Game of Monsters - 91 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

Push to Keep the Dark From Coming

Meals had become a bit of an awkward affair with the Fallen Angels living at his place now, since they ate at the same time and at the same table as the rest of Asia, Jeanne and him. They knew not to do anything, of course, and he kept a close eye on them at all times with his wards and senses, but that didn’t change the fact that they were. None of them could quite put the Fallen off of their mind, unfortunately.

Even Asia, forgiving and nice as she was, couldn’t quite get over the fact that those two had been about to kill Joshua’s family and almost killed him too. She wasn’t quite angry, but she was certainly uneasy in their presence. Joshua also wondered how much of that was the fact that they were Fallen Angels too.

For that matter, he wondered how Asia had thought of them in canon. Maybe she’d had an easier time forgiving their glaring flaws because they were like her? Maybe she thought they could be good people that had been misunderstood like how it had happened to her? Now that she wasn’t actually excommunicated, maybe it made things harder for her.

“Do you have a thing for blondes?” a voice said and Joshua blinked, looking up from his plate. When he turned towards her, it seemed that Raynare realized that maybe, just maybe, it was ill-advised to say anything at all to him, nevermind such a thing.

Fortunately for her, Joshua heard a light snort from the other side of the table that made him look towards Jeanne. Then the girl giggled behind her hand, making him raise an eyebrow. When she finally managed to get her laughter under control, she still kept a wide grin on her face.

“You gotta admit she’s not wrong,” Jeanne pointed out. “Between me, Asia, her,” she listed, noticeably avoiding saying Mittelt’s name. “And… Well, you know,” she continued then, waving her hand vaguely. He got it though. ‘Kunou and maybe Yasaka?’ he finished for her. “It does seem like you do, as she said, “have a thing for blondes”, doesn’t it?”

“I mean, I don’t think I do,” he replied dryly. “Things just happened like that for some reason. Coincidence, you know?” he said with a shrug. “I can make your hair black though, if you want,” he added with a grin. “It’ll kind of ruin the excuse for my dye job, but it’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

“Ah, er, no need,” Jeanne answered quickly, backpedaling like a pro.

“As for you,” Joshua continued, turning to regard Raynare again, making the Fallen tense up. He noticed, idly, that the woman seemed to almost shiver where she sat as he looked at her. She also seemed to hold back a flinch when he waved his hand at her. “There you go. This way you won’t feel left out.”

There were two snorts in response to that, one from Jeanne and the other from Mittelt. As for Raynare, she looked at the two of them alternatively for a moment while they looked right back at her, holding back their laughs. When the Fallen realized that she wouldn’t be getting an explanation of her own, she looked at herself.

It didn’t take her long to realize that Joshua had turned her hair blond.

It was only an illusion, of course, but her horrified expression was still funny.

[}-o-{]

Joshua looked around wryly. There were people whispering and girls giggling. There were eyes on him and the person across the table. Joshua was very aware of this even when he wasn’t checking. He could almost feel the attention that was being placed on them.

“I think we should have done this somewhere else,” he commented with an uncomfortable smile.

“Why though?” Serafall asked, blinking at him like she couldn’t figure out why he’d say something like that. “Your cafe has some of the best stuff, Joshua. Why would we go somewhere else?”

He just sighed, massaging his eyelids.

“Right, all this attention doesn’t bother you,” he stated instead of asked. After all, Serafall was the Satan of foreign affairs and also a star actress in a popular show. On top of that, she wore her magical girl outfit practically all the time, which also spoke about her tolerance to attention.

Quite the contrast to him.

He should be grateful that she was wearing normal clothes, he supposed. Although, maybe that made things worse in this case? It was certainly an interesting thought, if nothing else. Looking around once more, Joshua lamented the fact that Sona wasn’t there with them like during some of Sefarall’s other visits. Apparently being just the two of them made people jump to conclusions.

“Not really, no,” the Satan answered expectedly. “Does it bother you though?” she asked then, taking him off guard, not only because of the question but also because of the serious look on her face. “I can cast something to make them ignore us too, not only our conversation.”

“No, that’s… That’s fine, I guess,” he replied hesitantly. He didn’t like the attention, but there was no reason to bother Serafall with that. “I’m just… Not used to being the target of gossip, I guess,” he mumbled, unable to stop his eyes from darting around.

“Really? There’s plenty of gossip about you in the supernatural world, you know?” the woman told him, tilting her head in confusion. Her question only made him feel even worse, really.

“I guessed… But at least they usually don’t do that where I can see and hear them,” he commented, bringing his cup of tea to his lips. “I just… Well, I didn’t get out much before, and I didn’t draw attention to myself… Was kind of a wallflower, really.”

“Well, that’s difficult to see, considering you seem to do the opposite since I’ve known you,” Serafall pointed out with a little giggle before she brought her drink to her lips. The thing was so sweet that it made Joshua feel the sweetness even just by looking at the drink, really.

“It’s just the company I keep,” he replied wryly. “Pretty sure nobody would look at me if you weren’t there and I wasn’t the owner,” he commented, drawing a strange look from Serafall, one that he couldn’t quite place.

“If you say so?” the Satan said hesitantly.

“So, did you want to talk about something in particular?” he asked, just as unsure.

“I just wanted to spend some time together without it being for work, actually,” she said, beaming at him. And quite honestly, how was he to do anything but accept that? So, with an uneasy smile, he ran his fingers through his hair.

“That works too, I guess,” he said. Despite how uncomfortable the situation made him, it was nice to be able to spend time with her. If nothing else, Joshua had learned to appreciate any time spent on things that weren’t work related. He might have a lot to do, but he didn’t want to burn himself out, that was for sure.

That wouldn’t end well for anyone.

“Oh, oh, remember the thing with Asia?” Serafall asked, as if the fact that she thought up something to talk about was great news.

“Isn’t that classified information or something?” he shot back, raising an eyebrow.

“Pff, who cares?” she said, waving off his worries.

At least she wasn’t gonna talk about her show. He liked that well enough – hell, he was now part of the show –, but Serafall could talk about that for hours and he didn’t quite have that much free time in his day, even if he’d like to. As it was, he just smiled and sipped from his cup of tea while listening to Serafall.

[}-o-{]

Joshua worked silently, which was the usual for him, for the most part. However, at that very moment, he couldn’t help but take note of that fact with some… Not really nervousness, but certainly feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

Regardless, he continued reading through the data he could pick up with the Wards and Hexes he’d set up quickly some time before and also what he could feel with Magic and Life Sense. It was a bit frustrating though, because he couldn’t pick up on anything, really. Although, that could be a clue by itself, he supposed.

With a frown, he looked up from his notebook, taking a break from taking notes. Not that he had much to write down, but he wanted to jot down even the things that weren’t there, just in case. Then, he looked at the woman that laid in front of him on a hospital bed. Taking a deep breath in, he went through everything he’d checked to see if he’d missed something.

“That expression is very reassuring,” someone said sarcastically from his side, making Joshua grimace. “It’s ok. I appreciate the fact that you are trying,” they added, which only further annoyed him.

Joshua knew Sairaorg wasn’t insulting his skills or anything of the sort. It was just that his friend had resigned himself to being unable to help his mother recover from the Sleep Disease. However, he wasn’t going to give up quite so fast.

“I just need some time to go over possibilities. Check what I can now, then come up with things I might have missed and try again. Rinse and repeat from there until I find something,” Joshua said, turning to regard Misla Bael once more. “Your doctors haven’t been able to pick up shit, by the way,” he commented, drawing a weak snort from his devil friend. “All the information you got me was… Less than ideal, I gotta say.”

“If we knew much about this, we wouldn’t be so hopelessly at the disease’s mercy,” Sairaorg replied, which was fair, Joshua supposed.

“That just means I have to look harder into this. Find what the problem is and then try to do something about it. As it is, I’m not getting anything from my spells or senses,” Joshua told his friend. “I’ll have to think about what I might have missed and try that on the next visit.”

“Thank you, Joshua.”

“Don’t mention it,” he waved off, frowning as he tried to see if he’d missed something and noting down some more things in his notebook. “I’ll help wake her up, be it with the Healing Spell or with some other one if I have to make it. You’ll have your mother back, Sairaorg.”

“Thank you,” the devil repeated, this time his voice wavering with emotion. “I guess I’ll have to see who I have to sell my soul to in order to repay you.”

“That’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? A devil selling his soul for a human,” Joshua pointed out with a slight smile as his friend chuckled wetly. “Anyway, don’t worry about payment. I guess you can owe me… And besides, I might have something for you to do that I would appreciate.”

“Anything you want, Joshua,” Sairaorg replied with utmost seriousness, to which the human nodded. Still, he didn’t feel right asking for payment or just favors at all while they were in the same room as his friend’s comatose mother. That could wait for some other time. “Rias seems pretty confident that she can do something about her situation by herself after you got more involved,” the devil said then, a little out of nowhere.

“It’d be the ideal outcome, but she’s up against a Phenex. That’s a serious drawback against her. Especially from what I’ve seen, considering the guy has his sister in his peerage too,” Joshua commented. During one of their training sessions, Rias and him had gone over some recordings of Riser’s Rating Games to gather information. It was nice to cover for his metaknowledge of the series, really.

… It was also a nice reminder, since he’d forgotten a lot of stuff already too.

“So, you think she won’t manage?” Sairaorg asked and Joshua could feel the man’s eyes on him even as he looked in the “sleeping” woman’s direction.

“I think she can put up a great fight, if she can win or not depends on her and her peerage,” he replied with a shrug. “She certainly has what it takes to win. However… Well, things are complicated.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Sairaorg agreed, sighing. “I worry about her. You didn’t see her at her worst moment regarding these… agreement that her family has with the Phenex. She’s been quite different from that as of late, happier, more confident, and that’s good, don’t get me wrong but… But I worry about what will happen to her if it turns out she can’t get out of this mess.”

“It’ll be fine, Sairaorg. Even if her fight and my plans don’t go well, there’s still things I can try to get her out. It’s just that they’ll be more annoying,” he reassured with a wave of his hand, tilting his head as he tried to read Sairaorg’s mother with Magic Sense.

“More annoying than making an enemy out of one of the strongest Pillars?” Sairaorg asked and Joshua could almost see the raised eyebrow there. He’d have turned to look at him, but something had caught his attention.

“Yes,” he answered absently. It was weird, that he was picking up nothing at all from the woman’s magic. Normally. Devils were basically beacons of magical energy. They seemed to be all but made of that stuff. Hers was also there, he could read it and all but…

Joshua hummed, he needed to tinker with some spells to check some things more thoroughly.

“Only you, Joshua,” Sairaorg said, making him blink.

“What?”

To that, the devil just chuckled.

[}-o-{]

Joshua took deep breaths in as he focused inwards. Sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, he turned his attention towards the life energy in his body. He was going through the motions for Life Concentration at the moment, but he was also preparing for the next step. It was time for it, according to the texts Shed had provided for him in regards to Senjutsu.

So, at once, he shifted his approach. Instead of just gently nudging his life energy through its path, he did it so more sharply. He made it move faster, stronger and more precisely. The change was slow, of course, since he didn’t want to risk messing up. However, the effect was instantaneous. His body felt stronger, lighter, healthier. It was almost like deactivating the spells he used to restrict himself for training.

He felt just… more.

Joshua didn’t keep that up for too long though, because he knew his attention could drift at any moment and that could end badly. So, just as slowly as he had changed how he moved his life energy, he went back to normal. A sharp change was dangerous, after all, especially for a complete novice like him.

“Fairly good job, I’d say,” a voice said as he finished settling his energy and opened his eyes. He gave Yasaka a weary smile at the compliment. The youkai leader had offered to supervise his attempt at taking a new step in Senjutsu, and he’d have been a fool to tell her no, really.

“I’m never sure how to take those compliments,” Joshua admitted with a weak chuckle. “Either I’m really impressive or you are just saying that to make me feel better. I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that,” he said, the last part added quickly when the woman went to speak.

Giggling behind her hand, Yasaka shook her head at him.

“You are doing well, Joshua. Most anyone not as connected with life energy as us youkai has much more trouble understanding the practices than you do,” she told him, making him smile a little wider. “You should be proud, Joshua.”

“I guess…” he mumbled, his eyes then finding the screen that had appeared in front of him.

[Skill Unlocked: Life Strengthening]

‘Ok then,’ he mused, taking a deep breath in and bringing a hand up to rub the locket hanging from his neck. ‘That’s neat. How does the skill look?’

[Life Strengthening - 1/50

Determines the user’s ability to enhance their body with life energy.

Increases the efficacy of Life Strengthening by 1%.]

‘Hm… Not very surprising, I guess,’ he mused after reading it and taking a deep breath in. Fuyuko chose that moment to come in and bring him a cup of tea. With a quick thank you, he focused on his Life Sense for a moment before sighing.

“Well, something else to train with,” he mumbled, setting the cup on the table. Then he turned towards Yasaka again, who seemed to be patiently waiting with a cup of her own. “Thanks for the assistance. I know it must be annoying to have to spend time teaching me this stuff when you are already busy enough.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” she refuted, easily waving his words off. “You’ve done me many favors, Joshua. Some of them you might not even be aware of. Some of them even I might not be aware of. As it is, this is the least I can do for you.”

“I… There’s no need to keep “count” like that, you know?” he asked hesitantly, looking away. “I think we are close enough to not have to think about things quite so… professionally, right?...” he mumbled, his voice dropping. “Might have assumed too much there though,” he whispered under his breath.

His nerves and hesitation vanished when Yasaka smiled at him, one that quite literally washed away the negative thoughts he might have had.

“You’d be right about that, I assure you,” she told him, making him smile in turn. “You are more than just Kunou’s teacher to me, Joshua. I hope you know that.”

“I do, it’s just,” he mumbled, the hand on his locket grabbing it even more firmly. “I just have trouble believing such things. Friends and such were… Weren’t my thing, I guess. So, it’s easier not to think about the specifics too much, or at least not…”

“Not voice them,” Yasaka told him with a sad smile and a nod. “There’s no need to, but if you need confirmation, feel free to ask me. I won’t be offended. I think I’d know better than to assume, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” he said, calming down slightly. He was still a mess when it came to social interactions, it seemed. Or, at least, he could still be so at times. It was frustrating. It was annoying. It was… He hated it. However, it was how he was, he supposed. “Thank you. I guess I’m still working on getting… less socially awkward,” he said.

“Don’t mention it and it’s no problem at all, Joshua. We all have our failings, trying to get better at those is the most we can do,” she reassured him. “I certainly am working on my side to be a better mother than I have been. It’s all about trying.”

“I guess you are right about that.”

“Of course I am,” she told him, smiling smugly, to which he chuckled. “Get used to that.”

“I guess I should.”

[}-o-{]

[Kalawarna]

The sound of the door opening made her jump. It wasn’t the first time someone – Davis, in all cases, actually – came for a visit, of course, since they’d been bringing her meals and all. If she hadn’t known better, judging by the copious amounts of killing intent that the man threw at her, she’d have thought the man was considering sparing her. Unfortunately, she did, so she could only wait for the time when he’d come through that door not to bring food but to start with his… Projects, whatever those might be.

The words had been burned into her mind since the very first moment she heard them.

Project Summer.

Project Winter.

Project Spring.

Project Fall.

Every single one of those conjured ideas that chilled her to her bones. What could those possibly be? She had no idea, and that made it all the worse. Everytime she went over the short list, Kalawarna seemed to come up with worse and worse theories as to what they could mean for her.

Gulping, she felt the blood drain from her face as Davis snapped his fingers so that she suddenly appeared back at the table and a second later the cuffs closed around her wrists. That wasn’t what worried her though, he always did that. No, what completely terrified her was the fact that he had no plate in his hands. There was no food going to be involved in this and that only meant one thing.

“I think you had enough time to consider, don’t you?” he asked, still looking at her like a particularly annoying insect on the table… Or so she’d thought, but now, after some time, she realized that it was something else. Davis didn’t think she was an insect. He thought she was a rat, a lab rat at that.

“... Please…” she mumbled, knowing it was futile. There was no change in the man’s expression, he just stared at her for a long moment. When she remained silent, probably looking exceedingly pitiful, he raised an eyebrow at her. “Please, I can… I can do whatever you want me to, please… Don’t do-”

“So,” he interrupted, only tilting his head slightly to the side. “You want me to choose? That’s fine. I think we can go with-”

“Spring!” she squeaked, before the chance to at least have a say in the matter escaped through her fingers. There was silence then, one that felt oppressive, weighting on her like someone had through a mountain on her shoulders. She’d chosen spring… because it was the nicest sounding, really. There were literally no clues, but Winter and Fall sounded bad and Summer didn’t sound much better. Sure, it could be a deception, making the nicest sounding be the worst, but… Well, Kalawarna couldn’t know that, and she had to choose something.

“Hm, Project Spring then,” Davis mused thoughtfully. “That’s fine then. You want to know what it is?” he asked, and Kalawarna detected a hint of amusement both in his voice and his eyes. The sadistic freak sure was different from what little she’d come to know about him, apparently.

“... I do…” she answered, against her better judgment. She honestly didn’t know which option was worse in that case. Knowing or not… In the end, she just went with her first thought.

“Project Spring… Well, you may or may not know that I use Draining Wards and Parasitizing Hexes, as in, taking power and directing it other places,” Davis explained idly, as one would talk about some interesting fact they saw in a documentary or read in a book. “What I’ve never tried is… What happens if I send more energy into a vessel than it can naturally contain?” he asked curiously and Kalawarna was getting the idea…

And she wasn’t liking it.

“So, that’s what I’ll try. I’ll pour magic into you and see what happens. Will you start breaking immediately or can I overload a vessel? If the latter case is true, would that overload have a limit? What would even happen if you were sent over your limit?” Davis asked and Kalawarna felt her insides twisting and turning, freezing all over as if Leviathan were interrogating her once more. “I wanna know. Would it be different if I used something else too? I can take a little life energy from plants, what happens if I just pour that into you? Would it go well or would it… not? I’m really curious.”

“I’m sorry,” she forced through his quickly closing throat. Her voice was a pitiful whine but she couldn’t have cared less about that at the moment. “I swear, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll listen to everything you say. I’ll do anything and everything. But please… please…” she trailed off, her own body and mind faltering on her.

Indifferent, Davis leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.

“That was more honest than other times,” he said, before his lips pulled up into a smile. A smile that only made Kalawarna feel worse. “But it was not enough.”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Several things happened in this chapter but I still… Don’t have much to say, I think.

I do hope you enjoyed the chapter though.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Well, one of the projects has been revealed. Does that give you guys better ideas for what the others are or not?

See you.