DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 30

Ok~, that did not go exactly how I planned. So much for my motivational speech. Going by how much blood she's coughing out I must have punctured a lung when I broke her ribs. 

Looks like a kicked her a little bit harder than I planned to. Luckily, I came prepared.

"Asia," I called out towards the stage, "you can come out now. I could use your help here."

...

Asia appeared from behind the curtains of the stage before hopping off the stage and calmly made her way over. She was another T-shirt, this time with the caption 'I'm a little Devil' with a Devil's hanging off the end of the 'L' in Devil. 

I was a little surprised to see that she didn't look worried or scared as she approached us, but instead had an intrigued look on her face as if she was trying to figure out some kind of puzzle.

When she got here she immediately kneeled next to Tsubaki, completely disregarding the blood spattering the ground, and began healing her using the power of Twilight Healing.

As she did that I turned back to Tsubaki and tried to complete my point.

"Tsubaki, I'll leave you with a choice." I waved a hand towards the stage. "There is a room behind the stage where you can rest in. If at any time you want to, you can quit this little test of mine and go to that room and relax. I'll not do anything to stop you or discourage you.

"Or you can continue this test. And over the next twenty minutes or so I'll beat you black and blue, break your bones over and over again, and leave you in agony that you have never felt the like before.

"But in exchange you'll learn how to fight, how to carry on fighting even with a broken body, how to apply those hard earned skills of yours in a real battle. Because I promise you this, one day you'll find yourself in a situation just like this one. 

Where you'll face an enemy who'll crush your face into the dirt, shatter the bones in your bones like twigs and dye the ground red with your blood. The only difference between then and now is that you won't be alone.

"You'll have the rest of your Peerage, your comrade and friends beside you, so you will not be able to run away like you can today, not without leaving them behind. And I will not insult you by even implying that you'll willingly abandon them. 

But make no mistake, it will not matter whether you choose to stay and fight or simply run away. Not as you are now, against that kind of enemy, your sacrifice won't make a damn against him because he will kill you and your Peerage without the slightest hesitation." 

I did not lie, because if he was truly coming and I failed to stop him, then that was exactly what was going to happen.

"Because just like today, you'll hold back. Your training will make you pull your blows without conscious thought or will. Cuts that should have been able to slice my hand in two will fail to even pierce skin because you've been trained to restrain yourself all too well.

"That is why, I will teach you. I will teach you how to cut without hesitation, to strike without restraint so that when the time comes you'll be able to fight back, you'll be able to win."

By this time Asia had finished healing Tsubaki and had already began to back away.

Placing her hands beneath her, Tsubaki pushed herself onto her feet. She wobbled for a second before she found her balance. She bounced a couple of times on the tip of her toes before she assumed a stance. Not even bother to pick up her broken weapon she simply took a basic boxing stance, hands held close to her head and leading with her left foot and shoulder.

"Emiya," She stated, "You talk too damn much."

I blinked owlishly at her, not expecting her to say that, before exploded out in laughter. Yeah, I admit it. I always sucked at speeches. There is a reason why Archer never had the 'Charisma' as a Personal Skill after all.

Still, that she was willing to fight me unarmed after all that was something that even impressed me. Looks like this one has steel in her after all. She may not have been strong, for now at least, but if all Queens are like her than perhaps I will no longer find bearing the title of Queen so shameful anymore.

Spirit like that is worth rewarding. After all I was the one who destroyed her old weapon, it was only right that I be the one to replace it. And I had just the perfect weapon for her.

"Fine but I can't allow you to fight me unarmed, not when the entire point is to learn to properly apply your fighting skills." I held out my left hand to catch the newly traced weapon before thrusting it point first at her feet.

"It'd may not be a naginata but I think you'll be more than pleased once you have mastered it. Think of it as a replacement for breaking your last weapon."

In the ground between us was a Chinese halberd. It had a spear tip as a head with a single crescent-moon shaped blade attached to the side of the shaft. It was long, almost two meters in length with had a steel counterweight attached to the butt of the spear. 

While most of the spear's shaft was colored black it had a patch of gold next to the crescent blade were a painted leather cloth was attached.

While Tsubaki will not be able to access the full power of this particular Noble Phantasm, its passive abilities will still make it an incredibly powerful weapon for her to use. If she can master it that is.

"That weapon is unique, you'll never be able to find another like it in the world but I'll tell you about its characteristics later. For now it is time for us to continue our fight." I indicated with my sword for her to pick up the halberd, when I noticed her staring at the weapon with awe. 

After a few moment of hesitation she reached out and pulled the weapon out of the ground, marveling at it all the while.

It was good thing that she was a Queen or else she would have had a lot more trouble lifting the heavy weapon as easily as she did. As it was I doubted that any other class would have the strength and speed needed to properly wield the weapon.

"You can admire it later," I told her when it looked she had forgotten about me. I felt a small part of myself preen in pride at the look of reverence she was giving one of my blades. However I quickly shoved that part away for now and motioned her to assume her stance which she promptly did.

"Allow me to remind you Shinra Tsubaki, that after I'm done with you it'll be your comrades who will be tested next. And after them will be your King. So if you want to stop me or at least weaken me enough to lessen their burden even a little bit, then strike me down.

"Without hesitation, without restraint, you must strike me as if you're willing to kill me or else you won't leave so much as a mark on me. Now, will you prove yourself worthy of holding the same title as me, oh Queen of the Sitri?"

Once I saw she was ready I said, "Let us begin then,

"Hajime!"

...

The punch went wide, the momentum pulling Saji forward as I easily side-stepped him and the blow. It was a messy punch, well telegraphed and with sloppy technique. It was painfully clear that he didn't much proper hand to hand training. I didn't even need to trace any of my swords for this fight despite his promotion to Queen.

Still, it had a lot of power behind the swing. I was actually impressed. I thought he would be the one that need the most help from my lesson, seeing as he was the newest to the Peerage, but it looks like it'll end up with him needing it the least.

True, his form was absolute crap but his instincts were remarkable spot on. He put his entire weight behind each punch and kept on fighting no matter how many times I hit him. 

Unlike Tsubaki who paused whenever she went down, Saji rolled and stood up right away as if he was expecting a kick to head if he didn't move fast enough.

Seeing how he moves, it's clear he'd had more than his share of fights. In many ways he's the complete opposite of Tsubaki. 

No skill or technique but he knows how to use what little he has well. He doesn't need to learn how to hold back because he was never properly taught how to fight in the first place but instead scraped what little he knows in actual fights.

I looked down at the lizard like Sacred Gear that was protruding out of his left hand. The Absorption Line, a Sacred Gear containing a fifth of Vritra's, one of the five great Dragon Kings, soul.

When I first heard of it I was curious how its wielder will behave. It is well known that a Sacred Gear reflects their wielder's personality. 

So what does it mean for someone to have a broken sacred gear? I was actually worried that whoever was matched with it would be broken, demented even. After all, what kind of mind would be matched with a divided soul?

But it looks like my assumption was wrong. It's clear that in some way, even divided, a Dragon's still a Dragon.

Saji rolled across the court's floor, bleeding off the momentum of my kick, before jumping back to his feet. He rubbed blood away from split lips with the cuffs of his sleeve before charging back at me.

"You got to do better than that if you want to take me down, Aniki!"

I didn't bother raising my hands. I just ducked under the blow while simultaneously kicking at his legs, causing him to tumble forward but he was able to maintain his balance, if barely.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" That's another thing; he has been calling me Aniki the entire fight.

"What, 'Aniki'?" He asked just before charging me again.

"Yeah that." This time I caught his punch while twisting around and using his own momentum to throw him over my shoulder. 

He hit the ground rather harshly, clearly not knowing how to land and roll when thrown, but he soon got back to his feet. Though he was favoring his right arm now.

"Well," He stopped attacking as he talked, obviously trying to use the opportunity to rest, "from what I heard, because of your position as Queen to Kaichou's sister, it kind of makes you her brother right?"

"Well, yeah. Sure let's go with that." It wasn't quite like that but I didn't bother to contradict him.

"Then I figure I better get in the practice. You see," He stood up straight and jerked a thump at his chest as he declared, "I'm in love with Kaichou."

Oh, well looks like little Sona has an admirer.

"You see, Aniki. I have a dream, one that I will accomplish no matter what. And that dream is," He point straight up into the sky as he declared to the world with pride, "to knock Kaichou up –"

A fist appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Saji's face before he had a chance to finish his sentence, sending him cartwheeling three times in the air before slamming into the far wall of the gym and bouncing off it. He crashed into the concrete wall with so much force it actually left a small crater in it.

I stared, confused as to what happened until I looked down to find my hand extended outward while curled into a fist. It was only then that I realized that I was the one who punched him.

Asia jumps off the stage and calmly walks over to Saji's unmoving form, before crouching down and poking him a few times.

"Shirou," She tells me calmly, "I think you broke his neck." Then she reaches out, clasps his head in both of his hand before twisting it back in place with a sickening crunch that even made my stomach turn. She then places a palm on his neck which began glowing with the green light of Twilight healing.

"Umm…Asia," I asked, feeling more than little nervous for some reason, "aren't you even a little bit scared. I mean you just twisted Saji's broken neck back in place."

"Nahh, I've dealt with a lot worse accidents than this during my time as a Holy Maiden." She replied with a fond smile as she lost herself in memories. 

"I've had to deal with broken bones, severed limbs and I even help with child births. And trust me the there is nothing more horrifying than seeing a baby pushed out of a vagina. There was even that one time where I had to heal a person with a cracked skull. 

I could literally see into his brain and everything. We even found small pieces of his brain that we had to squeeze back into this skull before I healed him. That was actually rather fun." She finished, flashing me a bright smile.

OK, its official…Asia is scary.

"So," I began, deciding to ignore what I just heard, "any chance of Saji continuing?"

"Sorry Shirou but even with me here, a broken neck isn't something that you can just shrug off. He'll probably be out for a couple of more hours."

I shrugged, not really feeling any disappointment at that. After what he said, I had lost all urge to help train him. 

Looks like my theory that a Sacred Gear with a broken soul latching into someone that was also a bit broken was right after all. Hopefully the blow to his head will cause some memory loss and he'll forget that dream of his.

Or at the very least he'll forget that I broke his neck. I never want to see Sona's reaction if she ever finds out.

========================

Hey guys I need you to throw some power Stones ;)

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :

 p atreon.com/Aerle