"Dang. This is getting heavy…" Aika grunted.
"I'll help you!" Asia said to her.
"That will not be necessary," Grayfia said. "Kiryuu suggested she do this to help build her strength."
Aika grunted once more. "I'm starting to regret saying that…"
She was carrying mine and Akeno's luggage along with her own on her back as she trekked up the mountain path.
"You can do this, Aika!" Mother told her as she was walking beside me.
"Fight, Aika!" Hagane cheered as she passed by, carrying her luggage along with Ravel's and Rossweisse's with ease.
I had noticed, from the tank top Hagane was wearing, that her arms had gotten more toned since the beginning of Summer Break. She really has been hitting that strength training.
Perhaps encountering the enhanced Conjured Armor had been a motivator.
Mother and I continued following behind Aika, who was at the rear on account of being over-encumbered, until we reached the vacation home.
In spite of it not being a permanent residence, it was not much smaller than my mom's house. It was two stories instead of three and it was mostly wood instead of brick, but it was no less extravagant.
"Alright. This must be the place," I said.
Mother nodded. "It's nice, isn't it?"
"You all should be safe from any potential interlopers here," Grayfia said. "There is a magical spell around the perimeter that hides the estate from the general public."
"Nice," Xenovia remarked.
"So, what's the game plan, Boss?" Aika asked me.
"Boss?" Rahab remarked. "I thought it was President."
"Acting President," Aika corrected.
"Good grief," I sighed. "I guess let's start out by breaking out into groups by Rank."
I thought for a second.
"Yuuto and Rahab – Why don't you find someplace on the property and spar with Irina and Xenovia?"
"Roger," Rahab replied. Yuuto nodded.
"Koneko and Hagane…"
"Ms. Rossweisse. Got it." Koneko responded before I had a chance to finish.
"Do you think I can take both of them by myself?" Rossweisse asked.
"You're more than capable…" I gave a thumbs up.
Rossweisse blushed. "Thank you." Koneko rolled her eyes.
"What about us, nya?" Kuroka stated. "Asia isn't much of a combatant."
"I- I can fight!" Asia exclaimed, clenching her fists in determination.
"Uh… Not against the both of us, you can't…" Ravel said.
"Maybe we can assist with that…" Yuma said.
"Oh yeah! Yuma and I totally cooked up a plan just now!" Lint said.
"Sure you have…" I commented. "You all figure something out."
"I'll work with Miss Akeno alongside Lady Gabriel." Grayfia said.
"Understandable." I replied.
Akeno giggled. "I guess I get to challenge you for the title of 'Strongest Queen' soon."
"Don't push your luck, young lady," Grayfia said. "I won't go easy on you."
"If she remembers what I trained her on," Mother said, "you might have a good fight."
"That just leaves Aika." I concluded. "I guess you're with me."
"I guess so." Aika said. "Let's see whose dragon is the best."
"Obviously me." Albion chimed in. "That pervert Fafnir won't best us!"
Aika chuckled evilly. "We shall see…"
The Knights: Yuuto Kiba with Rahab Amon
Rahab and I faced Xenovia and Irina on a nearby practice field.
The field appeared to be designed for sword training as there were racks nearby with wooden training swords that we equipped and stowed our normal blades on another empty rack.
After a few moments to establish our positions, we were ready to begin.
"Alright! En garde!" Xenovia cried out as she immediately charged at Rahab.
She swung her training sword towards her head, but she swiftly parried, flinging Xenovia's training blade through the air.
The blade landed in the grass, comically planting itself into the ground.
Xenovia stared at the result like a deer in headlights while Rahab crossed her arms with a smug face.
Irina sighed. "Xenovia, we went through this when we were training with Yuuto's master. You can't just charge in like that!"
Xenovia shrugged. "What am I supposed to do? Somehow sneak behind her!?"
"As Knights, we can't just rely on brute force like Rooks can," I explained. "We have to use our agility to outmaneuver our opponent and make a critical move before they can."
"I just don't understand," Xenovia commented, and pointed at Rahab. "I defeated her before. How did she so quickly disarm me just now!?"
"Because you don't have that big-ass Durandal to make up for your lack of dexterity," Rahab replied. "On an even playing field I was faster. Plus, I also totally got cornered by Ms. Rossweisse and Lady Leviathan."
"Now that I think about it, who's training who here?" Irina pondered.
Xenovia sunk her head in disappointment.
I put my hand on Xenovia's shoulder. "It's okay. You may not have the right training sword right now."
She nodded. "I think you're right," she said, moving her sword arm around. "This feels way off. I'm used to greatsword types like Excalibur Destruction and Durandal. Using a one-handed sword feels off."
She took Durandal and went off somewhere.
Meanwhile, Irina and I continued sparring.
"You're getting better," I commented as our training blades clashed.
"Thank you!" she said. "Training together a couple weeks ago totally helped!"
Then, suddenly, Rahab leapt at me, and we clashed blades as Irina broke off in confusion.
"Rahab! I thought you were on his side!" she protested.
"Constant vigilance!" Rahab exclaimed. "Always be prepared for an ambush."
"Now's not the time for that!" Irina replied.
"No, Rahab's got a point…" I said, and then snapped my fingers.
A flash of light appeared behind Rahab and out of it emerged a seven-foot-tall dragon knight head-to-toe in armor.
She turned around to face it as it proceeded to bonk her on the head and then vanished.
"Ow!" she exclaimed. "What the hell was that!?"
"My second Sacred Gear, Blade Blacksmith." I explained. "Specifically, I created the dragon knight with the Glory Drag Trooper ability."
"Wait, shouldn't a person have only one Sacred Gear?" Irina questioned.
"Technically, it's a holy variant of Sword Birth I was able to manifest after I accepted my companions' light element," I explained. "Along with my swordsmanship, I sought to develop my Sacred Gear ability after Iblis' ambush."
Rahab chuckled, "You sure developed a bump on my head, that's for sure…"
As we were talking, Xenovia finally returned.
She planted her new training sword on the ground. "Made it myself!" she declared. "Cut the branch off a nearby tree with Durandal and then forged a more suitable facsimile!"
"Hmph!" Rahab remarked. "Not bad… Let's see how long you can last now!"
She got into a fighting stance with her training sword and Xenovia readied herself in return.
"Remember Xenovia!" I reminded her. "Think like a Knight."
She nodded and then charged. She made the first swing again, but this time, she quickly adjusted her stance as Rahab countered, keeping her grip on the blade.
Xenovia grinned, but that quickly vanished as Rahab thrusted her blade at hers, knocking her down.
"I win!" Rahab exclaimed as she prepared a coup de grace swing at Xenovia, "It's over!"
However, as she swung, Xenovia made a counter of her own, flinging Rahab's blade through the air! It planted itself on the ground in a similar fashion as Xenovia's before.
"What…"
Xenovia chuckled. "If you're gonna say you're gonna defeat me, the deed should already be done…"
Rahab playfully scoffed, "I, of all people, should know that."
"Well done, Xenovia!" Irina said. "Your agility is greatly improved!"
Xenovia nodded, "Using a more familiar sized training sword definitely helped, too."
"I think we all have somewhere to improve on," I said. "Who's next?"
The Rooks: Hagane Sasaki with Koneko Toujou
"Are you done?" Koneko asked me. "Ms. Rossweisse found us a location for our session."
I put the barbells back on the rack and wiped my face with a hand towel.
"Okay…" I said, panting. "Just give me a sec."
"You shouldn't push yourself too hard," Koneko commented.
"Oh no. I don't intend to," I said as I grabbed my water bottle. "It's just that the Khaos Brigade's upgraded Conjured Armor has just been weighing heavily on me."
"… I understand…" Koneko replied.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short," I said, putting my shirt back on over my sports bra. "You're amazing in your own way, especially with your new youkai powers. All I can do with just this armor is… punch stuff."
As I was saying that, I also snapped on a nearby plastic armband on my right arm.
"I need to get adept at senjutsu before we face Sairaorg," she said.
"Trust me, you're not alone," I said. "I can only imagine how Makoto is feeling right now, having to lead us at such a short notice…"
Koneko nodded, "I hope Makoto-senpai is alright. He looked worried after that incident with the President."
I nodded and we headed out.
We met Ms. Rossweisse in an open field.
"Alright," she began announcing. "You have five minutes to plan. Let's see if you can defeat me."
It was two against one, but I remember Makoto very nearly had to use two. She won't go down without a fight.
"I have a plan," Koneko said. "You shield me against Ms. Rossweisse's attacks and then we make our move."
"Yeah, about that; she uses Norse Magic," I said. "The new Conjured Armor can probably block that, but mine can't for long – only holy and demonic. Even if it could block it, magic at that level will start to wear my armor down quickly, like when Kokabiel was able to destroy the armor with one shot. Again, the newer ones are much better."
Koneko scoffed. "Then this will be a problem. Her magic is insanely powerful. She's basically a Bishop with the Durability of a Rook."
"The only reason she's not a Queen is that she's not that mobile when she attacks," I said.
"Then that may be our best bet." Koneko commented. "I have the best mobility out of the three of us."
"Alright. Times up!" Ms. Rossweisse said a few moments later, "Prepare yourself!"
I transformed into my armor and took the first charge. Ms. Rossweisse had begun forming magic circles around her.
Meanwhile while her circles were targeting me, Koneko attacked from the side, firing off blasts of senjutsu energy at Ms. Rossweisse, who quickly set up barriers to defend against them.
As she moved her focus to Koneko I took my charge at Rossweisse and took a swing at her.
She blocked the first punch but the second one hit her square in the abdomen!
Nevertheless, while she was knocked back a couple feet, she looked unfazed.
"You'll need a bit more than that," she commented.
"Oh. I do, teacher!" I remarked.
She summoned several more magic circles and primed them to fire straight at me.
"Hagane, get out of the way!" Koneko exclaimed.
I raised my right arm. "CONJURE! MARK 3!"
She fired at me as a flash of light surrounded me.
As the light dissipated, I was unscathed as I was now clad in a dark blue armor.
Both Ms. Rossweisse and Koneko looked speechless.
Koneko quickly shook herself off and fired off another round at Ms. Rossweisse.
She quickly set up more barriers to protect her, but I then revealed a new arm cannon on top of my right arm and fired a burst of energy projectiles at the barriers and they shattered, causing her to be knocked down by Koneko's attack.
Ms. Rossweisse had to catch her breath and wipe the sweat from her forehead.
"That was brilliant!" she said. "That armband that Lord Ajuka brought to you definitely did its job!"
"You could have led with that…" Koneko remarked.
"It was just a prototype, so I had to save it for a critical moment," I replied. "He told me a more finalized version should be ready by the game that should last for a longer duration."
"One thing's for sure," Ms. Rossweisse said, "I'm going to need a partner Rook if I am to face you two again."
The Bishops: Ravel Phenex with Kuroka
Yuma was laughing maniacally.
"Ha, ha ha! You are running out of time!" she exclaimed. "Soon it will be too late to save your dear little Asia!"
Deeper in the forest, next to Yuma, Asia was bound up in rope, seemingly more annoyed than frightened.
"Is this some kind of reference to something we should know?" I asked.
"Who cares, nya?" Kuroka said. "I can take that hag down myself!"
However, her charge was interrupted as she tread on a land mine conspicuously on the ground. While it wasn't obviously a significant explosion, the resulting firecracker-like bang knocked her back.
Kuroka looked up to see Lint in the trees. She attacked her with her senjutsu and she leapt from the branch onto the ground.
"I will do what my failure of my brother failed to do and defeat you!" she said.
She pulled out an airsoft gun and aimed at Kuroka.
I got in between her and Kuroka as she fired. They stung like nobody's business, but my Phoenix power soothed the pain quickly.
"Go deal with Yuma! I'll handle her." I said to Kuroka.
"Sure, nya," she replied.
Lint giggled as she pulled out two wooden training swords.
She then realized her mistake. "Oh crap."
She hastily threw the swords away at me and I accidentally combusted them in my face.
That would have left some nasty burn scars if I wasn't able to use my healing factor to heal the injuries almost immediately.
"Ha ha!" she exclaimed as she used the opportunity to ambush me from the side and fired her airsoft guns rapidly at me.
They didn't hurt a lot, but she was becoming a real nuisance as she was wearing down my energy using my healing factor.
Not to mention the environment is not ideal for my abilities. If I used my fire magic recklessly, I would cause a wildfire and that would be a pain for all parties involved.
I will have to rely on my family's other elemental specialty.
I summoned a gust of wind and knocked Lint into a tree.
"Oh, that smarts!" she muttered as she slowly got up, but she then collapsed to a sitting position. "Okay, I give up…"
By then, Kuroka had reached Yuma.
"This is it, nya!" she exclaimed as she primed to attack Yuma, but she was knocked back as she suddenly surged with electricity as she summoned her light spear!
"What!?" Kuroka exclaimed.
"You should know Baraqiel took me in as a daughter in more ways than one!" Yuma said.
She lunged at Kuroka, who had to dodge quickly, as the addition of lightning to the mix, along with her deadly light, made the spear even more potent to her.
Kuroka attacked her with her senjutsu and demonic magic, but she quickly dodged and flung an electrified spear at her.
While she dodged the spear itself, she was struck by the electricity as she leapt back and was knocked onto the ground regardless.
"Kuroka!" I exclaimed as I rushed towards her.
However, Yuma seemed just as concerned for her as she appeared to be unconscious on the ground, but as she approached her herself, Kuroka then broke into a devious grin and ambushed her with a senjutsu attack, which knocked her right on her butt!
I rushed towards Asia and used a fire spell to cleanly burn through Asia's restraints.
"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed as she stood up and Kuroka came to my side.
"Glad to help," I said. "Even if it is some sort of strange training exercise."
She giggled. "However…"
She then outstretched her hands and knocked us back in a flash of light!
"You now have to fight me…" she said, with an uncharacteristically confident look on her face as she summoned an emerald green sword of light in her hands.
Kuroka scowled.
However, her look of confidence quickly broke. "Oh, I can't keep this up! Makoto is going to be disappointed in me!"
"On the contrary," I said. "That was brilliant! I didn't know you were any offensive threat at all!"
"Yeah, nya!" Kuroka added. "You were terrifying for that brief moment."
"You were awesome!" Lint said, still sitting next to that tree.
Yuma had gotten up and put her hand on Asia's shoulder. "Makoto will always be proud of you. I know it."
She began tearing up. "Thank you…"
The Queen and the Pawn: Makoto with Akeno and Aika.
Aika, Mother, and I were behind the house as Akeno and Grayfia stood opposite each other on the grass in front of us.
"Do you think she can do it?" Aika asked me. "Beat Lady Grayfia I mean."
"I don't know," I replied. "I heard from Rias' mother while she was teaching me Devil History that she was in the running for Serafall's position as Leviathan. She won't go down without a fight."
"Prepare yourself," Grayfia announced calmly and then shortly after fired an intense barrage of demonic magic at Akeno.
Akeno narrowly dodged the projectiles, very much owing to the Knight attribute of her Queen piece.
She then fired a thunderbolt from her finger at Grayfia. However, Grayfia pulled out a fan and deflected the bolt and fired another burst at Akeno which was shot down with Akeno's lightning.
Akeno raised her hand in the air and quickly summoned a magic circle above Grayfia. She then unleashed a massive thunderbolt down at Grayfia, giggling maniacally as she was engulfed by it.
"She does know we're not supposed to kill our sparring partners, right?" I commented.
"She gets off to violence," Aika replied. "It's one ear and out the other with her."
However, as the lightning subsided, Grayfia emerged completely unscathed. She was crossing her arms holding up two fans in both her hands and was faintly radiating a familiar red aura.
"Of course!" I exclaimed. "That barrier from before. She told me even Sirzechs' attacks had trouble getting through it."
"Akeno, your best bet against her is your Holy Lightning," Mother reminded Akeno. "You still don't have a hangup about using it, right?"
"It's not that, I don't want to badly injure Lady Grayfia."
"Oh, now you're worried about her safety…" I muttered.
"I can take any punishment you can dish out," Grayfia told her. "I do believe your master would tell you to have 'no mercy,' correct?"
Akeno smiled and nodded.
"Then I won't show any mercy, either!" Grayfia exclaimed as she used her fans to attack her with rapid slashes of demonic magic.
She narrowly dodged some of them and parried another group of them with lightning.
She was about to create another magic circle above Grayfia but she was then attacked with another barrage of demonic magic that she became preoccupied with dodging it.
Grayfia began to step forward and Akeno grinned.
As Grayfia put her left foot down, it was suddenly wrapped in vines as a glow from a magic circle emitted from the ground!
"Whoops. Should have known I was into bondage~!" Akeno commented.
"We all know that…" I muttered.
Grayfia quickly broke through the vines as Akeno used the opening to create a magic circle above her.
She did it! However, as a dazzling combination of bolts of light and thunder emerged from the circle down at her, Grayfia unleashed a powerful last-ditch attack.
Both Akeno's new Holy Lightning and Grayfia's attack caused sizeable explosions.
Akeno was knocked to the ground from the explosion.
I ran to her. "Are you okay, Akeno!?"
She giggled and sat up. "Thank you, darling. I am fine."
As the dust settled from the explosion Akeno set off, Grayfia appeared to be merely slightly knocked back… but also the barrier appeared to be flickering.
Grayfia nodded. "Not bad at all…"
"'Not bad?' She nearly got through that Lucifer-proof barrier!" Aika commented.
Mother helped Akeno get back up. "Your Father is going to be so proud of you!"
Akeno giggled. "Makoto gave me the courage. Just like he gave Koneko-chan the courage to open up to her own abilities. We're all stronger because of you, darling."
"Ah shucks," I chuckled. "Don't give me all the credit, now."
"Yeah. We'll see how valuable Makoto's abilities are in a second when I defeat him next!" Aika replied.
"Okay. If you say so…" I replied as I walked out to the field with her as Akeno and Grayfia walked over to where we were.
"Are you ready, Aika?" I asked as we took our positions.
"Ready," she replied as she help up her DDS.
"BALANCE BREAK!"
We transformed into our Balance Breakers at the same time.
As she charged at me, I attacked her with my amplified Power of Retribution. However, she quickly put up a shield to deflect the attack and I had to dodge the resulting shock wave.
That was too close. Her deflector shield is even stronger than before.
I tried to leap over her with my wings to attack from behind, but she quickly turned around and deflected the attack again.
I then summoned Exscalon as she charged at me. She was about to punch me, but quickly shifted to dodge the swing. At this range, the sword would be deadly to the armor.
I was now on the offensive. I dashed behind her and reached out with my right hand in an attempt to Divide her power.
Then my armor wore off and I fell to the ground… Exscalon flew out of my hand and planted itself to the ground.
"What the hell…?" I muttered as I got myself up, brushing my gym pants off.
"Are you okay?" Akeno asked me. I nodded.
Aika dissipated her armor. "What just happened? Is everything alright?"
"I don't why. The armor should last longer than that… Albion?"
"I don't know either," Albion said. "Somehow I lost our synch-up."
"Dammit. I'm not gonna stand a chance against Sairaorg at this rate…" I commented.
"Don't worry. You've been working hard." Akeno said. "Maybe you just need some rest."
"Grayfia and I have been working on Supper while you everyone else was training," Mother said. "I'll get everyone else. Some food may help you and the dragon."
I nodded. "Thank you…"
As I was drifting off to sleep at around midnight, I heard a brisk knocking on my door.
"Yuuto? This is Asia. Can we talk?"
I got up and opened the door to my bedroom. Akeno, Koneko, and Aika were with her. "Sure. What's going on?"
"Do you know where Makoto has been since Dinner? He went off suddenly after eating and we didn't see him at the outdoor bath."
"I don't know either. He wasn't with me at the bath either," I replied.
"I'm worried about him," Akeno said. "He hasn't been quite the same since Rias was struck ill."
Aika nodded. "I bet him suddenly going out of sync with his Sacred Gear probably has something to do with that."
"Does anyone of us have an idea where he is?" Asia said. "He wasn't in his bedroom."
Yuma walked up. "I know where he is," she said.
I followed them into the Living Room. Makoto was sitting on the couch, seemingly passed out. He had a book out opened to a section on "Black Holes and their Use in Combat." Next to that book was a stack of books next to a larger stack of books.
He also had a laptop open, and I could hear audio playing. Asia and I examined what he was watching. It was a DeviTube video of part of a Rating Game match that looked like Sairaorg's Queen facing what appeared to be two other servants.
Akeno shut the laptop as I could see Makoto waking up.
"Wait…" He muttered, reaching for the laptop. "I need to keep studying…"
"What you need, is a good night's sleep, Makoto," Akeno said.
"But at this rate, we're gonna get massacred by Sairaorg. I need to prepare."
Akeno giggled. "You saw me fighting Ms. Grayfia earlier. We're more prepared than you think."
Koneko nodded. "Hagane and I are much stronger than before."
"Same for us," I said.
"But- I-" Makoto was trying to say something but the words wouldn't come out.
"Are you… still worried about Rias?" Asia asked timidly.
Makoto sighed. He was visibly tearing up. "It's all just coming at me at once. The thing with Rias… Fighting Sairaorg… Having to lead you guys… I just don't know if I can handle it…"
Asia hugged him. "You can do it! I believe in you, Makoto!"
Akeno followed suit and also hugged him. "You told me shortly after finding out I was a fallen angel that you didn't care and would still love me for who I am. It's the same with me. It doesn't matter if we win or lose against Sairaorg. I still love you deeply."
"When I told you I was a fallen angel…" Yuma said. "I thought you would be flummoxed. But that laugh, and the look on your face after that… the same that you gave my former master when you threw that same stupid line that I said to you before right back at her… that was the face of a man who could take on the world."
"Yeah! If you can face that stupid goddess, Sairaorg is gonna be a cakewalk!" Aika replied.
"We're your friends, Makoto," I said. "We have been there for you since the beginning."
"Your friend," Asia repeated.
"Friend," repeated Koneko.
"Friend," repeated Aika.
"Girlfriend~," Akeno added.
"Girlfriend," Yuma repeated.
"Ex-girlfriend," Akeno corrected.
"Uhuhu… Just kidding." Yuma giggled.
Makoto chuckled. "I think I'm ready for bed, now."
I walked my bedroom. But I was followed by Akeno and Asia.
"Um…"
"If you're going to get the best sleep possible, you're going to need our help," Asia said to.
Akeno nodded. "If your mental state isn't the best, your Sacred Gear won't either…"
"Um… Thanks, but I'm good…" I waved my hand dismissively.
Akeno giggled. "Don't be shy. I always wanted to try a three-way~."
My eyes widened. "I could've sworn that was just a dream…" I muttered.
"Akeno! Not like that!" Asia protested. "You said we were just going to cuddle with him to help him fall asleep!"
"My, my," Akeno giggled. "You're even easier than Makoto…" Asia was visibly pouting.
I sighed in amusement. "Good grief. We need to get to sleep… We have a long day ahead of us."
I got in the bed and then Asia got on my left side and Akeno my right. Before long I had drifted off into the soundest sleep I had in days…