Don X Don (High School DxD Miracle Child SI Chapter 16)
Archangel Metatron
Watching the 14 years old Milo preform his, as he called it, Netero training, Metatron couldn't help but reflect on his rascal of a nephew.
'Netero training', which he called that because it's based on the training of one of the important characters of the manga, Seeker X Seeker. Of all the supposed future knowledge his nephew had, Metatron didn't think he would envy this bit in particular.
Milo even knew the ending of Naoto Shippudeen and Orange Dye, two of the Big Three Shounen Mangas-Metatron still doesn't know why Milo groans at those names. Truly, God's gift of minor omniscience was a grand blessing upon His grandson.
Milo told Metatron that he wasn't ready for the knowledge of how those series would end, and the Archangel bowed to that wisdom. It must have been part of God's minor omniscience gift, de gozaru.
The Archangel could see the fruits of Milo's non-training with touki as well. His reserves had grown by leaps in the past months, although he would have to do control experiences all over again after a period of time. The results however were worth it.
Metatron over time however had come to realize a few particularities and...well, not flaws (well they were, but he didn't want to say that about Gabriel's baby boy as she called him in Heaven), but blind spots.
Blind spots that were born of Milo's defining virtue. Dedication.
Metatron sometimes wondered if Milo realizes the unique skill he developed, from his daily training.
Complete Focus. It's what Metatron had come to call it.
Milo's ability to focus on completing his training-correctly as the kid put it-everyday for the past six year was an extraordinary feat in and off himself, and Metatron wondered if Milo actually realizes that.
He probably doesn't. Metatron thought fondly. He doesn't visit Heaven as often now. Or rather when he does 'visit', he doesn't really let anyone know. Anyone not Michael, of course.
As the System of Heaven holds records of every human life on Earth, specially the believers of God, it was easy to see the file for Milo and how much he has prayed.
Without skipping a day, Milo's daily prayers were consistent in a manner that was awe inspiring. With always the same intensity and feeling. The fact that they are ones of gratitude, not asking for anything in return were a boon upon the System, as it didn't need to respond to them, thus simply process that whole faith to empower itself, rather than only use a part of it. It's no wonder his prayers for "a little luck" were always answer every single time, as the System just had that much surplus to act for Milo's sake.
It might have been nice for more people give requestless prayers, so the System wouldn't strain as much, but that's not something Heaven or the Church can mandate. Or rather if they did so it would have horrible results. Sincere gratitude wasn't something that can be demanded. Sure there are a lot of people who pray asking for nothing in return, but they are vastly outnumbered those who wish for something. And while Heaven struggles with all those prayers, trying to answer them all, the System buckles and strains from the pressure.
If Father was still around, all of that would be manageable, and small prayers that don't need to be answered, as it's something that would resolve itself or the like etc., would just be dismissed, and the faith energy would be repurposed.
Now however, with Michael at the wheel, the most he can do is prioritize which prayers are answered when they reach him, and those that he can't answer, or answering them is long past due, the faith energy of those are just left to disperse in the aether as he can't reuse or repurpose them like Father could. Michael can only use the faith given for it's intended wish and nothing else.
So really Milo's training had been a boon, no matter how minor in the grand scheme of things, to Heaven. And for Milo himself it allowed him to develop a focus on unlike any other. When Metatron began to teach the stealth arts to his current student, Milo was the first to pick up everything completely, almost right away due to him simply giving his total attention to Metatron's training drills without losing focus or diverting from his task, or even so much as having wandering thoughts at all.
However, Metatron sighed as he remembered when he had come to learn that, that same focused hinders Milo in planning for the future or thinking laterally.
That conversation from last week really hitting Metatron in the face on this blind spot.
"If only we had the Holy Grail, this whole problem with ensuring you and Rachelle are safe and healthy would be resolved right away, de gozaru."
"Huh? The Holy Grail. It's with Valerie Tepes."
"...What, gozaru desu ka?"
"Yeah, Vampire Faction, Male side, Romania. Or is it Transylvania? Anyways yeah, we should probably go kidnap-rescue her since her brother is an asshole."
"Milo...why didn't you tell me think when you revealed to me that you held knowledge of future events?"
"Err, I, um, kinda forgot."
"..."
"We already had the solution of training me and Rachelle till our souls are so strong that we'd survive, regardless of which way we went about removing the seal, with her getting my powers, or me getting back my power, so..."
"..."
"...My bad?"
"Here's a notebook. Write down everything this time. Not just stuff related to Heaven, the Church and Hyoudou Issei. Even something you think is trivial. If you remember something else later on, add it to the notebook."
While Metatron was thankful for the knowledge Milo had, which gave him and Heaven very important insight-Which Metatron couldn't tell Michael the source of, or else he's compromise his nephew-it did leave Metatron with dread for the events that are likely to transpire in a few short years.
The chronicles of the rise of the strongest Red Dragon Emperor. And supposedly it would all happen within a year of it beginning. It was a terrifying prospect to learn.
But the worrying part was that Milo didn't remember the full details of every event, or how long it was before each one happened.
Some Metatron can easily ignore or dismiss, like Satan Lucifer's little sister and her engagement problems.
Some Metatron was glad to know about as he could then deal with or inform Michael. Like the attack on the other Miracle Child, Teodoro Legrenzi-Milo could not remember his name and called him things like 'Todoroki' and 'Doro boy'. Thankfully there aren't that many Miracle Children so a part of the name was enough to identify him. There were also the case of the vileacts of Diodora Astaroth, and placing greater protection on the Holy Maiden, Asia Argento.
Then there was knowledge like the seal on the Beast of the Apocalyse will one day break due to the machinations of Rizevim Lucifer. Metatron immediately went and spoke to Michael about this, and have yet to hear back from his brother on this matter.
There was also knowledge like Kokabiel, his theft of the Excalibur Swords, and his attempt to restart the Great War, which filled Metatron with concern and worry. Especially in the case of the Fallen Angel of the Stars' involvement with whole thing.
"I see. So Kokabiel-san is going to use the Excalibur Sword to enact his plan of revenge on you, Milo-kun."
"Huh? Why would Kokabiel have beef with me? Actually why would he know about me, or even care?"
"Errr..."
And that had been a...somewhat awkward conversation to have.
"Your father was Jean Archan Donato, a former Rogue Exorcist."
"My father was a Stray Exorcist?"
"Those terms can sometimes be used interchangeably, but not quite. Every Stray Exorcist is a Rogue Exorcist, but not every Rogue Exorcist is a Stray Exorcist."
"That's because...?"
"Rogue Exorcist that for one reason or another have left or cut ties to the Vatican Church, yet still act to defend the innocent, while Stray Exorcist are just plainly Exorcist that have turned to evil deeds, succumbing to their darker urges."
"Right, got it. So dad left the Church because he didn't like something about them?"
"From what I've heard, Jean felt the Church wasn't upholding it's own values. Too restricting or lenient when dealing with demonic beings when they should be firm. Too harsh on anyone non-human when they are peaceful, like some of the Youkai, or Magical Beings, that don't cause humans harm."
"Huh... That's pretty cool."
"Quite. It's in his own travels that he ended up meeting Gabriel, and they struck a friendship of sorts, which many didn't realize struck deeper. Inevitably someone found out, and sadly it was the Grigori's Kokabiel. Your father fought him, to buy your mother who was pregnant with you at the time, time to escape. I believe he had managed to unlock Smiting Artillery's Balance Breaker then, managing to critically injure Kokabiel, but sadly succumbed to his wounds."
"I see...'Smiting Artillery'?"
"A Sacred Gear that can create Holy Firearms, such as bows, or even catapults originally and advanced with it's users over time to create cannons and guns."
"Really, so what did my father usually use?"
"Handheld cannons."
"Based."
"Based on what?"
"Errr, future slang."
"Hmm, interesting."
"Yeah... Heh, say, you said his name was 'Jean Archan', he's not related to Joan of Arc by any chance us he?"
"Yes, he is her Spirit Inheritor. How did you figure it out, desu ka?"
"I was joking actually. Wait, he's Jeanne D'Arc Reincarnation!?"
"No, her Spirit Inheritor."
"But...Joan of Arc was, you know, a woman, and dad was a...man?"
"Yes, he was a man and Jeanne D'Arc was a woman. Sometimes Spirit Inheritors or Reincarnations are the opposite sex of their Heroic Ancestor. It's not common, but it's not that surprising if you see it enough times."
"Ah, old age experience, got it."
"...Hmph. Brat."
"Hehe, so Spirit Inheritors, Reincarnations and Hero Descendants, what's the difference?"
"Spirit Inheritors are those who are born with some of a Hero's skills, personality quirks, talent, or even some bits and pieces or their lives' memories. A Reincarnations is just like in the name, it's when a Hero is fully reborn, into the modern era, skills, memories and all, it's easier to think of them as a continuation of that Hero's life.
"Both Spirit Inheritors and Reincarnations are Hero Descendants, however just because someone is relation to a Heroic Figure doesn't mean they're acknowledged as a Hero Descendants, unless they manifest some ability related to their Heroic Ancestor."
"Right. All Spirit Inheritors and Reincarnations are Hero Descendants, but not visa versa. At least title-wise."
"Correct, a lot of people are linked by blood to a heroic figure, but that doesn't mean they are recognized as a Hero Descendant."
"Sounds like hell if anyone has those expectations on them. That reminds me, did you find Jeanne, the current one?"
"Yes. Funny enough there is a woman from an old noble family in France named 'Jeanne'-their birth name actually-Jeanne Challant, that...was an Exorcist of the Church."
"...Was?"
"She left the Vatican Church due to disagreements with the organization, and has since disappeared off the radar."
"So by now she's likely..."
"I'm afraid so, yes."
"Huh. Shame."
"Milo..."
"It's fine. I never knew my dad, so it was just a curiosity if I could meet her. If we end up meeting again, I hope she's not some evil bitch or something."
"Language, desu. But yes, I hope so too."
"So my dad, Kokabiel hates me and mom because my dad beat him but couldn't finish him off?"
"Kokabiel survived, but lost an arm, was heavily disfigured and needed intensive resources to save and was on life support for a year or so. Azazel worked hard to save him. From what I heard he still has nightmares about cannons till this day."
"Daaaamn. Hehe, good job, dad."
"I suppose so, yes."
"Alright, guess I'll have to prepare to be so strong that not enough Kokabiel is a threat. That way mom and everyone else can rest easy."
Metatron listen to the sound of faith being produced by Milo's training, as he reminisced.
Usually when a person prays, depending on the strength of their believe and intensity of their emotions, the faith as it's made and sent to Heaven could be compared to a pleasant sound.
The average prayer sound like a wind chime. Some would sound like music triangle or bells. Strong ones sounded like gongs. The strongest prayers sounded like church bells.
Milo's prayers did sound like church bells. Except one that were ringing constantly and without paused, till he ended his training. It was, in Metatron's opinion, a very pleasant song to just meditate or listen to, just like right now-
Metatron blinked as he suddenly noticed that Milo's prayers stopped sounded like church bells. Rather it sounded like one colossus bell was rung and it's sound was continuously echoing out in one uninterrupted sequence, like the ringing just isn't stopping or pausing, as the sound waves have yet to end.
He noticed that Milo as he sprinted while doing his punches or kicks, was now doing it all without pausing to take his praying stance, just carry on from one action to the next. As he dashed at full speed across the running track Metatron built for him at his request, Milo looked like a whirlwind of unending punches and kicks.
"Milo?" Metatron spoke out, a bit amazed and a bit worried.
Milo stumbled and almost fell, before catching himself. The bell ringing also abruptly ended.
"Aw man, it was just... hmm!" Milo pointed at his head, before huffing in slight annoyance, before taking a breath.
"I apologize for distracting you, de gozaru, but your prayers sounded...unusual a bit before." Metatron tried to explain.
"Yeah, I was kinda trying to do away with the action of doing the prayer, and just keep that mental state of mind going, since well, prayer doesn't come from the words or verses used. It comes from the heart." He said with a cheeky grin, which meant he was referencing some future knowledge Metatron didn't know yet. The words however were pretty profound as well.
"I see, that is a beautiful sentiment, de gozaru. It would be interesting to see the result of this new training method, de gozaru." And Metatron wasn't just saying that because listening to that Prayer Mind State, was unbelievably captivating. No sire.
"So, you're going now?" Milo asked.
"Yes," Metatron nodded. "I have made contact with the Shidous and they have gotten their affairs in order to move. Soon, we'll go to Kuoh Town and recruit Hyoudou Issei and bring their families over to to the Vatican without the Satans' little sisters finding-"
Metatron spun around and threw a Holy Light infused kunai at the top of a nearby hill.
A teleportation circle manifest, and a figure appear directly in the part of the already thrown kunai.
Only for the newly arrived figure to catch it.
"Oh? How unexpected, although I suppose arriving inside this training field unannounced, does warrant such response. You truly are the Voice of God to have detected me before I even arrived. Apologizes, but I was in a hurry to catch you before you left." Said a man with closed eyes, thus clearly a mysterious figure with either great wisdom, or great mischief.
The man held a divine aura to him, thus a god, and from the heavy spiritual feel to it, and specific eastern energies Metatron was familiar with, he quickly deduced which Pantheon this god was a part of.
"What does a Hindu God want with me, desu ka?" Demanded Metatron.
"Right," the Hindu God nodded. "Let me introduce myself, I am Brihaspati of the Hindu Pantheon, and I've come with a message from the Heavenly Emperor, the God of War, Indra." Brihaspati proclaimed to the surprise of Metatron and Milo.
Metatron looked at Milo, to see if he had knowledge of this person to get a read on them, or on Indra, but all he saw was confusion at Brihaspati's arrival, and worry at the mention of the Hindu War God. It spoke of Milo's youth that the mention of Indra invoked only worry, but the Archangel also saw it as a good sign that his nephew doesn't panic under pressure.
"And what does Indra want with me, de gozaru ka?" Metatron said.
"This message if you Lord Metatron, but mainly...it's for your student." Brihaspati said, to the surprise of Metatron and Milo.
"Me?" Milo pointed at himself with a disgruntled look.
"Yes, Lord Indra has tasked me with delivering this message, and to teach you five Astras should you desire." Brihaspati said with a smile.
Metatron's eyes widened. The Astras were divine powers of the highest level in the Hindu Pantheon. The Hindu Gods banned teaching them to mortals after the Mahabharata War Saga. Only a select few, and only close and loyal servants of the Hindu Gods were given the privilege to learn even one.
"From your wording you make it sound like my student can learn from you, regardless of the contents of your 'message'." Metatron said.
"That is correct." Brihaspati nodded. "I would like to know the name of my future student. What is your name child?"
"Kyle." Milo said with a dry stare.
"Milo. I see." Brihaspati nodded to himself.
Metatron released his wings and his aura, letting his power project from his frame.
"If you ready my student's mind again. I will strike you down before you can blink." Metatron spoke with murder in his voice. "De gozaru."
"...I see." Brihaspati smiled. "Battle with you might actually be dangerous for me." He then sighed in disappointment. "A shame that I'm ordered not to do so. I assure you, you have my word I simply read only his name, as it naturally appeared in his head when I asked, and nothing else. I only did so in response to the disrespect he showed, lying to a god."
"Irrelevant. Speak your message and leave." Metatron warned.
"Very well," Brihaspati cleared his throat. "Lord Indra said, and I quote," he opened his eyes, staring at Milo. Metatron didn't feel any divine powers being used, but the gesture itself was enough as a message. Of how serious Indra was on the words to be spoken. "'Do not interfere with the destiny to be formed, boy.'" Brihaspati closed his eyes. "That is all."
Milo frowned. "...I see." He said nothing else.
Metatron got the point of the message. He might not be completely sure, but given a large focus of Milo's future knowledge are about the life of the Reincarnated Devil, Hyoudou Issei, Indra's words are likely pointed at that. Except young Issei is not Devil yet.
And they were being told by Indra not to interfere with that?
"It is not the business of a Hindu God to be involved in matters of our factions." Metatron exclaimed. "If that is all, you may leave."
"Are you rejecting my tutelage, young Milo?" Brihaspati asked.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm with Lord Metatron on this. You sound sketchy as fuck, so I'm gonna say no." Milo said without hesitation. Metatron had to struggle to not snort or grin at his nephews words.
"Very well." Brihaspati sighed. "Such a shame. Had you agreed to Lord Indra's kind and simple offer, on top of my tutelage you would have also been gifted with the Holy Grail Princess."
Metatron and Milo's eyes widened in stunned shock.
"Wait, what are you-"
"It was lovely meeting you both. I hope you do well in your future endeavors." Brihaspati said with a smirk. "Farewell."
Metatron quick-moved to capture the Hindu God but his teleportation spell was instantly formed meters away, and with a burst of speed, he vanished from Metatron's reach, and disappeared right as he stepped into the magic circle.
The Hindu God escaped, but that wasn't important to the Archangel and his nephew.
Metatron send Milo back to home, and quickly teleported and flew across Romania. He had planned to kidnap-rescue Valerie Tepes-Like Milo named it-after recruiting the Red Dragon Emperor, since he only just finished his scouting of the vampire territory, and thought they weren't in a hurry to grab the Sephiroth Graal Wielder until the current batch of fighting between the two Vampire Factions calmed.
What Metatron found in the Tepes territory was a half of the Tepes Faction's castle HQ, and Valerie Tepes was gone.
The mission to recruit Hyoudou Issei was halted by orders of his brother, Michael. The Seraph didn't want to start hostilies with the Hindu Faction, and in the end the Red Dragon Emperor was deem low importance for now. Placed on watch from afar but that's all for now.
Irina Shidou and her father were reassigned to the Bolsena church to guard Rachelle, rather than Kuoh Town.
A few days later, a strong signal for the Sephiroth Graal was then found in Russia and Michael called on all free angels to go investigate and find the Longinus.
But Metatron however didn't bother joining the search, he knew it would be a wild-goose chase. And he was proven correct when they angels found nothing, and the signal appeared again, this time in Canada.
The Voice of God focus on what he can actually work on.
"Milo," Metatron spoke as they began a different training session. He had never seen his nephew so serious and upset before "I know this is frustrating, but it just means we'll have to continue with the solution we were already working on." He tried to encourage him.
"I know, it's not that, that's bothering me." Milo shook his head. "It's his words. 'Do not interfere with the destiny to be formed', as if the events of the future are a done deal." He frowned and let out a loud breath.
"I didn't get the chance to ask, but while I apologize for refusing Brihaspati's training of you without talking with you about it, I feared that there was a trap in that benevolent gesture."
"The training was the trap, because I would depend on them." Milo said back. "It was something in the back of my head, I never focused on it, but if this Netero training had some great result, like making me reach the level of a Satan in like ten years, then it can be implemented to a larger group of Exorcist, or just good people that want to protect others, and so humanity wouldn't be so helpless except for a small few against the supernatural world." Metatron's eyes widened and he smiled at Milo's words. Looks like he can plan for the future if he tried. "Learning the Astras would have personally helped me, but it would have fuck over that idea."
A determined look came to his nephew. He look then closed his eyes, holding one hand in prayer, and the other hand open up. Metatron felt the faith energy form and gather forming a small glow in one hand, in the other Milo summoned his touki and tried to focused it there above his hand, but only managed a small white point that glowed brighter than the rest of his hand.
"What are you trying to do?" Asked Metatron.
"Fighting Spirit and Holy Power, I wonder what would happen if I combine them?" Said Milo.
"If it has been tried I can't say I've heard of it. Then again, not many people practice both arts." Metatron said. "It should be an interesting endeavor."
"Not just that," Milo continued.
"Oro?"
"Touki, the aura of it...if I were to compare it, it feels like energy in a gas state."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Milo looked at his uncle with an excited grin. "It's something I thought to work on later, since it would be a control exercise I would focus on. But what if I try to condense it. Gather the Touki in one place and apply pressure to turn it into a solid. Then then added Holy Power on top of that!" He shouted in hyped up voice.
"Definitely sounds interesting to try, de gozaru." Metatron smiled and nodded, before taking on a more serious look. "However Milo," his nephew dismissed his energies, and looked at Metatron in intrigue. "While I understand your idea of making a simple training that anyone can do, and raise them to great heights, I believe this situation can begun to be complicated enough that we need to use all the resources on hand, rather than you 'go about this alone'."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to actually teach you how to fight, do gozaru. From now on, all our training sessions are spars. It will be good practice to maintain your Prayer Mind State in combat."
Milo thought about it for a moment.
"Fuck yeah, let's do it!"
For the next three years Michael found himself baffled by an oddity in the Heaven's System.
For some reason, with daily consistency, there was a weird influx of gratitude prayer that improved the system collectively by 0.005%.
It wasn't like Gabriel's son and his 70 to a 100,000 daily prayers. In fact, those had been gone for a while-Michael of course didn't complain since obviously that wasn't going to last-but around that same time, there was just this...continuous line of gratitude prayer arriving in Heaven.
It wasn't like a single whole concert prayer, but rather just a steady stream of faith energy feeding the System of Heaven.
And then some time around a year ago, the faith energy that arrived on one filled with life force.
Michael immediately sent a squad of angels to investigate lest some misguided member of the Church was conducting some unethical sacrificial ritual to gather faith energy for Heaven.
They didn't find some heretical priest or a sacrificial site, thank God.
But the source of this Faith Life Force continued to elude Michael even now.
Yes, the System of Heaven was now collectively improved by 0.01%, but Michael was wondering when the other shoe would drop.
And why was Metatron in the recent times when he visited, would struggle not to laugh when Michael voiced his concern, and just ran away for his ninja training.
And the hunt for the Holy Grail was still ongoing with nothing but empty results. Michael was glad that thankfully none of this siblings were harmed on those false leads, but he's wished these stressful events would cease.
If he started having white hair, what would his siblings say? Azazel would never stop commenting that he was copying a hair color close to their Father's.
He wasn't! It's stress.
Michael could already imagine Azazel's laughter.