Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Sets New Heights, Beyond My Reach
"Thank God that's over with," Jeanne grumbled as she sat at the table and Joshua mimicked her, agreeing completely with the sentiment. His hands trembled and his breathing was still accelerated. He might have been taken from the fight but the fight hadn't been taken from him, evidently.
"Everyone is ok, right?" He asked, looking around, fidgeting with his fingers as his foot bounced on the floor. All his familiars looked fine, Cheshire was licking herself clean, Nagini simply tilted her head questioningly, as if daring him to tell her she was anything but. Morag raised one of her legs as if waving at him to tell him she was ok.
"That woman almost stomped on Morag," Jeanne informed him and Joshua felt his hands clenched into fists. He made a mental note to have a talk with Griselda next time he saw her.
"You ok, girl?" He asked the spider as he picked her up in his hand. The arachnid pushed her body down against his hand and he was pretty sure that was her version of nuzzling. "I'm glad-"
[Quest Complete: A Favor for a Devil
Rewards:
+ 2 Levels to all Stats
+ 2 Levels to all Bonds
+ 2 Levels to Dagger Mastery
+ 2 Levels to Neutral Magic
+ New Perk: Demonic Element]
'It's really unnerving to see that,' Joshua thought as he took in the screen. Particularly the bottom part, where the blue square seemed to get corrupted by black and red covering the last line of text. 'What's Demonic Element though? If Sairaorg was planning to do what I thought, then why…'
For a split second, he wondered if the Devil had lied to him. It wouldn't surprise him as much as it would disappoint him. Joshua wanted to believe his trust in the other man was more developed than that, but then again… 'Maybe I should check first, right?' He thought to himself wryly.
[Demonic Element
Allows the use of Demonic Artifacts with reduced side-effects.]
It was just as 'corrupted' looking as the Quest screen had been, which was expected, he supposed. 'Reduced side-effects, huh?' He noted, wanting to check the book he'd been given more and more. It was nice to have some information from the Game, at least. That way there was something to check the book's information against. 'Maybe there'll be a mention of this in the book?'
'If Sairaorg was getting at what I think he was with that book, this will come handy in the future,' Joshua mused.
"Josh?" Jeanne called, snapping him from his thoughts. Blinking, he turned towards her to see the teenager giving him a concerned look. "How about I prepare some tea, yeah?" She offered as she went to stand down.
"Sorry," He apologized instantly. "I'm still a little out of it, I think. How are you?"
"I'm… calm," She mumbled, sitting back down on her chair. "I shouldn't be, but I am… The voices say that I'm a born warrior, whatever that's supposed to be." Joshua was inclined to believe that. It would explain how the girl took so well to their combat training, at least. "I… I really don't know what to think about that."
"Well, considering what we know about this world," Joshua mused, trying to keep himself calm as the adrenaline gradually stopped coursing through his veins. "I think that's good. It'll help you survive, if nothing else."
"You are calm too… are you like me, then?" Jeanne asked, tilting her head forward so that her hair hid a good part of her face from him. He could clearly see her wringing her hands though.
"I guess I am?" He replied hesitantly, more like a question than a statement. He didn't think he was a born warrior or whatever the voices had told Jeanne. He'd never been one for fights. He'd prepared for them though, after his encounter with the Hunter and later Khaos Brigade, he'd had to. Then again, he'd adapted a little too quickly, hadn't he?
"The voices say you are…" Jeanne started, trailing off for a moment before her eyes focused once more. "And that you seem to be a leader too."
"Huh… Guess I could be seen like that," Joshua mumbled. He didn't see himself that way though. He'd never been a social person at all, let alone someone with the charisma to be a leader. Then again, things had changed a lot since he'd woken up in that hotel.
"They say you'll see it too, eventually," Jeanne told him with a slight smile.
"Maybe," He replied as his hand moved to the side, coming to lay on top of Cheshire's head. He grinned, relaxing even more, as Nagini started slithering her way up his body as she usually did. Like always, it was comforting to count with the presence of his familiars. Especially in that moment, he'd admit. "I'll go prepare that tea myself. You stay here. I could use the distraction," Joshua decided as he stood up. "Keep Jeanne company, yeah?" He added towards Cheshire, who meowed her affirmation.
"Sometimes it feels like we live here," Jeanne commented to no one in particular as he walked, making him freeze midway towards the kitchen. They were in the Hunter's House, since that's where Kuisha had sent them. Joshua was sure the Devils knew where he lived, but they respected his desire to leave their actual home alone, which he was grateful for.
What his adopted sister said was true though. They spent so much time in that house, between training and dealing with the Devils, that what Jeanne said made sense. He'd tried to avoid just that, but he supposed he'd failed.
He snorted to himself as he went about preparing two cups of tea. Things changed a lot, as usual. He'd gone from being unable to be inside the house without shaking, to grudgingly coming over and now comfortably moving around as if it were his own place. 'Humans are adaptable creatures,' He thought, pretty sure that was a quote or something.
'Live here, huh?' He mused as he moved back to the table and set a cup in front of Jeanne. 'Now there's a thought I wouldn't have expected to have,' He added with a slight grin.
[}-o-{]
[Sairaorg Bael]
If he thought he owed Joshua something from the training ward arrays, then he owed three times that for the help with the Exorcists. He couldn't imagine how incredibly more complicated things would have been if he'd have to get involved in that mess. One thing was approaching the group once the battle had ended and the Strays were dealt with. It would have been something else entirely to intervene in the fight.
His peerage and himself would have become targets purely because of what they were. Not that he could fault the exorcists. He'd react badly too if he was fighting a Stray Devil and suddenly an exorcist interfered out of nowhere.
Point was, having a human, especially one with Holy Weapons, appear in the middle of a fight was much better than having a Devil group do so. Sairaorg was still surprised by the reveal of his associate's choice of weaponry, but he could hardly blame them for hiding that. Joshua and his little group had proved themselves worthy of a modicum of trust, something that had taken time from both groups to build. If they could look past his race, he could look past their weapons, especially since it seemed they were linked to some kind of Sacred Gear of Jeanne's.
Regardless of reasons, Sairaorg was glad that Joshua had agreed to his request and even more so that the man had played along and acted as someone that worked for him. It was more or less how their relationship worked, but it was still very nice of him to do so in front of others, especially the Church. The Devil was certain that things wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly as they had if the human hadn't been involved before himself, even after the conflict had ended.
Griselda Quarta was also a breath of fresh air for Sairaorg. He'd had to deal with the Church before and it hadn't been nearly as… nice wasn't the word he was looking for, but it was close enough. At least there hadn't been any threats of death for him or his peerage… from Griselda herself. Xenovia, the carrier of one of the Excalibur fragments was much less agreeable, but thankfully it wasn't her the one calling the shots on the exorcist side. Thank the Satans for small mercies.
Sairaorg was more than happy to have the entire incident forgotten after a short talk in which he let the exorcist go with their strays. He probably could have pushed for things but, honestly, he just wanted to be done with that and go back to his things. Training, mainly.
That reminded him…
'I wonder if Joshua is even interested in Demonic Artifacts though,' Sairaorg mused as his mind focused back on his original plan for repayment. 'Maybe a Holy one? That'd be hard to get my hands on,' He continued thinking.
Contrary to what some might think, Devils did have Holy Artifacts in their possession. They didn't use them, for obvious reasons, but they owned them, either as spoils from the Great War, from deals or from some other means. Still, it didn't mean Sairaorg had one though and it would be quite difficult to get his hands on one…
'Maybe something else?' He mused, a new idea forming in his head. Yes, that could work. He'd have to talk with the man himself to get his opinion though. Last thing Sairaorg wanted was to unknowingly insult him.
[}-o-{]
[Griselda Quarta]
That had been close. Too close, really.
Of all places, Sellzen just had to take them into Bael territory. Even if the Devil that watched over the land was the previously shunned heir of the Great King. The Devils would have loved an excuse to get their claws on her people, regardless of what or who it came from.
However, she was surprised, because of two things.
First, that the Bael heir had simply nodded along with her requests and let her go just like that. She'd half expected some demands, but it seemed the Devil wanted them gone as much as they wanted to leave. Strange as it was, she realized that they were in the same boat regarding the entire situation.
It was a strange world, the one she lived in.
The second surprise had been the Devil's associates. People that wielded Holy weapons working for Devils was a rarity. Not unheard of, of course, but certainly not something that one came across often. It only added to the bizarre circumstances that the pair and their pets had helped her people.
Not to mention that a spider had apparently been guarding her when she'd been a breath away from being defeated and probably taken hostage. Although, her people seemed more disturbed by the snake for several reasons. Understandable really.
She sighed, reaffirming her belief that she lived in a strange world.
Then, her eyes moved towards Xenovia. Her ward had always had a bit of a temper, but insulting a Devil in their own territory was something she hadn't expected her to do. She'd have to explain to the girl why that was a bad idea. Griselda's heart had almost stopped beating when she heard the words come out of her mouth. She felt no shame for the sigh in relief she let out when Sairaorg Bael wove the offense off like nothing.
She would grudgingly accept that she owed the Devil now.
Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, however. Her people would surely want to know more about the Holy Artifact wielders. So, a connection to someone that could contact them was good, even if that someone was a Devil. It wouldn't be the first time the Church interacted with the Devils in a non-aggressive way and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
First, however, she had to give a report of the whole incident and then discipline her ward. The rest would have to be pushed for later.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
Really, he should have expected what happened shortly after his run with the Exorcists on Sairaorg's behalf. It hadn't been two days since then when the Devils had sent a notice that they would visit the Hunter's House that day. They didn't stay for long, and didn't have much to discuss either, but they did drop by and leave a bunch of books.
Taking a passing glance through them, Joshua realized that they were everything he'd asked for. The tomes held Healing Magic, Spatial Magic and supernatural knowledge, lots and lots of supernatural knowledge. He'd thanked them a lot but the Devil had simply waved him off, saying that it wasn't even an actual reward, since they were the payment for the ward arrays for his other cities in advance. No, it was just a show of goodwill, the reward would come in later.
Then, Sairaorg had proceeded to ask a question that left Joshua blinking.
"Would you be interested in getting another familiar?" The Devil had asked. He'd said yes, of course. He was rather fond of the three he already had, and he found himself interacting with them much easier than with people that weren't Jeanne. It seemed that he hadn't changed that much, really.
Sairaorg had refused to elaborate on his question, simply smiling and telling him that he would arrange something.
Maybe he should be more concerned about that, Joshua supposed, but he wasn't. Despite the entire Exorcist business, his trust in the Devils had remained as it was. It wasn't like they were involved in that whole mess, just that it happened in their territory.
"Josh?" Jeanne called, snapping him from his thoughts. When his eyes found her, he saw the girl looking at him exasperatedly.
"Yeah?" He asked, sheepishly rubbing his neck.
"Just wondering how that goes, but I think you've had enough for now," She said with a shake of her head as she started taking the books from in front of him. He would have complained about that, but Jeanne was careful to mark all the pages he was in and so on. She was getting a lot of practice taking away his stuff when he got a little too into his spell tinkering.
"Fine, ruin my fun, why don't you?" He grumbled, leaning back on his chair. Cheshire took the opening instantly and jumped on his lap, where she was promptly met with a hand that ran its fingers through her fur. "You are on my side, right, girl?"
The feline let out a meow that he was pretty sure was something along the lines of 'stop being stupid'. Thus, Joshua sighed, lamenting the fact that the world was conspiring against him. 'What's so bad about my tinkering? It's not like I have better stuff to do and I like it,' He grumbled in his mind.
"So, Jeanne, I didn't hear any screaming and I don't smell anything burnt. I take it your cooking attempt was a success?" He asked, turning his head towards the kitchen. He'd been teaching the girl for a while now and while she was prone to making mistakes when there were several things to keep track of, otherwise she was… ok.
"I mean… It wasn't great, from what I tried, but it wasn't horrible, at least," She huffed as she sat opposite to him, resting her head on her palm with a pout. Apparently, learning to cook was important to her for some reason.
"You'll get there," Joshua reassured with a small smile. "You are much better than the first time, that's for sure. I mean, there was no risk of the place going up in flames this time, right?"
"Ugh," She groaned, plating her head on the table between her arms. "Stop reminding me!" Jeanne shouted, her muffled voice making him chuckle. "It's not funny!"
"It kind of is though," He shot back. "So, are you gonna tell me why this is such an important thing for you?"
"I just want to learn to cook, is that so strange?" She asked, bringing her head up, pout still in place. "You like cooking and you are good at it too… I want to be able to do the same…" She mumbled, looking away.
"Jeanne, we are already siblings, as far as I'm concerned. Doing the same things isn't gonna make it even more so. I'm pretty sure siblings aren't supposed to do the same stuff," Joshua explained softly with a smile. "But if I'm misunderstanding that, then feel free to keep practicing. I'll help you whenever you want."
"Thanks," She nodded, looking pleased. "So, what are you working on right now?" The girl asked, her expression turning curious.
"Well, I'm working on a card with an Illusion circle," He explained, looking down at Cheshire, who was still very much enjoying his petting. "In case we are in another situation like last week. I want to make a disguise for us that's better than just clothes. Nothing too crazy, just touching our hair and faces a little so we aren't easily recognized. I'll probably add a little voice modifying too, since that would be a dead giveaway too."
"What about the smell?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and he grimaced.
"Well, that would be ideal, but touching that is a little more complicated. I want to get this part done before I get started with that," He explained with a sigh. "Better to have some measures than none, right?"
"Makes sense," She nodded. "And what else?" She prodded again and he grinned wryly. She knew him too well already. He usually worked on several things at the same time, usually bouncing between projects when his mind drifted off the what he was currently doing.
"Well, I'm still trying to get the daggers to shoot themselves out of the Storage Spell. I'm looking through the book about Spatial Magic right now. Maybe I can find a way to make a modified spell that'll achieve that," He told her excitedly. He really liked that idea, and he was finding some info that made him think it was possible.
"You really love tinkering with spells, huh?" She asked, more like an observation than a question, and he shrugged in response.
"What can I say, magic is interesting."
[}-o-{]
"Come on, you can do better than that," Joshua pressed as he slashed with his daggers towards Jeanne. His smaller weapons clashed against her swords, that advantage was playing in her favor and it was becoming obvious. Despite that, the girl could never find a big enough opening to strike back.
Thus, he kept going, not letting her get the smallest of chances. After all, training this might be, but going easy on her wouldn't help anyone. He used then, the advantage of his weapons, being light and small. His feet started moving then, since standing in one place was just stupid when one was using daggers.
Joshua moved around his adopted sister, the girl struggling to keep up with his movement, even if she only had to turn her body a bit to follow. It was easier said than done, after all, when someone was attacking you with daggers all the while. She managed though, and when she didn't, his daggers would do nothing but leave a colored mark on her clothes or skin. After all, Jeanne had made the weapons they were using specially to do no actual damage.
"Ok, I think that's it," Joshua declared after he got a slash on her neck of all places. "Pretty sure you are tired."
"What… was… you first… clue?" She asked in between huffs for air and he chuckled breathily too. He was fairly tired too, after all. His chosen style of fighting was very draining, with all the running around. 'Thank God for the Game System,' He thought to himself.
Taking a deep breath in. He tried to calm his beating heart.
"Meditation?" Jeanne mumbled and he nodded.
"Yeah, let's recover for a bit," He told her, already having exhausted his magic practicing spells beforehand. Jeanne, for her part, drained herself with other swords, like the one Nagini was wrapped around training her Heat Resistance and some others they'd used to make their improvised arena more… interesting.
"Sounds great to me," The girl agreed, her shoulders slumping down as the swords disappeared in a small flash of light and specks in the air.
"How about you two, doing alright?" Joshua asked Nagini and Morag. The first hissed something that sounded a lot like a grumble to him. Probably because she'd been doing resistance training. He understood. Months had passed and he still detested Poison Resistance training with Morag. They would continue doing so, but they would complain the whole way, that was for sure.
As for the spider, she gave a cheerful bounce on her legs. She was the one that probably enjoyed training the most, since she got to practice her weaving, which she enjoyed, and she was rather indifferent towards her Jumping and Water Walking practice. 'If she digivolves like Cheshire, she might have to start with some Resistance training herself though,' Joshua noted. They'd refrained from including Morag on that part of their routines because she was small and fragile and they didn't want to risk it even with a weaker weapon, thus, they waited. Maybe if she transformed into something else, she would be able to start too.
It would take a while if the thing really depended on reaching Rank D, since little Morag was only Rank E at the moment. Nagini, for her part, was much closer at D-. Joshua was looking forward to that, wondering and theorizing what would change if something even did.
"Glad you are enjoying yourselves," He replied to them, truthfully to Morag and sarcastically to Nagini, of course. He received a threatening hiss from that last one. "Now, where did Cheshire go this time?" He wondered out loud as he looked into the forest. The feline had taken off long ago, to hunt, was Joshua's best guess.
However, it was taking her a little too long. 'Maybe she's getting something for Nagini or Morag?' He mused. Joshua didn't have much time to ponder that though, because he caught the side of precisely his feline familiar coming their way through the trees. 'The hunt went well, huh?' He noted, seeing that she was carrying something in her mouth.
Unsurprising, really, since she was a great huntress before changing into a Magical Lynx, after the fact, well. He was surprised she hadn't started going for bigger prey, honestly. He was just about to greet her when he blinked, disconcerted.
"Is that… a nest?" He asked then, eyes wide as he looked at the bunch of intertwined twigs that his familiar was carrying around. Looking at it, he saw that there was a hatchling in there. "Cheshire what the hell?!" He exclaimed.
The feline had the gall to give her the equivalent of a shrug at his question.
"Why did you bring it here?" He asked, his eyes twitching. He knew his familiars ate living things, Cheshire had never done anything like this and he was very confused. 'She obviously didn't go for it to eat it and I very much doubt she brought that for Nagini,' He thought, trying to find an explanation.
Then his eyes narrowed as an idea popped in his mind.
"Please tell me you didn't eat its mother," He begged his familiar, who shot him her version of an offended glare. "Why do this though? I've seen Nagini eat birds. I've seen you eat birds."
She simply stared at him.
"Oh, for God's sake…" His whole face twitched. "Really?"
Amber eyes stayed unmoving.
Joshua's, meanwhile, moved towards the baby bird. It moved and chirped and the man felt his annoyance slip away. He turned back to his first familiar for a moment, his blue eyes boring into hers. Then he sighed and looked back at the hatchling.
[Bird
Title: None
Race: Bird
Gender: Female
Strength: G
Speed: G
Dexterity: G
Vitality: G
Perception: G
Magic: -
Perks: 0
Skills: 0]
'Another female? What the hell?!' He thought, blinking in surprise.
"So… welcome to the family?" He heard, snapping his eyes away from the screen to see Jeanne scooping up the nest and looking at the chirping little creature. As she finished the question, the girl looked up at him with pleading eyes. He looked around at his other familiars and could only sigh at what he saw.
"Sure, why the hell not, right?" He grumbled. "Can you stop picking up strays, Cheshire? I thought Jeanne was the last one."
"Hey!"
[} Chapter End {]
(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)