Chapter 44: Moonlit Lady

A/N: Dragons Ascent has returned with season 2 on my P*treon!

After taking a break with Akeno just chatting and drinking I spent the rest of the day messing around with my demonic power more. Also spending my time learning regular magic. With my skill and expertise, it did not take me more than a few hours to breeze through the novice rank of Ice Magic.

It was a little weird to include my own demonic power into the magic formula which let me just skip several steps but I managed it.

Now this research allowed me to figure out something, the crucial difference between my Kelvin Catalyst and Ice Magic which is concept.

When using Kelvin Catalyst I am interfacing with water using my mana and then using that connection to transmute and manipulate the water to my whim. It is the manipulation of the natural world to achieve a specific effect.

While Ice Magic is Magic. It creates ice, it can create ice that is colder than it is supposed to be, ice that doesn't behave like how it should, or create Ice that behaves like Ice should. It is magic with the ice as the intermediary. It is the distortion of the natural world to achieve an effect.

My Transmutation leverages the natural world to its advantage needing less power to achieve its effect by utilizing physics. While my Magic distorts nature to achieve impossible effects.

Well, my transmutation is clearly putting in more bang for its buck so why I am studying another school of magic? It's simple.

[Skill Promotion: Transmutation - Intermediate]

Skill Promotion condition: Reach Intermediate rank in:

[O]Ice Magic 

[X]Fire Magic 

[X]Earth Magic

[X]Wind Magic

It was a slightly annoying condition considering beyond Ice and Earth I had little to no experience in the other magics. I wasn't fiending to reach advanced level before the Riser fight since I was sure of my victory as sure as I am in my manhood. But a power-up would be nice.

After around 8(200 with 25-fold acceleration)hours of studying to reach intermediate level of Ice Magic, I went to sleep to greet the next day.

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"Okay Koneko, are you ready?"

Hearing my words Koneko gave me a resolute nod as I passed the pill to her.

That's right. We were doing drugs. Because we are evil!

Nah, we were just about to use my Body Refinement pills. We both sat in the lotus position, me wearing only my briefs while Koneko wore her gym outfit. I could see her eyes occasionally wandering my body, especially my scars but she did not mention them to me.

Nodding to each other, stoically, we both took the red pill. And instantly I could see the discomfort in Koneko's face. I felt it too, our bodies both got heated up, with intense heat and a dull ache settled in our muscles as they were forced to activate and forced under pressure while simultaneously healing.

But unlike her, I did not have to endure shit, I just shifted the pain from that to another partition and was just left with a feeling of mild discomfort. Koneko on the other hand looked to visibly struggling with the intensity of the cultivation pills, maybe I should tune them down somewhat.

On a better note, those Rook benefits weren't hot air as Koneko soldiered through the discomfort and the inordinate amount of sweat accumulated on her body. Her now-drenched shirt also gave me a peek at her underwear which was also a benefit.

After it was all said and done I studied Koneko's body to see the before and after with her consent after promising her cookies I baked beforehand and shoved them into my inventory.

Also, I found out that objects in my inventory are in some kind of stasis since they were still warm which was good to know.

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

I lay in my bed, my temporary one at least, my house was still being built so I decided to stay in the mansion with Rias' peerage. I was trying to rest since I had set a timer for myself that told me that I had to rest as much as I worked.

Well, Ddraig kinda forced me to when they saw me forcing myself too much again. And while I am confident in my intelligence I don't believe Ddraig would do anything to my demerit and it wouldn't be dumb to trust Ddraig's centuries of experience.

Besides, after taking those cultivation pills I am completely wrecked, potions can only do so much for you and unfortunately, exhaustion is not something potions can fix.

But even so, right now, I couldn't sleep for some reason. Am I just that unused to resting? When was the last time I had slept normally? I didn't bother to add such a factoid to my permanent partitioned memory.

Anyway, I need a walk to clear my mind or something. And I wasn't going to brute force it with meditation. I needed to let my body rest, not force it up from its exhaustion with drugs.

Not bothering to change out of my black silk shirt and baggy pyjamas I slipped on some slippers made of synthesized rubber from my experiments and started walking around the mansion grounds, it gave me a sense of calm and serenity.

I wandered aimlessly clearing my mind when I saw a lone figure leaning against the pillar of the gazebo overlooking the lake. I approached without thinking much and as I got closer I saw her clearer.

Rias wearing a sheer negligee leaning against the pillar, gazing into the lake with concern and worry in her eyes. I noticed her wearing glasses, which was new, she also had a book in her lap that could not quite figure out was about.

Seeing me approaching she perked up slightly but did not take any initiative to move.

"Hey, Takumi-kun. What are you doing here? I thought you would be asleep by now." She greeted me with a slight smile as I made my way next to her, sitting next to her casually.

"I thought you were the one who said something about Devil's being nocturnal? Eh, I'm kidding, sleep decided to not visit me tonight. And by the looks of it, it decided to skip you too. So, what are you thinking so deeply about?" Rias looked at me briefly before turning back to the lake with her gaze.

"I was just thinking about how it will all go. Whether we can defeat Riser or not. This was all planned as a trap, after all, my father never entertained the thought of me winning. That's why he set it up after all, so I wouldn't be able to complain after." Rias stood up, feeling the winds.

Her crimson, almost ruby-coloured hair glittered in the moonlight, her teal eyes like sapphires. Even if the sheer negligee she wore would have driven me mad with lust. I just found myself appreciating her beauty at this moment.

Boy was she pretty.

"I am insulted Rias. Your lack of trust in my skills wounds me. A Phoenix cannot match a dragon. Let alone this one. After all, if I wasn't confident in my I wouldn't have talked so much shit." Rias chuckled a little, bringing a pleasant noise to my ears.

She bent over a little to flick me on my forehead making me jokingly flinch and grab my forehead with a smile.

"Hey now. Don't get too big of a head, we wouldn't want you to start floating away. I trust you Takumi, but it's the Phenex we are against, famed for their immortality and fierce flames that honour their namesake, Riser never lost unintentionally before. It almost seems like a cruel joke."

I let her speak, looking at her face made me feel displeasure. She was sad.

I don't like sadness, at least in people I know. Sadness... feels really horrible. It hurts, it keeps hurting. It turns into misery and misery into pain in a spiral downward that continues forever.

I hate sadness.

"I may be proud of my family. But it follows me everywhere almost like a shackle sometimes, it doesn't even allow me to pick who I get to love and marry. I came to the human world to be Rias, not the heiress of the Gremory family, I was always treated as the daughter of the Gremory family, as simply an extension of the family name. But I can't seem to escape it."

She turned her head to the moon, gazing at the beautiful almost crystalline night sky.

"I just had the small dream, of being loved by someone who viewed me as simply Rias. Not because I am the daughter of the Gremory family but because I am Rias." I let her finish before starting to talk, my mouth moved before my logic did.

I was never good with sappy talk. Nor was I very good at relating to other people. I was good at leading people to do what I wanted to using words. But speaking like this is out of my comfort zone.

"Well. From where I am sitting I am just seeing Rias Gremory." Rias turned to me, making me feel a little embarrassed.

Damn this place, I don't like saying shit like this dammit. It makes me feel fucking stupid.

"I am seeing a girl who is a little bit of an Otaku, to the extent she chose school in the human world and even beat me in trivia. She is pretty, kind and caring. Maybe a little bit naive and airheaded since she was willing to step on a hydra's head without thinking to check up on my injuries." Rias had the decency to blush at what I said as I continued.

"At least... those are the first things that come to my mind when I think Rias Gremory. And I certainly did not sign myself up to your mercy because you were the daughter of the Gremory family. I don't care about what family you belong to." Not being able to take it any longer I turned my head with a slight heat to my cheeks, even someone like me knew what those words implied, I was only able to look at Rias from the corner of my vision.

I could see hints of tears in the corners of her eyes as she smiled at me warmly with a healthy blush on her cheeks with the rays of moonlight behind her it was a sight that probably wouldn't ever leave my mind.

I heard Rias giggle to herself a little before she sat down and crawled into my embrace, snuggling into my body and wrapping my arms around her body as she faced away from me, crimson blush on her cheeks.

"Maybe I don't have to dream then, it seems pretty real to me right now. I did not take you for the sappy type Takumi-kun. I wouldn't even dream of you saying something like that." She spoke trying to seem calm but I could hear the tremble of barely contained happiness in her voice. It also brought a smile to my face as I wore an indignant expression.

"That's because I am not. That was all of my yearly sap quota, I spent it all. I cannot believe you made me say all of that, you betrayed me, I thought you were a benevolent ruler when instead you were a demonic despot." Rias giggled, pulling my arms further around her body, nestling in my embrace with her head tucked under my chin.

"Heh, don't be like that, I really like that side of you too. But if I am such a despot it is only right for me to monopolize this isn't it right? I order you to keep cuddling with me."

"Voe is me, it's over. The wicked devil has staked her claim over my heart, there is nothing left that I can do other than to obey her whims. The great Alchemist Dragon Emperor reduced to nothing more than a body pillow, the tragedy." Rias snickered as we fell into a comfortable silence in each other's embrace.

I will be honest, I never got to be this intimate(as in affection) with anyone... ever.

Not my father or my... mother.

But I liked it, the warmth of her body against mine, her concern and care for me, I liked it. I was only a human, it is natural for me to seek company and affection, even if the prospect and sensation were unfamiliar to me.

...It is... a little hard for me to understand.

But I like it.

A/N: Rias is one of my favourite if not my favourite girl in DxD. Fannon has really given her an unfair reputation. Unfortunately, when writing her and Takumi together my teeth have rotted and fallen out of my mouth out of the sweetness.

My goal with this chapter, or at least the last part was to establish Takumi more as a person, what his inner thoughts are. He is not an unfeeling machine only driven by his lust and desire for alchemy, he can love too and fall for others even if the concept is unfamiliar to him.

What did you guys think about Takumi and Rias, and their characters in general? I would love to know.

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