Disclaimer: Just in case nobody realized I don't own nor do I claim ownership of Highschool DxD, all characters and worlds belong to their real world respective owners. I'm just having some fun, that's all.
Highschool DxD: The Cursed King of Kuoh
S1 Ch 4: A Well Earned Rest
The following morning, the light of dawn slowly crept through Sukuna's bedroom window and gently fell onto the young man's face. Slowly, he began to stir, his eyelids fluttering awake. As he yawned and smacked his lips, his enhanced senses picked up the sound he'd always looked forward to back on his Earth, the sizzle of a hot pan.
Sizzle
As the aroma filled his nose, Sukuna knew immediately what was getting prepared.
"Oh, sausage." He said, as his mouth became wet with anticipation. His time in the Abyss had apparently turned him into a foodie.
Tossing off his quilt, he made his way down the hallway in just his boxers. Making his way to the kitchen, he found Ura, dressed in her apron, hard at work cooking a five-course breakfast. Glancing over to the counter, Sukuna made his way over, but as he reached for a piece of sausage, his hand was struck by a metal spatula.
"Ow!" He complained as he rubbed his hand.
"Excuse me, Master, but it is not ready yet," she said sternly with her hands on her hips. "And is that any way to come to the kitchen?"
She gestured to his clothes, or, more accurately, his lack thereof.
"What? It's nothing you haven't seen before, or have you already forgotten about our bath time?" He said suggestively, making Ura giggle slightly.
"Go put some clothes on now," She ordered in a gentle but stern tone.
Sukuna frowned but ultimately complied and started making his way back to his room. A part of him not wanting her to have the last word stopped halfway.
"Remind me again who's the master and the servant in this relationship?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Go!" she repeated, this time more sternly.
He just grumbled some more before making his way back into his room. Opening the double sliding doors to his closet, Sukuna was greeted by the sight of yet another gigantic room. It was a large, spacious walk-in closet with just about everything associated with fashion inside. On one side there were suits, ties, dress shirts, khakis, dress shoes, and even watches. On the other there were leather jackets, jeans, V-necks, boots, and even chains.
"I should just stop being surprised by this point," he said to himself as he ran his hands over the fabrics.
He wanted to explore the closet further, but in the end, hunger always won out over curiosity. So he quickly grabbed a plain black kimono and made his way out of the closet, closing the door behind him.
Back in the kitchen, Ura finished preparing his plate, presenting it to him as he sat at the head of the table. The dish itself was a steamy plate of Sausage Gravy poured over four biscuits. It was one of his mother's breakfast specialties. As he dug into the meal, the rich flavor brought up memories of the family he'd just lost.
Despite being killed and then sent off to some fan-service land with some superpowers and a servant, he strangely felt calm about all of it. He wasn't sure if it was his time in the Abyss or if it was some kind of by-product of the player's system. After all, you couldn't very well have a competition if your contestants were constantly becoming depressed and killing themselves out of grief.
So, anytime he started to feel melancholic about his current situation or the life he left behind, it felt as though something was activated to soothe and calm him. He also suspected that was one of the reasons for the beautiful servant beyond just missions or tasks. As he continued to dig into the delicious breakfast, he decided to inquire about his day's schedule.
"So what kind of training are we looking at today, Ura?" He asked, eager to learn more about his abilities.
"After you finish your breakfast, we'll get started on getting you to control your cursed energy more efficiently," She replied as she began clearing the table of empty plates.
"Oh yeah?" He asked with a hint of excitement. "How are we going to do that? More sparring?"
"No," she shook her head as she returned from the kitchen with a steamy cup of coffee for him in her hands. "I'd say after yesterday's performance, your combat awareness has reached an adequate level for real-world use. Now I'd say we need to focus on your efficiency and control."
A part of him became disappointed to hear he wasn't going to be able to fight some more, which showed on his face. Seeing her master's disgruntled expression, Ura decided to indulge him.
"But if you have some energy by the end of the session, then we can fight a few matches," She added, making Sukuna perk up.
"Really?" He asked, to which she nodded, making him cheer. "Yes! No take-backs!"
He hopped up from the table like a kid getting to go to the park, making Ura cover her mouth as she giggled. When he was about to leave, he stopped halfway.
"What kind of training attire should I wear?" He called out.
"Today's training is going to be pretty taxing, so something comfortable," She replied.
"Got it!" He then continued to his room, leaving Ura alone to clean up the dining table.
o-O-o
Ten minutes later, Sukuna returned to the house's courtyard dressed in a sleeveless black compression shirt, white baggy pants, and training shoes. Ura was dressed in a tight-fitted full body suit that completely clung to her body.
The outfit, like her kimono, was night-black with intricate red and golden details. At first, Sukuna thought it was just an erotic spandex outfit, but upon activating his magic eye, he could see all the arrays and magic reinforcements imbued into the fabric. As Sukuna admired his servant's outfit, Ura spoke.
"Now, are you ready to get started, Master?" She asked slowly.
"Yes, let's do it." He agreed.
"Remember, Master, everything that I do today is for your benefit. You understand that, right?"
"Well, I don't like the sound of that," he chuckled a little nervously. "But yes, I understand."
"Good," she nodded her head while leading him to the center of the house's training grounds. "Well, first from what I saw yesterday, we need to work on improving your cursed energy control and empowering your techniques," She said in a calm, mentor-like voice.
"Okay? How do we do that?"
"First, have a seat."
She then gestured to the white yoga mat that suddenly materialized out of thin air. Sukuna complied and slowly sat down cross-legged as Ura went to her knees across from him. Once they were both sitting, she continued.
"Now, Master, according to your specific system, your powers run off of something called Cursed Energy, which is generated from negative emotions such as pain, sadness, grief, etc."
"Yeah, I already know that," he nodded his head. "It's a form of spiritual energy that leaks from humanity, and only a select group of people can utilize it."
"Correct," she nodded her head. "And so far, I haven't seen any issues with your ability to conjure it."
"..." She then paused.
"But?" He asked upon seeing her hesitate.
"But based on what I witnessed yesterday, you were throwing everything you had into your techniques faster than you could replenish it, which is ultimately what caused you to become so tired so quickly."
"I see," Sukuna nodded his head, smart enough to know she was right. "So what do I do?"
"So for today's training, I'm going to teach you the 3 stages of energy manipulation."
She then proceeded to cross her legs like Sukuna and straighten her back until she was in a meditative seated position.
"Cursed energy is in many ways the opposite of Senjutsu energy," She added as she began to breathe deeply and steadily. "Where you would usually draw upon the natural energy that flowed through all things—the air, earth, trees, etc.—with cursed energy, you draw your power from within. Drawing upon the energy of the feelings inside of you. Does all of this make sense?"
"...Yes," he responded, remembering Gojo's conversation with Yuji about electricity.
"Good," she nodded. "Now I'm sure you felt the energy pool in your core before flowing through the rest of your body, correct?"
To which he nodded again.
"Alright, so for our first exercise, I want you to gather as much of your energy you can into your core like this."
Ura then closed her eyes and began to hum in an even tone until she became completely still and silent. After staring at her for some time, Sukuna was starting to wonder if she'd fallen asleep, when suddenly her aura became visible around her. It steadily grew until it completely surrounded her, almost like a semi-transparent purple flame. Slowly, the maid opened her eyes while her aura continued to steadily pulse.
"This is your first task, Master," she said calmly. "You are to stay in that spot until you can consistently manifest a visible aura around your body. This is the 1st stage of energy manipulation, called Invoking."
"Understood," immediately he closed his eyes and began trying to call upon his energy like he did the day before, as Ura silently observed him from the side.
o-O-O
An hour had passed and Sukuna had immediately run into a roadblock: he couldn't stabilize his emotions to properly control his aura. He had plenty of negative emotions to call upon after his stay in the Abyss, yet he couldn't keep his power from spiking out of his control. Either it was way too much and his aura became a raging inferno, or it was so small it had the same intensity as a wisp off of a cigarette.
"Great, the only energy settings I can use are either 1 or 100!" He thought angrily, making his aura fluctuate even more.
Seeing her master's frustrations, Ura decided to offer him a helping hand. Slowly she kneeled beside him as his eyes remained shut.
"Your negative experiences aren't the only thing you can utilize to power your curse energy, Master," She said telepathically. "There are other ways to achieve the same result."
"How?!" He barked back mentally, unhappy by the sudden intrusion into his mind.
"Focus on your desires," she encouraged him. "Focus on the raw emotions rather than just the feelings themselves. Just like you did when you fought me."
Sukuna thought back on the fight and his original's words. He thought over the sheer thrill he'd felt from the fight, and the overwhelming burning desire to win. Soon he felt his body surge with massive amounts of energy as his aura grew unruly once again.
"Good, that's good," She continued to encourage him. "Now you must let it settle inside of you. You must become one with it."
Sukuna tried but found his violent energy hard to reign in, like a wild stallion that had yet to be broken.
"You must let the "flow" of the power wash over you without letting yourself get swept away with it. You must be like the stone in the river. Allow the current to flow around you, but never let it wash you away."
At her words, Sukuna finally grasped what it was she was saying, and slowly he began compressing the energy back inside his core while condensing his aura to just around his body like Ura had done. Soon he was covered in a humming aura like Ura's, though his was much more ominous in comparison. After several minutes of a steady barrier, Ura clapped her hands in excitement.
ClapClapClap
"Well done, Master." Her tone was filled with excitement as he stood up from the yoga mat. "You've already achieved the first stage of Invoking. Keep this up, and you'll earn yourself another treat tonight," she said with a slightly sultry tone, making him swallow hard.
"W-what's the next stage?" He stuttered slightly, though his question made Ura become stern once again.
"The 2nd stage is called Holding, and essentially this stage is all about maintaining your steady flow of energy regardless of outside distractions. True masters of this stage could maintain an energy barrier even while asleep."
Sukuna just listened to her words, silently waiting for her to finish. Slowly Ura made her way over to him.
"So for the next exercise, we're going to teach you how to block out all other distractions," She said with a hint of reluctance in her voice. "This is where it gets difficult, Master."
To which the latter remained unflinching, silently telling her to continue.
She slowly hopped back a few feet as the courtyard cleared itself of any yoga mats and chairs, leaving just the two of them at the center of the yard. Suddenly, a black shadow-like spear appeared in her right hand.
"Don't dodge, you can handle it, right?" She asked.
Sukuna nodded, gritting his teeth as the spear flew towards him, but didn't move.
Soon the shadow spear pierced his right lung, and he felt pain throughout his entire body. He wanted to scream, but he gritted his teeth even harder and resisted, his aura flickering slightly.
"Well done, Master," she complimented. "Pain is something you are going to run into a lot on your assignments. Because of that, we must train you on how to resist it and remain focused."
Sukuna nodded his head, slowly reached down and pulled the shadow rod out of his lung and body. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and it was clear to anyone who might be watching that he was struggling, yet he refused to scream. Something inside of him wouldn't allow him to lower himself like that, especially in front of one who was supposed to be his subordinate. As he was about to use his reverse curse technique, Ura stopped him.
"Don't bother wasting your energy with healing, Master," She said, raising her hand. "The array will do it for you."
Almost instantly the immortality array took effect as his lung and chest healed before his eyes.
"I want you to focus all of your attention on maintaining your energy flow."
Sukuna nodded, straightening his back.
"Continue," he ordered, to which Ura bowed her head.
Then, in an instant, he felt his body getting pierced. Vomiting blood onto the floor, he looked down with confusion only to find Ura's arm inside his stomach. The aura around Sukuna began to distort again.
"Endure it, Master." His maid spoke as she started to churn his insides as if she were looking for loose coins inside a couch.
Sukuna continued to grit his teeth; his body trembling with pain, but he just clenched his fists and bloody teeth and held on. Eventually, he grew accustomed to the amount of pain, and Ura removed her hand.
Immediately Sukuna fell to his knees in pain, but the second his knees touched the ground, he quickly stomped harder and stood back up. His pride, it seemed, would not allow himself to kneel no matter who was or wasn't watching.
"Since when did I get so prideful?" He wondered to himself while regaining his focus.
"Is that all you've got?!" he actually said with a sense of bravado that died the moment he saw the sadistic smirk grow across Ura's face.
"As a matter of fact," Immediately a tiny silver ball the size of a quarter appeared above her right index finger.
Slowly the ball flew through the air, covering the distance between the two at a leisurely pace before sinking through his chest.
"Burn," she whispered.
Immediately Sukuna had felt as though he was set on fire; it was the same fire he'd endured his first day in this new world. The fire was in every vein of his body, covering every inch of skin, chewing to the very marrow of his bones. There wasn't a single cell in his body that wasn't literally screaming with pure, unimaginable agony.
Falling onto his hands and knees, he couldn't even hear himself scream over the loud ringing in his ears. His aura had nearly gone out completely, but one small part of him managed to hold on, albeit barely. His vision slowly became clouded as he grew so tired his body was passing out from the pain. Slowly he could feel himself fall forward, his eyes fluttering shut as he fell face-first into the ground, but as he was about to make contact, a voice called out to him.
"Wake up, you fucking loser!"
Sukuna's eyes immediately shot open while his arms stretched out to catch himself. The ground began to crack under the pressure of his grip. As he lay on his hands and knees, he began to talk to himself.
"Pain," he said. "Pain is just another negative emotion; therefore, this pain is my path to more power."
With that realization, Sukuna began embracing the pain rather than fighting against it, letting it fuel the cursed energy inside of him. His aura suddenly became much stronger and violent. Its outside was a very dark shade of red while its inside that surrounded his body was a dark purple. Ura's eyes widened as the aura grew stronger and stronger, and slowly Sukuna made his way up to one knee, locking eyes with her. Then, as his feet cracked beneath him, he slowly made his way to his feet.
Soon he stood at full height, looking down at Ura unflinching. Waiting a moment as Sukuna reigned in his aura again, Ura finally canceled the spell. Immediately the pain vanished as fast as it came, but Sukuna's aura remained steady.
"Well done, Master Sukuna, you've mastered the first stage of Holding," She congratulated, but her master's face remained impassive.
Thinking he was upset from the training exercise, Ura went to speak.
"I know that must have been excruciating, Master, but like I said at the beginning, everything-"
But her master cut her off.
"Teach me the next part, Ura." He ordered sternly.
Ura was slightly taken aback by her master's harsh tone, but did as he commanded.
"The next part is one that can only be utilized after learning the first two," She started as she summoned her fans into her hands. "After learning to first invoke your energy and then holding it within your body, that's when you can release it. Which is also the name of the final stage: Releasing."
She then began imbuing her energy into one fan and not the other.
"By doing this, you can greatly increase your technique's speed, strength, and destructive capabilities, observe."
She then slowly raised her fan that didn't have any of her energy in it and slashed down on a boulder, cleaving it in two.
"Now watch what happens when you put some energy into it."
She then brought her other fan up and brought it down.
"Dark Slash," she muttered.
Then a purple crescent moon-shaped blade flew from her fan and struck the rock, cleaving it in half, but then continued forward, cutting all the trees and the side of the house, and was only stopped by the magic barrier. Sukuna's eyes widened at the sheer power of the attack.
"This is where your skill of Cursed Energy Output comes into play, Master," She said as she slowly approached him. "Think of your skill like a valve on a pipe. The higher your level goes up, the more curse energy you can imbue into your attacks."
He seemed to ponder this bit of information for a moment.
"Then I suppose my skill of Cursed Energy Manipulation determines the amount of cursed energy I can Invoke?" He asked, to which Ura nodded her head. "Okay, use your technique again. I think I can use one of my skills to learn this part."
Ura did as he commanded and readied her fan again, imbuing it with her magic energy while Sukuna activated his magic eye. Watching her purple energy activate in her core and materialize inside of her fan. Looking deeper, he watched as she used her energy control to sharpen it against itself, making it thin and sharper.
"Dark Slash," she said again, and again a purple blade flew from her fan and cleaved everything in sight.
"Okay, I think I understand," he then stepped forward, facing a boulder.
He then activated a Dismantle without actively trying to put any of his curse energy into it. The invisible blade cleaved the boulder in half just as Ura had done.
"Now, if I do it like this," he then tapped into the cursed energy inside his core and focused on it spreading through his body and pooling into his right hand. Then, just like Ura, he used his new energy control to sharpen it against itself, imagining two thin buzzsaws grinding against each other, making each other sharper. Once it was ready, he launched his attack.
"Dismantle," he muttered, and immediately a much larger and longer slash left his hand, but unlike Ura's purple blade, his was completely invisible to the naked eye, but the results were the same. The slash cut not just the boulder, but the trees, the house, all the way to the barrier, which itself received some damage.
Ura's eyes went completely wide, seeing her master get it right on the first try.
"T-that was perfect, Master," she muttered in disbelief.
"These eyes are handy after all," he responded as he examined his hand. "I need to increase the speed in which I empower my techniques, 10 seconds is way too long."
Once the courtyard finished repairing itself, he began practicing his release skill with his Dismantle innate technique, trying to learn how to control both the volume and intensity while also increasing the speed. Ura could only stand back and watch from the side as her master grasped the skill on his own.
"How long has it been since we had a player with this kind of talent?" She thought to herself, bewildered. "Upper management is gonna want to know."
o-O-o
The training went on for the rest of the day; Sukuna had even refused meals so that he could practice even more. By the end, he'd completely grasped the basics of energy manipulation and was even starting to work up to the intermediate level. After that, the two had approximately three matches, which ended in a draw.
Currently, Sukuna was enjoying a bowl of Beef Bourguignon as Ura stood at the side. He'd been acting differently ever since she'd used her Burn skill on him, making her wonder if perhaps she went too far in their training. Finishing his meal, he tossed his napkin onto the table.
"I'm taking a bath and going to bed," he said as he stood up from the table.
"As you wish, Master," she responded, bowing her head to his retreating back.
As she thought about how to cheer him up, a certain nightgown came to mind.
o-O-o
After enjoying a nice long soak, Sukuna, dressed in a plain white bathrobe, made his way back to his room, but was caught off guard by what was awaiting him, or, more accurately, who.
Making his way inside his room, he found his servant Ura sprawled out over his bed dressed in a sheer pink nightie with a matching thong. The fabric was nearly transparent as he could see the outlines of her nipples through the fabric.
"Welcome back, Master," she said with a lewd smile.
"Ura, what are you doing?" He asked, still confused.
"What? You said you were tired and going to bed, so I thought I'd get your pillows ready for you." Ura said with a lewd smile as she grabbed her two enormous breasts with both hands and shook them slightly, making Sukuna swallow a little hard.
"Hey, you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth," He mentally shrugged as he took off his robe and slowly got into the bed.
Crawling up the bed, he quickly allowed himself to fall into Ura's open embrace, who took him by both sides of his head and pulled him into the valley of her chest. His vision darkened as the servant began to cuddle with his head as if it were a plushie. Sukuna just enjoyed the soft, elastic balls of flesh against his head.
Ura continued to cuddle with him as her right hand reached out and tenderly began to caress his chest. She slowly dragged her nails gently across his chest, enjoying her master's reactions as she continued her movements before feeling the growing bulge against her thigh. With a sly smile, Ura slowly dragged her index finger down his chest, then his abs, before stopping at his waistline.
Sukuna's eyes widened as he felt his attendant's hand reach down and begin to rub the front of his boxers, feeling his erect shaft through the thin fabric.
"Relax, Master," she whispered in his ear as she continued to rub her palm along the outline of his cock. "Just leave all of it to me."
She then slipped her hand inside of his underwear to grasp him directly. Her slender fingers wrapped around his shaft, stroking him at a teasing pace. Soon he felt something begin to rise within him, sensing this, she began to quicken her pace.
"That's it, Master." She said as her hand moved faster and faster. "Don't hold back."
Immediately he felt himself release it all, letting out a loud moan before slumping back into Ura's embrace, who just continued to run her fingers through his pink hair. He slowly looked up from her valley to meet her gaze. The pair locked eyes for a moment before finally the relief and exhaustion became too much, and he drifted off to sleep.
"Sleep well, Master," she whispered as she nuzzled his head deeper into her chest.
A/N: Hey There another proud new chapter out for Highschool DxD: Cursed King of Kuoh
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