Game of Monsters - 90 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

We Couldn’t See It, but We Created

Light spears were shot towards him, but Joshua needed only to raise his hand to block them with Neutral Shields, and sometimes not even that. If he was in the middle of motions or just didn’t feel like it, he’d use the Blessing of Set and just let the attacks pass through the parts of his body that turned into sand. The two Fallen fighting with him had already realized that they needed to attack his whole body for their efforts to be productive…

However, that was easier said than done. This was especially so under his Weighting and Weakening Wards that made their attacks a lot less than what they would normally be. They could try though, but those were definitely stopped by shields, if he couldn’t outright dodge them. Joshua didn’t want to be too dependent on dodging though.

His stats didn’t really lend themselves to such tactics, so he didn’t want to get used to dodging when it was likely that he’d be too slow to do so more often than not. It was better to, instead, develop the habit and reflex to put a shield in between him and attacks, if not outright turning into sand. He thought that was the way to go for him, at least.

Evidently, Mittelt disagreed with that approach, demonstrated when Joshua threw one of his regular holy daggers at her. The Fallen batted her wings and moved aside, dodging that weapon and the ones that followed it. As for Raynare, she seemed to think evading was beneath her or something, because she threw light shields up whenever he made an attempt at attacking her.

All in all, Joshua wasn’t trying very hard though. He was mostly making sure that his defense was good. After all, if he could keep himself alive, then he could wait until his Wards and Hexes chipped away at the strength of his enemies. Neither Setan Kober nor Carnwennan agreed with that approach, but there’d always be enemies too strong for Joshua to take on in direct combat. He’d humor the daggers as best he could, but his health was the first priority.

Both weapons reluctantly agreed with that, which was good. Joshua didn’t want to have an argument with the things that were giving him a literal and metaphorical edge against enemies that were stronger than him, be it physically, magically or some other aspect. The daggers were, after all, a direct addition to his power level, as it were. Taking them away would be like taking away one of his magic branches or something like that.

Somewhere away from him, his familiars and Jeanne were participating in a free for all fight between themselves… Well, all but Margalo, since the poor bird still hadn’t managed to make something more combat oriented. However, the little avian seemed to have grown fond of the support role her skills had thrown her in.

Joshua was convinced that it had to do with how her character in Serafall’s show had been pretty important for just that. The Satan and some of the staff and actors for the show had commented on how cool it was that she could make strong fighters even stronger and so on. The bird hadn’t been ready for that kind of attack, evidently, because she’d been both very embarrassed but also very proud.

‘Guess the show had an unexpected but welcome side effect,’ Joshua mused idly, feeling through the bond how determined but content the bird was. ‘Hm, if I have time to get distracted, I obviously need to change things up,’ he thought then, narrowing his eyes before he took his wards and upped their strength on him and the Fallen.

“What-?” Raynare started asking while Mittelt froze mid air. Joshua didn’t let her finish though, throwing a dagger at her immediately, before forming a circle for a Neutral Shot off to her side. Knives started raining on the two of them, together with more magic attacks. However, that wasn’t all.

From within his Storage Spell, he pulled out Setan Kober, who eagerly greeted him once his fingers wrapped around the handle. The dagger was more than ready for a battle, it seemed, and Joshua could almost see it, a mix between a growling dog foaming at the mouth and an enthusiastic little puppy bouncing around. It was a strange picture, to be sure, but that was the best he could come up with to describe it.

Faintly, he felt Carnwennan’s disappointment, even through the Storage Spell that held it, but-

[Neutral Magic has gone up a level.]

-the poor legendary weapon would have to content itself with being used in the next spar. After all, it wasn’t like Joshua could use both Setan Kober and Carnwennan and also have access to his other more regular daggers for throwing. At least, not without having an extra arm like the guy from Khaos Brigade he remembered… Maybe he could come up with a spell for that though, but…

Well, that was a thought for some other time.

As it was, he had to focus on the fight, because going up close and personal with a Fallen Angel was a little more dangerous than being at a distance. There was a lot more opportunity for mistakes and such things, after all. Besides, he was trying to up the level of the spar, so it wouldn’t do to get distracted and such things.

That is, before the fight was over, which wasn’t too far into the future. Especially when Setan Kober finally managed to scratch Raynare’s thigh. It wasn’t much of a wound, but it was the first of many, as the demonic energies of the weapon affected the Fallen more than one would think. Slowly, he chipped away at the woman’s strength to the point that she was left on the ground with the legendary kris sticking out of her arm.

Pulling out Carnwennan to make up for things, he turned towards Mittelt, who was looking at him apprehensively.

“I don’t suppose I can give up now, right?” the blond asked with a nervous smile.

“Yeah… No,” he said, his expression flat. “Just because I’ve taken you in and because I’m giving you a chance… Don’t think I like you,” he told her then, taking slow steps towards her as he pondered what the best approach would be this time… Or better to say what approach of the several he had in mind to go with. If two Fallen hadn’t been able to fight him off, neither would a single one. “Besides, this is for your own good. Adversity breeds excellence.”

“I feel like you are just saying that to have an excuse,” Mittelt pointed out, two light spear/swords appearing in her hands.

“Maybe a little,” Joshua admitted with a grin. “I do have to make you pay for attacking my family, after all.”

“Oh, fucking-” the woman started, before interrupting herself when he rushed at her. There’d be time for complaining and other talks later. At that moment, he had a goal and that was to train and get better. There were shitty people out there that he needed to hunt down, after all.

[}-o-{]

[Kalawarna]

“Please, I can help you,” Kalawarna pleaded, and Davis looked at her from where he sat. Both of them were seated on chairs, one in front of the other, except that the Fallen found herself cuffed to hers. “I didn’t- What option did I have?” she asked desperately.

“Many,” the human answered her, his expression flat as he looked at her. There was no amusement, no sadistic glee, no anger… There was nothing. He was looking at her like she was an insect on the floor by his feet. “But yet, you decided to do what you did. You decided to join the terrorist group that’s been making my life difficult for quite a while.”

“They wanted to recruit me!” she wailed at him, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to have the man spare her. He was supposed to be good, kind. He wasn’t fitting the description she’d heard at all at that moment, however. “Do you know what they’d have done to me if I had said-?”

“Did you join against your will?” he asked, tilting his head but otherwise remaining the same as before. Seeing her chance despite that, Kalawarna grabbed at it with both hands.

“I did! I was afraid they’d do something to me!” she told him desperately. “I didn’t want to, I swear!”

“Did you ever kill anyone for them? Did you want to?”

“I didn’t!” she denied vehemently.

“You are lying,” Davis said, and Kalawarna froze. What little blood remained in her face was quickly drained away. “You know, maybe I’d have given you a chance, if you weren’t. That’s basically what I did with Mittelt and Raynare. You think I’d take you, or them, and what you say at face value? Do you think I’m a fool?”

“I-I’m not-”

“Stop lying to me,” the man interrupted her, his tone turning the smallest bit colder as he did. Then, he took a deep breath in and leaned back on his chair. “I have many ideas to test with you. Many of those projects that I put aside because there was no way I’d risk experimenting with them, putting myself or someone else in danger. I have no such concerns with you though.”

“Please, I-I-You can’t do this,” Kalawarna said, her mind struggling to come up with something that would get her out of the predicament she was in. “I can do… I’ll do whatever you want me to do, please. I’ll sleep with you, I’ll kill for you, I’ll be your slave, anything you-”

“I don’t care,” the human told her coldly. “My family… I lost my family because of you. The very last piece of my family that I still had... And that’s because of you and the thrice be damned Khaos Brigade. You do terrible things to anyone that gets in your way and some of those that don’t. Why should I treat you any differently?”

“Please, I-”

“You can stop that, it won’t change anything,” Joshua told her with a smile that held no kindness in it. “I wonder when this world turned me from what I was to what I am now. Was it when I was in a similar position as you? Was it when I first met Khaos Brigade? Was it a slow process or was there a particular moment that changed things? I used to be a semi-normal guy, you know? And now… Now here I am.”

“You can be that man still,” Kalawarna tried this time, even more fear bleeding into her voice. Not that she was really trying not to let that happen. “You can-”

“I’m tired,” Davis said, sighing and rubbing his eyes with a weary smile. “I’m tired of people thinking they can just come and do whatever they want. I thought they’d leave me alone eventually. If I continued pushing them back, they would go away… But they didn’t, they just came at me harder than before… So… I’ll just make sure they can’t push anymore.”

“Please,” Kalawarna pleaded, struggling uselessly against her cuffs once more and feeling what little chances she had slipping away from her. Maybe it had just been a delusion, to think that she even had a chance to begin with. “Please, I don’t… Please!”

“Congratulations,” Davis said with a bitter smile. “You won. I’ll sink down to your level.”

“Please, no, nononono-”

“I’m gonna be nice,” the man told her, interrupting her quickly panicking self. Her breathing was getting more and more erratic by the second, but she barely noticed. “And I’ll let you choose what you’ll go through. As I said, I have many ideas.”

“Please.”

“Project Summer, Project Winter, Project Spring and Project Fall,” he listed for her. “I’ll come back at some point, and you’ll tell me which one you want to go through,” he declared, standing up from his chair and moving away from her.

“Wait. Wait! What do those do? What do those mean? Wait, please!” Kalawarna screamed.

“See you later.”

“Wait!”

But he didn’t. Instead, Kalawarna just heard the sound of his steps up the stairs, like nails on her coffin. She screamed, struggling against the bindings that held her in place. However, it was all for naught and, at last, she heard the door clicking shut.

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

His eyes remained fixed on the TV screen in front of him, hanging from the wall of his cafe. He was barely paying attention to what it showed though, using it more to keep his mind away from his own thoughts than anything else. Absently, he’d occasionally bring the beer bottle that he’d been nursing to his lips.

That is, until Issei walked on the other side of the table and took a seat there, sighing loudly as he opened a can that he’d brought for himself. Apparently, beer hadn’t been for him… At least not yet, which was probably better that way. Joshua didn’t want to be responsible for him becoming an alcoholic or something. Granted, that was unlikely to happen, he felt, but still.

“Something in your mind?” he asked the teenager, turning to face him better, even if he still kept an eye on the football match going on. “You seemed a little distracted today,” he added, making the boy grimace as he took a sip from his drink.

“I’m sorry. I’ll take that cake home with me…” Issei mumbled, making Joshua chuckle. He had made quite the abomination instead of a cake that day. Overall though, it wasn’t much of a problem. The boy was proving to be a pretty good employee after he learned how stuff was done. Sure, he had his slip ups and mistakes, but overall, he was much better than Joshua had expected.

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured the boy, tipping the bottle in his hand. “Is everything ok though?” he asked, giving Issei a look. He’d been distracted throughout the whole day, which had caused more than a few problems. Joshua wasn’t too concerned with that, since all of them had been easily solved, but still…

“I just…” the boy started before groaning and grimacing. “I… Can I talk to you about something? I don’t know who to talk to about this,” he added then, making Joshua blink. ‘So, Rias and Sona approached him already? Or maybe just one of them. I wonder how it went,’ he mused as he straightened where he sat.

“Of course you can, Issei. I can’t promise much, but you can definitely talk to me about anything you need help with… within reason,” he told the boy, giving him a reassuring smile that turned a little mirthful at the end. He grinned even wider at the annoyed look on the teen. “I can’t promise to have answers or good advice, but listening is something I can do.”

“Thank you,” Issei replied with a smile of his own, seemingly relieved with just hearing that. “I… God, this is embarrassing,” he mumbled then, visibly gathering courage to speak. Joshua, for his part, blinked. ‘Embarrassing?’ “You… er, you remember this girl I told you about?”

“Yes?” he answered, blinking once again. Things… didn’t seem to be going where he thought they would be. At least, he was fairly sure that the girl he was talking about wasn’t Rias nor Sona… Was it Akeno or someone else from their peerages?

“Well, um, you see… Sheaskedmeoutonadate,” Issei blurted out. Pausing for a second to process that, Joshua’s eyes widened slightly. “I know, right? I can believe it either!” the boy exclaimed. Remaining silent for a moment, Joshua took a gulp from his beer.

“Ok… I don’t think I’m drunk enough for this conversation,” he muttered under his breath before sighing. “Well, at least I don’t have to give you The Talk.”

“Joshua!”

“Anyway,” he continued, ignoring the boy’s protest. “What’s it you wanted to talk about, exactly?” he asked, suddenly a lot less sure about talking with Issei.

“I just… I’d like some advice,” he mumbled, looking down at the table as he nursed his own drink. “I… I don’t know what to do.”

“I mean, it depends on you, buddy. Do you want to go on a date with this girl?” Joshua asked, still trying to shift his mind onto the unexpected topic instead of what he’d assumed before.

“I already told her yes,” Issei whispered, not meeting Joshua’s eyes as he spoke. “I just… What am I supposed to do? I don’t know where I should take her or what I should do. How should I act? Should I act as I do normally or should I do something else?”

“Huh… Then… I mean… Issei, do I look like someone that goes on a lot of dates?” Joshua asked. It was now the boy’s turn to blink at him instead.

“... Yes?”

Joshua sighed.

“For the record, I might know about as much as you do, buddy,” he said, taking another gulp from his beer. “But I’ll try and give you some advice anyway, yeah?” he continued then, getting an eager nod from Issei, regardless of his previous warning. “Acting as you normally do would be acting like you are her friend in a normal outing, not someone that’s considering a relationship with her out on a date, does that make sense?”

“Yes?” the boy repeated, and Joshua nodded.

His bullshitting was going well so far, it seemed.

“So, I imagine it works something like this,” he started then, leaning back on his chair as he considered his words as best he could. “You gotta put a little more effort into things, but not too much,” he explained, drawing a confused expression from Issei. “You have to show her you are invested in things, but there’s no need to act like a completely different person. No need to pretend to be someone else or anything like that. She wants to date you, so, be yourself and show her the best time you can manage.”

“... I think I get it,” the boy replied hesitantly. “But… What if things don’t go well?”

“I mean, they’d have to go really badly for it to ruin things with your new friend, right?” Joshua asked him, giving him as encouraging a smile as he could manage. “Things might be a bit awkward for a bit if things don’t work out but… It’d probably go away eventually, right?”

“I guess,” Issei said, remaining silent for a long moment. “Well, that’s better advice than dad’s, at least.”

“Do I want to know?”

“No… I don’t think you do,” he commented, chuckling nervously before turning to look at the TV. Joshua, however, stared at him for a long moment. Then, he turned too, but his eyes never really focused on the screen. Instead, he just kept a thoughtful expression.

[}-o-{]

[Yasaka]

“Joshua! Come on, just a little hint!” Kunou whined, making her smile softly at her daughter while she played with the man in question. Apparently, since Serafall wasn’t going to spoil her own story, the girl had decided questioning her father was a better approach to know what was going to happen on the Satan’s show. Except that Joshua still remained very much not budging on his stance that if Serafall didn’t want to get the information out, he wouldn’t tell. “Mom, Joshua is being mean!” Kunou decided to go with then.

To that, Yasaka simply raised an eyebrow to the girl, who then huffed and continued playing.

Joshua and Kunou seemed to have progressed enough with their card game project that they were now giving it some test runs. There were many changes being made, but it seemed that things were going well altogether. Yasaka was curious enough that she might give the game a try later down the line. The father-daughter duo were insistent that they wanted it to be better before allowing anyone else to play.

“She’s so adorable~!” Serafall, sitting across from Yasaka, whined, much like Kunou had before. “It’s not fair, Yasaka, not fair I tell you.

“I know, but what can you do?” she asked, giving Joshua a side-glance. She’d been worried ever since the attack on the man’s family, but now, with what he’d done regarding the Fallen that were involved in that very attack, she was even more so. She’d noticed that he seemed to be more and more driven in his vendetta against Khaos Brigade.

Yasaka could only hope that the man wouldn’t do something stupid.

“You are so lucky,” the Satan mumbled, pouting at her. “I’ll have some of that one day, you’ll see.”

“Why do you say that like it’s a threat?” Yasaka asked her fellow faction leader. The look she got, however, gave her pause. Such a… not serious but acute expression seemed almost out of place on the usually playful woman. It was all that the youkai needed to know that the moment of jokes was… maybe not completely but mostly over.

It was all accentuated by the quick spell that Serafall cast then, drawing a side-eyed glance from Joshua before he focused back on the game.

“I like Joshua,” the woman said then, drawing a wide-eyed expression from Yasaka. The information wasn’t a surprise, the youkai leader had been well aware of that fact for a while already. What was a surprise was that Serafall was admitting it, and so directly and bluntly at that. Especially to her. “He’s kind, patient, understanding and interesting… So I like him,” Serafall said, almost absently, turning slightly to look at the man in question. The list came off sort of… dispassionately, but the look on the woman’s eyes at that moment spoke more than any speech.  “The more time I spend with him, the more I like him.”

Yasaka would have liked to fool herself into thinking that she didn’t know where the Satan was going with that. However, she was perfectly aware of that, which made her hand, holding a cup of tea, tighten its hold. Her eyes then moved to the side, to watch Kunou playing with Joshua.

“I know you know what I’m telling you,” Serafall told her, and she had to hold back a grimace. “I know you feel the same,” the woman said, more of a statement than a question.

“I do,” Yasaka admitted, because it would have been an insult to everyone involved to say anything else. Nevermind the fact that nobody would have believed her… Except maybe Joshua himself. Even the servants knew where things stood, be it with Kunou or with Yasaka herself. They thought they were sneaky, but the leader had learned of those things pretty much instantly.

Was it any surprise that Yasaka had come to be… attracted to Joshua?

It hadn’t been the case for quite some time, actually, regardless of what some of the servants thought. At the start of things, he’d just been a good man that had filled a role in her daughter’s life that Kunou had always needed. He’d given Yasaka peace of mind in a matter that she’d long since worried about. On top of that, he’d made her life easier in several regards, be it knowingly or not.

It hadn’t taken the man long to worm his way into her heart though. It was much more than just being a father figure to Kunou and doing so marvelously. No, there was a lot more to Joshua than that, Yasaka had quickly learned.

He was a breath of fresh air in the world she lived in. He was calm, peaceful, where most people seemed intent in seeking conflict at every turn. He was giving where most people would hoard every scrap of riches, knowledge or power they could get their hands on. He was considerate where most people seemed to care only for their own needs and wants.

Those, among many other things, were the aspects that Yasaka appreciated in Joshua. She was sure many of those were also likely to be the same things Serafall had taken note of, even if the woman had given an abridged version. There were likely different things in their lists too, but that was unimportant at that moment.

“So,” Yasaka said, doing her best to keep her calm voice and expression, even if she was anything but on the inside. “You are making a move, finally?”

“I know why you were waiting. I was doing so for the same reason…” Serafall told her, but then she smiled softly. “But I can’t wait anymore and I think it’s been enough time. Maybe I’m being impatient but…”

She didn’t need to finish, not really. She didn’t even need to say anything at all, really. Yasaka appreciated the gesture nevertheless. She let out a breath, almost resigned, but not quite. No, she wouldn’t be giving up quite like that, but she’d have some things to consider now that-

“I had a proposal for you, however,” Serafall said and Yasaka narrowed her eyes. Expectedly, there was little to be read from the woman’s expression or energies. Ultimately, she had to speak up.

“I’m listening,” she replied, already having an inkling as to where things were going.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Well, I’m not sure how well handled that last scene was on my part, nor the rest of the chapter, really, but especially that part. Speaking of the last scene… Well, people might be happy with that, but I gotta be honest. I’m kind of thinking “Oh no…” right now, because I was honestly just fine with my characters pushing romance to the side.

Unfortunately for me, they seem to have decided it was enough… It was good while it lasted, I guess.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Any guesses as to what the projects Joshua mentioned to Kalawarna are?

See you.