Game of Monsters - 118 (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Highschool DxD.

Light Up Your Wildest Dreams

[Agnes Waterhouse]

“Yes… I can do that, no problem,” she replied, slowly, still not very sure that was happening at all. Davis had certainly managed to come with an interesting request. He was asking her to take in a magician from another association, effectively stealing the girl for herself.

That was… slightly problematic. It wasn’t unheard of by any means, but it was always frowned upon and generally brought trouble. After all, stealing someone else’s member could quickly escalate into a competition to see who could get more of the other’s members. It could get messy very quickly, especially if that member was a prominent one.

Now, thankfully, Davis wasn’t asking for some high ranked member, but a student, one that was relatively low in the totem pole. However, he was also asking for someone that was very much a known member of his best students’ group. If Agnes went through with this, then she’d be accused of using Davis to sway members away from others and to House of Water, nevermind the fact that being in his class had its own status meaning within associations now.

However…

Agnes didn’t care.

Davis had been a godsend, almost literally. His classes had earned her so much favor that she likely wouldn’t ever be able to pay him back. Especially because he just kept going and didn’t seem even close to terminating their agreement. With every class he gave, it made the House of Water raise in importance. Other associations were still begging her to allow them more students in the classes. At the rate things were going, House of Water would soon be right there with Golden Dawn and the rest of the elite associations, if it wasn’t already.

All because of Joshua Davis.

It was insane.

So, yes, she could do that. Maybe the no problem was a bit of an exaggeration, but with as much favor as she had with the other associations? A single word about how Golden Dawn was causing trouble with their actions and they’d have to cut them off the deal with Davis would get them to back off. Because if the threat of that wasn’t enough, every other association would jump at the chance of having Golden Dawn out of the whole thing, which meant that they’d have no backing in terms of magicians.

Other types of factions might not care about that, but they’d also care very little for what was basically magician association politics. Such was the case of the Royal Family, in this particular case, but Agnes was confident she could take them if they were alone. She wasn’t without connections of her own and just the influence that Joshua gave her would be more than enough. It might not be pretty or insignificant, but it wouldn’t be a struggle. Everyone else would do as they tended to and only get involved in more serious, general issues. A member getting “stolen”? It was beneath their notice. Agnes would bet her right arm that Golden Dawn wouldn’t even mention it to anyone other than the Royal Family.

As it was, placing themselves on the bad side of Davis was a sure-fire way to get themselves on everyone’s sights and likely cripple themselves. In a world where personalized spells were a luxury, everyone wanted to be on the good side of the guy that could teach anyone how to make just that. If Golden Dawn wanted to shoot themselves on the foot, then everyone would welcome them to do so and help if they could.

“Great to hear,” Davis replied with a grin on his face, as if he hadn’t just decided to tell an entire association to go fuck themselves. “I can trust you with Meredith’s care then?” he asked, head tilted and many people would think that a completely innocent question. However, Agnes felt and saw the slight shift there. There was an “or else” implied there that made a shiver travel down her spine. “Feel free to tell me if she doesn’t, yeah? You are officially under my care too and I take that kind of thing seriously,” he added as he turned towards the girl in question.

“Thank you, Professor Davis,” Ordinton replied with a watery smile and looking like she was another kind gesture away from breaking down in tears. “I really appreciate this.”

“Don’t mention it. You are one of my stars. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn’t make sure you are doing well?” the man asked with a grin.

“You won’t regret this, sir.”

“I’m sure I won’t, and Joshua is fine,” he reassured the girl.

“Professor Joshua,” Ordinton said then, making the man slump down. Obviously, that had been done on purpose, if the giggle that escaped the girl was any indication.

“She’ll be fine,” Agnes promised then, getting Davis’ attention back on her. She wondered how good that was though, because the man was getting increasingly more powerful and that meant that it was increasingly easier to mess up and end up in a very bad situation as a result. “House of Water will look after her.”

“See that you do,” Davis told her, a slight edge in his voice. Then, as if to make things worse, she felt the atmosphere in the room shift. The man’s hair turned black and grew longer then, while the shadows of his eyes turned pitch black and his blue eyes took a much darker shade, like the night sky. “We’ll hold you to that, Waterhouse,” he said, his voice shifting just as much as his appearance.

The appearance and the voice, they were vaguely familiar though. It didn’t take her long to remember though, considering the very specific tinge of divinity that washed over the room. ‘Nephthys,’ she recognized, gulping down as some things became clearer.

Evidently, she’d been right in her guess that the Egyptians wanted Davis as their champion. Furthermore, it seemed that he was now officially it too. This was the first time she heard of it though, so she had to wonder if he was keeping that under wraps and had decided to reveal it to her or if this was the first step to letting the world know.

“My new situation-,” Davis said then, letting everything go back to normal. Agnes felt herself relax and the Ordinton girl let out a breath she’d obviously been holding in. “-is still not public knowledge. It’s not a great loss if it becomes known but I’d appreciate it if you tried to keep it hidden for now.”

“I can do that,” Agnes replied, drawing a nod from the man and a smile. If she weren’t so terrified of him and what he could do to her and her association, she might have thought him attractive, she reckoned. As it was… no, thank you. “I gather I can use that if someone tries to cause trouble.”

“If someone causes trouble you can’t take care of yourself,” Davis told her, his eyes gaining an edge once more. “Because I know you owe me and a lot, Agnes.”

“Right,” she mumbled, gulping. ‘Don’t push your luck, got it,’ she thought to herself.

[}-o-{]

[Issei Hyoudou]

“Is this-” he interrupted himself huffing and feeling like his lungs were about to give up on him altogether. “-really necessary?”

“Sure is, buddy,” Joshua answered calmly. The bastard looked like he was barely winded when they’d been running forever – more like a few minutes, but still – and that wasn’t even getting to the actual exercise that followed. “You need to be in shape, man. First, because the supernatural will eat you up if you aren’t. This place is dangerous and you need to know how to fight.”

He knew that. Joshua wouldn’t shut up about it, honestly. Issei hadn’t seen proof of that, but he didn’t need to. He trusted the man. He was the first one to give him a chance and the first one to treat Issei like a person of his own instead of an idiot, a pervert or both. He owed the man at least some trust, he supposed.

On top of that, he trusted his girlfriend too, and Aika seemed to believe there wasn’t even the smallest bit of exaggeration in Joshua’s warnings. Those things by themselves, would have been enough to convince Issei. Together though? Together they became very believable.

Which was kind of concerning, honestly.

After all, there was this world filled with very powerful people that could kick his ass very easily, despite his Sacred Gear supposedly being very strong. What was worse, they were likely to come for him due to that same Sacred Gear. ‘It’s such bullshit,’ Issei grumbled to himself.

“You said first?” he managed to breath out as he tried to get a second wind.

“Well, the second is that being in good shape is just generally good, you know? Might help with the ladies, I imagine. Wouldn’t want to tire out too quickly, right?” Joshua commented idly, making Issei stand straight. “Got your attention with that, did I?” the man asked with a wry smile. “I guess as long as you are motivated, it’s fine.”

That was something he liked about Joshua. As long as Issei didn’t make someone uncomfortable with his… attitude then he didn’t seem to care all that much. He even seemed to find it amusing at times, if annoying at others.

“Now, come on, time for some sparring. You can fight me again or fight one of my familiars,” Joshua offered and Issei took a moment to consider that. They’d done this a few times already and he knew that was a trap question. No matter what he chose, he’d get his ass kicked. The familiar option sounded tempting since most of them were rather nice. However, Joshua picked which one it was at random, which complicated matters.

Margalo had never been picked yet, so Issei thought she wasn’t an actual option. Cheshire was brutal, but fair. Morag was actually not that bad, but she had so many tricks and traps that it made for a very discouraging training session every time. And then there was Nagini, who took genuine pleasure in absolutely demolishing him.

Not that Joshua was a better option, because the man didn’t know what the meaning of “going easy on” was.

“Familiar?” Issei chanced. It was a two in three chance of someone decent, if humiliating.

“Ok then,” Joshua nodded, turning to the side. “Cheshire, if you would?” the man asked, and Issei prepared himself. He summoned the red gauntlet with the green gem embedded in it and used its power to double his own. It wasn’t much, but he’d get somewhere by the time he stacked a few boosts. If he got that far into the spar, at least, which was why he’d started as soon as possible.

Before he knew it, he was smacked aside by the giant white tiger’s claws. He groaned as he skidded on the ground, his body being flung limply through the air. However, Issei managed to get his footing just in time for a second boost. That was bound to at least give him a semblance of a fighting chance. At least so long as Cheshire didn’t decide to use her bullshit lightning magic.

Issei managed to block an attack, only for his gauntlet arm to be flung aside and then getting smacked against the ground. He groaned as he tried to stand up, only to be swept aside with a paw like an annoying fly. A third boost came just in time to save him from further humiliation. Or, at least, to even the playing field a little better.

He had no delusions that Cheshire could knock him out in a second whichever way she wanted, but they were all there to help Issei train, which was why he had half a chance. He appreciated it, really, he did… but he wished they would get a little easier still on him. As it was, he always left the training sessions feeling like a particularly weak insect.

Maybe one day he’d get to kick as much ass as Joshua did. Issei could only hope, really, because god damn could the man kick ass. His ass, at the very least, but the way Aika said it, Joshua was a lot stronger than Issei even realized. He wondered if he’d get to witness that at some point. That was sure to be a sight to behold.

As it was, he was a little occupied at the moment to picture such things. With a fourth boost, he could finally put a semblance of a fight against Cheshire. Enough to see that Joshua was standing to the side, taking notes on the spar. Issei looked forward to the lecture that would follow the spar even less than he did the spar itself. The spar didn’t make him feel nearly as stupid as Joshua pointing out all his mistakes did.

And that was saying something.

[}-o-{]

[Kunou]

She hummed happily as she did her homework.

Usually, it wasn’t something that would have her mood super high, admittedly. It was more like something she’d avoid as best she could while trying to make time for some more illusion crafting. She was getting very good at those. Her father didn’t even need to give her lessons all that much and now they could just tinker together when they both had time.

It wasn’t too often, but she still enjoyed it when it happened.

However, there were few things that could bring Kunou’s mood down those days. How could it be any other way, really? Her parents were together now! Actually together, as in dating and kissing and such. It was kind of awkward when they actually kissed in front of her, but she pushed that aside all the time because they were dating.

Her family was finally normal and whole. She had her mom, who made time for her from her own work and if she couldn’t then dad would pull a favor or two to make things easier, even if mom protested. She had her dad, who would drop everything at a moment’s notice to give her all the time she could possibly want. Kunou would admit that it was very tempting to do that a whole lot, especially with the necklace he’d given her for Christmas as a permanent whisper in her ear…

But she held strong, because dad was too nice and she’d feel bad if she took advantage of him like that.

She even had sisters in the shape of dad’s familiars! And an aunt in the shape of Jeanne…

And Serafall too, she supposed. Although, since she was dating her dad together with her mother then Kunou thought it was a little weird to think of her as an aunt. It was even weirder to think of her as a stepmom or something like that though.

Safe to say that was a particularly tricky subject…

But Kunou didn’t care! Her family was finally as she wanted it to be!

All was right and good in the world, yes.

She hummed to herself as she finished yet another exercise and moved on to the next. Beside her, dad turned to look at her with a smile of his own, if a little confused because of the way she was acting. That was fine, she’d just hug him and tell him that she loved him and the smile would turn into a full one without trouble. At least Kunou didn’t have to worry about her mother, since she could read her well enough and seemed about as happy as she did. Even more so, at times, which was pretty great too.

Kunou didn’t remember the last time she’d seen her mother smile so widely and so often as she had as of late.

Yes, everything was perfect.

“Did you get Jeanne to give you cookies again?” dad asked then, making her freeze. She tried to put on her best innocent expression, but the man had already seen through her, nevermind her mother. She opened her mouth to deny the accusation, but Joshua spoke again before she could. “You did,” he answered his own question, giving her an unimpressed expression. “You know what that means?”

She went to protest against this clearly very unfair treatment of herself, however, dad’s raised eyebrow stopped her. Closing her mouth, she deflated. There was no point, anyway. It might not have been worth the price, but at least those had been some very good cookies, so it wasn't an absolute loss.

“... No dessert for me after dinner,” she said, deflating a little.

“And why don’t we let you eat cookies unless it’s snack time?” dad asked, making her deflate even more.

“Because it’ll spoil my appetite and I won’t eat what I should,” she mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. It wasn’t fair though! How was she supposed to resist?! It was all Jeanne’s fault anyway. If she didn’t agree so easily, Kunou wouldn’t be so tempted!

“Mhm.” Dad nodded. “Maybe you’ll remember next time. If not, I guess I’ll just have to stop making cookies,” he said, turning his attention towards his work and missing her horrified expression. Her mom didn’t though, giggling at her as if these weren’t the most terrible of news.

How was she going to live without dad’s cookies?!

“I won’t eat them out of snack time again,” Kunou tried, but she only got another hum in response.

“You won’t, because if not, there won’t be anymore cookies,” dad said, making her whine. This was terrible and it was all Aunt Jeanne’s fault.

“How are you doing, beautiful people?!” Serafall asked, all but kicking the door open.

“Auntie Serafall! Dad’s saying he won’t make cookies!” she cried out, drawing a horrified expression from the woman. Finally, someone that understood the seriousness of the situation!

“Josh, how dare you say such a thing?!” Auntie Serafall asked, eyes wide. To that, dad simply rolled his.

“Don’t be dramatic. She just has to stop eating them out of snack time. It’s not so difficult,” he answered.

“But it’s so tempting!” Kunou and Serafall both exclaim. “You can’t expect a kid to resist those!”

“Hey, I’m not a kid,” she protested then, momentarily forgetting the goal for a bit.

“And what’s your excuse, Sera?” dad asked, making the woman laugh awkwardly.

“I’m a kid in spirit?”

“I’m fairly sure I’m not dating a kid, That’d be weird, to say the least.”

“Josh!” Serafall whined.

Hm, maybe she could distract dad until he forgot about the ultimatum?

Kunou could hope.

[}-o-{]

[Raynare]

She shifted a little.

It was a little… not uncomfortable, but weird to have a new outfit to wear. Even after so long under Davis’... supervision, Raynare still hadn’t gotten used to that change, strangely enough. She’d spend so very long with her previous skimpy outfit that it had become part of her, even when she wasn’t being forced to use it by her higher ups. She’d learned to like it…

And she guessed she’d have to learn to like the new one too, she supposed. In a way, she already did like it, but she just hadn’t gotten comfortable in it yet. With some time, she knew it’d be better than the old one.

At least, the leather pants and tube top hugging her body would let her earn some more actual respect. She quite liked the sound of that. Davis had suggested something more… warrior like, with armor and such, but she didn’t need it and she didn’t like it. She already felt stifled enough as it was with what she was wearing, after her previous outfit. Armor would have been suffocating. The man didn’t seem to care much so long as she covered more, so that had been that.

Speaking of Davis, he seemed to be doing something to the training array, but, for the life of her, Raynare couldn’t begin to guess what. Neither did Mittelt nor Kalawarna, really, but that was no surprise. In the face of the man’s magic, they might as well be toddlers for how much they understood. Magic hadn’t been their strongest suit, after all. They were just adept at using their own innate talent for light magic, but that was it. Nevermind something as alien to them as human magic.

Honestly, Raynare didn’t really care for the specifics anyway. She’d heard that it was an addition to the training spells and that had been enough for her to be on board. Anything that helped her get stronger was more than welcome.

Especially at that moment, considering they had all reached the limit of their wings. Kalawarna and Mittelt were basically on her despite Raynare training a lot more than them. She just couldn’t make enough progress for it to matter, really. It was frustrating, but she wouldn’t give up. Davis’s spells were still a blessing for her progress, even if she had to share it with the other two lazy fallen. She cared very little for them anymore.

She had a way to get stronger and someone that actually cared for her progress, even if it was for his own selfish ends. Raynare didn’t much mind the reasons, so long as she got what she wanted too, which she did. Davis could have wanted any number of things so long as he helped her get stronger and she wouldn’t have minded.

Kicking Kokabiel’s ass? Raynare only saw that as a win, honestly, even if she knew, deep down, that it was impossible for her to reach that level. That wouldn’t stop her from trying though.

Besides-

Her train of thought became a very tragic wreck when Davis finished his spellcasting.

She felt it, making her stiffen, just like the other two by her side. The feeling washed over them, weak, so very weak, but still very much noticeable. It made her feel light, warm and clean. It felt… It felt like…

“Heaven,” Mittelt whispered, very obviously the most moved of the three, since she was so much more sensitive. Regardless, that was exactly what Raynare was feeling too. It was like a single ray of Heaven’s light had escaped their purer counterparts’ realm and managed to find its way to them. It was very little… and yet so much at the same time.

“Ok, I think that works,” Davis said, as if he hadn’t managed to catch all of them off guard and destabilize them completely with a single spell or array or whatever. “Now we just have to do some testing.”

“What… did you do?” Raynare asked, her voice soft, low and subdued. Normally she would try to keep some of her own strength in her voice, even if everyone knew he basically had a very tight leash around their necks. This time though? There was nothing of the sort.

“Trying something new, as I said before. I call it, Project Ascension,” he told them, making them shiver at the mere mention of one of his projects. It wasn’t one of the seasons though, so maybe it wasn’t that bad. “I know about your wings’ limit and I’ve been doing some research. This my first prototype attempt at bypassing that blockage.”

Raynare stiffened and her eyes focused with intent on the man.

“You’d never manage to reach Kokabiel’s level as it is, so I have to give you three a push if I want that to happen. I’ll see what I can do. For now, this is it. We’ll see what I learn and what I can change in the future,” Davis explained with a shrug, as if it were nothing too big.

As if he weren’t breaking the very rules God himself had placed upon them, his very own creation.

“You can do that?” Raynare found herself asking and at any other time she’d have been disgusted at the awe in her own voice. Not at that moment though, because Davis, crazy bastard that he was, seemed to be trying to give her the very thing she’d wanted above all else, strength. Not only that, but he was giving her what she’d need to get over the obstacle that had stopped her from reaching the heights she so desired.

Raynare had followed and obeyed a lot of people in her pursuit of power. Grigori, Azazel, Kokabiel and so many others had given her a path to follow and orders to listen to. None of them had come even close to giving her what she wanted the most, however.

Davis though, Davis just might. And if he could do that, then Raynare would kill Kokabiel and whoever else he wanted her to. Human or not, she could care less. If he could help her be as strong as she’d always wished to be, then Raynare would follow him to the end of the world.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Why did I feel like making an entire chapter from different PoVs?... No idea, but it was neat. I had fun writing this chapter, and that’s what matters to me.

Hope you guys enjoyed it too.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Any favorites in this chapter’s sections? Why?

See you.