Ben 10: Dragon God of Life

by DragneelGiant96

Ever since he was 10, Ben Tennyson has been having dreams of strange creatures, strange events...and a strange green dragon. No one can explain them; they're a mystery. But when he attends Kuoh Academy, he learns that there's more to his dreams than he realizes. Powerful, original version of Ben Tennyson. OOC and AU. Rated M for swearing, violence and DxD nudity. [Ben x Harem]

27. How to train your Dragon All-father

A/N: Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a good Christmas.

I originally intended to release this chapter on Christmas day as my gift to you all but, for reasons I'll explain at the end of this chapter, I was unable to update it. It's because of this reason that I'll be taking a short break from writing for a bit.

With that in mind, I give you my latest chapter, and my first one for 2018!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BOOOOOOOOOMMM!

"Fuuuuuuuuuck!" Ben bellowed as his XLR8 form was launched backwards from the large explosion which detonated in front of him, sending him soaring through the air where he landed on the face of a large rock which knocked the wind out of him. He groaned in pain as he slowly slid down the rock and fell onto his hands and knees.

"I don't remember signing on for this!" he grumbled as he wiped the soot off the black visor covering his face before sliding it open to reveal his blue-skinned face where he proceeded to wipe the sweat which had developed over the course of the day where it seemed like he had been running non-stop.

When he looked back on today's training and then up at the darkening sky, he quickly realised that he had been running nonstop all day.

[Stop complaining,] Ddraig chided him as he picked himself off the floor and moved his limbs to loosen them again, groaning at the dull ache in his lithe limbs. His aerodynamic frame may aid him when it comes to running at great speeds that would give Kiba and Xenovia a run for their money, despite them being knights. However, this had the downside of being physically weaker than most of his other forms in a fight.

It was the first thing he had learnt when he had turned into this form for his training with Tannin; it's not a form suited for fighting.

[You realise that Tannin is going extraordinarily easy on you, don't you?] Azmuth added in his usual stern and judgmental tone.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. He's perfect and I'm not," Ben mumbled under his breath.

Speaking of Tannin, the huge, Satan-class dragon-turned devil landed in the clearing he had launched Ben into with a dull 'thud' and gust of wind as he furled his scaly wings behind his back.

"Disappointing," the gigantic dragon stated as he crossed his muscular arms over his chest and looked down at his student's minuscule form.

"Hey, I'm doing better than this morning," Ben retorted as he reverted back to his normal form with a flash of light and sat down on a nearby boulder which protruded out of the ground. He scratched the back of his neck with his left hand which had reverted back into its draconic form. Due to the combination of the time they had been training, the extended length of time he had been with a being more powerful than him, and the lack of either Rias or Akeno to draw the draconic energy out of his arm.

"You realise you only make them more addicted to the draconic energy, don't you? I think it's unfair how you contribute to their addiction and cloud their minds. Cruel, even."

Ben pressed his hand to his forehead as the voice echoed throughout his head but ignored it as the pain began to recede as it always did.

"Yes, I suppose you are better than you were this morning…," Tannin conceded before turning stern again. "…But a polished shit is still a shit."

Ben winced at his trainer's choice of phrase.

"You are still too slow. A Kineceleran is much faster than that, even the younglings would run rings around you. The single, most important trait a Kineceleran possesses is their speed. Even I would find it next to impossible to catch an elder Kineceleran when they reach full speed."

"I know, I know," Ben groaned as he popped his neck with his hand.

"Have you ever heard of the Trial of lightning?" Tannin asked, changing the subject from stern feedback to teaching mode.

"Yeah, I've heard of it," Ben replied, recalling the brief yet detailed lecture he received on the subject of Kineceleran by Rias' mother during his last lesson with her before being dragged out to the wilderness. It is considered the single most important event for the Kineceleran. It was the rite of passage that every young Kineceleran had to go through in order to earn their 'wheels' and be regarded as an adult. While they weren't literal wheels, they were magical orbs which Kineceleran had instead of feet which is what allows them to reach speeds which gave them the undisputed title of "fastest species in the Underworld".

"However, I guess you can be excused to some degree. You've haven't been practising day in and day out for several years like Kineceleran young do. You are effectively, for lack of a better phrase, "learning to run before you can walk". For a former human-turned-devil, I guess you can't be completely faulted for your slow rate of progress…though you still share some of the fault."

The clearing fell silent for a few seconds before being broken by the ancient dragon dwelling within Ben's left arm.

[So, what are your thoughts on his training so far?] the emerald dragon asked.

"Well, the obvious thing is that he hasn't been able to reach Balance Breaker with any of his forms yet," Tannin started as he looked back over the rigorous training he had subjected Ben to over the last ten days since they started. "As to what I've seen from his other forms; his Tetramand form is still weak compared to true Tetramands, he needs to not wholly rely on the intangibility of his Necrofriggian form so much – that just leads to defeat due to lack of adaptability within a fight – and the less said about his Arburian Pelarota form the better."

"Hey, I'd like to see you trying to go where you want to go when you can't see shit while curled up like that. What about Humongosaur though? Surely I've improved with him?" Ben retorted as he strained his neck looking up at the towering form that was Tannin.

"Hmm. I'll admit that you have grown stronger with your Vaxasaurian form since we first met," Tannin admitted begrudgingly. "However, you still pale in comparison to the real thing. A Vaxasaurian's strength directly correlates to their size and you can barely reach the same size as me. A Vaxasaurian elder can reach sizes of sixty feet or more in rare cases; it might not seem like much of a difference when you can already reach fifty feet but, trust me when I say it does matter. If you found yourself in a fight with an elder then you should be prepared to lose at your current level."

"Is there anything positive you can say?" Ben muttered dejectedly. That last thing he needed right now was another dragon which seemed to find the flaw in everything he did. He got enough of that from Azmuth! At least Ddraig was friendly and supportive most of the time, only heckling him when he really messed up or when he found it amusing.

Tannin stroked his scaly chin as he thought about Ben's question. "Well…, I can't find any flaw in your Pyronite form at the moment," he admitted as he looked back on their last few days of rigorous training.

"Really?" Ben asked, looking up at the towering, purple-scaled dragon.

"Yes. You have a solid grasp on its abilities; you have no difficulty combining your Pyronite powers and taking flight nor do you appear to have difficulty in creating balls of fire of varying degrees of size and intensity. From my limited knowledge of their society, I believe you'd be able to pass yourself off as the genuine thing."

"Well, at least this training hasn't been a total waste then," Ben muttered as he leant back against the cliff face behind him.

"Trust me kid when I say that, by the time I'm done with you, you'll accomplish everything you set out to do," Tannin stated firmly, a small smile cracking the lines of his, ordinarily, stoic features.

"Maybe if you eased up a bit on the training. What you've been doing so far feels less like training and more like actively trying to kill me," Ben retorted with a groan.

Tannin actually chuckled at this, a deep rumbling originating from the depths of his stomach. "I was given permission from miss Gremory to do my very best, don't you recall?"

"Urgh, yes, I remember," Ben admitted with a sigh.

Back when they were given their training regimes, when Tannin and picked Ben up with his claws and started to take off into the air, Rias had called up to the dragon hovering above her and gave Tannin her permission to do anything he wanted to help train Ben, no matter how extreme it was.

While that may have surprised him if it was said by any of the others – except perhaps Akeno (though she would have wanted to do it herself) – it didn't exactly shock Ben. He still remembered the manner in which she trained him at her family's summer home in the human world when they were preparing for their fight with Riser.

It felt like a lifetime ago since those days now.

"I think we can call it a day here, I doubt you have any more left in you today," Tannin observed.

"I couldn't agree more," Ben grunted as he felt his dull muscles start to ache from their extensive use today.

"You know the way back to camp, right?" Tannin asked. When Ben nodded he continued.

"In that case, I'll be back here at the usual time tomorrow to continue training then," Tannin told him as he unfurled his huge wings and took off into the air with great gusts of wind as his enormous frame rose up into the air and left Ben all alone.

Unable to muster the strength to transform anymore for today, Ben forced himself back onto his feet where he then slowly made his way back down the hill to the makeshift camp which had been his home for the last ten days.

. . . . .

As well as teaching Ben to better understand the powers and abilities of his transformations, Tannin also gave him some pointers on survival in the wild. While Ben had learned a few things from his Grandpa when he had taken them camping across the states with his cousin, it was never a bad time to learn how to survive without the comforts of modern-day life.

As he sat down outside his makeshift tent and watched his dinner cook on the fire he had made, Ben recalled the one invaluable thing that the purple dragon had taught him: how to tell what animals and plants were edible.

Despite being immune to most poisons and venoms thanks to his reincarnated devil body, there was no need to constantly subject himself to eating whatever and suffering for it, no matter how small that may be.

As he snacked on the handful of nuts – or the closest equivalent he could find in the Underworld – he had foraged from the surrounding trees and foliage, Ben looked up at the dark sky and found himself, not for the first time during his training, missing Rias and the others.

It surprised him how much he missed everyone, even though he'd only been gone just over a week. For someone who had never become close with anyone outside of his immediate family, Ben was amazed with how quick Rias and the others had entered his life and quickly become an integral part of it. He couldn't picture his life without any of them anymore. This went so far as to him yearning for their company and counting the days until they were reunited again.

"Do you really want to see them again? Or is it perhaps, you're concerned you might lose your hold on them, freeing them and making you all alone once again?"

Ben hissed in pain and clamped his hand to his forehead as a sudden migraine erupted in his head with the voice's arrival. Azmuth and Ddraig had returned to the depths of their Gears for the night and so didn't notice his otherwise bizarre movement.

'Fuck! What the hell do you want?!' Ben thought with a pained expression on his face. This had become a fairly regular thing over the last week. When he was settling in for the night after being stretched to his absolute limits from Tannin's training, the strange voice would suddenly start speaking to him without warning, causing him great pain as it did so.

He had resolved himself to completely ignoring the voice and bearing through the steadily intensifying pain each time it spoke. However, this had become steadily more and more difficult each time and Ben soon found himself talking back to the voice. He had resolved himself to keeping the voice to himself and not telling his draconic companions or his friends about it.

He had several reasons for this decision to keep it to himself yet, for some strange reason, he couldn't remember any of them. The only thing he knew was that it would be really bad if others knew that he was hearing mysterious voices in his head which neither Azmuth nor Ddraig could hear.

"I don't want anything. All I want is for you to know the truth about what you are."

'Why do I find that hard to believe?' Ben asked the voice.

"I don't need you to believe me. All I need is for you to hear me; I know you'll come to realise the truth yourself eventually."

'And what truth is that?'

"The truth about your decision to keep those poor girls close to you, against their better judgement. The overwhelming power you possess thanks to Azmuth has enraptured all of them and made them addicted to you. You must realise what a cruel person you are for doing that."

'I haven't done anything to them! Azmuth told me it doesn't work like that. My power only makes them aware of me and see me in that light, it doesn't cloud their minds nor does it make them addicted to me.'

"Well, of course he would tell you that. You're ignorant of the way things truly are and will believe anything you're told. I'm only here to help show you the light and unveil the shroud of ignorance around you which lets Azmuth AND Ddraig take advantage of you."

"Doesn't it seem strange how quickly all the girls you have met, since becoming a devil, have become attracted to you? Before Azmuth awoke, you were always a loner. There was no way in hell that you'd have so many women attracted to you and fighting over your affection."

'I admit things moved a bit too quickly,' Ben found himself admitting before quickly adding. 'But I know that it had nothing to do with Azmuth or my powers.

"Perhaps you're right, perhaps they truly like you for who you are. If that's the case then, how do you explain Xenovia?"

'What are you talking about?' Ben demanded.

"Don't you find it strange how quickly a God-worshipping member of the church like Xenovia renounced all her standards and commitments shortly after meeting you? Not only that but how easily she came to the decision to become a devil and then the revelation that she wants to bear your child."

'She decided that for herself! She was lost after discovering that God was dead! She wanted a new purpose and Rias gave her one as a member of her peerage.'

"If that's what you want to believe then who am I to change your mind?"

'Just leave me alone!' Ben demanded, unable to bear the searing pain in his head any longer.

"Fine, if that's what you want then I'll go. But before I do, I'll leave you with a final thought; didn't Xenovia have a strong distaste for devils, particularly humans who 'abandoned God's light'? What could have possibly changed her mind."

With its last words whispered in his mind, the silky-smooth voice disappeared along with the sharp, throbbing pain in Ben's head and silence fell once again.

'What the fuck is going on with me?' he wondered as he rubbed his head soothingly. With the voice's words still going around in his head, despite his desire to ignore them, and his appetite firmly lost, Ben took the cooked fish off the fire and put it to the side for later before heading into his small shelter and falling asleep, the last thoughts in his head dreading what torture Tannin would subject him to in the morning.

. . . . .

(Two days later)

Ben was incredibly surprised to find himself being visited during his lunch break by none other than Azazel. As the only time during the day that Tannin allowed him to relax and slightly recover from his training, Ben took this opportunity in both hands. However, as he sat down to eat the lunch he had made for himself (the fish from last night along with some nuts and berries) he was interrupted by the Governor-General suddenly appearing out of a magic circle beside him.

As well as the visit itself, Azazel surprised him further by producing several boxes of food, personally cooked for him by Rias, Asia, and even Akeno.

Needless to say, Ben abandoned the remains of the lunch he'd made and dug into their lunches with gusto.

"Shit! I'd almost forgotten what proper food tasted like!" Ben gasped, his mouth full of Rias' delicious cooking.

Azazel chuckled at Ben's reaction to the food.

"I'll admit that I, myself, was curious about Rias' cooking but was made to swear that you got every single bit. That young master of yours can be so cruel," he whined comically, drawling a dull chuckle from Ben's own, food-filled mouth.

Swallowing the delicious food and taking a moment to savour the taste, Ben turned to the Fallen Angel. "How did the girls have time to make this? Were they able to go back to the manor every now and then?"

"I think you must be mistaken about the training camp," Azazel explained with a smirk on his face. "You're the only one who's spending their whole time out in the wilderness. For everyone else, at the end of the day, they're returning back to the manor and sleeping in those remarkably comfortable beds that they have there."

"What?! That's so unfair," Ben moaned, images of Rias and the others sleeping in their soft, comfortable beds while he was sleeping outside in a crap little hut he had made.

"Stop complaining, kid," Azazel retorted and handed him one of the lunchboxes. "Here, Akeno made this for you. You should have seen the sparks coming off her and Rias as they made these lunches. It was so amusing. You look like you could use it, these last few days look like they've already made a difference."

"You could say that," Ben groaned as he looked over his bruised body. Tannin had made it a point to train Ben's physical body as well as his different forms. Ben hated this particular form of training most of all, mainly because it involved him trying to escape from Tannin who, even though it was a small portion of his power, did whatever he could to catch Ben.

However, while he did grumble at the numerous 'near-death' experiences he had faced, Ben couldn't argue with the effects of said training. Already, Ben could feel a slight change beyond the dull ache from numerous bruises.

"I've still yet to reach Balance Breaker state though," he added as he finished off Rias and Asia's lunchbox and moved on to Akeno's in earnest.

"If you stick to my training regime, I'm sure you'll be able to do it," Azazel replied confidently before he turned serious. "It's important that you reach that level because, as you are now, you have no chance in hell of beating Valerie in a fight if she were to go all out. The only reason you survived your last fight was with the use of surprise, by taking Albion's power and creating an entirely new species, and simple dumb luck.

Ben slowly nodded his head in understanding as he swallowed part of Akeno's delicious rice ball. "Speaking of that fight, there was something I've been meaning to ask you seeing as you're so knowledgeable on Sacred Gears."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"What was that "Juggernaut" thing that she was talking about? Is there something even more powerful than Balance Breaker?"

"No," Azazel told him firmly. "Balance Breaker is the highest state a Sacred Gear can reach. Period."

"So, what was it she was trying to do? Albion didn't seem to agree with what she was doing."

[Because he was protecting his wielder,] Azmuth suddenly spoke out, silencing both Ben and Azazel who instantly stopped and listened to him. [The final form that any Sacred Gear can reach, as Azazel explained, is Balance Breaker. The Juggernaut Drive was an unforeseen consequence of sealing the two Heavenly Dragons within Gears that not even God nor myself could predict though its effect can be catastrophic.]

"There has never been an instance in the past where a wielder of the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing has broken the powerful seals placed on them and unleashing the power of the Juggernaut Drive, and for good reason," Azazel explained, adding to Azmuth's previous explanation. "The wielder loses all sense of self and can become a mindless monster which consumes their lifeforce drastically so it can sustain itself while it destroys everything in its path."

"Then why would anyone ever want to unleash it? Why would Valerie?" Ben asked with confusion.

[Because, for the small amount of time they're in that form before their lifeforce is consumed, they possess power greater than that of Devil Kings and most gods, almost the same power as God and myself in our prime. Now that you mention it though, Ben, I find myself curious as to why the White Dragon Empress was willing to waste her lifeforce when she still had so much power to use with her Balance Breaker,] the ancient dragon continued with a cautionary tone.

"I can answer that," Azazel admitted as he scratched the stubble on his chin. "While she was under my tutelage, we discovered that she could potentially tap into the huge amount of magical power she possesses and use that to fuel the Juggernaut Drive instead of her own lifeforce. We never actually tested the theory out though, it was all hypothetical as it wasn't worth the risk to try it out."

"So, the Vanishing Dragon can handle the Juggernaut Drive, huh?" Tannin said, surprising both Ben and Azazel at how he had arrived without either of them sensing him. They both looked up at him as he crossed his scaly arms across his chest. "That is a problem. The risk is certainly great to wield such power, yet so is the draw of wielding that much power."

Ben had to agree with the dragon-turned-devil. Even he couldn't deny the pull of power which passed God Himself was enticing, but he had no desire to risk his life for such a thing. Hell, he hadn't even managed to achieve Balance Breaker without help from others. The first time he had done so, it had cost him his left arm for a mere ten seconds, and the last time was only thanks to Azazel and his bracelet which supplied the power instead of him.

"Hey, now's not the time to be thinking of such things. We came to the Underworld to train, not worry about the battles of the future," Azazel declared abruptly, patting Ben on the back, "Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" Ben asked suspiciously.

"What are your thoughts on Akeno?" Azazel asked curiously.

Ben sighed and shook his head slightly at Azazel's perseverance on this subject.

"Hey, I'm being serious here," Azazel stated, noting Ben's reaction to his question.

Staring at the Governor-General for a few seconds in silence, Ben finally sighed and gave in to his request.

"Akeno is an extremely attractive woman. She's one of the strongest people I know and I enjoy spending time with her. Her little…quirks just make her unique in my eyes," Ben said, answering the question honestly.

"And what about the fact that she's part Fallen Angel and the daughter of one of my closest friends?" Azazel asked innocently yet Ben suspected that this was what he had been building up since he first arrived.

Deciding to humour him, Ben answered the question. "What about it? I don't care about that. I don't hate all Fallen Angels, you know that, right? I only hated that bitch, Raynare, for killing me and Asia," Ben muttered, subconsciously moving his hand over his belly where Raynare's Light spear had skewered him.

"And I guess I somewhat tolerate you…and that's just because you've given me a little help to get stronger," he added with a smirk.

Azazel chuckled and looked back out at the view they had of the surrounding area from their position on the mountain.

"That's good to hear. I'll admit that I was a bit worried about her; that's one of the reasons I had Baraqiel train her. He's been one of my greatest friends since ancient times."

"Why is Akeno so hostile towards her father?" Ben asked, joining Azazel as he gazed out at the expanse of land which belonged to Rias' family.

"It's not for me to say, sorry. If you want to know, Akeno will need to be the one to tell you…but I believe that I can entrust her to you. she seems to like you for whatever misled reason that may be," Azazel told him, a slight smirk on his face.

"Har, har, you're such a comedian," Ben drawled dryly in response.

"I have my moments. Anyway, now that that's settled I can move on to the bigger problem – Koneko," Azazel said, changing the subject.

"What's wrong with her?"

Azazel sighed before continuing. "I guess there's no other way to say it; she collapsed during her training."

"What?!" Ben cried, jumping to his feet and staring at Azazel intently. "Is she alright?! Why did she collapse?"

"She was found passed out in the gym early this morning. She's been overexerting herself. She's been doing more than I told her to do with her training regime and simply couldn't cope any longer and has been bedridden because of it. Asia's been able to heal her injuries but she can't do anything about her exhausted state."

"What's happening with her?" Ben asked, more to himself than Azazel yet the Fallen Angel answered him anyway.

"She's trying to grow stronger without relying on her true powers, and too impatient to accept her rate of growth," he explained.

"Her true powers? I'm guessing you're referring to her Nekomata powers, right?" Ben deduced.

"She told you, huh?"

"No, I found out because Azmuth's Gear recognised her Nekomata DNA and stored it within its database," Ben explained, peaking the Fallen Angel's interest.

"I didn't know your Gear could do that."

"Yeah, I can accept any new DNA that my Gear comes into contact with; it's how I can turn into beings that haven't seen before."

"That's incredible!" Azazel smiled with intrigue. "Is there a limit to the number of different forms your Gear can hold?" he then asked with interest, already taking notes in a small notepad he had suddenly pulled out from within his jacket.

"Not really, according to Azmuth. He told me that I can take the DNA off any being or creature I find as long as I touch it with Azmuth's Gear."

"Fascinating," Azazel stated as he continued to write. "The more I learn about Azmuth's Gear the more I want to find out what else it can do."

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Azazel scribbled furiously in his notebook and Ben finished off the last remains of the three lunchboxes he had been given, still marvelling at the exquisite taste. Once the Governor-General had finished writing…for now at least, he put his pen and notepad back in his jacket and returned to his feet with a slap of his knee as he did so.

"Right, off we go," he said with a new spring in his step.

"Wait. "We?" Where am I going now?" Ben asked as he stood up and joined Azazel.

"I'm bringing you back to the manor for a little bit. Didn't I mention it earlier?"

"No…no you didn't," Ben replied, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Oh, well I'm telling you now. You're returning there for this one time before continuing with your training." Azazel then turned towards Tannin and spoke up to him. "I'll return him back into your care tomorrow morning, is that ok with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I've got to return to my territory anyway for some business," the humongous dragon replied as he unfurled his wings and took off into the air.

"See you tomorrow, Tennyson!" he called back to them as he quickly disappeared behind the mountain.

As Azazel created a teleportation circle back to the manor, Ben joined him with several questions in his mind, the most prevalent ones coming to the front of his mind.

"So why am I being brought back? Did Rias need me for something?"

"You've got it all wrong. It wasn't Rias who wanted you to come back, it was her mother, Lady Gremory. She said something about dancing lessons," Azazel corrected and explained to him as he activated the circle.

"What?" Ben gasped with shock as the two of them disappeared in a flash of light.

. . . . .

(A few hours later)

Ben slowly walked down the empty, intimidating hallways of the Gremory manor, every part of him sore from Venelana's recent lessons. He had thought that there could be nothing worse than Tannin's training yet he had been proven to be hugely mistaken with what he had just been through. His body felt like it had gone three rounds with Valerie in her Balance Breaker form.

He had been given a rushed yet extremely intensive lesson in the art of dancing within noble devil society by Rias' mother and had hadn't been allowed a single break to recover until she finally called an end to the lesson well after the sky had darkened and night had fallen in the Underworld.

The only upside to the whole ordeal was that Venelana was impressed at how quick he was able to learn the different dances he might be expected to perform while in noble Devil society. When he asked her why she was teaching him this, she had told him that, if he was to be with Rias at such events then he had better learn to dance properly or risk embarrassing Rias and the Gremory family as a whole…something that the Gremory just wouldn't allow to happen.

After they had finished and she had allowed him to leave the room, Ben decided to check in on Koneko before cleaning himself up from his day of training and sleeping in a comfy bed before returning to the wilderness.

He was determined to find Koneko and see how she was before he did any of that though.

As he made his way down the corridor, Ben came across a partially open door and partial muttering coming from inside. As he slowly swerved in his tracks to investigate, he recalled that it was the doorway into the Gremory library.

He reached the door and slowly pushed it open to see Rias sitting alone at the table in the middle of the room with piles of books surrounding her as she read the tome in her hands.

"Hey there," he said coolly, leaning on the doorframe as he said it.

Instantly recognising the voice, Rias spun around, her eyes widening at confirming that he was really there. As she turned to face him, Ben noted that she was wearing the same pair of reading glasses she wore when they were practicing for their match against Riser.

Now he was more aware of it, Ben couldn't have imagined Rias being any more attractive than she already was, yet he was proven completely wrong when he looked at her bespectacled face.

"Ben!" she cried as she leapt out of her chair and rushed over to him, embracing him tightly as though she hadn't seen him for months.

"Uh, Rias," Ben began as Rias took deep breaths as she took in his scent, more profound than usual from his recent dancing lessons. "I'm kinda sweating like hell, you know?"

"Hmm, I don't care," Rias moaned contently as she buried her face near his semi-matted hair and took another deep breath. "Ben's smell is the best. I've missed it so much, but not nearly as much as I've missed you."

"It's good to see you too," he chuckled as he answered Rias' embrace with his own, wrapping his arms around her waist.

After a brief moment of silence as the two of them enjoyed each other's warmth, they slowly broke their embrace.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be training with Tannin for the whole time and return at the end of the time period," she told him as she removed her glasses and placed them in the case that lay on the table beside her.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Ben replied as he scratched the back of his head. "Your mum asked me to come back for this one time only."

"My mother?" Rias asked with confusion. "Why would she want you to return?"

"Well, she actually wanted to teach me how to dance properly, can you believe it? She said it was important for me to learn how to dance within Devil society so that I wouldn't embarrass you or your family," Ben explained as Rias' face slowly reddened as she heard this.

"W-What was she thinking?! S-She can be so demanding!" Rias muttered with embarrassment, a sight that caused a smile to form on Ben's face as he took one of her hands in his. Thanks to the intense training he had been experiencing along with his rough living conditions, his hands had become coarse and rough which only made him appreciate Rias' own soft, silky-smooth skin all the more.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Despite her…unique teaching style I learned a lot and actually had fun," Ben told her as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Although…," he added with a small smirk as he glanced into her eyes, "…I can't decide which teacher is more ferocious: Tannin or your mother."

Rias couldn't help but giggle at his quip. He loved the sound of her laughter.

"You'd better be careful. If she found out that you said that, you'd be severely punished. You thought she was an intense teacher before? You haven't seen her at her worst."

Ben chuckled now. "I'll keep that in mind," he told her before he changed the subject to something else. "How's Koneko doing?"

Rias' smile faltered at his question and her face turned solemn. "You heard what happened to her?"

"Yeah, Azazel told me that she collapsed during her training. I was actually on my way to see her when I found you," he explained.

"I was going to visit her, myself once I'd finished with my training for the day. Seeing as you're here, I'll take you to see her," Rias stated before leading the way out of the library and down the corridor that Ben had been going down before he found Rias.

"Why was she going beyond what Azazel had instructed her to do? Has it got something to do with her being a Nekomata?"

Rias turned her gaze towards Ben and looked like she was about to ask how he knew about her true identity…but she seemed to decide against it and, turning her gaze back to looking ahead, she sighed and began to explain.

"I suppose it's time you knew. A few years ago, there were two Nekomata sisters, the last two members of the Nekoshou clan, the strongest of the Nekomata clans, through years of war and strife between the various demon clans and factions of the Underworld. These two sisters had absolutely nothing – no kin or a place to call home. All they had were each other to rely on."

"They wondered the wastelands, doing whatever they could to survive the harsh conditions until, one day, they were taken in by a noble devil. In repayment for his kindness, the elder sister became a member of that devil's peerage and slowly, the two sisters began to make a life for themselves. However, because of her rebirth as a devil, the elder sister's Nekomata powers grew at an exponential rate and soon surpassed her master who she killed after becoming drunk with her power and became a bloodthirsty 'stray' who only sought to kill others.

"Shit," Ben murmured as they rounded a corner and entered the corridor which led to the guest bedrooms.

Rias nodded her head slightly and continued her story. "After she ran off, killing an entire squad of Devils sent in pursuit, the other nobles turned their anger towards the younger sister who had they feared would follow in her sister's footsteps and go on a similar rampage eventually. The younger sister's spirit was completely crushed by her sister's betrayal and she no longer cared what happened to her. The only one to stand up for her was my brother. Sirzechs granted her protection and put her in my custody in the hopes that I could restore her will to live."

As Rias finished her tale, Ben sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face. "I never knew Koneko had it so bad."

"When she joined my peerage, I promised her that I'd never rest until she had experienced everything that life had to offer," Rias said firmly. "She's terrified of becoming like her sister and losing herself to the terrifying power and will do anything to stop that from happening, even overexerting herself to become stronger without resorting to her Nekomata powers.

"That must be terrible. I can't imagine how she must be feeling," Ben sighed sadly, realising that this was a problem that he couldn't help Koneko overcome easily.

"Exactly. That's why we must be there for her," Rias told him as they stopped at a heavy set of tall, wooden doors. Rias placed her hand on one of them and pushed it open, entering the room with Ben following behind her.

"Ben?"

Ben was surprised to see Akeno already in the room, sat down on a chair next to the head of the large bed where Koneko lay, but that was nothing compared to Koneko herself who lay in the middle of the bed, a set of distinctive white cat ears protruding out of her head.

As Rias came to a halt as she reached the end of the bed, only one thought passed through Ben's head as he approached the head of the bed.

'How cute!' he couldn't help but think as he saw the fluffy ears protruding from her head.

"I can explain!" Akeno said hurriedly, rising out of her seat though stopping when Ben put up his hand in front of him.

"It's okay, Akeno. I knew what she was already; Rias filled me in with the rest on the way here. I just came by to how Koneko's doing."

Akeno visibly relaxed at his explanation and sat back down in her seat while Ben took up the empty seat beside her, right next to Koneko who half-opened her eyes as he sat down.

"Hey there, Koneko. How you doing?" Ben asked soothingly, a small comforting smile on his face as he leant forward, his elbows resting on his thighs.

"Ben?" Koneko asked quietly, confusion in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

Ben couldn't help but hear the exhaustion in her voice and found himself wondering just how much she had exerted herself to reach this state. He quickly brushed this thought away. This wasn't what Koneko needed right now.

"I'm here to see you of course," he told her light-heartedly. "As soon as I heard that you had collapsed I said, "To hell with training!", and rushed over as quick as I could to see how you were doing."

Koneko rolled over till her back was facing Ben, a noticeable tinge of pink in her cheeks as a result of his words.

Ben sighed and leant back in his chair. "It probably won't mean much to you but I was seriously worried about you when I heard that you had collapsed. I know it won't mean much coming from me after the things I've done but you really need to look after yourself more."

"I want to get stronger," Koneko muttered quietly after a few seconds of silence.

"I know you do, and I know why you want to do it without using your Nekomata powers, but will it be worth it if you die trying to do so?" Ben responded as he gently placed his hand on her head, her ears twitching involuntary as his fingers brushed against them. as his hand rested on her head, the young Nekomata slowly rolled over to look at Ben with watery eyes which took Ben by surprise.

"I've got no choice! I'm useless as I am now! How can a rook be the weakest member of a peerage?" Koneko muttered as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I want to be useful, but I don't want to resort to using my Nekomata powers. I'm terrified at the thought of becoming like my sister!"

Ben was silent for a few seconds as he took in what Koneko was saying. Before he could say anything though, Akeno beat him to it.

"Please leave this matter to us, Ben," she told him solemnly. "This is something that Koneko has to deal with on her own. I should know; I'm exactly the same as her."

Ben stared at the raven-haired queen for a few seconds before nodding his head in understanding and rose from his seat. As he slowly made his way to the door he stopped at the foot of the bed and looked back at Koneko, a thought swirling through his mind.

"Do you remember our fight with those fallen angels in the church? The night Asia became a member of Rias' peerage?" he asked her, her answer coming in the form of a weak nod.

"Do you also remember how I lost control of my Tetramand form and went on a mini rampage against Raynare? The same form you were able to defeat during our training at Rias' family's summer house?"

Again, another nod.

"You are not weak!" Ben stated firmly. "You are one of the bravest people I've ever met. Whatever you decide to do, I'll be there for you, to help you in any way I can."

"The same goes for you, Akeno," Ben added, directing his attention towards her. "I can't imagine what the two of you have been through, nor can I help you fully overcome your past; that's your battle to overcome. What I can do, however, is make a promise to the two of you that I'll be there for you now and in the future. Whatever it is that you do, whether it's accepting your true selves or whether you want nothing to do with them, if I can help you in any way, I'll do it without hesitation."

With his speech finished, Ben bid them all goodnight and made to leave, coming to a stop when he heard a weak voice behind him originating from Koneko.

"Thank you, Ben," she muttered weakly.

"Hey, what are friends for? I'll always be there for you girl," he declared before continuing out of the room. "Now, I'm off to find my room and get some proper sleep before I have to return to that accursed mountain tomorrow morning," he grumbled to himself, smiling as he heard the sound of quiet laughter from the three girls as he closed the door behind him and headed down the deserted corridor in search of his own room.

. . . . .

Several days later

"Oh shit!" Ben cried as he avoided the large ball of fire, courtesy of Tannin, which landed where he had just been mere seconds ago.

BOOOOOOM!

The fireball landed, exploding fiercely and almost catching Ben in the shockwave that followed. It was only thanks to his training that Ben was able to pick up enough speed with his Kineceleran form to move fast enough to run up the nearby cliff to avoid the blast. He reached the top of the cliff just as Tannin appeared from behind one of the huge rocky outcrops and hovered in the air above him.

"Very good, kid!" he bellowed from above his pupil. "You're starting to get the hang of tapping into the true speed your form grants you! Now, let's see how you've improved with another form."

Today was the last day of Ben's training with Tannin and, for his final test, Tannin had Ben scurrying all over the mountain in a game remarkably similar to tag, a playground game he used to play in school when he was a kid.

A game he remembered being quite good at.

This version was different from the game of his childhood memory though. Instead of the usual rules, this final form of training had one of them chasing the other all over the mountain trying to catch or stop them with whatever means they could use, before swapping roles and the 'hunter' suddenly becoming the 'hunted'.

An addition to this also included Tannin having Ben change his form every now and then to see how he had improved with each one from the training. They had been doing this since the break of dawn and, so far, Tannin had been impressed with the progress Ben had made with the forms he had used so far.

However, the one thing that was annoying Ben the most, and he suspected Tannin was too though he hid it well, was the fact that he hadn't been unable to reach Balance Breaker with any of his forms yet. He had been doing everything he could think of, followed Tannin's instructions to the letter, and gone all out in their fights and spars so it frustrated him that he was still unable to overcome this obstacle that was, essentially, the main purpose for his training.

Deciding to brush off his concerns for the moment, Ben disappeared in a flash of emerald-green light which, when it quickly dissipated, revealed his Pyronite which he had decided to dub Heatblast; a name Azmuth was all too happy to complain about…as he was with every single other form he had given a new name to.

[Transform: Heatblast!]

His transformation complete, Ben quickly created a board of fire beneath his feet and sped off into the air as Tannin proceeded to continue with the training, creating a large fireball and launching it in Ben's direction though he was able to avoid the blast thanks to his board of flames which took him high into the sky. As he took to the sky, Ben launched his counterattack on the large dragon by creating large balls of fire in his hands and launching them in Tannin's direction which, while doing little, if any, damage to him, provided an effective way to distract him with the large cloud of smoke that obscured his vision. It also had the added effect of annoying the large dragon with the multitude of explosive balls of fire which struck him.

Losing patience with his pupil's annoying tactic, Tannin took to the air with several flaps of his humongous wings and took chase, chasing down his pupil in his bid to catch him as per the rules of their training 'game'. Their spar continued for nearly an hour with each dodging their opponent's magical attacks with no sign of it ending anytime soon.

As they passed the hour mark, the large dragon found himself right behind Ben's Pyronite form and, as he watched his young pupil dive into a trench which was too narrow for the massive dragon to enter in his bid to escape from him and his large balls of fire, Tannin changed tactic and launched a swarm of smaller, though still powerful fireballs down into the trench and towards the fleeing Ben.

Casting a quick glance behind him, Ben gulped at the sheer number of explosive balls of fire quickly gaining on him and took evasive action to avoid them. It may be true that he was impervious to fire while in his current form but he still didn't relish the idea of being struck by anything fired at him by a being as strong as Tannin. It would still hurt him either way.

He flew through the air as fast as he could while on his fiery board, twisting and turning as each ball zoomed past him, each one missing him by a smaller amount. It amazed him that he was able to avoid them at all thanks to the closeness of the trench walls which greatly restricted his movements. This all came to an end, though, when he was eventually struck in the back by a small fireball that he had failed to spot; the blow was so close to the other balls that it caused a chain reaction which detonated the remaining explosive balls in a terrific explosion which filled the whole trench with a thick cloud of black smoke.

Tannin came to a stop just above the trench where he hovered above the cloud of smoke which rose up out of the narrow walls.

"You still alive, kid?" he called down into the trench though received no answer.

"Hey, kid!" he called out again as he lowered himself closer to the trench. When he received no answer again he began to wonder if he had gone overboard and knocked the kid unconscious with his last attack.

Just as he was about to land on the edge of the trench and begin searching for his pupil, an orange, fiery object shot up out of the smoke and struck Tannin in between his eyes which, while it didn't hurt the large dragon, it did cause him to recoil in response to it and not notice Ben shoot up out of the smoke, faster than before due to him ditching his fiery board and using the fire he emitted through the palms of his hands as thrusters to fly out of the smoke-filled trench and shoot up towards the distracted dragon. When he was nearly at eye-level with the huge dragon, he stopped emitting fire from his palms and, instead increased the intensity of the fire in his hands and, while using the momentum of his thrust, he quickly reached Tannin's face where he delivered a powerful, magic-enhanced fiery punch to Tannin's jaw before quickly following it up with a flip, diverting the majority of his fire into his heel which he brought crashing down on Tannin's snout, and finally reigniting the fire in his palms and taking off into the air again.

This entire series of movements only took a few seconds to complete though it felt a lot longer for Ben who had expected Tannin to block him at any point during the detailed manoeuvre.

Finding a rocky outcrop, Ben diverted his course towards it and landed on top of it, extinguishing his 'thrusters' and turned back to look at Tannin who was stroking the spot on his snout and jaw where Ben had struck him, a low chuckle escaping from his scaly maw.

"Well done, kid!" he chuckled as he flew over to Ben and hovered before him. "That's the first time since we started training that you've been able to catch me off guard and land a blow on me."

"Well, it was bound to happen at some point," Ben replied in a deep voice that came with his current form.

[You've improved a lot with your forms over the course of this training camp, Ben,] Ddraig called out from Ben's right hand.

[You might be right, Ddraig…,] Azmuth reluctantly agreed from Ben's left hand before returning to his cynical self. […however, you still have yet to achieve Balance Breaker with any of your forms which was the main point of this whole training camp, was it not?]

"Yes, it was," Ben muttered reluctantly, slowly growing irritated with Azmuth's constant belittling of his progress in mastering his Sacred Gear.

"The day isn't over yet," Tannin reminded him as he crossed his arms across his chest. "There's still enough time for us to see what you can do with another form…if you can handle it that is."

"I can handle it," Ben declared as he pulled out a bracelet from his pocket and placed it on his arm.

When Azazel had come to visit him, it wasn't just on the whim of Venelana. He had also come to check up on his most interesting student and see how far he had been progressing. After watching their training for a few hours before making himself known to them and noting his progress, the Governor-General had presented Ben with a small box of bracelets which looked exactly like the one Ben had worn during the peace summit. However, unlike the one he wore in that battle, these ones didn't allow him to achieve Balance Breaker. Instead, these ones instantly replenished the wearer's energy and power, enabling Ben to transform into more of his various forms and get stronger with each one of them.

When asked about them, Azazel admitted that they were pretty rare objects, even if they were his own inventions. However, he judged Ben's use of them for his training worth it as they helped him gather data on Azmuth's Gear and the demonic forms within it. Ben grew stronger and he was able to gather information which he was desperate for; a 'solution where everyone benefits' in his books.

As he placed the bracelet on his arm and tightened it, Ben instantly felt the bracelet's magic take effect and remove all of his fatigue away in a few seconds. If he had to describe to anyone, he'd say it felt like he had just had an extremely long rest.

"Was that the last bracelet that the Governor-General gave to you?" Tannin asked, his arms still crossed over his scaly chest.

Ben checked his pockets again, only to feel the fabric at the bottom of them and nothing else.

"Yeah, that was the last one," he confirmed with a small nod of his head.

"In that case this shall also be your last transformation of this training camp. Let's see how much stronger you've grown with your Vaxasaurian form. "

Nodding his head, Ben walked off the edge of the outcrop he stood on, landing on the ground thirty feet below him with a dull thud as he landed on one knee. Returning to his feet, Ben disappeared in emerald light.

[Transform: Humongosaur!]

Azmuth's voice echoed around the mountain as the emerald light dispersed to reveal that his Pyronite form had been replaced with the brown, hulking form of his Vaxasaurian form, Humongosaur. Without needing to be told, Ben's body grew taller and more muscular, the familiar armoured plates emerging from his body and covering his body in a crude, yet effective, form of armour while several plates protruded from his back in a Stegosaur-like manner which gave him even more of a dinosaur-like appearance.

As he clenched and unclenched his fists, Tannin examined Ben's form, immediately noting the changes it has undergone since their training.

"If you ever wanted to see a physical effect of your training then you only need to look at this form," he told Ben with the faint traces of a smile cracking through his jaw.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked, unable to look at himself due to the lack of a mirror or even a still body of water to look at himself.

"You're easily over sixty feet tall now," Tannin explained as he landed on the ground, furling his wings behind his back and walking up to Ben's titanic form.

Ben looked over at Tannin as he approached him and instantly understood what he was saying. The last times he had transformed into his Vaxasaurian form during his training, his body had always stopped growing when he reached the same height as Tannin, around fifty feet tall. Now though, he could clearly see that he was taller than Tannin…ten feet taller in fact.

It was strange looking down at Tannin while they were standing next to each other on the same ground. Ben couldn't help but smile at the evidence of his progress from Tannin's training.

"You can lose that smile, kid. True, you're now taller than me but that doesn't mean you still stand a chance against me. For our last spar in this training camp, we shall see just how strong you have become," Tannin instructed as he brought up his fists and took up a fighting stance."

"You want us to have a fist fight?!" Ben asked with surprise as he watched Tannin take up his fighting stance.

"Why not? It will give us the perfect chance to gauge how strong your most physically powerful form has become. I promise not to use any magic on you…but don't take that to mean that I'll go easy on you."

Before Ben could ask a question, Tannin delivered a powerful right hook to Ben's jaw, knocking him back until his back crashed into the cliff face behind him. While he was surprised at Tannin's sudden attack, he was more surprised at how little the blow hurt him. He held his hand up to his jaw though all he could feel from the blow was a very dull pain which disappeared just as quickly as Tannin's blow landed on him.

"What the hell?" Ben muttered with shock as he glanced at Tannin who flexed the fingers on the hand which had struck him. "That hardly hurt at all!"

[Amazing, isn't it?] Ddraig asked aloud for both Ben and Tannin to hear. [This is why Vaxasaurian's, particularly their ancients, are regarded as one of the most powerful demon races to exist in the Underworld. It's a great relief to the ruling bodies of both the Devils and Fallen Angels that Vaxasaurians are a primarily peaceful, nomadic species who keep to themselves. Only Ultimate-class Devils and above would have the confidence to fight one, and even then, they are weary of them.]

Pushing himself off the cliff face, Ben cocked his neck and rolled his shoulders as he took up a stance similar to Tannin's, a stance he had learnt last week and had been yearning to perfect.

"Let's see what else I'm now capable of," Ben muttered as he and Tannin slowly began to circle each other, the pair of them looking at their opponent for any opening to exploit. Their eyes darted over the other's body for any sign though they would always return back to gazing at each other to see who would make a move first.

They continued to circle each other in complete silence as they measured each other up, neither one of them making so much as a sound. The only sound which could be heard was the dull thud of their footfalls as they circled around the clearing.

Just as the silence passed the eight-minute mark, the two towering beasts suddenly took off into a powerful charge at each other, their speed impressive considering it started from a standstill, and even more impressive when the two of them reared their right fists back before thrusting them forwards, towards their opponent…only for their powerful blows to connect with each other, a shockwave blasting outward from their connected fists.

While Ben and Tannin were so large that they weren't physically moved from the shockwave, the same couldn't be said for the trees and vegetation surrounding the clearing they were in which was struck by the full force of the shockwave. Most of the larger trees were merely blown over while nearly all of the smaller ones were pulled out from their roots and sent flying through the air along with the majority of the bushes and foliage in the vicinity.

The two titans withdrew their fists and flexed their hand to lose the dull pain. Ben's incredibly dense, nigh on impenetrable hide armour which protected him from Tannin's blow while the large dragon was protected from the blow by his hugely superior power.

"Well done, kid," Tannin stated with a small smile. "You've improved a lot with your Vaxasaurian form…."

Before Ben could react or even say anything in response to Tannin's statement, he suddenly found himself on the defensive as Tannin lunged towards him and began raining down blow after blow on him as he sought to bypass Ben's armoured arms which he had brought up in front of him and reach his softer, though still tough, underbelly.

"However! Let's see just how long you can cope with me using more of my power," Tannin declared as he delivered a quick jab at Ben's defence before quickly following it up with a powerful left hook aimed at the side of his head.

Before the blow could connect, though, Ben spotted the blow coming and ducked beneath it, avoiding the blow, and then lunged at Tannin, catching the large dragon by surprise as he all but picked Tannin up with his momentum and crashed into the side of the mountain. Without letting up on his advantage, Ben brought his head up sharply, catching Tannin on his chin, and started to rain down powerful blows of his own on Tannin's exposed abdomen.

His counterattack came to an abrupt end when he felt something scaly wrap around his left leg and jerk back hard, tripping him over where he landed on his side.

"You still need to learn to take care of your surroundings," Tannin chastised as his tail, the same tail, Ben quickly realised, which had tripped him up, returned behind the powerful dragon's legs.

Ben merely grunted in response as he picked himself up off the floor took up a fighting stance again. Noting his student's stance, Tannin immediately charged towards him with his right fist reared back for his blow. Instead of accepting or dodging the blow, Ben brought up his left hand and caught Tannin's fist in his and delivered his own right hook which landed on Tannin's shoulder.

Tannin roared at the blow and pushed himself away from Ben before charging forward once more. The two of them collided again, though not quite as powerful as when they first started and began to exchange a series of extremely powerful blows. Neither of them knew how long they were locked in this seemingly endless cycle of blows. It was only because of their powerful hides that they were able to last so long with neither one of them giving up or yielding.

Ben was under no pretence that he could beat someone as powerful as Tannin in a fight at his current level. That being said, though, he wasn't going to go down that easy.

"I'm impressed!" Tannin stated suddenly as their cycle of blows continued. "It's been a long time since I've been this pressed in a fist fight."

"Are you telling the truth?" Ben asked dubiously as he backed away from Tannin to gather himself before returning to the fight.

"I am. There are very few beings I know which could fight me using their fists; most of my fights have nearly always been tests of magical power rather than physical. Even though Vaxasaurian's lack magical power like most demons, their immense physical power and magical resistance is what makes them so dangerous."

"Magical resistance?" Ben asked with interest.

"Indeed. Shall I give you a demonstration?" Tannin replied and, before Ben could say otherwise, took flight and hovered a few feet above Ben where he suddenly opened his maw and spat a huge fireball, bigger than any Ben had seen the large dragon create before, and sent it streaking through the air towards Ben.

Having no time to avoid the huge, blazing ball of fire due to his form's heavy frame, Ben only had enough time to bring up his forearms in front of his face before the fireball struck him.

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!

The ground shook as Tannin's fireball struck the ground and created a large cloud of smoke as it scored a direct hit on Ben. Silence fell on the clearing for a few seconds as the dust and smoke cloud settled before an audible grunt could be heard from within the cloud and Ben's towering form came lumbering out of the smoke.

"W-What the fuck was that?!" he coughed, not realising that Tannin's attack had left nought but a few scorch marks on his brown hide. Aside from those marks, Ben had come out of that attack completely unscathed.

"It's just as I told you, Vaxasaurian's have the strongest magical resistance out of any of the demonic races in the Underworld. I used about a quarter of my power in that attack but the fact that you emerged completely unscathed goes to show both how powerful elder Vaxasaurian's truly are and how much progress you've made in being able to reach this level."

Ben nodded his head in understanding, glancing over his leathery body at the damage, or to be more accurate, the lack of damage from Tannin's magical attack. It was suddenly dawning on him just how powerful the Underworld demons were.

As he made to approach Tannin and continue their fight, Ben suddenly came to a stop when a large crack abruptly appeared beneath his gigantic foot.

CRRRRRRAAAAAAAACK!

Ben looked down just in time to see the large crack shoot out from under him and spread out in an erratic pattern with him being in the centre of it. Before either he or Tannin could say anything, there was another loud 'CRACK!' and the floor beneath Ben suddenly fell away, taking him with the floor as it fell into the darkness below.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck!" Ben's deep voice bellowed as he fell down into the darkness before it turned into a sharp grunt as he hit the ground with a loud 'thud'. As his humongous body left a clear indent in the floor, Ben brought up an arm to cover his face from the stalactites which followed after him, dislodged by his landing and shattering against his hide as they fell to the ground.

Once the stalactites had stopped falling on him, Ben took his arm away to see the hole he had fallen through. Making a complete guess from the size of the hole above him, Ben guessed that he had fallen around 700ft, maybe more! As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he found himself lying in a very large, very spacious cavern.

[I guess Tannin's more powerful than I remember him being. That was quite a fall,] Ddraig's voice called out from Ben's right arm.

[You're right. It's quite a sight to see a dragon who voluntarily became a devil still retain their draconic power. I'll admit that I was worried that the devil blood running through his veins would hinder him,] Azmuth added from his own Gear.

Ben didn't hear his dragon companion's conversation as he simply stared up at the ceiling hundreds of feet above him.

'Tannin is ridiculously powerful!' he thought as the memory of him being blasted by Tannin's attack just moments ago went through his mind. 'Just how outclassed am I?'

"You are hopelessly outclassed," the strange, raspy voice echoed in his head.

Ben's hand subconsciously moved up to his head where it rested though the pain didn't return like usual.

"I wonder if this is the point where you should question whether or not you should just give up trying to reach their level," the voice continued, its voice coursing through Ben's entire being as it spoke.

'I have to; I have to get stronger for Rias and the others. The Khaos brigade isn't going to go easy on me if I'm weak,' Ben retorted mentally though the voice was quick to respond.

"You can't even reach Balance Break!"

'I'm getting close to doing so. Anyway, I've grown stronger with my forms without Balance Breaker….'

"Completely useless against competent opponents. You heard Tannin; that was only a quarter of his power and he still hilariously outclasses you…and in your strongest form no less! How can you hope to protect your friends with such weakness?"

Ben made to retort to the voice's statement but found himself unable to think of a comeback. One thing he had learned over the last few days was that he was still weak despite the power he wielded.

The voice was quick to notice his hesitance.

"You see?! Even you can't find any fault with my words. You need to ask yourself one question: How many more tears will you make your friends shed before you realise that you're the cause of their pain and anguish?"

At this, Ben's head was flooded with images of Rias and Asia's watery-eyed faces. These images, as well as the numerous images of Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba; each of them with pain and sadness in their eyes, lanced Ben's heart as they flooded through him. It was because of his weakness and inability to control Azmuth's power that had caused Rias and Asia's sadness. Sure, he was able to overcome those obstacles and help them, but that neither washed away those painful memories nor guaranteed he could save them again in future.

Maybe he was the cause of their pain….

No!

Ben shook his head sharply, removing that particular train of thought from his head. He may have been weak back then, but he had learned from his mistakes and had done whatever it took to not repeat them again.

'No, I used to be weak when I first got Azmuth and Ddraig's power, but I'm not anymore. I've grown stronger since those days. I have the potential to grow strong enough to protect those I care about from harm and I won't waste. They deserve my best, so I will give them my best!'

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a tingling sensation in his left arm. He brought it up to his face to see that the spot where the emerald would be if he was wearing his gauntlet was glowing.

"What the hell?" he murmured quietly, looking at the glowing light intently.

[Congratulations, kid,] Azmuth said abruptly, surprising Ben slightly.

"I've done what?" Ben asked with confusion. Before the ancient dragon could give him an answer though, Tannin's voice started booming above them.

"You alright down there, kid? I think I overdid that demonstration," he shouted down at Ben who looked up to see the dark outline of what he knew to be Tannin.

[It looks like that was just what he needed,] Ddraig shout back up.

"What do you mean?" Tannin replied.

[He overcame the last requirement for his ultimate goal,] Azmuth explained, enlightening Tannin while only confusing Ben even further.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, already growing bored with them avoiding his question.

[You've overcome the obstacle blocking you from attaining Balance Breaker,] Ddraig explained for him.

"It usually triggers when the wielder experiences strong memories, the more negative the better as they impact the wielder more than positive memories," Tannin explained as he slowly landed on the floor of the dark cavern and furled his leathery wings.

The memory of Kiba during their battle with Kokabiel and how he triggered his own Balance Breaker flowed through Ben's mind and he understood what they meant.

"Obviously we couldn't do that in your case…," Tannin continued, crossing his arms across his chest. "…so I decided to try and get you to trigger your Balance Breaker by driving you to the very edge in your training."

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me you nearly killed me with your training…on purpose?" Ben grunted as he picked himself up off the ground.

"It worked, didn't it?" Tannin countered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm curious to see what will happen when you activate it."

Ben wanted to continue complaining over the nightmarish three weeks he had been subjected to with Tannin, but the large dragon's last statement stopped him short. He was curious about his new power too, especially after everything he had gone through to attain it.

He sent the mental command to his Gear and was immediately consumed by emerald light which illuminated the entire cavern with its intensity.

[Transform: Balance Breaker!]

When the light dissipated, it revealed Ben's new, evolved Vaxasaurian form. In contrast to his earlier appearance, his new form had shrunk to a third of its former height, around 20ft. Despite his significant loss of height, he actually looked more muscular than before and his hide-like skin had turned to a dull green as opposed to its previous tan colour.

A horned helmet also adorned his head now as well as a dark blue turtle shell with several long, silver spikes protruding from it. His chest had also been adorned with a chestplate, the same colour as his shell, with several spikes also protruding out of it on either side. His tail, which had grown longer and now trailed behind him, now had a mace-like weapon attached to the end of it, also with several small spikes protruding from it. To finish off the list of changes to his appearance, his hands had also gone through a change. Instead of human-like nails he had before, Ben now sported short, black claws and armoured knuckles which appeared to be made of an organic metal, the same silver colour as the other spikes adorning his body.

"Fascinating," Tannin muttered as Ben inspected his new, evolved form. "I had heard of the drastic changes your demon forms go through the last times you triggered your Balance Breaker, but to see it in person is quite a sight to see. I wonder, though, why you shrunk back down. Can't you increase your size anymore?"

To answer Tannin's question, Ben tried to change his size, just like he did with the form in its previous state…but nothing happened. No matter how hard he tried to do it, his body wouldn't grow.

"I can't do it. I can't change my size anymore. I feel something though, I feel a hell of a lot stronger than I did before, even at my full height before, both physically and magically," Ben revealed as he looked over his body again, clenching and unclenching his hands as he did so.

"Is that so? Well, do you have any clue as to its capabilities? Nobody has seen anything like this before so it's a complete mystery."

Thanks to the effect of Azmuth's Gear which revealed the powers and abilities of his various forms, both original and evolved (though it takes a few seconds for it to work with evolved forms the first-time round), Ben did have a clue as to his new abilities.

Without saying another word, Ben held up his left arm and watched as it morphed, transforming into the barrel of a cannon. The 'rim' of his new cannon was black in colour while the bottom of the barrel glowed with a dark, blood-red light. Eager to try out his new ability, Ben pointed it at the far wall of the cavern and, putting all his concentration into the action, charged up the cannon which used to be his arm. The red light grew in intensity for a few seconds before Ben released the concentration of magical energy in a single blast at the wall.

He hadn't let the energy grow too large as he had no idea how powerful it would be. However, even though he had taken this reasonable step it didn't matter. The energy beam which erupted out of his cannon hit the wall of the cavern…and went straight through it!

Much to the shock of Ben, Tannin and both his Dragon companions, the beam cut through the 40ft of solid rock like butter and kept going once it had burst through the cliff face, only coming to an explosive stop when it hit the mountain on the other side of the valley they were training on where it exploded spectacularly.

"Shit!" Ben cursed loudly as he was hit by the resulting shockwave of the blast which forced him to cover his face. He brought his arms down once the wave had subsided to see the result of his strike. He rushed over to the wall and walked through the spacious hole/tunnel he had made until he reached outside again. As he cleared the dust cloud from the tunnel, he looked over at the distant mountain he had hit and stared at it, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

Where a towering, intact mountain had once stood in the long mountain range and valley, half of it had simply been disintegrated, leaving only a huge chunk of the mountain missing; no rubble, no anything remaining from the blast.

Even as Ben looked at the distant mountain, its peak crumbled away into the humongous crater he had made and smashed into smithereens when it reached the base.

Tannin joined him, passing through the tunnel with relative ease (only having to tilt his head down to avoid the ceiling) and stood beside Ben and joined him in observing the remains of the mountain.

"Fascinating," he murmured with amazement at the recent display. "Azmuth truly is a remarkable being, even if confined to a Sacred Gear."

Unable to find any words to answer him, Ben merely nodded his head slowly, barely even noticing it when he reverted back to his normal form with a flash of emerald light.

"There's nothing more for me to teach you. you have fulfilled everything Azazel wished for you to do during this training camp. I don't believe there's anything left for you in these mountains…or rather, what's left of them." He chuckled deeply at his own quip. "I'll take you back to the Gremory house tomorrow."

Ben blinked and returned to his senses at Tannin's last words.

"Wait, why can't we go back now?" he asked though it was too late. He looked over at where Tannin had stood to see that the dragon had already taken to the skies and disappeared behind the mountain range. Grumbling under his breath, Ben turned the opposite way Tannin had gone and descended down the mountain in the direction of his camp for the last night he'd spend out in the wilderness.

. . . . .

Back at his camp, Ben headed straight for the stream near his camp which he had been using as a water source during his training. After taking several large handfuls of the cool, refreshing liquid, he proceeded to filling up the canteen he had been given to take back to camp.

As he filled up the canteen, he looked at his reflection in the water and saw the physical effects of his extensive training regime. The training jersey Rias had given him for the training period had been completely ruined over the course of his training, reduced to shredded fabric after only a few days into the training. The shirt lying on the ground beside him, the one which he now wore instead didn't appear much better though it was still, for the most part, still able to cover his torso. As he looked at his bare chest, Ben noticed that he had burned off what little fat he had, leaving his chest sturdy and muscular, and his stomach toned. Even his arms had benefitted from the training in that they had become very muscular as a result; very similar to Sairaorg's in fact.

"So this is what happens when you train with a former dragon king?" Ben asked himself as he inspected his new body.

[You should be proud, kid,] Ddraig stated, his gem glowing on Ben's right hand as he spoke. [Tannin is notorious for his unique style of training. You've done well to survive it, let alone trigger your Balance Breaker.]

"Thanks," Ben replied as he replaced the cap of his canteen, put his shirt back on, and headed back to his camp.

[Ddraig's right,] Azmuth chimed in. [You did well these last few days. I'm impressed you were able to trigger your Balance Breaker in the end. I had feared that you would be unable to do so simply through rigorous training. Traumatic memories have always been regarded as the only way to successfully achieve the state though you managed it.]

"What can I say?" Ben asked, recalling the strange voice's words though decided not to tell neither Azmuth nor Ddraig about it. "Just because I managed to do it doesn't excuse Tannin's excessive training style. I don't know when…or if…I'll stop aching from his torture," he added with a groan, referring to the dull ache of pain he felt on his left side.

[Maybe, when we get back, the girls could give you different new aches to worry about,] Ddraig suggested with a deep chuckle.

"Har, har," Ben muttered as he continued through the forest on his way to the camp.

. . . . .

A few hours later, after Ben had finished off his last meal in the wilderness, he was sat down in front of the fire he had made, enjoying the warmth it provided him. Azmuth and Ddraig had both departed within their Sacred Gears for the night, leaving Ben to look back at what he had gone through over the last three-odd weeks with Tannin. He had improved his level of skill with most of his transformations greatly over the course of the camp…but the icing on the cake was his success in triggering Balance Breaker.

"You're welcome, by the way," the voice whispered suddenly, catching Ben off guard.

'Are you saying you had something to do with that?' Ben replied mentally, memories of his previous conversation with the voice springing into his mind. 'I seem to recall you belittling me and trying to make me feel bad about my level of power.'

"Well, duh. To think that that dragon told you he could bring out your Balance Breaker simply through 'serious training'. Bah! Such a fool! Something as powerful as a Balance Break state can ONLY be triggered through extreme negative emotions. Seeing as they wouldn't take that necessary step, I took it upon myself to give you that extra push," the voice explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ben wanted to argue back with the voice but, for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything to say back to it. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that, were it not for the actions of the strange voice in forcing him to admit that he wasn't strong enough to protect anyone he would not have been able to trigger the Balance Break state.

'I guess a…'thanks' is in order then,' he retorted with hesitation.

"Anytime," the voice said cheerfully. "Maybe you shouldn't shrug off my words of advice so quickly in future."

'I…guess I could do that,' Ben found himself saying though he was unsure why he was agreeing to the voice's request so quickly.

"That's all I ask. You'd better get some sleep; you wouldn't want to return back to your friends without a good night's sleep, would you? See ya."

The voice slowly disappeared back into the hidden recesses of Ben's mind while he stood up and made his way over to his sleeping bag where he settled into before quickly falling asleep to the sound of the crackling fire, dreams of Rias and the other girls filling his mind as he fell asleep.

. . . . .

Demonomicum extract:

Vaxasaurian

Appearance: While their body is humanoid in shape, Vaxasaurian's have an appearance remarkably reminiscent of the ancient dinosaurs which roamed the human world before their creation, and are titanic in stature with the young standing around 12ft tall while the ancient Vaxasaurian's could attain heights reaching 60ft. Able to change their size at will due to the nature of their species' capabilities, the taller a Vaxasaurian becomes, the more pronounced their dinosaur-like reptilian appearance becomes; from their hard, brown hide-like skin becoming tougher, to plates protruding from their backs, the crest on their forehead becoming more pronounced, to spikes growing from their shoulders and tail.

Bio: Power. That is the first word that comes to mind when one describes the herds of Vaxasaurian which roam the wilds of the Underworld. With the strength of even the younger members of their herds surpassing that of a high-class devils, it is a relief to the average citizen of the Underworld that they prefer to stay away from our borders, and instead keep to their own territory.

Docile in nature, a Vaxasaurian will only become aggressive when either they, or their herd, is threatened. When that does happen though, Lucifer have mercy on the poor, damned soul that sought to challenge these behemoths. While they possess no magical power of their own, they are equally immune to all but the most powerful magic users. To use any other method to battle such a powerful beast would be suicidal as Vaxasaurians are all-but unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat.

Power level:Ultimate-class devil

Threat level:EXTREME! DO NOT APPROACH!

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter, folks.

Well there you go, Ben finally unlocked his Balance Break…and with the help of the mysterious voice of all things? What is it, truly? What are its intentions? You'll just have to wait and see.

I hope you all liked the little extract I wrote for Humongosaur and its origins and place within my story. I really enjoyed coming up with my own background for it in my version of the Underworld and wholly plan to write about the other alien/demons in future chapters. I would love it if some of you would give me names of aliens you'd like me to write about and I'll do my best to put them in chapters as early as I can.

. . . . .

Reviews

Darth Ralan: I'm grateful for your review and would like to also say how glad I am that you're enjoying my story. The entrance for Waybig is still a way off, unfortunately but I plan for it to be epic in proportions.

Treyalexander63817: I will neither confirm nor deny that Hex and Charmcaster will make an appearance. You'll have to wait and see.

Nivek Beldo: I hope this chapter was up to your standards like the last one. As to your question regarding Grandpa Max: No. I won't be including him in the fountain of youth chapter. As you said, that was his episode in the cartoon, but the same won't be for my story. I have future plans for him in my story but that won't be for some time.

I'm honoured that my story was the reason you discovered the world of DxD in the first place. It does raise a small question for me though: What brought you to discovering my story in the first place, if you don't mind me asking?

MikeX713: Thank you for understanding. I hope this chapter was filled with more originality for you for now.

I'm not going to spoil the surprise of the voice's identity. You won't get any information out of me until I'm ready to reveal it. I hope you liked the piece at the beginning with XLR8, even if it was a bit short. I had planned to use him before seeing your review but I'm glad you like XLR8 as he's another one of my favourite forms; you can't go wrong with super speed.

SantoryuSekai: Alien X is an incredibly 'deus ex' alien in the cartoon and I have been thinking of how to bring him into my story, if at all due to his power. I've got some ideas but I'm not sure yet.

Ultimatrix bearer: I hope you won't be disappointed with the fountain of youth chapter when I eventually release it.

I don't really watch or understand Naruto or Bleach so I can't really comment on a match between the two of them.

Reatssa: Firstly, I'd like to say hello and welcome to my story. Your idea for an arc revolving around a completed Excalibur is intriguing and, while I may not follow it to the letter, I can see several other arc ideas which I might use in the future.

E-BLOK5290: Now there's a thought, a very good one at that. I think they would like that and, with the nature of The System it's not completely out of the realms of possibility.

Rex: I've already planned for all the girls in the ORC (including Rossweisse when she eventually joins) to be part of Ben's harem but I don't intend for any girls in the student council to be a part of it.

Joke Dagger: Thank you for the compliment. In regard to your thoughts (of which I'm grateful):

1). I plan to have Kevin be a part of the Osmosian clan within the Underworld and have no plan to have him be a Fallen Angel. (2) I plan to include some mythologies but my main focus will be on the three factions and mythology. (3) No, I will not be including Skurd in my story. (4) Vilgax will be making an appearance but there won't be any ecchi scenes with him. (5) No, I think that would make Ditto or echo-echo too OP if they could each wield Ascalon or wear its armour. (6) Clockwork and his species will be referenced and possibly make an appearance.

. . . . .

Before I end my author's note, I'd just like to finish it off by explaining some things to you guys as to why I'll be taking a short break from my writing. In the week just before Christmas, my dad suffered from a major heart attack. Thankfully, the hospital was able to resuscitate him but he has yet to wake from his comatose state.

This would be upsetting for any family so my thoughts go out for any of you who's lost a loved one from a heart attack too.

I'm sure you would all understand that this traumatic event, as well as the eventual need for me to return to university, will hinder my writing for some time. I hope you will understand it if I don't release my next chapter in February.

With my piece said, I, once again, wish you all a happy new year!