Chapter 72-Messing With A Beast

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Messing With a Beast

[Unknown Student]

"Ok, so who wants to go first?"

Professor Davis was crazy.

He had obviously lost his mind, there was no doubt in the minds of any of the students. If he were sane, there was no way he would be asking what he was of them. Surely this was some kind of test, right? That had to be it. It was to make them realize that they weren't ready. Bring them back down to Earth after raising them up with all his teaching. Or maybe it was to slap the people that had been more vocal about their dislike of him as of late?

Yeah, those theories made sense.

"Can I go first, Professor Davis?"

Obviously, not all the students had been in mental agreement, it seemed. Then again, Meredith Ordinton was far from a normal student, just like Joshua Davis was far from a normal teacher. Not to say that she was monstrously separated from the rest of them, pitiful mortals, like the man they were learning from, of course. However, she was much more in tune with Davis's teachings, she was always there, right in the middle of any discussion that happened in class. She was always there to answer when a question was asked by Davis.

She was the student in the class, that was for sure.

Apparently, the rest of the students had to add stupidly brave to her descriptors.

"Nobody else?" Joshua asked, looking around as if curious about why they didn't want to risk their lives, their reputations or both. He was a mad bastard and it seemed unlikely that he'd ever stop reminding them of this fact, however unknowingly he did it. "Ok then. I'll give you all a moment while I set things up. I've got some testing of my own to do," he said, as if that were a normal thing to do.

Maybe it was, for him that is.

Thus, every single student focused intently on their teacher as he moved. They'd seen him cast some things, but it was mostly Storage Spells and illusions. The first was fairly well known, even if not as much as the Magical Signal Spell, and the latters were… fancy tricks, for the most part. Especially on the level that Professor Davis cast them.

So, everyone was rather excited to see their teacher cast something else. That feeling grew even more prominent when the man pulled out a drawn circle from a Storage Spell. That meant that this was going to be huge. It meant that whatever the spell was, it was out of Davis's normal capabilities to cast, which would mean something rather powerful. Now there were whispers among the students, theories running wild about what he was about to cast.

Then Davis surprised them all once more.

"Pretty sure that's not a wardstone," Ordinton commented jokingly and nobody had the courage to comment on that statement of the obvious. Mostly because they were now intrigued. The object that Davis had taken out of a Storage Spell this time was… something leathery and upon closer inspection, it looked like a bat's wing. That wasn't the only thing though.

Soon, it was revealed that it wasn't one circle that Profressor Davis had taken out, as he spread several sheets on the floor. Then, he started taking out more components, all of them seeming to be beast pieces of some kind. There were eyes, ears, tongues, some kind of needle that seemed out of place between the others. No questions were asked though, the students were still fearful that their teacher would react negatively to one. That had mostly gone away during class, but this didn't seem to be related to a lecture or an exercise. This was Joshua casting a spell of his own for some reason. It was better to be cautious about this kind of thing, else they unknowingly insult him.

"I'm forgetting something…" Davis mumbled, pausing in his preparations. A rather dangerous statement, really, considering what he was doing, nevermind the fact that he was supposedly testing something. A few students shuffled on their feet, their desire to learn more battling against their self preservation instincts. "Oh, right," he exclaimed mildly as he snapped his fingers.

A circle appeared in the air and there appeared… a snake.

'A large snake,' the students realized, looking at the monstrous thing that looked like it'd have no problems swallowing one of them whole, like a normal serpent would a rat. The beast's head moved from side to side, slowly, very deliberately looking at the students as if assessing them. Assessing them for what, they couldn't begin to guess, but they could only hope it wouldn't be for actual eating.

"Nagini, I didn't interrupt anything, I hope?" Davis greeted, raising a hand and scratching the underside of the monstrous snake like it was a dog or a cat. Then again, everyone had heard the teacher speak of his familiars at least once, they'd even met two of them during classes a few times, Cheshire and Margalo. It was quite the contrast though, to go from a cat and a bird to such a… beast. "Now, don't be too mean to my students, yeah? I gotta set some things up so they don't kill themselves," their teacher said, getting a huff from the serpent before it coiled on itself as if it were going to sleep.

None of the students could feel too reassured about the fact that there would be actual measures taken for their testing. Mainly because the snake, Nagini, was still looking at them all with her piercing eyes. There was something about those, something that unsettled them more than just the instinctual fear of something that could very easily kill them. There was something more there, like it was taunting them, poking their souls and finding them wanting.

And then they forgot about the familiar's presence.

Their focus snapped towards Joshua Davis, as the man cast his magic. Not because they'd noticed and wanted to get a close look, even though they did, but because of the shift that occurred around them. No longer did they feel like they were in a simple training field provided by House of Water with their teacher and an admittedly scary serpent. Suddenly, there was something more with them.

Those few students that could sense magic better would later explain to everyone else. It was like feeling a magical beast, a monster of legend, stalking around them. It was waiting, watching, biding its time or maybe contained. It was in front of them, behind them and all around them. It was…

"Well, that's that. So," Davis called out, clapping as he cracked his neck and turned to look at them. "Meredith, you were first, right?" he asked, and the usually bright and eager student gulped nervously, suddenly not so sure. "Don't worry about spell failure, that's what the hexes I set up are for."

Hexes, not wards.

'How many branches does he practice?' the students couldn't help but wonder in awe.

"So, go ahead," Davis urged his star student who nodded resolutely. Taking a deep breath in, she brought up the sheet in her hands with the drawn circle. Their teacher had instructed them to cast it with a physical circle, after all. That way they could make sure that the failure, if there was one, was because of the circle and not their visualization of a spell that basically hadn't existed before they made it. A sensible measure, even if some students felt like that was beneath them.

It had been a while since most of them had discarded the use of physical circles after all. It was common for magicians to simply move on to casting with magically made circles as soon as they could. After all, someone using a physical circle was, usually and to the eyes of the world, an apprentice. Someone that was just learning the ropes of things. Most of the time, at least.

A physically drawn circle meant one of two things in the supernatural. Either the caster didn't know or was unsure of what he was doing, or they were casting something outside of their normal magical reserves, which was something that wasn't usually practiced. For the sake of the class though? Everyone had brought their circles and nobody had said a single thing about that to Professor Davis.

It was difficult to look down on the man for doing things like that when he was leagues ahead of them even while having been in the supernatural world for a fraction of the time. Joshua Davis certainly had a way to make them look at things differently, that was for sure. Some of those the students still didn't know if they were for good or bad.

Regardless of all that, Meredith Ordinton cast the spell and the students had to wonder how she managed. Having Davis, his familiar and his hexes so intensely focused on one could very easily disturb their concentration. Maybe that was part of some test? Food for thought, they guessed.

"Good job. It wasn't quite as strong as it was supposed to be though," Professor Davis commented. "You'll have to go over that circle again. If you have any doubts, remember to ask."

"Yes, Professor Davis, thank you," Meredith replied, looking very pleased with herself despite the partial success. To be fair, it really was an accomplishment in and on itself.

"Next," Davis called and when nobody moved, he raised an unimpressed eyebrow at them. "I thought we were past this phase, guys. Come on. Don't make me do something drastic," he threatened.

What something drastic was, the students had no idea. However, nobody missed how the serpent behind the man raised her head and looked at them. For a second, they could have sworn that she smiled at them.

"I'll… go next, Professor Davis," a young man said, raising their hand and looking rather pale.

"Thank you," their teacher said exasperatedly. "Go ahead, nothing will go wrong. I've got you."

That student was also a partial success, it seemed, with his spell having worked but not quite reaching as far as it should. The third attempt, now much less nervous, worked perfectly. However, it did involve much smaller changes than the others, so it made some sense. The fourth attempt was too powerful, considering its intended effect. The fifth went without problem either. The sixth…

"Well, that went… pretty well, actually," Davis commented, tilting his head as he looked back at the student, a younger, rather shy girl. He remembered her from class, although he couldn't quite place which or what she had said. "Can I look at that circle?"

"Ah, of course, P-Professor Davis," the girl stammered, clearly nervous with the attention she was receiving, especially because none of the other students had elicited such a reaction from their teacher.

"What's your name?" the man asked, making the poor girl freeze where she stood.

"Ah, um… K-Karin. No, er, no last name," she told him.

"Karin, I want to talk with you about this change you made here," Professor Davis told her, pointing at a particular part of the circle. "Did you bring your notes with you?"

"Ah, I-I didn't. We were to-to bring-"

"Only the circle, yeah," Davis finished absently while looking back at the drawing. "That's fine. Could you bring your notes for the next class? I want to see how you got to this."

"Of course, Professor Davis," the girl squeaked, before all but running away towards the- "Ah, sorry," she mumbled as she turned around and took the circle with her. "Thank you, Professor Davis," she whispered almost inaudibly under their teacher's amused gaze.

"So, next?" the man asked, turning towards the group once more.

"I'll go next, Davis," a young man announced and several students gave him disbelieving and some insulted looks. That was rather disrespectful of him, to not address the man by his title. Then again, he was part of the students that were miffed by the man's uncaring attitude towards just who the students were, but it was still shocking to see such a public display.

"Go ahead," Professor Davis replied with, waving his hand to urge the man. It was quite the contrast, to see what was obviously an insult to the man's face be shrugged off as if it were nothing. Their teacher was smiling even, as if literally nothing had happened.

Clicking his tongue, the student went ahead with the demonstration.

Only, it didn't quite go as he planned, evidently. Almost as soon as he cast the spell and the circle lit up, it started shining too much. It didn't take a genius to know what was happening. The spell was failing and rather catastrophically at that.

Now, a failing spell could do a number of things and it was never a certainty which one it would be. Some spells just dissipated on their own, the magic practically evaporating and joining the rest of ambient energy around the caster. Some spells would "work" throwing off one or several aspects of the magic that was being cast to cause all sorts of problems. There were many more options besides those, of course, and the unstableness of the failing spell meant that one could never be sure, even if they cast the spell exactly the same way again.

This one, in particular, resulted in the same thing that every student had feared when they were told what they'd be doing that day.

The spell exploded.

Or, it would have, really.

At once, several things happened, and no student caught all of it. However, they sure were able to share it with one another after the fact. No way they wouldn't talk about such an event, really. There were many things of interest involved in the whole thing, the least important of which being that the boy, one with quite the backing if one were to trust his word, was the first to fail in the class and rather spectacularly at that.

The first thing that happened after the spell failed was that Professor Davis made shield spells appear all around the young student and between him and his spell. It was the one thing every student got to see, since it was so noticeable. That and to see anything else they literally had to see through the holes on the spell circles, after all.

The second thing that happened was that Professor Davis's familiar, Nagini, snapped into action. The gigantic snake moved with unexpected speed, practically flying next to the student. She glared at him, and several students said her eyes were shining, while her tail wrapped around his waist. Immediately after, the animal threw the young man away from the spell before soon following.

The third thing was something that shook all of them, even if not all could tell exactly what had happened. For those more in tune with magic and sensing, they felt the hexes their teacher had placed hone in on the spell. A second later, the energy that was just about to reach everywhere with much more force than it had any business having imploded instead.

Those people shivered, feeling Professor Davis's spells literally devour the failure like a pack of wolves would a weakened animal. The things jumped on it, and attacked with such viciousness that they felt in danger themselves. The rabid beasts that were those spells didn't so much as glance their way though, and once the energy of the failure was dissipated, they went back to lurking on the edges of the field they were in, waiting once more.

"Well, that could have gone better," Professor Davis commented, looking entirely unaffected by the events that had transpired. "Next time, maybe you won't put more magic than necessary into a spell that you aren't sure of, young man."

The student, who was now under the gaze of literally everyone in the field, freaks of magic that were Davis's hexes included, got up from where he'd been thrown on the floor. He had the decency to look apologetic, but few had any doubts that it was mostly for show. Especially considering the way he replied to their teacher's words.

"I'm sorry, Professor Davis," he muttered, as if merely saying the words caused him pain. "It won't happen again," he all but growled.

"See that it doesn't," Davis commented with a nod before turning to the group of students. "Now, who's next?" When nobody answered his question, the man raised an eyebrow. Before he could tell them anything though, someone raised their hand. "Great, got me scared there for a second, guys," the man said with a chuckle as he signaled for that student to position themselves.

Little did he know that the reason they'd offered to go was because, suddenly, nobody wanted to know what "something drastic" was for Professor Davis. Certainly not when he could take a failing spell, something that was supposed to be stuff of nightmares for magicians, since they tended to break any and all logic even when regarding magic, and make it disappear like one would a speck of dust by blowing on it. Suddenly, next to the respect and gratitude the class held for their teacher, there was a healthy amount of fear.

"Don't be afraid to fail, guys," Professor Davis told them, likely picking up on their mood and severely misunderstanding it. "I certainly won't get mad. I'm getting to learn quite a few things too, I gotta say," he added, looking towards where he'd set up his hexes. Then he turned towards them, giving them a grin that sent shivers down more than one spine. "I'm gathering all sorts of information from this with my spells, honestly."

He was using their exercise as a testing ground. He was gathering information, even of failing spells. Suddenly, the students were afraid, very much afraid, of Professor Davis. Because if he could be so incredibly scary while taking care of them and teaching them…

What would he be like, if he were an enemy?

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

"Ok, I think we've gone over most of the spells cast that needed more attention," he told his students, now back at the classroom. "Work on all the ones that didn't go perfectly well and we'll continue like this. For those of you that got the modification to work, we'll see how the next testing round goes and you'll be helping anyone that still needs help."

Nobody protested, but Joshua picked up on some annoyance from around the room. If he was honest, fair. He could understand not wanting to work with other people. Group projects had been the bane of his existence in highschool. He couldn't very well have some people move on from what they were working on and not others though. That'd just needlessly complicate matters and he'd rather not.

"That's all for today," he and the students paused when they heard a hiss. "Right, thank Nagini for her help with today's class and then it'll be all for today," he said, giving his familiar an unimpressed look.

Much to his surprise, there was a chorus of "thank you, Nagini" around the room, before people started leaving. Well, that was nice of them to humor the prideful serpent, at least. Joshua had to wonder if that would go to her head though, that'd be… Well, a problem for future him, he supposed.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked his familiar with a raised eyebrow. To that, Nagini simply gave her version of a huff and turned her nose up. "And you wonder why Kunou likes the others more," he added, receiving a very offended hiss.

"Professor Davis?" someone called and Joshua turned to face this person. A frown formed on his face though, when he didn't pick up on any magic or life with his senses. And yet, there she was, a woman right there, with tan skin and long dark blue hair. He didn't think he'd seen her in his class but then again, he might have just forgotten. She didn't have the House of Water emblem, so he knew she wasn't part of the staff.

"Yes? What can I help you with, Miss?" he asked, feeling as Nagini twisted her neck so that her head peeked over his left shoulder, with her body on his right. His familiar was also on the verge of glaring right at the woman, just because of how unnerved he was that he couldn't sense the woman at all.

"Hm, the last of your students has gone far enough, I think," the woman mumbled, walking towards him from the back of the classroom. As her feet stepped down the stairs, he felt whatever it was that hid her go away.

His back straightened and his eyes narrowed. Behind him, Nagini did much the same, this time glaring for real. It was a good thing that she didn't actually put her magic into that, because… Well, the woman in front of them wasn't someone he wanted to try and antagonize, that was for sure.

That amount of energy, both in magic and life… It couldn't be from a normal person. It reminded him of Yasaka, of Azazel, of Serafall, of Gabriel… And yet, nothing like those either.

"I was confused for a good while, I'll admit," the woman said, as if she were commenting on the weather as she got closer. "Don't get me wrong, you are a pretty good magician. Impressive and all that, but… I didn't know why he told me to come and see."

"I have literally no idea what you are talking about, just saying," Joshua replied, when it looked like she was looking for an answer of some kind. He was very confused, if he was being honest. Did he know this woman from somewhere or something? He didn't think so.

"I'm getting to that," the woman waved away with a short laugh that sounded entirely too sophisticated. Joshua didn't even know one could laugh that way. "The fact that you can modify spells so easily was very interesting, I'll admit, but it just wasn't enough for me, no offense."

Joshua just stared at her, because really, he just wanted to know what was going on.

"But that use of Hex Magic you did?" the woman started then, green eyes almost shining. "Now that is something I can certainly appreciate. That's not normal, that's… Something is going on there. Magic likes you, Joshua Davis."

"That's neat, I like magic too," he replied with a slight shrug.

"So, yes, I think you'll do nicely," the woman said, ignoring his words and walking closer until she was at arms reach from him. "He picked very well, it seems. And I see what he's doing too, everyone does. Now though, he might get some more backing for his little scheme."

Behind him Nagini was tilting her head, and Joshua could relate. All she was saying was pretty interesting and all, but there was this big piece of the puzzle that the woman seemed to really enjoy avoiding. It was a little annoying, yes, but he knew it'd come eventually, so he just listened. Besides, again, he didn't think upsetting the woman in front of him was a good idea.

"What to do though? What would be a good one for you?" the woman asked, although she had to be talking to herself, really. As she did, she brought her index finger to her chin thoughtfully, looking him up and down. "I see, so he did that. That's nice and all but… maybe I can do something better for you. After all, you'll be getting plenty of attention soon enough. More than you already are getting."

Well, finally something he could understand, even if he wished he couldn't. That was quite concerning to hear…

"Good luck, Joshua Davis. We'll have our eyes on you," the woman said, before vanishing. Just as he was about to ask what the fuck was going on, he heard a distant laugh. Then, a screen appeared in front of him, but it wasn't blue. No, instead, it was tan colored with an ankh seemingly engraved in the background.

[New Perk Acquired: Minor Blessing of Nephthys]

[} Chapter End {]

(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)