Chapter 4

  I was in fact not fucking shit up. Not in a good sense, at least. I grunted and picked up the training sword off the ground. It lay there, knocked from my grip by the Gremory Knight, Kiba Yuuto. The boy was my junior by a year and had blue eyes with blonde hair. Features that would surely clash with his Japanese name, had it not been for the devil magic, a very convenient thing indeed.

  As I picked up the plain, dull steel blade, I made once again into a ready position. We were sparring on a green patch of grass behind the clubhouse in Kuoh Academy. It was surprisingly spacious, even with its own little wooded area. I guess there are some privileges to being owner of a town.

  Now, while I would like to believe we were sparring, it would be more accurate to say that Kiba was teaching me the basics of holding a blade. I think I surprised the young knight by my request, but I categorically refused to let my first option in a fight be fists; that just seemed dumb. Blade had reach and could cut; it was just that simple.

  What was not simple was trying to learn how to use one. I did not expect to become a master swordsman, but learning how to not lop off my own hand would be a good start; I would go from there.

  It was just me and Kiba for now on the grassy field, with the young Koneko Tojou, a short white-haired girl that was Rias’s Rook, sitting by the side. She seemed content to just sit there, watch and sip on a juice box with a straw.

  A few hours ago, when I came here, the pair of them were already waiting for me. They explained Akeno and Asia were taking care of some stuff and would be joining us later. Rias, I knew, also had some duties to attend, though she mentioned she would speak about it later. She said she would join us around lunch, which was still a few hours away.

  Getting into the ready stance Kiba showed me, we went through another round of slowed-down exchange of blows. The goal, Kiba explained, was to get used to the movements, both my own and that of the opponent. You were meant to always keep your mind on your blade and positioning and do the same for your opponent. I think I was starting to get a hang of it, at least the basics. I did not expect to beat anyone anytime soon, at least not in a pure sword fight, but knowing the basic handling of a weapon would enable me to use my other powers in conjunction, turning a sword-wielding amateur into a notable danger for anyone below high class, as far as devil rankings went. Draig seemed to also believe this, and I was confident in his judgement.

  "Keep in mind the distance between us; you will want to learn how to fight like a knight, using speed and being able to keep up with your opponent's speed, both physically and visually.”

  I nodded, not really feeling confident talking while my mind was focusing on so many different things that were involved in a swordfight. You would think it would just be about swinging your sword with enough force and a confident shout.

  We exchanged a few more rounds before Kiba nodded to himself and took a step back, lowering his sword slightly, and I did the same.

  “The basics will need to be practised often, but you seem to get the hang of it; let’s try adding your power to the mix. You said you can speed yourself up?”

  “Yes, the power of internally manifesting my time abilities is the one I have the most experience with and the one I can sustain the longest currently.”

  “Let’s try it then. I suspect it will work not dissimilarly to how a knight piece increases my speed, but I would like to see it in action.”

  And with a nod we squared off against each other again, swords raised in lower guard.

  I let out a soft breath, a confusing feeling of warmth and coldness spreading from my stomach; it has always been the way I perceived my powers. A demigod’s powers inherited from their godly parent were much harder to sense for the supernatural creatures and thus required less hiding than my Sacred Gear. The feeling my Longinus gave off when used would have been picked up quite quickly, but the blood of Crooked One that flowed through my veins did not have such a radical drawback. I have been training with it for more than five years at this point, and it was time to show the results.

  The warm brown of my eyes first changed to amber, and as I channelled my power, the amber gave way to gold. There was no aura or corona of power around me, my hair did not turn blonde, and to the outsider unfamiliar with the origin of my powers, not much has changed beyond the colour of my eyes.

  The first blows I exchanged with Kiba were basic, my body moving faster, my strikes swifter, and my perception of the knight’s movements keener. I could see the strike I would not have before, and I could react, my mind able to process the information much faster, my body reacting much quicker.

  We traded blows back and forth. Kiba could beat me here, of course; even with my enhanced senses and agility, I could not defend myself against his technique. A few feints that would put me out of position to react even with my speed or a well-timed disarming move that I could not recognise with my limited knowledge, and it would be all over. But the whole point of the exercise was to learn, so we traded blows, striking each other and seeing where the limits lay.

  After a few bouts, I started to change the pace, not only increasing my speed in a flat way but also slowing myself mid-strike, breaking the flow of the fight and then speeding again. Creating a sort of jagged speed that was very hard to predict.

  My sword flew from an over-the-shoulder swing, and I could see Kiba matching the blow from the downwards swing, intending to meet my blade in the middle, perhaps with a parry strike afterwards. I slowed my whole body down and watched as the knight’s eyes widened, his sword passing through a space where mine should have been had it not arrested its momentum just a moment before. With his strike overextended now, I let the time flow again, my strike moving with great speed towards him.

  For the first time in our duels, Kiba did not defend himself with his sword; rather, he almost blinked out of existence, appearing half a step behind where he stood previously. That must have been a true speed a knight could move at then. I smiled a little to myself.

  “That was well done, Kai. For a new devil and a pawn, you could well be matched to a lower-class knight piece, and you have been going for almost an hour with it, and yet you still appear in good form.”

  “My power over time takes a toll on me in two different ways. If I use my power in general, it drains my magic directly; the internal use puts a strain on my body when I use it. Of course, magic drain strains the body as well, but at a much slower rate. However, when my power is used internally, it actually requires much less magic than when I project it on the world around me.”

  “Still, after long use of your power, you still seem ready to continue.”

  “Yes, the devil body provides me with more resilience; I would normally be feeling the strain on my muscles, but now I only feel a little tired.” I said with little self-satisfaction, The decision to become a devil was already paying dividends. “I can take this further still; if I use my Boosted Gear, I can double my power every 10 seconds, though Draig says this can be shortened with training.”

  Kiba’s eyes widened slightly. “I see. I had not put much thought into it, to be honest, but it is a Longinus; that alone makes it incredibly powerful … I see now where you are going with this.” He said, and he nodded to himself.

  Any further conversation was halted by a deadpan voice from the side.

  “You can compare sticks later; Akeno is coming with the nun.”

  “A break perhaps; we can continue afterwards.” Said Kiba.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Yes, break. Let’s get food.” Came Koneko’s clipped sentence.

  I nodded, and my stomach grumbled a little, reminding me that we had been going on since early morning and it was closing to noon. I was not at the peak of athleticism, but neither was I skinny. I had some muscle on me and little fat. I hoped to improve that in the near future.

  Rias’s Queen came together with Asia, joining us in the meadow. We sat by the nearby trees, enjoying the impromptu picnic. Koneko was apparently tasked with managing the food whenever the Gremory peerage were on an outing or training together. The short girl was quite good at picking up food, it seemed, as there were many choices of snacks and drinks.

  Kiba went over what we have been doing with Akeno. I was meanwhile contentedly chewing on a sandwich, sharing an appreciative glance with Koneko. A deadpan stare and a thumbs up I received back were honestly comical.

  “… so Miss Akeno then took me to a restaurant,” explained Asia, seemingly very excited about her afternoon.

  “Could you believe it? Little Asia never had a hamburger before." Came Akeno’s quip from the side.

  I could; she was an orphan in a church, with not much of a choice in food there. I held my piece in the end; there was no need to sour the mood. Asia seemed to be in high spirits, so that was good.

  "Yes, Miss Akeno, it was delicious.”

  “Just Akeno is fine, Asia; no need to be so formal. You are among friends here.”

  In response, Asia nodded her head rapidly. Honestly, a large weight fell off my chest; seeing Asia flawlessly integrate herself with the devils was something I was hoping for, but it still felt nice to be right.

  “While you boys were playing with your toys, I took Asia to do some shopping. Could you believe she only had a few pairs of underwear with her? We managed to fix that; now she has some good selection. What do you say, Asia? Will you show the boys the pieces we brought? Some of them were very sexy.” The casualness with which Akeno said it made Asia turn beet red.

  “Uuuu … Miss Akeno, that is improper … please don’t tease me like that.” Asia said after she realised Akeno was making fun of her.

  After the break, the Gremory Queen was showing Asia and me how to use demonic magic. Just a crash course, honestly, but it’s still good to learn the basics.

  “Now then, you two. Before you start slinging spells, you must understand that devil magic isn’t just about shouting a command. It is the art of manifesting your will through demonic power.” Said Akeno, adopting a very teacher-like voice. "It’s a common mistake to think we’re doing the same thing as human magicians. But the difference is as vast as the gap between owning a well and carrying a bucket."

  “For humans to use magic, they have to possess knowledge to control equations in order to manifest magic into the world. Devils have no such limitation.”

  “So, it’s like a muscle? I just flex my brain, and stuff happens?”

  “Ara ara, not quite, Kai. While physical stamina matters, the true engine is your imagination. For a devil, possibility is a tangible resource. If you can clearly visualise the result and back it with your magic, the world has no choice but to obey.”

  She said, as she demonstrated by summoning lightning in her hand and then again by turning it into ice.

  “There are of course limits and rules to it, but let’s say you wished to conjure a ball of flame or a piece of ice like this; the main component will be your magical power inside your body and your ability to visualise what you wish to achieve. However, there is a third component, a demonic circle.”

  Akeno dismissed her magic, and instead a red magic circle appeared.

  “It acts as a focus for our magic. While casting without one is possible, it will come out weaker and less focused. A personal magic circle is possible to create, but it requires deeper knowledge of the magical lore, so you can just use the Gremory one. Rias will share it with you later.”

  Akono once again let her magic dissipate and smiled at us. “Now, let’s see what you can do.”

  Leaving Asia together with Akeno to practise their magic. I instead joined Kiba and Koneko. There would be time to dive into magic deeper; right now, I wished to finally test out the might of the Red Dragon Emperor.

  DAMN RIGHT, I ALMOST THOUGHT YOU WERE STARTING TO IGNORE ME.

  I could never

  LEAVE THE SARCASM FOR SOMEONE ELSE, BRAT. NOW SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT.

  Gladly. With a thought command, I summoned my Sacred Gear on my dominant left hand. The armoured gauntlet laden with spikes was deer red in colour. At its centre, a large green jewel was placed prominently. It covered my whole arm up to the elbow, starting at my fingers with armoured clawed digits.

  “BOOST”

  A sense of power flooded my whole being; it was intoxicating. The basic function of Boosted Gear was doubling the user's power every time they used the boost, but this was a very simplistic explanation. The power I received from the Boost was not immediately added to my own. For lack of a better word, I was holding the power within myself, but it was not part of me, not unless I willed it. To explain in different terms, I have created a sort of power token that I was able to redeem for a boost in power. I could immediately do so, but it was more effective to hold onto the power and boost consecutively before ingesting the power.

  At this basic form, I could use boost every 10 seconds, but in the future this would improve. The biggest reason not to immediately power oneself with a boost was the strain the boost had on the body. The body is used to a certain amount of magical power coursing through it on a regular basis; there could be spikes of power, of course, but in general there was an amount of energy that was considered normal. The stronger the body, the more you could take without causing strain on yourself. The same reasoning applied to continued use of greater magical power; the more I powered myself with boosted gear, my body would adapt to the larger power requirements, so to speak. Holding the boost did put strain on me, but it was much more manageable than immediately consuming it.

  My counterpart, the White Dragon Emperor, had the opposite problem from me. Where my power came from the boost that I could hold, where I doubled my power with my boost and could hold it for a certain amount of time, he divided the power around him, taking the magical energy into himself. Depending on the amount of power divided, he could implode his body. For this reason, Divine Dividing had an inbuilt exhaust, so to speak, with the Wings functioning as a release valve for the energy absorbed by the Divide. Again, the amount of energy the White Dragon user could hold depended on his own body and the amount of power it could handle for extended periods of time.

  HAHAHA, IS THIS IT? IS THIS THE EXTENT OF IT?

  I was driven from my power fantasy calculation daydreaming by Draig’s voice. I grinned, and focused again.

  “BOOST”

  “BOOST”

  “BOOST”

  In a span of 30 seconds, I had accumulated a large amount of power through the boosts. With a broad grin, I mentally gripped the metaphorical fountain within my breast and almost inhaled the power. It was incredible. Power coursed through me, and in that moment, I felt like I could topple mountains. What was the point of being in a world of monsters if you could not be one yourself? The grin on my face widened, teeth showing. Yes, this was it. My eyes shone bright molten gold, a side effect of my other heritage, as normally Draig’s power manifested as green.

  HMM, BETTER, BUT YOU CAN DO MORE.

  I realised a sudden problem. What the fuck was I going to do with all this power within my body right now? I felt I could guide it for a devastating attack. Draig mentioned in the past a Dragon Shot, but I did not feel like destroying Rias’s building right now.

  HAHA, WHAT A PROBLEM TO HAVE, PARTNER.

  Not helping. I ground my teeth.

  HA, JUST GUIDE THE ENERGY THROUGH YOUR BODY, FOCUS ON PROJECTING AN AURA AROUND YOURSELF, GUIDE THE ENERGY SLOWLY, LET IT RELEASE AND DISSIPATE.

  I followed the dragons’ instructions. A green corona manifesting from my body, with an occasional golden thread intertwined in the green energy emanating from my body. I closed my eyes and focused on guiding the energy out of my body, not in an explosive outburst, but in a controlled release. Slowly, the power spike I felt quieted down; the once roiling seas of energy were now a calm lake again.

  GOOD

  Sudden exhaustion hit me. Bringing me down to one knee, as I panted for breath, my body feeling tired all of a sudden.

  THE POWER WILL TAKE A TOLL ON YOUR BODY. THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT THIS IS MORE TRAINING AND INCREASING THE STRENGTH OF YOUR BODY.

  Draig was explaining all of this, despite my nagging feeling that he knew this would happen. He seemed to believe in teaching by experience.

  YOU CAN ALSO USE MY POWER IN SMALLER PORTIONS; I RECOMMEND THREE BOOSTS TO START WITH. YOU CAN INCREASE THE LOAD OVER TIME.

  A small pause.

  THERE ARE MORE OF MY POWERS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO USE, BUT YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THEM YET.

  Good to know. I knew what he was talking about, and it was hard not to let a smile return to my face. All of this power I just experienced, and to think it was just the smallest of slivers a Longinus Gear like Draig’s was capable of. I was interrupted by Kiba and Koneko coming to where I was still panting on one knee.

  “Sempai thinks he is Goku."

  “I think that was impressive, Koneko," said Kiba.

  “Not enough shouting”

  I smiled a tired smile. “I will try better next time."

  The thumbs up I got in response from the smaller girl made me chuckle.

  ...

  Later that day, we finished with the training for the day and went inside the clubhouse, where Rias was already waiting for us.

  “I am glad you could all make it. I had a meeting with Sona regarding our Fallen squatters, but first…" Rias clicked her fingers, and a big cake appeared on the table. “Since we got new members, I made a welcome cake, so let’s eat it together.” She said with a big smile.

  Damn, that cake actually looked good. By the drool coming out of Koneko’s mouth, I think she agreed with me.

  AN: This story is being cross posted on AO3, WebNovel, Questionable Questing and Royal Road. Updates will be regular every Saturday at minimum. It is possible I will be able to write faster, if that happens I will post the chapters sooner, but 1 chapter per week is guaranteed.

  If you wish to read 5 chapters ahead, you can do so on my Patreon.