AN: Well that didn't go as well as I'd hoped.

So, less than 10k! I did end up splitting it into two chapters, but it also means the training trip is going to be two chapters. I do apologize for that. I did write about 10k words this week, about a chapters worth. I also deleted about 5k of it and another 2k was an essay I wrote by accident. So I'm going to be catching up for a while.

And more AU stuff, I changed up the magic system to suit my own tastes because I am both lazy and clearly have too much time on my hands.

Warnings: Nothing, unless you have a fear of electric shocks. Or massive amounts of pain, actually.

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything and would have been a child when the first volume of DxD was published. Well, a younger child at least.

I was dreaming of something. A crooked truth and a straight lie, a lost thing found in eternity. And it had teeth.

Then a wave of pure cold ran over my back, down my spine, and impaled my brain, causing my eyes to fly open with a yelp as I attempted to perform a panicked retreat only to topple off the bed, landing on the floor in a soggy heap. After taking a moment to figure out which was was up and clutch the blanket tighter to my shivering body, I glared up at the perpetrator of my sudden wakeup call, who was pretending to hide her laughter with the back of one hand.

"That was both cruel and completely uncalled for, Akeno-san." I'm sure I would have gotten up if she had simply called me. Probably. Eventually.

For some reason that made her laugh even harder, not even trying to pretend she wasn't, her twinkling eyes fixed on the blanket I had tucked back around me as if trying to peer through to the soaked form beneath it. "But it worked and was entertaining! Which means it was completely necessary."

I rolled my eyes and gave it up as a lost cause, letting the soggy blanket drop as I stood up and swung out my arms to get some stray drops of water off, doing absolutely nothing to help my situation. "Yeah yeah, whatever. So why do you need me awake all of a sudden?" I briefly glanced outside one of the large windows in the guest room I was borrowing. "And when the sun's barely up, too?"

Akeno gave me an apologetic shrug she clearly didn't mean, smiling in that annoying way she did. "Well, you did sign up for a training trip, didn't you? We only have ten days, after all."

The look I shot back was clearly not impressed. "I didn't sign up for anything, you guys told me we were going to work on training, shoved a pack into my arms and basically dragged me up here last night."

While I was impressed that Rias had an entire mansion hidden away just a short while away from the town, I was considerably less impressed to be informed that Rias had wagered her engagement on us being able to get stronger than a literal phoenix and a fully trained peerage in ten days.

It was only slightly better to hear that it was her only shot at freedom, but was she really expecting us to improve that drastically in such a short amount of time? Rias and Akeno were both really serious about it though, so I'd just have to do what I could.

"So, again, why'd you wake me up?" I queried, mentally weighing the odds of it being for an actual reason or Akeno just taking the opportunity to mess with me while she had it. So far, the latter one was winning out over the rest.

Akeno hummed slightly, but I could feel her demonic energy beginning to shift slightly. "Well it's probably a good idea to start with the basics, so Rias decided people would be running laps around the house."

I nodded, still suspicious and keeping an eye on her hand. "Uhuh. And is everyone else waking up to cold water, too?"

The black-haired devil gave a warm smile that had probably stolen the hearts of hundreds of men already, tilting her head and clasping her hands daintily in front of her chest. It just made me shiver. "Nope~ I insisted that I be the one to handle my cute student. Besides," her hand raised up and a flicker of static jumped between her outstretched fingers. "Consider this to be… extra motivation."

I briefly glanced down at my soaked pajamas before paling, realizing just what Akeno had planned. I slowly dragged my head up and gave Akeno the most pleading look I could muster. "You wouldn't… right?"

Akeno just smiled.

Not two seconds later I was dashing out the door of my room, jumping down the large marble staircase and ripping open the door to begin my laps. And why was this house so huge! It had to be five-hundred meters around the whole thing!

On my first lap, I was too panicked to notice anything except my possible demise by reverse-defibrillator.

On the third, I realized I hadn't seen Kiba, Koneko, or Issei yet.

By the fourth, I knew that something was up.

I slowed to a stop as I rounded the bend, panting heavily but still standing upright as I glared at Akeno's peaceful face. "Where… are the others…"

She blinked innocently back at me, before looking at the horizon to gauge how high the sun was. "Probably still in bed. They should be up in about an hour."

"Akeno-san?" I said, looking into her eyes seriously. "I hate you." My declaration was quickly followed by a yelp as a bolt of yellow lightning skimmed my left shoulder and I quickly set out on my fifth lap, mentally cursing Akeno the whole way.

True to her word, the other members of the peerage showed up about an hour later, refreshed and surprised to see me slowly making my way around the house, one lumbering step at a time.

"Hey, Kado!" Issei ran up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. At least I think it was Issei. It sounded like him, but I couldn't tell since everything was just a blur by that point. "What are you doing out here so early?"

I didn't have enough air or energy to respond and just focused on making another step forwards. Then Issei let out a gasp tinged with betrayal. "Did you get up early so that you could spend all this time training alone with Akeno? How could you!"

Issei's words seemed to come through a thick haze as though they were traveling underwater and I couldn't think to react to them, but I faintly felt a sensation of a hand heavily slapping my back before I realized I had just lost my balance and was falling forwards. That's the point that I blacked out.

That basically set the stage for the rest of the days activities. Rias seemed to have taken most of her cues from "Shounen Training for Dummies", since the schedule, which she had shown off with a proud look on her face after everyone else had done their run and I had regained consciousness, involved hours of physical training followed by hours of sparring followed by hours of magical training.

I'd noticed there were some thirty minute gaps between the scheduled times and latched on with the intensity of a drowning man, practically begging Rias to tell us that those were breaks.

Rias, the sadist-in-training she was, happily explained that those were times when either she or Akeno were going to take one or more of us off to the side to go over "special" training. She winked as she said that, but it didn't stop me from mournfully whistling the imperial march as Rias joyfully paraded us out to the courtyard for our prescribed three hours of physical exertion.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

My back hit the warm and far-too green grass with a thump, proof of Kiba's victory yet again. Really, what was the point of having me fight Kiba to try and learn how to use a sword? That certainly hadn't done anything when I was fighting against Akeno for a month, so how was it supposed to work in three days?

As I was trying to find the strength of will in me to get back up again just to get knocked back down within seconds, I caught sight of Kioko's long blonde hair far away across the field. It was surprising that she'd managed to find this place, since I didn't think anyone in the peerage, including me, had told her where it was or what we had planned to be doing.

Distracted, I was caught completely unawares by a sharp tap on my head that sent sparks of pain trailing across my scalp. Wincing, I glared up at a sheepish but guiltless Kiba standing above me, lightly twirling a wooden sword in his hand. "Sorry, Kai-san, but Buchou said no slacking off."

You're enjoying this just as much as Akeno does, admit it! I groaned out loud and accepted his hand to pull me to my feet, stumbling slightly as my legs refused to support me for a split-second. I'd been "sparring" with Kiba for over an hour now, which equated to me uselessly trying to block his lightning-fast blows and failing as his sword would almost magically curve around my own to hit me at an area I wasn't protected.

"Hold on a second, Kiba," I said as he prepared to hand me my own practice sword. "I think I see Kioko over there." While it was slightly odd, I was almost expecting her to show up just when I needed her by now. I shouldn't get too used to it, but it was nice to have someone support me.

The agreeable knight held off for a moment to gaze across the wide yard we were using to practice in. "Hmm, that does look like Horikawa-san," he mused. "That's odd, I don't think Rias had told her where we were holding the training…"

"Maybe Sona told her," I offered, but really didn't care so long as she gave me an opportunity for a break. I hadn't actually tasted food in days, just inhaled it before I fell asleep. Thank the gods for Kioko and her impeccable timing!

I couldn't help casting a pitying look over at Issei farther down the field. He was currently facing off against Koneko, supposedly to build up his strength and reflexes, but I'd heard Rias had given him the task of destroying a mountain by the end of training. Apparently she had high hopes for him.

Me? I was just hoping to not die. Even with my efforts in the last month, I was still a useless excuse for a pawn in comparison to… everyone else. Didn't mean I didn't have other ways of making Rias' wish happen, though. I was ruminating over possible ways of either finding or creating some corruption to dishonor Riser and get the contract nullified.

Stepping forward on wobbly legs to go see what Kioko was up to, I was blindsided by another hit on the back of my left knee, ruining my already unsteady balance and leaving me on my back once more.

Above me, Kiba was wearing the same faux-apologetic expression while deftly twirling his sword in intricate figure-eights, my own discarded one dangling from his other hand. "Sorry, but Buchou said to do that if you tried to quit halfway, too."

All my hatred, Rias. All my hatred. You too, Kiba, you accessory of murder-by-exhaustion. The police will hear of this and- and probably get hypnotized to ignore it. Stupid cheating devils who cheat.

Sighing, I somehow managed to get back on my feet and begrudgingly accepted my training sword back from Kiba. The knight walked a few steps away before pointing his sword at me, a sign that he was about to attack. I positioned myself at an angle to Kiba, putting forward a thinner outline for defense and held the blade out in front of me with both hands in what Kiba had told me was a beginner's sword stance.

Then all I saw was a blur of movement arcing towards me as I hastily brought my blade back in a horizontal parry to my right side, guessing he'd go for my stronger side. The honorable types were so easy to read.

His blade impacted against mine as he materialized for a second, the speed of his blow pushing the tip of my blade back and against my shoulder despite my resistance. Then his sword slid smoothly off the end of my own, leaving me off balance and pushing at something that wasn't there even as the knight's form blurred out of sight again.

I went with the momentum and lurched to the right, bending down on one knee in an impromptu duck that left Kiba's blade whistling above where my neck was moments before. This movement left my left leg dangerously outstretched and open, but Kiba wasn't the type to attack such an open target, especially when it might harm my ability to spar.

There was no chance of me actually landing a hit against Kiba the wonder-boy, and much less of one to actually win one of these short bouts, but Kiba tended to become ruthless when he thought I wasn't putting my all into each fight.

So I had no choice but to grit my teeth and push upwards off my right knee, pushing both arms and sword in front of me in a lunge that would hopefully at least be in the right direction. My balance was sloppy and blow pathetically weak, but it was the best I could come up with at the time.

Naturally, that was the exact wrong move to make and I saw Kiba's blandly excited eyes for a brief second before something cracked me hard in the side of my head and I lost consciousness for the fifth time that day.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

As I came back to consciousness, I felt something hovering directly above me. Eyes flashing open, I took in the wide blue eyes and curtain of blonde hair looking sideways at my own face. I let a grin quirk up the corner of my mouth as I craned my neck upwards and lightly kissed the tips of her lips.

Letting my head fall back down onto the grass, I was suddenly feeling much better about the day's prospects. I looked up into her lightly blushing face and quirked an eyebrow in what I hoped was a roguishly charming manner. "So, how long were you waiting like that?" Her head pulled back and I could hear her insulted huff.

"I'll have you know I was prepared to perform CPR just in case you were in danger, but if you're going to be like that…" She left the threat unsaid, which was fine since I was pretty sure it was an empty one.

I hefted myself up onto my elbows and looked over at Kiba, standing nearby and still looking as immaculate as ever. "How long was she waiting to pull that off?"

The blonde knight glanced over at Kioko's face, a glimmer of good humor appearing in his eyes. "…I'd probably better not answer that. Sorry, Kai-san."

Rolling my eyes, I fell back down, using my arms as a makeshift pillow beneath my aching head. "You know, you apologize a lot. Anyone ever told you that?"

"Nobody that survived to tell the story."

My wide eyes slowly drifted over to the still grinning knight. I honestly couldn't tell if he was serious or not with those sincere pale blue eyes looking back at me. Then he cracked a smirk and I broke down laughing, pointing an accusing finger at the relaxed knight. "Haha, so you have a sense of humor in there after all!"

Kiba shrugged modestly. "I've toned it back a lot. As if fangirls need any more reasons to believe that I'm their soulmate." The usually-silent boy clasped his hands plaintively in front of his chest and fluttered his eyelashes upwards, sending me into another fit of laughter that Kioko joined in on. So this is what he was usually hiding behind his placid face, was it?

As the laughter calmed down, I was left lying on warm grass with a smile on my face and surrounded by friend and… family, I guess. Man, that just made this day even better. Kioko seemed to be enjoying herself too, which improved my own mood. I would hate for her to come all this way and have to sit back and watch me get beat up without having anything to do.

"So, about earlier," Kiba started, an embarrassed look on his face. "Sorry about knocking you unconscious before. I guess I got a little excited when you dodged those first two and got carried away. I should have been more careful."

Before I could wave it off and tell him it was fine, he continued, looking down at me with a worried expression. "Besides, you probably don't have many brain cells to spare as it is, I don't want you to lose any more."

I gave him a flat look in response to his newest joke. "Look buddy, it's all fun until-" I was interrupted by Kioko practically keeling over in laughter, eyes closed and hugging her stomach. "Oi oi, it's not that funny!"

"Y-Yes it is!" Kioko stammered out between breaths, falling over onto the grass.

Well if you're going to be like that about it… I huffed and turned away, refusing to acknowledge her presence. Against my will though, I could feel the corner of my mouth tilting upwards. Is this the power of friendship all those shows were talking about? I could practically feel my spirits lifting just by being near these two.

Although I would probably shoot myself before I started talking about the magic of friendship like I was in a magical girl show.

And it was probably best if I changed the subject now, just to save Kioko from death by laughter. Only that and no other reason, really. "So Kiba," I asked, "How come you aren't already whacking me with your stick? Doesn't this count as slacking off?" Yes this meant more work, but I'd rather have that then Kioko's untimely demise on my hands. Also it was the only thing I could think of.

Kiba's hand holding the sword twitched upwards as I referred to his weapon as a stick, but he managed to hold himself back with admirable focus. "Well, Rias came by while you were unconscious…" the knight said, suddenly awfully interested in the distant forest. Kioko had stopped laughing as well, and was now keeping ominously silent.

Hefting myself up into a sitting position against the protestations of my aching ribs and stomach, I asked "So what did she say?" Was Kiba embarrassed that he'd gotten told off for hitting me too hard? Ha, serves him right after that dig about my brain cells!

After a brief pause, Kiba spoke hesitantly, as if afraid that I would attack him or something. "…She said that we may have been pushing you hard and that you were ordered to head inside and get some rest, you can rejoin us for the magic practice later."

Really, I don't know why he was so worried if that was the message. It wasn't that I was being kicked out of the peerage or anything really bad. Just that I didn't need to keep training. When Rias' future was on the line.

I couldn't help glancing across the green field to Issei, who was currently dodging Koneko, who was swinging a tree at the brown-haired pervert. Compared to that, I had it easy. I kept a smile on my face, focusing on being able to actually rest my sore appendages for the first time in what felt like days. Instead of focusing on the fact that I was being dismissed as unimportant.

"Really? That's certainly nice of her, Kiba. Guess I'll head back to the mansion then." I stood up, brushing any stray grass stalks off my pants, and gave Kiba a smirk. "Who knows, maybe I'll even make you guys a late lunch when you get back."

The blonde gentleman looked faintly relieved at that, his eyes releasing the unspoken tension they had been holding. "Haha, I'd probably be safer eating plain rice than whatever you plan on making."

Holding a hand to my chest, I responded affronted. "Heathen! Clearly you have never tasted the wonders of my cooking then! I'll cook up a feast that will make you weep!" After a few more parting shots, we separated, me back to the main building while Kiba mentioned trying an obstacle course setup in the woods.

I was grateful as Kioko followed after me, not saying anything at the moment. We walked in silence for a short while before she hurried her pace to reach my side. "Don't worry," she said, lightly punching my arm. "You'll show them all. It's their loss if they don't see it yet."

All I could do at that was put an arm around Kioko's shoulders and pull her in closer, tilting my head so it touched hers. It seemed like she always knew exactly what I was feeling, and while it didn't suddenly change my mood around, my smile was just a bit more real as I stretched to my tiptoes and lightly kissed the top of her hair. "Yeah, it is, isn't it."

Walking through the large doors of the Gremory Summer Home(Small Version,) I considered what to do next. I had been joking about my cooking, and we still had about twenty pounds of curry leftover from Issei's sudden cooking spree. I had been virtually exiled from training outside for the time being, but I didn't want to be lying around doing nothing while everyone else did all they could for Rias.

Which only left one option. I turned my head to Kioko and gave the cockiest grin I could muster. "Hey, wanna come to my room and see me work some magic?"

Kioko's eyes widened and she stared at me for a few strained seconds while I mentally freaked out that I had said something wrong. Then she burst out laughing, even though I didn't even do anything. "What?" I asked, confused. "What did I say?"

Putting a hand over her smiling mouth, my girlfriend managed to muffle her laughter with some difficulty. "No no, you're fine, really." That rogue giggle doesn't help your case. "Just… what you said could be taken a very different way," she explained.

"Really?" I said, thinking back over what I had said. In my room… working magic… "Nope," I said, giving up. "Got no clue what you mean."

Kioko rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm. "Right, right, sure. Come on then, I wanna see your magic." I went along with her pulling motion, still somewhat confused.

"But don't you already do magic? Why would this be any different?" I'd only realized that my attempt to impress her was doomed from the beginning after I'd said it. Curse my situational awkwardness!

She started laughing again as she pulled me up the large staircase. "What? What did I say?" Some days I felt like talking to Kioko was like running something through Gugle Translate a few times. Fun, but you had no idea what was happening.

A few minutes later, we were seated on opposite sides of an almost delicately polished table in the center of the lush room I was staying in. Rias tended to be on the vicious side when it came to training, but she certainly didn't skimp on making up for it by making sure that our rooms and sleep were as luxurious as any 5-star hotel.

That or this was just the level of luxury she was used to and she wasn't aware to leave us with anything else.

Currently, Kioko was looking down at me with a fake attentive look on her face, following my every motion while I… traced circles. Akeno hadn't budged from her stance that my current skills at circle-drawing being "absolutely impermissible," and refused to teach me anything about magic past drawing it out until I had actually been able to manage the basics.

So here I was, working my way through the fifth circle, straining to keep my hand as steady as possible while I edged it slowly around the paper. Kioko breathed out a heavy sigh, causing me to look up with a start and my hand to jerk to the left slightly.

Kioko's face clearly showed her frustration as she stood up to leave and I opened my mouth to apologize for how boring this was. Then she stepped around the table and plopped down next to me. "You're going about this wrong, Kado-kun. Focus on making a pivot point and rotating the paper around that."

She picked up a spare piece of paper and pencil and placed her hand down on it, holding the pencil in an odd grip. "You have to use your finger as a focus and then just turn the paper." She demonstrated, and in two seconds was holding up the paper with a triumphant look on her face, a nearly perfect circle inscribed onto it.

"There, how about that!" She pronounced smugly, sounding as if she had just solved world hunger. "Oh, and you can stop gaping now," she added. "It's a little creepy."

I closed my mouth with a click of teeth impacting teeth, but it was another few seconds before I could drag my attention away from that near-perfect circle and up to Kioko's face. "You, my dear," I pronounced with the ardor of a man saved from the gallows, "are a goddess."

Leaning in to give her a quick peck on the lips, I tore away and whirled around to the table, grabbing another piece of paper before settling in to the task with newfound knowledge, putting all my focus into replicating Kioko's earlier feat.

After only four tries, I was able to get something that, while it wasn't as flawless as Kioko's attempt, was leagues better than anything I had done previously, and might even cut Akeno's harsh standards.

Turning a beaming smile to Kioko, I said "I could kiss you right now."

My girlfriend cocked an eyebrow, but there was still a faint blush on her cheeks. "You already did, idiot."

Well, I couldn't let her get away with that, now could I. So I kissed her again, holding it for a second before pulling away, slightly flushed myself. Since when was I so bold to do something like that? I changed the subject hurriedly, hoping Kioko wouldn't make a big deal out of it. "So… erm, do you have any other tips I could use?"

The blonde angel before me blinked twice, clearing her slightly hazy eyes. "Y-Yeah, I've got a few. I've been doing this for a while now, you know. You really should ask me about these kinds of things if you're having trouble."

Smiling sheepishly, I scooted over so she had more room and listened carefully as she started to explain the best kind of paper to use for magic circles.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

After demonstrating my near-perfect circles to Akeno —who insisted that I was cheating, even after I demonstrated Kioko's technique to her— I was finally allowed to sit in on the actual magic lessons, as opposed to sitting in a corner practicing more circles.

I was pretty sure I hated circles by now. I may never be able to eat a donut again.

The lessons were held in the mansion's plush-carpeted parlor, as Rias called it, with each person finding a seat on the multitude of soft leather couches or armchairs gathered into a loose circle, with whoever was teaching for the night making a demonstration in the center.

Akeno and Rias tended to alternate teaching, Akeno going over how to cast spells while Rias would explain the theory. Tonight was Rias' turn and she was busy explaining where magic originated from, tapping into a plane that held humans' dreams and desires, something that was often called the collective unconscious.

I was seated at the corner of one of the gloriously soft couches, Kioko nestled into my side like a baby chick with it's mother. She had been oddly affectionate since earlier that day and I wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. For now I just accepted it and stroked her hair from time to time, hoping that my ribs and shoulder weren't too uncomfortable.

Issei was seated on the opposite end of the room, with a look of such concentration on his face that I could only guess meant that he was attempting to use that power of desires to allow himself to gain x-ray vision. Ah Issei… Never change, but please change already and if you ever try that on Kioko I will murder you.

With the power of drawing circles. Fear me.

Yeah, as if. Issei, now that he'd manifested his true sacred gear probably had more power than me in his pinky finger. His left one specifically. What chance did I have of ever catching up to someone who was literally blessed by the gods? Singular, but I don't want to get a headache and cheap cop-outs are cheap.

"Kai-san!" Rias snapped out, giving an annoyed glare in my direction. I jerked my head around to face her, realizing that I had lost focus of the lecture, and Rias was sure to have picked up on it. "I am glad that Horikawa-san could join us," you say that, Rias, but your face and tone say something completely different… "but I will ask her to leave if she is being a distraction to you."

I honestly wasn't sure if that was Rias' peerage jealousy acting up, her devil instincts telling her that Kioko was going to steal me away, or if she was just that serious about teaching. She seemed like the type to get all serious about it, and I guess I had been underestimating that.

Straightening up, I gently pushed Kioko away just enough to let my side breath. "She wasn't distracting me, Rias." It was true, I'd been distracted by Issei and my own shortcomings. Don't blame her for something that wasn't her fault, Rias.

The King raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Indeed? Then you won't mind me asking what the three basic laws of magic are?" Is that what she had been talking about? I really must have been out of it to miss something like that.

Unluckily for Rias, that was something that Kioko had talked about just earlier that day. And with a name as cool as "Three laws of magic," there's no way I wouldn't remember them.

I answered, carefully keeping any hint of smugness from my tone. "Something cannot come from Nothing. And the second half of it, Nothing is Something." I raised one finger to keep count. "Everything is part of Everything else, all is Connected." A second finger joined the first. "And We are in the Everything, and in the Something, and in the Nothing. And It is in us."

My hand lowered and I gave Rias a false smile, enjoying her shocked expression. The three laws of magic sounded more mystical than they actually were, due to being coined by some magician thousands of years before with a wildly overblown sense of dramatics.

They actually interpreted to "Conservation of energy but with mana involved," "All is One, One is All," and "Magic works on us too." As Kioko explained it, nobody really uses the three laws anymore, instead learning how to use magic with their natural talent or bloodline instead of understanding the theory behind what was happening.

Rias finally closed her mouth and gave me an intrigued expression. "That was… very interesting, Kai-san." Her next comment killed any sense of satisfaction I had. "But now I know you weren't listening." She turned away from me with a sigh and addressed the whole room. "What you just heard Kai-san say were the three laws of magic, as known to the world two and a half centuries ago."

I shot Kioko a betrayed look that she steadfastly ignored, instead appearing to be transfixed by Rias' lecture. "They were disproved by Mephisto Pheles, the current leader of the Grauzauberer almost a century ago," Rias explained, placing one hand on her hip and raising the other in front of herself. "Mephisto Pheles proved the existence of both interphysical forces and intraphysical forces as they pertain to magic and the realm of souls, definitively debunking Merlin's theories of magic that had held precedence until that point."

My head was spinning trying to figure out what Rias was talking about, and judging by the looks on many of the others faces, they were in the same boat as me. Noticing this, the red-haired devil dropped her teaching pose with a sigh. "That's enough about that for today though. It will suffice to say that those laws are outdated, and more of scholarly merit than much else."

Turning back to me, Rias continued her earlier discussion with me. "Try to remember them this time. The first law is that demonic magic works outside the laws of the universe, while human magic works within the laws. The second law is that that demonic magic is symbolic, while human magic is literal. The third law is one that's universal for all the races." Her voice grew slightly somber and her gaze was fixed at a point just above my head. "Souls are composed of magic, and are so unalterable by magic."

After a moment, Rias blinked and turned away from me, returning to her lesson without another word to me. I cost a curious look at Kioko, who only shrugged slightly and moved closer to me again. Rias was acting strangely. Something about that third law had set her off, distracted her somehow.

I faced Rias again, not wanting to be called out for not paying attention again. There was something buried beneath Rias' outward expression, but now wasn't the time, I'd just have to wait and find out more later.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Later that night, while relaxing in the hot springs that were a part of the mansion, I was surprised by Issei plopping down next to me, sending a wave of displaced water in every direction. I cocked an eyebrow at the pervert. "Aren't you usually trying to peek on the female side of the bath by now?"

It had become somewhat of a tradition in the nights so far, and the only reason I hadn't tried to stop him is because I knew for a fact that Koneko got some kind of perverse joy from knocking him off the high wooden wall each time he tried to climb it.

Issei made a disgruntled face and shook his fist before him, presumably at the universe for his misfortune. "Koneko rigged the top with electric wire. Said she wants to relax this time."

"That hasn't stopped you before."

The brown-haired boy sunk lower in the water at my disbelieving look. "Yeah, okay. I wanted to talk to you, actually."

I shrugged, shifting slightly in the water. I was almost used to it by now, Issei coming up and asking me for advice at odd times. I didn't quite get why he didn't ask these things to Kiba, who was just on the other side of the hot spring though. Maybe I was closer to him or something. "Alright, what did you want to ask?"

There was a pause before Issei said anything, hesitating for some reason. "…I need to be stronger. I can't do magic, and I'm just not strong enough to put up a fight against how strong that fried chicken jerk is. I… I don't want her to get taken away from me."

All I could do was stare at him for a moment, taking in his sincere expression, soaked hair, and determined eyes. Then I threw my head back and laughed hard enough that I was out of breath in a few seconds.

Looking back at Issei's confused expression, I asked him "You do realize that you are asking that to the weakest member of the peerage, right? A professional boxer can kill a person with a punch. You can double that in ten seconds. Make it thirty seconds and you could probably punch through a house."

Issei shuffled uncomfortably. "But I can't hurt that jerk, he'd just heal right afterwards. And you're good at thinking, so I figured maybe you could help."

I considered for a moment, weighing the effort and the benefit, but there really wasn't any harm in giving a little advice. "Alright then, just give me a second." Closing my eyes, I tried to think of what Issei could do. The pawn's problem was that he couldn't hurt Riser. Which was ridiculous. If there was anything that books had taught me, it was that everything has a weakness. Physical or emotional.

Would kidnapping a member of his peerage do it? He hadn't seemed to care about the girls much in the short time that I had seen them, but that could have been an act, hiding a possible weakness or trying to look strong in front of enemies. So it might work, but would it be worth gaining the ire of the Phenex family along with most of the underworld?

No, best to set that aside in case of emergency. I didn't think that Issei would be able to actually kidnap someone, anyway. Might be a possibility if we lost the rating game though. Just one of a hundred possibilities.

Back to Issei's problem though. If we took for granted that Riser was immortal, than suddenly it was all about how long we could last. And that was a skill that Issei lacked right now. "Hey Issei," I said, opening my eyes.

The brown-haired boy's face quickly turned to my own with a fake look of interest on his face as he hid whatever he had been messing with beneath the water. "Yes?"

…Whatever. "So I know that you can punch hard enough to break a building or whatever, but does that help your defense?"

"My defense?"

I shrugged, shifting to find a slightly more comfortable position in the water. "Well if you get hit, won't it be better if you can take it and keep fighting? If you can't hurt Riser, maybe you can at least outlast him? Maybe even protect Rias with it?"

Issei opened his mouth, a slightly confused look on his face, but I continued with a deadpan expression on my face. "It won't hurt when the kendo club beats you up so you can go peep again without waiting."

The confusion immediately cleared up and Issei smacked a fist into his palm. "Right! That makes sense!"

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my towel and stood up, quickly wrapping it around myself. "Glad to hear it. I'll be getting out though, I've probably soaked enough." Besides, I couldn't help but to want to practice magic a bit more. Now that I had drawing circles down, I could practice my magic punch guilt-free!

As I got dressed and wandered back through the halls of the spacious mansion, I couldn't help but wonder out loud "Something defensive, huh…" Right now I was about as tough as a basketball. Hard to puncture, but still absurdly easy in comparison to Koneko or Akeno's bowling ball.

Was there some way I could last longer in a fight? Defense or dodging somehow? I briefly imagined conjuring a magical shield shaped like a flower, but shook it off with a smile. No way I could do anything like that, not when I was just barely starting to learn magic.

My train of thought halted as I got a glimpse of bright red hair in the parlor, illuminated by a single lamp shining down from one wall. Backtracking slightly, I peeked in the door of the room.

Rias was sitting in the middle of the room, red hair still wet from the bath, the lamp-light making it almost look purple in a stark contrast to her usual fiery appearance. Papers were spread out on the table in front of her. But what was she doing here alone? Usually the girls were in the bath for longer, "beauty bathing," as Akeno called it.

Sneaking forward, I slowly leaned over to see the documents. The one on the top read "Rating Game Between Riser Phenex and Lirei Farfarello." Looking at another paper slightly farther away, the title was the exact same, only with the competitor's name changed.

Humming slightly, I held back a smile as Rias jerked slightly, her elbow slipping on the paper and dropping her head a few inches. "Kai-san! What are you doing here?" One elbow instinctively covered the bottom part of the paper she was looking at before she grimaced at the mess and used both hands to gather stray papers, sorting them into one larger stack.

I got down next to the table as well and started helping, handing her files as she needed them and stacking a few together. "Not much, just saw you working in here and got curious." I cocked an eyebrow at the flustered girl. "I do have to ask though. Why are these written in Japanese? Don't you have a demon language or something?"

Rias stared at me for a second before she laughed, sounding slightly relieved. "Is that what you wanted to know? Something that simple?"

"Well yeah. Why, got any other secrets in there I should know about?" I asked jokingly.

Rias finished gathering the papers into a stack and gave me a wry smile. "It's not like it's a secret in the first place. I asked for them in Japanese just in case you or the other members of the peerage needed to read them."

Sitting back, I slapped my forehead. "Of course, I don't know why I didn't think of that. Talk about the easiest explanation." I chuckled slightly, but conversation trailed off after that, and we were left sitting in a companionable silence.

The quiet was broken before too long by Rias speaking up. "I actually meant to talk to you, Kai-san."

I cocked my head, turning it to look the girl in the eye. "Yeah? What about?"

Rias looked back down at the table, carefully lining up the corners of the paper stack with an intent expression on her face. "I told the rest of the peerage earlier, just to make sure that they were aware, but that was the time when you were getting ready to leave for the training trip so you missed it."

"I was gone for five minutes!"

The king shrugged, unrepentant. "It was a short talk. Anyway, I noticed when we were fighting the stray devil that you were… very resistant to allowing her to be hurt."

I kept my face carefully blank as Rias spoke. I'd been wondering the same thing myself. I was willing to hurt someone to keep someone else safe, I'd done it before. But I wouldn't let anybody die, and in a battle with super strength and magic flying around, death was a big possibility.

"So I'm telling you not to worry," Rias said, carefully grabbing my face with both hands and bringing it around to face her own caring eyes. "The rating game is held inside an alternate dimension, and whatever happens is reversed once a person leaves it by being retired. Every injury, every death is like it never happened."

My lungs stopped breathing for an instant before I took a deep breath of relief, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. I smiled at Rias, something shaky that quickly firmed up. "Thanks Rias, that really helps to know. Don't worry, I won't take it easy on them when your fate is on the line."

The red-haired devil smiled, something soft that I thought would fit better on my mom than on a teenage girl my age. "I know. Don't worry about it, just do your best." She released me and shooed me off with one hand. "You'd better head off to bed now. It'll be more training tomorrow."

Getting to my feet, I shot Rias an unsure look. "Are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself though?" It seemed wrong to just leave her alone in the dim light.

But the king waved it off. "I'll be fine for a short while, and Akeno will be out soon. I'll just rest my eyes for a short while until then."

Accepting her explanation, I gave Rias a final wave before leaving the room, glancing back to see Rias, already with her head lying on her folded arms. She certainly didn't take long, did she. (Look…)

Closing the door softly, I held back a yawn as I proceeded down the hall. Something about the conversation was nagging at me. Maybe something about how careful Rias was to not let me see the papers she was looking at. Or maybe it was the guilt dancing behind the caring in her eyes. But it all seemed to run together and become a blurry mess when I looked back on it. (…think)

Forced to put a hand on the wall to support myself as my vision grew wobbly, I put a hand on my forehead and felt the hot skin there. I must really be more sleepy than I thought. I'd probably better get to sleep before I come down with something. (…see)

Maybe I'd remember what was wrong in the morning. (Wake up!) I went to sleep and dreamed of red and a hole.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

"I will admit to having a certain fondness for the good old days. Well not that far back. Mostly the middling days. Kicking back, reading manga and books in my free time, and spending time with Kioko.

"Yes indeed. No supernatural shenanigans, no insane training, and no dying? Those were probably the best years of my life. Some days I look up at the sun shining above me and wonder if I can ever return to those times…"

"You can monologue when you're dead! Keep working and focus on the fight!"

A thin whip constructed of water sliced over my head, clipping a few hairs as I frantically ducked before rolling to the side, barely dodging a spike of rock emerging from the ground beneath me.

Ending in a crouch due to a devil's sense of balance, my eyes flicked from place to place, trying to locate Akeno behind any of the trees surrounding me as I breathed heavily to refill my lungs in the short respite I had.

Hearing a whistling sound, I jerked my head to the right, avoiding a razor-sharp projectile just in time and hearing it bury itself in the ground a few feet in front of me. Guess they weren't kidding when they talked about a devil's instincts. I could practically feel each time something was shot at me with how tense I was right now, blood pumping in my ears and my heart shuddering with every breath.

Seconds passing agonizingly slowly, I held my breath as I slowly stood up again, hesitant for any sign of attack. The forest was still, no sign of movement whatsoever, even the air itself was sitting heavy on the small clearing where I was training.

"Checkmate."

Hearing the voice form directly behind me, I didn't hesitate and dove into a roll, spinning around once I had landed to see Akeno standing where I had been a second ago, a peaceful smile on her face. And one hand raised in the motion of snapping her fingers.

Well drat.

The sharp clicking sound rang throughout the clearing and a purple magic circle materialized beneath me for for a fraction of a second before activating, pouring enough electricity through me to light up my bones.

By the time the effect had faded, on was on my face, breathing heavily and wishing that Akeno would really stop doing that because it was probably bad for my heart and I wouldn't even make it to the rating game at this point.

I heard a crunching sound and black stockings filled my vision as Akeno crouched in front of me. "You really aren't very good at this, Kado-kun." The girl clinically observed. "You'd die in a second if I was really attacking you."

I'm perfectly aware of that, thanks. It's kinda the reason I'm training in the first place. "Thanks, Akeno," I gurgled, forgetting to use her last name in my dazed state. "Really what I needed to hear."

Akeno sighed, something that was somehow both sorrowful and teasing. "You know, it would be easier if you used magic. You really shouldn't hold back on my account~"

That did it. Planting my palms into the grass and leaves of the forest floor, I pushed my upper body into an upright position, shooting Akeno an incredulous look. "What magic! All you taught me was to draw circles! And you didn't even do that very well!"

The devil sniffed haughtily and casually used her hand to bend my arm, sending me back to the ground ear first. "I taught you more than that, you ungrateful disciple. Although I clearly must have done an insufficient job if you are still this much of a failure afterwards."

"So you admit it?" My comment was rewarded with a shoe grinding my head into the dirt. Slapping away the offending limb, I finally sat up, rubbing my ear. "Yeah yeah, whatever. So then what is this other technique you taught me that I can't remember."

The black-haired sadist smiled mischievously, opening her arms in a theatrical gesture. "Did I not teach you how to access your demonic energy?"

"I figured it out myself and you took credit when I told you!" What was I thinking asking this girl for magic lessons? That she could be professional for half a second and had a modicum of skill at teaching. So again, what was I thinking?

Akeno shook her head sadly, still playing up the sorrowful teacher role. "Clearly, I have been inefficient in my teachings." She paused, pointing a finger in my direction. "So learn this lesson well, young one."

I rolled my eyes, but focused just in case my teacher was actually going to be helpful for once. "It is a lesson well learned that is learned by oneself." And with that cryptic and completely useless statement, Akeno manifested her wings and propelled herself back into the trees with an a single long leap, soon vanishing from sight.

That? That right there? Yeah, that's how Akeno teaches. All my hatred, Akeno! All my hatred! Groaning out loud, I stumbled to my feet and pricked up my ears for any sounds that might give away her location, hoping to reach the same state of instincts I had gained before.

Two lightning strikes and a small fireball later, I decided the strategy clearly wasn't working. Taking what little time I had, I tried to think of what Akeno was trying to achieve. As possible as it was that she was just enjoying hurting me, I was hoping she had an actual reason for it.

The reason I was out here was for a "magic lesson," supposedly, although so far the only magic had been the various elemental attacks thrown at me. So was I supposed to use magic to fight back? It was certainly what Akeno had been hinting at before.

Dodging a bolt of lightning and feeling the hairs on my arm prick up at the close call, I tried to think of what magic I could use. The one skill I had been working on so far, enhancing the physical force, hadn't worked and just ended up badly burning my hand. And I got the same result whenever I tried to use magic outside my body.

Was that the problem then? That I was trying to use it outside of my body? Slipping a metaphorical hand beneath the surface of my skin and soul, I pulled the the electric through the hard shell that was my soul, before leading it back up and into my body. Well I had it now, but what could I do with it?

I winced as a sliver of stone from a particularly nefarious shrapnel bomb dug it's way into my leg. Jerking out of my loose control, the demonic energy slipped away from my guidance and darted towards the wound, searching for… something.

Managing to divert it around the small cut, I created a small bubble of space around the inside of my leg, not allowing the magic to bypass it, unsure of what it would try to do to the wound.

But then a doubt trickled into my head. It couldn't be that bad, right? It was my magic after all, so it might even heal the wound. Besides, I had to learn about this power one way or another.

So relaxing the firm shield I had created around the wound, I let the magic in, feeling the tingling intensify as it found the wound before… vanishing. The demonic energy was slowly leaking out.

Opening my eyes, barely realizing they were closed, I looked down at my leg, but saw nothing. I was still bleeding in a steady stream, but there was no blue energy, no crackling effect, nothing.

Then were was the magic going? The only way it could escape would be through the wound, but I couldn't find it. …Which meant that it must be in the blood! And if it could be absorbed into the blood on the outside of my body, it could be absorbed exactly the same by the blood on the inside!

I realized that Akeno hadn't shot anything at me for a while, either recognizing what I was trying to do or shocked at making me bleed. Definitely the former. Whatever, it would certainly be harder to do this while dodging whatever attacks her sadistic brain cooked up, so I was grateful for the chance.

Slowly pressing the electric energy into my bloodstream, the demonic energy took that as it's cue and began rushing through my body like an excited snake, flickering through my body bit by bit, until it felt like my whole body was practically glowing.

Although I could feel that the bowl that usually held my magic was nearly empty, barely holding back a few drops. This technique was far too energy intensive to use constantly, especially since I could already feel the magic in my veins slowly fading, the metaphorical light dimming.

Something seemed to ping somewhere in my brain and for what was probably the first time in my life, I moved without thinking. Muscles in my foot I didn't know existed tensed, spinning my around before my other foot planting itself in the ground, immediately halting my motion.

My eyes caught sight of something flying towards me, a thin sliver of ice in the shape of a knife. Flimsy but probably razor sharp. And it was aimed right for my head. It wasn't traveling any slower than the other projectiles, but this time, I could see it.

Analyzing it's spin and speed with instinctive math skills I knew I didn't have, my hand snapped up and caught the ice dagger between the fingers of my thumb and my other four fingers. Then with a small exertion of force, broke the projectile, throwing splinters of it in all directions, too small to really hurt me.

And the whole thing happened in less than a second.

Now, enhanced by whatever magic voodoo this was, I could make out Akeno leaning out from behind a tree, and could even hear her murmured "I can't believe that worked." If you weren't sure, don't try it on me!

Sinking back into a more normal sense of being as my senses ratcheted down a level or six, I swayed for a moment at the loss of strength in my limbs. Reaching back inside me, I found the magic dying down from the glow of a supernova into what was closer to a fluorescent light.

Finding myself wobbling slightly, I held out a hand to steady myself. "That… that was crazy." Was that always what using magic was like? Man, a guy could get addicted to the feeling fast.

That was when the crippling pain started.

My legs seized up, every muscle suddenly razor wire slicing me apart and I toppled over sideways, screaming. My chest was next, a burning sensation that made me want to tear apart my chest to pluck out the ball of fire that was burning me alive. From there I could feel my neck seizing up, muscle by muscle, before the flames reached the top of my neck, where the spine meets the brain.

The world lit up white, leaves beneath me nails piercing my skin, the wind in the treetops a siren in my ears, and everything so bright I couldn't think. All my senses pushed to the maximum, overloading me until I passed out, my mind fleeing from the agony that was my body.

My last thought was that I wouldn't be able to apologize to Kioko for breaking my promise again.

End AN: I get it, my magic sucks. I did make up the three laws of magic, both sets, although you can probably notice a few ideas I got from other media.

The training isn't professional since Rias hasn't ever really trained before in her life, and is too prideful to ask her family or someone else for help. If she recruited Sairaorg for a week, the group would probably be better trained than otherwise, but Rias wouldn't want to look weak in front of someone she admires.

Akeno's way of teaching is much the same, not being professional at all. Akeno feels both confident in her skills and nervous in her ability, so she's trying to compensate by using how she was taught as a child and what she picked up while on the streets. She knows dodging is helpful, so she's trying to help with that. Part of the reason that she's not teaching Kado more magic is that she's currently the only real magic user in the peerage. If Kado picks up magic too fast or something that she can't do, then suddenly Akeno isn't as useful and that's something she wants to avoid as much as possible.

And yes, Kiba has a personality in the fic, because canon Kiba doesn't really get interesting until the Excalibur arc, and I wanted to show that in this universe that I created and affects absolutely nothing, he's a bit more than revenge and other repressed issues.

And just a small reminder that not everything is AU.

Last note, I found out how to draw a near-perfect circle on my own after a few minutes of experimentation. It actually works surprisingly well and I'd recommend it to anyone who needs to draw a really nice-looking circle without a compass or crazy hand-eye coordination.

Next chapter wraps up the training camp and a few other things. Hope to see you all then!