The day started out different for Ash and Akira, now they both sat before each other at a table early before their party arrived. "So, Yamato huh?" Akira asked suddenly.
"Yes, and you got Gilgamesh. But to dress like that..." Ash said, a bit disappointed at the style.
Akira scoffed at this and gestured to Ash. "Look at you! You're basically mini-Vergil like this!" He said in retort, making Ash growl a bit as his eyes twitched.
"'Mini'? I'm 5 foot 6, I'm average height." Ash said a bit snappy. "And it's not like I had much of a choice for clothing, they were a gift from the first people I met in this world; it also looks cool and stylish." He said. Akira sighed and leaned back a bit. "What is it?"
"Well...I've been thinking: how good are you really with that sword? Do you have 'that' unlocked since you're, you know...half?" Akira asked subtly. Ash knew what he was referring to and looked at his card, before handing it to Akira. The man took it and looked it over, scanning it as best he could. "It's not even here. Like, not an option period." Akira said. He was just as confused as when Ash first saw his skills.
"I've been thinking about that nonstop. My guess is that it isn't a basic learnable skill; you have to find it yourself and even then you need to learn how to use it properly." Ash said. Akira handed him back his card and nodded thinking it made sense, after all Dante was stabbed with Rebellion after years without it before he got that power.
"How does it feel?" Akira asked.
Ash thought for a moment, he hadn't focused on that this entire time actually so having an answer wasn't easy. "It feels different yet not. I feel lighter and stronger, faster even- but I still feel human, like myself. It's another strange thing to me." Ash said after his thoughts.
"Yeah, that is weird. But I bet it's a relief knowing you won't die so easily like us squishes huh?" Akira said chuckling at his own comment. When he got no response from Ash he let his chuckles die out and sighed as he tapped his fingers awkwardly. "Soooo...Megumin huh?" He asked suddenly to the Dark Slayer.
"What about her?" Ash asks looking up a bit.
Akira has a sly smirk on as he spoke. "Oh come on, just yesterday she shouted out to you in worry; it's like a slow budding relationship for you both. Let me guess, you met by saving her?" He asked. Ash looked away a bit giving Akira his answer. "Hehehe, nice."
"That's irrelevant. A relationship here would just complicate things." Ash said simply. He had no experience with such things and if they were to truly be targeting the Devil King and his armies then getting attached to someone would just be a distraction. "These types of attachments are detrimental for people in our positions and professions."
Akira shook his head at that confusing Ash. "Guess you didn't learn much from the games huh? Well you do you I guess." He said suddenly. "But come on; you can't tell me you don't feel anything for Megu." Akira pushes again.
Ash sighs as he thinks the question over for a second. "I guess I do have some feelings for her, it would be nice to be more than friends but again in our line of work it'll be hard for such things. Plus...I'd feel like I'd be lying even more to her about myself then I already am." He says. Akira smirks at the admittance his friend gave him and took note of it for later.
They descended into small talk as the sun rose to the sky and the day officially began for everyone else. A few hours later Darkness, Megumin, and Aqua all gathered in the guild hall and came up to the two. "Hey have either of you seen Kazuma? He wasn't in the stables when I woke up." Aqua asks us.
"No we haven't. It's only been myself and Akira here until you three joined us." Ash said as the young wizard sat beside him and he slid a plate of breakfast over to her. "Is something wrong?" Ash asks.
Aqua shakes her head. "No, just wondering where he's at is all. It's not like him to disappear." She says looking around before waving it off. "Ahhh, anyway Akiraaaa- can you get me something to drink?" The Goddess asks the Fighter.
"Hmmm...maybe, but I don't know..." Akira said playfully while thinking.
Aqua began begging as Ash simply watched on reading a book he found full of this worlds fairy tales. The group had their attention taken however when Kazuma finally did arrive. He was wearing a new outfit: white shirt, brown pants and boots, a green cloak, and a single shoulder pad on his left side and shin guards. He also had a short sword still as he presented himself to the party.
"Wooow, now you look the perfect of a fantasy world adventurer!" Aqua said, making Megumin and Darkness confused. Akira and Ash looked him over recalling the days when they played RPGs and had somewhat similar starting equipment; true when compared to Kazuma however they started off much much better in this world.
Kazum nodded and put a thumbs up while unsheathing his sword. "I learned some basic sword and magic skills earlier, thinking of not using a shield and going with a swordmage kinda build." He said giving the short sword some test swings. Ash looked at him and sighed as he stepped forward with Yamato in hand as usual. "Ash? What are ya-OW!" Kazuma screamed out as Ash hit his legs with the scabbard.
"Keep your legs further apart" *whack* "lower your middle more" *whack* "hold that blade up higher" *whack* "that hand is off to the side" *whack* "and keep your eyes forward and core strong." Ash said quickly, fixing the boy's stance. "If you learned the skills you could have also learned how to properly stand. What you just showed was pitiful." He continued while shaking his head.
Kazuma was standing there in pain from all the hits, now in a better position sure but at what he believed was too high a cost. "If that's the case why don't you teach me? I'd be able to learn some of your OP skills too." Kazuma said in a strained, pain-filled voice.
Ash scoffed at this. "As if I'd let you learn any skill from the Dark Slayer skill set. You know what else you need aside from skill points to do these." Ash said; however he had to bite his tongue as he said that as Darkness and Megumin looked at him confused.
"You need something else to use your skills? Not just super big mana reserves?" The Arch-Wizard asks with a head tilt.
Ash simply patted her hat covered head with a small smirk. "Yes, you see the class is not going to pop up ever again so long as I have this." He said, gesturing to Yamato. Of course there was also the fact you needed to be half demon but that's not something he was telling them. "The Yamato is special, you see, and without it no one can do the same skills I do." He said with his smirk staying on. Off to the side Akira and Kazuma were holding their hands over there mouths stifling their laughter.
""Lolicon."" They both said, making Ash gain a tick mark. He moved over to them and hit them both over the head making them fall over. ""We're sorry."" They groaned out from the floor. After they got up Kazuma dusted himself off he spoke on his own again. "Now that I've got all this cool gear I'm thinking we should do a quest." He said. The party all agrees as Darkness threw out a suggestion for the first quest outside of the cabbage hunt.
"It's the mating season of the giant toad! They've been popping up near town, we could-" however he sentence was interrupted as Megumin and Aqua both grabbed their heads and started moving around sporadically.
""No toad!"" The both said in fear. Both Darkness and Akira look at them in shock. Megumin moves to Ash, recalling how she was nearly eaten last time but saved thanks to him.
"What's up with them?" Akira asks Kazuma.
"They were eaten by toads before, and have been traumatized because of it since then." He said offhandedly as if it was a normal thing to say.
Darkness started squirming around with a small blush. "Eaten head first in one gulp...covered in thick slim..." she said erotically making the three males deadpan at her.
"You're turned on by that aren't you." Kazuma asked her. She carefully looked to the side in at least a bit of shame.
"No I'm not..." she said, but it was clearly a lie. The three knew her long enough to know she was lying about such a thing. Megumin and Darkness decided to go ahead toward the job board and looked over the available jobs, trying to get a good one.
"Anyway this is our first official job. Let's get something quick and simple to do so we can test this party out." Kazuma said, trying to use his head for the situation while the other two were away.
Aqua however gained a semi-smug look as she made herself look bigger to look down on the boy. "Of course the shut-in NEET would be like that...don't worry, weakest job holder! Everyone else except for Akira is a high level class! We should just grab as many difficult jobs as possible and rack in loads of money and levels!" She said proudly. Kazuma's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he looked at the goddess.
"I didn't want to say it to your face Aqua, but of all of us you've been the most useless." He says making her smug expression crack immediately only to gain one of shock. "You should be teaching me spells and abilities to make this easier but you haven't. I know this is a service from the gods so I didn't want to complain; but when I chose you I was angry, I should have chosen something useful like Ash or Akira. You're not even performing like a hack item! Are you!? Huh!? You were o confident in the beginning but you haven't been any use you former something!" Kazuma said to her. As his rant went on Aqua's jaw dropped further to the ground till she was slumped over in sadness.
"No not former! I still am a goddess! Present tense- am!" She said in protest to the teen.
Ash and Akira just watched on in amusement as they looked each other with a smirk. They were simply snickering at the two fighting like this as it got to the point of Aqua face down on the table throwing a fit about teaching Kazuma healing spells, which in her own words would completely snatch away her reason for existing at this point. Megumin and Darkness finally came back at that exact moment making Kazuma look more like a fiendish brute in the eyes of the women among the guild occupants.
Megumin is the first to speak. "What are you two doing? The attack power of Kazuma's words are strange enough alone, if you don't hold back and say what's on your mind most girls would cry!" She says lookin con at the downed goddess.
"I-if you're too stressed...I could take Aqua's place and endure your scolding...so do it all you want to me! As a crusader suffering for others is a merit." Darkness said obviously getting hot from the verbal abuse she was witnessing. However it was all a ruse as the three reincarnated could clearly see Aqua peeking out from under her arms every now and then knowing full well all the attention was on feeling and for her.
"Ignore her." Kazuma said as he looked at Darkness who had no armor due to it needing repairs. "Darkness, you look thinner without your armor." Kazuma said. Ash and Akira hadn't noticed but she indeed did: she wore a black tight skirt and tank top with leather boots, a giant sword strapped to her back.
"Could almost pass as a swordswoman." Akira commenter finally.
"If only she could hit something." Ash said under his breath.
Kazuma was now looking on at Darkness who was standing near Megumin as she stayed seated near Ash, comparing the two's body types in his head. Megumin felt his eyes on her and looked up with a slight glare. "What does this look mean? Say it why don't you." She told Kazuma.
"Nothing, I'm just glad I'm not a Lolicon like Ash is." Kazuma said. However realizing too late that the last part slipped out on accident. Looking over to the half demon he saw his eyes were dangerously glaring at him. "N-now Ash, I didn't mean it! I'm sure you two would make a lovely couple...mercy?" Kazuma asked as he had fallen from his chair and crawled along the ground with the man in question looming over him. The only response to his plea of mercy was Ash slowly grabbing the Yamato's handle. Kazuma sighed and stopped crawling. "Just not the face." He said resigning himself to his fate.
"No promises." Ash said. That moment the guild all turned to see why someone was screaming so loudly and immediately looked away after realizing what was happening to poor Kazuma.
A few moments later Ash was finished and looked at the KO'd Kazuma. "Akira." Ash called putting making the man stiffen a bit.
"Y-yes! I didn't say anything this time!" Akira nervously said. He didn't want to end up like Kazuma just did.
Ash turned and began walking away grabbing the collar of the Fighter and dragging him with him. "While they find an easy quest to level up Aqua we shall be here training via sparing or getting our own quest. Let us make haste and leave." Ash said. The two were gone from the guild with onlookers confused as to what they planned to do for a quest or to each other.
"Sooo which are we gonna do?" Akira asked as they stood at the guild's entrance. "I'd be down to go a few rounds with ya." He said to Ash eagerly, punching his fiat into his palm.
"Well...I did say that was an option. Very well let us go find an open area; we don't want to destroy Axel now do we?" Ash asks, making Akira chuckle.
The two proceeded to go through the market area so they could head for the gate, guards stopping them then letting them out simply with no issues. They looked around for a while trying to find a nice open spot with good scenery so they at least could look at a nice sight while they spar. Eventually they find one: an open plain like spot next to a small pond, trees in the distance as birds flew overhead and animals drank and ate peacefully.
"This is perfect. No people to disturb us and natural scenery to give more beauty to the land." Ash said looking it over. "You should know why I agreed to this by now." He says looking over his shoulder a bit to Akira, who walked up to his side and followed his gaze over the scenery with his arms behind his head.
"Yep. You wanna try and force a DT transformation. Problem is I don't think it'll work like this." Akira says to him. Ash shrugs as he walks a few steps away.
"It couldn't hurt to try. You ready?" Ash asks as he grabs hold of Yamato's handle.
Akira smirks and summons Gilgamesh taking his stance. "Bring it on." He says as the two start to wait the other out. They moved at the same time launching at one another, kicking up the ground behind them as they did.
They met in a clash with Yamato's blade sparking against Akira's armored fist. The same thing that happened in the Guild Hall happened again as the two Devil Arms pushed against one another; this time however Ash moved Yamato down redirecting Akira's punch and making him stumble a bit before bringing the scabbard up and using it to hit the young man. Akira saw the attack coming however, and using the momentum of his fall he brought his left leg up and charged it briefly for a hard kick to Ash's face making the half demon skid back a bit.
Akira wasted no time and rushed in. However he had to dash to the side as a Summoned Sword stabbed into the ground right before him. Ash kept launching them as Akira got closer till he was just about to be close; at that moment Ash grabbed and flipped over Akira's arm where he gave a few slashes to the Fighter nicking his armor a bit. He followed this up by keeping a hold of the arm and coming back into Akira's back, pushing him forward and pending on his feet.
Akira looked back and touched where the Yamato slashed. "Well that was stylish." Akira jokes. "You're not goin all out though, I can tell. What's holding you back huh? If this was an actual fight you'd be in danger like this." Akira takes another stance as he charges Gilgamesh.
Ash flipped Yamato over into his other hand and pointed it at Akira. "If you were anybody else, and this was a real life or death fight, you'd already be on the ground bleeding out." Ash proclaimed as he bent his knees a bit with Yamato still pointed at Akira.
"You know what? I'll take a gamble: I don't believe you." Akira said, daring Ash with the glint in his eyes. "And to top it off if I win...Imma tell a certain Crimson Demon how you feel." Akira declared boldly to Ash, making him narrow his eyes.
"You wouldn't." Ash shouted back attempting to call his bluff, and while Akira was a smart man he was a bit scatterbrained in a scenario like this as he didn't notice the dangerous glint in Ash's own eyes.
"Oh I will. And then I might tell her about your 'other half'. I'm sure she'd-woah!" Akira yelled out dodging another Summoned Sword. He looked up and noticed the change in Ash's eyes, their slit and red demonic appearance. "Oh shit." Akira simply said as Ash teleported toward him at an alarming rate. He was on the Fighter in an instant almost performing the Million Stabs move making Akira block as best he could, Gilgamesh getting chipped here and there as he kept his stance as guarded as possible. When the attack was over he expected Ash to be back to normal- of course he was wrong as Ash did a Rising Star followed by an Ariel Reave Combo B before sending Akira to the ground with a hard hit.
The Fighter staggered back to his feet with cuts and bruises all over. Some blood trickled out and hit the ground before him as he looked in at Ash as he took a very familiar and very frightening stance. "Ready or not, your Judgment has arrived." Ash said as the power in Yamato built up. Akira acted fast as he dashed to the side, just barely missing the Judgment Cut. He had no time to rest as he had to keep dashing and dodging as Ash unleashed more of the deviating move till he was close enough that he could trash himself for a Rapid Slash.
"My turn!" Akira called out as the Dark Slayer got grabbed by his left covered hand. He used his right to punch Ash in the face a bit before pushing him back and giving him a devastating round house. "And how about this!?" Akira yelled out using his skill Kick 13 to rapidly kick Ash and send him rolling away with the final blow. "There...you calm yet?" Akira asks panting from the amount of speed he had to use and from the pain he was in thanks to the katana. Ash looked up showing his eyes hadn't changed yet making Akira groan. He popped his neck and arms as he hoped in place. "Alright, round 2." He said getting ready.
Ash Rapid Slashed forward again but this time he stopped just before hitting Akira. Instead he followed up with a combo he personally liked; he hit Akira four times ending where Yamato was in a reverse grip, then finished it up with a quick countless number of slashes. Then he hit him two more times before hitting him one more time with the blade to send him away- but he didn't let the Fighter rest there. He dashed forward for a Rapid Slash, hitting it finally, then did it again ending right in front of the dazed Akira. With a quick Upper Slash he sent the Fighter into the air where he knew it was done. Putting up his hand he summoned a fast spinning sword that hit Akira as he fell back down. "Let's have some fun." Ash said, smirking as he dropped Akira and his eyes went back to normal.
"Oooouch." Akira ground out from on the ground. He tried to lift his arm but was hit with an immense amount of pain all over his body. "You...done?" He asked Ash.
"I hope this taught you not to interfere in such business of mine." Ash said looking down at the poor Fighter.
"Heheh...you admit...there's some business...there after all~." Akira says, causing Ash to kick him.
Ash sighs however as he looks back at the sun. "We better get back; I'll carry you there and see if anyone can heal you." He says to Akira.
"Whoopieeee." The Fighter says passing out due to the pain. Ash gives a small smirk as he leans down and picks Akira up.
"This was an eventful experience, some good training too." He looked back again and saw all the holes and damage to the land and cringed. "But maybe I did go a bit overboard. Sorry buddy." He says, beginning to walk back with Akira in tow.