Chapitre 142: Baraqiel Class/Raynare's training results
Drako took the group to the elevator on the first floor. This apartment building was home to many students before it passed into Drako's hands, as such, the elevator was the means these students used to get to Nephilim.
Before entering the elevator, Drako handed them the identification cards that Azazel had prepared.
"These are exclusive ID cards for authorized personnel... well, from your perspective they're like your student cards."
Of all those present, Valina and Lavinia were the only ones who didn't board the elevator.
"Since I'm not a student, we won't be going there together. However, Va-chan and I will go later to observe." Lavinia said.
"It would be good if you could get used to the strange area before we get there." Valina says with her usual "fufun" as part of her cocky attitude.
"Well, then, see you later."
As soon as Drako said goodbye to Lavinia and Valina, the elevator door closed.
Without pressing any of the buttons, Drako held the ID cards in front of a certification device underneath the buttons. With that, the elevator began to descend.
"This floor actually has a basement." Kouki smiled bitterly.
"No, we are not really descending. This is a special device that connects the human world to the underworld, so you can say we're going through the Dimensional Gap right now." Drako explained calmly.
Even after a few minutes, the elevator was still descending.
"Eto... Drako-kun, can I ask you a question?" Sae asked timidly.
"Sure, what is it?"
"It's about this Governor-General. His name is Azazel, right? Isn't that also the name of a fallen angel in the Bible?"
Sae wasn't the only one who worried about this. Tobio had been investigating since Azazel showed up. He had found Grigori's name in myths related to the Old Testament, where the leader was also said to be called Azazel.
"Yes, it's true."
Drako calmly confirmed it.
At the same time, he sought the reactions of the group. Natsume already seemed to know this, as he had been studying alongside Baraqiel, but the rest were surprised. Sae was amazed, while Kouki was more indifferent. What worried Drako, however, was the fear Tobio was displaying.
"A fallen angel"? How exciting! I thought they were just part of the fantasy stories."
Issei, who was a newcomer, did not understand anything related to the supernatural world.
"Of course, they exist! For example, I am a hybrid between a human and a fallen angel." Akeno pointed to Issei.
The boy muttered an "impressive" as he looked at Akeno in admiration. Drako was surprised to see that Issei was not looking at Akeno with lust, but with admiration. He soon came to the conclusion that it was because she had not yet developed her breasts.
"You do not have to think too hard. Azazel is a powerful powerhouse, but in this world, there are many who are on his level."
"Do you know more people on the level of this Azazel or even stronger than him?" Issei asked curiously.
"Of course, my foster mother is one of them. Your soon-to-be teacher, Akeno's father, is practically on his level."
The mention of Drako's foster mother caught Natsume's attention. After all, if she was going to advance her relationship with Drako, she had to get this "mother's" approval sooner or later.
"You've never talked about your parents, Drako."
"You've never asked about them before, Akeno."
Akeno gave Drako a hard look. She seemed to be demanding Drako with her eyes. How could he not have informed her of something so important?
"I don't have parents, or I've never met them. When I came out of the egg, I found myself in some sort of forest, and I had to survive the first few days by myself. It wasn't until a few days later that I met her."
Drako decided to tell those here a little bit about his past.
"She's quite famous in the supernatural community. Her name is Tiamat, so you'll know who she is by asking a little bit about her.
Unfortunately, no one here knew Tiamat. Even Akeno and Natsume, who had studied with Baraqiel for quite some time, had not come to study about the Great Dragon Kings.
One of them reacted, however. Issei felt his left arm, where the Boosted Gear was, tremble with fear at the mention of Tiamat.
Even as they were having that conversation, the elevator finally stopped.
There was the white space that Drako was familiar with. The machine that read the identity cards stood in the middle of the room.
Drako was quick to show them how to use the machine, as it was quite simple.
...…..
Baraqiel and Raynare were waiting for them on the other side of the teleport matrix. They had been informed the day before by Drako that Tobio and the rest were coming, so they had decided to meet them.
"Dad!" Akeno jumped into her father's arms.
All of Baraqiel's imposing presence was gone at once. At the end of the day, a Cadre like him was still a loving father.
"This is your teacher, Baraqiel. He will take charge of your education from now on."
Baraqiel put Akeno down and stepped forward.
"Nice to meet you."
It was a simple greeting. But Baraqiel was staring at Tobio.
It was at this point that Drako realized that he had never mentioned that Tobio was a descendant of an exiled member of the Himejima clan. In other words, he was Akeno's second cousin and the nephew of Baraqiel and Shuri. He had also failed to mention that Akeno had the surname Himejima. Anyways, she had not spent much time with Tobio.
"I had forgotten to mention it, but Akeno's mother is similar to Tobio's grandmother. Both were exiled from the Himejima clan, although Akeno's mother kept the surname. I guess that makes you second cousins, doesn't it?"
Everyone looked at Tobio and Akeno in surprise. Now that Drako mentioned it, they had a certain resemblance... in hair colour.
"You... are a Himejima?"
Tobio's voice trembled, as did his body.
"Yes! I didn't know Tobio-san came from that family too, it seems I'm not the only one who has the bad luck of being their descendant while having powers outside of their beliefs. In the end, Drako-nii-san is right, and that family is truly rotten. Well, not the whole family, Suzaku-nee-sama has always been very nice to me."
Akeno gave Tobio a warm smile. In the end, these two were people who had suffered from powers they received at birth.
Suzaku Himejima was the next heir of the Himejima clan. Drako had heard of her from Shuri and Akeno, and they had nothing but praises for her. Suzaku had drawn Drako's attention, and he wanted to speak to her. Perhaps she was the key to dealing with the clans of Japan.
"Akeno's grandmother and Ageha-dono were blood sisters. You can call me Baraqiel-Oji-san if you like."
Somehow, this had become a kind of family reunion.
"Well, from this day forth, you will seek out Baraqiel here to teach you. You're also going to depend on him for practically everything to do with Nephilim."
All that said, Drako left the place.
"Come on, Raynare, we have to continue our training."
Raynare spat out a "God, kill me" before she followed Drako.
...........
Raynare and Drako were in the training room for another day. They were sitting in the white room, facing each other.
They both had their eyes closed while meditating. This was a habit that Drako had passed on to Raynare.
The intent behind this was to free the mind from any distractions, thus creating a better training environment.
Although Drako concentrated better than Raynare, this was also effective for her. In the end, it was she who benefited most from these training sessions, so this meditation increased the benefits she got.
After ten minutes, Raynare and Drako opened their eyes at the same time. Ten minutes was the time they spent meditating every day.
They both got up and took a fighting stance.
"Come."
Drako started the training with one word.
Raynare summoned a light spear at once, without waiting a thousandth of a second. After two months of training with Drako, she had learned that any free space Drako had would result in immeasurable pain for her.
Raynare placed her spear in a defensive position. Just as she had hoped, Drako had thrown a punch in her direction. Even with everything Raynare had improved over the past two months, she was still unable to follow Drako's movements.
Raynare's spear of light had nothing to do with the one she was able to summon two months ago. The sacred power it emitted was far more powerful than that of two months ago, and Drako believed that he might have felt threatened had he chosen to follow the path of the evil dragon. But, now that he was a Nephilim Dragon, the light no longer affected him as much as before.
Still, he had to be careful of Raynare's spears. Although he had his armour, which denied 95% of Raynare's attacks with his Light Spears, Drako fought as if the Light Spears really hurt him. It would be disrespectful, and counterproductive, to attack as a Berserker knowing he would not be harmed, as the training would be completely useless.
Drako's fist hit the centre of Raynare's spear, and it broke in two. With the force of Drako's fist, Raynare was forced back several feet. She had not noticed, but a tiny burn had appeared on Drako's fist just where it had made contact with the spear.
Raynare had significantly improved over the past two months, but... she had not yet utilized her special abilities. Those skills she was so afraid of. Even bringing her to the brink of death on countless occasions, she still refused to use her Sacred Gear and her Holy Flame.
Why didn't she use them?
Drako couldn't understand. Even if those abilities had caused her parents' deaths, she was being manipulated at that time. The level of absurdity of Raynare's actions was comparable to that of Akeno in the original story, who refused to use her Holy Lighting because she hated Baraqiel. It didn't make any sense.
Raynare regained her position at once and summoned another holy spear. She knew that by remaining passive, she would suffer, so she attacked Drako.
If Raynare held a defensive position, she was going to be defeated by Drako.
If Raynare maintained an offensive position, she was going to be defeated by Drako.
Since she was going to be defeated anyway, Raynare at least wanted one of her attacks to hit Drako. Even if she knew that whatever attack she used couldn't hurt him, she was going to keep trying.
No, she actually could hurt Drako. She had two powerful weapons with which she could even defeat Drako in his current state.
To fight Raynare, Drako only used his human body. He didn't use Touki or Gandiva, or any skills. It was not that Drako despised her, but that he was unnecessary to fight her.
Raynare knew this, but no matter how much she accepted it, it still hurt her inside. She knew herself how useless and weak she was. Even after training so hard with Baraqiel and Drako, she had barely managed to get a second pair of wings, though she had felt she could get a third with a little push of late.
Drako could not teach Raynare to use the spear, but Baraqiel could. While she trained with Drako in the mornings, she also trained with Baraqiel in the afternoons. While she had greatly improved her fighting skills and instincts with Drako, as well as improved her endurance, it was Baraqiel who taught her everything about her powers as a fallen angel.
Baraqiel's classes could be considered theoretical, and Drako's were the practical ones.
Anyone would be very happy to know this, but Raynare was just desperate. She saw how Akeno used her Holy Lighting daily, but she could only bite her lips as she did so. Akeno was three years younger than Raynare, but she had shown much more talent than her.
Baraqiel's daughter was a genius when it came to magic. Lightning, ice, fire, and water, Akeno controlled elemental magic with ease, and she had control over it that could be considered terrifying. Not only that, but she had also learned purification skills from Shuri.
Akeno had not undergone training as painful as that of Raynare. Still, she had already obtained her second set of wings. Raynare had asked her how she had achieved it, and Akeno had replied that her father was helping her focus her Holy Lighting on her blood.
With this method, Akeno was slowly unlocking all of Baraqiel's inheritance. Akeno of the canon time-line had managed to improve from one pair to four pairs of wings in a single year, even though she had despised that bloodline for many years.
Now, Akeno hadn't cast aside her bloodline, but was assimilating it at a slower pace. She was still a child, so Akeno was advancing at a speed that her body could handle.
Even at a slower pace, she was catching up to Raynare quickly. Knowing the method Akeno was using, Raynare knew she could do the same. Akeno might have more of Baraqiel's blood than Raynare's from Uriel, but that did not mean the quality was worse.
But... Raynare refused to do that. The trauma of events so many years ago still weighed on the girl's mind.
Should Raynare perform the same method as Akeno?
She could become much stronger and be of help to Azazel and Drako. She could get recognition from the man she admired and the man she loved. Wouldn't that be perfect?
But...
Did Raynare deserve that?
Or rather.
Did Raynare deserve to receive glory by using a power that had killed her own parents?
Raynare had been lost in thought as she launched an offensive against Drako. Her attacks were aggressive, there was no doubt about it, but Drako could see that she was not focused on training.
He took advantage of a weakness she had left, one that Raynare had not noticed.
She attempted a stabbing attack on Drako's heart. Still, he dodged it easily and counter-kicked on her right arm, which was Raynare's spear-carrying arm, and disabled it.
"You're distracted."
Drako's words and the pain in his arm brought Raynare back to reality. She quickly retreated and summoned a spear again. She did not attack again, but she waited patiently for Drako.
Drako frowned when he noticed she was not concentrating. Or rather, she had lost her focus. Now that she was focused again, however, Drako could not help but be impressed by how quickly she had reacted. It seemed that all this training, though it had not yet fulfilled its purpose, was bringing satisfactory results.
Drako watched Raynare. She was already back on the defensive, waiting for Drako's attack.
Drako stepped forward, and then another. He advanced slowly, while Raynare stepped back at the same time. Drako decided not to waste time and increased his speed.
A mischievous smile appeared on Raynare's face at that moment, and Drako felt his senses alert him slightly. It was no warning of mortal danger, but that did not mean he would underestimate his instincts.
In response to the warning he received, Drako accelerated his movements.
Using 100% of his speed, Drako did not run in the direction of Raynare. Instead, he moved to the side.
At the same moment, more than two dozen spears of light as powerful as the one Raynare was holding appeared above Drako. Before he tried to dodge, these were already descending on him at godspeed.
Boom!
The spears, when they hit the ground, were unable to tear the room apart. Not even the most powerful attacks by Drako or Valina could make a dent in Grigori's best training room. But they did create a shockwave, raising all the dust off the floor.
Drako looked at Raynare, and surprise could be seen all over his face.
He knew of Raynare's ability to use multiple spears, but she had never been able to use it in real combat. From the ease with which she had used this attack, it seemed she had been practising it for some time.
Drako placed his right hand on his left shoulder. The cloth that covered the man was torn, but what really stunned him was the red liquid that fell from his shoulder.
"Impressive."
Drako sincerely praised Raynare.
For someone weak as she managed to make him bleed, even if it was a really small cut, considering that he was a walking cheat for all beings below the High-Class, it was something Raynare could be proud of.
And indeed.
Although Raynare expected more from her attack, she gave Drako a dazzling smile.
His heart skipped a beat, and Kuroka's words echoed in her mind.
A harem...
Drako stopped thinking about it almost instantly, as it was neither the time nor the place to do so.
"Let's continue."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone