Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Speak of the Devil
"I hate your Wards, Joshua," Jeanne complained through her harsh breathing. The young man, himself, chuckled weakly, not even bothering trying to argue with her. He hated his Wards too, at that moment.
Or, maybe it was more accurate to say that he hated the new Ward he'd been working with and started casting.
[Weighting Ward - Lvl 1/50
An Offensive Ward which the user can cast to place weight over beings inside.
Requires a Wardstone of Offensive Typing.
Effectiveness and Area are determined by Skill Level, Wardstone Quality and Magic Quantity.
Consumption with circle - G to ∞
Consumption without circle - E to ∞]
It was basically weight training but without weights and on their whole bodies. It was perfect and Joshua had jumped at the idea of it. Although, he'd had to make a lot of modifications to the spell, since Morag couldn't very well be expected to deal with the same weight that everyone else did, or even Cheshire and Nagini couldn't deal with the same weight that Jeanne did and the same could be said about the girl and Joshua himself.
In the end, he'd found a sort of middle ground between all that. A Weighting Ward specifically for humans that held just enough weight to challenge Jeanne and give him something to work with. Then, he'd made another tied to animals with a very small amount for his familiars to work with.
It wasn't perfect, of course, but at least it was adding something to their workouts.
And the effects showed, a lot. Obviously, it didn't help with everything, but it did give a very much appreciated push in things like Strength and Vitality and even Speed. That, and all physical skills gained a nice boost in their leveling too, such as Physical Conditioning, Parkour and Dagger Mastery.
"Come on, let's go again, ok?" Joshua urged the still resting girl, who groaned very loudly at that. Even then, she still stood up from where she had been lying.
"You damn slave driver," The teen grumbled as she went to pick up her own Training Flying Sword. Joshua had one for himself, and he was glad that the girl had managed to make one that didn't feed off her energy while he was the one training and used his instead. Not only did it free time for her to work more, but it also helped him drain his reserves so that he could work on both his Magic and Meditation.
It wasn't the best set up for him, since he would have prefered to do that with spells so that he could level them, same with the type magics. However, Jeanne needed to train too, so he'd gladly give some of his time so that she could do so. The last thing Joshua needed in his mind was guilt over having an underprepared Jeanne facing a situation she wasn't ready for.
Fortunately, a bit over a month had passed already and there was no sign of Khaos Brigade or any other maniac coming after them. Joshua wasn't very keen on lowering his guard even with that, but it was nice to know that maybe, just maybe, there wouldn't be another life or death situation in the near future. He could hope so, at least.
His increasingly better Concealing Wards certainly helped his peace of mind.
"On the count of three-" Joshua started with a nod.
"Three," Jeanne interrupted and he could almost feel the roll of her eyes. With a sigh, he poured his energy inside his own sword and it came alive, the illusion of an opponent taking it and going for a swing at him instantly. Quickly passing one of the daggers he had been holding on his left hand to the right one and engaged it.
'I still wonder why I don't have a Dual Wield skill or something,' Joshua couldn't help but think. Although, he had a running theory that Dagger Mastery worked no matter how many daggers he used. Once that idea had formed, he had wondered if he could have pulled off a Zoro with three swords and all. Still, considering that fighting with two daggers was harder for him than with just the one, he guessed that was accounted for somewhere in his System. A shame that, it would have been cool, if nothing else.
A loud meow, bordering on a screech, pulled his attention almost completely from his spar. Joshua's eyes darted to the side, catching Cheshire looking from one of the sides of the clearing. Blocking the incoming strike from the illusion, he gave more attention to his feline familiar, who turned and stared at Jeanne.
Understanding her meaning, Joshua then looked at the girl, who seemed to be on her last legs.
"That's enough, Jeanne," He called out, continuing his fight.
"I can continue though," She replied, her weary voice giving away her exhaustion entirely too much.
"Stop now," He told her, putting more pressure on his tone. "We don't want another piggyback incident, do we?" He asked then, earning a petulant whine from the teenager. That time had been, apparently, embarrassing enough for her to listen to him.
Joshua almost focused back on his spar, since he had still a good bit of energy to spare. However, an idea struck him and he grinned from ear to ear. After all, if he still had more than enough energy, why not challenge himself? It seemed that the Game certainly favoured challenges over simple training.
"Oh no, I know that look," Jeanne voiced, clearly reading from his expression that something like the Poison Resistance training was coming. She wasn't entirely wrong, even if his idea was nowhere near that bad.
"Throw me your training sword, please," Joshua told her, the dagger on his left hand on his mouth as he fenced off his illusion's attacks. He wasn't nearly focused enough to attack, that much he knew.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," The teen groaned, but still did as he wanted. "Catch!"
And catch he did, immediately pouring magic into the sword and making it come alive. 'Ok so, let's see how I do against two of them,' Joshua thought then. After all, one of the training swords was challenging, yes, but he still could deal with it well enough if he focused. Two of them should be like just at the beginning of his training, if not harder.
Maybe he was trying to do too much too quickly. Actually, Joshua was pretty sure that he was. However, it was also true that the world they lived in was unlikely to wait for them to train at a reasonable pace. That and the fact that he had already had to deal with a group of people made him want to be ready in case he had to fight several opponents at once.
'Maybe I can ask Jeanne to make Training Flying Daggers and Spears and the like?' He mused as he tried to block the attacks from his now two training partners. More often than not, he barely managed to divert the attack's direction instead of actually blocking.
[Dagger Mastery has gone up a level.]
'Nice-' Joshua almost celebrated, his words interrupted by one of the swords smacking against his left arm. As his body twisted, he saw another attack coming, barely managing to block it with both daggers. A second later, he felt another hit on his back.
[Physical Resistance has gone up a level.]
'That isn't the kind of progress I wanted to make,' He grumbled internally as he stopped supplying the swords with magic. Dropping his knives, he put his hands on his knees and breathed harshly. 'Ok… let's leave that training for the beginning and not the end of the session next time...'
"Happy now?" Jeanne asked, clearly annoyed and he gave her a weak chuckle. "I really don't like you doing this, Joshua… I know it's kind of necessary but..."
"I get it..." He replied before she could find the words to continue. "I get how you feel Jeanne. I felt the same when Cheshire and Nagini started the resistance training with me but… We have to do this. Once we are strong enough, we won't have to worry about anything."
"I know..." She nodded, still looking conflicted. With a soft smile, he walked up to her, pushing through the weariness of his limbs, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I get it, and I really appreciate that you worry and still help me, Jeanne, I do. Thank you," He told her, his words supported by Cheshire affectionately rubbing herself against the girl's legs. "Now, let's get meditation out of the way and get home, yeah?"
"Ok," The girl nodded, a sad smile on her face.
A moment later, both of them sat on the forest ground in front of each other, feeling the energies inside them. Joshua had tried to kickstart something like Magic Sense with Jeanne, but it seemed that it was more difficult to do than anticipated. So, for the time being, they'd decided to leave it for later.
It didn't mean that he wasn't training with it though. Now, everytime he sat to meditate, or when he had a moment to concentrate, he tried using the skill. So far, however, the only thing he'd managed to pick up were Cheshire and Jeanne, followed by Morag and Nagini once they became familiars and unlocked their magic stat. While disappointing, it was nice to know that there weren't magic users around them without their knowledge… although, there was always the concerning thought that there might be, and he just couldn't feel them for some reason.
He tried to focus on the first thought and not the second, most of the time.
[Magic has gone up a level.]
'Wow, a great day to train, it seems,' Joshua thought, surprised by the progress. Usually he got one or two levels through a training session, if that. So, having three, especially so closely followed, was actually pretty nice. 'I could have done without the smacking though,' He added, grimacing as he felt the stinging pain on his arm and back.
Closing his eyes, he continued with the exercise, he still needed some more energy and especially magic, before he was back to full. A small smile formed on his lips as he felt the small amount of magic that came from Morag, who seemed to be moving on the ground towards him. Apparently, now that he wasn't training anymore, she had decided to go back to standing on his hand or head. Probably the former, since his hair was now damp with sweat.
'I really should cut my hair,' He thought then, reminded of the length that it was starting to reach. Joshua had had that thought several times already, but was, amusingly enough, too lazy to take time off his training and just go and have it cut. He liked keeping his routine, that was for sure.
'Nagini is done hunting, huh?' Joshua picked up then, at the edge of his sense, which was roughly the size of the clearing at that point. The snake's magic seemed sluggish, barely moving, something that the man had started to associate with her having eaten something.
When he opened his eyes to look at her, he was met with another screen.
[Magic Sense has gone up a level.]
'A really good day to train,' He noted with a grin on his face. 'Maybe we can have a mini celebration for this? Some take out, do something relaxing instead of more training or studying? Yeah, that sounds nice, actually. It would be nice to just draw and laze around for a bit...'
His smile widened, if that was even possible, when Cheshire climbed on his lap. Morag finally made it to him and started climbing his arm when he put his hand on the ground next to her. And, finally, Nagini went to her usual spot, which was coiled around his neck.
'Yeah, let's relax for the rest of the day.'
[}-o-{]
"All I'm saying is that if you pick up one more animal, you'll have to turn it into a room for them," Jeanne pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, it's not like we use the study for much, really. We study and work in the dining room anyway, remember?"
"I know," Joshua admitted with a grimace. "It's just that I liked the idea of having a space just for that. I'd like to leave the dining room for relaxing and such."
"Well, that's not the case right now."
"I know," He repeated with a sigh. "Turned out that it was too small for the two of us. The apartment in general is kind of small for all of us," He commented, bringing up a hand to massage his forehead. "And I thought it was big when I moved in."
"Picking up strays does that," Jeanne nodded, apparently proud that she had made her point.
"Says the last stray I picked up," Joshua said, trying to contain a smirk and failing.
"Hey!"
"I was sure they were over here, how did they just vanish?" A voice complained and Joshua stopped walking. After a pause, he looked down as if he had seen something on the floor.
"Maybe they sensed us?" Another voice asked. "Magicians don't just vanish, much less Sacred Gear holders."
Where he stood, Joshua heard Jeanne gasp and he almost cursed out loud at that. The last thing he needed was whoever those people were to realize that the people they were searching for were right there. It was a good thing that he'd set some Concealing Wards for just the two of them around the city where they usually traveled through. Hiding just them took a lot of the power from the Wards, but it was the best option to hide them in public spaces. He'd put up as many as he could overlapping each other and hoped that would work. Evidently, it did, if not as well as he'd wished it did.
Still, Joshua wasn't quite happy, even if his security measures had worked. 'That was very fucking close,' He thought, concerned.
"You ok, Joshua?" Jeanne asked, even if she knew the reason for his pause. It told him that he'd stopped for a bit too long.
"Yeah, I'm just not feeling very well," He replied, closing his eyes and acting the part as well as he could. It wasn't very difficult considering that he was sure his face had paled considerably.
Using that moment to focus as much as he could, he tried to use his Magic Sense to find those people without having to use his eyes. Sure enough, there were two presences besides Jeanne and his familiars to their side. Consciously keeping his eyes away from them, he took a deep breath in and nodded.
"Let's go," He told Jeanne as they continued walking. He did his best to keep an "eye" on the pair, just in case they followed them or something. Concentrating on his Magic Sense while doing stuff was difficult, but he had a very good motivator. 'I'm upping that training though. Being able to have a third eye out for threats would be great.'
"You think they were with the other three?" Jeanne asked, and Joshua was grateful that she didn't mention Khaos Brigade at all, keeping it as vague as possible. There was no way for the two of them to know if they were really in the clear, even if they were getting away.
"I don't think it matters," Joshua replied, feeling a headache coming his way. "I've yet to meet someone that's actually nice, you know?"
"I don't think we've met enough people to judge, really… Although you make a good point anyway," Jeanne said with a wry smile. He could tell that she was on edge though, and he couldn't blame her for that. Really, just when things were looking well for the two of them…
"Nothing happened this time, at least."
"There's that," Jeanne nodded and he saw her shoulders relax. Then, she grimaced. "They sounded a little too annoyed at missing us, didn't they?" She asked and he considered her question for a moment. Had they? He'd focused more on what they were saying than on how they were saying it.
"Did they?" He asked no one in particular. Cheshire, next to his feet, let out a meow that he took as a confirmation. "Ok… Ok..." He mumbled then, considering that new information. "That definitely doesn't sound like they were very friendly even if they weren't with those three."
"I guess," Jeanne nodded again, this time looking at him curiously. He didn't pay her much attention though, his mind was racing, processing what had just happened, the implications and their options. They could continue on as they had so far. He could set up more Wards to try and hide them, of course. However…
What if that wasn't enough? What if whoever was looking for them also improved their methods? He couldn't possibly compete with an entire group of people that seemed to be hunting him, even if they weren't all working together. Sooner or later someone would find them. Even with his skills improving, all his time studying and all his plan making… It wouldn't be enough. They needed more than that.
So, if they couldn't avoid confrontation… What could they do?
'We can control how the confrontation happens,' His mind decided instantly as his eyes narrowed.
There were a bunch of options on that route. They could decide to turn the tables on their hunters and hunt them instead. They could set up traps for them or look for them and attack them. Maybe even both.
Taking the fight to their hunters sounded like a terrible idea though. Honestly, that was the last thing Joshua wanted to do. If they stood little chance of being able to hide from these people, then the chances of them being able to fight them was around the same, really.
'There's another option though, isn't there?' He thought.
"What do we do, then?" Jeanne asked and he was brought back to reality, his eyes hardening.
"I think it's time we call for some help," He commented, grimacing at the very thought.
"Help? But I thought you didn't know… anyone… oh..." Jeanne started, trailing off as she realized where he was going with that. "Are you sure?"
"I am."
"So… we have to prepare for this."
"Yes."
They were gonna make a deal with a Devil.
[}-o-{]
The following week was a tense one.
The first decision they'd made was to call while at the Hunter's house instead of the apartment, just in case. Chances were that there wouldn't be any way to come back after crossing that bridge, but Joshua wanted there to at least be a semblance of a chance. So, he started making preparations.
Instead of training, he started setting up the wards he'd been preparing for just that purpose. There were only two of those, but they were as good as he could manage to make them. He'd just have to pray that they would be enough.
Everyday, they went there instead of to their usual spot to train. Jeanne and his familiars would do some light training while he concentrated on draining all his magic into Wards and meditating. It certainly helped spike his growth on those fronts, if nothing else.
[Joshua Davis
Title: Novice Magician
Race: Human
Strength: 21
Speed: 23
Dexterity: 22
Vitality: 24
Perception: 22
Magic: 31]
For one, his magic was slowly but surely leaving behind his other stats, that was for sure. Although, he was grateful for that. After all, the new Wards demanded a little more energy than the other ones, a fact that was quickly verified by the spell screens he got once he'd set them up at least once.
[Draining Ward - Lvl 4/50
An Offensive Ward which the user can cast to drain energy from targets to power itself or other Wards.
Requires a Wardstone of Offensive Typing.
Effectiveness and Area are determined by Skill Level, Wardstone Quality and Magic Quantity.
Consumption with circle - E to ∞
Consumption without circle - C to ∞]
[Weakening Ward - Lvl 1/50
An Offensive Ward which the user can cast to weaken targets.
Requires a Wardstone of Offensive Typing.
Effectiveness and Area are determined by Skill Level, Wardstone Quality and Magic Quantity.
Consumption with circle - E to ∞
Consumption without circle - C to ∞]
The Draining Ward certainly sounded good. The unfortunate part was that the draining part of it relied a lot on how much magic he could feed it when he set it up. He knew, since he'd tested it. To make things worse was the fact that the part about feeding energy to other wards or itself was deceiving.
It did that, yes, but much energy was wasted on the way. If he tried to put a number on it, he guesstimated that if the Ward took 5 units of energy, only 1 would be fed onto whatever was connected to the Ward. Still, Joshua had time and determination going for him, at the very least.
As such, he had set up two arrays of Draining Wards connected to each other, each one powering the next so that they would eventually drain a whole lot of energy, or so he hoped. He wasn't sure how effective that strategy would be in this case, but that was a little more dangerous to test and he didn't want to risk it, even with just two Draining Wards which was a lot less than what he had arranged in the house. He didn't want to accidentally kill himself or Jeanne or one of his familiars by creating something that was actually broken or some such.
On one of the arrays, the last Draining Ward connected with a Weakening Ward. On the other, it connected with a Weighing Ward. If his plan worked well, the power fed into those last ones would be so big that they would work like a charm and effectively bring down the fight power of whatever Devil he ended up summoning. Or, that was the theory at least. From there, it would be up to them to battle it with the Sacred Holy weapons Jeanne made if the Wards weren't enough.
While he didn't have specific information about Devils in any of his books, the ones detailing Wards had some spread here and there while speaking about how to make Wards that targeted that species, just like they did with others. Between that and some vague sentences from Jeanne's voices, he had some idea of what they were up against… He hoped.
Devils, actually, seemed to not be the all powerful creatures that he imagined them as. While the Satans, as the voices referred to power figures in Devil society, were like that, Joshua very much doubted he'd be unlucky enough to summon one of those. After all, why would such a being give him a flier?
"Are we doing this?" Jeanne asked next to him, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he gulped.
If he'd had any doubt about calling, it had vanished through that week. Now much more on edge, he'd managed to pick up magical signatures roaming the spots outside his Concealing Wards. They were running out time and, one day, they would step out of his controlled zones at a bad time. They couldn't risk that.
They had to do something.
"Yes, we are doing this." Joshua nodded, flipping a card between his left hand's fingers. His right hand, meanwhile, tapped nervously against the table they were sitting at. The card had a Storage Circle on it containing a bunch of Sacred Holy Daggers. Jeanne had pointed out, rightly so, that it would be a bad idea to have such weapons out in the open when trying to make a deal peacefully.
So, he had to be prepared to act in a split second. Almost everything would rely on him, after all. Jeanne, for all her determination, still struggled a lot with the Storage Space even if she had learned to cast it. That meant that the only thing she could summon from her own card was her sword, since that was as much as she could store for the moment. He would have to bring his own weapons out while also triggering all the Wards if it came to that.
"Ready?" He asked, taking a deep breath in and picking up the flier with his right hand.
"Ready," Jeanne said.
'I want to make a deal,' Joshua called with his mind, concentrating and, just in case, channeling a bit of his magic towards that particular hand. For a moment, he thought he might have done something wrong when nothing happened. Maybe he'd done it wrong? Did he have to call out loud? Do some sort of ritual? He doubted it, since the flier didn't come with instructions or anything but-
And then, the room lit up and a circle appeared across the table.
The magic circle formed on the ground and moved up as a person appeared, standing opposite to them. The first thing Joshua noticed was that she was beautiful. She had long flowing blonde hair tied in a ponytail and fair skin. The form-fitting outfit she wore certainly emphasized her attributes well too.
If Joshua hadn't been so absolutely terrified of what they were doing and what she actually was, he probably would have been distracted by how attractive she was.
As it was, his eyes went straight to her blue ones and prepared himself.
"I'm Kuisha Abaddon, a servant of the Bael Clan," She introduced herself, taking her time to eye both of them as she did so. Regardless of that, she gave them a smile that almost seemed genuine. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. What is your wish?"
[} Chapter End {]