Chapter 15-Monster in Your Mind

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

Monster in Your Mind

"Well… this is… something," Joshua commented, looking at the flier he had received again, uncertain. Jeanne had helped him look through the books he had gotten from the Hunter's house twice over and they hadn't been able to find anything regarding Devils. He was sure there might be mentions in some of the other books, but they needed much more specific knowledge if they wanted to call on this… offer.

"So…" Jeanne started, looking as apprehensive as he felt.

"So, I'll see if I find anything on the internet," He decided, grimacing as he took another look at the flier. This time focusing on the circle drawn in the back of it. It was the only detail it had, after all, besides the words written on the other side. "We are definitely not using it though. I wouldn't trust the internet for anything."

"Ok… I'll be over here, I want to see if I find anything more about Holy Swords and all that. Might come in useful," She told him, and Joshua noticed that on the pile she signaled was also the book he had read after getting the Holy Element perk. He'd have to read it over again. He had focused a lot more on the objects themselves than their effects on creatures of Darkness and all that.

Nodding, he let out a sigh as he started looking through pages with his phone. He idly recalled those times where he would search for clues about which world he was now in. With new information at hand, he was pretty sure he was either in a world that hadn't been present in fiction back where he came from or he hadn't seen it. After all, Sacred Gears and all that was something that was pretty unique and sounded recognizable enough.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he should know about that. 'Khaos Brigade… Sacred Gears… Mythology...' He mused with a frown before shaking his head and focusing on the task at hand. Before that, however, he cast Appraisal on the flier once more, as if willing it to give him more information.

[Devil Flier

Rank - ?]

Sighing once more, he felt Nagini rub her head to his cheek and gave a slight smile. Absently scratching the snake on the underside of her head, he used his other hand to start searching on his phone. The first thing he did was check the demons mentioned on the Lesser Key of Solomon, especially after seeing that each had a special sigil. That looked like the kind of thing that could give a clue considering the circle on the flier.

Joshua decided to go from the last to the first, since they were in order of importance. After all, what could a Devil from the higher levels want to do with either of them? Moreover, the flier had been given to him, that while having a Gamer System, was still a normal human. Jeanne at least had a Sacred Gear going for her. 'Then again, could something in the world sense the System?' He had to wonder for a moment. There had been that instance of the shining screen that remained in the shape of his Holy Element perk.

So he searched, which took time, considering that there were 72 of them and he had to look carefully at the sigils and compare them with the symbols in the circle. Besides that, he took a moment to read the scarce information that he could find there too, in case it became relevant later on for some other reason.

Hours and a cup of coffee later, he wanted to kick himself.

'Bael,' Joshua recognized in between the several symbols of the circle. The sigil matched with what he had found almost perfectly. His eye twitched repeatedly as he all but growled. The reason for his annoyance? Bael was the very first demon mentioned!

He'd gone through the whole fucking list before finding it.

'I'm a fucking idiot,' Joshua thought, smacking his head against the table, drawing curious glances from his pets and Jeanne. Sighing for what felt like the hundredth time that day, he started reading the information on that Devil. It mentioned that Bael seemed to be a pretty important demon. There was a bit describing it as having simultaneously the head of a man, a cat and a toad. There was even a very bizarre drawing of a creature that seemed to be entirely made of the aforementioned three heads on top of what seemed to be spider legs, there wasn't even a body in between or anything of the sort.

The part about how important Bael was, Joshua took special note of. The description though, he took with a grain of salt. It would be strange, if the Devil was like that, but at least he wouldn't be surprised if it was. What drew the man's attention the most though, was the bit about the demon's powers.

One part said invisibility, science and love. Another said invisibility (again), science (again) and controlling legions of spirits. The last then spoke about invisibility (yet again) and popularity.

'Invisibility seems to be a consensus,' Joshua decided and while he still doubted that information a lot, the fact that it seemed to mention the same thing in multiple sources was also not to be ignored.

"Found something?" Jeanne asked, breaking him from his thoughts.

"It seems to be connected to Bael," Joshua replied, with the bit that he was the most sure about. "I don't guess you or the voices know something?"

"I don't but..." The girl then paused and he turned fully towards her, waiting for any bit of wisdom that his friend's advisors could tell them. He also started moving his left hand a bit, feeling Morag walking around his hand. It was almost a soothing feeling, curiously enough. "The House of the Great King."

Well, that wasn't very helpful, was it? Joshua already had found that they were important. It was, however, nice to have confirmation of it.

"Power of Destruction," The Jeanne mumbled then, making him blink and look back at his findings. There was no mention of that whatsoever. 'Good to know… even if I don't know what this Power of Destruction really is all about...' "Purple eyes," Jeanne added, before staying silent.

"Ok..." Joshua replied, nodding slowly. "Good to know… I don't guess they said anything about how safe it would be to contact this Devil?" He asked. Not the kind of question he had ever expected to ask, but he still had in mind what Jeanne had told him when they had been given the flier. 'Not as dangerous as it seemed,' He recalled.

'God, what has the world come to?' Joshua wondered. 'I'm considering making a literal deal with the Devil,' He realized with a slight chuckle.

"Joshua?" Jeanne asked curiously, making him shake his head.

"We are not using this… not yet, at least."

"But you are thinking about it. Really thinking about it," Jeanne said more than asked.

"I am," He admitted with a grimace. "I… We don't have the time we would need to be able to defend ourselves," He explained, although he wasn't sure if he was doing so to Jeanne or to himself. "And I'm very confident that there's much worse stuff in the supernatural than what we've met."

As scary as that thought was, Joshua was sure he was right regarding that. The stuff he'd read in the books pointed towards the people they had faced so far being of little notice at best. That wasn't comforting at all and neither was it helping his fear and worry.

"The voices said it should be fine to meet them," Jeanne told him and he turned back towards her, really looking at her. The girl looked… nervous, yes, but not overly so. Joshua couldn't fathom why she was as calm as she was. "They said Devils can be deceiving though, so it would be best to not make a deal carelessly."

He nodded slowly, still staring at her.

"Why are you so calm?" He asked.

"I trust the voices and I trust you," She replied confidently. Joshua could only stare in awe at the simple, honest and blunt answer. 'When was the last time someone said they trusted me?' He thought then. It wasn't that his family didn't trust him, he knew. However, they'd never have something to trust him with let alone a reason to say that.

He wasn't sure how to take that, if he was honest.

"Ok… ok..." He nodded trying to make a plan of some sort. "We have to prepare for this though. Even if what the voices said makes it seem like they won't be a danger without a deal, I still have my doubts. We have to prepare for a worst case scenario. Could you work on an extra Holy sword or something of the sort? Something even more tailored against Devils?" He questioned, frowning and already trying to form plans in his head.

"I can," She nodded, a small smile on her face. "The voices agree with you," She added then.

Joshua had to wonder then, when the voices had started being a comfort for him as much as for Jeanne. Regardless of that, knowing that his friend's advisors agreed took some of the weight off of his shoulders. He had to think more though.

"I'll see if I find any Wards specific for Devils. Even if they aren't particularly useful for what we want them for, I should be able to find something that I can modify into being like that too," He mused, his eyes moving towards his phone even if the information in it wasn't useful for his planning. His eyes weren't even really looking at it in the first place. "Knowing that's Devils we are preparing for helps a lot. I can make this place or wherever we decide to call them as anti-Devil as possible for me. Throw a bunch of different wards, overlap several of the same ones. We have the time for that," He continued, almost feeling excited.

This could apply to their current problem too. Could he make an anti-Human ward array that excluded himself and Jeanne? The Khaos Brigade members they had met were humans. Granted, they had been only three so there were no guarantees, but… Maybe?

"You are sounding like a mad scientist, Joshua," Jeanne pointed out to him, even though she looked more amused than afraid.

"I'm not mad if it works," He shot back with a grin. Then he looked at the hour. "Oh, fuck."

"What?" She asked then, before looking at the hour too. "Oh..."

[}-o-{]

"You think it worked?" Jeanne asked, clearly nervous while Joshua observed the sword she had made.

[Sacred Holy Sword

Rank - D]

"Well, it does seem to shine more than the others," The man answered carefully. He was pretty sure she had succeeded, even if the fact that the sword was named both sacred and holy was slightly amusing. It did mean that she had achieved what she wanted, if even slightly. "Did the voices say anything?" He asked then, drawing a shrug from the girl.

"I think they agree," She offered as an answer, not looking very sure. "They are very vague sometimes, it's kind of annoying," She added when she saw his confused gaze.

Joshua nodded then, looking back at the sword.

"Well, we'll take this as a success then," He said, turning back towards the books in front of him. The Detection Ward had been his first step into the Devil-specialized Wards, as it turned out. After all, that specific one had many, many specializations regarding it considering what it was used for. From there, Joshua was sure he could apply that information onto other ward schemes.

Now, he just needed to see if he had the required wardstones for the wards he was planning on using and how to modify the circles. It was possible though, that much he knew, and that meant that he would do it. At least, he would if the information he had was enough for that to happen. Motivation wasn't something he was short on, that was for sure.

Joshua would have preferred to work on the Human Wards first, considering that he was more worried about Khaos Brigade than the Devil that wouldn't come unless they called. The problem with that was that he had to make exclusions for things that said Wards would normally target, namely Jeanne and himself. That wasn't something that he was looking forward to doing, if he was honest. After all, the more little details one added to a circle, the less effective whatever you were trying to do would be. In this case, that meant that he would have to pour more magic into it for it to work as it should.

Joshua took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, as a sort of drawn out sigh. His lips twitched up as he felt Nagini rub herself against the side of his face. Absently, he started scratching her jaw, something that he often realized would terrify others but to him it was calming.

"I'm sort of… burning out, I think," He mumbled, his eyes moving to see Morag starting to climb his left arm, leaving her usual spot at the back of his hand. He followed her slow trip until she stopped before reaching his shoulder, where Nagini was wrapped. A second later, she continued, climbing over the serpent and getting past it making her way all the way towards his cheek. "Something the matter, Morag?" He asked then, since this was the first time the spider did that.

Joshua had to wonder when he had stopped being terrified of the arachnid and started smiling at her actions and contact. Whatever was up with the little one, he wouldn't find out. Instead, after a moment, Morag continued moving, this time into his hair, where he felt her walking around seemingly without a destination. It was a weird feeling, but he ignored it with practiced ease.

His eyes moved back to his books. 'I need a break,' Joshua thought to himself, stopping himself from letting out another sigh. He was overworking himself, he realized. He just needed...

Cheshire meowed from where she laid on the table. Looking over at her, Joshua let out a soft snort when he saw her mimic sleeping. Tiredly, he put his left elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his palm. His right hand, meanwhile, holding the pencil he used to take notes, started doodling meaningless shapes and little things on the edges of the notebook's sheets.

Then he paused, grimacing as he looked at them. Joshua would much prefer for his pages to only have what he needed. That helped him concentrate on what he wanted to read. Erasing the drawings, he blinked a few times.

It was then that, with a small smile, he pulled a notebook that was still completely blank from a card. He'd taken to putting everything inside cards or his storage notebook, mostly to keep practicing the Storage Spell. Regardless of that though, he looked at the blank page for a moment, his eyes then darted towards Cheshire, who had taken her own advice and was now napping.

A half-smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and the pencil in his hand started moving. Slowly, he started working on a simple drawing of Cheshire. He chuckled as Nagini hissed something in his ear. Somewhere in his hair, he would swear that he felt Morag tugging at it.

"I'll make one for each of you two later, ok?" Joshua promised, not taking his eyes off the paper. The spider didn't reply to that but the serpent did with a gentle squeeze of his neck. He was pretty sure that she meant that as a 'you better'. "You are all beautiful. Of course I'll draw you. Sorry if the drawings aren't very good though," he offered.

[Bond: Nagini has gone up a level.]

[Bond: Morag has gone up a level.]

Joshua's smile grew wider at the sight of those screens. 'One more level with Nagini,' He thought to himself, remembering that now the snake's Bond should sit at level 9. He wondered, not for the first time, if she would become another familiar of his upon maxing the skill or if something different would happen. After all, he didn't know if there was a limit to how many familiars one could have.

Still mostly focused on his drawing, he wondered if this was a peek into the kind of life he could lead once he reached some kind of peace in his life. Was this what his everyday life could be like if he didn't have to worry about someone attacking him? Working in a job that he liked, spending time with his pets/familiars and his new friend, having no concern besides mundane things and studying something as interesting as magic?

It was nice.

'I can definitely get used to this,' He thought to himself.

[Drawing has gone up a level.]

'Why didn't I do this before?' Joshua wondered then, blinking in slight surprise. 'Huh… this would have been a nice, relaxing practice for the drawing of the magic circles,' He noted, still with most of his focus on the sheet of paper. 'Well, better late than never,' He decided with a shrug. Better this than actually drawing the circles and such things, which felt more like doing homework than it ever did a leisure activity.

"Joshua!" He jumped on his seat, feeling Nagini tensing on his shoulders. Jeanne all but appeared on his side, looking more excited than she had ever seen her. She was positively vibrating, a sight that made him blink bemusedly.

"Jeanne?" He replied with a confused smile.

"I was trying to come up with ideas for my swords, you know how that goes," Jeanne started, stumbling through her words trying to get them out as fast as possible. Joshua could only nod, trying to see where she was going. He'd participated in one of those brainstorming sessions, after all. That was before the girl decided that it was better for him to use his time to improve himself instead of her and that she would take care of that herself. "So, I was thinking about something other than the Flying Training Sword and I thought: What if I tried to make something that literally makes us learn faster?"

Joshua blinked.

Then he blinked again.

"That… That's awesome, Jeanne," He breathed out, too stunned by the prospect to show that he was just as excited as she looked. "Have you tried?" He asked, eagerly looking around for any sword or knife.

"Um, no," Jeanne answered, suddenly looking sheepish. "I just… I had to tell you as soon as the idea occurred to me."

"Ok… Give it a shot," He urged her with an encouraging smile. The girl herself nodded, sticking her hands out and frowning in concentration. Joshua, meanwhile, waited expectantly, his mind already running through ideas and dreams about how that could change everything for the both of them. If Jeanne could really make something that would help him max out his skills faster…

In a flash of light, a sword appeared, just like they'd both seen many times. Now, however, both of them looked at the sword just like they had the first one. This could be the answer to all their worries…

Then, when Jeanne tried to move it, the weapon crumbled to dust instantly, just like their hopes. Joshua's lips thinned in disappointment. He should have expected that, anyway. The book said that when a weak user tried to make something outside their capabilities the weapon would weaken itself to try and make it work. This was, however, the first time they'd tried something resulting in a sword that couldn't even support the slightest of movements.

When his eyes looked at Jeanne, Joshua was struck by how crushed the girl looked. He sighed. He could almost see what she was thinking then and there. Her confidence was that low and she was probably already thinking how she was useless or something of the sort.

"Jeanne," He said softly as he put a hand on her shoulder. When her blue eyes, now dulled by whatever her doubts were whispering to her, turned towards him, he spoke again. "It's ok. It was a good idea, but your swords aren't all powerful. There's a reason your Sacred Gear is Mid Tier and not High or Longinus. You can't expect to be able to make everything."

"I know it's just..." She whined loudly, even though Joshua would never say it with those words. Then, she deflated. "I just… I feel so useless."

"You are far from useless, Jeanne," He refuted instantly, meaning every word. Blinking, he paused and frowned. "Why does it matter if you are useful though?" He asked then, and his suspicions were all but confirmed by her expression. "Jeanne?" He prodded when the girl remained silent.

"I just… I don't want you to regret taking me in," The teenager mumbled, looking down at her hands which were fidgeting nervously. "I know it's stupid but I just… I can't stop thinking about that. I… I like being here, Joshua. I don't want to leave."

"Well, so long as you don't want to, then you don't have to," He reassured her, smiling sadly when that didn't seem to cheer the girl hup at all. "I mean, who's going to help me deal with these three if you leave? They are menaces, I tell you."

He ignored the light bit Cheshire gave to his arm, the swat of Nagini's tail and the pulling of his hair courtesy of Morag. Really, it wasn't even like he was lying.

He considered Jeanne's weak chuckle a small victory.

"I barely interact with them, idiot," She countered then with her lips twitching up. "But thanks for that."

"I can't promise you anything, Jeanne, mostly because you won't believe that. I can only prove you wrong with my actions, but that would take time. Please, give me a chance to demonstrate that I won't kick you out," He said, putting another hand on her shoulders, now holding her from both sides.

"Thanks," She mumbled then, looking anywhere but at him. "Really, I..." Then the girl seemed to choke on her emotions.

"It's fine," He told her, squeezing her shoulders before letting go. "I get it," He added as he turned away. In his mind, he remembered all those times he had felt alone, when he had distanced himself from reality. All that time he had spent becoming more and more of a loner.

Joshua also remembered how his parents had helped him start getting better. Jeanne didn't have that, but he could help her, just like his parents had done for him. It felt nice to do so too, like a way to honor them, now that he had lost them.

"You'll be alright, you'll be alright," His mother's voice whispered, strangely devoid of the desperation she had had when she had told him those words. Now, in his mind, she sounded almost casual. Would she be happy for him, Joshua wondered.

"I'm proud of you," His father had told him, and his brain seemed to conjure it sounding actually proud instead of broken. With all that he had lived through, and all that he had done. Would he be proud of his son still, Joshua wondered.

"Well," He started again, as he went back to what he was doing. Although, he started by considering if he should continue drawing or study some more. "Any other new ideas that you want to try?"

"Hmm..." The girl hummed thoughtfully. Joshua could still hear her fidgeting but he ignored that, waiting patiently. "I might have some. Maybe I could do something that makes fighting easier instead of improving learning? That would be almost the same, right? Or maybe something that makes the user faster, or stronger, or more agile..."

As Jeanne got lost in her plans, Joshua smiled, starting to draw once again as he listened to her ramble. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Cheshire go towards a Jeanne that was now sitting next to him. The girl started petting the cat and he felt like the previous gloom had left, for the moment.

Now, if only this type of thing were the only ones he had to worry about...

[} Chapter End {]