บท 31: Calmed
She had always known that Kuoh was a strange place. It had a usually large concentration of Sacred Gear Wielders and talented individuals. Sona had been able to build a large and potentially very powerful Peerage from the people she had encountered and she worked diligently to make them more so.
Her first focus was upon teamwork, drilling in the importance of such a thing and the need to cover each individual's weaknesses. Each of her members was carefully selected after months of studying their talents, strengths and weaknesses. She then approached them with the truth of the world, the Moonlight world that hide beneath the surface and reincarnated them to the pieces that suited them best.
Her Peerage was like a surgeons kit, each of her Peerage members like different surgical tools that could take apart an opponents weaknesses with great efficiency. The only problem, in the beginning, was maintaining good relations with the Mages here in Kuoh, especially her rival, Rin Tohsaka.
Unlike Sakura who was a follower, quiet and reserved, a broken individual, Rin was the opposite. She was a leader, confident and whole, outspoken and not afraid to speak her mind. In Sona's eyes, out of the three Mages, it was not Saeko who was the most dangerous, but Rin Tohsaka.
Saeko was a dangerous warrior, but that was all she was, a warrior. Individually she might be the most dangerous fighter in terms of skill. Sona knew for a fact that in a one-on-one setting, there was only a handful of people who could match Saeko. But the Busujima heiress was arrogant and that made her quite easy to predict.
Rin though was cunning, sly and confident, but not arrogant. She held a great deal of talent in magic, and while not posing much threat physically. Sona could begrudgingly admit that she had met her equal mentally.
Since then, things had changed massively in Kuoh. The discovery of a Vampire living in the same household as a Sacred Gear wielder, Issei Hyoudou had raised concerns, but there was nothing they could do. Ingrid had been here before they arrived, the Mages having been aware of her from the beginning and had kept close tabs on her. She was no threat to them and from what Sona had seen, did care for Issei as if he were her own son.
Then there had been the arrival of the three Fallen Angels. Yet once again, they had been unable to do anything straight away what with them being on Holy Ground, even if it was within their territory. As a result, they had watched their movements closely and had found no evidence of foul play.
On top of that, they soon discovered that a gang of delinquents known as Ragnarök had ties to Worm, an organisation of unknown variety and goals. No one knew much about them, but they had been a rising power recently, especially amongst the human world.
Finally, there had been the arrival of Mikoto Hyoudou, an individual that should have been dead that arrived during the midst of this entire mess. He had been under intense scrutiny simply because no one knew if he was who he really said and if he was a threat. Saeko Busujima placing him under hers and the Busujima Clan's protection certainly made things more difficult, but it did alleviate some pressure off their shoulders.
By rights, Saeko was bound to protect him, but if he proved a threat to her or Rias, she was contractually bound to also remove said threats if they were not of Devil, Angel or Fallen Angel variety. Mikoto was not of any of those three and with him under her protection, Saeko was, therefore, the only one allowed to do so.
That was a weight on Sona's shoulders, but she was worried still. Mikoto's magical power had been growing massively in just a few days, talent like that was unlike anything a human was capable of achieving. Saeko had theorised that he was not entirely human, something Sona had overheard and agreed with. It was the only thing that made sense, talent and skill with magic like that was not something a human should be capable of having.
Today though, the things Rias had described only further proved her suspicions. She had yet to meet him in person, but perhaps it was about time she did, to see for herself what had caught both Rias Gremory and Saeko Busujima's interest so much?
-X- Line Break -X-
Laying back against the ground, I panted heavily as I looked up at the sky. My body was bruised, sore and exhausted, yet it was something I was very used to. Even so, I began to chuckle lowly, one hand wiping my hair out of my eyes as I pushed myself up into a seated position, looking to Ingrid who was standing across from me.
She too was wearing something similar to last night, a light shine of sweat upon her skin though looking overly unbothered by the many rounds of sparring we just had. "You were right," I told her, thinking calmly once more. "My awakening has given me an excess of energy, it just so happened that it all went to my libido at the time." An unfortunate thing, but it made things much easier now that I knew what my problem was.
The changes my body was undergoing was effective, similar to going through puberty a second time around. A change in the hormones of my body and an excessive amount of additional energy that I had to burn off.
I hadn't done that and was left with an overactive mind and an energetic body that simply fed said overactive mind. However, a few rounds of intensive sparring with Ingrid helped to burn through the energy and I was once again able to think clearly once more, completely in control of both my mind and body once more.
"I suspected as much," Ingrid replied. "I too was the same when I first turned into a Vampire, so much energy from the changes my body was undergoing and a craving for blood that never went away."
Different, but similar, that I could agree with.
She had simply used her own experiences with change to help me, something I appreciated. To be honest, at this point I owed her quite a bit. I'd have to do something about that, as much as I was grateful for everything Ingrid had done for me, I didn't like owing anyone anything. Being in debt was something I had experienced a lot in my last life, I wasn't going to do it all over again in this one.
If anyone was going to be in debt, it was everyone else and preferably to me.
"So, I guess this means that I'm going to have to work out a lot harder and for longer from now on." No sleeping in for me I guess, the one downside to trying to keep myself in shape and making myself stronger was the time it required to reach that point. Building a strong foundation was not easy and it was time-consuming and it meant few opportunities to sleep in. Looks like that was going to be removed entirely.
However, it was a necessary sacrifice to make.
A stronger foundation meant I could reach even higher heights in the future. My progress might be slow now, but I knew that in the future, once I was done with this, I would skyrocket to the top.
Ingrid nodded her head. "More than likely, yes." She agreed, throwing one of the towels she had brought to me, I used it to wipe away the sweat streaming off my body. "However, take note that you were able to hold that combination of techniques for much longer than last night."
She was talking about the Divine Demon Technique, a combination of the Possessing Spirit and Fallen Demon. One that enhanced the body, the other that enhanced the mind and put an immense strain upon both. Those that hadn't undergone a Gu Ritual wouldn't even be able to conceive the idea of using one, and not without severe consequences. Just look at Tokita Ohma and his history with the Possessing Spirit.
The only reason the Kure Clan were able to use it as they did was because of their history of selective breeding. It was the reason why Karla was after me and why her grandfather wanted me dead.
Even with the Gu Ritual, using both techniques at the same time was incredibly difficult and something I could only do for a few minutes and even then I was risking it. Using Reinforcement to go even further just cut that time shorter. But she was right, I had been able to use the Divine Demon for an even longer period of time now than I had in all my previous attempts. My body had definitely grown stronger, it lighter and my muscles denser, it was something I became acutely aware of once my mind started to clear.
Whatever my inhuman part was, it was already giving me some advantages that I intended to abuse in the future. To make things even better, it came at just the right time because tomorrow I intended to make a serious move that would put me on the map.
I wanted the protection of a Satan and to do that, I needed to make me an appealing option to both Rias and Sona as a potential Peerage member, especially Rias. With the protection of a Satan and Rias desperate to recruit me, there's no saying what opportunities that would create and while it would put a target on my back.
At least this way I was going to be able to control when that target and how big it was, was going to be.
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