Chapter 14-Push

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Push

[Dagger Mastery has gone up a level.]

'The difference definitely shows,' Joshua thought to himself as he blocked another sword slash directed at him with the daggers Jeanne had made for him. His opponent was unrelenting though, directing another attack at him. The man didn't just stand there, however, and while he raised one of his daggers to block the second attack, his other hand sent a slash of his own.

Joshua's opponent received the hit right on his arm, staggered back, and charged back in as if nothing had happened. If there was anything he hated about his training 'partner' it was that it didn't feel pain and thus, wouldn't stop until Jeanne told him to. It was kind of the point though.

Who was he fighting against? Nobody, really. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that he was fighting just a sword. It was a weird creation, the one his 'cousin' had created, but a very useful one nonetheless.

[Training Flying Holy Sword

Rank - E]

That's what he had gotten when he had cast Appraisal on the thing. It was basically a blunted sword that fought by itself and created the illusion of a wielder. Joshua compared it to shadowboxing, but his opponent could actually hit him. It was a good thing that Jeanne had made it so that getting hit by it was like getting hit with a stick and not an actual blade, or Joshua would have sported many cuts from his training.

It still had a very dumb name though.

Still, he had gained two levels in Physical Resistance as he got used to actually fighting with his daggers. There was, after all, quite a bit of difference between practicing stances that he found on the internet and actually fighting someone. There was also, apparently, quite a bit of difference on how the skills developed when they were used in actual fights and just practices, because Dagger Mastery had gone from measly level 5 to 15 in just over a week.

[Dagger Mastery – Lvl 15/100

Determines the user's ability to fight with a dagger.

Increases damage output when fighting with a dagger by 7.5%.

Increases Speed when fighting with a dagger by 7.5%.

Increases Dexterity when fighting with a dagger by 7.5%.]

The numbers made it seem like small progress, but Joshua knew the truth. He had advanced a lot, it was just that the skills were deceiving. He had a theory that said they didn't actually symbolise his mastery over the given skill, but they were more along the lines of buffs over his natural capabilities. Granted, that first line in the descriptions still clashed a little with this idea of his, but it was the best he could manage at the moment.

Joshua blocked another attack with his daggers, pushing off the sword and going in for a double stab to the illusion of his opponent's body. He blinked when, after the attack was dealt, the projection of a body shimmered in and out of existence. His blue eyes moved to the side, where Jeanne sat in a meditative position, beads of sweat trailing down her forehead.

"Enough for today, huh?" He asked, making the girl release an exhausted breath out. "I told you to just stop if you were feeling tired," He chastised lightly as the sword he had been fighting fell to the ground, the illusion of an opponent disappearing, this time for real.

"I know, I just… I don't want to hinder your training," The girl admitted, looking to the side, ashamed. Joshua let out a long exasperated sigh.

"Jeanne, if it weren't for you, I would still be training only with stances. You couldn't possibly slow me down, get that out of that pretty head of yours," He said with a roll of his eyes. "Now, continue meditating, it should help you regain your energy. I'll go practice throwing now, I guess."

"I know, I know," Jeanne grumbled, even though there was a pleased smile on her face. God knew Joshua would have a hard time beating those confidence issues out of her, but he would do it, that much he swore.

"How are you doing, girl?" He asked then, turning his head to a tree next to him. The question was aimed at Nagini, who was wrapped around a low branch, squeezing as much as she could with her whole body.

Why, some may ask. Well, that had been the result of a somewhat amusing afternoon where he got to have a lengthy conversation with his pets. And by lengthy he meant complicated, since he had struggled to understand what the animals had been trying to tell him. In the end, after much guessing and many snickers from Jeanne as he played charades with his animals, he managed to catch what they wanted.

They wanted to train too.

So far, they had 'improved' if one could call it that, by being themselves, hunting for food and exploring and all that. Now, however, they seemed to have developed a desire to be stronger, probably for the same reasons as Joshua himself did, to survive. Thus, he had done his best to give each of the animals, even Morag, something to do to improve skills that they had or try to find some new ones.

Cheshire, for example, wouldn't change what she did much. After all, she could train basically all her skills while hunting in the forest. Bite, Scratch, Hunt, Extrasensory, all of them benefited from her searching for something and attacking it. He did have her using her claws on tree trunks and biting branches too, but she mostly ran around looking for stuff to kill. She was also very useful for the training of both of the other animals though.

Nagini, as stated, had started using a skill that he had found in her Status screen one day. In hindsight, he shouldn't have been surprised by its appearance, but he was. It was such an obvious thing though, that afterwards he hadn't been able to stop himself from smacking his own forehead.

[Wrap – Lvl 5

Defines the power of the user's constriction when coiled around something.]

It had been an easy enough skill to train, both with branches and actual living targets that Cheshire would provide now and then. That didn't mean that the snake didn't hunt her own prey from time to time, since she had unlocked the Hunt skill too. For the time being, however, Cheshire was the huntress of the group, he would see about training Nagini on that after she got good enough on her Bite and Wrap.

Speaking about Bite, Joshua had trouble finding a way to train that one with both, the snake and the spider. After all, they weren't the same as with Cheshire, since they had Venomous Bite, instead of just Bite, meaning that the Venomous part was the important one. He'd had the idea of letting Morag bite him so that he may gain a Poison or Venom Resistance skill, especially since he now knew that it wouldn't be fatal, but there were a bunch of problems with that.

One such problem was that while a Black Widow's bite wouldn't lead to death, it would be very painful. Moreover, the symptoms were supposed to last between three days and seven, which was a big no-no since he had a job to attend to. Joshua could, maybe, lean on the fact that his System would help reduce that, but still, if he was unlucky he could very well lose several days of work. Peter might be a very reasonable man but Joshua didn't like the idea of taking advantage of his good will.

There was also the fact that… Joshua didn't feel ready to let the spider bite him. He might have gotten a lot better with Morag, no longer fearing having the spider touch him and all. However, letting her bite him was another thing entirely.

So, the spider was mainly training against insects that Cheshire would bring or flies that Joshua lured to her. Morag practiced two things with such 'targets' one was her Venomous Bite and the other was Silk Weaving. The latter though, wasn't in the way that some might think.

Joshua got the arachnid to create a web between her two front legs and then snap forward to trap the insects. He'd gotten that idea researching some types of spiders on the internet and finding one called Net Casting Spiders. Interesting afternoon, that one had been. He'd expected that to create a new skill for Morag, but the system didn't seem to agree with him, simply taking it as Silk Weaving. He'd admit to being a little disappointed with that, but it was still training for his pet and he would take what he could.

He was brought back to the present as his snake pet hissed something at him, clearly focusing more on her exercise than him.

"Don't push yourself too hard, girl," He reminded the snake, who seemed to relax a little. It was kind of funny, how he had to remind all of them, human and animal alike, when they needed to rest. Mainly because they had to remind him of the same more often than not.

Clearing his head of all thoughts, he walked away from that clearing for a bit, carefully staying inside the ward he had set, even if he didn't feel particularly safe there anymore. At least now he had increased the security slightly.

First of all, Joshua had taken to layering several Concealing Wards over their training place, which he had changed locations for, not only because the previous one had been found already, but also because he didn't want to be anywhere near where he had essentially killed three people. He'd read that it was an effective practice, usually used on bases, since it meant that he would need to place the Wards over the span of several days. They interfered with each other though, which meant that putting two Concealing Wards wasn't double the effect, but it still added extra security that Joshua would very gladly take.

Second of all, he'd placed Concealing Wards around the forest and their apartment, mainly on the paths they took, to hide their movements as much as possible. He was pretty sure that someone sufficiently skilled could track their movements with just their magic potential or Jeanne's Sacred Gear. That was his working theory at least and since nobody else had approached them, he liked to think he was right. Which meant that he was doing his damndest to hide both of them at all times, even when they weren't actively doing anything.

Taking a deep breath in, he gripped his knives as he closed his eyes. A second later, he opened them and his arm snapped to one side. A thud sound came from the tree that he'd made one of his targets for the day.

[Holy Throwing Knife

Rank - D]

He didn't know if it was the effect of his training showing more than he expected, or if it was an effect added to the knives by Jeanne's Sacred Gear, but Joshua thought he'd gotten to be much more accurate with his throws as of late. He'd also upped the difficulty of his training, to see if that affected how fast the skill developed and he was reasonably sure that he had been right. Now, instead of just throwing them at a single target, he'd started picking a bunch of trees all around and trying to hit them at random.

Joshua also planned to, maybe, add Jeanne to the equation, painting circles on the trees with different colors and having her call out them at random so that he wouldn't have time to aim and such. After all, he wouldn't always have time to think, much less prepare his attacks, as it had been shown in his fight against Khaos Brigade. Another thing to prepare for was throwing while moving, which he would get to work on once he managed to hit more trees than he missed with his current training. He wanted to be able to hit anything without even having to think about it, only with instinct.

Granted, what he wanted and what he could do were very far away from each other, but he would get there. He just needed time…

He threw a knife harder, splintering the wood of the tree it hit, more because it went a little wide and hit the trunk's side than because of the strength he had put behind it. 'Focus,' He told himself harshly. He didn't have time to get distracted.

They didn't have time, he was aware. That kind of thinking didn't help though, and thus, Joshua had decided to do as much as he could and hope for the best. There was no point in worrying for things that he had no control over.

However, saying and doing were different things. Joshua couldn't stop himself from worrying. Everytime he was outside, he worried that the Khaos Brigade may be able to find him just because he had magic. Everytime he was at his apartment or in the forest, he worried that his Wards may not be strong enough to hide them. Everytime he was training, he worried that he wouldn't be strong enough the next time they were attacked.

The sound of a sword hitting another reached his ears and he felt fear grip at his heart for a split second. His mind found ease when he turned and saw Jeanne fighting a Training Flying Sword with a blade of her own, just like he had been a moment before. He wondered if he'd been so distracted that she'd had time to recover her energy or if she had just decided to keep pushing herself.

It could be either, really.

For a second, he considered asking and maybe telling her to rest some more. However, he couldn't coddle her too much. That would jeopardize her development and that could mean the chances of her dying in a future confrontation being higher.

Besides, Joshua didn't want to be a hypocrite, telling her to train less when he was pushing himself to his limits everyday.

So, instead, he looked at her training for a moment. In her hands was a sword that wasn't actually designed for combat. Jeanne had named it Healing Gratitude, which gave it the privilege of being the only one of her creations to actually have a name. Although, if Joshua was honest, he wasn't too surprised.

[Healing Gratitude

Rank - ?]

If was her highest ranked sword as of yet, being the only one he couldn't see. If he had to guess, it was a C rank, just outside of the scope of Appraisal. Although, he could easily be wrong.

The girl had explained, red faced and stuttering all the way through the conversation, that it had been born of her gratitude to him. That, combined with the Sacred Gear book saying that often the will of the holder affected its performance made it pretty clear that, since there was much more emotional investment on that sword, it was much better than the others. It was also very flattering for Joshua, if he was honest with himself.

With a sigh and a slight smile, he turned back to his training.

[}-o-{]

[Jeanne]

"So, how was your first day at work?" Joshua asked with a slight smirk on his face, as if he hadn't been right there through it all. The glare that Jeanne sent his way only made him grin wider before she sighed loudly.

"It looks so much easier than it is," The girl complained even louder. She wasn't really angry though, mostly exhausted. Being a waiter at a cafe looked much easier from the outside, that was for sure. It had been especially tiring when a bunch of customers arrived all at once. It was like having to prepare for several tests at the same time, if Jeanne had to compare it to something. All of them required attention, but she felt like she didn't have enough time for any of them.

Thank whatever god was out there (probably several if her readings held true) that Joshua had been there to tell her to simply serve them one at a time. He'd even helped her out with some of her tables, which was very much appreciated. In his words, he'd have liked to have someone help him during his first few days too, but he wasn't one to complain.

"Are we going to train today?" She asked then, dreading the answer for a moment. She wasn't particularly tired physically, but mentally, she didn't think she had it in her, especially to meditate.

"Nah, I don't think so," Joshua shook his head knowingly and she sighed again, this time in relief. "At least, not in the forest. I guess I'll just do some reading, maybe practice some Wards. I've been meaning to start with the Detection Wards, but… well, I'm kind of like you with your tables," He joked, making her pout.

It hadn't been that bad. She'd confused one order, but it already seemed like she wouldn't ever live it down. Joshua was mean.

"I think I'll do some brainstorming for my swords then," She decided, feeling incredibly lame in comparison to Joshua.

Here she was, with a Sacred Gear that was considered pretty good altogether, being Mid Tier and all, and all she could do was practice swordsmanship and think about what type of swords to make. It sounded much better than it actually was, no matter how much Joshua praised her creations. After all, the more complicated the sword, the weaker they were, to the point where they could break being parried by mundane knives. Not that simpler swords were much better, really. Evidently, she was too weak to make strong swords, it was that simple.

On the other hand there was Joshua, who was always reading, always practicing Wards, throwing knives, fighting with said knives. He was even taking time to train his animals for gods' sake. Jeanne didn't remember the last time she had seen him do anything that wasn't training related besides a moment or two shared with his pets or familiar.

She was honestly getting a little worried. However, it wasn't like she couldn't understand. Jeanne had been there in the forest, after all. She knew what had him worried. She was worried too. It was just… there wasn't much she could do besides what she was already doing and that frustrated her.

She wasn't even making progress with the stupid Storage Spell!

She yelped when something hit her nose, making it sting.

"Joshua!"

"What? You were making that face again," He said, as if that excused anything, the big meanie. "Stop worrying too much."

"Like you are one to talk," She grumbled.

"I know," Joshua admitted, running a hand through his black hair. It was getting a little long, Jeanne mused as she looked at him. Even the man himself had said as much. "It's just… I'm the adult here, you know. I'm supposed to be the one that takes care of you."

She glared at him, and it seemed to be enough for him to reply to her unspoken message.

"I know," He repeated with a sigh. "It's just… I don't want you to feel like you aren't doing enough, ok?" He explained. "Just training with your swords sounds like very little, I bet," And he would be right, Jeanne knew. "But that's not the case," He added.

"What?"

"Your Sacred Gear has a lot of possibilities, Jeanne. It's not as little as you think it is, training with it," He reassured with a slight smile. "You'll be able to make as many types of swords as you want to, one day."

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Jeanne," He deadpanned at her muttered words. "It'll take time, like with everything. Look at me, my Wards are shit. I fail more throws than I hit and that training sword of yours is kicking my butt on a daily basis."

It wasn't true, Jeanne knew. He was exaggerating for her benefit… but she would take it. She knew what he meant, at least.

"Fine," She sighed. "It's just..."

"Don't worry, Jeanne," He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she hated how effective that was on her. When was the last time someone had done that for her? "It'll be ok. We just have to do the best we can and it'll be enough."

"He speaks true," The voices agreed, making her deflate as she realized that she really was the one that worried too much. At least, the one that worried about unnecessary stuff. "The Blades of Holy will be enough," The voices told her, and she could only hope that they were right.

"Now, let's go home ok? You know how Nagini gets when we are late," Joshua urged her with a roll of his eyes. A half-smile formed on his face as she giggled. The snake could certainly be pissy if they left her alone for too long, nevermind the fact that Morag was there too.

"Excuse me, sir?" A woman in a uniform that Jeanne couldn't remember seeing before approached them, giving a bemused Joshua a flier before he could even begin to process her sudden appearance. And just like she had approached them, she left, looking for someone else.

Jeanne followed her for a moment with her eyes, but the woman seemed to ignore most others. A few thoughts crossed the blonde's mind and it irked and worried her that maybe she was right. Had she approached Joshua for some reason?

Irked because… that woman wasn't… interested in Joshua, was she? No, surely not. No, Jeanne was just being silly. That wasn't how you approached someone for that, she was sure.

Worried because… because their last and her first encounter with the supernatural people was still raw in her mind. She really wasn't looking forward to another, much less when she had just started preparing herself for real. No, it couldn't be.

"The flier," Several voices sharply told her and her eyes snapped to the piece of paper. "An offer," They whispered, and Jeanne had a hard time telling if they were apprehensive or interested.

"Huh?" Joshua exclaimed, still surprised, although this time it seemed to be more because of what he had been given instead of the woman from before. "It doesn't have a number or an address or anything," He mused, turning the paper around curiously. "'We will grant your wish' and how would they do that?" Joshua asked her with a confused and somewhat amused smile. "I can't even contact them."

"A Devil," A voice told her and she felt her shoulders tense. "A surprisingly equal exchange," They told her and she frowned confused. "Not as dangerous as one might think..."

"Depending, that is," Different voices replied to the first. "Not all Devils are the same."

"Something I should know?" Joshua asked with a raised eyebrow. Jeanne took a moment to relish the fact that there was no apprehension, no awkwardness, no discrimination against her… condition, or whatever it was. He seemed to be genuinely curious about what the voices were telling her.

"They say," She looked around for a second, making sure that nobody was too close. "They say it's an offer… from a Devil," She informed him and she saw him react just like her. Concern creeped into his eyes and she hurried to reassure him. "They said… that not all Devils are the same… that it wasn't as dangerous as it seemed."

This time, his expression turned to disbelief.

"That's what they said," She shrugged, looking down and to the side.

"I… see..."

"They said," She rushed to add, almost forgetting already. "That it depended on the Devil, that not all of them are the same."

"Ok..." Joshua nodded slowly, eyeing the flier on his hand for a moment before pocketing it. "I don't suppose you came across a book about Devils from our little library, did you?"

She shook her head as they started walking once more.

"I guessed as much," He grimaced. "Let's search to see if there's anything about that. If not, we'll have to see if we find anything on the internet."

Jeanne joined him with a grimace of her own. The internet wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to leave her fate to, if she was perfectly honest. Joshua seemed to be of the same mind because he nodded at her and continued speaking.

"If it comes to that, we won't be using this… whatever it is," He decided, patting his pocket. The girl could only agree. The voices only said that they might not be as bad as they thought, not that they wouldn't be. It wasn't good enough to risk it, for either of them.

At least not yet, that is.

With how things had been as of late and how worried they were. Jeanne feared that they would have to do it even if they didn't want to. If it came to that…

"The Blades of Holy shall smite them then," A voice exclaimed rashly. "Holy, the bane of Devils, we shall punish their daring."

She blinked then.

"Of course," Jeanne whispered, almost smacking herself in the face.

"What?"

"My swords, they are Holy," She mumbled. "They are effective against creatures of Darkness."

"Like Devils," Joshua caught on quickly, nodding as he kept walking. Now looking much more confident than a second before. "And you thought your swords weren't all that."

"Shut up," She grumbled, smacking his arm as he chuckled.

[} Chapter End {]