GBK 7
Edit: A previously unbeta'd version has been replaced with a beta'd version.
Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD or Sword Art Online.
"This isn't quite what I was expecting." Kirito said as he and Asuna drove down the street in his scooter, "Who'd have thought that devils delivered fliers by hand?"
"I'm not complaining." Asuna replied once they'd stopped and slipped another flier into a nearby mailbox, "I wouldn't be here if they didn't."
"That's true." He nodded, checking his phone, "How many more fliers have we got?"
"Six or so." Asuna answered, looking in the bag Rias had given her, "After that, we report back, right?"
"I think so." He answered, putting his helmet back on once he'd gotten the location of the next six houses, "Then let's get moving. I wanted to get some more work done on the mobile environment for Yui before we went to bed."
"You're such a workaholic." Asuna shook her head with a smile while he was driving down the street, "I can't believe you're the same Kirito who used to sleep instead of clearing dungeons on the frontlines."
"Hey, I just like to take it easy every now and then." He rebuked her, "Most of the time I was out clearing, remember? And I seem to recall someone falling asleep mere minutes after scalding me for it!"
"You may be right." She chuckled, "I don't regret it either."
"It's kinda funny. If you hadn't fallen asleep that day, we might still be inside SAO." He said softly, And Asuna nodded in agreement.
"I'm glad that we're not." Asuna replied, "As much as I loved that world, I much prefer being here, with you."
"Yeah, me too." He replied, "And I promise, we'll be together forever. I won't stop working until I'm a high class devil."
"Don't work too hard." Asuna giggled, hugging him tightly as they continued driving, "Feel free to rest in the grass every now and then. I'll make sure you don't get sleep pked."
"Until you fall asleep as well." He smirked before they shared a laugh.
Once the fliers were dropped off, the two returned to the headquarters of the occult research club. Rias welcomed them both back with a smile.
"Was everything alright?" She asked, "Were you able to find your way around? I know that you're still pretty new to the area."
"Not a big deal. The phone had GPS, so I just had to follow the directions." He replied, "I wasn't expecting 'work' to mean going around town dropping off fliers."
"Well, usually we have familiar for that." Rias admitted, holding up her palm. A small red magic circle appeared on her hand and a small red eyeball with wings appeared from the circle, "But I prefer to ease my servants into things. especially since you're new to the area. Once you've gotten the hang of things, we'll move on to the next step, which is making contracts."
"You mean like when we first met?" Kirito asked, and she chuckled.
"Well, I hope you don't run into any requests quite that serious for a while, but yes. We meet with clients and fulfill their desires for a predetermined cost. The requests that we receive daily range from making dinner for a lonely woman to exorcising spirits and eliminating stray devils. Naturally, you'd be much more likely to have the former, but since you want to move up in the ranks, I'll be giving you some of the tougher jobs a bit sooner than the others."
"Let me guess, if I make enough contracts, I get promoted?" He asked, and she shook her head.
"Well, it's not that simple, sadly. It used to be that that was the best way to get promoted, but it's very rarely done anymore, in favor of other methods. You'd need to make a major contract in order to receive a promotion on that alone. I believe the last devil to be promoted that way successfully performed a coup d'état and elevated the client to the head of a nation's government."
"That's not good…" Asuna gasped, and Rias nodded.
"However, they're not without merit. The number and quality of your contracts will certainly be a factor if and when your name is brought up for promotion, and the proceeds you make from your contracts are yours to keep, so there's that as well. And once you've been promoted, you and your own servants will have to do this for yourselves, so some practice is always a good thing."
"You mentioned that there were other ways to get promoted." Kirito noted, and she raised three fingers.
"As a general rule, there are three." She answered, "First, as I mentioned, is contracts. The second is proving yourself in wartime defending the Underworld. That is, by far, the quickest path to securing a promotion, but the risk is equally overwhelming. And aside from the occasional border skirmish, there haven't been any large scale wars for a few centuries, so that method has fallen out of practice as well."
"The last?" Kirito asked, and she smiled back.
"You've already made some progress in that regard, Kirito." she said, reaching into the desk and pulling out a small golden box, "This is for you. My brother dropped it off while you were out delivering fliers."
He and Asuna walked over to the desk and he accepted the box. Inside was a letter and a gem encrusted golden medal.
"For your skill and bravery, you were named the MVP of our Rating Game against Riser." She smiled, "Congratulations."
"No way…" Kirito said, and Asuna threw her arms around him in joy.
"You deserved it, Kirito." Rias replied, "You're the reason that we won. We'd have never been able to defeat Riser if you hadn't lured Yubelluna away and given us a chance to regroup. And even before that you held off the bulk of Riser's forces. AND you were the one to eventually defeat Riser's queen. Representatives from both sides are in agreement that you were the MVP."
"Thank you, Rias." He said truthfully, and she smiled back.
"And this is a very good start for you. The most commonly used method of receiving promotions is though the Rating Games. Getting the MVP in your first game is going to cause a bit of a stir. You can bet that my brother and a few others will be keeping their eyes on you in the future."
"One step closer." Kirito said to himself, smiling at the medal.
"In the future, I plan to take part in many more Rating Games." Rias said, "In fact, my dream is to become the champion." Looking at him seriously, she asked, "Can I count on your help, Kirito?"
"Of course." He answered, "I am your knight after all. "
"Thank you." She smiled back, and at the same time, Akeno reentered the room with a tray of tea.
"Oh, you're back." Akeno said to the two of them, "Feel free to take a seat and I'll bring you some cups."
"Sure." Kirito said, sitting at the table and removing his laptop from his backpack. Asuna did the same with Yui's laptop, and their daughter appeared on the screen. "Hey Yui." He said booting up the software he'd be working with, "I'm just about to the point where I'll be able to test it out. How are things on your end?"
"Everything's ready here, daddy!" She answered enthusiastically.
"You're pretty good at this, Kirito." Akeno said, peeking over his shoulder after she'd handed the both of them their tea, "Didn't you say you'd just started this the other day?"
"Yui's been a big help. "He shrugged, "Besides, it's still a long way from being perfect."
"Everything will work out." Asuna said confidently, and Yui nodded in agreement.
"You're both right." Kirito agreed, "Now, let's see if we can start testing it tomorrow."
""Right!"" Both of them cheered.
Akeno walked across the room to Rias' side and smiled, "They're so cute, aren't they?"
"Yes they are." Rias smiled, wondering whether she and Issei would ever be like that.
"Man, are you sure about this?" Agil sighed into the phone after Kirito told him his plan, "Yeah, I know that we haven't been able to find anything wrong with it, but… You can't seriously be trusting Kayaba, can you?"
"No." Kirito responded truthfully, "But I've used it a bit with a personal server, and I can't find any problems. Asuna and I are in agreement that we don't want SAO and ALO to be how VRMMOs are remembered."
"...Alright. I'll take care of it." Agil said, pulling out his laptop to start an email, "A friend of mine is starting up a gaming company called Ymir. I think I can persuade him to let me host it as long as I give him first hand access. You don't mind?"
"That'd be great. Isn't Ymir-"
"Yeah, they were started by former ALO players who bought the game data after RECT went under. With any luck, this should be just what they'll need to bring the game back online." Agil nodded, "Not making any promises, but I'll let them know now."
"Thanks Agil. I'll pay you back one day." Kirito said with a relieved sigh.
"Don't even mention it." Agil answered, and with a smile, he moved on to happier subjects, "So, we're planning the SAO victory party. How's two weeks from today sound for you guys?"
There were a few seconds of silence while Kirito spoke with Asuna before he responded, "That sounds great for us."
"Cool. The party will be at five. See you guys then."
"Looking forward to it. I might see if my sister wants to come along." Kirito answered, and he hung up the phone. Immediately afterwards, he sent an email to everyone from SAO that he could get in contact with informing them that the party started at four.
The next month was among the best Kirito had ever had. Between school with new his friends at Kuoh, working with his new friends in the Occult Research Club, playing on the reopened ALO servers (and for the last two weeks, starting Aincrad from scratch with everyone's help), and being able to live with Asuna and Yui, every day was a real pleasure.
Thanks to training with Kiba, both his swordsmanship and control over his sacred gear were improving. On the weekends, he'd spar with Suguha, both IRL and in ALO, with the latter always drawing a crowd. Though he hadn't managed to beat her in the real world yet, the two of them were almost evenly matched. He could probably beat her if he used the 'knight's speed, but he didn't feel comfortable using that against her when she didn't have any kind of supernatural power.
In addition to his training with his fellow knight, he also had training with Akeno and Asia to use magic, but that hadn't progressed much further. Contrary to what Rias had said during training camp, his magic wasn't much easier to control now compared to before. He could summon it at will, but he wasn't able to change it the way that the girls could. At most, he could reliably make it explode, and anything else would require way more concentration than he'd expect to be able to do in the middle of a battle.
Finally, he and Asuna had been undergoing Rias' prep class from hell, and the results were really showing. Their grades had both shot up to nearly the level they were at before the SAO incident, and it wouldn't be long before they could really and truly say that they were back on track educationally.
One afternoon in the middle of March, Kirito and Asuna were headed back to the Old school building when Kiba met them halfway with the rest of the ORC.
"The student council's doing some maintenance in the clubhouse, so we'll be meeting at Issei's house tonight instead." Rias smiled at them once everyone had exchanged greetings, "Given the change of venue, we won't be doing any major contracts tonight, but we're still on call, so stay alert."
"Gotcha." Kirito said, following behind them on the way to Issei's house for the first time. Evidently, Rias and Asia had both been staying with Issei for quite some time, if their greeting of his parents and Rias having a key were any indications.
Once the pleasantries were out of the way, Kirito and the rest of the ORC walked up to the second floor and into Issei's room (Which, for some reason, was labeled Rias and Issei's room) to begin the meeting.
"So, I think it's fair to start with this months' contract numbers." Rias said, sipping the tea that Issei's mother had provided for them, "Akeno has eleven-"
"That's right." the queen giggled.
-Koneko has ten-" Rias continued, nodding to the rook beside her.
"sure." She replied.
"-Kiba had eight-"
"I did." The other knight smiled.
"Asia's done three-"
"Yeah!" Asia said happily.
"You're doing great for a beginner." Kiba praised her.
"You should be proud of yourself." Akeno smiled as well.
Rias nodded in agreement, "Kirito, you did two."
"Yup." He nodded. They weren't the most glamorous jobs, but he had helped a little boy beat a video game and he and Asuna had worked together to fix another man's computer so that he could finish his work before morning.
"And finally, Issei-" Rias said, taking a sip of tea, "-made zero."
"I suck so hard." Issei said dejectedly.
"You need to work harder if you want to make High Class." Rias reminded him, "If you're not careful, Kirito will beat you to it."
Issei glared daggers at him, "Just you wait, I'll make so many contracts your heads will spin!"
"Go ahead." Kirito replied with a confident smirk.
There was a knock at Issei's door, so they stopped talking about their 'club activities' while Rias greeted Issei's mother at the door.
"I was wondering whether you guys wanted to see some old photos!" She smiled, holding up a couple of old photo albums.
"That'd be lovely." Rias answered, and she handed them out. Kirito and Asuna accepted one. The first page was filled with what must've been Issei's first fishing trip. He couldn't have been more seven or eight, but he looked genuinely happy. Asuna couldn't help looking at Issei as though wondering how this cute little kid could turn into the Issei we know today.
"I can't believe this is happening…" Issei groaned, face red with embarrassment while the other girls were looking at what (apparently) consisted of all the times Issei was naked when he shouldn't have been.
"Hey, Issei…" Kiba said softly, but the pawn who was right next to him, heard him loud and clear, "Do you remember this picture?" He asked, turning the album towards him. Issei looked at the image of him and a neighbor of his frim his childhood laughing.
"Not really. Me and that kid used to hang out all the time, but he moved away not long after that picture was taken." Issei shrugged.
"What about this sword?" Kiba pressed on, pointing at a sword hanging from the wall.
"Not really. I think it was his dad's?" Issei answered, scratching the back of his head, "Why, what's up?"
"I wasn't expecting to see one like this." Kiba chuckled, "This is a Holy Sword."
Kirito looked away from the album he and Asuna were looking at as soon as he heard the name of Heathcliff's unique skill. When he did, he saw a flash of unimaginable anger on Kiba's face. But it only last for a second before he smiled and closed the book like nothing was wrong.
Azazel let out a long, drawn out sigh after reading the report that his Vice Governor General, Shemhazai had sent him. The disappearance of the Excalibur fragments that he'd figured was just infighting on the part of the churches was now looking like an extremely serious situation.
The report from his spies inside the church indicated that Heaven had confirmed the theft was perpetrated by one of his own, Kokabiel.
The man who'd given him this report smiled at his sigh, "You know, I warned you this could happen." The silver haired youth said with a soft chuckle, "Kokabiel wants to fight even more than I do."
"Fighting is one thing." Azazel replied bitterly, "I can handle your obsession with combat, Vali. There are members of all sides who like to throw down as often as possible. You wouldn't have to break the uneasy peace just to get in some fights. Kokabiel's intention isn't to fight. He wants a war the like of which this world hasn't seen in recorded history. No matter how many people have to die in the process."
"To a war maniac like Kokabiel, there's nothing more painful than an uneasy peace." Vali shrugged without a care, "To know that one action can get the war you desire, and yet the leaders of all sides refuse to act. Eventually, things have to change. He just decided to force the issue."
"And now I have act whether I like it or not." Azazel sighed, getting to his feet and spreading his twelve black wings, "Well, that's just fine. This might give me the opening I need to stabilize relations between the three powers."
Vali smiled, "So, was this all part of your plan?"
"Nothing of the sort." He chuckled in response, "I'm not some great chess master. I'm only an opportunist. Telling Shemhazai I'm going to Kuoh."
"Kuoh?" Vali frowned, "What for?"
"Stealing Excalibur only forces the Heavens and the fallen to fight." He reminded the White Dragon Emperor, "Sirzechs isn't the sort to enter a war merely because he could eliminate his rivals. Since he can't pass through the underworld area we control without being stopped, his only method of forcing the devils to war is by targeting the little sisters of Leviathan and Lucifer."
"Gremory, huh?" Vali grinned, encasing himself in pure white armor, "So then, will red and white finally meet?"
"Behave yourself, Vali." Azazel warned him, but he just leapt into the air and took flight.
The next night, Kazuto received a cellphone call from Rias about an hour after club meetings had ended. Sneaking out of bed so that he didn't wake Asuna, he created his swords on his back and took flight. Just like while he was out doing jobs, he was invisible to everyone who wasn't already aware of the existence of devils, so he took the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of the air against his real skin instead of his virtual avatar's. It never ceased to amaze him just how similar flying in ALO was compared to devil flight. Seriously, at least one of the developers had to be a devil. That was the only explanation.
The GPS on his phone lead him to Rias' location, which was an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town. Rias, Akeno, and Kiba were already waiting for him, as was Asia.
"Sorry to call you out so late." Rias apologized, "But new orders came down from the Archduke Agares."
"Archduke?" He asked, "Sounds like a big shot."
"The Archduke is one of the most respected devils in the underworld." Rias nodded, "Calling him a big shot doesn't do him justice. It's his job to track stray devils and pass on their location to others so that they can be eliminated."
"Strays?"
"They used to be devil servants." Kiba answered for him, but he still wasn't acting quite like himself., "But, for one reason or another, they betrayed their masters. Usually it's for power or just because they could, but they've killed their masters and must be destroyed."
"That bad, huh?" Kirito asked, and Akeno giggled.
"Compared to Riser, It's not all that dangerous. Its lust for power has caused it to become quite the ugly creature. But don't let your guard down. Regardless of what they look like, they've already killed one High Class devil at least."
"Well, I'll keep on my toes." He replied, wondering whether he'd be able to test the secret technique he was working on. "So, where's this stray devil then? In here?"
"Yes, but we need to wait for Issei and Koneko. Both of them were out making contracts when we got the request." Rias answered.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Koneko said, walking through the open gate."
"You walked over here?" Kirito asked the rook, "You're not like Issei. Shouldn't you have been able to teleport via circle?"
"Could've, but I like to warm up a bit before a fight." She answered, looking around, "So we're just waiting on the pervert?"
"You think he actually managed to get a pact?" Kirito joked, and Koneko replied immediately.
"Seriously doubt it." She scoffed.
"Koneko!" Issei's voice said from further down the street. Kirito turned just in time to see his bike pull into view, and for some reason, he had a large painting strapped to his back. "Do you always have to be so mean!?" He complained.
"Do you always have to be a pervert?" she countered, and Issei could find no response. Instead, he pulled his bike up along the wall and removed the painting, leaving it beside the bike.
"Rias, contract complete!" He grinned, patting the painting, "And I've got the price to prove it!"
While everyone congratulated Issei on his first solo contract, Kirito couldn't help but notice that Kiba hadn't said anything.
"Now that we're all together, let's get this taken care of." Rias smiled, "Akeno, Asia, and I will remain outside. The rest of you, draw it out and we'll finish it."
"Yes ma'am!" They replied. Kiba and Kirito drew their swords, and Issei activated his boosted gear. Koneko cracked her knuckles and broke the door open with a punch.
The inside of the warehouse was dark, illuminated only by the light of the moon above them. The four of them silently spread out, looking for any sign of movement. After a few second, just as he was beginning to think that they were in the wrong place, a soft sobbing started echoing in the warehouse.
A girl looked out from behind some of the machinery, and Kirito relaxed his guard slightly. Issei grinned when he saw that she was naked, but before Kirito could look away, she started to change. Her skin darkened, a large horn ripped through the center of her forehead, and she leapt into the air. Her entire lower half was replaced with the body of a massive spider.
"Spread out!" Koneko shouted, watching the stray's movements closely. Kirito and Issei followed her orders immediately, but Kiba hadn't even seemed to notice the stray at all. "Kiba!" She shouted again, trying to get his attention. The stray took advantage of her lapse of concentration, and shot a large strand of web at her.
"Koneko!" Issei warned her, but Kirito had already leapt forward and blocked the web with his Dark Repulser. At the same time, his arm started to burn. Some kind of acid on the web started eating away at his sword, and the skin on his arm must've come into contact with some of it.
Kiba looked over at the commotion, and he sprang into action.
"Dragon shot!" Issei roared, firing his attack at the stray, but she wasn't bothered by it at all. She turned to Koneko, and shot more web at her, though Koneko managed to avoid it without anything more than a bit of clothing damage and a small burn on her shoulder.
"Kiba, get your head in the game!" Kirito called out to Kiba, blocking one of the punch that would've hit Issei. Kiba saw that Kirito had her attention, and with one strike, he cut off her arm. As he landed, however, his foot slipped on a piece of pipe and he fell to his knee with the stray just behind him.
"Kiba!" Koneko shouted, running to his aid, but she probably wasn't going to make it in time.
"Þeír, slíta, fimm, grœnn, vindr!" Kirito chanted, and six black blades of magic tore through the stray's body, spraying its blood on the wall.
Somehow, it was still alive when all of them went to check.
"Orders are orders." Koneko said, grabbing her by the hair and tossing her through the skylight. As soon as she did, a bolt of lightning struck her compliments of Akeno.
"Sorry…" Kiba said bitterly.
"Don't worry about it." Kirito replied.
"What's up?" Koneko asked, "You're not acting like yourself, Kiba."
"I'm fine." He answered, walking away, "I've just had an off day."
"Kiba!" Koneko said, following after him with Issei and Issei just a few steps behind her. As they left the building, they arrived just in time to see Rias disintegrating the charred remains of the stray.
"Good work, everyone." Rias smiled at them while Asia hurried over to heal Koneko's shoulder and Kirito arm.
While Asia healed them, Rias confronted Kiba over his lack of focus. He hadn't heard what was said, but they all heard the aftermath. Rias slapped hi macros the face hard enough to leave a palm print.
"Get a grip, Kiba!" She said angrily, "When you space out like that, you put yourself and the rest of us in danger!"
"I'm sorry, President." Kiba responded, starting to walk away, but Rias grabbed his shoulders.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked insistently, but he pulled away from her.
"Nothing." He answered, walking away from the warehouse.
Issei chased after him, though he returned alone a few seconds later. Judging from his face, whatever Kiba had said had shaken him more than a little bit.
With that, DxD canon marches on. I'm going to be creatign a poll for what path the GGO canon with take. The options are: Skip everything that doesn't change, skip the unimportant parts but write the rest, and write the entire arc. Pick whichever you want and i'll take it into account while writing. And, of course, Reviews are always welcome.