AN: Yo, been a while but we're still going strong here. Been busy with some stuff. Hope everyone's doing well.
A quick note for this chapter: I do my best to study up on mythology and the CANON information of DxD to decide on my plotlines. But I will remind everyone that this is a fanfic, and as such, I change or expand on areas I think are fitting. This is not a 'fix-it' to DxD, as if my version is somehow better, this is just how I like to look at things. So please do not attack me for something not being 'Accurate' to myth or DxD. I'm most likely aware of it because I deliberately changed it.
Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
EDIT: Thanks for the typo catch, danielsnow.
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Disclaimer: I own no source material.
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Chapter 8: Life in Sakura Village Part 5: Final
~~000 4 Months Later 000~~
Hei sat, shirtless and blindfolded, upon a flat stone at the base of a waterfall, enshrouded in the clouds of mist, extending his awareness into what his eyes could not see.
He tuned out the roar of the water, the scent of wet earth after rain, the feel of condensation upon his skin.
The physical world melted away, opening him to a deeper layer of sight as he sensed the energy in all things, shaping the world in metaphysical colors.
His mind had adjusted to the intake of information, allowing him to push past his initial ten-foot bubble to fifty feet while learning to drown out the majority of useless knowledge and focus on the overall aspects.
The more he tried to sense at once, the greater the strain, yet there was no need to focus on everything all the time.
He turned to the rippling blues of water twirling lazily, the solid and sturdy rich browns of earth, the vibrant greens of vitality flowing through the plant life like spider webs, and the burning wisps of flames dancing eagerly around his body.
That last aspect of flames was what held his attention at the moment, as dozens of said wisps surrounded his body.
He watched them as best he could, trying to track their positions. One wisp broke away and flew at him with an erratic pattern, forcing him to predict its path in seconds as he turned his head slightly to dodge, feeling the water upon his skin steam as it passed.
One by one, they flew at him, forcing him to make minute adjustments. None followed the same pattern; some had less mana making them harder to sense, while others had a deeper mana density, constantly pulsing and disrupting his focus on the smaller targets.
On and on they came, first one at a time, then two, and finally, when three came at him at once, he could no longer stay seated and kicked off the stone, backflipping through the air to land on an adjacent rock. One of a dozen that shifted through the water randomly.
Seeing as he moved, the wisps increased in speed, coming at him from all directions as he did his best to stay out of the water, moving between stones that would sink beneath the water if he stayed atop it too long.
The air sizzled as wisps of flame came screaming his way. 'Left knee, impact in two seconds.' His left leg shot straight up in the air, dodging the shot. 'Right kidney, impact in three seconds.' He dropped down in a split, feeling the tiny hairs on the back of his neck curl from the passing heat.
He jumped, spun, twisted, and persevered through an endless wave of flaming wisps that came at him three at a time. However, when a fourth snuck its way in, it clipped his ankle and made him lose his balance in time for an oncoming low-powered wisp to slam into his stomach and send him careening into the water.
However, rather than feel pain, all Hei felt was annoyance as his body slowly surfaced. Smug laughter rang from the side as a grumbling Hei pulled off the blindfold.
"Enjoy your swim, Hei~?"
Red eyes narrowed on the speaker. "Can't you stick to the rules, just once, Leone?"
"There are no rules in the real world~." The blond, well-endowed Nekoshou sang teasingly. "You should know that by now."
"You're the one who made the rules!" Hei shot back and pushed up out of the water. "Damn sadistic woman."
"I did, and I am." Leone laughed openly and tossed him a towel. "Wipe yourself off, brat, you're bleeding."
"Did you just quote Rush Hour?"
"….It was a good movie." Leone looked away with a flush and waved her hand to shoo him off. "Anyway, my time playing with you is just about up for the day; you need to work on your mental concentration. You're trying to force yourself to see instead of letting it naturally come to you."
"Yes, ma'am." Hei grumbled and wiped down his hair. "But how exactly do I do that? Trying to keep up with everything is like playing 3D chess on two different boards while blindfolded."
"You're putting the cart before the horse, brat." Leone rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You've been at this for four months and made more progress than actual Yokai do in years. You need to learn to relax and open yourself up to nature. Forcing it will only take you so far, and it will continue to mentally wear you out till you learn to be at peace."
"Easier said than done." Hei sighed and hung the towel around his neck. "I'm surrounded by sadists, cats, and death in my life. How exactly is any of that peaceful?"
Leone's brow twitched. "One of those is unlike the other." Ultimately, she sighed and waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Just keep doing what you're doing, and it will come. Now go grab a snack before Yoru grabs you. She gets on my case when you're late like it's somehow my fault."
"It is your fault." Hei snarked and headed for the village. "If you didn't change the rules so often, I wouldn't be stuck here so long."
"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Leone called back with a chuckle and watched him go. 'I change it up because you're growing way too fast, brat. If you were a Yokai, I wouldn't be surprised if you unlocked Touki by now.'
She shook her head and how crazy that sounded.
Touki was the art of pulling on your own life force and using it to reinforce the body, mind, and magic. It took a keen and highly trained sensory ability to even find that energy inside the body and pull it out. Training harshly for years on end helped to build up the amount of life force inside the body, making it easier to find, but that was subjective in a case-by-case scenario.
Yokai had an easier time of this with their connection to nature and sensory techniques, but it was possible for any race to do it with time. Time that would be measured in decades at a minimum for most people. People who weren't interested in forcing it to open through luck or challenge the brink of death, anyway.
Yet, as Leone watched her charge walk off, she couldn't help but snort in humor at what was considered standard logic. 'That kid will do it in five years tops. I think I have to pick up my own training if I don't want to get left behind.'
She cracked her knuckles with an excited smile. 'It's been a while since I felt this motivated.'
Hei had no idea what kind of monster he was waking up, but even if he knew, he would only encourage it. Both for his training's sake and for the sake of those he was coming to care for.
00000
Hei stopped in the village, greeting plenty of faces by names with a sense of familiarity after months of being around, getting the odd good morning mixed with waves, feline-like rubs of cheeks, and friendly licks as he headed over to grab breakfast from Liticia's shop, the mother of the demonic triplets.
"Oh, Hei, good morning, dear."
"Mn. Morning, ma'am, how are the girls?"
Liticia smiled warmly at the question and leaned forward to rub her head against his in greeting. "Just waking up; it's sweet of you to check up on them so often."
"I'm just passing through." Hei responded calmly.
Even if he didn't expressly say or show it, Hei couldn't help but check in on the triplets when he got a chance. The adorable little ones, even the one with the obsession with breaking his knees, managed to worm their way past his barriers in a short pocket of time.
"Hei?"
"Big Bro…"
"Nyuaahh~, must…destroy….knees…for the…children."
The trio of kittens bumbled around like zombies, leaning on each other, half excited to see him and half asleep to the world. Each dressed in little onesie pajamas with nightcaps.
"…Cute." The word slipped out unbidden, and Hei's eyes widened under the amused gaze of their mother before he snatched the bag on the counter and vanished into the wind like a startled cat. The payment for the meal, along with three small candies, was all that was left as Liticia laughed openly and tittered to herself.
"That poor boy has been corrupted by us."
A distance away, Hei calmed his flushed cheeks and ate his breakfast quickly atop one of the many roofs in the village. It was a peaceful morning like any other in the idyllic place surrounded by nature's wealth.
The streaming water moving through the center of the village sang in tune with the chimes gently blowing in the wind, hanging from red tori gates like something out of a Japanese painting. And the central ancient Sakura tree added to the harmony of it all, letting its petals flow in the wind like dancing fairies moving to a tune only they could hear.
It was paradise, and Hei felt undeserving of it sometimes.
Finishing off his meal, he hopped away and headed for Yoru's well-known training area. Most of the villagers steered clear of it, some even putting up half joking loony toon signs.
{Danger} {Death Be A Forward} {Feline Femme Fatale Ahead} {May The Fluff Be With Thee}
And Hei's personal favorite.
{Masochists Welcome, Please Have Insurance Papers On Hand.}
The villagers made a game of it, and Yoru just laughed most of it off. 'Except whenever Leone gets involved. Did she really have to cover the place in {Booze Hoarding Bitch} signs? Those two need to get laid.'
It said something when a twelve-year-old had to tell centuries-old women to go scratch an itch, no matter how mature he was in mind.
Four months had come and gone in the blink of an eye, and Hei was twelve now. His body continued to develop, and early puberty was taking hold as his body grew at a pace that seemed to be trying to catch up to his mind. Looking down at his palms, which seemed larger than any twelve-year-old should have, Hei wondered for the umpteenth time about his physiology. 'Was it the training? Maybe my Sacred Gear with those steroid cards? Mana? Or something else? Sometimes, I'm not sure if I'm really human.'
Shaking his head at the strange thought, Hei continued on and ended up pondering his current schedule and progress.
Early morning was Leone's time, and the blond beauty embodied the aspect of sunrise quite well. She was light, airy, a breath of fresh air, and she brightened up wherever she went, for good or bad. Leone took charge of his sensory training, trying to build him to sense various energies, see the world beyond his eyes, see farther and in more clarity at high speed, and try to find the life force buried inside him. The last one being the most infuriated of the tasks.
Rather, it was the sensing aura that Hei found the most interesting. Each individual had their own signature, their own flavor, so to speak. And each race had a different color to their aura.
Yokai, in general, seemed to take on green hues, with specifically Nekoshou taking on much deeper greens. Humans generally glowed blue with incredibly faint energy signatures, their tiny mana pools and weak bodies giving off almost nothing. Devils, or the few strays Hei wandered close to on his jobs, seemed to take on reddish colors. But those three were the main ones he had discovered so far. He had touched upon black and violet aura's at different times while being out and about but never had the chance to see who or what they were.
There was still much for Hei to learn, and even if he wasn't as happy with his pace as he should be, he couldn't deny that he was growing rapidly. Four months ago, he needed Leone to help him push a few feet away from his body, and now he could manage fifty feet and predict three fast-moving objects at once. 'I'll get there, one step at a time.'
A heavy thump sounded from ahead, and Hei looked forward to a sight he had seen countless times already.
Mornings were Leone's time, but the early afternoon was Yoru's time, and the violet desert cat took to that aspect of the day like a match made in heaven.
The sunlight shined down on sun-kissed bronze skin, glittering with sweat staining satin that drew in the eye like a moth to a flame. You just knew it was dangerous, and yet you couldn't look away even if you wanted to.
Baggy cloth pants adorned her skin from waist to ankle, leaving the midriff bear with only a cloth wrapping covering up her chest from the waist up. Royal purple hair pulled back in a braid as it flapped in the air under the powerful shifting gravity it was under.
Yoru barely seemed to notice said gravity, as busy as she was moving with literal tons of weight on her shoulders. The woman was doing walking squats like it was the most normal thing in the world, and she did it with a natural sway that only a feline's grace could manage.
Her eyes looked up as Hei entered the clearing with a fanged grin stretched across her lips. "You're late!"
Hei had barely stepped into the clearing when Yoru's form flickered, and it was only months of incredibly brutal physical body forging and hand-to-hand combat training that made him receptive enough to back handspring out of the way of a leg sweep and retaliate with a kick aimed at the woman's chin.
Yoru leaned out of the way with ease, not the least bothered by the tonnage weights she still carried. "Getting faster~. I might need to lower my weights soon."
Hei scoffed at her teasing tone as he landed in a crouch. "Says the woman with a dump truck on her shoulders. And I'm not talking about your breasts."
"Psh, women with shoulder problems simply need to work out more."
"I think I just heard millions of women curse you in unison."
Yoru snorted in humor. "Ranking up to Iron grade flesh won't just make you more durable." A leg sweep rolled his way, forcing Hei to jump and grab the offending limb to swing into her guard with a knee to her ribs. Yoru blocked it with an elbow, smiling as she felt the strike blow her hair back. "It makes you stronger too. You're getting closer to the first change."
"I'll believe it when I see it." Hei calmly replied. "Weapons or hand to hand?"
If anything, the question only made her smile widen as she chuckled throatily. "At my level, my hands are my weapons, Hei, and so are my legs." The leg Hei had flipped over wrapped around his upper body like a praying mantis's arm, and he had a bare second to prepare himself before Yoru backflipped, still holding tons of weight over her shoulders, and bodily tossed him like a javelin into the gravity zone.
He flipped end over end in the air before righting himself and landing in a crouch in the second ring of Yoru's gravity zone, knees buckling from four times Earth's gravity pounding down on every inch of his body. 'I need to get to the outer ring.'
He launched himself like a panther on all fours toward the double gravity zone only to feel the hairs on his neck rise. By instinct alone, he could feel the glowing amber eyes behind him paired with a far too wide smile, as well as the axe kicking coming down toward his body.
'Move!' Hei willed his body to spin, feeling the sheer wind pressure of the attacking limb cutting through the air toward him. His momentum ended with his palms smacking into the side of Yoru's leg, not to redirect the mountainous blow but to push himself away from the impact zone.
The moment the foot touched the earth, it was like an earthquake exploded outward from the impact zone, spreading in a wave that ended on the edges of the training area, where wards existed to absorb the vibrations.
Hei's body tumbled through the air a second time in less than a minute, except this time, he had eyes on his target as he rolled into the double gravity zone and felt his body lighten.
Yoru's smile turned his way before she vanished in a flash, appearing on his right with only the flicker of violet hair as a visual warning of her location. Her kick came as a roundhouse this time, with Hei blocking it with a cross-armed guard and returning the momentum with a shin to her ribs.
"There we go. Fight back, kid! Don't just be passive; come at me!" Yoru laughed openly and attacked. Only this time, she wasn't releasing mountain-shattering blows, but ones just a step above what Hei could handle, bruising and injuring him with each contact yet allowing him to counter.
She never threw a punch, busy as her hands were holding tonnage of weight upon her shoulders, but her legs came at him like high-speed vipers with the force of elephants behind each strike.
A high kick was dodged, returned with a leg sweep that she jumped over and countered with a pointed heel to his jaw. The blow only grazed him as he leaned back, returning it with a brutal knee and elbow pincer to her shin in an attempt to break the bone, yet that graze had enough wind behind it to shake his brain and daze him so his aim was off.
What should have been her shin was only the end of her foot, and even then, it only hit a toe.
Yoru paused at that while Hei's world spun momentarily. She looked at her foot with an impressed raise of her brow. 'He actually cracked my nail. Not like I expected him to hurt me, but he landed a hit.' Her smile was damn near stuck on her face as she spun and mule-kicked him out of the gravity zone.
Hei went flying out of the gravity zone, slamming into a tree as he coughed up spit and tried to make the world stop spinning.
"You really are improving…" It might not seem like much, and Yoru was severely handicapped, but landing a hit on her when she was entirely focused on him was an accomplishment. Shaking her head, she calmly stepped out of the gravity zone and casually dropped her weights.
Even from just a few feet up, they shook the earth like her full-powered kick moments before.
Yoru sauntered up to the rising Hei and smacked him on the back with a mischievous smile. "Nice try, kid. You almost got me there." She decided to keep the truth to herself for the moment.
Hei centered himself and spat out a trickle of blood before giving her a disgruntled look. "I 'almost' hit you every time. And then I get my ass kicked. What else is new?"
Yoru chuckled and nudged him playfully. "Don't be a sour puss. You're making remarkable progress, but you still have a long way to go. Now, enough wasting time; get your cute little butt in there and give me twenty laps. Alternate between double and quadruple gravity per lap."
Hei rolled his eyes but nodded all the same. "Yes, ma'am." He might sass his feline teachers, but he listened to their instructions with the respect they deserved as accomplished individuals who were passing down their skills to him.
Yoru watched him follow her orders without hesitation and gave off a fanged grin. 'So obedient, and with such an innate talent for hard work. If only I had ten more like this kid and a decade to whip them into shape. The world wouldn't even know what would hit them.'
An evil villain-grade laugh exploded from her lips, and the running Hei dutifully drowned it out and ignored the cold shiver shooting down his spine. "I can always run; she won't find me…"
"I heard that!"
"They will never find me…"
"The last person who tried to run from a Nekoshou became the reason the tower of Piza tilts!"
Hei really hoped she was joking.
00000
After four hours of literal bone-breaking workouts and occasional spars, a drenched Hei got dropped off at his clearing by an all too satisfied Yoru.
"You gonna make it inside on your own, kid?" Yoru asked with a Cheshire smile.
"I would have if you didn't decide lightning was fun, you sadistic woman." Hei grumbled from her shoulder, trying his best to control the electrical impulses shooting through him and forcing him to twitch. "I dealt with electricity resistance since I was seven. How the fuck did you overcome that?"
Yoru laughed easily and sauntered up to his hideout's door. "I told you before, you're only a slightly more resistant target to me. If you really want to make yourself immune to its paralyzing qualities, I can help you. Just ask." She paused before the door. "Here good?"
"Yeah, as if I want to give you another reason to torture me." Hei responded and tapped her shoulder. "Here's fine. Thanks."
The tanned beauty, in all her five foot four glory, put him down on his feet far more gently than one would expect from her. "You sure you gonna be fine getting inside?"
Hei placed his palm against the door, letting it scan him and open with a hiss as he shot the woman a dry look. "If you want to mooch off my stuff, just say so." He stepped into the opening and left the door open behind him. "Not like you don't do it on your own."
"Oi, I can respect someone's privacy!" Yoru called from above, yet was already at the bottom of the ladder by the time Hei got down. "I always make sure to ask."
Hei's brow twitched, and it wasn't from the electricity coursing through him. "No, you just phrase hypothetical statements like a question and take things as permission. Not like I could stop you, anyway." He pushed past her and opened the second security door to his place as Yoru brushed his cheek with a kiss and stepped inside.
"Glad we're on the same page. Hurry up, and you might get a show~." She vanished in a blur as Hei rolled his eyes in surprising fondness.
'That annoying woman grows on you. Like an alley cat that you occasionally fed from your window deciding it liked your bed.'
When Hei first arrived at the village, he was cautious of everything. That caution remained to an extent, but the village's felines were far too open about their natures. Not a single one of them was malicious in their intentions to each other. Once you were accepted into their village, you were treated like one of them, and the cats were free spirits.
Ghis never shared the secret of his hideout, never betraying his trust. He had actually given her permission to enter whenever she wished, seeing as she was the one who helped him learn how to smelt what he wanted.
As for Yoru, Hei had gone to her to set the clearing up with wards, connecting it to the village's greater protections. She had added aversion wards for the villagers, giving him a free spot to be at peace. However, that came at the cost of her knowing where he lived, and the only thing stopping her from forcing her way inside to enjoy his volcanic hot spring, top-shelf liquor, and Bluefin tuna pond was that she thought it might be rude to shatter his two high-security vault entrance doors and embarrass the venom golem guardian snakes.
He ultimately didn't mind her being there, and it was nice that she asked at least, but it meant she took each training day's opportunity to make sure he couldn't walk home so she could come over and mooch.
Leone stopped by as well, but outside of their morning sessions and weekends, she was often out in the world doing her job. Collecting information and eliminating threats to the secret of the Nekoshou. A secret that Hei honestly wasn't sure how deeply it was kept, seeing as he was confident the devil Satans knew about it at least.
But that wasn't his concern. What was his problem was reaching the hot springs on still twitching legs, trying to push through the fact that at least one of his shins had hairline fractures throughout it. 'I don't think she appreciated me trying to break her shin earlier.'
The fact that the woman who did that damage to him was in the water before him, fully nude as the day she was born, with a floating tray holding the liquor from his own cabinets and a freshly filleted plate of sashimi from a fish he knew was alive five minutes before was something he dutifully did his best to ignore.
The woman shamelessly winked at him with her chest on display, but even if he was five years older, Hei doubted he could have cared, no matter how beautiful she was, with the pain of his wounds.
He stripped and sunk into the water with a groan, floating peacefully as his bones mended and muscles rapidly repaired.
Yoru downed her drink with a blissful sigh. "Ah~, ain't this the life, kid?"
"Just shut up for two minutes, Yoru."
"Rude."
"My shin has more fractures than a tabletop puzzle."
"…I'll be quiet."
"Mn."
00000
Close to an hour later, the hideout door slid open just as Hei finished tying his damp hair back, dressed in lightweight sweats and a tank top.
"Yo." Ghis waved casually as she strolled up to the smelter area where Hei was getting things ready with her silver grey tail and mantle of hair swaying behind her in an unseen wind.
Hei paused in his actions to bow his head in respect to the Amazonian woman. "Hello, teacher."
A small yet warm quirk of her lips was all the emotion she showed outwardly to his action, yet she responded by leaning down to rub her head against his affectionately. "Hey, cub, you ready for today's session?"
Hei had long since gotten used to the affectionate nature of the felines, yet he still had to restrain a slight flush when it was Ghislaine who did it. "Yes, teacher, everything is set, and we can start right away."
Ghis made no inclination to show her pride in how much she enjoyed being the only one to make Hei flush, yet she wasn't the only one there at the moment.
"Oi! Whats with all the respect Ghis gets, kid?" Yoru grumbled from the side, where she had blatantly pulled a couch out of Hei's home to come over and watch while eating chips and drinking his booze. "I demand equal rights between teachers."
"…" Hei didn't verbally respond to her, instead focusing on his task at hand and choosing to ignore the unruly feline.
Yoru's brow twitched at the blatant silent treatment and shot Ghis an annoyed look. "Want to share with the class, Ghis? What did you do to the kid? He doesn't treat me or Leone with nearly the same level of respect as you."
"Who knows." Ghis shrugged. "Some felines are just superior by nature."
"Did….did you just make a joke, Ghis?" Yoru gapped at the woman.
"I don't joke."
"…" Yoru deadpanned at her long-time friend in annoyance.
"Don't you have paperwork to get to, Yoru?"
Yoru lazily waved a hand and munched on a chip. "It'll still be there when I get back. Besides, I like watching the kid work. It's a nice light show."
Ghis hummed thoughtfully but didn't deny the sentiment. Some aspects of being a cat were more potent than others. And the feline aspect of being drawn in by pretty lights was prevalent when Hei switched on his smelter.
The sound of an ignition sparking rang out before it started up like an engine. This was no mere smelter but one made from Hei's Sacred Gear, giving it qualities far beyond a mundane smelter.
The mound was shaped like a large gourd, fatter at the bottom and waist section and thinner in the middle and top section. Each sectioned part of the smelter turned, spinning in different directions like one of those concrete mixer trucks.
Hei picked up a prepared bucket and poured the mixture into a funnel at the top of the smelter before turning to Ghis once it got going and motioned her forward. "Can you heat it up?"
"Mn." She stepped up and placed her hand against a stone tablet connected to the right side of the smelter. Mana poured through her into the tablet, lighting up glowing lava-like lines that spread from the bottom to the top of the smelter, steadily increasing its heat at a pace a normal smelter could never keep up with.
The thing guzzled mana like a monster, and Hei couldn't supply it what he needed. Therefore, Ghis or Yoru often came to help. Ghis called it a magical marvel, seeing as how for the simple cost of energy, the smelter could not only heat up to incredible temperatures rapidly, but it could also supply rotation force and filtering to remove impurities and gain the purest result out of what went in.
Hei watched from the left side at a temperature gauge, carefully waiting for it to reach the exact temperature he was looking for before signaling her to stop.
The top portion of the gourd spun rapidly, billowing heat like an active volcano in waves that made the nearby trio of watchers sweat even with the majority of heat contained.
Golden and red lights spread through see-through glass slots like a lava lamp mixed with a strobe light, mesmerizing one of the watching felines with its glow.
Meanwhile, Hei kept his eyes on a see-through slot into the spinning molten sludge while Ghis watched him appraisingly. 'Now.' He pressed a button next to the temperature gauge, causing a latch to open inside the smelter, dropping the molten mix through a spinning filter at the narrow portion of the gourd before it fell into the bottom section that spun at a slower speed.
Here, the see-through window was more extensive, giving Hei a better image of what was happening inside. He watched and waited as the liquid metal rolled and combined in a molten mess until a spark of twinkling green entered his eye.
His hand steadily reached to press a final button, but a soft cough to his side stilled his action. Sid eying the Amazonian feline, Hei saw her still gazing into the mixture with a focused look. "Patience, cub."
A bead of sweat rolled down his head as he minutely nodded and refocused. The first spark of green had vanished, telling him he was about to act prematurely. A minute passed, and then another with sparks appearing and disappearing in quick order until finally, the green spark returned and stayed. 'Now.'
Hei pressed the button without hesitation as another latch opened, dropping the glowing liquid onto a heated ramp, rolling it down into set funnels, and filling the inside of solid black square molds.
The liquid poured until the last drop as the smelter steamed and cooled as rapidly as it heated, without any trace of filth or damage from the process. Meanwhile, the molds burned from where the metal was being cast.
Ghis had been the one to introduce the mold to Hei. Made of a mix of minerals and sands she had personally invented during her forging days to gain the most out of magical metals.
Magical metals also cooled much quicker than non-magical ones, making Hei have to hurry to move the square molds over to a container of water from his fountain Greed Island card. The water's purity removed any chance of a specific element changing the energy qualities of the metal he was casting.
Using a sledgehammer, he cracked open the molds like shells and watched as the cast metal fell into the water on its own in a burst of superheated steam.
Ghis walked over and eyed up the cooling metal with a hum. "The mold held nicely. Very little waste material left over."
Hei bowed his head in thanks. "Only because of your molds, teacher."
The feline chuckled and rubbed Hei's hair fondly. "I taught you, yes, but you made them. You are improving quickly, cub. You barely even needed me here today."
"You may not always be needed, but you are always welcome, Ghis." Hei removed the woman's hand and gave it a slight reassuring squeeze that got a small smile from the woman.
"Mn."
Teacher and student shared a heartwarming moment. A moment that ended with the addition of a third voice.
"Always welcome, you say? You shouldn't have, kid. Well, if you say so." A slightly masculine voice said from Hei's head, where a black cat with amber eyes stood with perfect balance. "I guess I could drop by to keep you company."
Hei's brow twitched. "Get off my head, you hyperactive woman."
"Not until I get the same love you keep giving Ghis." The cat tapped Hei's head in annoyance. "This is unfair treatment, and I demand bribes."
Ghis rolled her eyes and swung her sheath through the air toward the cat. "Grow up, Yoru." It vanished with a spark and appeared on the side back in humanoid form, draping an arm over Hei's shoulders.
"Nah, it's more fun this way~." She pulled Hei's head into the side of her chest. "Don't you think so, kid?"
"Joy."
"See, he's happy."
"No. It was a request."
"A request?"
An almighty paw stretched out and grabbed the Nekoshou leader by the back of her collar, lifting her up like a misbehaving cat.
Yoru blinked, Ghis blinked, and Hei inclined his head. "Thanks, Joy; the mess on the couch is hers."
The panda maid's eyes glowed with an unholy look as she stalked off with the feline in tow toward the house to give her a stern talking to.
"How the hell do you keep sneaking up on me?! And why are you so strong! What is this bullshit?! Hei! Kid! Tell her it wasn't m-!" The door slamming closed cut off the struggling feline's cries.
Hei hummed and returned to gazing at the cooling metal. "These seem to be right."
Ghis sweatdropped and removed her death grip from her blade's handle. "Why do I feel like I cannot hunt that creature?"
"Don't let it bother you, she's a sweetheart." Hei waved absentmindedly and retrieved the pistol barrels to examine. Each was twelve inches long and made of a dark green metal speckled with black spots. "Damn, so close."
Ghis leaned over his shoulder and took a close look. "Your timing was only slightly off. This is high-quality Deep Iron."
"I was aiming for top quality." Hei clicked his tongue in annoyance. "They generate the best results."
The Amazonian feline's ears twitched in amusement. "If other blacksmiths heard you speak so casually about top-quality metal, they would throw their anvils at you. Your smelter is just cheating."
Magical ores were challenging to smelt in the first place, unable to be processed with machines, and supernatural blacksmiths had to toil away for days under extreme heat to hammer out the impurities in the ore to get it as pure as they could. They were ranked from [Low] – [Mid] – [High] – [Top] qualities and it took a real master to get [Top] quality ingots from ore.
"That's their problem. I don't have the time or desire to do things the normal way." Hei shrugged. "Besides, we use what we have, isn't that what you always say?"
Ghis couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Indeed. It is your ability, so you should use it." She gestured to the cooled metal. "Will you recast it?"
Hei shook his head. "No. I can't afford to lose some of the metal in the process; this stuff is insanely expensive."
Deep Iron was one of the cheapest magical metals on the supernatural market, and that was compared to some of the ridiculous prices out there.
Hei didn't truly have an understanding of how magical metals worked in the real world until Ghis explained it to him. There was no manual, and Mr. Lupa never covered the subject.
The supernatural world used non-magical metals and materials just as much as the human world did. They used it for construction, living, and everything in between. There really wasn't any materialistic difference between a skyscraper in New York City and Lilith, the capital of the first layer of hell. It was priced the same way it was for humans.
The issue came from how non-magical materials simply could not conduct magical energy. One could set up a ward around a building, set formations, or carve runes, but the source of where the magical energy comes from cannot be a non-magical material. If a devil tried to anchor a ward to the building itself, the building would break down or implode.
It was the same way with a sword. A devil could swing a steel sword with no issue besides their own physical strength, but trying to imbue the blade with magic in any form would warp and destroy the sword in seconds. Not to mention the extreme waste of energy through the action.
And that's where magical metals come in. They were metals that originated from the same source as mundane metals but grew in energy-rich areas and gained properties.
Iron deposits grown in an energy-rich area became Deep Iron. It had all the physical qualities of iron, but it was capable of conducting magical energy.
Different factions had their own methods of using it, such as the Celtics, who used it to make Cold Iron with properties that damage demons, fae, and celestial creatures. Or the Greek goddess Styx, who soaked it in her waters to make Stygian Iron.
According to Ghis, there were seven types of categories for magical metals that embraced a wide range of applications.
[Iron] [Steel] [Titanium] [Tungsten] [Elemental] [Silver] [Gold]
The first four categories were linear in physical strength, while the latter three were varied in physical strength.
Steel metals became things like [Magisteel] and [Bone Steel].
Titanium deposits changed to become [Mithril].
Tungsten deposits changed to become [Adamantium].
Elemental ores were based on extreme elemental energies gathering to create specific metals. Such as [Moonstone] with properties that boosted darkness enchantments and magic. [Ebony] with properties that boosted fire enchantments, formed from magical fires that changed obsidian into a magical metal. [Stalhrim] for ice in extremely cold magical areas. And so on. There generally existed a single specific type of ore for each branch of elemental magic out there.
Silver ore formed [Electrum]. It was a very malleable and soft metal that became highly attuned to whatever type of energy was used to enchant it. It was sought after by the Christian church for its ability to be blessed and harm cursed beings, as stated in the bible. But it was likewise sought out by devils, who could enchant the raw ore to take on deadly demonic enchantments that acted like poison to holy energy.
Gold ores were less used for weapons outside the Greek pantheon, who mined it on Mount Olympus to create Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, depending on if they were Greek or Roman at the time. The pantheon was a confusing mess to many.
The magical metals had the same physical qualities as their non-magical cousins, but each one had additional properties that made them so valuable, with the most common property being the ability to channel magical energy.
Hei had actually gotten confirmation from Yoru about the path of Body Forging following the same scale of magical metals. Going from Iron to Steel, to Titanium, Tungsten, and gaining elemental properties after that.
He wasn't even at Iron rank yet, so there was no need to think so far ahead. But it was useful information to have on his future path.
But back to the point, magical metals were stupidly expensive.
"Deep Iron ore is eighty dollars per gram. That's over thirty-two mil for half a ton at market price. Not that I could even buy it for less than thirty-five. And after smelting out the impurities, that's not a lot of metal. I can't afford to waste it."
Hei had to cut some corners to afford the metal. He took on a lot more missions in the past few months, getting him incredibly close to ranking up to a Gold rank mercenary, and he sold a lot of the useless weaponry he had gathered in past years, not realizing how little use he would get out of it before understanding the limits of modern firearms on supernatural creatures.
A .50 Cal bullet would do damage for sure, but that was only if he could get past the energy defenses to hit his target's physical body. Even passively, energy defended the user. It didn't work so well for tier 2 low-class beings with their smaller energy pools, but at mid-rank, it began to make a significant difference. And that was without counting on their physical bodies having evolved to Iron grade. He couldn't count on exhausting his targets of energy just to be able to penetrate their skin.
So, Hei needed to add magic to his bullets.
The problem came from his abysmal talent in magic. Even as his mana pool began to grow through his efforts with his Sacred Gear, it would still be a while before he built up more extensive reserves, and even then, he didn't have a lot of magic to cast.
Not to mention how his Sacred Gear gobbled up more and more of his mana pool the more permanent cards he had activated at the same time.
Which is why he turned to alternative methods. First, he thought of enchanting his guns or crafting runes on them.
The problem became that he was no enchanter and didn't have many runes available to him. Runes were created through Norse magic, and you needed to be blessed by a Norse god or be connected to Asgard to use them.
The Celtic pantheon had its own version as well.
Most godly factions had something, but it was keyed to their magical energies.
It was one of the main reasons a random mage couldn't pick up a Norse-enchanted sword and use its full power.
The Yokai had their own method, but Hei wasn't a Yokai. He could only learn the universal skills they could teach, such as energy sensing, body forging, and Touki, if he could unlock the door.
Japanese kanji symbols were another area he considered, but with its use by clans devoted to their gods and the fact that thousands of living Japanese gods existed in a genuine Takamagahara, he'd rather not risk bringing anyone's attention to him.
In the end, there were very few paths available to him, with human magic being the main path. But again, he was no mage.
The very few spells he knew were memorized with his yearly Greed Island card were specific things. And the two magic formations he carved into his sports bike were won from an auction sold explicitly as being for bikes.
With so many doors closed, Hei had to pioneer a new path. And to do that, he turned to elemental crystals. Crystals of condensed physical elemental mana formed in the same areas where elemental metal ore is found.
Months ago, he had asked Tom, his black market merchant, to find him some, and Tom supplied a crate of Low-grade Ice crystals.
Taking inspiration from an old show he had watched in his previous life, Hei wanted to make Dust from RWBY. Elemental powder to replace gunpowder, imbuing his bullets with elemental effects that could pierce through his target's energy so he could hit their body.
To do that, he needed magical metal gun barrels, which he learned to smelt with Ghis's help.
Then, he replaced his bullet cores with tungsten. Even if it couldn't hold a magical charge for more than a few seconds, he didn't need a few seconds. With the speed at which a bullet travels, a few seconds was more than enough. Not to mention, he did not have the magical metal to spare on disposable bullet cores.
Then, he had to cast Deep Iron bullet casings to contain the magical gunpowder without letting it dissipate.
The first three steps were accomplished quite easily with money and his smelter. The problem came from processing the powder itself.
Hei tied a string to the trigger of his newly made Deep Iron pistol and retreated a distance away behind some cover where Ghis stood. Taking notes, he wrote down his observations. "Test #48, Low-quality ice crystal processed through method #87, shooting from a High-grade Deep Iron barrel."
Ghis raised a brow at his mutters. "Have you truly recorded every test?"
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I don't have the resources to be insane."
"Not yet, anyway." Ghis's eyes lit up. "Next year, I'll make sure to get you more materials." Her little trip through Hei's pocket dimension card revealed quite a few magical resources that could be gathered there. It was the reason Hei readily took such a big financial hit to buy up Deep Iron since he planned on gathering more from his Sacred Gear when his card came off cool down.
"Oh, is the kid blowing shit up again?" A weight settled on Hei's head, and he sighed at the appearance of the woman.
Ghis gave her a surprised look. "You actually escaped the maid?"
Yoru shivered. "I distracted her. How the hell is something not able to speak capable of expressing words so clearly. I felt like a kitten being reprimanded by my mother again."
"She's talented like that." Hei muttered and drew out a squeaky toy mouse from his pocket and launched it away to the side as Yoru vanished in a blur after it.
Ghis managed to restrain herself even if her eyes followed it. "You just keep those in your pocket?"
"I bought them in bulk to keep her busy."
His plan failed when Yoru reappeared upon his head with the toy proudly in her jaws. "Victory~."
Ghis restrained a laugh at the sight of a dejected Hei. "What was that about insanity?"
Hei sighed. "I didn't deny being insane. I'm just broke." He gripped the string and pulled as a muffled bang rang out from the distance.
A whistle rang through the air before a frosted Deep Iron barrel landed nearby, missing the rest of its components to be a gun.
"Fatality."
"…." Hei gave a defeated sigh and flicked the feline on his head. "I knew it was a mistake to install my Xbox in the house."
Yoru playfully tapped his head with a paw. "You just say that because I kick your ass in Mortal Kombat."
"I hate you."
"You love me. Now go pick up your toy and keep trying this strange weapon path of yours."
"It's not strange. Guns are where I'm skilled."
"You're also a beast with your body. Just follow your true teacher and commit to the body-forging path. I can do such wonderful things with you~."
Ghis watched the byplay in amusement. "Talk about a devil on your shoulder."
Yoru took offense to that. "Nonsense, devils learned from cats. And they messed it up. Cats ride on the head. Shoulders are for naps."
While idly contemplating the chicken and egg question with devils and cats, Hei ignored their byplay, retrieved his gun barrel, and clicked his tongue at the crack he could see in the metal. "Damn it, I'll get three uses out of this at most. What am I doing wrong?"
Ghis and Yoru shrugged.
"Sorry, cub, I know metal, but I'm no alchemist."
"I'm good at wards and punching stuff."
"Real help there, Yoru."
"I can kick stuff too."
"…"
Seeing their student down in the dumps after failing for so many months, the felines shared a knowing glance and knew what had to be done.
Yoru danced out of the way as Ghis reached out a paw and gripped Hei's skull. "Enough moping. I have let you test your weapon for the start of my time with you. Now we hunt." She held him out like a puppet with no weight and marched off casually while Hei didn't even bother resisting.
When Ghis had you in her grip, your best bet to escape was removing the limb. That went doubly for anything involving hunting.
And while the two walked out the door, Yoru cat walked over to the sight of the explosion, finding shards of ice and metal everywhere. 'I like teasing the kid, but that's going to be one deadly weapon when he figures it out.' She collected some of the leftover white powder from the ice crystal Hei was using as gunpowder and stored it in a vial. 'We've been avoiding bringing Chloe into things, but I don't think there's any other choice if Hei wants to stick to this path.'
A door slamming open in the distance broke Yoru from her thoughts, and all her hair puffed out at the sense of extreme danger. Glowing eyes looked out from Hei's house as an angry Joy stepped out with her gaze locked onto the feline.
'Shit, she found out Hei didn't actually ask for cookies. Time to go.' Her form flickered into a literal strand of lightning as she booked it to the door, only for a paw to grab her by the scruff of her neck and stop her dead.
Yoru's eyes opened impossibly wide. "HOW?!"
Her question went unanswered as an angry Joy dragged her off.
00000
An hour later, Ghis found herself observing Hei's prone form stalking his prey.
After giving Hei a target, Ghis followed behind as he expertly moved like a phantom through the Feral Forest, clearly taking on the lessons she shared with him on how to identify magical beast tracks, markings, and evaluate a threat.
His lessons on energy sensing from Leone came in handy to see in places his normal senses could not, straying clear of beasts far beyond him and not letting traces of his own presence escape.
'He already had the stealth skills when he arrived, but with a little polishing, the cub moves through the forest like he has lived here his whole life.' Ghis nodded approvingly. 'He has many challenges yet to overcome, but his basics are set.'
She watched as he found the tracks of his prey and stalked it silently, using what he learned from her to trace them to a clearing that held a dozen iron tusk boars. Large twenty-foot-long carnivorous boars with tusks like elephants and bones as hard as iron.
The beast's tusks rose up over their heads like helmets, hiding away their vulnerable eyes from below and the front, making them running tanks that trampled all in their way. A suitable prey for someone like Hei, whose primary weapon style dealt with penetrating ammunition.
Hei took little time finding a vantage point 450 meters away, climbing a tree and staying downwind before circling a large branch like a viper aiming for his prey.
He pulled out his grimoire and summoned a weapon to his side, pulling out a dark green metallic sniper rifle with a silencer. The sight made Ghis satisfied. 'It took me far too long to break his habit of sticking to only his pistols and knives. He does very well at short to mid-range, but It's important to have a long-distance weapon.'
Ghis didn't mind that he stuck to guns as long as it was practical. She preferred spears and swords, but every warrior had their preferred weapons, and Hei was glued to his pistol style with knives as his sub-weapon. He only pulled out the weapon for silent distance shooting.
It was a sleek thing, modeled after what Hei said was the Blaser R93 sniper rifle, cast in Deep Iron for future projectiles once he figured out the elemental shots, although he never dared to use it for testing with how much metal went into the weapons build.
Hei lined up his shot, loading in tungsten core rounds, and fired. The bullet was nearly silent as it flew, hitting the ground right before one of the large males of the dozen. The great beast shrieked in surprise and looked down at the upturned earth, unintentionally revealing its vulnerable eyes, which was all Hei needed as he released a second shot and destroyed the beast's brain through the socket.
The beast had little magical energy, containing all its magic in its bones and leaving its vulnerable spots less defended. Even then, the eyes and mouth were among the thinnest areas for all supernatural beings in terms of passive energy defenses, not that it made it easy to hit those spots.
Between the first and second shots, less than five seconds had passed, not giving the rest of the herd enough time to respond. Now that one of their own dropped and sent a tremor through the earth, they all rose up to fight, radiating bloodthirsty auras that sent a shiver down Hei's spine, hitting him like a wave as he slowly slinked into the shadows. The sensation was strong enough to give him flashbacks to the first time Mr. Lupa hit him with killing intent, making him suppress his instincts with the thought to run.
The herd went wild, smashing into trees with abandon as they tried to find their assailant. Or at least they did until a new wave of killing intent washed over them, freezing Hei and the boars in place as Ghislaine revealed herself and glanced at the beasts coldly. "Leave."
Whether they understood her words or not, they got the message and scattered like mice. Their instincts screaming to run.
"Hei, come down."
Hei dropped from the trees, calm as a cucumber on the outside, but Ghis noticed the slight twitching in his posture. "You are afraid." The young teen opened his mouth to deny it, but Ghis waved a hand. "Do not try to make excuses, it is normal and specifically why I had you hunt this beast." She pointed at the earth. "Take a knee, cub. Root yourself in this present moment. Sight, sound, smell, what do you feel?"
Hei listened and followed her words, dropping to a knee and calming his mind. The scents of the forest mixed with the iron of blood, and the faint trace of gunpowder filled his nose. The sounds of insects, birds, and distant beasts entered his ears. The sight of the dead beast took his visual focus as he pictured the dozen creatures roaring as one. "I feel satisfied with my hunt."
"Good. What else?"
"I feel shame for having my spirit overwhelmed by the herd; I acted by habit to hide and run instead of listening to my instinct to confront them."
Ghis crossed her arms and nodded. "It is normal to have your spirit crushed by a crowd. You have experienced few true sources of killing intent, but it's a force that can magnify in intensity depending on the user's experience or mental state." She pointed a finger at the dead boar. "Beasts, I find, often have a more primal, bloodthirsty, and berserker type of killing intent. To them, every single threat often means life or death. To them, each fight is to eat, die, or survive. Their intent is to ward off threats and overwhelm them. Intelligent beings, however, form focused intent, sharing the weight of their experience with others like a greeting between warriors."
Hei took a deep breath and centered himself, shaking off the disturbance to his mental state and taking in her words to focus on the subject at hand. "So beasts are worse than intelligent beings?"
"Oh, no." Ghis shook her head. "They are simply more honest. Intelligent beings can do much worse and have done much worse to create truly vile killing intents that can suffocate you like no other, but they are like brittle towers, usually doing things out of feeble desires that waver based on their emotions. Very few beasts do things for reasons beyond immediate need, and so the raw force of their intent holds the weight of their entire being. They are creatures of the world, living by their instincts and bathing in the raw force of nature." The Amazonian woman moved over the earth like a spirit born of the forest, imparting her wisdom to her student in a lecturing tone. "Train your spirit to handle any beast's intent, and you will find yourself able to act in even the most vile of killing intents."
Hei's fist tightened as he took the lesson to heart. "But how do I recover when it counts rather than hesitate? How do I overcome my natural fear?"
Ghis hummed at the question and stopped her pacing before Hei's kneeling form. "Fear is not real." Hei looked up in confusion as the woman brought a finger to his forehead. "The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist."
"How is fear not real in the face of danger?"
The woman brought her face closer and held a palm to Hei's cheek, staring with a slitted eye into Hei's gaze to make sure her point was remembered. "Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice. Remember that, cub, because one day, I won't be there when the wrong choice will make you prey." Hei's eyes widened as she bent forward and laid a gentle kiss on his forehead before offering him a hand. "Now come, collect your kill, and let us return. Today's hunt has ended in success. The village will celebrate the meat."
For the third time in his life, a palm before him seemed larger than life, calloused with a lifetime of experiences he couldn't fathom, and he felt the lesson take root inside him.
And for the third time, he took the hand and never looked back.
00000
Sitting atop one of the Tori gates of the village, Hei watched as the felines twirled in the dimming sunlight around a roaring fire.
Drummers pounded away with unmatched dexterity, and the drinks ran plenty with scantily dressed beautiful women dancing and singing as they pleased.
The gift of pork was taken well, and the beast was drained, skinned, and carved up faster than it took him to actually kill it.
Hei laid back against the curve of the gate, his legs swinging idly in the air with a drink in hand as he let his mind relax in a way he could never imagine he would ever feel in a public location.
His body ached fiercely as it did every day he spent in the village, for every day he was there was a day dedicated to training or progressing in some way, shape, or form. But the nights were filled with the merry, joyful, and free souls of the felines expressing their natural feelings onto the world.
It was…entrancing…to him.
'Isn't that all I ever wanted?' Hei pursued strength so he could be free. So he could live unfettered in a world where he knew monsters in human form did as they pleased. Gods, dragons, devils, fallen angels, exorcists, wannabee heroes, and so much more constantly spurned the world on in a web of controlled chaos.
And he didn't want those beings to take his freedom from him.
Another part of him wanted to fulfill his teacher, Mr. Lupa's, own desire. It was done out of respect, affection, and personal desire to make his father figure proud.
But the central part, the part that existed before Mr. Lupa even appeared, was his desire to be free.
And the Nekomata and Nekoshou embodied that every day of their lives. 'This….this feels like home.'
Every day, his body was pushed through the wringer in different ways by his teachers, testing various aspects of himself.
Leone would harass him to express more emotion, trying to open him up to the world with the excuse of how it relates to sensing the energy of the world. She was a ball of sarcastic sunshine that had a way of worming her way past mental defenses. She pushed his spiritual mind hard, forcing him to physically react to what his energy sensing picked up.
Yoru trained his body. Acting like a mischievous, hyperactive feline who wanted to play and wasn't taking no for an answer. She had her serious side, and she was a natural leader, but beyond that, she was a battle junkie who got her kicks out of pushing herself and others to their physical limit.
Ghis trained his instincts by throwing him into one scenario after another in the wilds, teaching him how to hunt magical beasts as opposed to humanoid ego-filled beings. She was always calm, cool, and collected, like a lion, watching and only stepping in when necessary. The Amazonian woman followed the philosophy of dropping a bird from the nest to teach them how to fly, letting them make mistakes before correcting their errors and sending them back in. Only in her case, she literally tossed him miles away from the village and gave him a direction and time limit to make it back on foot with him forbidden from using his Sacred Gear. It only took three such experiences for him to finally accept that he needed a long-distance weapon and went to work on it.
By the time all three were done with him, even with his physical wounds healed, he was tired in soul and mind. A pleasant and content tiredness of a job well done.
But he wasn't tired enough to not notice the vibrations under his seat from little limbs climbing the post he was resting atop.
Three not-so-stealthy ninja cats jumped him with cries of delight.
"Hei!"
"Big bro!"
"His kneecaps are mine!"
Hei didn't bother moving, snapping out his hands to capture the three troublemaker kittens and trap them against his body so they didn't fall off. "Girls, not the place to jump someone."
Ni shook her head roughly to escape the hold. "Nuh-uh. The others jump up here all the time."
Li didn't struggle like her sister and rather purred into the warmth of his side. "Didn't mom say not to do it till we're older?"
Shi was held aloft in the air, trapped between his legs over the ledge. She gripped his leg tightly and gulped. "Good knee. Don't let me die young."
Hei gave Ni a tiny knock on her noggin. "Listen to your sisters. Or at least do it only when someone's around to catch you."
Ni turned in his hold and looked up at him with big eyes. "Will you play with us then, big bro?"
The kitten eyes were a killer, but Hei was already growing used to it as he booped her nose. "As long as I'm free. Now shush and enjoy the mood, or go find a new victim."
Ni and Li shared a look and nodded before they both yawned and snuggled into Hei's chest.
"Kay~."
"Nyaaah, nap time."
Hei rolled his eyes fondly and adjusted his grip to make them comfortable as he drifted off. He had no worry about dropping them, having been trained since he was five by Mr. Lupa to sleep while holding a rope so he wouldn't drop a rock on his head.
He felt himself drifting off peacefully until a sharp prick on his knee had him opening an eye to see the third troublemaker munching away like his knee offended her. He lazily raised his leg so the munchkin was at eye level. "What did my knee do to you?"
She sent him a determined look of utter focus on her adorable young face. "The world speaks through me. It speaks of the horrors your knee shall bring. I must answer the call of nature and defeat the mighty demon!"
"….I'll give you a fish tomorrow if you go to sleep."
"Ok." She flipped her switch in the blink of an eye, and Hei could only snort in humor and make room as Shi scampered up his leg to curl up on his chest between her sisters.
He shook his head in amusement and returned to his relaxation. This time, without interruptions, he could finally drift off with a sense of spiritual peace.
00000
A distance away, Yoru and Ghis sat on a rooftop, sharing a drink with soft looks directed at the sleeping Hei.
"Those three really wrapped the kid around their fingers." Yoru downed her sake cup with a satisfied sigh. "He's a natural big brother."
"The strong make the young feel safe and protected." Ghis calmly drank her own cup on a saucer. "The cub has a way to go to be strong, but his aura and potential give off the feeling well. The kittens chose well for a protector."
Yoru nodded silently at that and refilled her cup. "I talked to Chloe earlier."
"Oh?" Ghis raised a brow. "Did you get that reclusive woman to help him with his powder issue?"
The Nekoshou leader winced and waved a hand. "Maybe."
"Maybe?"
Yoru pinched the bridge of her nose. "That crazy cat has been wearing down under all the attention we've been giving the kid. She wants to test him to see if he's worth her time."
"I see no issue with that." Ghis shrugged. "We all did the same, after all."
"Yeah, but what she wants to test is different from us." Yoru downed another cup. "She's interested in his poison resistance."
"Oh." Ghis blinked and sent Hei a look of pity. "That might complicate things."
"Tell me about it."
"What will complicate what?" A third voice spoke from the side as Leone sauntered over to them. "Hey, girls."
"Yo, how was the trip, Leone?"
"Welcome back."
The blond bombshell dropped onto a cushion next to Yoru and stole her sake bottle. "It was ok. Followed up on a lead of some rumors related to a devil family researching about Senjutsu. Nothing concrete or confirmed, so don't worry about it." She filled a glass for herself with a sigh. "Ah, that's good shit. You raid the brat's shelf again?"
Yoru chuckled and didn't deny it. "I had time while he was testing his toys earlier."
Ghis dropped a fist into her palm in realization. "Ah, that's why Joy came after you."
The violet Nekoshou shivered and looked over her shoulder. "Don't say that name. I feel like that damn maid will pop up like Beetlejuice."
Leone snorted in humor. "She's not that bad. Weird as hell, but then again, what isn't weird in our lives?"
"Here, here."
"Mn."
"So where's the brat? And what were you talking about, something being complicated?"
Ghis pointed a finger to the side, and Leone followed it to catch sight of Hei and the triplets snuggled up atop one of the tori gates. "Gah, that's diabetes adorable right there. Shit, that's lethal." Leone took a tug from the bottle and ignored her cup to shake off the desire to join the cuddle pile.
Yoru didn't even bother yelling at Leone for hogging the drink. "I know, right? Never had kittens myself, but that's got whatever motherly instincts I've got deep down waking up."
"Very deep down." Ghis muttered and sent Leone into a laughing fit.
Yoru shot her an annoyed look before turning to the blond. "We were talking about Chloe. We want her to help him with his gunpowder issue."
Leone hummed at that. "I've been saying that for a while. She's just been annoyingly absent lately."
"She does this whenever someone new shows up. It's not a surprise that she takes a while to warm up to people."
The blond shrugged at that. "Fair enough. So what did she say? You get her to come out of her home?" She went to take a sip of her drink as Yoru nodded.
"Yup. But she wants to test him."
"Specifically, his poison resistance." Ghis tagged on.
Leone spat out her drink in a spray that got a villager down below wet and annoyed. "Shit."
"Right?"
"Complicated."
Leone pounded her chest to clear her airways. "Good thing the brat has antidotes in that Sacre Gear of his."
Yoru blinked. "Oh, I forgot about that." She shared a look with Ghis. "Eh, he'll be fine then."
"Mn. The cub is made of stern stuff."
Leone snorted and rolled her eyes. 'Lazy cats. I'll keep an eye on the brat and make sure that crazy bitch doesn't kill him.'
What went unsaid was that the other two were secretly planning on doing the same thing.
Chloe was….sadistic.
00000
Come morning, Hei returned to his hideout and packed his bag in his bedroom before sending a wave to Joy. "Watch the fort for me, Joy. I'll be back in two weeks."
He only spent half a month at Sakura village, spending the other half back on earth with the old man and his mercenary work.
"You heading out, brat?"
Hei turned and found Leone waiting by his door. "Yeah, time to go back to work. I'm just about at Gold rank."
The blond smirked at that. "I bet. You could probably handle Emerald rank jobs already. But it's good that you can't skip ahead. The experience of taking various types of jobs will help more than jumping ranks could."
Hei rolled his eyes and shouldered his pack. "That's what the old man says. I got it already. Slow and steady wins the race."
Leone chuckled and swatted at his head playfully. "Don't sass your teacher. I fill you with wisdom and awesomeness."
Hei dodged the blow and smirked back at her. "Awesomeness? Really?"
Her arm moved faster as she connected with the back of his head. "It's six in the morning, and I've been drinking all night. Buzz off, brat."
"Then stop raiding my shelves." Hei rolled his eyes and walked past her out of his house. 'You'd think eventually they would learn I leave the high alcohol content shit on the shelves to keep them distracted. Like I would really leave the good stuff out where they could find it.'
He called it shit, but he was spoiled for choice. In reality, he left them great stuff on purpose, but that was how he justified it to himself.
Leone didn't comment on his half-assed demand and watched him silently for a moment. "How's the old man doing?"
Hei paused his step for a moment before continuing on. "He's….aging. A little too rapidly to be normal." He looked back at Leone with an evaluating gaze. "Something you want to tell me, Leone?"
The blond winced and looked away while rubbing the back of her head. "Perceptive brat. Look, he really is aging, but beyond that, it's really not my story to tell. I'm trying to respect him, not hurt you."
Hei studied the woman for a long moment before nodding. "I know." Leone was a woman of many secrets, but she meant well and didn't play chess games for fun. She was a master at learning things, but that didn't make her a manipulator. "I trust you."
Leone's eyes widened at those words. It meant a lot for Hei, of all people, to say that. In fact, it was only the second time he had ever said it, with Mr. Lupa being the first. The blond Nekoshou felt touched. "Thanks…Hei."
Hei casually waved over his shoulder in silence.
The two walked out of his hideout and back into the clearing before stopping.
"I'll see you in two weeks, Leone."
"Take care of yourself out there, brat."
"What are you? My mother?" Hei snorted in humor while starting the teleportation spell as it began charging.
"Mother?" Leone half choked at the thought. "Not my thing. Not happening."
"I thought so."
"More of a big sister."
It was Hei's turn to choke. "Hell no."
"Oh, come on." Leone swung an arm around his shoulders. "It's fitting. Go on, call me big sis Leone."
"Not happening." Hei tried to push the woman off, but she only stuck firmer to him.
"Doooo itttt."
"Get off before you teleport with me."
"Come to the dark side, Hei~, we have catnip~."
"What kind of sister seduces me with drugs?"
"The fun kind~."
"…"
The two stared off for a moment before they both laughed.
The teleportation spell flashed to show it was ready, and Leone let him go while knocking him on the shoulder with a fist. "Go kick some ass, brat. We'll be here to kick your ass when you get back."
"Joy." Hei rolled his eyes fondly, and in an action that surprised Leone, he gave her a quick hug. "Thanks…big sis."
He turned away and disappeared in a flash back to Earth, leaving a wide-eyed Leone behind. Her cheeks flushed with a warm feeling as she stared at the spot he vanished from. 'A little brother…' She shook her head as the thought rooted in. 'Stupid brat, trying to be cool like that.'
She turned to walk away before pausing. "Oh, forgot to warn him about Chloe." She thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Meh, he'll be fine."
Leone was earning big sister points from the very start.
However, the future doesn't always play out as expected, and Chloe's test would end up delayed by a good while.
Chapter end.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it.
A quick note to add on to what I said in my AN at the start. I know many might complain or comment about the whole 'Runes' and 'Kanji' being related to gods. I will say that my view on it is that this is not a Harry Potter story where magical written languages are common. In this version of DxD, each faction has their own systems of magic, fueled by their energy like a lock and key. It makes more sense to me for gods to gift their followers with the magic styles with a guarantee that only their followers, or those related to them, will use it.
Which is another reason that Merlin giving humans their own magic system was a major deal. It's a complicated, extremely specific, math based magic style, but its free for humans to use with their own mana.
If Hei got the blessing of a Norse god, or was connected to Asgard in some way, Norse runes could become available to him.
That's all I wanted to say. Thanks for reading. :).