Right before leaving, I checked out the connection I had to the underworld, and with a bit of help from Eve, Jibril, and Ddraig, I successfully connected telepathically with my aura and mana to the signature I remembered from Grayfia. When it finally clicked I sighed in relief. Geez, glad I was able to connect somehow. So convoluted, thankfully I'll be able to do it myself with some practice now that I have the gist.
(Hello... this aura, Ryu-sama? What's this so suddenly?)
(Hey Grayfia-nee, sorry for the abrupt call but I wanted to ask if it would be possible to construct more rooms and if would it be possible to add a training room since I was planning to train tomorrow.)
(Oh? It was a part of the plan to add more and to construct that training room you speak of. We needed one if you were to be serious about training and we can't have Rias hopping back and forth for lessons, it's easier at your home.)
Thanking my lucky stars she is so accommodating and was thinking way ahead I breathed a sigh of relief.
(Thank you Grayfia-nee! That helps us a lot!)
(Of course, as Rias' and your maid, it is my duty to anticipate your needs and fulfill them promptly. We'll be beginning construction while you are at school and it should be complete by the time you get home. We shall arrive around the evening tomorrow, but I'll be arriving a bit sooner if that is okay with you.)
(Sounds good to me! We have lots of room. See you later, Grayfia-nee!)
(Mhm, farewell, Ryu-sama. We'll be talking about your abilities when I arrive. Training will indeed be fun. I hope Mamako-sama was right in what she saw in you that day.)
And with those ominous words, the connection was cut and I was left reeling at the thought of the giddiness in her voice at the thought of 'training' me, though I suppose she would call it training.
I suppressed the shudder that threatened to come out of me as I neared the gate, good thing I did since I could hear a voice whispering to herself. And when I passed my aura over her without thinking I detected something strange deep within Natsume. Is it possible? I remember her being the possessor of one of the Four Fiend sacred gears, but it's already awakening. Is it my influence? How could I trigger the awakening though? I could technically prod it with my draconic aura or my aura of infinity, normally powerful emotions do the trick, right? But I wonder if injecting some power into them would help in some way too. Food for thought.
"Good morning Nat-chan. Sorry, about the wait. Shall we go?" I asked, but instead of her normal cheerful smile, I was met with her narrowed eyes and scrunched-up face. Almost as if she had detected something.
"Good morning Ryu-kun... Hmm, you seem to be hiding something. Ayaka and Kaori always seem to stare at you!" She didn't sound mad, more annoyed and curious, and considering I hadn't told them specifically what was happening it's to be expected. Honestly, I might just invite them at some point, not to necessarily introduce them to the supernatural, that can come later, but to the new friends.
When she had finished, she continued getting closer to me until she was right up on my face, I just sighed and she smiled triumphantly.
"You're right, I ended up saving a girl and now I'm taking care of her in my home. The other friend I made, the one I told you about who lost her brother, came by to hang out. But still, don't worry, Rias left early and the guardian of Akeno was there with her and she sleeps together with her."
"Hmmm, so why do I smell her on you?" asked the miffed Natsume.
"She was feeling emotional so she hugged me," I said cool as a cucumber.
She snorted. Then muttered, "...Ayaka tends to hug you a lot...
Seeing how she'd get mad if I mentioned I could hear her, I left it alone and just grabbed her hand so we could be on our way. Of course, she smiled cutely at my action.
"W-what...? What are you doing a-all of a sudden?" She stuttered. Cute.
"Well, I took the initiative cuz I wanted to hold your hand, I can't?" I asked in a destructively pitiful voice.
"O-ohhh... Uhm T-thats fine! I was just about to hold yours as well! But you beat me to it, how unfair of you," She said having regained her composure and grinning like mad. Just like her to bounce back so easily.
Having said what we needed to we went on our way, with her occasionally asking me about the new friends I made. I told her they were shy and somewhat sheltered so they don't have many friends their ages. They also may go to school with us soon. She was surprisingly excited about that piece of information.
With a firm hold on my hand, Natsume hummed till we passed the school gate and encountered some rather unhappy-looking girls. Seeing as I discovered something interesting with Natsume, I thought 'What the hell, might as well,' and unleashed a bit of my aura, gliding over the girls.
A grin manifested over my face, stopping the girls in place and shivering at the sight of me. Muttering stuff like 'kyaa so cool,' 'Heeh, n-not bad,' and 'Oh my!' I couldn't help it. Too bad Shouko wasn't here since it would've been nice to check them all but I did find some rather impressive things.
They ignored my grin after the moment passed, so in the meantime, we walked to the classroom as I thought about the implications of my little stunt.
Magic Potential. Sacred Gears. And some Hybrid cases I think. I can get just enough detail to get the gist of it, though considering how overpowered my aura is, I'm not surprised that it was able to dig in so deep.
Fascinating.
"You okay, Ryu?" Ayaka asked after a while of keeping silent, other than greeting them of course.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm great, just found out something awesome. Some diamond in the roughs, can't wait to see what happens in the future!" I said with some extra vigor in my voice.
Taken aback, and with a cute head tilt, she just replied, "Well, you have always been a bit weird and cool at times, so that's to be expected. Glad you're excited about whatever it is though!"
Oh you have no idea, you little magician.
Yup.
Turns out my little bob-haired childhood friend could use Fire and Frost (ice, but it sounds better as frost) Magic. Incredible because they are opposing elements. It even feels like they could combine somehow. Is she gonna be someone who launches Scald like a Pokemon!? Fucken awesome! Digging deeper, I'm pleasantly surprised how the mana is nourishing her body physically, almost unconsciously. Perhaps she'd be a close combat mage fighter? Damn, holy shit what if she could manifest her magic into a crystalized form, like swords, shields, or maybe as some gauntlets. I also noticed something special about her magic. It appears it has some properties of bypassing defense, of course, it's weak but it kinda feels the same as Penetrate from the Boosted Gear. Jesus Christ. So she'd be able to freeze or boil people from the inside with her attacks? Brutal.
Looks like it's only a matter of time before we introduce her into our world. She may have some idea already considering our families are close.
"So is Ryu okay? He's acting like more of a buffoon than usual," Kaori said nonchalantly, breaking me from my thoughts.
Hey, that's cruel, you know.
"I don't know, he was muttering to himself. He usually does this when thinking hard about something important, so I wouldn't be worried if I were you," Ayaka answered Kaori.
"A-are you sure? I can take him to the n-nurse! Back at my other school, I would stay in there for lunch, the nurse was r-really nice. I wonder if they'd let us stay with Ryu-san," Saki said with a hint of embarrassment.
That's... I wanna cry. Does she need hugs?!
"What do you mean you used to go there for lunch?! Are you for real?! Okay, yeah, you're sticking with us from now on," Kaori said as she took Saki's hand gently reassuring the confused-looking girl. Ayaka took her other hand looking gently at the still panicking Saki who didn't notice anything wrong with her statement.
"Now now, Ryu-kun is still paying attention, he's avoiding bumping into people. Very impressive," Yurika said with her hand elegantly over her mouth as she chuckled.
They're really fine with me going off into my own little world huh? Best girls. For real for real. Ahem, kinda broke character there for a bit.
I still gotta get the details for the others. I then turn my attention to the soft-hearted and nervous-looking girl, Saki.
She's a huge fucken surprise. Cold sweat begins to form, as I try to suppress my beating heart. Ddraig and Eve both noticed my state, but other than directing the information I got, they also sat in silence. It may not seem like such a big deal but it's the fact that I found two things.
Hybrid Race and a Sacred Gear I haven't heard of.
She's a Half-Fairy. And because she retains her humanity, she was able to obtain a Sacred Gear. With just a little prod, I could have unleashed the overwhelming amount of mana she had inside her. Thankfully it was just my aura and not any actual mana doing the investigation. As I continued to stare, she noticed my gaze and tilted her head cutely, with a blush beginning to manifest. Adorable. This little cutie is packing some serious power.
I gulp. For some reason when my aura passed through once again, I grasped the name of the Sacred Gear and a bit of how it looks like when it manifests. Almost as if it wanted me to know its name.
Uru-anna Nebula.
I'm not sure if it would fall into elemental, but it manifests as a bow with no arrows. Your own mana passes through the bow and it supercharges it with Star mana, incredibly potent celestial energy. I think it falls into the divine and holy power of the energies. Obviously, heavy amounts of mana need to be used to power it. You also need to take into account the control and finesse needed. Not to mention the concentration when the pressure from the star mana hits. The Sacred Gear is connected to one's soul, after all, so obviously she would obtain bits of star mana as she continued to use it. Damn. You know, this is reminding me of a particular name.
Orion.
Holy shit, little Saki is gonna become a supercharged sharpshooter.
Shaking my head at the future, I then turn my attention to Yurika.
Although she may not have a sacred gear, she made my heart leap out of my chest as well. Her potential is terrifying. She appears to be a hybrid as well, but instead of only being half-half, she's of three races. Half-human, Half-Druid, and Half-Elf. With her human heritage, she would be able to bond with a sacred gear. Though it'd only be possible if I happened upon one in my shop. She's more in line with support, as in buffs, debuffs, healing, and other such things but we will have to wait and see.
Kaori was surprising but also to be expected considering the love she holds for music. She holds another Sacred Gear completely unknown to me.
A rare recovery Sacred Gear with supporting properties. She'd be able to manifest two instruments of her choosing and in using those she'd be able to heal allies depending on the song and the amount of mana used. Hmm sounds complicated. Would the type of song influence the effect? Though her magic power is not as impressive as the others, they're a special case since Kaori is still pure human.
Although I expected these girls to hold some type of power because of my ripple influence, I still did not expect them to have some insane powers/backgrounds. If they're like this then how will it be like when I check Shouko? I tremble at the thought of it.
"Ryu-kun, we're here already," Yurika softly said as she tapped my shoulder, breaking my train of thought.
"Ah, sorry about that, Yuri-chan. Thanks for letting me know," I reply.
She smiles and we then make our way toward our seats. I notice Shouko perk up and softly smile at us while waving her hand excitedly.
*Good morning, Ryu-kun! Good morning, Yurika-san! I hope you two had a pleasant weekend.*
Dear God, she's an angel.
Hmm?
Wait, a damn moment.
I once again cast my aura over her. A third time to check again. And then finally one more time to make sure.
Uh.
Well, that's... something.
Didn't think I'd manifest it literally.
She's part angel. The fuck.
As I continue to give her a once-over with my aura, I get the distinct feeling that she's not a hybrid. She gives off the same feeling as me, that is being a full-blown human and full-blown angel. Okay, having established her unique race. I take a look at the other thing that blew me away as well.
She's a Sacred Gear holder. But the thing that made me wince was the part that the gear was inducing her deafness. I'm not sure how it exactly works, but I think it won't matter because once she awakens her angel race, she'd most likely be cured once her healing vitality kicks in and stabilizes the Sacred Gear.
Once again the gear provides me with information, though I would've gleamed it from my aura, it still helped me concisely gather it together.
An elemental/support type Sacred Gear. It is insanely dependent on the user's passion and the intensity of their feelings to power it. So, this has the capability of being broken, but honestly, it's all of DxD so it makes sense. The first ability gained would be the way it can double whatever is 'said,' be it an attack or a healing spell. The drawback would be the more powerful the attack is, the harder it is for it to manifest into reality and control. A few examples are: the user saying 'fireball' and with the power of the sacred gear another 'fireball' manifests and is launched simultaneously. It looks like you have to have a clear image along with making sure the clarity of words spoken is accurate/meshes with the image in your head. The Sacred Gear is also reliant on the amount of energy the user currently has disposable.
It feels like there's more to it which makes sense, I'm just gleaming some information so perhaps everyone will manifest different abilities or they may have other effects.
I have no idea how they came to be, but what I do know is that I'm doubling my efforts to protect them. They're gonna be powerhouses, but that's way into the future. I turn to look at Shouko. But seeing the angel smiling at me I nearly collapse. She has this worried expression on her face.
Saki and Shouko are gonna be some cute badasses. They're sweet girls though, I'm not sure how they'll react to the terrifying reality of the supernatural. At that exact moment, I remember another person who was equally as innocent as them. That little nun would be fast friends with these two little ladies.
*Are you okay, Ryu-kun? You're spacing out and hardly paying attention,* Shouko abruptly waves and signs her hand at me to get my attention. I snapped out of my thoughts even though I was staring right at her. I really gotta work on this habit of mine. I'm getting too used to it because I sometimes spend my time looking at my system screens.
*Not to worry, Shouko-chan. I'm feeling great, better than great even. I found some wonderful news and I can't wait for that day.*
*I'm glad. What's the news Ryu-kun? Can I know?!*
*I'll tell you soon, it's something life-changing after all.*
*Awe but I wanna know now.*
I chuckle. Then respond. *Patience Shouko-chan, we still have class right now. I won't forget to tell you, I promise.*
She gave me a brilliant smile and signed, *Okay!*
As the day went by I noticed the girls glancing at me every so often, I would turn to them but they would abruptly look away. Ayaka and Kaori would give me a sweet smile whenever possible, so it might be because of the event they witnessed last time. I'll invite you guys soon I swear!
Only Saki and Shouko would talk to me with their ever-present sweet smiles. It turns out Saki is an Indie Game Geek. She would actively talk about the wonders of Celeste and the awesomeness of Undertale. Being an avid player myself, I listened attentively, while Shouko watched my hands in fascination because of the topic. She looked interested. Turns out Shouko is an avid romance/harem manga reader. Color me surprised. Saki perked up a few times at the mention of some titles she was familiar with and we all agreed on going to a Manga/Gaming Cafe soon together.
That'd be fucken awesome.
Noticing that the school gate was almost upon us, Ayaka and Natsume were proactive and hugged me goodbye. The other girls were a bit shy so they concluded that a pat on the head would be a delightful send-off. I agreed.
With the blushing girls hurriedly going on their way, I started my journey back home. Walking it all the way because I knew for a fact some of the yakuza men were probably on stand-by so I couldn't teleport.
Seeing the grand mansion come into view, I went inside the intricate and massive gated doors and I made my way inside and was about to open the sliding door to my room. It slammed open while a ball of excitable energy launched itself at me.
I caught her instinctively, cushioning her with my gravity powers so she wouldn't hurt herself. My ahoge stood ramrod straight throughout it all.
"Ryu! Welcome back! I missed you!" She shouted, but it was a bit muffled thanks to her burrowing herself into my uniform.
"I'm home, Akeno-chan. Your magic power increased a bit, huh, you've been training hard, haven't you?" I asked her with a soft smile on my face.
"Yes! If I wanna stand at your side then I gotta properly wield my strength."
I smiled at her enthusiasm and walked inside as she clung to me. Taking a look around, there was not a single piece of furniture that was burned or anything disorderly anywhere. Looks like Jibril must have snapped back into place or Shuri must have cleaned it. I don't mind, but dang that's pretty cool. Speaking of those two, they're currently on the table playing a game, looks like Uno. They also have a pack of cards there so they might play that too.
"Hey Shuri-onee-san, Jibril, I'm back. You guys busy?"
"This human believes she can beat me. So I must teach her a lesson. Do not mind us and play with the little one over there," Jibril said with a wave of her hand.
"Fufu, Jibril-san is mighty confident, I suppose I am a bit rusty. No winner has emerged yet, but she has been the one who has gotten the closest. Ah, right, it appears the training room is finished Ryu-kun," Shuri responded light-heartedly. Looks like it's in Jibril's favor, but Shuri doesn't seem to mind.
The training room is done huh? I wanna check it out, but I gotta make the food, so I'll check it out with Akeno once we get the chance. At least a peek before bed.
Dinner ended up being some meat bowls I threw together, but Akeno ended up eating fast cuz she wanted to check it out right away.
Seeing as how we will need to go to bed in a few moments, I was like what the hell why not? We got out of my room and made our way down the hall, it wasn't too far, just a couple of strides down where some intricate-looking doors were situated. Looks like they did some carvings of some famous dragons, Ddraig, Albion, and Tiamat. Damn cool.
"This is so cool! Ah, I'm so excited!" She's practically vibrating in place.
We opened the door and stepped in and were met with a splendid sight. You could hardly see the ceiling. Pillars lined the sides, but they were so far apart it didn't take up any space that's how huge it was. We didn't really have time to explore and look at all the facilities it had but we were satisfied with the space it had. There was so much room to fly around and the walls were lined with so many runes and other such spells. They probably helped deflect attacks, either nullify or break down, self-repair, and other such things. I wouldn't be surprised if this room helped speed up the recovery process.
Our awe-filled gazes were plastered onto our faces the whole way back, but soon the tiredness of the day caught us and we all got comfortable and drifted off to sleep.