Beta read by Shigiya
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-Kuoh, Grigori Apartment Complex-
"You know, it's usually not my place to stick my nose in people's business when I'm not involved… most of the time, but I can't help but ask…, what the hell are you doing there, kiddo?"
What I was doing?
Honestly, I was wondering the same thing. I had lost count of how many hours I'd spent going through the endless shelves of books and papers in the Governor General's personal collection. For someone who preferred wasting his time drinking or visiting strip clubs, his library was big enough to make a small university jealous. Rows upon rows of ancient texts, forgotten manuscripts, and documents that smelled like they'd been through at least three different centuries. Some of the materials I highly suspected were even stolen items Azazel most definitely forgot about, though I was not in any hurry to use that as blackmail material.
As I turned another page whose paper turned out to be so affected by the passage of time that I worried about it crumbling from a simple touch, the man himself appeared beside me, wearing a bathrobe, holding a half-empty wine bottle, and reeking of cigars as usual. At this point, I started to suspect that it had just become his natural scent. He leaned close, his interest caught by whatever I was reading.
"You're interested in fallen angels? Shouldn't you be asking me questions instead? You know, since I'm literally one of the first ones that fell." He tapped his forehead with a smug grin. "What's in these books doesn't come close to what I know within this mind. My knowledge is absolute, verified, and one hundred percent accurate… no refunds."
"Wow, I feel so honored to be in the presence of someone like you," I muttered sarcastically, not bothering to look up from the page. The book detailed the descent of angels through the ages, their names, their sins, and the reasons for their fall. To my surprise, lust wasn't the most common cause, rather it was the second one. Wrath being first and envy second tied with lust, those showed up more often. Apparently, some angels envied those who had already fallen, who could indulge freely in whatever they wanted. Others grew arrogant, believing themselves above their peers, until that same arrogance dragged them down.
As for wrath, most cases were during the Great War, the reasons behind them being obvious enough that I did not even need to read the entire passage in order to get a general gist of it.
"Hey, Azazel, can you tell me exactly how you fell?" I asked, closing one side of the tome with my finger marking the spot.
"Why answer a question you already know the answer to?" he replied with a faint smirk, snot putting too much attention at the reason behind my question or just not caring. He wasn't wrong, but I pressed on.
"Was it just a one-time thing, or were you actually serious about her?"
The man went quiet. He took a long sip from his glass, eyes drifting toward the ceiling. The expression on his face shifted between nostalgia and something that looked like guilt.
"That was a long time ago," he finally said. "Back then, I was naive, easily swayed, and honestly, a complete fool. Curiosity played a part, I admit. But I suppose I was also drawn to that woman in a way I couldn't explain. It did help that she was quite sexy herself."
"So what you felt for her was lust, not love?" I pressed, knowing full well that to get anything from him required persistence.
"I wouldn't say that. After I fell, I didn't just abandon her after sleeping one night. She lived her life with me, and I stayed by her side until the end. But humans don't last long, especially not the ones from those days."
I turned another page, pretending not to notice the faint regret in his tone. "Do you think that if you had only loved her, you would've stayed an angel?"
Azazel scratched the back of his head, letting out a dry laugh. "What's with this sudden interrogation about my past? Father above, it feels like I'm talking to Michael all over again, he wouldn't stop hammering me about similar things. Don't tell me you've gone all philosophical on me, kid. I got enough of that bullshit from the likes of Penemue and Barakiel."
Barakiel being philosophical? That sounded quite absurd hear that about someone I knew. That guy was as blunt as a rock for as long as I knew him, along with being a huge masochist. As for Penemue? Who knows, I barely saw that woman regularly, let alone talk to her to know her history and interest. In the end, I just rolled my eyes while leaning further against my seal with the wood creaking.
"Hey, you're the one who claimed to know everything up there. Don't tell me you're surprised to find a few pieces missing. But don't worry, that's a normal thing that happens to all elderly, geezer."
"Tch, I traded one smartass for another," he muttered, finishing the whiskey in his glass with a faint clink. "You can't exactly love someone without lust eventually making its way in. Sure, it can start off innocent, but sooner or later it creeps in. Unless you go through some extreme measure like castrating yourself or somehow killing off every other basic fundamental urge to focus entirely on love. Not many would ever choose that given how it rarely works out and ends up inviting lots of unnecessary issues. It's worse for angels. They can't allow themselves the slightest imperfection; that's why they stay locked up in Heaven. Only a handful ever descend, and even then it's only for something truly important. You won't see an angel dropping by to help a local orphanage just because they feel like it every other Sunday."
He leaned back as well, swirling what little of the red beverage that remained in the glass. "That's another reason many fell. They felt trapped. Suffocated, even. Especially during the Great War. Trying to keep your thoughts pure while watching your kin die one after another takes more than willpower—it's pure torture. It takes something close to madness. Most of the former angels that have fallen because of the sin of wrath were during the Great War for a reason."
"I... I never thought of it that way." The more he spoke, the more it made sense. I couldn't help but pity them. Yet worry came just as fast. I didn't doubt Gabriel's words that day, what she said was too genuine to be a lie. Thinking otherwise would make me the biggest fool alive. But if this went on… would it lead her to fall eventually?
I wasn't a saint, and I didn't pretend to be. I had my fair share of indecent thoughts whenever around her, but I could usually ignore them. Having two girlfriends already kept me grounded. Accepting Gabriel's feelings, though, that would make things a lot harder. I didn't like uncertainty, and this was the worst kind of it.
"Would a Seraph fall because they simply loved someone?" I asked.
The man froze mid-sip, his eyes narrowing at me. "Loving itself isn't a sin. Lust is. But unfortunately, those two go hand in hand in the long run." He set the glass down with a sharp sound and leaned forward. "Kid, be straight with me… What happened??"
His tone broke no argument.
I hesitated. Revealing details like this wasn't something I planned, but there was no other way for me to get information for this and he was bound to find out anyway. "Gabriel is in love with me."
"...?" His face stiffened for a second before a loud, booming laugh escaped him. "Hahaha! That's it? You had me worried! Of course she loves you. Gabriel's the type who loves everything about life itself."
"Oh, so you're thinking about that kind of love." I sighed, rubbing my temples before looking him dead in the eye. "No, I mean she really loves me. She literally kissed me on the lips and most likely wants to be more than friends."
Bang!
At some point, the table between us—along with all my books and his glass — shot up, crashing against the ceiling with ridiculous force. Before I could react, Azazel appeared in front of me, his hands gripping my shoulders tightly. The casual glint in his eyes was gone, replaced by a mix of disbelief, curiosity, anger, and something else I couldn't even name. Expectancy? Maybe.
"Tell me everything." His usual relaxed tone had vanished, replaced by the voice of the Governor-General himself, the one that made others listen without question. Yet using that kind of tone in this scenario did feel out of place completely, I'd rather not have him know that.
"There's not much to tell," I replied quickly. "She kissed me on the lips, then teleported away before I could say anything. That's it."
Color drained from his face as multiple magic circles began forming across his body, glowing faintly before his usual leather gear materialized around him. His wings twitched, and his expression turned grim.
"Penemue! Shemhazai!" he bellowed.
I flinched at the sudden roar, and within seconds, two figures rushed into the room, both wearing equally baffled expressions at his sudden shift in tone.
"What happened!?" one of them demanded.
"No time to explain!" Azazel barked, his aura flaring. "Prepare every single available Fallen Angel we have in the human world! Summon all those stationed in the other realms as well! We're about to go to war!"
"—!?"
"Shemahazai, you on the other hand prepare a grand feast. We'll soon be having a new member joining us, one I've been dreaming about for literally centuries! We Fallen Angels are about to rise to the top of the world! There is nothing stopping us anymore, not even Aphrodite and that other arrogant bitch will be able to measure up against us anymore! Hahahaha! I won in the end, Father!" Azazel spread his arms wide, his grin so broad it made me wonder if he had finally lost it.
"Hold on, hold on, what just happened!?" Thankfully, the two of them seemed to have functioning brains and didn't immediately follow their superior's erratic command. "At least tell us what's happening. Who's attacking us? Is it the Chaos Brigade? Are they trying to wipe themselves out again after the last failure? We can contact Michael and Sirzechs for reinforcements—"
"No, you fools! There's no point in calling Michael. He's the one who's about to bring all of Heaven's fury down upon us!" Azazel threw his head back and laughed. "Hahaha! Gabriel just fell in love and kissed this boy right here!"
Silence. The kind of silence that made you feel like someone had just pulled the plug out of reality. The only sound left was Azazel's laughter echoing awkwardly through the room. Both of his subordinates turned toward me with faces full of disbelief, as if I were holding the last ticket to sanity and they wanted me to validate it. Unfortunately, I had to ruin their moment.
"Gabriel didn't fall. She's still a pure, twelve-winged Seraph. She did kiss me, though. On the lips." I replied before unnecessarily adding the last part lamely, wanting to see where this little play was heading but deciding to put an end to it before Azazel got distracted with something else. The latter stopped laughing. His grin froze mid-motion, replaced by skepticism so sharp it could probably cut through the awkward air.
"That's why I'm here," I continued, scratching my cheek. "I'm trying to figure out if she'll actually fall in the future and where the line between pure love and sinful desire even lies."
I trusted Gabriel's judgment. She was older, wiser, and definitely more qualified to understand such matters. But trusting someone didn't mean turning off your brain. Caution was just… built into me. Old habits die hard.
Azazel groaned dramatically. "Oh man, I actually got excited there for a second. That's just lame. Couldn't you have pushed things a bit further? A little tongue action would've done the trick and made her fall on the spot, maybe."
"What the hell is wrong with you!? You're talking about your sister!" I shot back, glaring at him. "At least pretend to have some decency! Maybe worry about the whole 'Heaven might attack us' part!"
It was official. Every fallen angel was insane. From the top to the bottom, all of them were degenerates. Not one of them had a normal sense of morality, and somehow, I'd ended up being one of their closest allies. Lucky me.
...
Hours later, once things had finally calmed down, I found myself sitting on the rooftop of the apartment complex. The city lights flickered below, and the breeze carried a faint smell of smoke and oil. Azazel leaned against the railing beside me, his expression somewhere between amused and thoughtful.
"So, what do you plan on doing now?" he asked.
"Plan?" I leaned back, watching the clouds drift above. "I don't have anything planned. I'm still trying to make sense of everything before figuring out what comes next."
"What's there to understand?" he asked, turning toward me with that same baffled face he always wore when I said something that required basic introspection. "Gabriel was pretty clear, wasn't she? She likes you. She wants you. You can take the easy way or the hard way… your choice."
I scowled and shoved him lightly. "Take this seriously, god damn it."
He smirked. "Did you just curse God's name? I thought you were a devil."
"We already established that nobody actually knows what I am anymore. So let's leave that discussion buried where it belongs and cross that bridge another time."
Azazel chuckled quietly, finally done teasing. His eyes drifted toward the horizon. "I'm being serious, though. You might be overthinking this. Gabriel isn't scheming. She knows what it means to fall in love, it's like walking a tightrope where one wrong step leads straight to ruin. She's not stupid. She knows the risks and still went for it with a pure heart. It's kind of beautiful when you think about it. She's willing to risk everything for you, someone who already has his own share of burdens."
He looked at me with a faint smile, half proud, half envious. "I don't know if I should be impressed or jealous. Either way, you'd better make it worth her while. If not, that'd be one hell of an investment gone wrong."
I sighed, staring out over the city lights. "I know. I've changed since those edgy days, but I'm still not exactly the kind of person anyone should be betting on. There are better people out there than me, that's for sure."
"Who are you to say that there are better people in the world than you?" he asked, his tone steady, not harsh, but still reproachful. "From Gabriel's perspective, and she's lived longer than most people you'll ever meet, she's seen countless faces. Thousands, tens of thousands of humans have crossed her path, and yet, despite all that experience, despite knowing the breadth of human nature, she still chose to fall in love with you. So tell me, who are you to question her choice? Who are you to say that someone like her could have done better?"
"You're telling me I should just accept her love?" I replied, rubbing the back of my neck as I leaned forward a little. "I have my doubts. Even with Rias, Sona, and Akeno, things are already complicated enough. They're… unique cases, considering their bond with each other and how I'm pretty sure there's some feelings going on between them. But Gabriel? She's different. There's no connection between her and the others. She's only interested in me, and that alone is bound to cause problems. It'll be a tangled mess, not to mention stressful for everyone and unfair to her."
"Of course it will be. She knows that herself," he said calmly, flicking away a bit of ash. "But if she's willing to take that kind of risk, to walk that thin line knowing how uncertain things are, then wouldn't it be right for you to meet her halfway? To put in as much effort as she's willing to give?"
"You make it sound like I've already decided not to reject her," I muttered.
"Have you?" he asked with that knowing grin, giving me a small nudge with his elbow. "Don't pretend you don't find her appealing. She's beautiful, kind, gentle, and wise beyond measure. She's practically the textbook definition of perfection."
"The more perfect something is, the more fragile it tends to be," I said after a pause. "The weight of perfection isn't light, and I don't want to be the one to crack it. I'm fine being near her, being a friend, helping however I can. But beyond that… I just don't see myself being the one. She's a twelve-winged Seraph. That's not something you can casually live up to."
I continued to insist. Hoping he would understand where I was coming from.
"The woman I knew, she was a peasant once," Azazel said suddenly, and I turned to him, confused with what he meant by that. He drew in a long breath from his cigar before exhaling slowly, watching the smoke spiral up into the dim light. "A simple young woman from a small isolated village in Armenia. They all lived a quiet life, cut off from the larger world, but she was devoted, utterly devoted, to her faith. Back then, I descended out of curiosity, wanting to understand humans better, so I disguised myself as one of them. That's when I met her. She had no family left, raised by the church, her only dream to see the world beyond her little village and to one day have a family of her own."
He spoke without pause, his voice started lower, sounding more nostalgic. "There was nothing extraordinary about her. She wasn't gifted, not gifted with magic, not a scholar, not a warrior, just… a regular human. But that simplicity drew me in. Days became weeks, weeks turned to months, and before I realized it, a year had passed. We grew close, but I kept my identity hidden. I was afraid. Afraid that the truth would shatter what we had. I was young, impulsive, and arrogant. One night, she confessed her feelings, and safe to say, I got quite addicted. She was my first love, and I was hers. Naturally, the old man above wasn't exactly thrilled about that. I fell, quite literally, and it was a dark time for me."
He took another drag, the tip of his cigar glowing faintly. "I got drunk on the rush of it all, on pleasure and it certainly did not help that the woman herself was damn sexy and was pretty kinky in the sheets—I probably still have a painting of her somewhere, just need to find it. I wanted to share that feeling with others, convinced they were missing something so good that it made no sense for father to call it a sin. Gabriel was one of them. I tried to convince her to join me, but as expected, I was immediately struck down… literally. With lighting. But despite everything, despite learning the truth about me and the lies I had told, that woman never left my side. She stayed through every hardship, and even when I would sleep with others. When I finally realized the stuff I had done, she was already frail and fading. Next thing I knew, I found myself holding her hand, weak and wrinkled, as she whispered her last words that she loved me and that she was happy that she could share her life with me. That's the kind of pain you don't forget easily."
He looked distant now, at some point his voice having grown softer. "I've had many regrets, but one of them was not being wise enough to think of something like the Evil Piece system back then or anything to extend her life… hah. Maybe, if I had, things could have turned out differently. Perhaps, she'd still be here, by my side after all these years."
I listened quietly, not interrupting. There was no forced emotion in his tone, no trembling of voice or dramatics, but somehow, that made it all quite sad, and I genuinely felt sorry for the blonde and black haired man next to me. The story definitely turned out to be more complex than I imagined, it wasn't a secret of how Azazel fell, but I didn't expect him to still remember that person fondly.
"Is that why you never remarried?" I finally asked, breaking the stillness.
He shrugged. "I guess you could say that's part of the reason. I've had plenty of relationships after that and even during, I won't lie. Slept with more women than I can remember. Lost count somewhere along the way, I perfected my craft and could pocket even the most devoted nun if I tried hard enough… It was like a game to me. But I can probably count on one hand how many of them I actually thought about genuinely marrying a person I met. Guess things just never worked out and everyone would eventually part ways or die of old age. I never managed to achieve what Barakiel did... In a way, I envy that bastard and at the same time, I'm proud of him, that masochist bastard. Which is why I'm thankful to you for saving Shuri that day you awakened your Sacred Gear. If you hadn't done so, that would have easily been my biggest regret in life."
The man gave my shoulder a firm squeeze before walking back inside. He didn't leave without tossing another bit of advice my way. "Even beings like us, who people think are perfect or god-like, don't necessarily want the most perfect things in the world. Sometimes, we find beauty in what others don't even notice. We're flawed, just like humans and the people we end up loving the most are usually the ones we share our happiest moments with. Not because they're strong, not because they are divine level of beauty, not because they're perfect, but because they make us happy. That's all there is to it. Don't overthink it, kid. If you want my advice, just focus on keeping her happy. Because it's not the fall that will hurt her if it were to happen, it's the heartbreak that will come if you reject her. And that pain stays longer than you think." He said it calmly, then closed the door behind him, leaving me alone on the rooftop.
"..."
Humph, guess he did care about his sister in some non-creepy way after all.
The stars above looked brighter than usual, or maybe it was just me trying to distract myself. Thoughts kept coming in waves. If I had a mirror, I'd probably stare at it long enough to reach the same conclusion I always did: I was painfully average. My face, my build, everything about me screamed background character. The only thing people ever said stood out were my eyes, not because they were beautiful, but because of how lifeless they looked. Like a dead fish with a pulse. I never cared much about how others saw me, but apparently, my way of thinking had a special talent for pissing people off. Being blunt wasn't exactly a skill most appreciated. I'd made plenty of mistakes, and worse, I'd gone against my own principles more than once because of emotions I didn't even understand. And still, somehow, first Akeno, then Rias, and now Gabriel… all of them saw something worth caring about. I just couldn't see what.
"Am I missing something, Vritra?"
I closed my eyes. Even if he couldn't talk back, I could feel the faint pulse of his presence, like a sigh brushing against the edge of my mind. "Exasperation, huh? So I really am an idiot for missing what you think is obvious. Maybe that's for the best."
My thoughts were a mess, and I wasn't in the mood to sort them out. It felt easier to just crash and let tomorrow deal with the consequences. With that, I teleported straight to my room, already imagining the comfort of my bed and maybe five seconds of peace before sleep hit.
"—?"
As it turned out, I wasn't alone.
My brain froze, heart included.
On my bed were two very familiar figures. One, completely naked, comfortably reading a manga she must have brought from her collection, while wearing those fake glasses. The other, lounging beside her in violet lingerie so see-through it barely counted as clothing, it didn't hide anything, not that it seemed meant to. Rias, reading her manga, looked far too absorbed in her book to care about modesty. Then again, she was a nudist who never wore anything when going to bed, regardless. The second, Akeno, had been scrolling through her phone before glancing up and greeting me with that smile of hers. The kind that always made my heart skip a beat whether I wanted it to or not.
"You're back, finally. I was about to call you."
"Sorry," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "Got caught up dealing with stuff that shouldn't even matter. Guess I'm just overthinking again."
"Fufufu, that does sound like you." Her tone had that familiar mix of amusement and warmth. "Rias has been in a good mood lately. She got news that Sairaorg will be attending school soon. Apparently, she's hoping he'll keep troublemakers like Riser in check, and maybe help train the rest of the peerage in the process."
"Oh, well, I'm not surprised. He did show interest in visiting Kuoh after his mother got well." I pretended not to know this particular piece of news, even though I'd literally seen the guy being escorted into a police car earlier for public indecency. The image was still clear in my head and from the looks of it, Rias knew of it as well, from the frown forming on her beautiful face.
"And he already gotten himself in trouble with the police. Something about public nudity of all things… I thought there was something wrong with my hearing when I heard that. Hah… anyways, I sent Yuuto over to bail him out and have the two be escorted to an apartment where they can stay for as long as they want to."
"Sairaorg's not a bad guy," I muttered, at the end of the day, despite his quirks, he had a good heart. "And yeah, I'd appreciate some help from him too. Even Vritra agreed that I've been neglecting my basic strength for far too long. I made absolutely no progress with Touki for quite a while."
I said that while half-distracted, checking off a few pieces of clothing and getting ready to slip into my pajamas. But before I could even finish putting them on, I felt a pulse of magic energy surround me like static before being yanked back. "Wah!" The next thing I knew, I was flat on my bed, pinned down by a certain redhead who had climbed on top of me, settling herself firmly on my waist.
Her beauty, on full display, strands of hair covering the left side of her face and making her look very seductive…
"What are you doing?" I asked, blinking at her in disbelief.
"Getting ready for bed?" she said, her voice carrying that smug tone she used when she knew exactly what she was doing.
I hesitated. Her fingers brushed lightly across my chest, gliding down until they stopped right above my navel. A shiver ran down my spine.
"It's been a while since we've done it," she said softly. "And today's been a good day overall, so let's have some fun before going to sleep. I made sure to put a silencing spell around the room, so we can be as loud as we want."
Oh. So that was what both wanted. Wonderful. For some reason, I felt sweat forming on my forehead. What stood before me wasn't just pure romance between people who loved one another, it was a trial. The kind that involved two final bosses teaming up, with no rest point between phases. I was confident in my stamina, sure, but not to that extent.
"Hehehe… maybe another time?" I said carefully. "Given we have school tomorrow, it's probably best we get some proper sleep. You know, to be fresh and fully awake in the morning. And I've been feeling a bit tired lately, so—"
"Don't worry. I already took care of that," said the damned raven haired succubus who had just returned. Akeno stood at the edge of the bed, holding several vials in her hand. The sight alone drained every bit of color from my face.
"These are some high-quality potions we were gifted by Grayfia," she explained. "Not exactly on the same level as phoenix tears, but they'll restore your stamina instantly and get rid of any drowsiness. Perfect for tonight. I've got a few extra cases, just in case we run out."
Run out? There were ten bottles in her hand! What did she mean by run out? And why… why was she drinking it first?
"Wait, hold on a second, I just need a bit of time to prep—mmph!"
Whatever I was about to say vanished when the raven-haired beauty closed the distance between us, pressing her lips against mine. Her hands cupped my face, and her tongue slid forward like a serpent, forcing its way in and letting the contents of the potion spill into my mouth. I swallowed instinctively, and she seemed to enjoy every second of it as she took my hand and had it press against her breast.
Rias, meanwhile, had already taken the opportunity to pull off my shorts. The redhead was already naked, having removed her clothes while my attention was on Akeno, but she still wore her glasses.
After a few seconds, Akeno finally pulled back. A thin string of saliva connected us before breaking.
"Let's make sure we give our peeping Toms something to enjoy," she whispered with a mischievous smile.
My mind felt hazy, a fog between pleasure and panic. Her words barely processed through the sensations running through my lower body with Rias getting busy.
"Wait… peeping Toms? Who?" I managed to ask, but my question died in my throat when another moan escaped instead.
Any logical thought I had was pushed to the back of my mind. Akeno giggled against my lips while Rias continued her own kind of mischief below.
That night, I didn't get a single second of actual sleep.
These women were succubus incarnates.
{Break}
–Himejima Shrine–
"You look like crap."
Those were the first words Sairaorg greeted me with before we climbed to the top of the hill. The training ground was larger than I expected, an open field surrounded by trees and shrine structures, the morning sun filtering through the leaves.
This looked full of energy, smiling like he'd just completed a successful sparring session. Meanwhile, I felt like a dried-up husk. My body was heavy, my legs shaky, and my soul somewhere between life and the afterlife.
"I had… a hard battle to fight last night," I said quietly.
"Oh? Did you go after a stray devil?" he asked, his eyes lighting up. "Excellent! I'm glad to hear you've taken my suggestion to train seriously! Even without your Sacred Gear, you persevere and push forward. I'm proud of you!"
I didn't even have the strength to argue. He wasn't wrong, it was a battle. Just not the kind he thought.
"Trust me, I wanted to give up time and time again, but the two demons would not let me." My voice started to wobble, close to breaking, and I admit I sounded pathetic, but no one seemed to care. We moved into the clearing. It was the kind of place made for this sort of thing: far from paths, wide enough that Barakiel could throw up a bounded field to keep passersby out, and private enough that no one would stumble in on the mess we were about to make.
"Kuroka?" I asked because the black-haired Nekoshou was already there, wearing the school gym uniform like it was a second skin. The fabric clung in places that made me feel like an idiot for noticing. Behind her stood someone else I did not expect.
"You're here too, Koneko?"
"Yes, I am here nya~! I heard from Sairaorg who said Hachi-kun would be taught toki, so I decided to join. Shirone wanted to learn, too. I could not say no to my cute little kitten. Let us train together nya!"
I did find it a bit odd as to why Koneko joined as well, looking at her, she looked back at me with a determined stare. "If I do not keep up, I will be the weakest Touki user at school."
It was the kind of answer that shut down an argument before it started and also led me to laugh with amusement. I ruffled her hair because it was the only kind of affection I could muster that did not involve me saying something embarrassing to her. Also her hair had definitely grown very soft lately, I started to develop an addiction to patting her head. "Don't worry. With how bad my talent is, even in fifty years I would struggle to match your current level. You are way… way ahead of me."
Saying that felt necessary. It was the truth and a lie at once. I had seen too much to be confident, but I could not let her doubt herself.
On the other end, my new trainer tossed a bundle of clothes at me. "What the!?" I caught it awkwardly and almost lost grip. The thing hit my arms and felt like a slab of stone.
"This is what you will wear for every training session. Maybe every day. Toki is simple in principle. It has a clear progression, its advantage is consistency. You cannot cheat the system, and basically, there are no shortcuts. If you want strength you must break your body down and rebuild it to be stronger. There are also no limits to it, whether you were born to use it or not, with enough perseverance, anyone can become as powerful as a Maou-class Devil."
That felt like a gross oversimplification…
I tried to pick up the shirt with one hand. It did not move easily. The weight on my arm made me question my existence. I was not the skinny kid from another life anymore, but this was ridiculous.
"Don't tell me you pulled this from some anime and decided to use it," I said, trying for a joke, but my voice had a shred of dread.
"This came from a member of my cousin's peerage," the man said while stretching his body in the distance and throwing some punches that freaking caused shockwaves by themselves! "He said the person who used this became a hundred times stronger in months."
The thought made my eyes twitch. I asked, carefully. This was something that would be more effective on an alien from another planet with a tail, not a sorta human like myself.
"Who is this genius?"
"You really do not know? It was Hyoudou Issei. Talk to him more. He has creative ideas. I cannot wait to try them with you."
I made a mental list of men I wanted to have my revenge on in the future. Issei easily went to the top with little to no hesitation on my end.
"Maybe this is a bad idea. Don't you have anything else?"
"Actually, I do. That is why she is here. I asked her to help."
"Kuroka?"
"Yes! I have waited weeks. I feared you would never train toki or attempt senjutsu. I could not allow that nya!"
I muttered a refusal when the idea of senjutsu was raised. If toki already stretched me, saint-level techniques were beyond my patience and tolerance.
"So, what now?"
"Take off your clothes~" she said seductively with a visible smirk on her face. Koneko's eyes were widening but she said nothing to her sister and kept on looking.
"Outside of sleeping with me, what is your actual plan?"
To my surprise, Kuroka stomped and pouted, the exact expression that made a grown man consider bad choices. She insisted, "Just take off your damned shirt, nya! This will help, I promise!"
I had nothing to lose, other than my dignity if she decided to pounce on me in the open like this. Hopefully her sister would not ignore my plea and keep this horny cat in check. I took my shirt off. Kuroka used the moment to come behind me and press her hands across my shoulders and started to explore every part of my body from the back to the front, to the point I even felt her breast pressing against my back.
"You have more muscle than I thought. Hm?" She stopped talking, her hands roaming my chest and stomach, her fingers gently caressing every inch of my body. Her nose immediately resting against the crook of my neck, making me shiver when she even licked my skin while hearing her breath deeply! "The scent is... Oh my~!"
"Can we focus on touki training please?" I asked, because my composure was evaporating. I had showered but even that seemed less than effective to fool a Nekoshou's nose!
"Okay~! But a small warning, this will hurt."
I expected that. When Kuroka pressed down her hand again on my back, energy stabbed into me like someone driving needles through flesh. The weight on my shoulders increased in an instant. I gasped and an involuntary sound escaped me.
"Urgh!"
"Too much? Let me adjust it a bit," she said, adjusting until the load eased but remained a boulder crushing my chest.
"W-What is this supposed to do?" I asked through grit teeth.
"I know some mages who used this on their newly recruited disciples to force a sense of mana faster than naturally feeling the element out. Toki is not identical, but this technique can increase bodily load so the body can later support large amounts of toki that you produce." Sairaorg answered instead, "think of it as stretching, it will hurt since you barely use your body this way. But eventually, it will stop with time.
"Like a balloon?" I tried the metaphor. I did not enjoy the image of myself inflating.
"In theory, yes."
"N-Never tried it yourself? Ah!" I asked them, another sharp grunt escaping my throat.
"Of course not. I had no need. The one behind you, she is a natural. She was born with the ability to use toki like most yokais. She is already a master of sensing it and I just went through the regular path and just kept on training until I could expand my own reserves gradually with time."
I felt a huge punch of envy that had nothing to do with strength and everything to do with fairness. Never in my life had I envied two sisters for a biological quirk. I closed my eyes and slowly breathed.
The pressure was like a wooden roller being driven across me, compressing me to fit a new shape. Momentary seconds stretched thin while I counted to keep from throwing up. Kuroka finally stepped back and I collapsed to the ground, wheezing.
"This will not show results on the first try. Before each session she will apply the load. We will increase intensity each time."
"Monsters," I muttered. I was gasping like someone who had been crushed by a mountain and was left their for hours. This sensation made me recall the time I spent training under that old hag, even death felt more appealing than her methods.
"Warm up done. We still have the whole day."
I internalized the word whole and promptly decided I would die. I had to escape, right now and go back home to hide in my room under the soft embrace of two beautiful women who would more than likely kill me with their feminine wiles. Unfortunately, my escape was thwarted when the madman grabbed me by the collar. "Aaaaah!" The next thing I knew I was airborne and being flung in the air with the clouds getting close enough that I could touch them for a brief moment before starting to plummet to my demise.
"Aaaaaah! What part of this is training? I'm going to die!"
"This is a jump start. Use your wings and it will be fine."
"I cannot use my sacred gear, you idiot!"
He laughed like an enthused lunatic. I had trusted him once. That trust felt like a poor currency now. My anger morphed into a raw scream that felt more like betrayal than fear.
Spells ran through my head. My hands patterned a magic circle I had practiced until the motions were second nature, "oh wait, why am I panicking?" After forcefully calming down, I realised that I could still just use teleportation rather than start casting everything that came to mind for no reason. So I did just that, going through the familiar motion and hoping to find myself up here back in my room. But that failed, instantly.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I asked Barakiel to add teleportation block to the field around this place. Where is the fun in that otherwise?"
"All of you wish to see me die!" I shouted back in anger, and then gave up trying to be ironic about it. I threw everything at the wall. My hands pointed downwards and I chanted. A circle bloomed under my palm and wrapped around my body with several runes that created a similar effect also being used. Each cast slowed my descent a little. I repeated the float as my fallback, the primitive spell that should have been trivial. By the tenth cast, the world around me stopped blurring. My fall steadied, then eased. The ground was still rushing up at an uncomfortable pace, but at least it no longer felt like I was plummeting to my death. Just to be sure, I prepared one last trick.
"Magic Arrow!"
A golden arrow formed beside me, hovering for half a second before firing downward. The explosion that followed created a powerful shockwave, the force pushing against my descent and slowing me further. I hit the ground with a soft thud, the impact rough but survivable. Dust rose around me, my heart hammering as I lay there breathing heavily.
"Haah… haah… haah…"
I was miraculously preserved and alive.
"Come on now! You can't rest already!"
That damned devil's voice again. I turned my head and saw his shadow stretching across the dirt. I didn't even have to look up to know what was happening. Something massive blotted out the sunlight above me.
My mind went blank for a moment before pure dread settled in.
"Please tell me that's not—"
It was.
A boulder. Twice my size. Falling straight toward me.
I had energy to move but felt a bit lazy. My limbs just refused to cooperate, my brain using every curse in the dictionary. I just lay there for a moment despite my impending doom, watching death approach like it was some mildly inconvenient chore.
"I'll make sure you regret this one day."
I should have just stuck with Akeno and have her teach me magic like we used to do in the past.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.