Chapter 4

Morning came, and Josh felt better than ever. His body was bursting with energy from the two Lacrimas he absorbed the night before. If Josh had to guess, his reserves had increased by about 10%. 18 more, and he will double his starting magical power.

Lavinia met him at the lobby, happily smiling as she waited for him. She was dressed in a blue, long-sleeved dress that tightly hugged her figure. The staff at the hotel that were working were tripping themselves. Both men and women had a hard time keeping their eyes away from her. She was just that stunning.

"Jo-Jo!" Lavinia affectionately greeted him and grabbed his arm, gently pulling him out of the hotel.

"Good morning to you as well." She giggled at him as she dragged him out.

"Morning, morning. I saw a nice little coffee shop yesterday. We should go get breakfast there." Lavinia said as if she was giving him a choice. Though he didn't mind that much since he felt hungry himself.

The two enjoyed a nice little breakfast, and Josh got his first taste of coffee. He wasn't impressed. The bitter taste wasn't quite to his liking. Though Lavinia insisted he would like it more with some milk and sugar. He might give it another try in the future, but he settled with enjoying the buttery croissant he bought.

"Let's explore the city now that we are full of energy!" Lavinia happily smiled ear from to ear after they left the coffee shop.

"Aren't we supposed to be working on the mission?" Josh questioned. He was sent here with the task of 'taking care' of a rogue Necromancer that had settled in the local cemetery, not to look around.

Josh wasn't sure what Azazel meant by his wording. Did the Governor want him to kill the Necromancer, or did he want him to capture him? It seemed like this was some kind of a test, besides figuring out if Josh could stand his ground against someone that would try to kill him.

"Azazel said you have one week to complete that. And we can scout out the situation while acting as a pair of harmless tourists. It's better to be prepared than to rush in without a plan." Lavinia gently told him.

"I guess you're right." Josh nodded to her. She had gone on multiple missions before, so she obviously knew better. He also liked this idea of staying away from the Grigori since it allowed him to use his Sacred Gear more.

This would also give him the chance to check out the Colosseum before going after the Necromancer. Josh didn't know how that place worked since he didn't visit it the night before, but fighting against other humans was the most likely option. That should provide him with some valuable experience.

"Of course, I'm right." Lavinia playfully stuck her tongue out. "Now, let's go find a place to buy souvenirs from. I have to get at least one for each of my teammates."

With Lavinia dragging him around the city, they visited shop after shop. She bought every little thing that caught her attention. Despite that, Lavinia didn't carry a single bag, and it wasn't because Josh was holding them for her. It was because she stored them in a pocket dimension.

'A useful ability to have. Kind of like an Inventory. I should check the Library to see if I can learn something similar. If it's not too expensive, I might get it. Maybe even a few more support-type magics. I have to see what's available and how much they cost first, though.'

They also passed through the cemetery, acting as if they were just looking around. It looked normal, as normal as a graveyard could be, but there was something ominous in the air. Even Josh was able to sense that, which spoke of the Necromancer's strength.

'He is on my level. Maybe a bit stronger.' Josh concluded. The energy he was giving away made the Necromancer look as if he was strong, but that was far from it. If he was an expert, they wouldn't have felt a thing. So, they were dealing with an inexperienced Necromancer. Which was to be expected since Azazel wouldn't have sent him against someone out of his league.

Josh's entire day was spent with Lavinia until they finally returned to their hotel. They extended their stay for four more nights and retired to their rooms. Lavinia, however, followed after him.

"Yes?" Josh asked at the door.

"There are a few things we need to talk about, and I have something to give you." Lavinia entered his room after he moved away.

Josh felt a faint sense of dread, thinking that she might've found out about his ability. He waited with bated breath for her to talk.

"I know you haven't been trained to use those, but Azazel said you should have them just in case." Lavinia took out a pistol and a hilt with no blade.

Josh let out a sigh of relief as he was presented with the standard exorcist weapons, a light gun, and a light sword. Both of them armaments that the Church faction used. Most stray exorcists ended up joining the Grigori, so the Fallen Angels also used those weapons.

"Both of those are effective against dark creatures such as undead. They should be useful against the Necromancer, but you have to be careful since they are known to malfunction from time to time." Lavinia handed them over to him.

"Unless something goes terribly wrong, the light sword would last for 12 hours of extended use. And the gun has 200 bullets." Lavinia explained.

"Thank you." Josh accepted them with a bow of his head.

"You can thank me by calling me Lavi-chan~." Lavinia playfully said with a smile.

"I'll think about it." Josh replied with a small smile of his own.

"Mou~, Jo-Jo's being mean to me!" Lavinia pouted at him with her big sapphire eyes watering.

"I could say the same about you. You dragged me shopping all across the city for the entire day. If that's not being mean, then I don't know what is." Josh fought back.

"But I thought you enjoyed it." Lavinia actually looked sad after his statement.

"Well, I didn't dislike it." Josh quickly added. Even though he tried keeping his guard up, it was hard not to enjoy spending time with the blonde.

"Thank you, Jo-Jo~." Lavinia smiled brightly and lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Josh's face was buried in her heavenly valley, and she started stroking his hair gently. The hug was so peaceful, so enjoyable with the way Lavinia's fingers combed through his hair. He felt like falling asleep right there and then, but he had already wasted enough time during the day. If he fell asleep now, he would miss out on visiting Earthland, and that place was paramount to his future.

Somehow, someway, Josh resisted the urge to fall asleep. It was one of the hardest things he had accomplished in his life. When Lavinia left his room, he jumped in his bed before he entered Earthland once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next two days, he spent time with Lavinia during the daylight. Whenever he could escape her evil clutches, he would go to his room and enter Earthland. He was also there every night before he fell asleep.

Josh focused on doing D-Rank Quests. He grabbed as many easy ones he could do while picking at least one that involved fighting against some kind of a creature. Josh completed a total of 7 Quests, which resulted in 21 000 Jewels, or 10 low-ranked Lacrimas.

One other thing he discovered was that he could bring objects with him to Earthland. Both the sword and gun appeared with him when teleported in the world of his Sacred Gear. Josh wondered if he could bring a person with him, but he wasn't comfortable with that idea yet. He would only attempt that with a person he fully trusted.

Josh also spent some time exploring the many buildings there. There was pretty much one for anything one could think of. There was even a Restaurant, but he refused to spend any Jewels there. That currency would solely be used for ways to improve himself.

The Library and the Magical Goods Josh visited to check their full selection. Both had catalogs which he spent an hour going over them, examining everything they had to offer. Magical Goods had some interesting items, but the Library was a gold mine. Some of the magic there was out of the world, but even the cheapest type cost 50 000 Jewels.

Though the price of a few of them was even higher than the Devil Slayer Magic. Josh found some cheaper support types that interested him. Magics like Requip, which was like an Inventory, and Archive, which boosted his memory and granted him a type of telepathic ability, were useful in their own right.

On the day before going after the Necromancer, Josh visited the Colosseum for the first time. The Exceed greeted him there, dressed in iron armor that barely covered his body and with a sword on his hips.

"Welcome to the Colosseum, worm. Here you can prove yourself and fight for glory, fame, and money. Are you prepared to face your enemies in a deathmatch, fighting against fearsome opponents and forging a legend like no other? If you have what it takes, you might just become someone like me, The Gladiator, loved and adored by the crowd but feared by my foes."

"What can you tell me about the Colosseum? How do the fights work?" Josh asked, ignoring the Exceed since he already knew its antics.

"It's a Colosseum? What else do you need to know? You enter, you fight against someone of your skill, and only the victor leaves the arena." The Exceed looked angry he even asked.

"What about rewards?" Josh asked absentmindedly. His mind, however, was thinking about if he had what it takes to fight in a deathmatch against another human.

Could he take the life of someone else?

Did he have the guts to kill?

Would his opponents even be real humans or just constructs formed by his Sacred Gear?

Josh decided he would think of them as projections. Otherwise, he might just back out, and he couldn't do that. He needed to get experience with fighting against human foes and to get used to killing as well. Shalba Beelzebub looked like a human, after all, and hesitating against him would spell his doom.

"Of course, you get rewarded! Each fight you win against a D-rank opponent, you get 5 000 Jewels. If you get 5 consecutive wins without leaving the Colosseum, the reward gets bumped up to 10 000 per win."

"I want to fight!" Josh quickly declared before he changed his mind. There was no going back after this since he appeared in the middle of the arena the moment those words left his mouth.

Josh's foe was there just a moment later. He was a man of average height with green hair and was dressed in casual clothes. There didn't seem to be anything special about him other than his hair color.

"The fight between Joshua Arata and Renald Cobb begins now!" The Exceed's voice boomed throughout the arena, signaling the start of the match.

Josh forgot about everything else at that moment, focusing solely on the fight at hand. It was a do-or-die kind of situation, and there was no backing out at this point. He either left the arena as a victor or lost his life there.

Renald raised his arm with his knuckles pointed at him. Josh spotted a few rings on his fingers, and one of them lit up.

"Magic Missile!" A blue projectile in the form of an arrow flew at him at high speeds. Josh jumped to the side and avoided the attack while casting his favorite spell.

"Wood-Make: Homing Spears!" Josh's own projectiles sailed through the air, aiming to pierce through his opponent.

"Barrier!" Renald, however, was having none of that. Another one of his rings lit up, forming a rectangle forcefield in front of him. The spears slammed into it, damaging and almost breaking it, but the barrier persisted. The forcefield did disperse a moment later, though.

Josh fired the same spell at Renald, who in return cast another barrier to block the spears. The result, however, was different this time.

One of the spears hit the barrier, but the other two swirled to the side, avoiding the forcefield. Renald's eyes widened in surprise, but it was already too late for him to avoid them. One pierced him through the neck and the other through the stomach. And that was the end of their fight as Renald limply fell down.

"And the victor is Joshua Arata!" The Exceed declared his victory, but he felt like puking.

'That was just a projection. Just a projection. He wasn't real.' Josh repeated in his mind. He had to get used to this. Otherwise, he won't survive in the supernatural world.

"Will you stay and fight, or will you leave?" The Exceed questioned him.

"I will fight!" Josh yelled it out, in a way trying to convince himself. He had to do this!

'But it was so easy. Just one spear through the neck and one through the stomach.' Josh had imagined a more drawn-out fight that involved both parties throwing spells at each other. He even brought the light gun and sword, in case he ended up using all of his magical power. Instead, the fight ended in an instant due to a single mistake by his opponent.

'I have to be on guard at all times. I can't make the same mistake as Renald.' The members of the Grigori had cuddled him when they sparred with him and avoided attacking him with killing intent. Here in the Colosseum, everyone would be going for the kill.

There was no more time to think as the next opponent appeared in the arena.

"The fight between Joshua Arata and Gordon Nagar begins now!"