NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Communication
"You met Tiamat...?" asked Rias, surprised but not too surprised as the errant Dragon Queen was known to appear near people with interesting fates or valuable treasures, and Vahn fit both categories.
"Yeah, and she offered to become my Familiar..." responded Vahn, staring at Rias's ass and what lay underneath as she bent over and removed her black, purple-trimmed lace thong in a way that purposely gave him a clear view.
"Oh...now that's surprising..." remarked Rias, half-turning to stare back at Vahn with a smile before slingshotting her panties at his face. He could have easily dodged or caught them, but he allowed them to hit, catching them as they fell and giving them a sniff as he held her gaze.
"So, what did you say...?" asked Rias, approaching and linking her arms around Vahn's neck and shoulders, kissing his lower half with her bottom lips as she guessed, "Considering she isn't here, I presume you refused? Though, knowing what I know about her, I can't imagine she would simply leave...unless, of course, you bribed her..."
"I love how smart you are..." muttered Vahn, grabbing and rubbing Rias's hips with his thumbs as he gently moved his own from front to back. Her already flushed face became redder, but since they were supposed to be taking a bath, she tightened her arms around him and gave him a lengthy kiss before meeting his gaze and stating, "Save that for after the bath. We don't need you picking your stuff out of my hair like last time..."
"Right..." muttered Vahn, giving Rias another kiss before getting in the bath before her, enabling her to sit between his legs and recline against him as he apprised her of the specifics of his brief but fateful encounter with the infamous Chaos Karma Dragon, including the fact she planned to seek him out in the future...
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Though it was a bit jarring to return to class after spending approximately eight days in the Corridor, Vahn was doing his best to pay attention when he noticed that Issei was staring off into space with a distinctly perverted look on his face.
'Looks like he still needs training...' thought Vahn, believing Issei was just daydreaming when, in fact, his stoat, Munemaru, was skulking around the Academy, sharing its vision with him. It had the unique ability to suppress its aura and turn almost completely invisible, so it was adept at infiltration, gathering information, and, in Issei's case, peeking up skirts and sneaking into places he wouldn't dare venture himself.
Fortunately for the girl Munemaru was following into the bathroom, Issei's connection with him was abruptly severed when their teacher pelted him in the center of the forehead with a piece of chalk. Unfortunately, this was only a nominal setback to the de facto leader of the Perverted Trio, who, in preparation for the girls changing into their gym clothes, had Munemaru lying in wait in their locker room...
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'She really is a Princess...' thought Vahn, entering the room reserved for the Student Council to find it was stylishly decorated with a checkered floor, expensive-looking bookshelves lining one side of the room, several plants, two rectangular tables arranged parallel along the periphery, and a large, intricately carved wooden with a veritable throne, back by maroon cushions, trimmed by gold-leaf, and positioned in front of a large, gridded window with an arched top.
"Welcome to the Student Council Room, my future husband," said Sona, seated at her desk with her fingers linked atop it as Tsubaki, who had guided Vahn over, left his side to stand behind and to her left. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Student Council, comprised entirely of her Peerage, stood up from their designated seats at the two tables, bowing in perfect sync.
"Glad to be here," responded Vahn, offering a smile that caused a fainter version to develop across Sona's face. Rias had suggested that he spend more time with Sona since she would technically be his first wife or, more accurately, he would be her husband. As such, he would be spending the time allocated to club activities helping out the Student Council, while, at night, he would alternate between staying at Sona's Villa, Rias's bedroom, and Koneko's apartment.
"And, as you can see, most of us are happy to have you here," said Sona, the odd one out, unsurprisingly, being Saji. He didn't outright resent Vahn, but he was the source of the latter's Object of Envy Title, a peculiar Title that allowed him to more easily provoke the aggro of people who felt envy or jealousy toward him. In gaming terms, it was an AoE taunt that couldn't be turned off, its potency scaling with his Charm...
"Then...if it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you think Saji and I could spend some time together...?" asked Vahn, causing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed youth to stare at him in open-mouthed disbelief as he asked, "And why the hell would I want to spend time with you? So you can rub your—"
"Saji..." said Sona, her expression and tone deathly serious, causing Saji to sweatdrop as he immediately fell silent.
"What did you have in mind...?" asked Sona, already having a fairly good idea based on what she had heard from Rias regarding Vahn's interactions with Issei.
Punching his right fist into the palm of his left hand, Vahn, repeating what he had learned from anime and manga, firmly asserted, "The best way for two boys to understand each other is through an exchange of fists. I don't want Saji-san to hate me, so if you have a problem with me, communicate it with your fists...!"
"Oh, you wanna go...!?" exclaimed Saji, manifesting a Sacred Gear on his left hand that resembled a black chameleon's head with spherical, gem-like purple eyes and golden accents.
"Hmmm...very well, then..." said Sona, rising to her feet as she stated, "Let us relocate to the Corridor. There, the two of you can battle and train at your leisure while the rest of us set up a faux Student Council room in the Eighth Floor's Starting Zone. Just be sure to wrap things up within twelve hours. Understood?"
"I won't even need twelve minutes..." muttered Saji, his expression an intense, self-assured look. He was humbled a bit after learning that Issei required eight Pawn Pieces to be resurrected while he only needed four, but after beating his contemporary multiple times, Saji was confident his talent wouldn't lose to anyone's. And if he couldn't surpass them with his talent, he would do so with hard work...
"We'll see..." responded Vahn, his expression equally as intense but with significantly less hostility. He didn't view Saji as an enemy in the slightest, and while he wouldn't hold back, as that could be seen as very rude to his opponent, he was confident he could bear the brunt of the blonde-haired youth's anger and frustration with his [Pain Tolerance], [Aura Conversion], and [Battle Focus]...
'It's a shame they're both so possessive...' thought Sona, looking between Vahn and Sajij with a faint, slightly helpless smile. It wasn't uncommon for High-Class Devils like herself to take on multiple Consorts, but since Vahn was so exceptional and neither he nor Saji gave the impression they were willing to share, she knew better than to propose a compromise...not for a few hundred years, at least...
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"Just to confirm...people can't actually die in this place, right...?" asked Saji, sporting a toothy, battle-hungry grin as he stretched his arms and lower back.
"That's right..." replied Vahn, loudly popping his neck before shaking his arms to limber up. To keep things fair and further develop his Proficiency, he was preparing to face Saji with the [Martial Arts] he had learned from Koneko. It was only D-Rank, but since Saji was a Sacred Gear user with limited combat experience outside the Corridor, he felt the gap between them shouldn't be too big in either direction.
"Then I won't be holding anything back," said Saji, his expression firming into a look of conviction as he revealed, "I understand that I'm not worthy of Sona-sama right now, but I haven't—I will never give up on her. Even if it takes me ten, a hundred, or even a thousand years...I'm going to exceed her expectations and surpass you so thoroughly we'll spend the remaining nine thousand years of our lives looking back on your time together as the mistake it is..."
"That's...kind of harsh..." remarked Vahn, stepping to the side and twisting his body as Saji threw a telegraphed punch from several meters away, the mouth of his Sacred Gear opening and a bright blue light shooting out of it like a tongue. Vahn dodged as quickly as he could, but the light curved as it traveled, snaring his left wrist.
"Ha! Too easy...!" exclaimed Saji, grabbing the tendril of light with his free hand and jerking it like a rein, attempting to pull Vahn off balance.
Instead of resisting the pull, Vahn lurched toward Saji, surprising him a bit as he closed the distance between them in less than a second, leaping at the last moment in an attempt to grasp his opponent's head and drive his knee into his face.
Crossing his arms at the last moment, Saji managed to black Vahn's knee but opened his wrists to being grabbed, the latter doing exactly that as he jerked his arms, spreading them wide and forcefully. The result was Saji's arms nearly being pulled out of their sockets, but he was able to endure the pain with clenched teeth as he lunged his body forward, slamming his forehead into Vahn's.
Reeling from the blow and temporarily seeing stars, Vahn took several steps back and was nearly pulled off balance as Saji placed his foot on the light-formed tether and slammed it to the ground with a somewhat panicked look as he asked, "Why don't I feel you getting any weaker? My Absorption Line is supposed to be able to weaken my opponent and add their strength to mine, but I don't feel anything from you..."
"Sorry, but I'm naturally resistant to absorption and attacks intended to bind or imprison a target..." responded Vahn, causing Saji's eyes to widen as he grabbed the Absorption Line and tore it away from his wrist, aided by his [Chainbreaker]. In the same series of motions, he punched at the air, creating a weak but noticeable wave of pressure that impacted Saji's face, blowing his hair back and compelling him to shield it.
Taking advantage of the opening he had created, Vahn slid forward in a peek-a-boo stance, borrowing a page out of Koneko's book by slamming his fist into Saji's breadbasket. He expected the Saji to double over from the blow, but while the air was forced from his lungs and he spat out, his resilience was evidently on par with a Rook like Koneko as he didn't need any time to recover before unleashing several smaller tendrils of light like a shotgun blast, their tips pointed like needles.
Crossing his arms and defending, Vahn expected Saji's attack to try and bind him, his expression sinking considerably when they instead pierced his body, producing a sickly familiar sensation as they attempted to draw his blood like IV lines.
'What an unpleasant ability...' thought Vahn, a golden glow emanating from the depths of his pupils as he uncrossed his arms and adopted a power pose, expelling the tendrils from his body, reducing them to motes of lights as a powerful shockwave rippled through the area. Then, with at least twice the speed as his previous movements, he closed the distance with Saji, causing his blue eyes to briefly widen before Vahn slammed a far more powerful punch into the center of his face, courtesy of his right fist.
Though Vahn was certain he felt something crunch when his fist impacted Saji's face, sending him reeling back, the only notable damage was a trail of blood from his opponent's left nostril and light bruising as he spit out a bit of blood, a toothy grin adorning his face as he remarked, "Nice punch. But you're not the only thing I can target with Absorption Line..."
Demonstrating his point, Saji extended his fist out to his left, squeezing his hand tightly as tendrils of light erupted from the back of Absorption Line, wrapping around and even stabbing into his arm to form a gauntlet of bluish-white light. Then, extending his fist toward Vahn, causing the mouth of the gauntlet to open, he said, "Promotion to Queen..."
Following a sudden and drastic increase in his Demonic Energy, Saji left Vahn feeling at a loss as a beam of energy emerged from the mouth of his gauntlet, moving much too fast for him to dodge. He did manage to get his guard up, but it was as the beam was enveloping him, making him feel as if he were trapped in an extremely fast-moving current of gaseous and scalding hot liquid as intense pain permeated his entire being...
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