~Yuta Yukimura~
I couldn't help but feel anticipation well up as I watched Sona's peerage stroll inside the gymnasium, all of them wearing bloomers and gym shirts. I couldn't help but nod in appreciation, like Rias' peerage, although to a slightly lesser extent, Sona's peerage was filled with beauties too although Saji was also there due to Sona's poor judgement.
Especially Sona herself, while her body was less endowed it had a pleasant sense of balance, and she had nice legs too. I wasn't someone who was very hung up on the size of my breasts. As long as they were nice who cared how big they were?
"Ufufu~ you look quite distracted Yuta-kun. Something catch your eye~?" I didn't even bother turning my head to respond to Akeno's teasing.
"No, I am simply visualising success." And adjusting my loadout, I had already settled on Shadow Claws, Ghost Form and Natural Weapons long ago. I was fairly confident in this loadout, I shouldn't lose to any old mook but I would have to be wary.
Saji glared at me nastily while his nostrils flared as he leered at my teammates, I was putting him out of commission first. It was personal.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, let's start immediately," Sona said in a confident tone while her queen flanked her from the side. In fact, all of her team seem to be in practised poses.
...Are all Devil Kings nerds?
According to the agreement, one of Sona's peerage would sit out the volleyball game since they held a number advantage over us. And that person was her white-haired bishop who didn't look very athletic, without good physical stats they were more of a liability in the fight. She would be the referee instead.
We stared each other down, the ball started on Sona's side of the field, and the one who held the ball was a tall tomboyish girl with turquoise hair, she was a knight, I crouched a little to lower my centre of gravity and kept my eyes trained on the ball.
I had developed excellent reflexes and instincts thanks to facing so many dangers in daily life. I may not be on the level of a knight but I wouldn't be taken out so easily.
Woosh!
The ball whizzed past with such speeds and power, thankfully it was not aimed at me but at Koneko instead who failed to dodge it, she tried to lean it but it grazed her, also tearing her clothes in the process somehow, revealing her blue and white pattern underwear.
This world baffles me the longer I live in it.
"Out!" The referee declared and Koneko looked a little sullen.
"...Sorry." I chuckled and patted Koneko's head.
"Don't worry Koneko-chan, we will avenge you." Rias nodded along with me and picked up the ball with a scary glint in her eyes. Making Koneko sad was a sin that would be paid with bloodshed.
"Indeed, I will have to repay the favour, Sona." Rias threw the ball and created a magic circle in front of it which covered it in the fucking Bael Power of Destruction as it headed for Sona's rook.
Are we murdering them now!?
"Gyahhh!" "Out!" Thankfully it only launched them a few meters back and disintegrated her clothes, leaving her naked. Not that I mind but how!? It was better than killing them but I was confused by the logistics.
Shaking my head I refocused to see Saji pick up the ball and blatantly aim towards me. He threw rather sloppily, shouting all the while.
"Take this, you bastard!" This man learned absolutely nothing from when I manhandled him like a preschooler.
I, of course, caught the ball with ease. I played dodgeball plenty of times before and knew how to throw a ball. Taking a deep breath I engaged all of my muscles, still, I wasn't a god at dodgeball but what was I good at?
[Adept - Shooting Mastery]
It wasn't as effective as something like Throwing Mastery which is more specialized but I was still able to throw like a veteran. And I knew how to shoot hard. Putting all of my superhuman muscles grown with Pearl Jam and Regeneration to good use I threw the ball as hard as I could.
Bam!
The ball slammed into the ground in front of Saji as if it missed but then it bounced up like I aimed and hit-
"AAAAARRRRRGHHHHH-!!!"
-Saji's balls straight on with enough force behind them to crack wood. Saji immediately crumpled like wet paper and collapsed while clutching his balls. He had to be carried away by the pawn with brown pigtails as he sobbed and got into a fetal position. I almost felt bad for him, almost.
That's what he gets for trying to touch Asia in front of me. The last guy who tried that got crushed to death, he got a light sentence in comparison.
After that Sona's bishop threw and Akeno managed to catch it, several balls were exchanged and I was convinced that this game was more dangerous than an actual fight with the amount of magic used.
These were less like dodgeballs and more like cannon fire. Before long had passed, Asia and Kiba were out along with Sona's remaining rook and knight. I was still in the game however, not only because of my impeccable dodging skills born from an unlucky life but also thanks to the Wind God's ring giving me the benefits of the Knight Piece to a lesser extent.
"Just to make sure, abilities are allowed, right Rias-san?" Rias nodded, as long as we weren't making things like physical barriers or shooting straight-up projectiles magic was fine. And if I wanted to keep myself in the game I would have to pull out something impressive. Thankfully, my esper instincts gave me an idea.
I pulled together Shadow Claws and Natural Weapons to make a new Synergy.
[Combination Ability - Spectral Claw]
|Rarity: Rare+| |Combination: Natural Weapons + Shadow Hands|
Allows the user to manifest large ethereal clawed hands and arms with supernatural strength and grip on top of their regular arms. They can adjust the size and length of these appendages at will.
Good combination, a strength multiplier was precisely what I needed to be able to stay in this deathgame dodgeball. But I needed to reveal it only when it was needed so that nobody would figure out any shortcomings it had and exploit it to throw me out.
I kept my body in the game as time ticked by, everyone kept giving weird ass names to their throws like "Dreamlike Flame Throw" or "Gremory Blitz Shot" and stuff like that. I would have made fun of them if getting hit by those balls didn't mean almost certain death with the sheer power behind them.
You only get to make fun of what someone calls their move if getting hit by it won't put you in the ICU.
Speaking of killing, Sona bent over and grabbed the ball from the ground with a menacing aura around her that sent chills down my spine. This did not look good for me.
"Yuta-kun, after all you have said, I hope you can back it up with your abilities." Oh boy, she was miffed, probably because of everything I talked to her just a bit ago or maybe because I just erased her pawn's future bloodline.
She took on a bizarre pose and exclaimed as her magical power surged.
" Sitri-Style Backspin Shot™! "
Although just like all the other bizarre chuuni technique names I heard today the power behind her shot was undeniable as the ball spun like a drill and broke the sound barrier with a threatening blue magic aura around it.
Yeah, forget about playing Dodgeball, that was a goddamn tank shell. And it was following me as I stepped to the side.
As the dodgeball containing enough power to bisect an elephant came barreling toward me I decided, fuck it, and a large clawed arm manifested on top of my current one, the arm was thick as a torso and the hand was large enough to grip the head of an adult man like a softball, it looked to be made out of photonegative flames.
The spectral claw shot forward and grabbed the ball with its superhuman strength but I still had to grit my teeth as I heard the noise of metal grinding as the ball spun in my palm like a drill, damn did that shit hurt.
It was only my superhuman strength and grip that I managed to stall the ball to a stop, letting steam blow out, getting a raised eyebrow and a smirk from Sona as a response.
Fuck... forget about the Elephant part. That dodgeball could have torn apart a panzer. I am surprised I even managed to stop it.
"Impressive Yuta-kun, I didn't think a new devil would be able to stop my Sitri-Style Backspin Shot™." Sona held a slight smirk but I could tell from her eyebrows that her pride was a little wounded.
"Thanks for the compliment Miss Sitri. Now, let me return the favour." I held the ball with the spectral claw as the arm grew longer until it was over twice my size. I drew the arm as far back as I could before lashing it out like a whip thanks to the lack of bones. Normally a shot like this would be un-aimable but Shooting Mastery showed its worth as the shot flew straight.
"Here you go Kaichou!" The ball broke the sound barrier. Of course, I didn't give her a heads-up by shouting for nothing, because-
"Kyah!" "Tsubaki!" Her queen let out a squeal as the ball hit her leg, catching her off guard, the ball somehow bounced up her leg and tore her shirt leaving her naked, I don't know how but it certainly managed to.
When I had declared Sona as my target, Tsubaki instinctively relaxed and turned her attention toward Sona instead of being on guard. It was simple psychology and redirection at its finest.
"I see, you have tricked us. Well done Yuta-kun" Her words were friendly but her tone certainly wasn't, if that hurt her pride before, playing her for a fool certainly did worse.
Sona's glasses glimmered as he reached down and picked the ball up while I shrugged my shoulders while cold sweating.
"Don't take it too personally, after all, all war is deception."
"That may be so, but sometimes deception can be surpassed with overwhelming force." As Sona reared her arm back to deliver a vengeful railgun of shot toward me the referee sounded her whistle just in time as I had expected.
"Time out! Rias Gremory's peerage wins!" Sona's eyes widened before they narrowed.
I grinned at the frowning Sona who realized she got played and gave her a V sign. That's what she gets for disrespecting Rias, any by proxy, all of my friends.
That was closer than I had liked. Thankfully I managed to stall enough.
If you cannot win by practicality, you must win by technicality
♢—•♧•—♤—•♡•—♤—•♧•—♢
~Yuta Yukimura~
Damn I am tired.
That game of high-stakes Dodgeball felt like it lowered my lifespan with how stressful it was. But I got my reward out of it, not only did we secure an entrance to the familiar but I had my personal reward.
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Feat Achieved! Defeat the Sitri peerage in Dodgeball! +1x Gold Trait Gacha Ticket
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Now that I was home after the fact I could finally roll it, post-game was rather stressful with Sona staring daggers at me and promising that the result would change in an actual rating game but I had made out alive and physically uninjured.
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Rolling Gold Trait Gacha Ticket...
An Uncommon Trait!
[Uncommon - Enhanced Stamina]
|Rarity: Uncommon|
Your stamina is beyond the norm. It takes a lot more to get you tired or winded. And even when you do, you recover very fast.
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Enhanced stamina huh? I can work with that, at the very least it will help prevent what happened to me after facing the fallen angels from happening again. With this, Regeneration, and Enhanced Vitality I was a pretty good endurance fighter.
New trait aside there was a new matter at hand.
We were going to the Familiar Forest tomorrow and I wanted to snag a good familiar and I couldn't do that without being ready.
Well maybe I could, I didn't know yet but I wasn't taking chances.
Familiar Forest here I come!
A/N: Yuta gets caught up in the world's most dangerous game of dodgeball against the weebs and his kit is strangely suited for it. He has speed and agility thanks to Wind God Ring and now has a Brute option of Spectral Claw he can rely on which is a very solid Brute ability. In other news, Saji's future kids vanished from the timeline.
What did you guys think about this insane game of volleyball and the upcoming Familiar Forest hijinx? I would love to know. Any ideas about what could happen there? I am always up for suggestions.
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