Game of Monsters - 87 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

It’s Gonna Get Harder From Here

[George Pickingill]

He sat there, waiting nervously as his teacher went over some of the notes he shared with him. Why someone as high up in the magical community as Joshua Davis wanted to learn more about his magic, George didn’t know. It was a bit baffling, all things considered, really.

Don’t get him wrong, he liked Recovery Magic, George was very proud of it. There was nothing quite like seeing it rid someone of a curse or illness that would have otherwise taken their life or sometimes worse. It was always a great thing to see, when it was him or someone else in his family that did it.

However, George was aware that his magic wasn’t what one would call impressive. He was fine with that, quite honestly, even more than that. He preferred not to have too much attention on himself if he could get away with it. It meant there’d be less pressure on him, less expectations too.

Now though, he’d been thrust into the spotlight without even understanding how or why. Joshua Davis himself, a warder of growing renown, fighter of Longinus and overall prodigy of magics, seemed to have gotten an interest in George and his branch magic. Things didn’t make sense to him, in either case, really.

All of a sudden, his family was getting contacted from all over the place. It was subtle, but for those who had always stayed on the unnoticed side of magical society, it was like the difference between night and day. Out of nowhere, they were people of importance talking to them, and business deals were being spoken and considered when they’d been all but ignored before.

Hell, the only reason he’d managed to get a spot in the Spell Modification class was because his father had pulled many of the favors his family had amassed. There was no way they’d pass up the chance to get some of that very valuable knowledge. Professor Davis had been an unknown and magical teachers were unreliable at the best of times, but George’s father had decided that the gamble was worth it.

Indeed, the man seemed to have been right, and not only because the classes were much better than they could have hoped.

George was under no delusions that the man in front of him was the one behind the change in their family’s situation, and neither was his family. Joshua Davis, The Professor, had caused waves in the magical society by freely throwing around the knowledge that many considered to be key to being actually someone. Instead of being the run of the mill magician flinging around established spells, they’d soon have personal variants of spells.

So, with all that in mind, he waited for Professor Davis to say something.

At that point, with his nerves growing increasingly out of control and his mind conjuring worse and worse scenarios, he’d take the man just laughing on his face and taking back the attention he’d given him. George just wanted the suspense to end. Seriously, it felt like an eternity since he’d given the man the notebook with some information regarding Recovery Magic.

As if hearing his silent pleas, Professor Davis finally did something other than just sitting there behind his desk and reading over the notes. The grin that formed on the man’s face was reassuring, but not overly much. There was a predatory glint to it that didn’t help George’s unease, in all honesty.

“This is great,” the man said, and George finally felt like he was able to breathe. “Is there anything I can do to get more information, this looks like it’ll be very useful for me,” Professor Davis continued and the younger man felt his mind go blank for a moment.

Had he really said that? Joshua Davis, the man that had helped put House Pickingill back on the map, as it were, wanted to pay them for something? Hell, George’s father had tasked him with finding out if there was a way for them to repay the man. He had been about to ask about that once this whole ordeal with the teacher’s interest in Recovery Magic was over.

“Ah, there’s no need for that, Professor Davis,” George hurried to reply, before the man could misunderstand or something. “You’ve already done a lot for me. I couldn’t ask you for anything else, truly.”

“Nonsense,” the teacher waved him off then, making his eyes widen. “I’ve only done what I should as a teacher, which is why House of Water pays me. I can’t take more from you too. That’d be kind of double dipping, wouldn’t it?”

“Not at all, sir,” George denied, shaking his hands. He needed to make it clear that it was not that at all. Truly, it certainly wasn’t in the man’s job description to improve George’s entire House’s standing.

“Are your family’s wards good?” Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow and if George was already wide eyed before, this almost made his eyeballs drop from their sockets.

“They are… They could be better, of course,” he started, because he didn’t want to outright deny the man’s idea. That’d run the risk of Professor Davis taking offense, making it sound like they were insulting his skills. Now, he just needed to tell the man that it wasn’t necessary at all. “B-”

“Great,” Professor Davis said before he could even get a full word out, grinning widely. “Can you check with your family if you can teach me more about Recovery Magic in exchange for defenses? I know main magics are important and yours is a family thing, from what I understand, so I can throw in hexes too, if your House is ok with those. I promise I’ll set them up as best I can.”

To that, George could only gape at the man.

Nononono, he couldn’t let things end at that. Surely there was a way he could fix the misunderstanding, right? How had it all ended up like that in the first place?

“Now, go to your seat, okay? The rest of the class should be arriving soon,” Professor Davis told him, still grinning like he’d come out winning from their encounter instead of deciding to excessively overpay him. “Thanks again for coming early, by the way.”

George just stood there, blinking.

[}-o-{]

[Students of Davis]

They watched as The Professor stood there, in front of the class in complete silence. It seemed that he was back to normal, leaning against his desk instead of sitting behind it, just like back before whatever had weakened him for some time. He regarded the class in silence, but everyone noticed how his eyes seemed to focus more on the students from Golden Dawn more than anyone else.

As for the aforementioned association’s members, they sat tense at their desks, all except The Professor’s favored student, Ordinton. They couldn’t risk being kicked out and actually having to stay out of the class, like what had happened to the student from the last incident. The man had been replaced by another member, who they could only pity, since she’d missed all the classes up until then.

“I’m sure you can put together that I’m back to normal,” The Professor started, forgoing niceties and the professional approach as he usually did. “That doesn’t mean you can go back to testing my patience. I find myself very short on that as of late, and I’m sure you guys don’t want to find my new limits,” he said then, and those that had previously taken advantage of the man’s lax rules and uncaring, downright naive attitude, gulped nervously.

It seemed that there would be a change in the classes, and not regarding the curriculum.

“We have a new addition to our class too,” The Professor said then, drawing even more attention to the woman that sat on a chair that many had avoided as if it had been cursed. “She’s obviously behind the rest of you in terms of knowledge, since she’s just now getting started,” the man continued, and the rest of the class had to respect the way the woman could just sit there, not at all bothered by the attention, nor affected by the implication of her situation.

“I can assure you that I’ll catch up soon enough, Professor Davis,” she replied instead.

“I’m sure you could,” he said, tilting his head to look at her for a long moment. “Still, while we have people more or less skilled on Spell Modification in here, I don’t like the unfairness of your position,” he explained before his eyes scanned the rest of the classroom. “So, I’ll give you all an optional task.”

“Optional task” the man said, as if they wouldn’t throw themselves at anything he suggested they do. The man might have an unconventional approach to things, strange views and some of them didn’t like him very much, however, there was no denying that he was one of the best magical teachers around. The more time passed, the less students were willing to waste the chance they were given by being allowed to be in his class.

“You’ll help the miss catch up with the rest of you,” Joshua said, and suddenly everyone was looking much more intently at the Golden Dawn magician. Now she seemed to become a little affected, shifting slightly but noticeable on her seat. “If you do a good job helping her, I’ll see to it that you are rewarded. However, if you do a bad job,” he said and it was time for everyone to shift on their seats as the atmosphere in the room changed. On the desk, Morag, the spider familiar of The Professor, seemed to become even more noticeable. “Well, we might have more new students in the classroom if so. I won’t have anyone sabotaging a fellow student, is that clear?”

“Yes, Professor Davis,” the students chorused.

“Good,” the man said, nodding. “At least, that’s what I had in mind. Unless the miss would prefer to improve on her own, that is,” he said then, relaxing once more and everyone finally remembered to breathe. “I wouldn’t want to force you to accept help that you don’t want.”

“That’s… fine, Professor Davis,” the woman replied, her voice lower than before, more hesitant. “Thank you. I appreciate the concern.”

“Don’t mention it,” The Professor waved off. “On a somewhat related note but not really,” he started then, a slight grin on his face. “I’ll start another class here at House of Water,” he announced like he’d some piece of homework instead of that absolute bomb. The man wasn’t done yet, however. “I’ll start a class on Ward Magic. Director Agnes offered me the chance to give spots to people. If any of you want a spot… Well, make me think you deserve it.”

Before he was even done, a hand had already been raised.

“Yes, Meredith?” the man asked, but he clearly knew where things were going.

“Can I join that class, Professor Davis?” the girl asked, eyes practically shining. She also looked supremely smug to the rest of the students even if she hid it well. After all, there was no way The Professor would say no to her, one of the only three people he even bothered knowing the name of.

“I’ll let Director Agnes know,” The Professor replied, expectedly. As for the girl, she leaned back on her seat, clearly very satisfied.

Suddenly, helping the new member of the class became an even more important thing to do. Any of them that had a specialization even remotely related to Ward Magic would want to be in that class. Especially since they were very aware of how good a teacher The Professor was. While normally tackling a different branch of magic was something that made many a person hesitate and consider very thoroughly, taking into account how difficult it was to learn and use something completely different from one's main magic…

Well, if there was anyone that could help people through that tedious, incredibly hard process, then that was Joshua Davis.

So, if helping the new student could be enough to earn the favor of The Professor, then they certainly would give it their all.

“With that out of the way,” the man in question said, clapping his hands. “Let's get started with the actual class, yes?”

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

“You are way too comfy,” he muttered, making Nagini preen at the praise and send him a thoroughly smug feeling. “Not sure how proud you should be about that, but if you are happy then I’m happy,” he commented, grinning amusedly as he turned from the notebook on his lap and planted his hand on top of the serpent’s head. “You are not too bored, are you? You don’t move around nearly as much as you did when you were smaller,” he asked then.

It was something he wondered sometimes. When he’d first got her, the snake had gone around a lot, hunting and such things. On top of that, he’d usually carried her on his shoulders a whole lot too. As she got progressively bigger with her evolutions, that was no longer the case. He couldn’t carry her anymore. And she had stopped hunting, since there wasn’t really much that could actually feed her on the areas surrounding his properties. As it was, he’d had to arrange something with Yasaka to get bigger animals to feed her.

In response to his worries, Nagini hissed something reassuring softly before rubbing her head against his cheek. Smiling at her, he replied in kind, petting her. However, he focused on the feeling he got from her to make sure. Indeed, she seemed to be fine. Maybe she had grown out of her need to move around, or maybe she had never been quite as much of a fan of that as he’d thought.

“Well, if you are fine with things…” he mumbled, leaning back against his serpent/seat. “I hope you are not too unhappy with me when things start getting… hectic. They might, soon enough,” he added, leaning his head against the hard but also oddly soft scaled skin of his familiar. The sky above seemed to display the same peaceful feeling of the moment. It was mostly clear, only a few tiny, wispy clouds here and there that could almost be ignored.

Nagini hissed something then, and the feeling through the bond told Joshua all that he needed to know. The snake might be fine lazing about and doing very little, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t appreciate some more excitement in their days. It was a little odd, but he supposed that made sense, in a way. Learning that wasn’t as reassuring as he thought it’d be.

“I’m not making a mistake, am I?” he asked, still staring up at the blue sky. “Going after them, interfering. I’m sure everyone can deal with them just fine, right?” he mused, almost distractedly. Sure, the factions hadn’t done very well in canon, but they were doing stuff now. He’d nudged them in that direction as best he could and it seemed to have worked. He’d get a comment here and there from either Yasaka or Serafall regarding the factions’ efforts against Khaos Brigade. They even mentioned a few things from the Fallen Angels’ and the Church’s side from time to time.

Nagini hissed something, and the feelings he got were so complex it took him a moment to interpret them. In the end, he concluded she didn’t think it was wrong for him to want to get in on the action. He’d been directly affected by the terrorists’ actions. Letting them be could just mean that they’d do so again and the serpent didn’t like that idea very much.

As he finished processing that, Nagini wrapped around him a little more tightly, like she was hugging him.

He smiled.

“Thanks, girl,” he said, throwing one of his arms around her body to return the gesture somewhat. Maybe he shouldn’t take advice from a snake of all things. Smart as she was, she didn’t quite have the same thought process of humans and such. None of his familiars did, not even Cheshire. However… He thought she wasn’t wrong in this instance. And if she was, if they were, then so be it. He was tired of just waiting for someone to attack him, for things to go wrong. “They’ll regret it, the day they decided attacking us was a good idea,” he said, his calm expression breaking for a moment.

He was biding his time, just a little bit. He was getting some things ready, that was all. With his eyes moving back to his notebook, he continued working. He had ideas that had been pushed to the side in favor of others before. Now though, he wanted to finish them, improve them. They’d come in handy in the near future.

Joshua would make sure Khaos Brigade properly appreciated all the work he’d put on those.

With him, Nagini hissed something, a nasty amusement flowing from her to him. His serpentine familiar was very clearly looking forward to when they could all give the terrorists a piece of their mind. It wouldn’t be for some time. He needed to finish several projects, but soon.

Soon, they’d see the error of their ways, painfully.

[Bond: Nagini has gone up a level.]

‘For now, focus, Joshua,’ he told himself, continuing going through his notes. There were many projects to work through. Many things that needed to be finished. If the Fallen Angels’ attack had shown him something, it was that he was too weak still.

Sure, he was good with his magic, he was good at tinkering with it. One could even say that he was good at fighting. But he wasn’t good enough. There were people too strong out there. He was nowhere near the level he needed to be to deal with them. Maybe he never would be, but he could level the playing field with his wards and hexes. He just needed to find better ways to apply them to more active combat situations.

‘Lots of work indeed,’ he thought to himself.

[}-o-{]

He almost couldn’t focus on the things he was working on, for a number of reasons, really. He was kind of supposed to be teaching Kunou, after all, but when Yasaka had come by as she sometimes did, he’d been mostly just spending time with her and their daughter – that still felt weird to think when worded like that – instead of actually teaching anything. From there, one thing led to the other, and he’d asked and left them to their conversation for a bit while he focused on his projects.

He did keep an ear out just in case, hearing something about the girl’s other classes and such. From what he picked up, things were going alright, just that Kunou tended to get distracted easily. On that note, Joshua really wished he wouldn’t be blamed for that, even if it was definitely his fault.

At some point though, the conversation had sort of ended and now Kunou was staring intently at what he was working on. He wasn’t sure why, but from the glimpses he sent her way, he’d caught Yasaka looking highly amused. Still though, it was sort of awkward to work like that. Normally it would be fine but Yasaka’s addition wasn’t a normal thing.

“What is that?” Kunou asked, visibly frustrated. “Project Everchanging? It looks similar but there’s Spacial Magic in there too, doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s because it’s another project,” Joshua replied, letting his focus fully travel back to the present. “It does use several things from the Project Everchanging.”

“What does it do?” Kunou asked, eyes shining in curiosity.

“That’s a surprise,” Joshua answered with a grin that widened when his daughter whined loudly. “I’ll tell you this though. This is an entire other project. Project Law.”

“Project Law…” the girl mumbled, frowning and pouting. “That tells me nothing!”

“Now now, Kunou, I’m sure there’s a reason for the secrecy,” Yasaka said, patting Kunou’s head. “I’m sure,” she repeated, sending a look towards Joshua that said she wasn’t actually all that sure but she didn’t seem to care regardless. She looked mostly amused by the whole situation, really. Joshua simply grinned at her.

That was when Fuyuko made an entrance, carrying a tray with drinks.

“Fuyuko, have I ever told you how amazing you are?” Joshua asked then, taking the cup he was offered after Yasaka and Kunou took theirs.

“You have, but you can always say it more, Joshua-sama,” she replied with a slight smile. He really wished the servants would stop calling him that, but… Well, it’d been a while since he gave up on the hopes for that. “Do you need anything else?”

“... Some snacks for Kunou would be nice,” Joshua said when the other two remained silent for a moment, drawing a smile and a nod from the yuki-onna. “She’s been making a great deal of progress lately.”

And she really had. The girl was starting to make her own illusions with less and less effort each time. Short ones, for sure, but she’d work her way up to more complex and longer shows and such with time. As she was, Joshua was barely doing any teaching, really. It was more like he was just checking for things she might have overlooked and giving advice.

“Thank you,” the girl mumbled bashfully as she poked her fingers together. There was no denying the pleased smile on her face though, even if she was doing her best to look anywhere but at him or Yasaka. As for the latter, she regarded their daughter with a soft smile before she directed it at him.

“Anyway, Yasaka, remember that thing we were working on?” Joshua asked then, deciding to talk about something that he’d thought off lately. He’d waited to go over the idea he’d had and his own knowledge half-forgotten already.

In front of him, the youkai leader straightened where she sat, eyes sharpening. “That thing they were working on” meant Khaos Brigade and dealing with them, after all. The woman gave him a slight nod while Kunou blinked at them before narrowing her eyes as she always did when they talked in “code” as it were.

“Yes?” the leader asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you have any information regarding-,” he started before being interrupted by his phone. Groaning, he deflated and pulled the device out. As he did though, checking the screen, he narrowed his eyes at the unknown number on the screen. After a moment, and after receiving a wave of Yasaka’s hand, he answered the call. “Yes?”

“Joshua,” he heard from the other side, drawing a wide eyed look from him. Well, that was certainly an unexpected person to receive a call from, that was for sure. “I hope this isn’t an inconvenient time.”

“Gabriel,” he replied, drawing raised eyebrows from Yasaka and narrowed eyes from Kunou. He’d have rolled his eyes at the girl if not for the fact that her mother seemed to follow their daughter’s example for some reason. He wondered what was up with that. “Not at all,” he added. “What can I do for you?”

“You remember saying that you’d owe us for Carnwennan?” the angel asked and it was his turn to narrow his eyes. “We are calling that favor, if you don’t mind doing this for us,” she added and his suddenly tense shoulders relaxed. At least it seemed that they were keeping to their word about not asking for things he wouldn’t do… maybe.

“Sure? You kinda need to tell me what you need me to do,” he answered, not really agreeing to anything. Sure, the angels seemed to be alright so far, but… Well, he didn’t want to take anything for granted, really.

“We need you to help us protect some places,” the angel said.

“Sure, I can do that?” he answered, unsure.

“You might want to consider things a little more before agreeing to anything,” the angel cautioned, which gave Joshua pause. “Joshua, we need you to help us because there’s few people that are as relatively disconnected from factions as you are. We need help against outside forces as much as inside ones, after all.”

That made his eyes widen.

“We need you to help us with a Civil War, Joshua.”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

…

I’m not even gonna question things anymore. My muse and the characters can do whatever the fuck they want, I don’t care. I think these cliffhangers are about as bad for you guys as they are for me, honestly.

Maybe I’m like, a higher, hidden level of Patron or something.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Project Everchanging was mentioned before, do you remember what it was about? It’s been a while. For that matter, do you have any guesses on what Project Law is?

See you.