"Though I'm more curious about what ability she has that allows her to stay in the top"
"Eh? Ah, I have Chaos Magic. It's... it's magic that, well, manipulates the mind and sometimes reality a little. I'm not sure, it's kind of weak. I don't even know how I made it into the top"
"Chaos... Magic?" Hearing that name, Mashiro repeated it in a whisper, looking at Kaito in confusion. But she quickly shook her head and ignored it, deciding it didn't matter.
"In short, Chaos Magic..." Knowing that Bocchi wasn't the best at explaining things, Kaito explained how it worked instead.
"...That sounds pretty powerful" Megumi said after finishing listening to the explanation.
"Although a little useless in its initial state" Heekapoo laughed.
"I-is it really that powerful?" But the most surprised one was undoubtedly Bocchi herself, who had no idea about the power of her own magic.
Based on her own experience, Chaos Magic could only interfere slightly with other people's minds and grant her a little telekinesis. Additionally, in desperate situations, she could control her magic to make it do special things with her words. Like earlier, when she desperately told Kaito, "Stop" If it had worked as it was supposed to, her magic would have completely stopped Kaito even without needing to touch him.
Unfortunately, when it came to Motion, ordering Kaito around was impossible at her current level. Even someone more powerful than Kaito would have trouble defeating him when it came to Motion, let alone someone weaker than him like Hitori.
"It's because you haven't trained it" Kaito said. Although the fact that she had reacted to the nickname Bocchi meant she had friends on Earth, on Gaia she was completely alone, so not only was it difficult to increase abilities whose initial uses had to do with the mind, she also had no ideas or anyone to help her follow a general direction.
"I-I see" Bocchi nodded, lowering her head in disappointment.
"If it's related to the mind, at least while we're here, I can train her" Chika said, raising her hand.
"Are you sure? She's... difficult to deal with" Kaito said.
"It's fine. I even became friends with Kaguya when she was still the Ice Princess, so I can be friends with anyone" Chika joked, making Kaguya avert her gaze, blushing as she remembered that time. "Besides, since I normally can't help in battles, this is an opportunity for me to be useful"
"I'll leave her to you, then" Kaito agreed.
"Great! Bocchi, time to train" Chika nodded excitedly and pushed the confused Bocchi toward her room, without even giving her a chance to refuse.
Although they had already left, Kaguya remained there for a few seconds, watching in their direction with narrowed eyes.
"Is something wrong?" Ai asked after noticing.
Kaguya looked toward the closed door and then down for a second before murmuring, "Should I dye my hair red or pink?"
"Eh? Why?" Ai asked in confusion.
"W-what?" Kaguya's eyes widened in surprise, blushing as she realized she had spoken aloud. "Nothing, it's nothing!"
Kaguya tried to make an excuse and quickly fled the room, but it was already too late. Ai had already realized what she meant and followed her just to continue teasing her.
"Ai, you were less annoying when you were Hayasaka!" Kaguya's shout could be heard from her room.
Kaito watched their interaction with a smile before sitting down with those who remained and chatting for a while.
...
"Today, we're going hunting" Rias said, drawing everyone's attention in the room.
"Hunting?! The stray devils you mentioned earlier?!" Issei asked excitedly.
"Yes" Rias nodded. "Actually, it's very early. Normally, we'd let you take on some contracts from ordinary people before you had to fight.
But the situation in Kuoh has been getting hectic lately. The day before yesterday, Sona and her peerage encountered a new, unknown faction, and although they weren't very strong, their abilities were extremely varied.
More importantly, last night she encountered an extremely powerful unknown devil. It didn't use any abilities, but its sheer speed made it impossible for them to react, which says a lot about its overall power. It didn't show any dangerous intentions, but it took Goto, her new member."
"S-she took her? The pink-haired girl? Why would she do that?" Issei immediately asked.
"Ara, you noticed her? She was pretty inconspicuous, so I thought you wouldn't pay attention to her" Akeno said in surprise.
"W-well, she... hehehe" Issei didn't explain, but his laughter said everything.
"I see what you were looking at" Akeno sighed, amused.
"O-of course not, I wasn't looking at anything" Issei denied it, though he wasn't convincing in the slightest. "But to think they stole a member from the dignified student council president. I don't know much about devils yet, but with her personality, she must be very angry"
"Pffft. Angry isn't the word" Rias laughed. "Sona likes to pretend she's serious, but deep down she's quite childish. They stole one of her members without her even being able to react. She pretended to take it neutrally and act calm in front of her peerage, but as soon as she got home, she threw a tantrum before calling me and complaining all night"
"The president would do that?"
"Of course. President Sona's personality is quite similar to Rias's in that regard" Akeno joked.
"Akeno, what are you saying? I wouldn't throw a childish tantrum. Issei, don't listen to her nonsense" Rias denied everything, blushing.
"O-of course" Issei immediately nodded as if he had been given an order.
"Ahem, let's put that aside. Sona told me there seemed to be some history between the devil and Goto, and at first glance, she didn't seem to be in danger, but she doesn't know anything else, so we can't be sure" Rias answered Issei's original question, drawing his attention back to the main point. "The point is for you to understand that the situation is dangerous. To help you understand this better, we'll show you the strength of a stray devil, the most basic threat to devils"
"I understand. I'll do my best" Issei said, becoming serious.
"And Kaito, you'll come too" the red-haired devil added.
"Me?"
"Yes. Even though you're not a member of the peerage, ever since you awakened Adam's lineage, you've been part of the supernatural world, so understanding what you're getting yourself into will be useful for you too" Rias nodded.
"...You're right. Fine, I'll go with you" Kaito replied after pretending to think about it for a moment.
With everything planned, Rias had already located a devil beforehand, so within minutes they activated a teleportation circle on the floor that took everyone to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts, one of the many that Kuoh seemed to have for some reason.
It was a huge and silent place. Dozens of warehouses, several meters wide and many more long, with stacks of wooden crates, stood before them.
"What is this place? Can we come in here?" Issei asked, swallowing nervously as he looked at the place.
"It's fine. Kuoh is under the control of the Gremory and Sitri families, not just the supernatural side of it" Rias explained. "As for what this place is, I'm not sure. I think Kuoh's previous ruler was some kind of merchant, so she used this place a lot"
Krrrr... Krrrr...
"Looks like we won't have to search much" Akeno said with a smile, looking toward a corner of the warehouse.
There, behind some destroyed crates, the sound of what seemed to be a spider caught the group's attention.
"To start with, Koneko, why don't you handle it?"
"Yes" Koneko nodded and headed toward the source of the noise.
Since Rias's goal was to show Issei and Kaito the dangers of the supernatural world, she chose Koneko to fight the stray devil. This was because her physical fighting style as a Nekushou matched both the fighting style of users of Adam's lineage and the style they would have to teach Issei until he awakened his Sacred Gear, and most likely until he learned to control it properly.
Boom!
With a blow comparable in strength to an explosion, a huge spider flew out of the darkness, landing beside them.
Issei unconsciously took several steps back upon seeing the creature, and when it extended its long legs toward them with the intention of attacking, he covered himself with his arms in an X.
Fortunately, they never reached the group. Koneko caught one of its hind legs before it could reach them and pulled on it, throwing the enormous ten-meter-tall spider against the farthest wall of the warehouse.
"S-so strong?!" Issei murmured incredulously.
"Koneko is my Rook, a piece oriented toward strength, as well as a Nekushou, a Youkai race superior in strength" Rias explained.
"Nekushou... Youkai..." Issei repeated before realizing. "Wait! So she's a real catgirl?"
"And a very strong one" Akeno nodded.
"No way! How jealous I am of that bastard Kaito!" Issei roared dramatically.
"Okay, Issei, focus" Rias reprimanded him. "Speaking of stray devils.
They are reincarnated devils who killed or fled from their masters, going insane because of it and, most of the time, mutating.
This one is a mutant spider, so it has obvious weaknesses.
Creatures with long limbs tend to either be thin or extremely fragile, due to the natural distribution of mass.
In the case of arachnid creatures, it's usually the latter. They have long legs and a large body, so the body tends to be quite fragile"
While Rias explained, Koneko had already returned to the center of the warehouse, battling the spider.
But when Koneko climbed onto the spider's body and struck it, it suddenly turned into a material similar to diamond.
"However, precisely because of that, mutations usually grant them abilities to compensate for those same weaknesses" Rias continued explaining.
Koneko jumped, using the spider's body as a platform, and grabbed onto a ceiling beam. She turned herself around until she was facing downward and propelled herself from the ceiling back toward the enormous spider.
Boom!
With a blow powered by the momentum of her fall, Koneko struck the spider's body, making it bend its long legs and crash into the floor.
Even so, the spider's special defensive ability kept it from being injured.
"In this situation, there are two ways to deal with it.
The first is to look for another weakness. All creatures tend to have more than one weakness, and it's impossible for their abilities to cover all of them.
As for the second..."
BAM!
CRACK!
BAM!
KRRRRK!
BOOM!
KRAK!
Koneko, standing on top of the spider's body, didn't even let it stand up and began striking it with force, while its special protection shattered under the girl's immense strength.
"You just have to be strong enough to ignore its abilities or completely destroy them" Rias finished.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)