Don X Don (High School DxD Miracle Child SI Chapter 15)

"...That is a very perverted to say toward Gabriel-Nee-sama, Milo-kun," Metatron took a while to gather his composure. "And while I understand that you're going through puberty, de gozaru, but that is inappropriate behavior."

Yeah, okay, I'm not in the mood for Metatron to try and lie without lying, or just try to awkwardly redirect the subject.

"A-hem." I coughed and pointed above my head.

Then I made my shining halo manifest.

"Furthermore...Oh." My uncle just stood there completely thrown out of his depth. "I thought the reports said you lost that ability."

"No. I still always had it, I just turned it off so no problems end up happening, and blow up the decoy plan." I explain, kinda maybe just a little bit, enjoying my uncle brain crashing and slowly rebooting with each revelation.

"How long have you known?" Uncle Metatron asked.

"I was cognizant before birth."

"T-That's..." Oh wow. He was so throw off, he stopped speaking in nin nin. "Inconceivable, de gozaru." And it's back. Also...

"You keep saying that word." I said with a smirk. "I don't think it means what you think it means."

"Brat." Uncle Metatron said back, before coughing and putting on his stoic ninja posture and demeanor again. "Milo...I understand if you're angry, but please don't blame-"

"I'm not angry at anyone." I smiled and shook my head. Yeah, I'm cutting off the blame game before it could start.

"I understand if you're feeling bitter and frustrated about this whole situation-" He began looking more and more distressed.

"Uncle," okay, seriously, enough with the pity party. "I'm not angry, I'm not bitter, I'm not frustrated. Not at you, my family, myself or anyone. I'm actually quite happy with my life." I smiled.

"You're...telling the truth?" Uncle Metatron looked at me completely flabbergasted. Is it really that difficult to imagine that I'm not pissed off anyone, and secretly seeking revenge or some edgy shit like that. Also do Archangels have the ability to detect truth from lies, or is Metatron just good at reading people? ...Or is he actually asking me?

"Yes." I nodded.

Metatron seem to have lost the strength in his legs, as he sat down on the mat we had on the ground, and I went and sat down crossed legged next to him.

"I...I can not speak for Michael and the others, but I am so sorry that we left you. I swear you weren't abandoned, and-" He began. Good god, this is gonna be a thing isn't it.

"I forgive you." I said pointedly throwing off his apology, as he looked at me shocked once more. "Seriously, I'm not angry and I'm not blaming anyone. I get it, really. So, let's stopped being mopey, de gozaru."

Metatron snorted, as he took a few moments to collect himself. He turn to face me, while sitting in a seiza.

"Why didn't you speak out before, de gozaru ka?" Uncle Metatron asked. Well, at least he got his ninja spirit back.

I took a breath to gather my thoughts. "I needed to be strong, so I don't be a burden on mom or anyone else. If you're all busy protecting me, you can't do your jobs. More importantly, I needed to be strong not just to protect myself but people I care about."

"You're a ten-winged angel." Metatron said pointedly. "If you know about the seal transplanting your Holy Power and heritage, then..."

"Yeah," I nodded. "But there were a few things I was worried about, and since I didn't have the information I wasn't sure how to act yet."

"What information?" Metatron's eyes narrowed.

"Everything about the Holy Power Transferor, how it works, as well as if this decoy plan requires Rachelle dying for one bullshit reason or another, and how many knew of this plan. How many are to try and force that outcome, or do something stupid like excommunicate everyone related to it, once the truth comes out to 'protect' my image, or some stupidity like that."

Uncle Metatron's eyes widened, before they narrowed in understanding, as he held his chin in thought and nodded.

"I see, I can understand that, de gozaru."

"Also I needed to talk to you specifically given that you're a stealth expert."

"Oro?" Uncle Metatron tilted his head. It was not cute.

"I was born with some knowledge of the future. Not a complete vision, but a few important pieces here and there. First, we need to find Irina Shidou, I think she's from the Protestant Church side, and have her seduce and marry her childhood friend, Issei Hyoudou."

"...What, de gozaru desu ka?"

Hmm, he's not flustered enough to lose the speaking nin nin.

"Issei Hyoudou is the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation, and will one day become the infamous Breast Dragon Emperor, the Oppai Dragon."

"What!?"

There we go.

I threw a right punch. Prayed. Threw a left punch. Prayed. Threw a right kick. Prayed. Threw a left kick. Prayed. Repeat.

All throughout this sequence, a light aura of white energy covered my body.

Touki really was one hell of a force multiplier. The training that would usually take me hours, I could now finish in a mere four.

Yes, 10,000 punches of each hand, and 10,000 kicks of each legs. And this is even with a prayer between each hit.

Yes, I finally managed to reach forty thousand prayers of gratitude a day.

Heck, I even had weighed clothing provided by my uncle, and even magic weights wrapped around my limbs.

This was definitely the Training from Hell anime classic.

But...it felt wrong.

My intuition had helped me a lot in my life, and I can't help but feel it might be right now too.

I was expending touki in order to just move and carry out my daily training. And while the amount I had was a lot from all my daily training and prayer (turns out the gratitude prayer counts as meditation, thus helped), I was using it up too quickly.

At least it felt to me like that. Uncle Metatron commented that that was good, as like a muscle I would be able to build it up quicker and better, as well as get more used to using it, thus better control.

But won't I run out quickly in a real fight? Because there's no chance in hell I'll just be fighting mooks all day. Eventually if I meet one of the big wigs, I could only fight one or something at most. Then what?

I cut my training for the moment to think on this. I stood, crossing my arms, eyes closed in contemplation.

Let's review what I know about Touki.

It's a person's very life force. Unlocking the ability to channel and use it increases the person's strength, speed, flexibility, reaction, durability and pain tolerance. Touki, or Fighting Spirit, as it's western term is energy generated by the link between the body and soul, but it's focused and inhabited in the body.

The more physical pressure one feels, the more this Fighting Spirit grows.

Increasing the physical pressure in training on myself to accommodate this new rise in power and ability is normal in battle anime level progression.

A small note on this, is that touki also grows from life experience, but it's considered negligible. This supposedly helps in training Senjutsu and achieving enlightenment later on or something.

It does raise the question of why does touki also grows from life experiences, even if it's just a drop in the ocean, compared to normal physical training.

"Hmm..." I looked at my weighted cloth and magic weighs.

On a whim I took them off, and started doing my Netero training but without using touki.

I started from zero and kept going.

I threw a right punch. Prayed. Threw a left punch. Prayed. Threw a right kick. Prayed. Threw a left kick. Prayed. Repeat.

Okay yeah, now this worthwhile. The same level of difficulty and effort before I unlocked touki was back.

I found myself grinning. It's like I had the idea but I didn't crystalize it into words in my mind yet. I just knew this was the way to go.

"Milo-kun, I have returned de gozaru...eh? Why did you take off your training clothes and weighs?" Uncle Metatron asked as he came back from his ninja mission to steal secret documents from the Vatican. ...Not sure why when he could have asked-No, wait, we needed the secrecy.

"Because it's difficult this way." I said throwing another punch, the excitement rolling off of me.

"It was difficult with the training equipment, and you're not even using touki." Metatron pointed out.

"It's just a hunch but touki increases due to physical pressure, right?" I asked, pausing in my training for now.

"Yeah..."

"So, using touki elevates that physical pressure, thus the need to increase the harshness of training conditions." My uncle nodded. "But what if you don't need to do that? What if just do the same training that was difficult without touki?"

"Intriguing, de gozaru." He thought it over and nodded. "Very well, give it a try and we'll see in a month if it garner any results. For now..." Uncle Metatron sighed, as he waved me over.

I came to his side, and he handed me some documents. They were about the Decoy Miracle Child plan, who knows and stuff, the one who made the plan-Of course it's the Corn Lord-all of that. I ignored most of this stuff, searching for the important bit that I cared about.

The Holy Power Transferor Device.

"'Based on the Sacred Gear Extractor models taken from raid on Fallen Angel labs' dah, dah, dah, daa." I mumbled as I speed read the stuff I already know, and details I wasn't interested in.

Finally my eyes landed on the important part I was looking for.

"'Ultimately the Transferor can not shut down before completing the function of fully extracting the Holy Element from one subject to the others, however such integral part would likely to lead to the Miracle Child's death. This is considered negligible as the Decoy Miracle Child would be the one to transfer all the borrow Holy Element back. The concern for the Divine Sanctum host's health condition at removing the Holy Element, after having it for so long that it would be an integral part of them, was considered insignificant, although health risk is likely high. In conclusion, this operation would carry no risk to Seraph Gabriel's Miracle Child.'" I put my hands holding the papers to the side, as I looked up at the evening sky.

"You are in no danger of getting back your powers, Milo-kun." Uncle Metatron said in a low tone, like he was hiding or avoiding a subject, and he knew I knew what he was doing.

I looked toward him with a blank expression on my face. "You should have also found a copy of Father Cornelius' personal notes, since he's the one who made the Transferor Device, right? What does it say?"

"That you would be completely safe getting your powers back." Metatron was being obtuse at this point.

"What does it say, uncle?" I turned fully to face him.

"If you die," Metatron's voice rose. "Your mother, Gabriel, will Fall." The jokey ninja persona was nowhere to be found. "I sorry, nephew. There is a risk to her, yes, but it's not a sure thing." He paused, unsure of what to say. "...Ultimately-"

"Do you know 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas'?" I asked. he blinked at the non-sequitur but he was used to my tangents at this point, so he nodded and waited. "Would you walk away?"

"Yes," Uncle Metatron nodded firmly. "Utopia or not, I would not be living in such a place."

"I think Omelas should be destroyed." I said while holding back a growl in my voice.

Uncle Metatron blinked and focused on me, unused to seeing me display aggression.

"But let's give the author is rightful due. Let's say, the whole world is Omelas. The world is the utopia, with everything going perfectly for us. All evil beings of any kind are thrown and locked in the Underworld. All the Gods of other Pantheons leave to their own pocket dimensions, the System of Heaven is fully and perfectly functional, with every human being on Earth being a devout Christian, and blessed with God's Light having the Holy Attribute-Fuck it, let's even go ahead and say God is also back. Jesus was resurrected, why wouldn't He?"

"Milo!" My uncle cried out in a scolding tone.

"But!" I shouted back. "The price for this utopia, the only thing that ensure it all works, is the suffering of a single person. One who's chosen from birth to suffer endlessly till the day they die, in order to keep this perfect utopia functioning. And of course we don't want to keep the suffering increasing to many people, so we try to limit it to this one person. So, using the endless supplies, resources and abilities, we make them immortal, but you never know when that won't work, or if the sacrificial person find a way to kill themselves. So we eliminate all methods they can use to die.

"They can't die of hunger, thirst, diseases, injury, etc. But what if the immortality effect has a life shelve? So we slow their aging to the absolute limit, and again the whole 'kill themselves' thing is still there. So we lower their cognitive ability enough that they can't think of a solution, and their physical ability so they can't break out of their imprisonment.

"Congratulation. Only one person is now suffering for your utopia, and it's an immortal retarded, disable, hungry, thirsty, diseases-ridden infant, that will suffering for an ungodly amount of time to keep the perfect utopia functioning till the next sacrifice comes up. Would God accept this!?"

"NO!" Metatron swung his arm to the side, letting out all his anger and frustration, and while I did need to make my point, I am regretful to cause him pain like that. I even saw his wings flicker black for a second before shining white again.

The random blast he threw caused a small explosion and earthquake. No, that wasn't from the blast, but from his shout.

Which I was right in front of, but unaffected. Holy shit. Also thanks uncle.

Metatron was panting for a bit, as he took a few breaths to calm down, and regain his composure. When I felt he was calm enough I continued.

"I'm not sacrificing anyone for me to live, Uncle Metatron." I began. "Because to me it's not just some sacrifice, it's not just some innocent girl that should have lived a better life, rather than be forcible chosen for this."

"It was by luck, God's grace that they found her, when you needed her help." Metatron said, and it took me a moment to realize that...he doesn't actually know, does he?

"It wasn't luck." I said to which Metatron gave me a blank confused stare. "They looked for her, for the wielder of the Divine Sanctum among the infants that were born around when I was, since they predicted that it would finish cycling in Heaven's System and be reborn with an infant by now." My uncle's eyes widened in slow horror.

"...No, the Church wouldn't forcible try to awaken...No, they would, wouldn't they." Metatron cover his face with his hand, letting out a tired sigh. "Now I remember why I left." He looked at me with resolve once more. "But Milo, I can't lose more of my family." He pleaded.

"And I can't lose her." I said back, with a calm smile.

"Because she's your obligation."

"Because she's Rachelle." I shrugged in lieu of not know what more to say. I can't go out and say something cheesy like 'because I love her', but I know she's important for me, and I will protect her.

"If the transference happens from you to her, you will die." He pointed out.

"And when it's finally reversed, she might die." I said back.

Metatron was quiet for a long while, before sighing.

"Fine...de gozaru." He said. I smiled as he got his nin nin back. "I suppose the best solution to prepare is to make sure you're both so strong that nether of you will die if you lose the Holy Element permanently."

"Sweet!"

"You're going to do your 'Netero' training with max sprint dashing in-between till you drop. Desu."

"Yeah, I deserve that."