"HaHaHaHa! Let's see what awaits us! Now world, I'll show you what I'm made of!" - Issei said as a vicious grin adorned his entire face. I really do wonder, what exactly will happen from now on…
He thought as a light enveloped him and he disappeared from the view, if he had inspected the field a bit closely he would have noticed that the crystal embedded in the tree was missing, and the animals and birds around the clearing were chirping excitedly with little droplets of water were dripping from the clouds as if, celebrating the arrival of their queen...
Scene Change/Training Facility
Artificial light revealed a rather desertic training field, it was the size of a normal football field, a rather huge space for training.
This place was divided into different areas. The Technique Area, where one trains in swordsmanship, speed and reflexes. That area has a lot of different stages and obstacles for the improvement of coordination with the body as well as one's instincts, and a simulator to hone the techniques.
The Magic Field Area, filled with targets that moved at different intervals and random directions. Those same targets were also programmed to attack so that one could practice defensive magic. They were pre-programmed into ten different levels, depending on who was using them.
There were also dozens of them, in different sizes, shapes and even different output in their attack power for a more " real " training experience.
And, of course, the most important area; The Power Field. That location was reinforced with several different magics, from Demonic, Norse, Fairy and even to several Angelic symbols engraved all over the place. All of them cast there to help withstand the most amount of raw power one could generate and not destroy anything… too much.
The field had the appearance of a huge, square platform of silver rock and four astoundingly tall pillars on the edges of it. All of them had the former mentioned sigils engraved all over their surfaces emitting a cyan glow. But even with all those defenses, one could destroy it if enough effort was put into it.
It could also generate holographic enemies that would only go down if a certain level of energy was used during an attack. That being the main reason why this place was the most often destroyed. But now this place seemed deserted as if no one has been using it for a long while. Dust accumulated in the air and because of it, it smelled rather funny.
The smell was a combination of dust, sweat, and even a little bit of blood. It appeared that the one who used this field last suffered quite a bit. This training field was just Training Field #2, it was deep inside the Hyoudou mansion and was the one that Issei used to train in. But now, it was the witness of the return of Issei from the place he was in. A magic circle made its appearance at the center of the field. Black with a red tinge on its center, it was formed right at the center of Training Field #2, shining in violet light like the flash of a camera.
After the light dissipated, a young man appeared in what one will call rags. His upper torso was uncovered, showing a rather pale and thin physique but not as bad as before, it seemed that the torture and healing using his Life Force made him gain some of the lost muscle he once had, something to feel really grateful to whoever helped him, facing that beast he believed its name was Tonelico or something. Not a familiar one, looks like I will have to research for it or maybe ask Ddraig.
The only thing he wore was a pair of blood-stained pants that were also broken here and there, even his shoes were long gone. But although he looked like that, his eyes-which now showed maturity as well as experience, were shining brightly. His face was sharper, maybe after all of that he experienced his physical appearance changed a bit.
He had a rather roguish look, approaching the Ichigo drip, especially with those black eyes with a hint of red. "Wow! I'm back. I never thought I would be back." - Issei said to himself in a sharp and surprised tone of voice, it seems his face and eyes weren't the only things that changed about him. Looking at his surroundings he was filled with a nostalgic emotion. It seems that although he did not spend much time in the cave, it actually affected him more than he thought. Walking with no sense of direction he started to move around the training field, making his numb limbs regain their senses and making his bones crack for being too much in the same position.
* Crack! *
- Was the sound of his ankles as he started to walk around the field. "Wahhh! That felt nice. It feels good to actually be free." - Issei said in a loud voice expressing relief and happiness, something that for the past couple of months-was lacking.
"Now. There are some things that I have to do, and since I'm in the training field, why not start with studying that aura or that sword? The last time I couldn't figure out much of it, and only figured out my healing properties after I tried to used it and the Evil Pieces acted up." - Issei said as he remembered the moment he was forced by Ddraig to practice with his Aura. At the remembrance of the memory a smile adorned his face.
Issei reached a specific area of the training field. Oddly enough it was the technique area. He thought that this was the place that would help him the most, not power or magic area, but rather the almost plain looking technique area.
He continued his walk in search of something, and finally, he found it. A console stood in front of him, it was located right at the beginning of the Technique Area. This console was used to personalize the obstacles one wanted, as well as setting the difficulty. The console was easy to use, and since he didn't want to personalize anything he just adjusted the level of difficulty . Turning the knob clockwise he set it to the max if it was any other time he would have never done that.
If he was in the mood, around 5 or 6, that was the limit he could reach. But he completely ignored it, today his instinct was telling him to max it out and trying it at that level, so he listened to it. After the knob was turned, the terrain in front of him changed. A huge cage various dozens of meter high was formed, it was black in color and the only ornament it had was a single door for entrance and exit. He walked ahead with his head held high and reached the black, metallic door.
Opening the door he went inside, yet at the insides of the cage laid nothing, completely empty, but he didn't let his guard down. Suddenly his instincts kicked in, screaming at him to move backwards.
Taking heed he quickly backpedalled, just in time for him to see a white blur fly by his former location. "… Holy Power…" - Issei said, surprised that the training room had a machine that shoot ' Holy Power '!
He stared at his former position only looking at the small but deep crater the attack left. (Damn! Who was the crazy bastard that installed that in my house!?) - His eyes went wide as he saw the smoking crater in front. (Shit! That really packs a punch! That's the level of a High-Class Angel perhaps more!) - Issei continued his monologue just in time for another white blur to come directly at his face.
* Swoosh! *
"Shit!" - While throwing himself to the ground, Issei cursed. "I swear once I find the crazy bastard that did this I'll teach him a lesson!" - Issei kept cursing out loud at the one who made this training field. Soon after two more shots came towards him, this time in opposite directions. Not knowing what to do he jumped upwards, dodging both of the shots, but before he could celebrate, he was greeted with another shower of white blurs that this time, he couldn't dodge. * CRASHH! * It was the sound of Issei falling from the sky. It seemed that the ' Holy Shots ' were more powerful than he expected.
Standing up, his body was covered by a few scratches. Blood started to fall from the corner of his mouth. "Well that was pretty impressive. If I was still a Devil that attack alone would have left big damage even with my armor! Thank the dead God of the Bible that now I'm a full dragon and have resistance to these types of attacks!" He didn't know what else to say. If his body was the impressive one, or the shots of Holy Power were the impressive ones. But his thoughts were gone as six Holy Shots came at him from different directions, reducing his dodging options drastically.
Without wasting time he brought the blade out and an aura surrounded him. Turning into his Demonic State his mark was proudly displaying itself on the left side of his forehead and his blade proudly sitting at his back his arms were adorned with what looked like red gauntlets in the shape of a dragons talons.
Soon he saw how the shots were slowing down giving him time to calculate the best way to avoid them. The shots closed in, but like it was a game, he moved at an incredible speed leaving only an afterimage where he once stood. Surprised by the increase in perception and speed, Issei widened his eyes. "Damn that was cool!" - He screamed with a feral grin on his face. "Well let's see how much can we do!" - Issei said in a low voice as soon as he saw a couple more Holy Shots coming for his face. He dodged them all again, but because of the increase in number and speed this time it costed him a bit more.
Getting bored by continuously dodging the shots he brought the blade out and held it parallel to the ground twisting his body to the left and spun while swinging the blade a fiery slash clashing with the incoming shots causing a large explosion in the process, "I should give this thing a name, he thought as he continued dodging and slashing at the objects whenever possible...
He continued for a around 3 hours. Now the Holy Shots came by the dozens and their shape changed to that of a spear for an increase in velocity. He continued his dodging. No break was ever on sight so his body was tired, extremely tired. Soon he made a misstep due to fatigue and all Holy Shots came for him. No twisting or turning would make dodging possible. He prepared for impact instead of using the blade he crossed his arms.
* BOOOOOOM! *
A huge explosion was heard inside training field #2. A huge cloud of dust was formed in the shape of a miniature mushroom. After the dust settled a figure could be seen inside a crater, both of his arms were crossed in the shape of an 'X', scratches accompanied by blood were seen in both arms and legs. A few 1st degree burns in his arms could be seen through the dust cloud. But for an impact of that magnitude, his body was barely wounded.
"Well… That hurt less than I thought?" - Issei broke his guard and scratched the back of his head. He thought that an attack of that level would have sent him flying and heavily wounded, at least on his base form. But reality was different, he was still firmly planted on the ground with something he could barely consider injuries on his arms and legs.
"Well… that was anticlimactic." - He said in disappointment. "Haaaa." - Shrugging his shoulders he released a tired sigh. After a few moments his aura acted up, fixating itself in both arms and legs. Before he even noticed, both of his arms and legs were healed and were good as before, when he first entered the cage. The little pain he felt was gone, but it was replaced with a little bit of fatigue.
"Oh!" - Finally noticing something else about his Aura he screamed. "It seems that my Darkness can heal pretty much any wound, but fatigue accumulates in it's place. Well, whatever, it's way better than bleeding." - Finishing the monologue the dark-brown-haired boy said. "Now that's interesting. Let's move on towards another area." - Issei said as he turned around and walked towards the black, metallic door he used when he first came in. Quickly opening it, he went towards the console and made the entire cage disappear. The last thing he needed was for someone to notice he used the training field at max. He walked forward, his goal now was the magic field.
If his Darkness was capable of augmenting his speed, regeneration, reflexes and flexibility that much. Then what about his magic reserves? He looked like a child with a new toy, stars could be seen in his eyes. He always wanted to learn magic but because of his low magic reserves he was never capable of learning it instead he was borrowing Ddraig's reserve of energy to use it to boost his physical attacks and create some awesome techniques .
"Let's see if something changed!" - Excitedly he walked towards the Magic Area, reaching it soon after. The Magic Area was a huge horizontal court that reached the wall behind it and the sides of the training field. Some parts of it were for ranged practice while others evaluated the level of your magical reserves, others were focused in defensive training, and the last, but certainly not the least, was the Offensive Range. Where one could see how much damage one's attacks actually did against enemies with varied magical resistance and defensive properties. Like in the Technique Area he searched for the console. He quickly found it and like in the past Area he maxed out the parameters, except the magic reserves. That one worked on a completely different system, well at least that was what Azazel once told him. Reaching the defensive range he activated it by increasing his aura, all fields occupied the same feature. If one wanted to start a specific range, one needs to be inside a specific location near the console of the said range and release a burst of their aura.
The same applied for turning it off, one stood inside the specific location and fired another burst of their aura. Quite handy if you thought about it. Quickly increasing his Aura he activated the range. Soon the land turned dull grey with weird Norse runes that according to Rosseweisse, were resistance runes for the field to withstand its own attacks without destroying itself. Magic circles soon appeared over Issei's head. There were many of them and they were of different magic styles. He could detect Norse, Demonic and Angelic, the rest because of his ignorance, wasn't able to.
* BAANGG! * - The magic was shot. Various elements soon blocked his vision, but because he hadn't removed his Demonic State he didn't feel threatened. Instinctively, he tried to manipulate his Darkness to change shapes into that of a shield or something to cover himself with, but he wasn't able to, it seemed much more difficult than he thought. The only thing he could do was to use the blade as a cover and rest with the dark aura
* KAAA-BOOOOOOOOM! *
A huge noise was heard, much more powerful than the one in the Technique Area. Even the entire training field quacked from the force of impact! Another cloud of dust quickly formed, reaching almost the top of the training field! Just by seeing the aftereffects of the explosion one could tell how powerful it actually was.
A figure jumped from the smoke, causing it to disperse. Then, with a loud noise, the figure landed on the ground causing a small crater to appear. The figure was Issei and was barely injured. The parts of his body covered by his Darkness were perfectly fine, there was not even a scratch on the blade. Nothing serious, he noted, maybe the wound only reached muscle deep not bone depth. Even the burns he received were only 1st degree. His wounds soon disappeared as his Darkness went by them, leaving him in his former state, but one could see a small bit of fatigue from the looks of his face.
"I underestimated the training field, again!" - With a sad voice and sunken shoulders he said towards himself. Maybe he was reprimanding himself? "Just why in the fuck would the max level be that strong!? If I didn't have my Darkness I would be talking with my grandpa right now!" - Issei angrily retorted as he made his Darkness only cover his shoulder and thigh, just like it was in the beginning.
"That attack in the past would have left me, in my armor, gravely wounded! Maybe only with the Welsh Dragonic Rook would I have been able to withstand an attack of that magnitude and not being completely destroyed! That's definitely 'Ultimate-Class' that spent around 90% of his/her reserves on an attack!" - Issei analyzed the power of the attack. He figured something else from his Aura, two things actually.
"Hmm?" - Noticing his change he stopped his thoughts. "Wait! When have I been this smart?" - Putting his hand on his chin, he walked towards the specific location inside the range to deactivate the Defense Range.
"Could it be…" While releasing a burst of his aura he turned off the range. Opening his eyes wide he realized something. "My Darkness is capable of increasing my own intelligence and deductive reasoning! Maybe even my memory!" - He discovered another ' trait ' of his Darkness. "That's strong. No wonder Ddraig said my own Aura rivaled his!" - He felt enlightened. "Now, the million dollar question. Is this effect permanent, or will it go once I deactivate my Aura? Well there is only one way to find out." - Deactivating his Aura he went back to his base state. "Mmmm?" - Issei was thinking "Well, there is no concrete proof that the effect stayed. But how could I accurately prove that its no longer here?" Continuing his thoughts, he walked from one side to another.
"The best would be a test. But what kinds of questions will it have? My knowledge is low since I don't know much about the supernatural world, only the basic stuff. Maybe I could grab a former test from my school and repeat it?" - Continuing his mumbling he tried to search for an answer but soon after he realized something. Stopping his walk, he turned his head. A sour taste in his mouth.
"How would I actually propose so many answers in that short period of time if my intelligence didn't increase?!" - Quickly finding out that he was doing something unnecessary, he face-palmed. "It seems the effect is permanent even if my Darkness isn't active." - Letting this matter rest, he looked back at the crater that was slowly repairing itself in the magic defense range. "Another trait of my Darkness seems to be increased defense. My guess is physical and magical. Good! With this as long as I cover myself with my Darkness most damage taken could be reduced!" - Feeling happy about his discovery he almost jumped due to his excitement.
"Now onto my next test… My magical reserves." Walking over to a separate range inside the Magic Area, Issei swallowed his spit, he was really nervous. In front of him stood a rather small obelisk, black in color. At the center of it, there was an imprint in the shape of a palm. The way the machine measured your reserves was simple. One injected his/her magical power and by the series of different calculations, it could estimate how big your reserves were and give a specific result to be compared to. Of course, the obelisk had a limit with its predictions and only by fighting would one accurately assess their reserves, but since he didn't have someone to fight with nor the time to look for one, he took the easy approach.
Issei placed his hand on the print and injected a normal amount of his magic power. Soon after the obelisk shone in a white light contrasting with its appearance. The results were projected at the top of the obelisk, a hologram in big obvious words said the results.
Yet the result wasn't what he expected. "..…." - Silence was his only answer, he was surprised by the results. At the top of the obelisk a few words were projected.
Before, his Magic Reserves were among a Low-Class Devil or around a High-Tier, Low-Class Mage. But now at the top of the obelisk the words were…
*Aizen*
"What does that even me-------, wait a damn minute I have Aizen level of reserves, that would easily mean I have around high Ultimate class reserves, wait that's not the problem who the fuck set the machine like that…." He muttered a bit annoyed and saw that there was a chart that explain the reserve level with Aizen level being High tier ultimate Class reserves, with Anos Voldigod being Satan Class reserves.
His jaw hit the floor. Never would have he thought his Magical Reserves would reach that level, he was amazed! Although the test was done while he was in his Demonic State it still surprised him. Tears of happiness slowly poured down his eyes. It seemed that his reserves were dangling between high tier of an Ultimate Class!
(I cannot wait to tell you this Ddraig. Wake up soon buddy, I'll do my best meanwhile.) While doing the former tests he noticed how he couldn't activate the Boosted Gear. It seems that it will depend on Ddraig's awakening if he wanted to use the Boosted Gear ever again. He wasn't worried, Ddraig said it wouldn't take much time for him to awaken, so he wasn't the least bit worried. Issei decided to take the test again but this time in his base form. Repeating the process he looked more than surprised at the results.
* Naruto/Ichigo Level*
"… Un-fucking-believable…" - Swearing in between his teeth, those were the only words he could think of. "Wow!" - Still not believing what he saw, he decided to move to the next area, the Power Area. Reaching the big, square platform with the four pillars at its edges, he looked around. What the Power Area had was simple. It was divided into two ranges.
First, ' All on out '. The range with the best defensive formation, magic, and technology in the whole mansion! One could release their best attacks or practice their most destructive combos here, the place wouldn't even budge.
The second range was ' Matchmaking '. Just like its title, you could fight different opponents inside here, ranging from normal humans to who knows what! Azazel specifically told him to not use the levels from 8 onwards because he will certainly die as he was now. Also, it was noticed that the damage sustained during ' Matchmaking' was real! Holograms were created, but their physical form and attacks were fueled by magic power making them take actual form. For that to happen the range counted with several magical generators, the top of the actual generation! It absorbed the energy of whatever was close by, increased it at an enormous pace and then transferred to the hologram.
Similar to his Boosted Gear, but it didn't double it, and it also had an upper limit before the machines explode. Cross that limit and they will go Boom. "Well, Matchmaking is a no. The past two were bad enough, I need to create some new techniques maybe even learn a fighting style." - Issei calmly said as he ignored ' Matchmaking'. Then he went towards ' All on out ' activating it like the former two. He set the barrier to the max since he didn't know how destructive or offense-related his Darkness was. Seeing the barrier form in the shape of many different crystals conjoined one against the other, he was once again amazed by the supernatural world, it truly was something else. He patiently waited until the barrier was fully formed. It took a couple of seconds, less than a minute.
"Well, lets experiment a little." - Issei activated his Darkness encasing himself in it, then he did a few punches and kicks but the result wasn't what he expected.
* BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! * Every time he sent a punch or a kick which was covered by his Darkness, a Boom occurred. He was reminded of Sairaorg causing ' Sonic Booms ' with his punches and kicks, now he could do the same!
"Wow! My strength increases by a couple of times when any of my limbs are encased with Darkness. Maybe this way I can fight against Sairaorg toe-to-toe without the Boosted Gear. Maybe even defeat him when he uses his Longinus! Well that's a 30/70" Issei made a conjecture which was close to reality. He was happy, his Aura just became better and better. However, he could only fight like that when his body or limbs were encased by his Darkness. Without it and only with his Demon Mark active, it would be a tough fight between both of them, assuming Sairaorg didn't use his Longinus. He continued his punching and kicking routine to accustom himself to the increase in strength. More than an hour passed, and he finally was able to control more of his strength.
He also discovered that by the degree of coverage his Darkness had towards his body, his general offense and defense could increase or decrease.
"Well it's good that my close range abilities increased this much. But what about an enemy that I cannot touch? I need some ranged attacks." - Issei thought as he stopped his ' training '. He thought about all the long range attacks he had Dragon shot, The crimson Slash, Dragon blaster was out and since he cannot Use D&D again so was Scorching inferno and Longinus smasher.
Looking intently at his Darkness he decided to manipulate it, to change it into other offensive forms, those that were off of his body. Focusing, he manipulated his Darkness into the shape he was the closest to, a sphere. He rapidly concentrated a big amount of his Darkness into a ball maybe the size of a tennis ball.
"Good, we're making progress!" Issei then extended his palm, shooting his ball towards the barrier. He never expected that the barrier would pose no defensive ability at all and his ball would just make a hole right through it. The ball continued its flight across the Power Range. He followed it with his eyes and saw it crash on the earth. Yet no explosion was heard. He walked out of the barrier and approached the zone of impact. What he saw was a perfect circular crater 6 meters in diameter.
The ground was gone as if it wasn't there in the first place. "What the fuck?" - Issei eloquently said. Soon he decided to create another ball of Darkness, this time much smaller, the size of a pebble. He threw it, and when it touched the ground it expanded into a dome 2 meters in diameter. It made everything inside it be.. burnt ?
He couldn't see any flames, but the heat the crater irradiated was really high, that alongside the small columns of smoke here and there.
"It seems that this attack is just really compresed flames that vaporize pretty much anything inside its diameter because of their absurd heat." - Issei said as a theory appeared inside his head. This thought filled his eyes with surprise and even a little bit of fear. "It's similar but very different to the ' Power of Destruction '. Since they are flames they are different in essence, and to reach that level of strength they need to be compressed into a sphere…" - He continue to mumble.
"That was normal reinforced floor from the Power Area, so I can say their output of power is pretty good, but I cannot expect them to vaporize everything." - Issei concluded, flames suited a dragon like him.
"Hmmm? Maybe I can change it's shape? Well that would be left for another time. I'm beat, and using my Darkness for healing is quite tiring. What should its name be? How about mini bijjudama nah copyright issues, Roaring Darkness sphere, too cringey, Red dragon sphere of destruction too corny …" - Thinking over something meaningless, he took his time until a name came in his mind. "How about 'Jigoku-no-Hono' . Yes, I like it!" - Issei was satisfied and decided to leave the training floor.