Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
Akasuna123: Thanks.
Sonic: I don't see the issue, I mean her and Ravel at least the same height at one another (with Ravel being a little taller). And what does her being emotionless have to do with anything? I mean it's not like Kensei will be in his twenties when they meet, he'll be the same age as Issei. Kuroka and Ravel were also in his harem.
Guest: I don't think that would work, the red hare has already been introduced as the partner of Guan Yu. I believe that the idea for the red hare was also done by Houki.
Guest 2: I won't say that he will have a fetish for youkai, but that people may not believe me since he has a total of four of them in the harem.
MarxDraconis: Welcome to FanFiction, I promise that there are a lot of great and well written High School DxD stories out there.
Weslyschraepen: I don't know it depends. I may end up adding both of them.
Hagun Island without Kensei
It has been a week since all of them lost Kensei, but just like everyone else who either died or taken off of Hagun Island, it neither deterred or stopped the gehenna tournaments. Aside from the small number of complaints from the people who wanted to see him fighting before their eyes, but of course, none of them cared about Kensei and just wanted to see him fight like the others. It didn't matter at all if he died during the fights, the people just all wanted to see him doing so.
Because of this, Taro decided to make things in Gehenna a lot of hectic and exciting for all the people watching. It meant that more monsters were being added in along with the addition of more picturesque locations acting as a battlefield for them. This could have either been as a means for apologizing to his audience for the incident that was caused in Paradise. Or it could have been a punishment for what Kensei had done.
Either choice didn't matter in the end.
All that mattered were that those who were fighting found themselves in an even more difficult situation than they were beforehand. But, the likes of Alice, Hisui, and Maria have all proven to be able to handle themselves in their fights; but Alice found herself with some difficulties due to her weaker physical condition compared to the likes of Hisui and Maria. The others such as Layla did some issues in her battles before coming out the winner. And one other addition to Gehenna did have more difficulties than the others due to their lack of experience, but she was giving all the fights her all.
And that fight was being displayed on the viewing screen before their eyes―
In one the gaming field, it showed a forest that one would normally see from a fantasy novel and running through that forest was a single figure. That girl let out several rapid breaths as several trees behind her were being torn down one by one by a larger rampaging creature. Her face was hidden from the shade cast by the several trees around her, but she stared forward and noticed that there was a bright light shining in front of her.
"There should be a clearing in front of me. Fighting in this area don't give me that much of an advantage if it just continues to rampage like this."
She thought as she was rushing to the clearing with the light that was being generated almost blinding her.
As soon as she made it into the light, her face was in clear view of the audience and it was revealed to the Claire who had cut her hair shorter. After hearing about the "death" of Kensei, she decided that she wouldn't be the kind of girl who would rely on and hid behind other people. To carry on the same goal that Kensei had and figure out a way for all of them to get off this island, Claire had to get stronger.
Upon entering the wide clearing, Claire had stopped running and stood in front of the entrance leading inside the forest she just exited out of. She stood there with her gaze focused at the entrance and felt the vibrations caused by the creature that was approaching her at high speeds.
'Claire always ensure that you're focused on attacks from any direction, especially if you're running away. During a battle, some enemies will not hesitate to attack you from behind. Though there will come a situation where you would need to face enemies with your focus trained completely on them.'
Claire recalled the words of advice that her father had said to her, then let out a single calming breath.
At the same moment, all the trees in front of her were torn down and the large intimidating creature burst out the forest. It was revealed to be at a massive demonic beast whose size dwarfed that of the young girl with rougher darkish skin and resemble that of a bull started locks its eyes at the young girl. Like a normal bull, it had started to scrape the ground using its foot with Claire prepared to move in case anything happened. After scraping the ground one more time, the demonic bull charged forward at her.
Anticipating the charge, Claire held up one of her hands, then used demonic power to create a miniature fireball in her hands. Moments before the bull made contact with her, she jumped to the side using a great amount of leg strength letting the bull charge passed her. Just before she landed on the ground, Claire launched the fireball at the side of the bull causing a fiery explosion. This attacked caused the demonic bull to be pushed back a bit, but it didn't look to have caused much damage.
Claire had noticed the damage that her attack was able to cause, then quickly regained her footing and formed a second fireball in her hand. Without letting the bull prepare for another charge, she released it at the same spot it took on her first attack causing another explosion causing the demonic bull to let out a pained cry this time. The force of the explosion caused Claire to be sent backward along with forming a cloud of smoke.
"Hmph."
Claire breathed out as soon as she regained her footing, but as soon as the smoke cleared the demonic bull did have a terrible burn mark on its side. Though it didn't seem to be enough to cause life-threatening injuries.
"Ooooooooooooo!"
The demonic bull let out a monstrous roar causing Claire to become somewhat shaken, especially after without a slight warning, it charged forward towards her at high-speed. It then pushed its head forward-pointing its horns at Claire with the intent of ramming into her. Realizing its intentions, she held her left forearm out with blue particles of light gathering around her forearm. It soon took on the physical shape of a white shield. Claire braced herself for the bull's charge and as predicted it rammed into the shield that she formed; the physical force behind it had pushed her backward, then it launched her into the air after lifting its head with great force.
Due to the impact, the shield that Claire had made cracked into pieces and the impact was transmitted to her right forearm.
"Ngh…."
Claire winced placing her left arm on her right arm.
Even though Claire was half-devil and her physical attributes were higher than that of most children her age, but it wasn't higher than the demon bull in front of her. Despite her lack of experience in using her sacred gear, it was still unable to defend her from the full brunt. But, she couldn't let the pain distract her, to regain her balance in the air, Claire summoned her bat-like wings from her back. Using them, she was able to regain her bearing, but there was another problem that she needed to deal with.
Thinking back to all the fights that she watched whether it was Kensei, Alice, or Maria all of them had their way of fighting against various opponents. It took more than their strength or abilities, it took them being able to use them in an effective manner depending on the monster. It was the basic yet important advice that all of the people fighting in the gehenna tournament would receive from the older kids who've been here much longer.
As Claire started to get her thoughts together, the demonic bull started to walk around waiting for her to land.
[I don't believe it! This little girl is putting up a good fight against this demonic bull!]
The same arbiter called out in a loud tone causing the audience to become excited.
"Hahaha, I never thought that a little brat like that would be able to survive this long."
"Well, there are a lot of freakish brats here that are more entertaining to watch fight rather than let roam around."
"I wonder if it would be possible to take their abilities and hand them off."
"They're just wasted on them!"
Claire ignored all the comments that came from the audience in the stands, then started to think of some kind of method to defeating this demonic bull. Before arriving in this clearing, she was able to get away from it due to all of the trees in the surrounding area acting as cover for her, however, she was unable to get a clear hit on the bull since all it did was rampage and knock down all the trees around it. Her clan's inherent trait wouldn't do much since it wasn't using any special power and she couldn't launch powerful magic attacks.
"I guess there's no choice."
Claire said to herself as she floated towards the ground further away from the bull.
There wasn't a chance in her being able to attack it head-on as she didn't have the same level of combat abilities as either Kensei or Maria. Nor create creatures to fight on her behalf like Alice. Though Claire was told that she did have potential in magic, she didn't have the demonic power or magic skill for an all-out magic bombardment.
"In a situation like Nii-san would probably think," Claire thought to herself as she stood in a prepared stance. "I'll just wing it."
Seeing Claire stand before it, the bull started to scrape the ground using its foot again, then it charged at Claire at another attempt at trampling over her. As it continued to charge forward at her, she paid attention to both its speed and timed her dodges to avoid a head-on collision. As soon as it passed by Claire, the bull turned its body around and made a second attempt at ramming into her. Claire had done the same thing from before and dodged the demonic bull. This routine continued for several minutes.
[Well, this is fight has started to turn into a typical bullfight! I wonder what our little matador is going to do?!]
Again Claire ignored the arbiter of the match and focused on the task in front of her, a plan for what to do came to mind and it could be something that takes perfect timing. As soon as she dodged the bull one more time, it had passed by her, she stood her ground with her feet placed firmly on the ground. The bull turned its body around, then noticed her stance and took it as a challenge. The demonic bull started scraping the ground with far greater force than before causing the ground to be dug up.
After a while, the bull charged forward at high-speed and force towards Claire with the full intent of trampling her even directing its horns towards her. Just before it crashed into her, she jumped into the air using her devil wings as a means of assisting in this feat. Upon shifting her body, she grabbed onto the horns of the demonic bull and landed on its back. In response to this, the bull started to thrash around to shake Claire off of its back.
[Well, this is a surprise. I didn't think that you would something like this?]
Claire heard Radueriel in her head, while the demonic bull continued to thrash around in an attempt to get her off of its back.
"It just popped into my head. And it's all that I could think of at the moment," Claire said as she held out her free hand and summoned the same white angelic knife that has a blue blade that she used to cut her hair. "Can I rely on you to assist in channeling my demonic power?"
[Of course, I'll adjust the light power in the weapon enough so that it won't offset your power.]
Radueriel agreed as Claire raised the knife into the air, then stabbed it into the neck of the demonic bull causing it to let out a painful scream.
"Ooooooooooooo!"
As pain traveled across its entire body, the bull thrashed around, even more, to get Claire off its back.
Claire would have fallen off if she wasn't tightly holding onto one of its horns, but she pressed on and channeled demonic power into the blade, then changed it into lightning; thus sending bolts of lightning into its neck. This had caused the bull to become paralyzed for a moment, then another element, this time fire was sent into its wound and channeled into its body causing bursts of flames to gush out from its mouth. Claire knew that no matter how tough their outer body would be, internal damage isn't easy to defend against.
After a while, the demonic bull couldn't stand on its own feet and kneeled on the ground until it fell to the ground, then finally it landed on its side. As soon as it died, the knife vanished in her hand and Claire noticed that most of her clothing was covered in the blood of the bull. Though seeing the young girl standing over the corpse of the bull caused the entire crowd to roar in excitement causing Claire to glance towards the exit.
[What a stunning sight this little girl had ruthlessly defeated the bull!]
Claire ignored the arbiter and continued to walk towards the exit.
"I never thought that a girl like her would be able to do that."
"I guess that she surprised everyone."
"No matter, trash is still trash."
As the scenery soon broke away returning to normal, Claire ignored all the words even if it were harsh or praise as none of their comments mattered to her. The comments of the people who watched and bet on whether or not all of them would die in these fights didn't matter to them.
Claire soon returned to the entrance leading into Residential Area A, which acted as one of the four areas where all of them were allowed to live. In front of her, she noticed that it was the same as always, some kids were running and playing around the area while others were just sitting outside. There was one person there waiting for her arrival, it was Rui who sent an almost concerned look after seeing the blood that covered her.
"Claire, you made of mess of yourself in that fight. Couldn't you have won in a manner that it didn't do that to yourself?"
"I couldn't think of anything else. I don't have that much experience in fighting close or long-range compared to all of you."
"I guess, I mean you did just start fighting in gGehennajust three days ago," Rui said scratching her dog-like ears that seemed to twitch. "Well, everyone else is all Residential Area C. So, I decided to come here to get you."
"Not that I'm being rude, but why you?"
"Well, in our little group, I would like to think that I'm the fastest."
"You would be right about that."
Claire replied as she walked passed Rui.
As the younger gray-haired girl walked passed by her without saying another word.
It didn't that long for Rui and the others to realize the change that had occurred in Claire after Kensei died. There were times when Claire didn't even acknowledge when they were talking to her. Aside from when they talk about a plan in getting off Hagun Island, Claire wouldn't say a single word to anyone unless it was Alice was the person talking to her. None of them could think of or say anything that would be able to make things right, as at least a lot of the people in their group's parents were still alive and weren't situations like Claire.
"Fine then, I'll be waiting outside for you to finish."
Those were the only words that Rui could think of as Claire proceeded to walk inside both hers and Alice's home to change her clothes.
Minutes later, after cleaning the blood off her and changing clothing, Claire walked outside with Rui sitting in front of their front door. The two of them then started to head in the direction of Residential Area C where everyone in their group was at the moment. As soon as the two of them arrived there, what the two of them arrived to was a training session between two familiar people. One of them was Maria who held a wooden sword in her hand that seemed large enough to fit in her hands. And the other was Layla holding a wooden spear in her hands.
Claire didn't know how long the fight had continued, but from what she could see, Layla was the first to charge at the brown-haired girl with the point of the spear aimed at her. Maria stepped to the side letting the spear pass by her and continued to dodge the continuous assault being aimed at her by Layla using the spear. Not a single one of her moves were too overdone and were minimal at best without using her wooden sword once. Their practice match continued as Claire noticed her group watching their match and walked towards them.
Though the two of them wouldn't usually be around them, their group started to get closer since the "death" of Kensei. There was also the fact that Zane had believed that it would be a good idea for them to become far more acquainted with one another. It would also be more advantageous in having more capable people on their side whenever he starts their escape plan. Though this was after figuring out that they were able to trust the two of them without worrying about either of them being figured out.
"Hey, Claire."
After noticing her presence, Zane was the first among them to wave their hand in her direction, while Rui took her seat next to Hisui. Claire replied to his greeting with a single wave of her hand and took a spot right next to Alice who glanced away from the sparring session between Maria and Layla to look at Claire.
"That was a great match, Claire. You did a good job."
Alice said as she placed a hand on top of the young girl's head.
The feeling of having Alice pat her on top of the head reminded the young girl of what Kensei would always do to her and gave her a comforting feeling.
"I was surprised," Hisui said as she glanced towards Claire. "I didn't think that our little Claire would do something so savage and violet."
Aside from the others who didn't know what either of them could say to Claire, Hisui remained the same as ever and spoke to her the same as she always does. And Claire would always reply the same way that she normally would despite them not fighting over Kensei.
"Well, it was the only thing that I could think of at the moment. I doubt that you would have been able to think of anything else to do."
"I don't think that I'm able to do things as physical as Ken Ken, but I'm confident in my prowess in senjutsu and youjutsu. So, you don't need to be worried about little ol' me."
Hisui responded to Claire with her usual smile as Claire herself stared at the jade-haired girl with a deadpan look.
"I'm worried about you."
Claire replied as her facial expression turned more aggressive.
Both Zane and Rui showed respect for the nekomata for being able to hold up her usual tone and talk with Claire despite what had happened. As the five of them continued to stand there talking with one another or sit there, the two people who were sparring in front of one another continued. Layla spun her wooden spear around making a strong swing at Maria who used her wooden sword to blocked it, then performed a maneuver that had deflected it aside. Seeing that her attack was deflected, Layla took on a stance preparing for a head-on strike utilizing her spear and charged forward towards the brown-haired girl.
Maria read the direction and timing of this simple charge, then stepped aside and swung her sword towards the young girl and knocked the wooden spear in her hand. The suddenness of this caused Layla to stare into the air as the spear was stabbed into the ground. Before she was even able to react to what happened next, she looked forward and noticed Maria in front of her with the tip of her sword at her neck.
"You're dead."
Maria said in a low tone in a real-life manner to display the seriousness of the potential situation Layla could've been in if this were a real battle.
"*Sigh* I lost to you again sis."
After losing, Layla just allowed herself to fall backward landing on her butt as she let out a deep sigh. After she noticed the look on her face, Maria spun her sword around in her hand, then rested it on her shoulder.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, I mean you've improved more than before when you started. And besides, there is still room for improvement whether it's with your skill with a spear or sacred gear. I mean, we're all still just kids, so we still have time to develop ourselves."
Maria encouraged the Layla causing a small smile to creep on her face.
"Alright, Maria why don't we all take a small break," Zane suggested. "Besides there are some things that I would like to talk to you all about."
Upon hearing that suggestion Maria couldn't disagree and she was interested in hearing what Zane had to say to all of them.
"Before we start, Maria where's Iris? I think that it would be best for all of us to be heard about this."
"Oh, I thought you knew," she replied with a confused look. "Iris has been here this whole time hiding behind the tree you were all sitting behind."
Maria pointed out as she directed her finger towards the tree behind Zane and the others. After most of them had turned their heads and reacting to Maria's voice, Iris poked out her head, but immediately hid again after noticing all the looks that they were giving her. No matter the amount of time that all of them spent together, Iris hadn't yet gotten used to being around none of them aside from Maria and Layla.
"Has she been there the entire time?"
"Yea, if it wasn't for my senjutsu, then I probably wouldn't have noticed her at all."
Hisui stated right after Claire asked that question with Rui also raising her hand signifying that she knew about the presence of the younger girl.
"I got a vague sense that she was hiding behind there since Hisui did take the time to teach me a little bit about using senjutsu. Though, I can't do anything aside from sensing the presence of others to some extent."
Rui explained with Hisui nodding her head to confirm what she had said was the truth.
Despite the minor additions to their talk, Zane had continued with the main reason for starting this talk after he made more of a serious look.
"Guys, I think that I was able to figure out the unique signal being sent to from our bracelets to whatever Taro is using to track all of us."
That statement from him caused the people around him to become a bit shocked as it was something that even the older magicians here were able to do. All that all of them knew was that they were being tracked all the time by the Taro and researchers involved with creating the bracelet, which was why the bracelets reacted to the way that they did whenever someone tampered with it. Though wanting to confirm something before continuing Maria held her hand out with a question in mind.
"Wait, before we continue. Shouldn't we all not talk about this in the open like this," Maria brought out a good point that a lot of them thought about beforehand. "I mean, we all know that Taro has people watching a lot of us from the shadows to make sure no one plans anything or attempt to rebel. So, wouldn't it be better that we all go inside somewhere more secure? I mean, there is even some honorary gehenna guard hidden somewhere."
After hearing that question from Maria, none of them were able to refute or disagree with her. There were a lot of people in the past who were taken into custody after hearing them talk about rebelling against both Taro and the Gehenna Guard. And even if an honorary guard had their bracelets taken off, there could be people among them whose bracelets aren't really active and are just pretending to still be a captive. Though Zane had already taken that into account and decided to reveal something.
"I had already thought about that and had a little insurance added," Zane stated with a smirk. "One of the reasons why I decided to keep our little group as small as possible was to keep rumors from spreading about our plans in getting out of here. That's why I decided to handpick people that I knew that I could trust with secrets. Now do all of you recall the one thing that I need after choosing you guys to be in this little inner circle?"
Zane asked them an odd cryptic question that all of them had wondered what the purpose was.
Though after hearing that question, all of them started thinking back to the first time that Zane added them in his "inner circle". Of course, it was something that could be figured out by those who had undergone the one specific thing and witnessed the others do the same thing. After a while, the first person to hold their hand out was Alice.
"Wait, the first time that you and Kensei started this 'inner circle, you shook his right hand, but when I was next, you shook my left hand."
"Now that Alice mentioned it, you did shake the hands that had the bracelets specifically on them. I did think that it was odd, but didn't think about it that much."
"That was meant for my "source" to assist in examining the bracelets on each of your arms and for me to cast a little spell on all of you."
That last statement caused them to stare at Zane with a shocked look as none of them even Hisui noticed that a spell was cast on them and without their knowledge. After noticing the looks that he was getting Zane waved his hands in an almost nervous manner as he laughed in a manner that didn't display nervousness.
"Okay okay, before you start to hound me or ask me a mountain load of questions let me explain," Zane said as all of the girls stared at him with a singular stare causing him to sweat. "…I miss it when Kensei was here on my side…. The spell isn't harmful, all that it does it makes our conversations for just all of the people that I permit to hear and understand."
"What?"
"I think that I've heard about a spell-like this being used in the Magicians' Association."
While the others were confused about what Zane had said, Maria was able to understand it as she had heard of a spell-like this being used once before.
"I believe that it was a spell that makes ones' conversation private from the ears of others aside from those within a certain range almost like being in a soundproof room. Though it sounds as if this particular spell made it so that the only people who can hear our conversation are those who've been marked by it."
"Actually and the reason that I did cast it on the arms that had the bracelets was just in case those people were listening to our conversations."
"But, I thought that if someone tampered with it, then its feedback system would activate and kill them."
"That's only if it was done so directly, but I only affected the bracelet itself indirectly."
No one could say a single word after hearing those words exit his mouth. All of them knew that Zane was good at coming up with plans and strategies, but they never thought that he would be this effective in a manner as well. It is due to him being the only one among them aside from Iris who hadn't entered the gehenna tournament once in spite of him being there much longer than them. Though this just showed them even more than Zane is far more capable than they realized.
"Now as I was saying, if I can figure out the signal being sent from out bracelets, then I should be able to counter it. If I could do that, then some of us should be able to venture to the tower where the signal that Taro has been using to control all the other bracelets with the ring of his. Then―"
"Then not just us, but we should be able to get everyone out of here."
Maria added as she smiled sincerely at the idea that Zane had come up with and wouldn't have thought another person her age would have been able to come up with this kind of idea.
"Though, I don't want to say this," Zane had said after letting out a bit of a sigh. "When that time comes for us to do this, I think that there's one person who would be able to assist in disabling it."
After that question came up, there was the only person that all of them had immediately thought of due to their own unique inherited power, which could become a necessity. All of them glanced towards Claire who looked resolute about the task that may end being entrusted to her. As a member of the Belial Clan, she had the inherent power of "Worthless", which lets her invalidate special powers as long as she knows their properties. If that were the case, then Claire would be essential in their plan succeeding.
"*Sigh* Knowing how protective Kensei was of Claire, he'd either disagree with this idea or just yell for me even considering using her for this," Zane thought as he stared at Claire who continued to look determined. "But, I can't just say not after seeing how determined she is."
―I believe that Ken Ken is still alive.
Those were the honest words that came from Hisui, but it was said around Claire with none of them wanting to aggravate the young girl any further seeing how she reacted when they heard he died.
"It wouldn't surprise me if he were still alive, he always used to say that he doesn't die that easily. Though it still doesn't change the fact that Kensei isn't here with us right now, all that I can do is support everyone here on my own as much as I can."
Both Kensei and Zane always thought that it was up to them to support women who were in their group with all their strength. It wasn't that they didn't believe that the girls' couldn't handle themselves without their assistance, it was just that the two of them were still immature and believed that it was their job as 'men' to protect them. But, it could be said that Kensei and Zane also viewed them as some of their closest friends and comrades. Which is why they would do whatever it took to protect them.
"Alright, I'll do what I can," Zane said to himself as he stared at them all. "Now that we all finally got a great game plan, let's talk about how and when we're going to play it out."
Before Zane could say another word, there was a sudden familiar and ominous sound that all of them were too familiar with to ever forget.
BEEP BEEP
The usual signal came from the bracelet belonging to Alice who stared down with the usual look on her face. As a small sigh left from her mouth, Alice stood up without a single bit of hesitance.
"Okay, looks like it's my turn. You guys can continue the talk without me while I'm gone, then Claire can fill me in later when I return."
Alice said as she started to walk away, but Zane shook his head.
"No, it'll be best if all of us hear about it at the same time."
After hearing the response from both Alice and Zane, Maria stood up from the ground and stretched her arms as she also glanced towards everyone else.
"Well, if that's the case, then why don't we get back to training? You're up next right, Claire?"
Maria questioned as she looked towards the gray-haired girl who stood up ground and nodded her head.
Though before Claire was about to start training with Maria, she turned towards Alice who was preparing to leave for her next match. Without her needing to say a single work, Alice knew what that look meant and sent a smile in her question in a reassuring manner.
"Don't concern yourself with me, Claire. Just focus on your training with Maria.."
Alice stated as she patted the top of the younger girl's head in a comfortable manner causing a sense of relief to well up in the young girl. Once Alice removed her hand from on top of Claire's head, Hisui also stood up after she noticed her starting to head off away from the area.
"I'll come along to restore your stamina before you head off to fight. Despite all the treatment that I've been giving you, you still can't overwork yourself too much Alice."
"I know, thanks for that Hisui."
Alice thanked the jade-haired girl as she started following behind her, leaving the others to stand there and watch as Maria started to train with Claire. The young girl glanced aside towards a makeshift rack that has several makeshift weapons carved using wood. This was something else that the older kids had prepared for the children who were still learning how to use actual weapons and so this lets them train for the start of a match.
She knew that a longer weapon like the spear that Layla was wielding wouldn't be a good match for her as Claire didn't have prior experience with a weapon. At the moment, all that Claire could handle was a short sword and in fact, it was something that she had prior experience with due to the small 'spars' that she had with her father. The moment that Claire picked out her weapon, she went and stood in front of Maria who held onto her sword.
"So are you prepared, Claire?"
Maria questioned as she stood in a relaxed stance instead of a combat one, which was something that she does all the time.
"Yes."
"Okay, come at me whenever you like."
Claire nodded and took one a stance that she learned from her father, then in an almost untrained manner, she rushed at Maria. In another untrained manner, she slashed her sword aiming for the side of Maria, but the older girl blocked the strike using her sword, then knocked Claire off balance using a single movement. As soon she was able to regain her balance, Claire continued to make several slashes at Maria who continued to just deflect each of the slashes that were aimed at her.
"I heard from Zane that you have a sacred gear that lets you create different weapons, but without proper training or knowledge that'll end up being harmless instead of helpless."
Maria informed her as she knocked Claire off balance for the second time, but just like before she regained her balance and continued making slashes at the brown-haired girl. Each slash was made using a similar pattern than before, though soon enough Claire started to repair and better her strikes. Zane who stood on the sidelines stared at what was happening with an interesting look.
"You, I've never seen Maria take on an actual serious stance when training with you despite you being far more experienced than Claire in terms of fighting. It just looks like Maria is just going easy on the two of you."
"It's Sis' method of training others who lack much experience in combat," Layla started to explain. "A stance that looks relaxed yet it lets her respond to attacks in more of a gentle manner and even when blocking an attack, Sis adjusts the position of our strikes without us realizing it using her sword. Doing this lets one continue to progress efficiently even without knowing."
"Really? I didn't even notice her doing any of that."
Zane replied as he continued staring at Maria as she trained with Claire who made several attempting at getting a hit on Maria. Though now that he got a better look at it, it did seem as if Maria was ever so slightly moving her wooden sword at the same moment that it clashed with Claire's wooden short sword.
"I didn't realize it until one of the teens in the area we lived in pointed it out," Layla stated after noticing the look on Zane's face and even laughed a little. "After I mentioned it, it was the first time that I saw Sis become bashful before stating that it was something her old…acquaintance taught her."
It didn't take long for Zane to realize that had stopped herself from saying something else, but he didn't pursue it if it was neither of them wanted to talk about it. He also knew that there were a lot of people on Hagun Island who didn't want to talk about their pasts and it wouldn't be right to make them talk about it. There was also the facial expression that Layla made that was almost looked distressed.
"So, it was an acquaintance, huh?"
Zane questioned feigning ignorance about the slip up that Layla almost made causing the girl to feel some hint of relief about it, but she believed that he saw through it and just decided not to proceed with it.
"Do you believe that Kensei is still alive? There have been a lot of people like him who been confident in them getting off the island and are either taken off the island to be sold or killed in fighting back."
Layla decided to ask him after realizing how Hisui, Alice and even Zane were acting after hearing about his death compared to Claire who felt devastated about it. She had also seen others living around their residences who had lost someone important to them being lost and or they would sometimes lose their will to go on, but that wasn't at all the case with the three people who saw Kensei as their closest friend.
"At first, I was shocked about it after hearing about it from Taro, but then I was reminded of something," he stated as he made a smirk on his face. "Kensei Amagiri is the only person in the world that I can call my best friend and my closest comrade. And I vowed the moment that we all got out of here that I would assist him in anything if he ever required my assistance. Even if it entails a fight or making a weapon, I will always do my best to assist him if he ever calls for my aid."
Zane declared out loud to the light-haired young girl who stared at him with an astonished look.
"I-I've never heard someone say something like that before. What if Kensei were to start a fight with all the devils in the underworld? I mean, it wouldn't be surprising considering all that he's been through."
"I'll assist him no matter what," he replied without the slightest hesitance causing the expression of Layla to fall a bit at the shot time-lapse. "Though Kensei would seem like the kind of person who would start a fight with the first person who angered him, he wouldn't start a serious fight with someone that high up the latter without a perfect reason or good intentions. No matter the opponent or danger, if he ever needs my help, I'll be right there."
Layla was surprised by the faith that Zane had in Kensei as both his best friend and comrade. She couldn't even recall anyone else saying those kinds of words to one another on Hagun Island. Layla had heard those words a lot from others off Hagun Island, but when push came to shove, their promise was never kept meaning that it was just an empty promise. Though she couldn't see that in the belief-filled words from Zane who had faith in his best friend still being alive.
"I guess that's another reason why Sis thought that it would be a great idea to choose this group."
Layla thought as she joined in watching both Maria and Claire continued to train with one another, the latter had fixed her stance and swings with the assistance of the former.
Both Claire and Maria continued to practice for several minutes until the sunset, then all of them started to return to their own homes. In the residences that now both Claire and Alice lived alone, the gray-haired girl was now in the kitchen making their 'dinner' after finishing her training with Maria. As she stood there in front of the pot with a lot of water boiling in it with some minor ingredients, Claire looked into the water staring at her reflection without a hint of her usual cheerful demeanor being on her face.
'Yo, Claire when is dinner going to be ready?'
She could recall Kensei asking that question with the same hint of spirit and confidence behind them.
'Kensei you can't rush the cook, it is kind of rude."
Alice would always rebuke him sometimes with the same lackluster tone while being considerate of Claire who was cooking for all three of them.
'I wasn't trying to be rude. I just can't wait to eat, I tend to burn through energy when I run around fighting against several monsters,' he replied as he laid back in the couch with his head near where Alice was sitting almost laying his head on her lap. 'Besides, I like eating Claire's food. Despite all the less than satisfying ingredients that those guys provide us all the time, Claire makes it in a way that makes it enjoyable.'
'That is true, I do enjoy eating her food.'
'Hehehehe, I guess that you two really can't survive without me, huh?"
Claire questioned her usual bright yet at the same time proud time.
''Yep!''
Kensei and Alice replied nonchalantly as neither of them had enough cooking skill needed to make delicious food as Claire could. This caused the young girl to face them with both her hands on her hip with the utensil in her other hand with an expression filled with pride.
'Then that's another reason for all three of us to remain together, I'll keep getting better and better making all the food that you two can eat.'
It was their usual familial dynamic, though all three came from various backward, they still viewed one another as being a small happy family.
Though as that memory flowed back in her head like the stream running down a stream, tears started to appear at the corners of her eyes. It wasn't the same without 'him' being there making whatever comment that he would whether it was about what all three of them would all do once they got out of there or just some joke started had popped out of his head, it still makes them laugh if not just because it was something entirely silly.
At around the same moment, Alice had walked through the door and she noticed Claire staring in the water with tears started to train down her face. It was the first time that Alice had seen her starting to cry in a while, it didn't take her long to realize that Claire was just holding it in without expressing her feelings at all. Without saying one word, Alice started to approach the younger girl she viewed as a sister and hugged her from behind.
Even without noticing Alice walking behind, Claire didn't react at all and just sunk into the embrace with tears still streaming down her eyes.
"I-I can't…I'm sorry, but I can't act the same as before. It isn't the same without Nii-san being here with all of us. Continuing to just live here without him just feels like one big punishment from God. It is because I'm the daughter of a devil and exorcist that I continue to lose the people that I care about?! What else could it be, Alice-nee?!"
Still, Alice didn't say a single word, she just hugged the girl even more into her chest and just let her let out all that she was holding within herself without stopping. If she didn't then it would just end up hurting her even more than it ever has before if she just held it within herself without letting it all out.
"I want Nii-san back!"
Claire shouted as she dropped the utensil in her hands as she dropped to the ground with Alice following with the younger girl wrapping around the last person she viewed as her older sibling.
"Kensei, I believe that you're out there somewhere," Alice thought as she a tear streamed down her eyes. "Please come back soon….I can keep all of the pieces in her little heart together. But if you don't come back soon, then she'll end breaking down completely."
A/N: And there goes the eight chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter it was one week after Kensei had "died" and it showed the impact that it had on them. It also showed Claire entering the fights in Gehenna and displaying the amount of skill that she has with her sacred gear. There was also a scene with both Maria and Layla (later Iris) joining their escape plans to leave Hagun Island. A small hint in the past of Maria, but a lot more will be explained in the future along with her starting to train Claire.
So, until next time.
Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.