Disclaimer: I don't own Fate Stay Night or High School DxD. They belong to Kinoko Nasu and Ichiei Ishibumi respectively. If I did, I would have already created an Ilya route in the VN with a fully-grown and matured Ilya as the heroine and make a badass protagonist for High School DxD instead of a pervert like Issei.
A/N: Sorry for being so late. A combination of IRL matters, my muse kept dying and reviving and playing new games on my PSP have been keeping me from writing this. Hope you enjoy it. And please remember to review. If any of you noticed any kind of error or inconsistencies, please don't hesitate to tell me.
Updated: 16/03/2015
- Story Start -
Rias woke up early as usual.
It was the next day after their unwelcomed invited guests had left.
After that, the tense atmosphere that pervaded the air ever since Raiser and his peerage had arrived seemed to evaporate. It was partly thanks to Shirou's cooking that everyone in her peerage really enjoyed. Even the usually strict Grayfia was unable to resist the temptation of Shirou's cooking and joined them.
However, what really made them lighthearted, was the sight of Raiser having to back off without being able to make any kind of meaningful retort. Just remembering that scene made Rias want to laugh out loud with glee but she resisted from doing so as it was unbefitting of someone like her, thus she had to be content with some small giggles.
The circumstances of his reincarnation as a Devil aside, Rias considered herself fortunate to have Shirou join her peerage.
At first, she only revived Shirou because she couldn't bear to see Akeno, who was her best friend, in such a despairing condition. Rias could still clearly recall Akeno's crying face as she clutched Shirou's cold dead body tightly in her embrace. It was such a sad scene that Rias herself felt the pain emanating from Akeno as if she was the one who had lost someone important to her instead of Akeno.
Afterwards, although she didn't regret that she had used up one of her Pawn pieces like that, Rias was quite worried that her choice would negatively affect her peerage. She was after all, responsible for the well being of every one of her cute servants and her choice to revive Shirou as her servant was a very critical decision that will affect all of them.
As it turned out however, she needn't have bothered worrying about it.
Ever since his joining, Shirou has shown to be very capable in various aspects.
Swordsmanship.
Archery.
Cooking.
Leadership.
And various other qualities that Rias couldn't have asked for more from someone who she recruited without much consideration. Even Shirou's often sarcastic nature was quite a welcoming quirk of his personality.
Seeing Akeno try and fail many times to tease Shirou was also some of the funniest memories Rias could recall.
Even Yuuto and Koneko seemed to have benefited from Shirou's inclusion to her peerage. This was especially true for Yuuto as Shirou had also begun instructing Yuuto in how to better use and master Sword Birth in addition to the battle experience that Yuuto and Koneko had been accumulating from their sparring with Shirou who was obviously more experienced in matters relating to combat than all of them put together.
From what Rias was able to glean from asking Yuuto about the new swords that Shirou had produced yesterday, it seemed that the both of them had begun experimenting on producing Demonic Swords that mimicked a conceptual attribute instead of the usual elemental ones.
All in all, Rias was quite satisfied with the capabilities of her Pawn.
What was puzzling her however, was why she was able to easily reincarnate Shirou using only one Pawn piece.
With Shirou's competency in various fields combined with his ability to create swords out of thin air, it was a miracle that she only needed one Pawn piece to reincarnate him. Shirou's potential shouldn't be so low as to be valued with only one measly Pawn piece by the Evil Piece system.
Perhaps it had something to do with the secret that Shirou was keeping from everyone?
If so, then she will not look into it any further no matter how tempting it was to know what the secret was.
She had promised Shirou that she would not press him into revealing what he was keeping from them and she will honor that promise unless circumstances were dire and their livelihood hanged in the balance. That said, she couldn't imagine what kind of secret that Shirou was keeping that would lead to that kind of situation.
Rias was quite sure that whatever secrets that Shirou had, it was a personal thing instead of something dangerous.
"Well, it's no use thinking about it." Rias said to herself as she looked at a reflection of herself in the mirror. She had already taken a bath during her ruminations and had put on a suitable clothing for a hike up a mountain where her servants training would commence.
Shirou and Akeno were in agreement with her that the mansion she had lent to Shirou for Ise's training was a good place to train her peerage for the upcoming match.
Which brings her to her other Pawn that she was lucky to have recruited.
The possessor of one of the Longinus class Sacred Gears, the Boosted Gear.
The current Sekiryuutei, Hyoudou Issei.
To think that she would be able to recruit a user of such a rare Sacred Gear. Granted, Ise was currently very weak even after Boosting to his current maximum capacity but something like that could easily be remedied through training. With a Devil's constitution and lifespan, Ise could train longer and become stronger to the point that she had no doubt that Ise could become the strongest Pawn in the Devil's history of the Evil Piece system. Sacrificing one of her Mutation Piece and four of her Pawn Pieces to reincarnate Ise was a small investment in the long run.
Ise's perverted antics was also fun to see. It felt like she had gained a cute and idiotic little brother. His cute interactions with her second Bishop, Asia Argento, also gave her a warm feeling inside. Those two lovebirds couldn't have been more obvious about their feelings for each other with how they always seemed so happy whenever they were in each others vicinity.
"Looks like everything's perfect."
After being satisfied that nothing about her was out of place, she quickly produced a Magic Circle to teleport herself directly into Shirou's room. She didn't bother to teleport herself to the Magic Circle that was prepared inside the dorm where Shirou was residing for easy access because she thought it was a hassle.
She was also hoping to catch Shirou off guard in his sleep. It would be quite interesting to see how her Pawn looked when sleeping. She wondered if he would look innocently cute or whether Shirou would look ridiculously funny in the morning with bed hair and such.
It was a mistake that she would never forget.
"Good morn-" Once the glow from the Magic Circle disappeared, she started to greet the owner of the room only to pause in mid sentence once she had a good look of what the room's inhabitant or inhabitants were doing.
There wasn't just one person on the single bed in the room, there were two.
Shirou and Akeno.
If it was just them sleeping together, than Rias wouldn't have bat an eyelid but right now the two of them were doing more than that.
Both Shirou and Akeno were completely naked with Akeno sitting in front of Shirou while her back was facing him in an erotic fashion. Shirou's right hand was groping Akeno's right breast and playing with her nipples while his left hand was pleasuring her private part. The both of them were kissing with Akeno's head leaning backwards and her left arm around Shirou's neck while her right hand was stroking Shirou's huge sword. Their eyes were closed so they probably didn't notice the Magic Circle that indicated Rias's arrival.
They did however, realize Rias's incomplete greeting and was now looking at her with flushed faces from ecstasy as Rias felt her blood start to gather to her head. She was sure that her face was now completely red. It was one thing doing such sensual acts herself but another to be witnessing two of her servants and one of which was her best friend doing it in such an erotic manner in the middle of the morning.
Silence was all consuming for a few moments as the two parties stared at each other.
It was Akeno who broke the silence. "Oh my, Rias. Would you like to join us?"
That did it.
Rias spluttered her reason for coming here which was to inform them of their hike up to the mansion as fast as she could and teleported out of the room immediately.
She was never going to teleport directly inside of Shirou's room ever again without prior notice.
xxx Scene Break xxx
A few hours after Rias blundered into Archer's and Akeno's private time together, all the members of the Occult Research Club currently found themselves hiking up a mountain.
"Huff... huff..."
Ise was currently going up a relatively steep slope while carrying luggage that belonged to Rias and himself. Ise's bags aside, Rias's bags seemed to be packed with various heavy articles. Most of the essentials were packed in one bag while the two other bags contained dumb bells that were somehow enchanted to be a lot heavier than it was supposed to, though Ise didn't seem to have realized this yet.
Thanks to that, although they weren't even halfway up the mountain yet, Ise looked like he was going to collapse from sheer exhaustion.
"Hee~... hee~..."
Ise's breathing that sounded like someone who was winded was definite proof that he was almost at his limit.
Ise's current predicament was something that was both a punishment and a necessity.
The punishment was for riling up Raiser during yesterday's fiasco. Not only did he tried to provoke Raiser, he even completely forgot Archer's teachings from their ongoing training sessions. In other words, Ise had recklessly charged at Raiser without even waiting for his Boosted Gear to fully power himself up. The result was that he was about to be mauled by Raiser's whole peerage and as a consequence, Archer was forced to show his hand in order to save him.
Thus, Ise was deemed to require some form of punishment but since Rias didn't want to be thought as a cruel King by her peerage especially since Ise's actions were done for her sake, Archer had suggested for Rias to punish Ise with training as an excuse. Rias readily agreed as it combined both the element of a necessary training exercise and giving an appropriate punishment that wasn't too excessive.
This kind of training was, as usual, meant to increase Ise's stamina which was the very fuel for his Boosted Gear. The higher his base parameter, the easier for him to become stronger with the Boosted Gear. The training also increased the maximum number of times Ise could multiply his powers.
Since Ise's foundation was very low to begin with even after being reincarnated into a Devil, he will have to work hard to become stronger if he wanted to achieve his dreams. Not that Archer would allow Ise to have his way with all the beautiful women in the world if he could help it.
Archer had been spending some time with Ise to influence his way of thinking bit by bit. He had already figured out that trying to steer Ise away from his perverted dream for a harem was impossible thus, Archer had decided to make Ise limit himself only to those who he would choose to include in his peerage.
Of course, Archer had also made sure that Ise would only take in those who were willing to be part of his peerage by their own choice while fully understanding what it entailed instead of through force. Thankfully, Ise had already decided to only include women who would return his feelings into his peerage when the time comes that he become a High-Class Devil and receive his Evil Pieces, so it wasn't really hard to persuade him in that regard.
Hopefully, once he was through with Ise's brainwashing, he would not have to worry about Ise's perverseness causing the world's overpopulation anymore.
"Hee~... Shirou... hee~... how... hee~... can you... hee~... still... hee~... move? Hee~..." Ise asked while gasping for breath.
"I train a lot more than you." Archer answered Ise without a hint of tiredness in his steps or breathing.
Of course this wasn't true. He was carrying luggage which was two times as heavy as the one Koneko was carrying which was about nine to ten times heavier than what Ise was carrying and Koneko was a Rook that had the strength and defense trait while he was only a Pawn who wasn't allowed to use Promotion. Even though he's currently using Reinforcement to strengthen his body, a hike up a mountain with heavy loads was still a draining activity. It's just that he was able to hide his exhaustion more discreetly.
The heavy loads were something that Rias made Archer carry. Her excuse was that Archer was stronger than Ise so he should carry more but Archer suspected that their encounter that morning was the cause of Rias trying to punish him without being obvious about it.
Rias wasn't obvious about it but seeing Archer hike up the mountain without any outward signs of suffering or exhaustion despite it being her way of punishing him displeased her a little. She might be smiling at him with her usual confident smile but he could see some small twitches at the corner of her mouth every now and then that clued him in on her charade.
What a terrible Master I have. Archer mentally sighed while smiling a little at Rias's antics.
Rias sometimes reminded him of Rin with their confident personae. The thought of Rin made him feel nostalgic as he started to wonder how everyone else in the last Holy Grail War was. Ever since he recovered his memories, Archer had at times reminisce on some of the happier memories he had before he became a Counter Guardian and the various lessons he learned after he became one.
It was something that he felt was out of character for him but he found that he had started to be at peace with his decision to become a Counter Guardian as he started to remember the various times he butted heads with his stubborn younger selves in the different versions of the 5th Grail War. These were memories that he only experienced as if he was only reading a book when he was a Counter Guardian but somehow after being reincarnated and recovering his memories, those memories seemed to have also been integrated in his mind as if he was experiencing them himself.
Archer didn't know why this was the case but he didn't really mind as he felt some of his previous belief in his ideals started to burn again. It was necessary that his previous vigor in pursuing his ideals be alighted again if he was intending to become a hero that was worthy of the Throne. It was both his dream and his salvation.
To that end, I need to become stronger, so this kind of training is as necessary to me as much as it is for Ise. Archer logically concluded.
During the hike, Asia who traveled lightly expressed a desire to help Ise every now and then but was discouraged by everyone who convinced her that it was a necessary part of Ise's training. Even Ise said that he would carry on like that until they reached the mansion.
Other than showing his disbelief on how Archer was able to carry more luggage than him without even showing any kind of strain other than sweating, Ise didn't complain about this method of training. Even when he was obviously exhausted beyond his limits, Ise still had a strong determination in his eyes. It seemed that he was determined to become stronger no matter what kind of suffering he had to endure.
"I'm... hee~... going to... hee~... become... hee~... a Harem... hee~... King... hee~..."
...It seemed that his determination was fueled by perverted motivations.
Archer was amazed that Ise could still think of something like being a Harem King in this kind of situation. He wondered whether Ise's Origin was something that had some connection to perversity which was the source that made Ise into a pervert.
Getting rid of such silly ideas, Archer decided to concentrate instead on the hard trek up the mountain. It was the first time he realized how far up the mountain the mansion was located at. He never actually noticed it since he and Ise usually teleported straight to the mansion before this.
"Buchou, I gathered some herbs. Let's use it for the meal tonight."
Kiba said that while walking past Ise and Archer with a cool expression. He's also carrying a huge piece of luggage on his back albeit it only looked two times bigger than Ise's. Ise was lost for words when he saw Kiba walk up the mountain without any difficulty.
Archer evaluated that Kiba had quite the amount of stamina since he also went to gather some herbs during their way here.
"…See you later."
Then Koneko who was carrying more luggage than Ise walked past them.
"Uoryaaaaaa!" That seemed to be the last straw as Ise gathered up all his remaining strength and tried to hasten his pace in order to keep up with the others.
Seeing someone smaller than him being able to carry heavier loads than him seemed to have triggered some kind of desire that made Ise not want to lose to her. His spirit only lasted for a few moments however, as he didn't even made it more than ten meters before his pace slowed down again to the same pace he had before. This happened a few more times as they hiked up the mountain.
They continued on like this for a few more hours until they finally reached the mansion at which time Ise finally collapsed on the ground not moving. His pupils were white and his breathing was slow.
"Hmm. Maybe we went a bit overboard." Rias commented as she observed Asia fretting over the unconscious Ise.
"He'll be fine. Watch this." Archer said as he suddenly got an idea on a way to immediately wake Ise up.
Moving close to Ise, Archer said directly into his ear. "Hey, Ise. Rias and Akeno are naked in the hot spring and they started groping each others breasts."
"WHERE!? BUCHOU AND AKENO-SAN GROPING EACH OTHERS BREASTS WHILE NAKED IN THE HOT SPRING! I WANT TO- Ouch!" The response that Archer had expected came immediately as Ise instantly got up from his slumber and started demanding to see where the erotic scene that Archer had described earlier in his ears but before he could finish his ramblings, Archer had lightly smacked his head.
"What was that for? Huh?" Once he was able to form coherent thoughts, Ise finally realised the weird situation he was in. Every one of the Gremory group had gathered around him. They all had amused expressions on their faces except Archer, Koneko and Asia who had annoyed, disgusted and worried expressions respectively.
"What's going on? What happened?" Ise asked.
"You fell unconscious once we arrived in front of the mansion and wouldn't wake up. Emiya-kun instantly woke you up after he said in your ear that Buchou and Fukubuchou (Vice-Club President) are naked in the hot spring." Kiba answered Ise's query.
"Oh. I see. Ahahaha." Comprehension dawned on Ise once he was able to put the pieces together and tried laughing away his shameful behavior.
"...You're the worst." Koneko gave Ise the final blow that made Ise hang his head in shame.
"Alright then. Everyone, get inside and put on your tracksuits. We're going to continue the training in 15 minutes so we'll gather here again at the appointed time." Deciding that everything was fine now, Rias ordered everyone to prepare for the real training that they came here for.
"Ugh." Ise looked like he wanted to complain but he held his tongue. Instead, he followed everyone else's example and went to his designated room on the first floor of the mansion which was between Archer's and Kiba's room. Ise arrived at his room just as Kiba and Archer was about to enter their respective rooms.
"Don't peek." Kiba said in a teasing tone to Ise.
"Yeah. I don't swing that way too." Archer said to amuse himself.
"I will seriously beat you two up!" Ise replied heatedly as he entered his room and slammed the door behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, all the club members gathered in front of the mansion as Rias had instructed and their training from hell began.
xxx Scene Break xxx
TOK. TOK. TOK.
The sounds of wooden swords hitting each other can be heard throughout the clearing.
Once everyone was gathered in front of the mansion, Rias had first decided to gauge everyone's current battle potential by having them do a quick spar.
The first pairing was between Ise and Kiba.
With more experience in fighting under his belt, most of the people there had expected Kiba to easily knock out Ise in under a minute however it had been more than five minutes and Kiba hadn't even been able to get in one clean hit yet.
Every swing of Kiba's wooden sword was either blocked by Ise's own wooden sword or dodged entirely. That said, Ise's movements were still clumsy and both his blocks and dodges almost always left him open to a follow up attack and made him look pathetic but somehow Ise was still able to keep Kiba from hitting him.
Granted, Kiba was holding back and he hadn't utilized his speed as a Knight just yet but for a complete amateur like Ise to be able to escape from being hit by any of Kiba's strikes was quite an impressive feat.
Even if Ise seemed to be unable to find a single opening to make his own attacks, being able to buy himself time was actually a very important factor for Ise considering his Boosted Gear's ability to multiply his powers every ten seconds. This was what Archer had been aiming for in the training regimen he had made for Ise.
Archer had concentrated on making Ise sharpen his instincts for danger and trained him to use every possible means that he could think of to escape from being incapacitated. The result of Archer's training method was currently showing itself in this spar as Ise kept himself from being hit by strikes that can give a significant damage.
Archer had thought that his teachings had already sunk inside Ise's mind but his actions yesterday had proven otherwise. Archer had already started planning tougher training regimens so that this time, Ise will take his lessons to heart.
"Alright. That's enough." Rias finally decided to end the spar.
As soon as Rias stopped the spar, Ise immediately dropped down on the ground and gasped for breath while laying on his back. On the other hand, other than a few drops of sweat on his forehead, Kiba didn't even even exhibit any indication of being tired.
"Yuuto, how was he?" Thinking that Kiba had more experience than her in close quarter combat, Rias decided to defer to his judgement on the spar.
"His blocks and dodges were awkward but he was able to keep moving and prevent me from hitting him." Kiba calmly started to explain his opinion.
"His footwork might look a bit bad but I actually had a hard time to find a good opening and even when I did, he was still able to create a lot of distance between us to escape from my offense. Although he got some scratches and bruises from my attacks, none of them was a clean hit. I think he'll need to work on his skills more but for only a month of training, it's not bad." Kiba stated while sounding impressed.
"Also, he was fighting after only a fifteen minute break from our hike so his performance was hindered because he's still exhausted. His real ability should be more impressive than this. If this is his ability without using his Boosted Gear, he'll be a monster once he has Boosted to his maximum power." Kiba finally ended his analysis.
"Well, there you have it. Good work, Ise." Rias complimented Ise.
"Huff... Thank you... huff... very much... huff... Buchou." Ise replied between gasps of breath.
"You too, Shirou. Your training method seems to be paying off."
"Of course, Master. I made sure to make his life hell, after all." Archer replied smugly.
"You're a... huff... sadist." Ise said while glaring daggers at Archer.
"I'll take that as a compliment as your instructor." Archer said while giving Ise a mocking smile that made Ise wished that he could punch Archer with all his strength.
Unfortunately, Ise knew very well that his torturer was much stronger and more skilful than him. Their on-going training had impressed upon him how large the gap between them was. He might have a chance if he could Promote to Queen and multiply his powers with his Boosted Gear to his current maximum power but he still doubted that he could beat him. He was still too inexperienced in battle.
This fact was already proven during one of their training sessions when Shirou had made him Boost twelve times (the current maximum number of times he could multiply his powers) while Promoting to Queen and they faced each other like that. Shirou barely used any of his stamina or Demonic Energy in the match. All he did was skilfully dodge or parry all of his attacks until his Boosted Gear had Resetted and his powers returned to its normal state, at which time Shirou had given him a sound beating.
There were many limitations to his powers and Shirou had tried his best to make him realize how fatal those limitations were. It was a lesson that he should've already learned but he was too proud of his Sacred Gear to have heeded them.
Ise regretted for becoming overconfident after defeating two Fallen Angels and letting his victory get to his head. Thanks to that, they had lost the element of surprise as the existence of Kiba's new creation, the Dark Keys, was revealed to the enemy and its abilities were most likely figured out by Raiser and his peerage by now.
He had asked Kiba about the abilities of the Dark Keys during yesterday's feast. Apparently, the Dark Keys can completely bind the person who's shadow was pierced by the sword. Unfortunately, continuous experimenting revealed that the stronger someone was it needed more of the sword to completely bind that person.
For example, most of Raiser's peerage needed two to three of the sword in order to completely bind them. Both Raiser's Queen and his sister however, needed five of the Dark Keys for the binding effect to completely take hold.
In a situation where the enemy was taken by surprise, the Dark Keys can be used to completely incapacitate an opponent without even inflicting a single scratch on them. Against Raiser who was an immortal with powerful regenerative powers, it was a very useful trump card but now that the enemy was aware of its existence, it would be harder to catch them off guard in order to use it and all of that was completely his fault.
If only he had a better control over his emotions, then their current predicament could be easily solved the moment either Kiba or Shirou would pull out those Dark Keys while Raiser and his peerage were unsuspecting of their motives during the Rating Game. Thanks to him getting riled up however, Shirou had to use the Dark Keys to save him. Again.
How many times did he need to screw up before he was satisfied?
Shirou died protecting him all because he was fooled by a Fallen Angel.
Asia died protecting him from being killed by a Rogue Priest.
And now, the person he admired might be forced into a marriage she didn't want with a playboy that clearly only desired her for her beauty and her title because he was too stupid to keep his emotions in check and was saved again at the cost of revealing one of their hands.
Their only chance now was to win the match so that Buchou's engagement will be cancelled and in order for that to happen he will need to become stronger in these ten days.
He will not screw up again. What kind of a Harem King would he be if he let someone else than him take Buchou's virginity?
"Buchou's virginity is mine! I won't let anyone else take it!" Ise had silently swore this in his heart.
"I already know Shirou's, Yuuto's and Koneko-chan's abilities because I always watch their spars before this so it won't be necessary to pit them against each other again. Now, our next training would be-" Ignorant of Ise's inner desire for her virginity, Rias wanted to declare their next training regimen but,
"About that, Master. I would like to make a suggestion on what our next training would be if you don't mind." Archer had cut off Rias before she could finish her sentence.
"Why not? I'll agree if I think it's good enough." Unperturbed from being interrupted, Rias just motioned Archer to continue with his explanation.
Archer's next smile made chills go down the spines of everyone present before he started to elaborate on what he had planned for their training.
xxx Scene Break xxx
This was overwhelming.
Emiya had suggested they train in a situation where they were outnumbered and Buchou had easily agreed to the suggestion. After all, their enemy would clearly use their advantage in numbers against them as much they could. It was one of the disadvantages of Buchou not having completed her peerage yet.
In contrast, Raiser's group who had sixteen members if you include the King himself as well, outnumber them almost three to one if you discard Asia who was not a combatant and was delegated a supporting role. Basically, there was a very high chance that any one of them might find themselves fighting against three opponents at once. Maybe more, if the other side was able to plan efficiently and with more experience in the Rating Games under his belt, Raiser may be able to do just that.
The training's set up was simple enough.
They were made to fight by themselves against the rest of the club or as Yuuto himself had decided to call it, the Gremory group.
Yuuto had already guessed that this training session would be tough but he had no idea that it would be this hard.
Lightning strikes coming from above, compressed Demonic Energy heading in his direction at the slightest opportunity, strong punches and kicks that could break bones directed at his openings and arrows that traveled faster than bullets aimed at his legs. Yuuto was glad that Buchou had reincarnated him as a Knight because its trait that increased his speed was the only thing that kept his body from getting a direct hit from these attacks.
As it was, he was hard pressed to dodge even some of the attacks that were coming his way. Especially the arrows Emiya shot at him that kept brushing past his legs as he did his best to get his legs out of the way of the arrows trajectory every time he noticed that Emiya had nocked one of his arrows. Yuuto had made sure that he kept a close eye on Emiya ever since the training started because he was sure that Emiya's accuracy with his arrows was going to be his downfall if he didn't pay attention to him.
That said, Yuuto had a suspicion that the only reason he was able to escape those arrows at all was because Emiya had let him.
Emiya was a bit of a mystery to Yuuto. The Pawn was well versed in swordsmanship, archery, tactics and strategies and even the various kinds of domestic chores. However, what really made Yuuto wary of him was the way he carried himself.
There were many times that Yuuto had the impression that he was talking to an adult that had endured many hardships and pains in his life when he talked with Emiya. It was a similar feeling as the many times he conversed with his own Master who had taught him to wield a sword and who was already around one and a half century old.
Basically, Yuuto felt that Emiya was far older than what his age suggested.
It was a good thing that the guy was on their side.
Yuuto thought that Buchou's decision to reincarnate Emiya as part of her peerage was the correct move. Emiya's mystery aside, he had no doubt that Emiya was not a kind of person who would betray them without a very good reason. The many times that he had spent with the Faker (that's what Emiya had called himself during one of their training sessions) was enough to know at least that the Pawn had a good heart.
Yuuto felt that they had struck gold to have been able to recruit someone like him with only one Pawn piece.
Not only did Emiya proved himself to be highly capable in battle or domestic matters, he was also a very good teach- no, instructor. Yuuto's mastery of his Sacred Gear has been improving ever since Emiya had started coaching him in the finer arts of sword smithing.
Emiya's attention to detail of the Demonic Swords that Yuuto produced had allowed for the creation of stronger Demonic Swords. All of Yuuto's previous creations have been upgraded considerably thanks to knowing more of how paying attention to the swords basic structure and composition can increase their durability and power.
Not only that, he had also started to be able to produce weapons that were imbued with enchantments instead of elemental attributes even if he still sucked at it. To be honest, he was disappointed that he was unable to produce true Conceptual Weapons that 'actualizes a concept of the record held by the world itself', which was what Emiya's explanation of what a Conceptual Weapon was capable of. Sill, he'd take what he could get.
Truly, he would not have even thought of trying to imbue his weapons with something as abstract as concepts in his weapons if Emiya hadn't suggested it. It might take him years to completely master this newly discovered ability but for the sake of his revenge, it was a worthwhile endeavor even if he was only capable of imbuing enchantments instead of actual concepts in his weapons.
Now, if only he could only find a way to use those abilities to make a single moment of an opening to get out of his current predicament.
Yuuto's various spars with Emiya had taught him how important it was in conserving one's stamina when in a battle of attrition. That said, being peppered with all kinds of attacks from every direction without a chance to even catch his breath was pushing both his stamina and concentration to the utmost limits.
So this was what he will most likely be facing in the Rating Games against Raiser's peerage in ten days. If they were intending to win, than this kind of training really was necessary in order to keep themselves from being taken out in the beginning of the game.
Fortunately, the objective of the training was for them to last as long as possible until reinforcements arrive or escape and hide from their aggressors instead of trying to defeat their opponents single-handedly, though Emiya also encouraged them to take down any of their enemies as long as it doesn't put themselves at risk. If that's the case, there were a few options that were available for Yuuto to exploit.
Again, he was thankful for his spars with Emiya for making him realize the other uses for his Demonic Swords instead of just a way to directly attack his opponents or defend against their attacks.
"Ey." Koneko let out a sound in that usual monotone voice of hers as she made a downward kick from the air with her left leg that was aimed for his head.
The attacked missed Yuuto by mere millimeters and shattered the ground where he was standing a split second ago as Yuuto jumped as far back as he could to escape the encirclement. The shaking ground as if a small earthquake had occurred seemed to have caught Emiya off guard as his balance was disturbed for a tenth of a second and it made the follow up attack come a bit later than intended.
This small opening was enough for Yuuto to initiate one of the plans he had formed during their briefing of this training.
At the same time Emiya had shot his arrow, Yuuto had already formed a small dagger in his hands and threw it on the ground as he dodged the arrow. The moment the dagger was lodged into the ground, black smoke was released from the dagger and completely obscured the surrounding view of the clearing.
The dagger was something Yuuto had created with Sword Birth about ten minutes ago so he hadn't enough time to name it or even put much thought in its construction to make it sturdy but that wasn't a problem as it wasn't intended to be used in direct battles in the first place.
Yuuto took this time to hide himself in the forest, away from the eyes of his attackers. Taking refuge on one of the trees and making sure he was completely hidden from view, Yuuto calmed down his erratic breathing and focused on his hearing.
Once the smoke produced by the dagger had dispersed, Yuuto could hear the surprised voices of the rest of the members of the Gremory group as they searched for him using their eyesight. When they failed to find him, a clapping could be heard coming from the air directly above him.
"Well done, Kiba. You were able to get out of that situation quickly enough before you received any significant damage and wasted your stamina but,"
Kiba turned his gaze upward to see that Emiya was aiming one of his arrows at him.
"Checkmate."
xxx Scene Break xxx
The training during the day had completely exhausted most of them except Archer, Asia, Akeno and Rias since by the time it was Archer's turn to be bombarded by the group, they had all exhausted their stamina and Demonic Energy while the rest weren't even scheduled to be the training's victims. Thus, Rias had concluded the training for the moment seeing as about half of the group can't even move a finger anymore and it was almost time for dinner.
Rias was quite pleased with her peerage's performance as almost all of them had lasted until sunset even with such a brutal training method.
When it was Koneko's turn for her to withstand the group's concentrated attacks, she had performed splendidly. As soon as the training started, Koneko didn't hesitate to change into her Nekomata form so that she could be at her best.
In that form, she was able to have better control of her touki so that both of her agility and flexibility increased to the point that she could keep up with Kiba who was using half his speed in the training. Combined with her high strength and defense as a Rook (which were also strengthened by her touki) and her martial arts, Koneko was able to just shrug off weak attacks while dodging or parrying most of the attacks that could penetrate her defenses and at the same time targeting anyone who let their guard down.
In the end, she lasted more than fifteen minutes before she finally succumbed to her injuries and Rias decided that it was enough. She was later healed by Asia and other than having exhausted more than half of her stamina, she was back in shape to participate in the training's next session almost immediately.
Koneko's use of her Nekomata form shocked almost everyone who knew how much Koneko hated that form. It was only after the training had ended that they got an explanation from Archer.
Before the training had started, Archer had already convinced Koneko to use her full potential and not to hold back anything. Archer had discovered Koneko's unwillingness to use her strongest form due to her past during one of their sparring sessions when he asked her why she never used it in their spars.
Archer managed to finally convince Koneko to use her Nekomata form by making her fully realize what was at stake in the upcoming match. Mainly, Rias's freedom and well being.
Rias was both touched by how much Koneko cared for her that she would once again utilize her hated form and angry at Archer for manipulating Koneko in such a way.
In Archer's defense, he had only told Koneko to decide which of the two was more important to her.
Her loathing for her Nekomata form.
Or Rias.
The fact that Koneko had chosen her made Rias hug Koneko while shedding tears of joy and thanking her. She was happy that she meant more to her compared to her anger towards her sister who was the source of Koneko's reluctance to use her Nekomata form.
The touching scene would have continued like that if Koneko hadn't realized Ise's perverted look which was directed at her.
It seemed that Ise also had a monster girl fetish as well on top of his other fetishes. It didn't help that Koneko looked real cute with her cat ears and tails which suited her quite well. Even Archer thought the word 'moe' in his mind the first time he saw Koneko in that form though he hid his true thoughts and didn't say it out loud.
The way Ise was looking at her made Koneko feel really uncomfortable to the point that she tried to poke Ise's eyes out with the classic two-finger-eye-stab.
Ise became the next training session's punching bag after his eyes were healed by Asia.
For someone who didn't have any prior experience in fighting large number of people, Ise did quite well. He was able to keep himself from getting hit by some of the stronger attacks but he generally was at the mercy of most of the sword slashes, magical attacks, punches and kicks that was aimed at his body. He especially kept an eye out for Archer's sword arrows as previous experience had dictated how dangerously accurate Archer could be with his bow.
Despite looking helpless from the onslaught that kept coming his way, Ise was able to keep himself in the game until he 'Boosted' himself five times which was when he finally decided to activate his Boosted Gear's ability. For the next few moments he was able to keep up with Koneko's punches and kicks, enough to even surprise Koneko as he grabbed one of her arms and quickly tried to fling her at Kiba. It seemed that he planned to entangle the two before running into the forest and completing the objective of disengaging from the enemy.
Unfortunately, before he could make her fly at Kiba, Koneko had enough reflex to grab his arm instead and immediately reversed their positions. In the end the one who was flung tens of meters away into a tree was Ise who passed out right there and then.
After that, Rias made everyone other than Asia and Akeno do a grueling physical training until sunset. She especially concentrated her attention on Ise who she considered their trump card against Raiser. Poor Ise was made to tie a heavy rock on his body in addition to Rias herself riding on the rock while climbing a steep mountain path and push ups while said rock and passenger were on his back.
The others were also subjected to the same kind of physical training. They were used to using Demonic Energy to strengthen themselves unlike Ise so it was supposed to be less taxing on their physical bodies but Rias had anticipated this and gave them heavier loads based on their physical limits which made their hell not unlike Ise's.
In the end Archer and Koneko were the only ones left standing at the end of the torture. Ise and Kiba who had less physical strength were down on the ground gasping for breath.
Rias had temporarily dismissed them as dinner time was near though it didn't mean that their training had finished. Far from it.
Their next training was taken up by Akeno almost immediately after.
She was to instruct them on how to use magic.
Unlike Rias's spartan training, Akeno's training was more relaxing. This wasn't because she was a kind instructor. Not at all. The relaxing atmosphere of her training was to ensure that their minds would be calm and collected. This was an essential step on trying to use Demonic Energy to perform magic.
From what Archer could understand from Akeno's lecture, Devil magic was dependent upon the user's imagination, so the user must have a clear picture of what they wanted to produce. Since Akeno's explanation sounded like how he usually used Projection, Archer decided to just try doing what Akeno instructed him to do while picturing a sword in his mind without activating his Magic Circuits.
The result was that a small dagger like object made of steel-coloured Demonic Energy formed in his hand. The dagger was around the same size and dimension of a kitchen knife but without the details that usually accompanies his Projected weapons. The dagger looked like a small lightsaber made of pure energy from those sci-fi movies compared to the solid blades that were stored in Unlimited Blade Works. Archer decided to experiment further once he had some privacy.
The next person who was able to unleash their Demonic Energy was Asia. She had managed to make a knuckle sized green ball of Demonic Energy form in her hands. Considering that her Twilight Healing emitted the same color whenever she used it, Archer thought that it suited her quite well.
As expected, Ise was the last person who was able to use his Demonic Energy but Archer really wanted to facepalm when Ise finally figured out his own brand of magic. It seemed that Ise was intending to use his magic to strip - Yes, strip - girls who he was able to come in contact with.
Even his magic's discipline was something born from his perverted desires.
Archer was once again stumped with the degree of Ise's perverseness. Perhaps he should sic Koneko on Ise in her full powered Nekomata form so that she could end the boy before his perverted desires extended to innocent women. He was sure that Koneko was also disgusted with Ise's constant perverted actions.
...On second thought, Koneko might be in danger of getting raped because of that pervert's monster girl fetish.
Contemplating further on Ise's perverted magic made Archer realize that Ise's magic could literally destroy an enemy's armor. A useful ability if the opponent was wearing armor with troublesome defense properties like negating certain elements. Not to mention that he also had the ability to copy Ise's magic if he used Structural Analysis in advance to scan his enemy's body structure and unlike Ise who could only use them on females, he could do it on males as well.
Of course, he didn't have any perverted motives like Ise. Nope, not him.
Once Ise figured out how to use his own magic, Akeno had made him practice with peeling tonight's various ingredients for curry. After that, the training devolved into a cooking class led by Archer. This was actually an expected turn of events considering that their training was done in the kitchen and Ise had repeatedly peeled cooking ingredients for his training.
That night, the Gremory group ate dinner that Archer had made for them.
In addition to the curry that they had initially intended to make for dinner, there were also fish and boar meat that Rias herself had caught in the mountain, some salad with a special sauce dressing made from Archer's own recipe, soup that he had taught Asia to make, pasta and finally pudding for dessert. Ise's training had produced an excess of ingredients for tonight's dinner so Archer decided to use all of them instead of wasting them.
After all, with how much energy the group had expended during the day, he was sure that everyone would be very hungry that night.
CHOMP. CHOMP. CHOMP.
SLUUURRRP.
GLUG. GLUG. GLUG.
Just as Archer had anticipated, almost everyone who had to participate in the training was eating the dinner with complete gusto though most of them still managed to eat with proper table manners. Ise and Koneko were the only ones who had abandoned such etiquette. The sound of them eating their food and the sound of cutleries clinking on plates filled the dining table as the two of them were stuffing their faces as if they were swallowing the food instead of chewing them.
Of the two of them, Koneko was the one who was emptying almost all the dishes on the table. From Archer's observation, Koneko would most likely be able to rival Saber when it comes to their appetite. As for Ise, he was eating while crying manly tears as he kept praising how delicious all the foods that were made that night. He was especially happy when he drank the soup that Asia had made in one sip and praised Asia that she would make a good wife someday which caused her to blush happily. Unfortunately, Ise didn't notice Asia's reaction and kept on eating.
Idiot. For someone who's aim is to become a Harem King, he is clueless about the feelings of the girls around him. Thought Archer.
Once all the food was gone, the group drank some green tea to wash down all the food in their stomachs. All of them had satisfied looks on their faces.
"Now, Ise. From today's training what have you found out?" Rias asks Ise after drinking her green tea.
Ise puts his chopsticks down before answering Rias's query.
"...I am the weakest among us." Ise said as he gave her his honest answer.
"Yes. That's for sure. It seems that you've already accepted that." Despite Rias saying such damaging words so plainly without any hesitation, Ise didn't even look dejected. Instead, there was a burning determination in his eyes that told of his strength of will.
"Yeah. I noticed it ever since my training with Shirou and watching him sparring with Kiba and Koneko-chan but I never really accepted it until I was saved by Shirou again after I was easily beaten by Raiser yesterday. I became too proud when I found out how amazing my Boosted Gear was." There was a mix of regret and resolution in Ise's eyes as he looked at his left hand where his Sacred Gear resided.
Archer who noticed this, silently approved. If yesterday's debacle was able to make Ise less impulsive in the future, then maybe it wasn't a total loss for him to have used the Dark Keys. At the very least, it seemed that Ise had matured a little. Also, it seemed that Ise had started to show signs of having a strong resolve in his heart.
"Correct. Akeno, Yuuto, Koneko and Shirou have lots of battle experience even though they have not participated in the game, so they can fight if they get used to it. But you and Asia basically don't have any experience yet. Even so, Asia's healing ability and your Boosted Gear is something that can't be ignored. Even the enemy knows that. I want you to have at least the power to run away from the enemy." Rias started to explain to Ise her train of thought.
"I understand. Shirou always pointed out about that during our training. He always said that it's important that I have to learn how to buy myself some time to Boost myself up by running, hiding, distractions and whatever else I could think of."
"Good, it seems you understand. That's right, running away is also a part of the strategy. Retreating to form a new formation is also a professional way of battling. There are ways to win a match like that. However, running away with your back facing an enemy is something quite hard. If it's an enemy with roughly the same strength as you, it's easy, but showing your back to an enemy who is far superior to you is basically asking them to kill you."
"So being able to run away from such an enemy will also be a part of your strength. Hiding and distracting the enemy to buy yourself time are also important and valid strategies. I'll make sure that all of this will be taught to you and Asia very thoroughly within these 10 days. Of course, I will also make sure that you're taught how to fight the enemy head on."
"Roger that."
"Yes."
Asia and Ise replied to Rias at the same time.
"Let's take a bath after this. It's an outdoor bath so it's wonderful." Nodding at Ise's and Asia's reply, Rias suddenly dropped an explosive statement.
Right on cue, Ise's eyes started to open wide and he started to have his usual perverted look.
Archer could easily guess what Ise was thinking so he decided to give Ise a warning. "If you try to peek on them I'll tie you to a tree for the whole night." There was no way he was going to let a pervert like Ise anywhere near Akeno when she's naked. Not without her consent at least. Akeno herself was a pervert in her own right after all.
"Ugh." Ise looked dejected at Archer's threat.
Rias however just chuckled at Ise's behaviour. "Oh, Ise. Do you want to peek at us while we are taking a bath? Then how about you bathe with us? I don't mind."
Ise immediately went rigid at Rias's declaration and hope started to show in his eyes.
"How about you, Akeno?"
"I don't mind. Ufufu. I might want to wash a gentleman's back." Akeno said while sneaking a glance at Archer. It seemed that she was up to one of her tricks again. She was probably trying to gauge his reactions with her being with another man.
Despite knowing what Akeno was up to, Archer couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable with the image of her being with someone else. Fortunately, he was able to hide his emotions beneath a mask of indifference due to centuries of mental discipline.
Ise however, didn't notice any of this drama happening in front of him and was beginning to get excited at the prospect of bathing with the girls in an open air bath.
"How about you, Asia? You should be all right if it's your beloved Ise, right?"
Asia blushed and became quiet after Rias's question, but she eventually made a small nod with her head.
Ise started breathing hard as his excitement was reaching it's peak from having his wish of bathing with beautiful women almost coming true.
"Lastly, Koneko? How about it?"
"...No."
Ise completely deflated at Koneko's merciless final judgement which deprived him of the chance to realise one of his life's wishes.
"Then, it's a no. Too bad-"
"I don't mind Shirou-senpai, though." Koneko continued on with her sentence while cutting off Rias's unfinished phrase.
Koneko's statement made the whole room silent. No one knew had what caused such a turn of events and all of them were robbed of their words during that moment because of it. Even Archer was speechless. So far, Koneko hadn't shown any interest in him as a potential lover and now she went on to say such a daring statement. He was quite sure that Koneko never viewed him that way before and he was puzzled at what had changed that.
"SHIROU, YOU BASTARD! YOU ALREADY SANK YOUR CLAWS INSIDE KONEKO-CHAN'S INNOCENT FLESH DIDN'T YOU!?" Ise who broke the silence started accusing Archer of crimes he didn't commit while letting out tears of jealousy.
For Archer's part, he completely ignored Ise's tantrum as he judged that arguing with Ise would be counterproductive.
"Ara. Koneko-chan, since when did you started liking Shirou?" Akeno asked with a naughty face. It seemed that far from being jealous, Akeno had thought that it would be hotter to have a threesome instead of just her and Archer in bed. She had even started imagining Koneko in her Nekomata form with herself wearing a bunny outfit cosplay and Shirou getting it on.
"...He was kind and would always make desserts for me." Koneko answered while her cheeks became a little red.
"Oh? How come I didn't notice this?" Rias started to be a bit excited at hearing about another person's love life.
No matter what kind of world or race, it seems teenage girls will always like to gossip. Archer silently thought without letting any of his thoughts show on his face.
"...Didn't want to get in between Shirou-senpai and Akeno-senpai at first." Koneko said shyly. She suddenly looked at Akeno with a determined face. "I won't lose."
Akeno however, only looked at Koneko with an amused expression. "Ufufu. Is that so?"
"Oh, give me a break." Archer muttered under his breath so that no one would hear his complaints as he felt a headache coming on.
