Life 7-2

On returning to the ORC room the next day, Noé did not have what one would call a settled expression on his face. Conflicted, was perhaps the more accurate term to use for his tense jaw and the glint in his eyes. Rias on the other hand was looking quite amused, and suitable confused herself, as she looked over the returned flyer in her hand. Once again, Noé being summoned didn't even produce a proper contract, though this time the experience was perhaps… even more exhaustive than before.

Being made to marathon an entire anime series in a single night would do that to somebody.

"Well… two times in a row… certainly not the kind of thing I expected to see happen," Rias remarked, Noé's eyes shading over. "Again, you failed to make a contract, but the client was incredibly pleased with the time you spent with them."

"Again, might as well just kill me now," Noé growled, turning away as Rias chuckled.

"I have to say it's… something else," Rias said as she folded the flyer, "Though it's definitely odd for a Devil to get two cases like this as their first summons."

"Perhaps Noé has a natural trait that attracts those kinds of people," Yuuto mused, earning him a sharp glare from beneath Noé's hands.

"He's a magnet for weird people," Koneko curtly added.

"Can I add you people to that tally?" Noé sniped in response, Koneko giving a hum.

"Touché."

"Look, again, it's not my damn fault the client asked for something more than their soul was worth!" Noé stated, putting his arms behind his head, "What else was I supposed to do when he… they, I don't know! All I know is they were dead set on the damned magical girl thing no matter what I said."

"It certainly seems so. Magical powers… hah, who do they think Devils are, anime mascot characters?" Rias surprisingly reflected Noé's exact thoughts on the situation. "Either way, it's not a concern for now. You're just starting off after all. I'm sure you'll actually start getting some fitting clients who don't request desires above their worth soon enough."

"Ugh, with my luck we'll just have to see. So, am I free to go or have we got another thing? After last night I just want to relax a bit."

"You're free for now, no extra summon requests today. If something does come up, I'll call in as usual. If you produce a contract out of your next job with me, I'll be sure to reward you, as per our own contract"

"Yeah yeah," Noé raised a hand as he stood and left the office. As he departed down the halls, that ever familiar blue bird belong to his father alighted on one of the windows. "Again? No way we got another hunt contract that soon…"

-----

Having arrived at the Back Alley office, Noé was a bit surprised to find his father wasn't present in his workshop as he expected. Though it was clear the man had been present before his arrival, Noé finding some fresh formula sheets on the main desk as he looked around. As he shifted some of the papers around, one of the sheets suddenly flashed. Noé flinched away, and as his vision cleared, he found that now there was a message floating in the air; In the Training Room.

"… just tell me that through the familiar instead of something like this," Noé grumbled. Sometimes his father's liking for the oddly complex was more of an annoyance than anything.

Sighing, Noé trotted down from the office to the main foyer below. While most would think the Back Alley was a pretty ordinary, small office building nestled away in Kuoh Town's main district, being the workshop of a Sorcerer meant the building's exterior hid something far from ordinary within it. A door that would have normally perhaps led to a utility closet instead opened up into a stairwell that descended downwards, further than what would be considered allowed for a building such as this. As he descended, the space eventually opened up into a wide chamber that was a pure, cold steel-white color.

Waiting for Noé at the center was Van, messing with a few runes in the air as if he were adjusting something within the room itself, as Noé could feel something within the air shifting as he approached his father.

"No work from Rias, I see," Van commented, Noé nodding as he scanned the runes before Van swiped them away. "You do remember I said I was going to teach you a bit about the Darklight, right?"

"Ah… kinda slipped my mind because of recent events. Sorry,"

"Heh, not like I blame you," Van chuckled, Noé looking to the side. "First off, can you draw it out on your own? You did use it during your last fight with that Stray Lear, right?"

"… I did?" Noé glanced at his right hand. He hadn't been thinking about it during that fight, but he did recall the same sensation coming up as when he'd first drawn that power out. What was it again? It was something… a weird mix of things… something cold and warm at the same time. As if one hand is touching ice, while the other was in a flame… dark and light… a null between holy and unholy…

Focusing on the memory of that sensation, Noé lifted his right hand, spreading his fingers as he sucked in a deep breath and released it. The first rule of magic he had been taught long ago was the image. If he could imagine it, then it could be made into existence. As his focus sharpened and the image in his mind cleared, sparks of dark crimson began to show across his arm. And moment by moment, those sparks grew into streams, surrounding Noé's arm as they swirled to his palm and began to gather together, forming a baseball sized sphere in his hand. Noé grasped the sphere, stopping the swirls from gathering further into it.

"Good job. Your control over your own energy is sharp as ever," Van said, Noé chuckling.

"If I wasn't good at this you know I wouldn't be able to handle the Boosted Gear as well as I do," Noé remarked, though a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. More sparks of energy formed at his arm, forming wispy tendrils of energy that flowed into the sphere of power. "Though… keeping this thing in check is a bit harder than I expected it to be. It's taking all my concentration just to keep this damn thing from exploding."

"Soon enough, forming Darklight will be as natural as any other power you use," Van said. With a flex of his left hand, small orbs of light and darkness formed in his palm. Striding over to Noé, Van lifted the twin spheres to the Darklight energy. "Let me show you how these powers react to it…"

As Van lowered the spheres towards the Darklight, Noé tensed as he felt something like a magnetic force beginning to push his hand back. It was as if the light and darkness gathered by Van were trying to push back on the Darklight, yet flecks of both were starting to drag off the orbs, fading into the sphere and mixing into it. Eventually, the two spheres had been completely absorbed, and the one in Noé's hand had grown to about the size of a softball now, sparking on occasion as its form flickered.

"What the…?" Noé tightened his hold on the sphere to try and keep it from flickering, but found it was as if the ball were actively resisting being held back now. "That what you meant by vampirizing?"

"As I said, Darklight is the 'Null', what exists between Light and Dark," Van repeated, Noé nodding. "As such, where the latter two try to resist it, the former attempts to overtake them. Light-based powers dim when they come into contact with you because your aura, being aligned to this 'Null', naturally does the same thing. The same goes for powers based in the Demonic as well."

"Ehh?! But I'm a Devil! So then how the hell can I use a power that messes with both sides of it?"

"Perhaps Devil was never truly accurate in nature," Van stated, Noé raising a brow. "As I told you before, this is something you will need to ask Luna about. I can only teach you how to control this power, not explain its origin. And speaking of control… you may want to release that sphere before it becomes too unstable."

"Huh?" Noé looked to the sphere as its sparking grew stronger. His eyes widening, he quickly threw his arm up to the side, opening his hands as the sphere forcefully roared out into a blast, slamming into the distant wall of the chamber. "Yeah… getting this under control would be a good idea."

"Well then…" Noé felt a chill go up his spine as Van gained a smile that was the opposite of friendly. With a snap of the man's finger, multiple spheres formed around him. Made of fire, wind, ice, electricity, light, and dark. "We have all night to train, don't we? Let's see how quickly you learn to use this power compared to your Draconic ones… also, no using the Boosted Gear. Fight me in your natural state."

"… this is gonna suck," Noé's shoulders slouched as Van chuckled. Shaking his head, Noé clapped his hands on his face, taking a stance as he gathered more Darklight into his hand. "But fine, let's go!"