Still don't Own DxD or K project

While Mikoto was not too enthralled about having to go through school again, there wasn't much he could do about it. Not going to school would draw too much attention to Wakako, especially since she had just become his legal guardian. He asked if he could simply join some homeschooling program but Wakako was too busy running Kyoto's gangs and he didn't wanna add teaching to Takemura's long list of daily tasks. The first few days were a little rough, he had gotten in trouble quite a few times due to his not-so-clean mouth. It had been a while since he had to watch what he was saying. He also fucking abhorred wearing the school uniform, he swore he'd burn the damn thing when he got out.

He didn't make too many close friends during the few weeks he had gone, but he had taken a pseudo big brother role due to how "cool" he seemed to the other kids. Their words, not his. He was pretty sure he could attribute that to how nonchalant he was to the teachers though. He didn't have to deal with any bullies for obvious reasons and he made sure to give other kids a reason not to be a bully either. Wakako expressed that she didn't really care how well he did, as far as his grades were concerned, given what line of work he joined in his past life (and was likely to join again) but decided to incentivize doing well. Essentially he would get a substantial bonus to his allowance every time he did well at school. It was nice here and there but there were long stretches of laziness where he simply didn't want anything and had no reason to strive for cash. Besides that though his time in Elementary was a pretty bog-standard affair.

Outside of school, he knew that he would spend quite a bit of time at the Grigori headquarters. This was currently his first visit and Azazel's assistant, who he learned was called Penemue, was giving him a short tour just so he wouldn't get lost. He was thankful for her help, the building was quite large and he doubted he could make his way around without eventually blasting through the walls, the fact that other fallen angels kept staring at him did not help. As the tour went on, Penemue led him into a very large and expansive room where he saw Azazel doing a light spar with Vali. While the room itself was clean, the walls had some wear and tear on them, probably from the boy's training. Just like Azazel said the white dragon emperor was about his age and appeared to be quite the recluse though Mikoto could tell something had mentally scarred the boy. As he and Penemue approached the sparring duo, the boy stopped sparring noticing that someone was approaching, and tried his best to avoid eye contact with Mikoto.

"Hi Vali!" Penemue said cheerfully as she got down on one knee to greet the boy.

"I brought you a training partner so you don't have to deal with that old geezer." She said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"He's not that bad…" Vali replied, as he finally made eye contact with Mikoto. Azazel flashed a shit-eating grin to his assistant in response.

"So Mikoto, you got a short tour of the base, what are your thoughts?" Azazel asked.

"If I ignore all the gawking? It's a pretty nice base… a bit too big for my liking though…" Mikoto replied.

"There's not much I can do about that when you're running a group as big as this." Azazel pointed out.

"Fair… anyway I'm supposed to have a training session with him?" Mikoto asked, shifting his focus to Vali.

"Right on the money, Vali, this is Mikoto. He will be your training partner for today." He said ruffling the boy's white head of hair.

"So what's the plan for today?" Mikoto asked.

"Shouldn't be too intense just a spar between you and Vali, we'll plan our future training sessions after that." Penemue said, standing back up to her full height.

"Ready when you are white dragon emperor." Said Mikoto. Vali's face only soured at the mention of his title.

['You're going to have to accept the mantle sooner or later…'] Albion spoke within Vali's mind, he had been trying to befriend the boy for some time prior to the meeting but it was kind of hard when you're a disembodied voice.

'Ever since I told that man about the dreams I had about you he did nothing but make my life hell! And now I'm just supposed to let you into my life as if nothing happened?' Vali replied mentally. He refused to acknowledge the man that drove him here was his father but he couldn't help but wonder if his dad would have treated him any better if he wasn't born- no cursed with the power of the White dragon emperor.

['It was not my intention to bring misfortune into your life. I apologize for making that the case, however denying your power will only bring good to those who wish to harm you. I stand to gain nothing by getting you killed, as a matter of fact, you have the highest potential out of all of my previous users yet you have yet to use me. Trust me… you will never have to fear that man again after you master my power.'] Albion finished his piece through their mental connection but he could still tell that Vali was reluctant to use him.

"Alright then, I'll be going for now, someone has to keep operations up and running while you play with little boys…" Penemue teased the fallen angel governor before she gave Vali a quick hug and began to leave the room.

"Must you make it sound so much worse than what it actually is?" Azazel said, exasperated to which everyone else chuckled.

"Right, well let's get this spar started." Azazel said as a pair of wings sprouted from his back before he dashed back a safe distance to give the two some fighting room.

Vali sprouted a pair of leather bat-like wings as he got into a ready fighting stance though from what Mikoto could assess from previous fights he was in it could use some refinement.

Mikoto briefly glowed with a crimson aura before rushing Vali with an aura-enhanced right hook. Vali was able to block the hit initially but was eventually pushed back by the force of the blow and sent flying back a considerable distance before using his wings to right himself in mid-air to land upright.

'I thought Azazel said he was supposed to be human..' Vali thought, still feeling quite the sting on his left arm.

'I didn't mean to hit him that hard… looks like I'm going to have to learn my bearings again. I don't wanna accidentally punch a hole through someone.' Mikoto thought as he got ready to continue the spar.

Vali took the initiative this time, blasting his opponent with ice magic which was significantly bolstered thanks to Albion's affinity to ice. Mikoto countered with flames of his own, causing quite the blast as the two elements clashed. Mikoto came flying through the vapor made by the previous blast, crimson flames still lingering on his feet before they once more flared to life sending Mikoto into a spinning axe kick. Vali leaped backward, using his wings to extend the distance between them as Mikoto's kick crashed into the ground causing cracks to spread throughout the ground.

As Mikoto landed, Vali once again took the offensive this time buffing his arms and feet with Ice magic, his fist connecting with Mikoto's stomach. Gritting his teeth in pain Mikoto countered with a punch to Vali's face. The spar began to emulate what looked like a dance as the two continued to circle each other while trading blows, though Mikoto was starting to gain the lead the longer the spar went on.

Vali suddenly threw a wild left hook towards Mikoto which slapped away in a parry, Mikoto attempted to counter with a blast of his flames but Vali ducked low going for a leg sweep. In an attempt to keep upright Mikoto tried jumping over the sweep simultaneously releasing a blast of crimson flames toward Vali from his feet.

["DIVIDE!"]

A pair of white wings appeared from Valis's back which then pulled him back from the blast of flames. At the same time, the flames were significantly weakened giving Vali enough clearance to get away unscathed.

['Careful Vali, from what I could sense those flames are nothing to take lightly.'] Albion said through their mental connection.

'Thanks for the save…' Vali said, while he was still a bit apprehensive to trust Albion at the moment.

Mikoto managed to get back on his feet rather quickly, his focus already back on Vali, studying the new additional wings on his back which now had what looked like giant light blue "feathers" made of energy.

Mikoto slammed a ball of crimson flames into the ground causing fissures to form which then spat out more crimson flames. Vali looked at the flames, taking note of how high the flames spewed, they were almost reaching the ceiling. Mikoto aimed to limit his mobility. The two eventually blasted off meeting each other halfway in a clash so great it made impact craters on most of the walls in the training room. The ice magic Vali was using to buff his attack was beginning to give way. Vali tried to reinforce it but found himself at the receiving end of a hard side kick from Mikoto seeing him flying back.

['Focus on the battle, I'll handle supporting you and your magic'] Albion advised as he helped him recover in mid-air.

Vali didn't have much time to reply as Albion was already performing maneuvers to dodge flames from Mikoto. Seeing no reason to deny Albion's request Vali relented retracting his devil wings and trusting his partner to keep him out of harm's way as he retaliated with ice magic.

The training field slowly began to look like a hardened battlefield as the clash between the two went on. From Azazel's observations, Mikoto was now blatantly dominant in close quarter combat once he got used to fighting in his new body, everytime Vali chose Mikoto always found a way to pressure the dragon emperor into retreating, he could tell that Mikoto was starting to pick up on Vali's fighting habits. Unfortunately for Vali, Mikotos was also adept at using his flames for defense against his ice magic. Frustrated from being pushed on the defensive, Vali used divine dividing voluntarily for the first time in the duel feeling quite the drain on his magic reserves. He didn't quite realize how much the first use consumed thanks to the ridiculous amount he was born with but now that the bout had been going on for some time he had to capitalize soon.

Mikoto felt his flames weakening, he wasn't that tired from the spar and while he still had the body of a child, he was sure he should have had enough energy to keep going for some time. He wasn't sure what the cause was but in the end, he assumed it was one of Vali's techniques and prepared to finish the fight, whatever Vali did, he didn't want to deal with it for any longer than he had to. He reigned in his flames and readied himself for one more of Vali's assaults, he planned to end the spar with the next clash. When Vali finally came charging in, Mikoto was able to deflect his initial attack, an axe kick which got diverted to the ground beside him spreading even more cracks across the training room. Mikoto went for the counter, aiming to knock him down with a wide left swing but Vali caught the blow, managing to land quite the punch on Mikoto's face getting him to lightly stagger. Mikoto threw a punch toward Vali before he could follow through but Vali caught that as well! He was about to follow through-

['VALI WATCH OUT!']

but it was too late.

Mikoto had landed a devastating blow to his gut. Vali felt his breath leaving him as he felt the wind get knocked out of him. Mikoto was now fully set on finishing the fight before Vali could weaken him anymore and put more force into the motion, slamming the boy's body into the ground. Vali was now getting over the shock of the last two blows and was getting ready to resume the fight but soon felt a great force crushing down on his chest, sending out small shockwaves and even more cracks across the battled training ground. Mikoto had slammed down on his chest with his foot putting a good amount of pressure on the boy and spun around dragging his opponent across the ground with his foot before eventually letting off and sending him off to one of the walls of the room with a great blast of crimson flames, a small amount of rubble came falling on him after the

Azazel let off a whistle impressed at Mikoto's display of combat prowess as he walked over to the boy. "Let's call it there for today. I had the feeling you were a battle maniac but this is something else" he said with a chuckle as Vali pushed off the rubble that fell onto him and made his way to the pair and while he wasn't too hurt, his training wear had taken quite the beating and his breathing was also labored. Upon hearing that the spar was over Mikoto let out a long breath, a small red aura lifting off of him gently as he visibly relaxed.

"Well after seeing that I'm willing to say Vali might like having you as a sparring partner…well assuming you agree." He said with a slight grin.

Mikoto wasn't too sure what to make of that at first but upon making eye contact with the ashen-haired boy, he could see that he had found something to strive towards.

"Yeah sure… I don't mind." Mikoto said, looking around the training room. "Sorry about the damage." While the statement sounded apologetic Azazel genuinely had a hard time trying to tell if he actually was but it was like it mattered.

"Don't worry about it" the fallen angel governor said before snapping his fingers. A great magic rune appeared on the center of all of the walls of the room, all of which started to connect to one another causing the room to begin mending itself.

"...neat." was all Mikoto had to say.

"Well, it would be annoying if we had to keep reconstructing these rooms every time we trained." Azazel said though he was a little disappointed at the underwhelming reaction Mikoto gave. Though I guess he had time to adjust to seeing things like this given what Wakako told him about the boy.

"Right, Vali will show you the way to the shower rooms, and a spare change of clothes should be waiting for you. You can enjoy a free lunch, on us, at the Cafeteria while you wait for your clothes to be cleaned." Azazel finished as he began making his way to his office, he had a lot to go over from that spar. That left the two boys alone in silence, Mikoto could tell that this was just the old crow's attempt at trying to get the boy to be more sociable but he just had to find out.

"Hey, that was one of your techniques that weakened my flames right?" Mikoto asked taking note of the white and blue wings his sparring partner now had.

Vali stayed quite sure how he should answer.

["That would be me."] Albion said for his host, causing the energy projection made by the wing's white frames to glow with every word he spoke. Vali went to dematerialize the wings as soon as he heard the voice.

["Don't bother Vali, knowing that old crow our new rival probably knows of your status as the new white dragon emperor."] Albion stated which convinced Vali to keep the sacred gear out in the open for now.

"And who would you be? The crow told me you were some kind of emperor but I didn't really catch the details on why that was important." Mikoto replied, feeling slightly pleased that he wasn't the only one that had taken to calling Azazel a crow.

["I am Albion, The Vanishing Dragon. I am the soul sealed within the boy's sacred gear."] the sacred gear answered.

"And that was your technique?" Mikoto asked.

["One of many, Vali has yet to truly use me and as he is now that is the only technique he can currently use. While he has an impressive magic pool he is inexperienced in battle and thus hasn't adapted to my power."] Albion explained.

"Well, now I'm happy I heard the crow out." Mikoto said eager to battle the boy again.

["As am I, now if you don't mind, What are those flames of yours?"] Albion asked seeing that the crimson-haired boy had no more questions.

"No Idea really, to the best of my knowledge I got lucky gaining the power to use these flames." Mikoto explained.

["Interesting… I can see you are quite the experienced fighter, I look forward to helping each other grow."] Albion responded.

"Same here."

Struggled a bit writing the fight scene, mainly because I didn't know If I wanted to convey Vali's inexperience in battle or if I don't want him to look like a pushover. Eventually, I figured Vali could shine later on after training with Mikoto, either way, let me know what yall think. Catch yall later next time