 'Lord' was still acceptable, otherwise every day would be absolute torture for the devoted girl.

"But you've already found a way to get around that by calling him the Lord. And I'm sure there are other ways that you can do the other things you love." Issei declared, Asia pulling her eyes away from the hopeful visage. "I'm sure you're a smart girl Asia, you'll be able to find your way through this to become a stronger person."

"But what if I can't become stronger? What if this never goes away? I… I can't stop thinking of those fallen angels as my friends, even when they've killed me…"

"Do you want the honest truth? It will never go away. It will always have a place in the back of your mind and it will stay there, trying to control your every movement and thought." Issei hoped he hid his cringe well; the words were blunt with no signs of discreteness. "But that doesn't mean you can't become stronger. You can hold it back until it can't see the light of day and if it does ever pop up, then you have your friends at your side to help."

"I can understand why you still have feelings for them. There are times when I fall asleep and see her shadow looking over me, ready to pierce my stomach and just as many when she's laughing as she dragged me around the various shops…"

Issei, darling! You know how much you mean to me, right? How you're my everything and anything, just like I am to you? Then why don't you grant me just one little request? Think of it as a gift! I'll give one to you if you do!

Will you… die for me?

"I feel the spear getting closer and a part of me just wants to stand still, because this is the girl that was willing to show me affection, willing to look past the pervert and see the person. But then I wake up, and I see the girls waiting for me at the breakfast table and I realise that she's not the only one who's willing to look past the pervert; I doubt they even recognise that the pervert exists. You have people who want to be your friends waiting for a chance to help; they just don't know how to help unless you let them in."

What, there are others!? But I thought you loved me, and I was your first, right? Shouldn't you love me more? Am I not special to you, not good enough? Even when I was the only one, you just couldn't love me for more than my looks, I get it… I guess I hope that you'll get a good look at their bodies soon; as soon as they learn about the real you, they'll run away. I guess I realised that too late.

"Friends…" Even though she was loathe to admit it, the very concept was foreign to her, even when people spoke about them and she was able to overhear them. As the holy maiden of the church, she was meant to refrain from making friends, mostly just doing her given task without a word.

"So how's about it then, Asia?" Issei asked, a hand held out as the girl gently unfolded from her protective position. "We can make you stronger, as long as you depend on your friends." It took a second for Issei to make the connection, tears returning to the nun's eyes as she looked to the held out hand. "We… can be friends, right?"

There was no need for words as the hand was left forgotten, Issei's hands full of Asia before he could even properly brace himself, the two falling over. With a hand gently running a circle around the curve of her back, Issei was perfectly fine with acting as her pillow for now, the tears quickly soaking his shirt easily forgotten when he looked to the relieved smile that decorated her face, making her face regain a beauty deserving of a nun.

Rias had only returned to fetch the water bottles they had prepared, but all forgotten when she chanced upon the two still sat in the middle of the arena, completely unaware of her presence. Well, there wasn't any reason to disturb them and it would probably do Asia some good to have someone she could open to that wasn't in the peerage, it would mean that she could get another view on things and she would never want to limit her servants to only interacting with the other peerage members.

"So Issei's helping more than I even planned for him. Such a nice person. It's a shame I couldn't get him in my peerage before he was poached."

"Come on! I've got the perfect treatment for your physical weakness!" Rider declared, the strange noises that had been echoing from within the strange cylinder, a 'Starway Rider' if Kiba had heard correctly, being all too frightening for the blonde knight. The smile the technomancer had was a far shot from the sorts he had received from the people of the school, their looks being more of a coy, shy thing. The sheer venomous innocent joy looked like it was stolen straight from her companion, Onihime.

"Right… Could I ask what it is you're planning exactly?" Kiba enquired, holding up the same façade that had endeared him to Kuoh Academy's female populous. The response was a small giggle as the gun was spun upon a finger, the other hand holding what appeared to be… "Is that rope?"

"Well, the way I see it, there's really two choices we have here." The pink haired girl explained. "One way would be to improve your speed to such an extent that nothing would be able to hit you at all, which would also build up leg muscles, making it easier for you to fight if your arms are taken out of the battle. However, that would mean if a single hit ever did manage to reach you, you would be in the exact same situation as you are now, which means we'll be going to route two…"

Even the knight boosted speed was unable to stop the sudden projectile from wrapping Kiba against the tree, his hands tied in such a fashion that he had no chance of holding a sword, let alone properly wielding it.

"You see, this one will come in two parts. One is to build up the muscles so that you're stronger in general, the increased muscles also meaning your legs will be able to exert greater force and run further. Part two, which we'll be doing now with you doing the initial part in the mornings and after training, building up your tolerance to attacks!"

"Wait, wha-!?" two small packages were thrown out by Rider, a remote in hand quickly aiming a small laser pointer his way. It was impossible to say how, or at least it would involve far too much technobabble for many people to properly understand, but the packages quickly split apart, allowing their contents to unfold up to their full glory, a pair of turrets spinning up their Gatling guns without hesitation.

'This can only go one way…' Kiba despaired, struggling futilely against his bonds formed of an unknown substance, but the third and fourth handheld weapons aimed in his directions were enough to draw out a fearful gulp as Rider gave a small smirk.

"Please note that this procedure may involve some pain."

"Can I withdraw?"

"Withdrawals are not to be accepted at this point. Fire!"

Kiba awoke to a rhythmic beep paired with the various sounds of random pieces being swiped, flicked, pressed and pulled. He placed a hand on the small desk like part cut out of the side, a brief glance towards the computer like set up having his eyes move around the rest of the room, the dark crimson walls and lacquered oak console in the centre, watching without a word as the green central light seemed to flow up and down.

"I made it all myself. Interested?"

A blade was instantly at Rider's throat, the girl keeping her jovial smile even as the steel threatened to pierce her throat. It was a moment before Kiba drew back the sword, a small apology matched with a bow.

"Where am I?" he questioned, looking around the expansive room as Rider slid down the small staircase's hand rail, landing in the perfect position to have a held out finger land upon a single button, the other casually drawing around the screen to reveal the outside view. "Is that the mansion?"

"You saw that cylinder vessel we all arrived in? That's where you are now." Rider explained, hands held wide. "So, I'm guessing you like?"

"But that should be impossible, things of this size can't be held in something so small!" the blonde objected, a small tutting coming from Rider as she rummaged through a nearby drawer.

"Kiba. You're a half devil brought to life by a full blooded one through the use of a chess piece after facing death. You'll regularly be faced with magic and various things that aren't able to even be conceptualised by humanity. You could at least understand that big things can fit in small ones." The girl remarked, a pair of cubes of different sizes held in her left and right hands, big and small respectively.

"But how is this possible? Is this magic?" the knight enquired, Rider giving a faux gasp.

"How could you even suggest such a thing!?" she asked, enraged until it faded away. "Everything here is completely scientifically possible. You see, which of these blocks seems bigger?"

"The one in your left hand."

"Good, now, let me do this…" with the big block left upon the console, Rider came up to Kiba, holding up the smaller cube in front of his face. "And now which of them seems bigger?"

"The one on the machine."

"But doesn't this one seem bigger?"

"But that's because it's closer."

"And if we can somehow preserve this distance, then we perceive the bigger block as smaller and from our perspectives, the bigger block would be able to fit into this one. That's the pinnacle of science." Rider happily explained, her student of sorts still fully confused. "Don't worry, I've yet to meet someone else who manages to understand from the explanation, even though it is the easiest."

"I see. Well, it definitely is an impressive construction." Kiba praised, Rider giving a small tap to her head with her knuckles before she pressed a few buttons, a tea machine easily appearing from a small hatch.

Maybe his time with Rider wouldn't be too bad.

I would just like to remind people that I am not at all qualified to act as a teacher or body trainer and that you shouldn't ever shoot yourself to try and get stronger. unless it's a water pistol. then I'm so sorry if you're too weak to handle a water pistol. So, we've got the rest of the crew to come next! I just like the idea of Kiba trying to keep his cool as he intercts with an eccentric girl that just wants to torture him in various ways.

1 - Dragon (Ophis: scale slicer)

2 - Kitsune (Kunou: Kit o' nine tails)

3 - Technomancer (Starway Rider: .EXE(but!)cuter)

4 - ?

5 - ?

6 - ?

7 - ?

8 - ?

9 - ?

0 - ErRoR (woman: ErRoR)