Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly. Kaito found himself having a rather relaxing weekend with no disruptions.
And he was right in the end, that all his tension at the sudden interest Koneko had in him because of his power increase, was absolutely useless in the end and a waste of time.
It did not of course stop him, from hitting up the gym every single day over the weekend.
While that would usually be detrimental to training ones physical body, he was a rather unusual case.
Twice Critical's ability was to double all the physical abilities of ones body and their magic power. While most would only see the benefit of such a thing in physical strength or in a fight and such, Kaito had been using his for years and it was how he got to where he was now.
And he had learned to look beyond just that.
Doubling the physical abilities of his body, meant that his body healed at twice the rate. But not only that, it still wasn't quite that simple. When he said Twice Critical doubled all physical abilities.
He meant in.
That included not only his metabolism, but sheer more or less, efficiency of his body when it came to such things as digesting and drawing nutrients and energy from food.
Which bolstered again, his recovery rate.
And he could now double that once more, thanks to his second Twice Critical. It more or less, compounded.
So, when he pushed himself in the late afternoon to evening at the gym before returning home, when using his double boosts when eating and then holding for as long as he could before sleeping, it meant that things like delayed onset muscle soreness, weren't a problem for him and he could push himself again at the gym again the next afternoon till evening.
It wasn't exactly regeneration or even some healing factor and just speeding up his natural recovery process by a factor of what was by all accounts, more than four times the normal when taken all together.
But it got the job done.
As it was, when Kaito left his apartment behind on Monday morning and began making his way to school.
He was feeling rather good about himself and had a skip in his step. Pushing himself to the limit over the weekend, had truly allowed him to clear his head and he honestly couldn't believe how…angsty he was about the devils and crap on Friday.
Completely unmanly.
He'd been more worrying and stressing over that, than revelling in the fact that, he was beyond just doubling his abilities now.
He could quadruple them!
He could literally bench over a thousand pounds when using both and run over a hundred miles per hour.
In fact, considering he could comfortably bench four hundred and fifty pounds without his gears, he could probably bench press a full on ton at this point when using both and could keep up with a speeding car on foot.
He was, literally superhuman with them.
When taken into perspective, he was just plain awesome and had no reason to fret over possibly being recruited by devils or be jealous over a stupid useless pervert.
'If I use both boosts in the next upcoming match and completely dominate the match, my name will probably be on the name of every scouts tongue.' Kaito mused as he made his way towards school.
One interesting thing about his Twice Critical(s), was that, while he had to summon them to boost his abilities, he could dismiss them and keep the boost going still.
It was how he got his scholarship in the first place, by doubling his abilities and vastly overshadowing others during football matches and at club meetings growing up.
Was it fair? No.
Did he care? No.
He was just using what he was born with after all.
'I just need to get my foot in the door with even a crappy team.' he mused. Once he got even the tiniest edge onto the professional stage, his abilities would speak for themselves.
Then, all he needed to do, was repeat that until European teams caught wind of his skills and they'd pay through the nose for him, and he'd become a rich famous football player known the world over.
Assuming nobody got in his way that is. Or the world didn't get blown to shit by supernatural assholes throwing hissy fits.
…Which was a distinct possibility. There was a ton of shit about this world he didn't know. His other self had only watched it as an anime, and then learned some more through wiki diving on the internet for anything that interested him.
A lot of it flew over his head without context, but he knew there was going to be some world ending apocalypses...apocalypsi? Apocalypi? Whatever, he knew there was gonna be more than one apocalypse coming up, which that useless pervert as the 'hero' and main character was going to stop and have everyone bend over backwards for him for some reason.
'Imagine living in a world where a scrawny perverted wannabe rapist loser like Issei Hyoudou is the hero.' Kaito scoffed at the thought.
That was his reality.
He still wasn't sure what to make of that to be honest. Honestly, if he ruminated on it for any length of time, he felt like it would turn into a pity party.
Kaito would pity anyone that had to rely on Issei Hyoudou. It just sucked he might end up having to be one of them.
"Please let me go." a female voice pleaded.
Oh look, a distraction.
Thank fuck.
Looking over to where he heard the voice, Kaito was surprised to notice that he recognised the pleading girl.
It was an attractive, voluptuous brunette with a pair of thin twin tails held up in two ribbons, dressed in the Kuoh Academy female uniform. Her name was Murayame? If he remembered right, she was one of the two captains of the kendo team and a year above him.
Spoiler
She, and her co-captain, were rather popular because of how cute they were, and the fact that…they were often a main target of Hyoudou and his perverted loser buddies peeping shenanigans.
'Why the fuck were they idiots never expelled again?' Kaito huffed internally. They got complained about all the damn time but never got any real punishment out of it beyond detentions.
Either way, Murayame was currently stuck up against the wall of a building, leading into an alley between two actually. And looming over her, an arm leaning against the wall and boxing her in, was a rather tall and fit guy dressed in casual ripped jeans and a simple tank top showing off decently muscular arms.
Oh, and he was bald and currently leering at the girl. Because, why not. Apparently just thinking about Hyoudou brought his ilk around.
"Come on, I'm sure I could show you a good time girl," the guy grinned at the brunette girl, "Way better than wasting your time with school."
"…No, I really don't want to." Murayame denied him, causing his grin to scrunch up into an annoyed frown.
Kaito sighed and rolled his eyes.
Whatever.
Running a hand through his hair in annoyance, Kaito decided to nip this guys poor attempt at a kabedon in the bud and made his way over, "Hey buddy, how about shooting your shot somewhere else?" he interrupted them, causing both of their heads to snap around to him at the sound of his voice, "She's not interested, so save yourself some time and effort, eh?"
"Evander-kun?" Murayame gave a surprised gasp.
She knew his name? He'd never even spoke to this girl before. Though, he supposed he was decently popular at Kuoh in some ways. Being a first year and captain of the football club already kinda came with that kind of clout.
The guy gave him a confused look, before his frown twisted into a sneer, "Beat it kid," he spat, "I'll do what I want and this girl caught my eye, if you don't leave us to it, I'm gonna break your face in."
Murayame gave him a pleading look and Kaito huffed, "Try it, mate." he challenged the guy, the infliction of his other self coming through.
Kaito, hadn't been in very many fights growing up, a few spats, but nothing even resembling a proper street brawl or punch up.
His other self, not so much. He was always getting into fights. And even trained in Muay Thai Kickboxing for a few years.
Between that, his physical build and pair of Twice Critical, Kaito wasn't feeling very threatened.
"…You really don't know how you're messing with, huh kid?" the bald man bared his teeth at Kaito and stood up from where he was leaning over the girl and turning to face Kaito fully.
As he did, Kaito noticed something.
An earring dangling from the ear he hadn't been able to see. An odd shape for an earring, it was pure white and looked like a…magatama?
The guy exploded into motion, juking into an attack and leading with a rapid curved hook out of nowhere aimed at Kaito's kidney.
Kaito's eyes widened.
Fast!
He barely managed to get his palm in the way in time to block the punch, and the force behind it left a meaty echoing clap reverberating through the alleyway.
'Fuck!' Kaito hissed inwardly, in pain. His palm stung like fuck from blocking it.
"Oh, not bad for a normie," the guy noted, a grin that was all teeth forming, "You actually blocked my punch, let's see you try again."
He exploded into a kick next, his leg coming up limberly high into the air and rapidly aiming for Kaito's neck.
'What the fuck!?' Kaito's eyes almost bugged out of his sockets at how easily he did it. He instinctually brought his arm up to guard from the blow and catch it on his forearm.
But the sheer strength behind the blow rocketed him off his feet still and slammed him bodily into the wall.
Kaito saw stars at the same time Murayame screamed, "Kaito-kun?!"
"Guess it was just luck that you blocked me," his attacker scoffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and standing in front of Kaito, lifting his foot up as if to stomp on his face, "Well, not like a normie like you could ever measure up to a toshi like me kid. We're worlds apart."
He slammed his foot down.
Just before the foot made contact and smashed Kaito's face in, he lifted a hand up and caught it by the heel, stopping it in its tracks.
Kaito, blood dripping from his nose glared up his bald attacker, "You're not stronger than me." he said simply.
He may have been faster and caught him by surprise by turning out to be some kung fu master out of nowhere. And he was very strong for sure.
But he wasn't as strong as him.
"Some big talk for some brat on his ass," the bald man scoffed, "I'm a toshi kid and you're a nobody. Forget just being just a toshi, do you know who I am? I'm Cao Huan, I'm a king fool!" green light began to envelope the mans foot and the pressure and strength it was exerting on Kaito's blocking hand increased.
That was a Chinese name.
…Toshi. A Magatami earring.
That, was familiar to him now that he thought about it.
From the memories he gained of his other self.
It clicked.
It was wrong, it didn't make sense, but he suddenly knew what he was dealing with now.
Kaito pushed up with his arm before the man could increase his strength anymore, throwing him off balance, before twisting around on the ground and snapping a kick out at his other leg, smashing his heel out beneath him.
Kaito stood at the same time 'Cao Huan' hit the ground, "Never heard of you loser." the teen wielder of Twice Critical replied flatly.
Kaito looked over his shoulder at Murayama and jerked his chin at the alley entrance, "Get out of here, I'll deal with this clown." he told her.
She hesitated, "Go!" he barked at her and she finally listened after a moment taking off running.
Which was good.
Because she couldn't be here to see what he was going to have to do at this point.
"You've really pissed me off kid," Cao Huan snarled as he stood up, the green aura extending from around his leg and travelling up to envelop his whole body, "You think you saved that bitch? Once I'm done pounding your face in, I'll just hunt her down and give her fine ass a pounding she'll never forget."
"Is the only way you can get a girl, to take them by force and rape them you clown?" Kaito shot back.
He was, almost surprised at how calm he found himself. Despite the fact he was blatantly staring down someone who was clearly connected to the supernatural. what, with the whole glowing green aura thing he had going on that seemed to increase his physical strength in some form of manner.
And didn't belong in this world either.
Couldn't forget that.
The crap this guy was spouting, and toshi was from another series called Ikki Tousen, or Battle Vixens, it wasn't very clear About a bunch of idiots who inherited the souls and powers of ancient Chinese warriros and famous figures around eighteen hundred years ago during the time period known as the legend of three kingdoms.
It was also a world where hot voluptuous girls got their clothes blown off constantly and losers like this constantly harassed them.
'…No never mind, that pretty much fits for what I know already of this world.' Kaito scoffed to himself.
It wasn't out of place at least.
"Nah, it's my right as king," Cao Huan shrugged off his insult without a care, "You should be honoured you know you piece of trash, not just anyone has the privilege of getting killed by the last king of Wei Dynasty!"
"Which means you lost your kingdom and died, probably got conquered," Kaito jutted his chin out defiantly and shot back, "A loser then and a loser now."
Cao Huan snarled, "Watch your mouth you piece of trash!" he snapped. He slid a leg back, before pushing off with it, exploding forward with a rapid and powerful punch aimed for Kaito's head.
Far faster than he'd moved when attacking him before.
This time though, Kaito was ready for him.
"[Boost!]" a masculine voiced echoed throughout the alleyway as light flashed over his right arm, a black and gold gauntlet forming into existence and suddenly, Kaito was twice as fast and strong as he was before.
His gauntlet clad arm came up in a guard, catching Cao Huan's arm under his forearm and stopping it in its tracks.
The 'kings' eyes widened in shock, "A sacred weapon!?" he gasped in shock, eyeing the gauntlet on his wrist, "You're a toshi as well!?"
"Not quite." it was Kaito's turn to bare his teeth in a grin. He lashed out with a knee aiming at Cao Huan's side, preparing to drive the air from his lungs, only for him to dodge, rolling over Kaito's arm and thrusting his palm at out his solar plexus.
Instinctually, the gauntlet wearing teen stepped back into a spin and threw himself into a spinning round house aimed at Cao Huan's head.
Attempted to at least.
He didn't managed to fully extend his leg properly and only managed to clip his opponents shoulder as he juked to the side, banging into the wall.
Kaito hissed as his leg spasmed and he slammed his heel into the ground to try and get rid of the pain.
'I tried to go full Muay Thai on this guy.' he grimaced.
The problem was, while his body knew how to move thanks to the memories he'd gained from his other self and all his training.
His body wasn't trained the same way. He was pretty limber, but not in the right way.
Still, it was just enough that he didn't end up pulling a muscle.
"…What the hell?" Cao Huan grimaced, clutching his shoulder where he'd clipped him with his kick as he pushed up off of the wall, "What's with this strength and that sacred weapon? Where the hell is your Sacred Bead? Are you trying to tell me you're this strong without getting it yet?!"
"I'm not a toshi," Kaito scoffed, "This power is all mine, not something from some loser Chinese guy that died over a thousand years ago."
"Bullshit!" Cao Huan snarled and lunged at him, throwing a rapid set of punches that forced Kaito to rapidly backpedal.
Right now, he was faster, but not by that much. That green aura thing was something else!
'Is it magic?' Kaito wondered as he parried parried a punch to the side and rose his knee up to block a kick before it could smash into his stomach.
Either way, he was forced on the defensive and could only rely on the basics right now without anything fancy.
His body wasn't trained for fancy right now.
Good thing for him though.
He was far from his full strength right now.
With just a thought, his second Twice Critical manifested, "[Boost!]" the black gem glimmered.
And once again, Kaito's physical abilities were vastly enhanced, doubling once more.
"Another o-!?" Cao Huan's eyes widened in shock once more, but never got to finish as Kaito moved.
Sliding his left foot out quicker than Cao Huan could react, and with his kicking leg caught by Kaito's own knee, he wasn't able to to anything as his leg was swept from beneath him, leaving him vulnerable and off balance, falling to the ground.
Perfect for the rapid gauntlet glad right straight Kaito lashed out with to catch him in the stomach as he fell.
The force of the blow lifted the older bald man up off of his feet and slammed him back into the wall a few feet away, where he collapsed gagging and wheezing in pain.
He was done.
He had no chance against Kaito now. He just took a full on punch from someone that could probably lift a full on ton at this point, with a metal gauntlet on top of that making the hit all the harder.
If he was a normal person, he might just have died from it.
Kaito would have to keep an eye on that in the future in case he got into any altercations with normal people. Couldn't hit them with a boost on or anything lest he wanted to be up for manslaughter.
That would be a real damper in anything he got up to in the future.
Besides, it was a good thing this guy was tough and not down for the count, Kaito wanted some questions answered.
Walking over, Kaito stomped on Cao Huan's head and forced his skull back against the alley wall and to look up at him, "I've got some questions for you 'king'," the teen said mockingly, "If you answer them, I'll be nice and let you off lightly."
"Fuck you!" Cao Huan spat.
Before promptly howling in pain as Kaito thrust his foot against his head harder and ground the back of his skull against the wall he was laying against, "What was that? I couldn't hear you over you squealing like a little bitch."
"F-fine! I'll answer, just stop bastard!" Cao Huan gave up quite quickly in the face of being tormented.
Funny, he was quite good at dishing it out if this whole situation was anything to go by, but not so much at taking it, huh?
"Good dog," Kaito 'praised him' and let up on some of the pressure on his foot, but didn't remove it. He quite liked standing on his face, weird that. He didn't have such violent tendencies before, "Now tell me, what the hell are you doing here in Kuoh? Shouldn't you clowns be terrorizing the Kanto region and shit in Tokyo?"
He knew that much, that the whole central stage for the 'toshi' and Ikki Tousen were the regions in Tokyo like Kansai, Kyoto and shit. Kuoh while not that far from Tokyo, wasn't Tokyo.
"I'm on holiday, I came out here to scope things out, scope some easy marks without other toshi bastards around to get in my way!" he promptly answered.
Well…that fit. "You're a D-rank right?" Kaito asked next. If he remembered right, the ranks and strength of toshi were shown in their magatama earring or Sacred Bead as this idiot called it and the ranks varied by colour, ranging from E-rank to S-rank.
D-rank being the second weakest of all.
"Yes!" he replied.
Which meant he was just a toady in the grand scheme of things. From the memories he inherited, he knew that D-rank toshi could gang up in a group of a dozen and get their shit kicked in by a C-rank one. And an A-rank one could bitch slap hundreds of them without much trouble.
Meaning, with how prideful this idiot was and boasting about being a 'king', his pride was probably smarting for being a gopher for the true strongest toshi and decided to dip.
"Alright I've only got one more question and I'll let you go," Kaito nodded, "What's with the light show, that green shit you pulled out to make yourself stronger?"
"…What do you mean, it's just my energy right? My chi," Cao Huan replied, confused, "Any toshi learns to use it straight away when they get their Sacred Beads, how the hell do you not know even know that?"
Chi huh.
The same word the Chinese used to describe what the Japanese called Ki. That…was very interesting.
If that was how it was…did that mean that green energy he was using was…!?
"Cuz I told you already," Kaito retracted his foot and crouched down in front of Cao Huan, the older of the two sighing in relief at no longer having his face used as a door mat, "I'm not a toshi, moron." he finished, before reaching for his ear and grasping the white magatama.
"Wait…what are y- AAAAAH!" Cao Huan screamed in pain as the younger teen ripped the magatama straight from his ear lobe.
Only to go quiet when Kaito punched him in the face with his left gauntlet clad fist and he fell limp, unconscious.
"Toshi huh?" Kaito mused, eyeing the white earring held between his fingers. So this little bead contained the soul and power of an ancient Chinese King huh?
He honestly wouldn't care about it much, beyond how much this would potential complicate his life down the line.
After all, if he remembered right, one of the main guys in Ikki Tousen, was a guy who was a descendent from a very special someone and inherited a dragon soul, the dragon soul that was once the ancient Chinese warlord Cao Cao.
And in DxD, there was another descendant of Cao Cao running around, a human supremacist who hated the supernatural and was toting around the strongest of all Sacred Gears.
That was going to be a mess and a half for sure.
But, beyond the complications, he wouldn't care about these toshi at all really. If not for what he just saw Cao Huan use.
….Not that Kaito cared all that much, but if he was right, and he could learn how to harness that energy using this Sacred Bead he'd just taken for himself, it would be sure to come in handy down the line if he did end up getting dragged into the supernatural shit by being approached by members of the factions or something.
It wasn't like he was going to stop training, and he would just get stronger from here on out, at much faster rates. He'd get noticed eventually thanks to that.
'Besides, didn't that hot lilac haired chick Himiko use the powers of the main chick and the Cao Cao guys Sacred Beads when she stole them?' he mused as he departed from the alley.
It meant there was a chance he didn't have to be the one who inherited the crap from the soul in the bead to use their powers.
Currently, I have eleven chapters of this already written and up on my Pa-atreon .
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.