Game of Monsters - 97 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

‘Cause My Monsters Are Real

“Two out of two?” he asked as he walked through the corridor.

“Don’t even joke about it, Joshua,” Griselda admonished, sounding more tired than actually angry. “Things have been… tense. There’s been a lot of arguments between Church members, fights and even outright battles,” the woman admitted, much to his surprise. The events themselves weren’t a shocking reveal, Joshua would admit, but he was a little caught off guard that she’d admitted them.

“Well… If you need help, you can always call,” he offered, not sure why. That wasn’t quite true, however. He did know why he did that. He was just unable to see someone struggling and not trying to help, he supposed. Besides, having the Church and Heaven in his debt would be nice. On top of that, it meant more people opposing Khaos Brigade, which was always a good thing in his books.

“We already owe you a lot, Joshua, between these jobs and what happened the last time,” Griselda told him, pursing her lips. “We are not eager to add to that, I’m sure you understand.”

“Hm, I guess I get that,” he mumbled, looking around and taking in his surroundings. To his side, he saw Jeanne shake her head at him for some reason, but he ignored her. His familiars followed behind them, with Xenovia and Irina. As they moved, Joshua noticed what seemed to be a lot more security than he’d seen the last time too.

It seemed that both sides had decided it was better to be more careful this time around. He could only hope that the Church had done a good job of things and hadn’t posted someone around that would go for a stab on his back or something. That’d be annoying. Joshua wasn’t too worried about that though. He was fairly sure that such an attempt would be next to useless, between all the security he had on his side with Jeanne and his familiars, nevermind Griselda and the two Excalibur wielders.

“I’m not sure why you told me that, if you don’t want more help than this,” Joshua commented after a moment of silence. To his side, the woman smiled wryly.

“Because you are an ally,” she replied. “And we have precious few of those. It wouldn’t do to leave you uninformed of how things are on our side. Besides that…” she explained before trailing off. She didn’t elaborate on that, however, even when he urged her with a look. “There’s more than a few reasons to keep you up to date, Joshua,” she offered simply in the end, and he guessed that was that.

“Well, I’m not complaining,” he said in the end, taking a deep breath in as they walked towards the room where he’d set up his wards. At the moment, after all, they were all in the second base the Church had asked him to cast a defensive array on. “About what I asked though…”

“In regards to Asia, you are free to do as you wish,” Griselda told him, making him smile. “However,” she continued then, making him narrow his eyes. “She’s still a member of our faction and an important one. With some areas being more secure now, the higher ups think it’s safe enough for her to move around and help with the efforts, her powers will be very useful, especially considering the current state of things.”

“I guess that makes sense,” he admitted reluctantly. Joshua often forgot that Asia was still part of the Church, really, and that she wasn’t actually part of the family or such. Maybe he grew attached too quickly he supposed, but in his defense, the girl lived with him, basically. Even if he was out and/or busy most of the time, they saw each other enough…

“I’m afraid we will have to impose on you to house and protect her for longer, but we think things have stabilized enough for her to start taking duties for the Church again,” Griselda informed him and Joshua nodded slowly. Well, that was better than nothing. “On top of that, they’ve decided to grant the girl her wish to be a normal girl, as you said. The Church owes her a lot, considering all that Asia has done for us and all that she suffered because of… unfortunate circumstances.”

“She’ll be ecstatic. I’ll be sure to tell her. I’m guessing you can tell her the details yourself, however,” he commented.

“Naturally.” Griselda nodded. “On the matter of rewards and payment,” she continued then, drawing a curious look from Joshua. “Higher ups have allowed us to give you access to Boon magic resources,” she said and his mind ground to a halt.

He’d consulted with Agnes in regards to that branch some time ago, after that he’d even looked into it from other sources, through Rias, Sairaorg and even Yasaka. Boon Magic was difficult to get access to, since it was closely guarded by factions like the Church. For them it might as well be an artifact to keep safe, from what he’d found.

“Well, that’s a nice surprise,” Joshua replied, a glint in his eyes and a smile on his face.

“Ugh,” Jeanne groaned. “Why do you keep adding stuff to study? Don’t you have enough?”

“Never,” he replied with a grin. “If I had my way, I’d learn a lot more magic. All the magic,” he commented with a chuckle. “As it is, I have a bit of a specialty, you know? I want to be the best at it.”

Next to him, he heard Griselda cough.

“Is everything alright?” he asked as he turned back to the woman.

“Yes, I was just… surprised by something,” she answered, somewhat awkwardly. Beside her, he saw Xenovia looking at her surprised. “Ah, here we are,” Griselda announced, opening a door to their destination. Once there, Joshua’s face cleared, he was there to do a job, after all.

[}-o-{]

“Why did I let you convince me of doing this?” Joshua lamented himself, trying to get the couch to swallow him whole. “We both already know what happens!” he added.

“But this is half the fun, Joshua!” Serafall replied cheerfully, making him groan. “He looked so cool there, didn’t he?”

“He did!” Kunou agreed wholeheartedly, and Joshua could almost see the stars forming in her eyes. If anything, that only made him feel even more embarrassed. He could only imagine how red his face was at that moment. As if that weren’t bad enough, Margalo had to join the little girl, because of course she did. “Domino is so cool,” Kunou mumbled, her eyes glued to the screen.

“As opposed to normal me?” Joshua couldn’t help but pointing out jokingly. Anything so that he wouldn’t have to watch the show with him in it. God, that was fucking embarrassing to levels he hadn’t even imagined.

“You are cool too!” Kunou protested, looking surprisingly offended instead of the half-panicked state he’d expected. “It’s just you are never so… Like that,” she pointed out, unsure of how to say it.

“Hm, well, good to know, I guess,” he commented idly… Before groaning as “Domino Mask” appeared on screen again. “Stop laughing, you three,” he told his other three familiars, who had gathered to one side. Apparently, they found his pain and the entire situation positively hilarious. “Let’s see how you like it after I make you join too.”

Now that seemed to get to them, all three animals freezing where they were. Behind him, Joshua felt both Serafall and Kunou pausing too. He knew what was running through their heads and it made him grin widely at his familiars. Their dread was so very satisfying after all the fun they’d had at his expense.

“I’m sure we could add a few more animal companions for Domino, right?” he asked Serafall, who immediately nodded. “See, no need to be left out, girls,” he commented “kindly” to his familiars. The dread that came to him through their bond only fueled him further.

“For sure, the audience would love them!” Serafall reassured the animals.

“Did I miss anything?” a new voice asked and everyone turned to look at Yasaka. Joshua’s familiars were very relieved by the interruption, but if they thought he would let that go, then they had another thing coming. Evidently, they could read that through their bond, because they shot him pleading eyes. Pleading eyes that he thoroughly ignored.

“Mom, Joshua’s character is so cool,” Kunou exclaimed, making him groan. “Come on, can we start that episode from the beginning?”

“For sure!” Serafall agreed instantly.

As for Joshua, he shot Yasaka a pleading look. Surely she’d be the kind, angelical being that would show mercy upon his poor self. Surely she’d save him from the evil duo’s clutches.

“Nice, I wouldn’t want to be left out,” the youkai leader said instead.

‘Traitor,’ he thought.

If the grin Yasaka sent his way was anything to go by, she regretted nothing.

Suddenly, he understood how his familiars felt a bit better, even if the bond hadn’t been helping with that.

[}-o-{]

“Fuck!” Raynare cursed, dashing to the side to avoid one of Cheshire’s thunder attacks. The Fallen ex-team leader was struggling quite a bit while facing his first familiar. As for Mittel and Kalawarna, they were otherwise occupied fighting Nagini and Morag. Margalo was the only one “disconnected” from the battles, simply flying in circles over the battlefield and boosting the other three familiars.

All in all, things weren’t looking so well for the Fallen Angels, Joshua had to say.

Then again, Joshua’s wards were a great way to even the playing field. After all, they adapted to how strong their targets were, putting more or less pressure and weakening them more or less too. At the end of the day, everyone was about the same power level when they were placed under his training wards.

Unfortunately for the Fallen Angels, however, his familiars were great at working as a team. Something that they were decidedly not, that was for sure. Joshua was already making a mental note to try and have them work on that later on. It was downright pitiful how little they tried to coordinate attacks, let alone helping each other.

Pitiful and a little annoying, considering those were his allies at the moment.

That was why he was training them though, to make them better. If they were already good, then there’d be no point. As it was, Joshua looked at them doing their thing while he practiced Senjutsu as best he could.

[Life Concentration has gone up a level.]

He dismissed the screen as soon as it came up. It was nice to know, for sure, but he was kind of occupied at the moment. He didn’t want to look away from the Fallen and his familiars. He could check on the system screens later, but the training was going on at that very moment.

Sometimes, however, Joshua wished he wasn’t looking. For example, the time Raynare’s light spear grazed Cheshire’s fur or even when Kalawarna almost stomped on Morag. He really wanted to interfere, pull on his control over his wards or just outright join in on the spar session but… His familiars didn’t want that, even he didn’t really want that. This was to train, after all, and he didn’t want to coddle his partners.

Considering that…

“Margalo,” he called, his voice soft and low, but his familiar still heard him loud and clear. Their bond was useful like that, after all. “Could you sing for me, girl?” Joshua asked the bird as she landed on his shoulder. Sure enough, she started doing just that the second he finished the question.

The Gentle Song, they’d found, seemed to affect life energy. While Courageous Song nudged people through magic, its counterpart did so through life energy. It wasn’t quite Senjutsu itself, because it was still magic, but its effect was like Senjutsu on her targets. As Joshua found out one day, that was really good when he was trying to learn the art of life energy.

This time, not only was it helping him, but it was also evening things out between his familiars and the Fallen. Much as he hated seeing Cheshire, Nagini and Morag struggling more, it was for their own good. ‘They are still winning though,’ he noticed, feeling more than a little proud.

Idly, his mind drifted towards the information his wards were picking up, from his familiars, from the Fallen, from himself. He thought it over, thought of how to use it, thought of how to cover the holes his wards left without checking. It was the process he went through, every month, every week, every day…

He blinked, however, when he felt a shift in Cheshire, like the magic in her had been coiling into itself without him noticing before snapping out. It was a familiar “sight” to him and his eyes snapped open instantly. The next thing that happened was that his wards came down on the Fallen like mountain, flattening them on the ground.

“Why-?” Raynare managed to say, which was admirable, really.

“It’s not personal, for once,” Joshua told her, his eyes locked on Cheshire. That is, until he felt his other familiars. “There’s something that came up and we need to do and I don’t have time for explanations,” he said simply, walking towards his partners. “You know, I didn’t think you’d all be competitive enough for this to happen.”

To that, his familiars moved almost as one. Through the Charm, Joshua felt Shed’s attention hone in on him, on them. He ignored the god, however, the same way he ignored the Fallen, the same way he ignored Jeanne’s voice, calling from the house. There was only one thing in his mind, as it all but synchronized with his familiars.

And then, his hand touched Cheshire and the magic, the energy between them swirled, rushed, charged. Nagini and Morag followed suit, Margalo having clinged to his shoulder from the beginning of it all. Thus, the process began for all of them.

Joshua had experienced many of his familiar’s evolutions at that point, but they never felt less… awe inspiring. The rush, the power, it was all in his familiars, he knew, but the bond they shared made it seem almost like it was his own. A part of his mind guessed it was all due to the fact that his bond grew stronger, so there was no way for him to not feel as strongly every time.

He wasn’t up for much thinking, however.

No, he was too busy mixing his magic with his familiars’. His energy was drained from all four of them, but he’d made sure to have so much energy in his ward array that there was no way for them to get too much energy from him. The energy rushed to him, from him to his familiars and in his familiars it grew.

Until it didn’t.

“You are all,” he said, breathing wearily but not feeling like he’d collapse. An improvement over most of the other times. “You are all beautiful.”

And they were.

Cheshire had grown even bigger, the size of a pickup, he noticed as he looked her over. She looked stronger and she… was just… more. The white of her fur was brighter, as if it shone. The black, in turn, was darker, as if it absorbed the light in it to never let go.

[Cheshire

Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis

Race: Holy Tiger

Gender: Female

Strength: B-

Speed: B+

Dexterity: B+

Vitality: B-

Perception: B+

Magic: B-

Life: B]

‘Holy Tiger, huh?’ he noticed then, checking over her other things. ‘Greater Tiger,’ he read in the shapeshifting perk, before noticing that there was another one next to it too. ‘Holy Affinity, makes sense.’

He didn’t give her too much more attention though, because Nagini had grown even more than Cheshire. The snake was positively massive. Even more than before, twice than before, actually.

[Nagini

Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis

Race: Curse Snake

Gender: Female

Strength: B+

Speed: B-

Dexterity: B-

Vitality: B+

Perception: B+

Magic: B-

Life: B]

‘Jinx to hex to curse, fair enough… Although it’s a bit confusing that the names have nothing to do with the magic branches,’ Joshua mused, only momentarily distracted. That was because there was a really needy spider the size of a double bed.

“Did you all become huge all of a sudden?” he asked distractedly.

[Morag

Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis

Race: Earth Spider

Gender: Female

Strength: B-

Speed: B+

Dexterity: B+

Vitality: B-

Perception: B-

Magic: B+

Life: B]

‘Earth Spider?’ he wondered, checking her perks and skills. There was nothing in regards to earth anywhere. ‘Hm… Might need to look that up later then I-’ his thoughts were interrupted when he felt a peck on his ear.

“You are all really impatient,” he commented, turning to look at Margalo. Little, adorable Margalo, who had grown to the size of a bird of prey, which while impressive wasn’t quite on part with the growth that his other familiars had gone through. He wondered if there was a reason for that. “Maybe you should take turns next time,” he added, softer this time, as the bird rubbed her head against his.

[Margalo

Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis

Race: Song Bird

Gender: Female

Strength: C-

Speed: C+

Dexterity: C

Vitality: C-

Perception: C

Magic: C+

Life: C]

‘Song Bird indeed,’ he mused idly.

“Well, I got to see these ones, so that’s nice,” Jeanne commented from the side, beaming at them. “I still think a little warning would be nice.”

“You didn’t warn anyone when you made Relentless Justice, did you?” he asked then, all four of his familiars turning towards the girl at the same time. “So, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“It’s not the same, Josh, and you know it!” she protested then, receiving unimpressed looks from everyone. “It’s not the same!”

“A little… help… here?” Joshua heard then, blinking before turning to the side. ‘Oh, right, they were here,’ he thought, looking at the Fallen, who were still on the ground.

“Right,” he mumbled, pulling on his wards so they could stand up again and all. “Take a break, my familiars will need a bit to get used to their new forms anyway, same as my wards to them and all that.”

“Thank you,” Raynare breathed out, only barely managing to put her usual hostility in her tone as she looked at his familiars now. Evidently, they were more intimidating than before. He didn’t fault her for that.

“Except Kalawarna. You still need to catch up, so you are sparring with me,” he told the Fallen, making her pale as he started stretching a bit with a grin. “I’m feeling really happy right now, so I promise not to smack you… too much,” he told her then, feeling the amusement of his familiars as they prepared themselves for the show.

He’d make sure to properly pamper them later.

[}-o-{]

“They are so big,” Asia breathed out in awe as she absently pet Margalo, who was perched on her shoulder. The nun’s eyes seemed to have trouble picking a familiar to look at though, not that Joshua could blame her for that. As it was, he found himself laying on top of Nagini as if she were the biggest, most dangerous bean bag in the world. It was something that only added to the whole image, or so he thought.

For extra comedy, at least in his mind, the snake was just too big for the house, which meant that both her and him were just outside while everyone else was inside.

“They are, aren’t they?” Jeanne commented, sitting on the floor, her back resting against Cheshire’s massive body. The girl laid there, smiling up at Morag, who was dancing on the ceiling while weaving a web over there. “Are we gonna need a bigger house?”

“I think this one works for now… Unless you want space inside?” Joshua asked Nagini, turning towards her. “I think Serafall might arrange some changes if you want that, actually.” To that, the snake gave her equivalent of a shrug, which wasn’t very helpful, really. “Anyway, if they do this again, we’ll definitely have to get a new place.”

“Might be necessary anyway,” Jeanne commented. “Especially if you keep up picking up strays,” she added, looking around, even at the Fallen Angels.

“Excuse me? We have plenty of place still,” Joshua argued, frowning at her. “Besides, the Fallen are a temporary thing, they’ll be out of here eventually.”

“If you say so,” Jeanne commented, clearly not very convinced, which made his eye twitch. “My point stands though. There’s more and more people coming here by the second.”

“Now, that’s just uncalled for,” Joshua protested. “Need I remind you that you were one of the strays I picked up too?”

“And that’s why I love you, Josh!” she told him, beaming innocently at him. For all of a second before she grinned in a not at all innocent way. “But I’m still right.”

“I blame you for having to put up with her,” he told Cheshire, who huffed amusedly at them. “What are you looking at?” he asked then, turning towards the Fallen, who were awkwardly standing off to the side, not quite leaving but also not quite part of the scene.

“The contrast is quite… something,” Raynare answered, looking more confused than anything else. “It’s… a little unnerving.”

“Someone’s being weirdly honest, huh?”

“When the alternative is you knowing I am not through your weird spells and senses?” the ex-leader shot back, raising an eyebrow. “I won’t risk that, thank you very much.”

“That’s… actually rather smart,” he replied, blinking at her.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” the Fallen snapped, before her eyes widened and she blanched. He couldn’t really find it in himself to be angry, however. He blamed the evolution of his familiars for that. He was riding quite the high at that very moment.

“I guess you were leader for a reason, even if you weren’t quite as smart as you think you are,” he said, obviously pissing the woman off. “Anyway, Kalawarna.”

“Yes!” the woman exclaimed, standing ramrod straight, pale and trembling a little. Maybe it was mean of him, but Joshua really liked that she was so terrified of him. As far as he was concerned, she deserved that.

“Be a dear and go look for something for Nagini to eat, yeah?” he told her calmly, and the Fallen all but dashed to where they kept animals for his familiars to eat. Which, with their new changes, he might have to check and adapt their stock a little.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Raynare commented, almost managing to make herself sound casual.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Joshua commented, grinning widely. “Ruin this for me and I promise you’ll regret it forever,” he added, just as cheerfully. For some reason, both of the remaining Fallen paled at that. Weird, that, right?

“Stop scaring the poor lil’ things, Josh,” Jeanne chided him half-heartedly. Neither of the Fallen liked that, from what he picked up, but they were at least smart enough to keep their comments in the privacy of their minds. Raynare couldn’t quite stop her eye from twitching though.

“Yeah, I know, that’s Nagini’s job,” he allowed, receiving an amused hiss from his snake familiar before she regarded the Fallen curiously. To their credit, they did their best to remain standing and proud. They failed, but they gave it their best shot. It was more than Joshua expected from them, quite honestly.

“Here you go,” Kalawarna said as she came into the room, carrying what Joshua assumed was a cow… Or something along those lines. He wasn’t paying too much attention, and Nagini had already started swallowing it before he could give it a serious attempt at guessing.

“Nice, now, do go away, will you?” Joshua told her, waving her off. “I really don’t wanna have you ruin my good mood. It’d be… bad. Same for you two, actually. Shoo shoo.”

The Fallen were only too happy to comply with that order.

“Celebratory dinner tonight,” he announced, getting small cheers from Asia and Jeanne.

Things were pretty good, it seemed.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

I know the familiars evolution took up a chunk of the chapter, but I hope I managed that well enough to not be a bother. If not, then I apologize, but there wasn’t quite a way for me not to have this happen unless I spread that in several chapters. For one, I didn’t want to do that, however, and for another, my characters didn’t want that either, so…

Yeah…

I hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: It’s been a while since I asked this but… How are you liking the story so far?

See you.