Training Begins

Rias was starting to sweat bullets as she kept climbing the mountain one step at a time. Next her to was her ever faithful queen and best friend Akeno who was also taking it a step at a time although she looked to have an easier time than her, most likely due to the benefits of her queen piece. Ahead of her was her pawn Matsuda who was climbing at a normal pace and right behind him was her knight Kiba who was having trouble keeping up with him. Koneko was clearly way ahead of them. Out of all of them, she possessed the greatest amount of strength and durability due to her rook piece.

From the distance they travelled so far, she believed that they had travelled approximately 1/3 of the way up.

Normally, this would not be a problem for them. Devils had naturally stronger bodies than humans so under normal circumstances, they would be able to perform tasks that humans would no doubt have great difficulty in accomplishing. Unfortunately, this situation was anything but normal.

"huh huh, Why the hell did you increase the weight of our clothes Issei" She screamed at Issei, trying to catch her breath.

Behind her was Issei who seemed to be flying leisurely watching over their training. He glided down towards her.

"Because, like I told you earlier, in order to better prepare you to face that fried chicken and the rest of his peerage, I need to put you all through harsh training in order for you guys to have any chance of victory. We only have barely two weeks to prepare and I intend to make full use of every single day to make you guys stronger. Unfortunately, you are outmanned and outgunned Rias so every second counts." Issei carefully explained his reasoning. Despite her protest, Rias understood he was doing all of this for her sake so she breathed in to calm herself down.

"I see but still how much weight did you add on my clothes? It's extremely heavy and I'm already out of breath." She asked.

"hmm, I believe you are carrying about 100 pounds" he said rubbing his chin.

"WHAAAAAAT! Why the heck did you make our clothes 100 pounds" she shouted at him almost losing her grip before repositioning herself properly.

"Hmm, but only your clothes are 100 pounds" he responded, tilting his head, a bit confused. This revelation caused her to go eyed in shock.

"How come you made my clothes heavier than the rest. I understand that I am the king but even I have limits Issei?" complained Rias

"Umm, I think you are misunderstanding something Rias. I know that each of you have your limits and it is my responsibility to help you overcome them but that does not mean that I am making your training harder than the rest. In fact, while your clothes are indeed 100 pounds, you are actually carrying the second lightest load." He explained which made Rias eyes pop out her sockets.

"HUH, w-what" Rias couldn't believe what he just said. The second LIGHTEST! Did she hear him right? He had to be joking. Then what were the rest of her peerage carrying.

As if reading her mind, Issei proceeded to elaborate.

"I hope you don't take any offense with what I'm about to say but you are a typical pure-blooded devil, Rias. You never really trained your body, believing in your magical abilities to be sufficient to overcome any obstacles and get you out of tough situations. That is why I started you out with the lightest besides Asia. However, Asia will be playing the role of the support due to her Twilight Healing." Issei explains to her.

Rias was a bit annoyed at being told that her body is weak but she understood that he knew what he was doing.

"Then… How much are the others carrying?" she asked dreadfully.

"Well, Koneko-chan is currently carrying about 400 pounds." Rias was so surprised by this that she almost lost her grip… again. "Akeno-chan is carrying 150 pounds. Kiba is carrying about 125 pounds. Matsuda carries 175 pounds while Asia-chan is carrying 50 pounds. To tell you the truth, I figured that since you all have been devils longer than Matsuda, that you would have at least kept your body in shape, but it seems I was wrong in that. It doesn't change the fact that we've got a lot of work ahead of us. Hopefully, by the end of the week you'll be able to at least carry double the original weight you are carrying now as well as increasing the potency of your magic." He calmly explains his plan to her.

"I kind of expected that all of your bodies would have been in much better shape compared to Matsuda who has only been a devil for a few months but it seems that, aside from Koneko, the rest of you never bothered to train your bodies. That's a very bad mentally considering that both of you are long range fighters so if an opponent managed to somehow slip through the front row fighters than you would be at their mercy." He criticized them which hurt Rias pride but before she could say anything, they were interrupted by Matsuda.

"Hey guys, there's a problem!" he shouted. Rias and the rest looked up to Matsuda who was a bit further ahead from them, surprising considering that he was carrying almost twice her luggage. Seems his former training as a jock came in handy.

"What's the problem?" questioned Issei who looked up at Matsuda.

"Asia's missing. I think we may have left her behind." He said causing Rias and Akeno to look below them and noticed that Asia was no where in sight.

"Oh no, he's right, I cannot see her." Rias said with a worried tone.

"You guys can go on ahead, I'll go down and get her" However as Matsuda was about to move down the mountain.

"Stop!" they all heard Issei say.

"What do you mean, stop? I'm going to go get Asia and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Rebutted Matsuda, dead set on getting Asia.

Issei sighed.

"I stopped you because there is no need for you to do that. Besides if you wish to find Asia then you are looking in the wrong direction." He told them before looking upwards. The others followed his line of sight and saw what was probably the most shocking sight of all. Trailing a bit behind Koneko-chan was Asia who seemed to almost be keeping up with Koneko. The sight was so shocking it almost caused Matsuda to let go of his grip

"W-What the hell? How did she get past us. I didn't even see her?" Matsuda couldn't believe that Asia, the frailest person in their group was ahead of them in this strenuous exercise. She may be carrying the lightest load of them all but they never expected her to be so far ahead of them, just behind Koneko who was a rook so physical exercises like these were her specialty.

"The answer to that can be seen if you focus directly at her hands. You should be able to see from this distance thanks to your enhanced sight." Issei said regaining their attention. They all focused on Asia's hands per Issei's suggestion and they immediately understood the reasoning behind her progress. The answer lied with her hands, more specifically her fingers. They were no longer human fingers but instead were sharp claws that easily penetrated the surface of the mountain giving her a firm grasp on the mountain while mountain. That explains why she was currently ahead of them despite everything. They had to be extra careful not to accidently lose their grip while her grip was quite literally solid as a rock.

"Before we began this exercise, I gave Asia-chan a little advice to help her through this challenge. It's called partial transformation." Issei dragonified his arm to show them an example.

"As its name suggests, this ability partially transforms one of our limbs into its dragon's counterpart. Doing so grants us greater offensive and defensive capabilities compared to our human form." He hovered near the mountain and using his newly acquired claws easily penetrated the hard surface of the mountain even causing huge crack to permeate throughout it.

"It's a very useful ability although very few dragons know it since not a lot of us are able to turn into humans. In any case, I thought this exercise would serve as a chance for Asia to begin her training as a dragon. I'm actually really impressed she was even able to succeed in shifting her fingers on her first try." Said Issei. His tone clearly filled with pride at his little sister's achievement before returning his attention to the rest of them who were listening in.

"Anyways, we can talk about this later. You should get back to climbing. We only have 1 week and a half to make you stronger and we need every second of it so… get to it." Issei ordered before heading upwards to check on Koneko, Asia and Kiba.

"Akeno" Rias called out to her friend

"Yes, Buchou!" she answered

"I hope you'll forgive me for saying this but… Dragons are insane." She says before resuming her climb

"ufufu. Maybe they are" she giggled before following Rias.

Eventually, they finally made it to the top of the mountain. All of them were sweating profusely on their knees, taking deep breaths to regain the oxygen their body craves right now. Only Koneko seemed to be fairing a bit better as she was still standing even though she was also sweating quite a bit.

"We… huh huh huh… finally … uh … made it" Matsuda said short on breath before his knees gave out and fell on the ground, tired as hell. Not that everyone else was fairing any better. It took all of their strength just to remain standing.

Unfortunately, Issei wasn't done yet.

"Alright, now it's time for part 2 of your training" he said with a huge grin on his face.

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted. They couldn't believe that this diabolical dragon from hell expected them to continue training given the state they are in. Matsuda, with a sudden burst of energy jump from the ground and started shouting at this crazy dragon.

"Are you insane ISSEI! We just climbed up a freaking mountain and can barely stand on our own feet. We are exhausted and you want us to continue training. Give us a break, pleaaase" he pleaded the last part at Issei begging him to give them a break which they clearly needed. Issei couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Matsuda was complaining to him while actually standing on his own two feet as he put it.

"Calm down Matsuda. You don't need to worry. I have everything covered" he replied. However, before Matsuda could ask what he meant, he saw Issei conjure some sort of yellow and to his horror, he saw him launching it towards all of them.

"AHHHHHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ISSEI. NOOOOOOOOO, I DON'T WANT TO DIE WITHOUT HAVING SEX WITH BUCHOU." He screamed shutting his eyes at he got hit by the flames, thinking that Issei had just killed them. Of course, the first thing that pops into his mind when he feels he is about to die was that he couldn't have sex with Rias. At least, he stuck true to himself to the very end.

A moment passed before he noticed that he wasn't being burned to death. He opened his eyes and noticed that although the flames were enveloping them, they were not burned to ash. On the contrary, they contained a rejuvenating warmth that seemed to be healing them much like Asia's sacred gear however, it was working a lot faster and more effective than her twilight gear. He could feel even his stamina returning. He didn't get what was happening.

["Relax partner"] Matsuda looked at his arm and noticed his boosted gear came out. Ddraig continued

["He is simply using his flames in order to heal your bodies, not incinerate you. Besides, if he wanted to kill you, he would have done so the moment you met."] There was no doubt in Ddraig's mind, the dragon in front of him could have done so considering he knew of his origins

["Although I must say I am very impressed by the diversity of your flames. I've never imagined that such a thing was possible"] Ddraig added. His tone clearly indicated how intrigued he was by Issei's power, earning him a smile from the man himself. Then again, it was expected of the son of both Dragon Gods.

"Thank you. It is an honour to be praised by the red dragon emperor himself. I've trained all my life in order to be able to manipulate my flame to suit the situation. This flame is one of them. I call it the Healing flames and as you can see, they have amazing healing properties that not only heal your wounds but they also recover your stamina, which is something Asia Twilight healing in incapable of doing" Issei gave a brief explanation of his ability as the flames dissipated, having accomplished its job. Everyone looked impressed as they inspected their bodies.

"That's cool and all but I think you stopped the flames a bit too soon. Some of my muscles are still sore and hurt ow." Matsuda grunted in pain when he tried to stretch and a jolt of pain hit him.

"The reason I did that is that you need to be able to allow your bodies to heal naturally in order to be able to see the effects of your training. In order for your body to improve, your muscles need to be broken down and then repaired naturally for your body to improve physically. If I had healed all of your injuries including your muscles, then all the training you did climbing this mountain would have been for nothing." Matsuda felt a chill down his spine when he thought all he had gone through when climbing that blasted mountain being shoved down the drain.

Issei simply continued, unaware of Matsuda's inner turmoil.

"Besides, I've completely healed the muscles you'll be needing for this next training exercise."

"Which exercise would that be?" Kiba asked which earned him a grin from Issei as he jumped back a good distance from the group. Everyone was wondering what he was planning when all of a sudden, they felt an enormous amount of power burst forth from Issei causing then to brace otherwise they would have been blown back by the gale force wind. They then noticed how Issei's body began to increase in size. His hands turned into claws. His eyes turning into slits. From his back sprouted two crimson wings that was easily bigger than all of them combined. When the winds died down, they looked ahead and were in awe at the being in front of them.

In front of them was a majestic and powerful crimson dragon that stood over 40 meters tall. Even though Issei wasn't doing anything other than reveal his true form, everyone had their own reactions. Kiba, out of instincts, moved in front of Rias to protect her even though he knew Issei wasn't going to do anything to them but having a 40-meter-tall behemoth staring down at you didn't exactly help. Asia and Matsuda looked at him in awe and wonder. Even Ddraig himself couldn't help but be impressed with the young dragon standing before him. Akeno marveled at the sight, feeling a bit turn on since Issei's presence screamed power and domination. Koneko, on the other hand, felt nothing but primal fear at the beast in front of her. Unlike the others, she was able to directly feel his massive aura, being a Nekoshou. The moment his power hit her senses, it was like an explosion occurred within her as her instincts were screaming at her to run away. Her very body could be seen trembling which was noticed by Rias who quickly made her way towards Koneko and embraced her to help her calm down which seemed to work. Issei also noticed her reaction and felt bad for scaring her.

"I'm sorry if I scared you Koneko." Issei said in a deeper voice. In hindsight, he should have warned them what he was going to do. This was the first time he ever revealed his dragon form to them. Back in the familiar forest, they were to far back to see him turning into a dragon. He wanted to surprise them but forgot that Koneko was a Nekoshou and was more sensible to his aura then the others.

"Huh, but Issei-san aura is very calming and peaceful" Asia said as she walked forward stroke his scales causing him to chuckle.

"hehehe, that's because you are both a dragon as well as a dragon tamer Asia so it's natural that you do not feel that my aura is threatening. I do appreciate the sentiment" Asia wouldn't be a good dragon tamer if she was scared of a dragon's aura.

"It's… okay" Koneko finally managed to answer as she took a deep breath and relaxed her senses.

"Glad to hear it. Now, let's get back on track shall we. The next exercise will last until we reach the Gremory mansion over there" Issei pointed towards the building in the distance. Everyone nodded but were still lost over what exercise they would be doing.

"What exercise would that be Issei-kun?" Akeno asked the question everyone was wondering but then felt a chill when they saw Issei grin.

"Do you remember the game we used to play as kids?"

Akeno's eyes suddenly widened and without warning, she started running away from the scene startling everyone.

"Akeno, why ar-" Before Rias could ask her what she was doing, everyone felt a huge impact next to them. It was Issei who smashed his hand on the ground.

"Akeno has the right idea, you should start running" Issei lifted his arm once more and that was the signal for everyone to start running. Most of them sprout their wings to gain extra mobility except for Matsuda who still had no idea how to use his wings so he ran using his legs and ironically was able to keep up with the others who were flying ahead of him. His experience as a track and field member seems to be paying off. Asia, on the other hand, was excluded from this activity since as a supporter/healer of the group, she didn't require physical exercises yet. Therefore, she stood on top of Issei as she cheered on everyone to do their best as Issei started chasing after them.

Ahead of them, Rias managed to catch up to her queen, breathing heavily as she glared at her

"First of all… couldn't you have warned us … what Issei was going to do and secondly… How could you abandon your king like that!" Rias argued with Akeno who was just laughing in response which irked Rias.

"ufufu, my apologies Buchou but this was one of those situation where my body responded quicker than my mind so I'm sorry" Akeno said however her expression didn't look like she was sorry and instead relished in Rias situation. Damn sadist Rias thought.

"Why you-" She was interrupted when they both felt danger incoming. They quickly dodged, just in time to avoid an incoming fireball that was shot from Issei.

"Less talking, more dodging. Focus on your training." He roared before sending more fireballs their way. Everyone seemed to have their own approach when dealing with the situation. Kiba was the most effective as he used his speed and terrain in order to avoid Issei. He hid behind trees and tried his best to stay out of sight from Issei which showed he could think on his feet and adapt quickly. Koneko, simply tried to punch her way out by destroying the fireball with her fist. Since Issei was clearly holding back on his flames, she managed to destroy the incoming flame but it still hurt her. She decided to simply dodge those she could and those she could not, she would destroy them.

"Ow" Koneko said as she tried to suppress the pain. She really wanted this to finish so she could sit down and eat her sweets. Matsuda was using his boosted gear to increase his speed although he had no plan whatsoever. He simply ran away for his life jumping, weaving and doing everything he could to avoid the flames killing him. Was it just him or was he being targeted more than the others? He didn't know but what was most annoying was how Ddraig was telling him that this is excellent training for him which pissed him off.

What none of them knew was that Issei was tweaking his flames for each of them. Against Kiba, he sent ultra fast projectiles. Against Koneko, his flames packed a bit of a punch. Against Matsuda, he sent a massive amount of projectiles towards him since he was the Red dragon emperor and needed the most training out of all of them. With Akeno and Rias who took to the skies, he added a special property to his flames. Whenever they dodged or destroyed it, the flame would separate into smaller fragments and chase after them forcing them to react. This would help train their reflexes and help adapt to unknown situations by keeping them on their toes.

"Again, DRAGONS ARE INSANE" yelled Rias as she was forced to dodge more incoming fireballs.

Eventually, they had finally arrived at their destination where they were all healed by Issei and Asia. Issei had turned back into his human form as he looked upon the Gremory mansion.

This mansion made from wood belongs to the House of Gremory.

Usually, it is hidden by blending in with the scenery from humans by using demonic-powers, but it has appeared since they would be using it.

"Alright, I believe you all deserve a good night's rest after today's training so go ahead and rest up because tomorrow we will be going right back to training" Issei said as he dismissed them for the night which they all appreciated. Matsuda went to his room and literally fell down on his bed, falling asleep immediately showing how exhausted he really was. He didn't even notice that he had accidently entered Asia's bedroom and had fallen right next to her which startled her. However, when she saw who it was, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist and slowly fell asleep.

Issei decided to sleep outdoors in his dragon form. It felt more natural after all. As he was about to fall asleep, he sensed someone incoming and there was little doubt who it was. Akeno had made her way outside to find Issei and believing him to be asleep, she approached slowly and lied down next to him. Of course, Issei was still awake so he increased his body temperature and move used his wing as a cover for her. Akeno smiled

"Good night my love." She wished him good night

"Sweet dreams, my mate" replied Issei as they both fell asleep.

The next morning, everyone woke up bright and early as they descended to have breakfast. Issei turned back into his human form and gently woke Akeno up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a good morning kiss which he reciprocated.

"Good morning Issei"

"Good morning to you too Akeno. Hope you slept well." She did sleep on the floor next to him. Normally, she slept on her bed but she wanted to sleep with him so she joined him outside.

"I did. It was an interesting experience sleeping next to your dragon form but it was alright." She smiled as she answered his query. They both proceeded to the living room where everyone had gathered for breakfast only notice Matsuda bowing profusely at Asia while apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry Asia." It would seem Matsuda was apologizing to Asia for accidently intruding into her room last night. However, Asia honestly didn't mind it at all since she enjoyed sleeping together with him. You could even notice her blush but Matsuda was too busy apologizing to see it. Rias, seeing how Akeno and Issei entered decided it was time to end this and begin breakfast. Rias, Akeno and Asia begun cooking breakfast while the rest of them took their seats and waited. It wasn't long until the girls came back with the food. They each took a seat and everyone begun eating while discussing about random things.

"You were trained by the former dragon king Tannin!" asked Matsuda surprised at the revelation. Issei nodded.

"Yes I was. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this during out first interaction with Tiamat. Granted I guess everyone was too scared to pay attention to that detail given the circumstances. Anyways, I have been training in the dragon mountain for many years. Dad managed to get in touch with a few dragons and asked them to train me. One of them was Tannin-ojisan and I got to tell you, his training was very brutal. There were many times I thought I was going to die while sparring with him. He may not be as strong as dad but he did not earn the title dragon king for nothing." He slowly recalls all the experiences he went through with Tannin. Some were fun, others painful. He laughed a bit when he recalled every time Tannin beat him up, his mother would give the old dragon a furious glare that promised him pain which caused a chill down his spine, only to get saved by Great-red who reprimanded her saying that this was needed for Issei to get stronger. Snapping out of his daydreaming he continued "However, I am eternally grateful to him for I was able to become much stronger under his tutelage and over the years I came to see him as an uncle and he came to view me as his nephew. He even introduced me to his three sons. Most of the time, I sparred with his third son, Bova and we developed somewhat of a rivalry with one another. Eventually, I became stronger than him and ended up winning all of our matches so our 1 on 1 duel ended but he vowed to train and become stronger and one day will challenge me to a duel once again with the intention to win. He is an amazing friend and rival. Although he is not the only dragon I mingled with. I befriended many of the younglings and elder dragons who inhabited Tannin's territory and we all had fun flying, eating huge feasts and many other things. Ah, those were the days." Issei happily explained to everyone, reminiscing of his earlier days. The way he was acting made everyone think of him as cute. Of course, they didn't tell him that since he was an all-powerful dragon who was currently training them and the last thing, they needed was for him to take it out on them during training which would not be fun at all so they simply laughed.

After finishing their breakfast, they each got ready for another day of training as Issei decided it was time to train them in their use of their powers.

"Alright, today, we are going to work towards improving your current abilities as much as we possibly can in the small amount of time we have left. I will be honest with you all but with your current abilities and strength, you stand no chance of defeating Riser. As much of an asshole that he is, his regenerative abilities are not to be trifled with. There are two ways to defeat a phoenix ability. The first is through brute force which requires the power of a god class being. The second is to keep wearing him down physically and mentally until he can no longer maintain using his regenerative abilities. Unfortunately, the first option is out of the question since none of you are at the level of the gods and 2 weeks of training will not be able to raise your level to that point. That is why we will focus on the second option. To keep wearing him down to the point that he can no longer use his regenerative ability. Speaking bluntly, that is your best chance at winning this match at your current levels but even that will be tough to do. He has a full peerage while you only have 6 members in your peerage including yourself. Well, actually 7 if you include your other Bishop but it seems he will not participate, correct?" He asked her to which she nodded. Asia was surprised as she had never even heard that there was another member that she had yet to meet. She looked towards her king who let her know through her eyes that she would explain the situation another time. She accepted as she knew this wasn't the time before Issei continued

"They hold the numerical advantage outnumbering you 16 to 6. And if you are going to have any shot of winning this game, all 6 of you are needed to go up against Riser in order to weaken him mentally so you guys will have to take down all their peerage members as quickly as possible. Based on what I have seen, other than his queen and the fried chicken's sister, each of you outmatch the other members. However, that is in a one-on-one situation. Remember that they hold the numerical advantage and they could overpower you with sheer numbers alone and if you want to win, you will need to make sure you have the strength to take on multiple opponents and come out on top." They all nodded understanding what he meant "That is why we are going to train you as much as we can to make you guys as strong as possible to increase your odds at winning. I will also need you guys to get up to speed with your opponents weaknesses and be able to build a strategy around it. You need to be able to come up with several strategies that will help you overcome the differences in numbers. Strategy is sometimes the likely factor that leads to victory more often than brute strength and numbers. Rias" He looked towards her to ask a question

"What is it?" she inquired.

"How much do you know about the abilities of his peerage?" he asked her about the capabilities of Riser's members. Knowing your opponents strengths and weakness is a fundamental thing that will help you win a battle.

"I know quite a bit about each of their battle capabilities since I've seen a few of his Rating game matches. I had a feeling that I would need to fight him in rating game in order to free myself from this marriage so I made sure to study everything I could about his peerage members strengths except for Ravel who barely ever participates in a fight. It seems she is just there to accumulate experience and hardly ever participates." She explained everything she knew.

Issei nodded "Excellent! It's a great advantage that we know about their capabilities while they know next to nothing about ours since this will be your first, though unofficial, rating game. When you are not training, I would like you to brief everyone about everything that you know about each of his peerages. We need to be able to take advantage of every single thing we can. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses is crucial if we want to increase your odds at winning the fight. Luckily, there is also another weakness that you will be able to exploit. That is his overconfidence in his abilities. Due to it, he will most likely underestimate you guys and will probably not even train during these 2 weeks. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer and is a primary factor why sometimes weaker opponents' triumph over stronger ones."

Everyone knew that his words were true, especially Rias. Riser was an overconfident jerk who never trained a day in his life and only depended on either his peerage to win or his own abilities.

"Issei-san, mind if I ask a question?" Kiba raised his hand

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Earlier during your explanation, you said 'we are going to train you' does that mean that someone else will be helping us during our training?" Now that Kiba mentioned it, everyone did remember Issei saying that and looked towards him curiously wondering if he did get someone else to come by and help them.

A chill went up their spines when they saw him smirk. That can't be good.

"Indeed, I did Kiba. The fact of the matter is I haven't lived long enough to be able to properly train others. The only thing I did was give you the training my sensei's gave me but a downgraded version of it." Matsuda's eyes almost flew from his sockets when he heard that. All that torture they went through was a weakened version of Issei's training. What kind of hell did he go through? Issei, unaware of his thoughts simply continued

"I don't know much about your abilities and the best way to train them which is why I called her in to help me out" he explained his reasoning before Rias uttered confusingly

'Her?'

All of a sudden, a magical circle appeared right next to Issei and from it arose a beautiful blue haired woman who they instantly recognized as Tiamat.