Chapter 18: Poetic Irony

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but if people enjoy this fic as much as the original work then I'm happy. I own the OCs. Pierce is my greatest creation (he's my first but eh, still counts).

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - "Jumon"

1 Day Later, Side Garden

"We're doing what now?" I looked at Vargas as I laid my head on Melissa's soft thighs.

"Adrian wants us all together for something, he didn't say what." Vargas shrugged. "He's going to meet us by the teleporter."

"Urghhh." I groaned as I didn't want to get up from my girlfriend's lap pillow.

"Come on Pierce, we'll come back later." Melissa rubbed my hair and smiled.

"Oh fine." I sighed and gave Vargas the stink eye.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just the messenger!" Vargas defended himself and I scoffed.

"Guilty by association."

"…That's not how that work's Pierce." Vargas deadpanned

"Says who!? Show me the rules!"

We joked around as we walked to the teleporter (along the way everyone else joined us) and Adrian met us there.

"I'm glad you're all here. Let's go, I got a surprise for you all." Adrian cryptically said and walked on the platform. We followed suit and a bright light shone, then we were gone.

Unknown Forest

We ended up in a beautiful sunny forest, large trees that were dozens of meters tall surrounded us, a large river calmly flowed next to us and there was even a large cabin on the side.

"Why are we here?" I asked as I looked around and saw many supernatural creatures.

"Why you're here to get Familiars of course." A voice came from the cabin and a beautiful woman walked out. Adrian came to attention and bowed.

"Lady Demeter." We quickly bowed as well and Demeter waved her hand.

"There's no need for that. You all worked hard so it's only fair that you are rewarded." Demeter walked away and we all followed along. She started explaining how Zeus was pleased with our work and gave us the chance to get Familiars from the personal Familiar Forest of the Gods. She led us to the middle of the forest and gave us each necklaces. For those that aren't versed in magic (I haven't learned to control my Spiritual Energy yet), the necklaces were a bridge to connect us with the supernatural creatures. To gain a Familiar, the creature needs to come to you and if they want they'll send out some Spiritual Energy to make a Contract.

"I already have familiars." Melissa spoke up and Samantha nodded as well.

"Well that doesn't mean you can't get more, who knows you might find one you like." Demeter advised and the 2 nodded. "It's early so you can take your time and don't rush; Familiar catching is sometimes a lengthy prospect." We bowed to the Goddess of Agriculture and watched as she walked back to the cabin.

'…Why was her hair purple?' I wondered as Adrian spoke up.

"Alright, let's take this slow and look around. The forest is pretty safe and we can- Pierce where are you going?" Adrian asked as I walked in a random direction.

"I figured it would be more interesting if we split up and get our Familiar's separately." I shrugged and explained my reasoning. "It can be like a reveal; we'll all meet up back here in a couple of hours and show off our new pets." The silence was deafening as they looked at me in shock. "Okay, what comment do you have now?"

"You…" Adrian pointed at me in shock. "You actually said something reasonable."

"I say plenty of reasonable things; you just don't understand half of them." They all collectively snorted and we chose different directions to go in, I headed east.

3 Hours Later

'Well this is going great.' I sarcastically thought as another Bolt Cat walked away after petting it. The last 3 hours was me basically playing with any Familiar I can find and from their reactions they seem to like me. Yet after a couple of minutes they never try to make a link and I end up watching as the creature walks away. 'I don't know what's worse, the fact that I get friend zoned by every magical beast I meet or…yeah no, that's pretty much it.' This Familiar Forest has been a large petting zoo experience for me and while it's been fun I was hoping to get a cool new pet. After stroking the feathers of a magical hawk, it flew away and I sighed.

"I should start heading back. Damn it, I really wanted a-" I stopped when I felt a life force near my feet and looked down at the small being. I blinked. The small creature blinked back. Crouching, I came to eye level with it and stared.

"…Well you're cute." Smiling, I petted the small mammal and took out some sugar candy (Familiars love the stuff apparently). I reached out with some and it nibbled on the piece, soon eating it all. After playing with it for a little longer I stood up and stretched. "Now then, time to go-" I stopped once more, not because I felt another life force but because the Familiar necklace was emitting heat. Knowing what this meant I looked around but found no magic animals…Then I looked down. Right at the small creature, who was looking back at me. I brought the necklace closer and it got even hotter.

I blinked. I blinked again. Then I looked straight up and stared at the sky.

"…You're alive aren't you?" I got no answer. "This is an AU and you didn't die in the Great War right? Because somebody has to be doing this on purpose." I sighed and rubbed my face, looking back down at my Familiar candidate.

Cabin

"Hey Demeter!" The voice of Artemis rang out and Demeter turned around. The Goddess of Hunting came up along with Athena. Demeter humphed. "Oh come, I thought we called a truce."

"Yeah and you said my hair would be back to normal soon, things don't really work out do they?" Demeter said then smirked at Artemis. "By the way, how's your Ceryneian doing? I hope it doesn't have that really rare and old cold still." Artemis gasped.

"I-It was you!" The Goddess of Hunting pointed at Demeter's evil smile in anger. "How could you do that to such an innocent creature!?"

"Innocent!? You're not fooling anybody!? Everyone knows how you put Hermes boots on the deer and made it steal Apollon's cattle that time!" Demeter brought up Artemis' dark (stupid) past and she blushed in embarrassment.

"T-That's still no reason to bring it into this! It was cruel and unnecessary!"

"Oh please! It'll be fine in a couple of days but you got the damn dye from the Dwarves of all races! This will take forever to wear off!"

"I think it's a nice color on you." Athena gave her two cents.

"You stay out of this!" Demeter was having none of it. "Thank you for the compliment but that's not the point! It's the principle of the matter!"

"What principle!?"

"To not dye my hair as one of you're stupid pranks!"

Athena shook her head as the two bickered like children and walked up to the small floating screens. The cabin was actually Demeter's observation deck where many seeing spells are placed around the forest. The seeing spells show every part of the forest as small screens and Demeter typically spends her days here, watching all the animals. Athena walked up to one and saw her Emissary trying to make a link with a Pegasus. Another showed Vargas chasing after a White Stag, from the way it periodically stops for him to catch up Athena assumed it was interested. Many other members were in the middle of catching a Familiar and some already did.

'There he is.' Athena found what she was looking for and stared at one screen. It showed Pierce petting a Rain Hawk and she chuckled when he became visibly distraught once it left.

"What are you laughing at?" Demeter peeked over Athena's shoulder and looked at the screen. "Oh, is that the human you and Aphrodite keep talking about?"

"Aphrodite talks about him?" Athena quirked a brow at that. "What does she say?"

"Just that he's weird and pretty good at Chi." Demeter shrugged and smirked at the War Goddess. "Why? Afraid she'll take away your little apprentice?"

"…You know now that I get a closer look, purple does make you look fat." Athena quipped and had to hold back a smirk from Demeter's "W-what!?" The Goddess of Agriculture summoned a mirror and nervously looked over her gorgeous figure. Athena shook her head at her fellow Goddess' vanity and looked back at the screen. Artemis also joined her and they watched as Pierce looked down at a-

'Wait a minute.' Athena leaned forward and squinted. 'Is that a…'

Back to Pierce

It was a rabbit.

A rabbit completely made out of green crystals. It twitched its nose like a real one and its gaze never left mine. We stood in silence as the warm necklace burned a hole in my chest.

"…You really can't make this up." I sighed and reached out for the rabbit. It didn't resist as I picked it up and brought it to eye level. "So you want to be my Familiar?"

"…" Of course the green rabbit didn't talk (actually is that a thing? Can Familiars talk?) but the necklace got hotter and the rabbit seemed to be the cause.

"…Fuck it." I grabbed the necklace and placed it against the rabbit. It shone in a bright light and I could feel a part of my soul "receiving" something from the rabbit. 'I could always get another Familiar later on.' Once the light dimmed, the rabbit jumped on my shoulder and rubbed against my cheek. "Nice to meet you too." I smiled as I could feel the rabbit's consciousness and it seemed happy. "I'm Pierce, what's your name?"

"…" The rabbit just cutely tilted its head.

"Right, you're a rabbit." I wryly smiled and thought. "How about...Lilly?"

"..." My Familiar slowly shook its head.

"Sasha?" It seemed to think about it for a second but shook its head again.

"I got it! Bugs Bunny!" The rabbit immediately shook its head. "Oh come on, lots of people like that!" It didn't budge. I thought for a bit longer but just shrugged. "Forget it, I'll just call you Green Rabbit."

"..." My Familiar gave me the rabbit equivalent of a deadpan and lightly kicked my cheek.

"Alright, alright." I laughed and stared at the rabbit. "How about…Jade. Like the Jade Rabbit." My Familiar's aura said she was female and she seemed to like it as her soul pulsed in happiness (this spirit connection is going to be weird to get used to). I petted Jade once more and made my way back to the meeting spot. Walking through the forest I reached the spot and I saw Melissa with Maven and Aindrea. Maven had a large brown eagle (about 6 meters tall) behind her and Aindrea was sitting on a griffin. Melissa saw me and got up, walking over to me.

"Welcome back." Melissa smiled and I looked around.

"Where are your Familiars?"

"I didn't find any I liked, but it's fine I have my shadow hounds. Where's yo- '' Melissa's gaze stopped on my shoulder and she stared at Jade.

"…Melissa?" I said her name but she seemed transfixed on my new Familiar. I moved to the left and Melissa's gaze followed. I moved to the right and she continued. I picked up Jade and held her out to Melissa. "Do you want to hold he-"

"She's so cute!" Melissa hugged Jade to her large chest and squealed. "Is she you're Familiar!? Does that mean I can play with her a lot!? Can I!?" The Yokai seemed in love with the rabbit and I nodded, smiling.

"Yes Melissa, you can play with her whenever you want." That brought a big smile to Melissa and she continued hugging Jade, who didn't seem to mind all that much.

"Is this you're Familiar?" Aindrea walked up and looked at Jade before smirking. "Not all that impressive."

"Eh, it wanted to be my Familiar so I let it." I shrugged and nodded towards the griffin. "Nice bird, hope it doesn't crap all over your mountain sized ego."

"Humph!" Aindrea grunted and showed his griffin off. "Please, this is a top of the line Familiar with wind abilities and only chooses great warriors as maste-" Aindrea didn't get to finish as the griffin flapped its wings and sent dust in his direction. Coughing, the Demigod glared at the Familiar and swore to show it who's boss. It just blew more dust in his face. Shaking my head at the pissed off Aindrea, I turned to look at Maven and her Familiar.

"And yours?" I nodded at the huge eagle. Maven moved her gaze from Melissa and stood up. She stroked the large bird's feathers.

"This is a Roc. It's known for having the ability to teleport and can grow in size depending on the situation." Maven stuck out her arm and the Roc shrunk down to the size of a normal hawk, landing on her forearm. I walked up and tried to pet the magical bird but it bit me. "It's also territorial."

"So how did you get it?"

"I'm a genius." Maven smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure buddy, whatever you say." Maven chuckled at my tone and looked over at Melissa, or more specifically at Jade.

"A Moon Hare." Maven said and I looked at her in confusion. "That's what Jade is, a Moon Hare. They're quite rare, I'm surprised you found one let alone made it you're Familiar."

"What can a Moon Hare do?" I asked as Melissa played with Jade and she even took her Shadow Hounds out to meet her.

"Not much is known but it is said a Moon Hare's saliva has healing properties and can even be made into very soothing tea." Maven explained and I gave her a weird look.

'I would say that's gross but…I ate hot dogs all the time in my past life and I saw the documentary on how they're made so…yeah.' I shook my head and got back on topic. "Is that all?"

"Well they can also-"

"Look out!" Vargas' voice rang out and a large White Stag ran through, Vargas hot on its tail. The White Stag kept running and headed right for Melissa. The Shadow Leopard moved to dodge but before she could a green light shone and a biting cold was felt in the air. The White Stag was instantly immobilized in green ice and the light dimmed, showing that it came from Jade. The silence was deafening as we stared at the small rabbit.

"Do that." Maven finished her sentence and I looked at the rabbit in shock. Vargas walked up and stared at the frozen stag, then at Jade.

"Pierce…" Vargas spoke up and looked at me. "…I'll trade you." I smirked.

After taking Jade from Melissa, I asked her to unfreeze the stag and Vargas made the Contract (the White Stag kept some distance from Jade after that though). Not too long after Adrian came back with a Pegasus and Samantha brought a-

"Oh you've got to be kidding me…" I sighed as the ground rumbled and a giant golden spider (about 5 meters tall) walked into the clearing, Samantha smiling up a storm on top of it.

"I finally got one!" The healer exclaimed in happiness and hugged the spider. "I'm going to call him Roger. Say hi to your new sibling James!" The Shadow Crow appeared from Samantha's shadow and landed on her shoulder. And so we watched as the pretty blond healer introduced her creepy crow to her equally scary spider.

"…Okay so here's the plan." I turned to everyone watching and lowered my voice. "When we're fighting the next General, let Samantha's pets take the lead and then we'll all back off. When they die, we comfort Samantha then get her new, normal pets. Everyone understand?" They rolled their eyes at my bad joke (sure let's call it that) and everyone left the Familiars in the forest. Now that we have Contracts with them, we can automatically summon them without actually knowing magic. Jade however came with me and we walked back to the cabin. I was surprised to see Athena and Artemis there as well.

"Lady Athena, Lady Artemis." We all bowed and Athena gave me a weird look.

"That…sounds really weird coming from you." Athena said and I shrugged.

"Everyone else was doing it; I just went along with it."

"Yeah well, don't do that. It doesn't sound right coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I'm just not used to you being so respectful." Athena said honestly.

"…I think you just insulted me."

"That's not true." Athena shook her head. "If anything, your eccentric personality towards authority is endearing!"

"Okay, that one was on purpose!" I exclaimed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The Goddess of War smirked and I gave her the stink eye. We heard a soft cough and looked over to see Demeter standing there. She looked between us with a raised brow.

"Are you two done? Or do you need more time to flirt?" I blinked at Demeter's accusation and looked back at Athena.

"Were we flirting? If so then we suck at it!" She chuckled at my joke. Demeter rolled her eyes and got to business; she got back all the necklaces and congratulated us on getting Familiars. She said that the forest was open to us when we needed more Familiars and wished us good luck in the future.

"May I?" Artemis walked up to me and outstretched her hand. She was looking at Jade so I picked her up and gave it to the Hunting Goddess. Artemis looked the small Familiar up and down, smiling when it nibbled on her finger. "She's quite young yet already impressive; very few remain so you take good care of her okay?"

"Of course." I received Jade from Artemis and I stepped on the platform with everyone else, then we were gone.

Top of Olympus

Everyone got off the platform and went off to their rooms; I caught up to Melissa who was taking Jade with her.

"Hey Melissa." I grabbed her hand and she turned back to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" My Yokai girlfriend asked as she tilted her head.

"With what Demeter said I'd thought you'd be upset, you know with me and Athena flirting."

"…Were you?" Melissa asked but she seemed more curious then angry. Regardless I sighed and scratched the back of my head.

"Yeah, I guess I was. I'm sorry." I banter with the Goddess of War a lot but sometimes we do tease each other. "Look, while I swear it's harmless, if it bothers you I'll stop. I really like what we have and I don't want to do anything that puts that at risk, okay?" I tenderly squeezed Melissa's hand. I'm many things, some good plenty bad, but I'm not about to keep doing something that makes my girlfriend uncomfortable when I can easily stop. That'd just make me a dick (well…I kind of am one but…you get the idea). In some way, what I said was weird to Melissa as she looked at me with an odd face.

"…God I can't get a read on you." Melissa shook her head and pulled me in for a deep kiss. I could feel Jade being squashed between us and she fidgeted, trying to get out. Melissa pulled back and I blinked owlishly.

"So…you're not upset?"

"No Pierce, I'm not upset." Melissa smiled at me. "I mean you're pretty strong and nice, plenty of women will be attracted to you because of it."

"…Thanks for the vote of confidence but I don't know about that."

"They will." Melissa winked and started walking away. "I've come to terms with it so I'll be ready."

"Ready? Ready for what? Melissa?" I tried asking but Melissa just kept walking, all the way back to her room. '...I'm missing something here, but what is it!?' I thought about it until I reached my room. I never figured it out.

1 Day Later, Side Garden

The sun high in the sky shone on the beautiful garden; insects like bees and butterflies flew around with abandon and a peaceful aura filled the air. I was lying down on the grass, my whole body full of bruises and currently being healed by my Chi. I finished my daily session with Athena and my new training routine. It was quite simple really; Athena gives me a set quota to meet like dodging 10 of her punches or landing a hit on her 7 times. She would reduce her physical capabilities to my level and we would fight. Simple right? Here's the kicker. Imagine all my physical abilities like my strength, speed, and endurance being level 5, like a video game. Athena would reduce her abilities down to a level 6, not too high where I wouldn't have a chance in hell but just enough where I would need to really push myself to meet that quota. Every time I accomplished that, Athena would raise her physical abilities just a bit and then I would have to push myself again. It was a vicious but effective cycle; the last couple of days were spent doing that and Athena more than once switched things up. Sometimes she made me use Chi Skin during the spar and not let me lose it or we'd start over. Other times she would make Chi Animals to fight me, and sometimes I couldn't meet that quota, getting my ass handed to me. This was one of those days.

'At least it's getting easier to follow her movements.' I idly thought as I laid down, Jade sitting on my chest. 'I should be able to hit her more times tomorrow…then she'll up her strength again.' I sighed at the reality and looked at my arms. I channeled some Chi and started playing with it, making all kinds of things. I made toys, floating orbs, and even a bunny which Jade played with. My Chi Constructs were getting better every day and I smiled as Jade ran around with the Chi Bunny. I remembered asking Athena if there was a better (read: easier) way to getting stronger and Athena responded with, "Pierce, the path to great strength is often the simplest one" then she kicked me in the face.

"You look like hell." A voice rang out and I looked up to see Aphrodite standing over me. The Goddess of Beauty was with a tall Japanese man who was wearing a fancy kimono and looked very stern.

"Hey Aphrodite." I said sitting up and the man snorted.

"That's Lady Aphrodite for you."

"…Okay." I stared at the man then looked back at her. "So what's up Aphrodite, anything interesting going on?" The Goddess of Beauty smirked and the man scowled.

"Nothing really, I just came by to say thanks and reward you for saving my Emissary." Aphrodite pointed towards the man. "This is Akio Eiji, he's Sara's father." I looked at Akio and he stared back.

"Hey."

"Greetings." Akio lightly bow. "Thank you for saving my daughter, I hope you can relay my thanks to the rest of your team."

"I'll tell them." I promised and Akio nodded.

"Well then, I must be on my way, Lady Aphrodite." Akio nodded at the Goddess and made his leave. We watched him go and I laid back down. Aphrodite crouched down and watched me; I waited for her to say something.

"…"

"…"

"…You know I got nothing to do today so you're going to be crouching there for awhile." I finally couldn't take it and said my piece.

"Do you want my blessing?" Aphrodite dropped that offer.

"…What?" I was thrown for a loop (boy it felt weird being on the receiving end for once) and she stood up.

"Come on, I'll explain it to you at the dining hall. I'm hungry." Aphrodite spoke and turned to walk away.

"…Okay." I pulled my sore body to its feet and followed after the Goddess, Jade right behind me.

Top of Olympus, Dining Hall

The Dining Hall was a decent sized room with many intricate ornaments and pillars inside it. Soft music was constantly playing with servants on the side ready to serve the Olympian Gods and Goddess whenever they please. Today was an odd day for the servants as the Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Pleasure came in to eat. The fact that Aphrodite came in wasn't the strange part, it was that she brought a male human and a rabbit made of Jade. After sitting down and serving the three of them (they gave the rabbit some fruit), the servants watched as Aphrodite asked the man a question and stopped in shock…before laughing her ass off.

It was a strange day indeed.

"Hahahahahahah." Aphrodite was laughing as I ate my food. "Hahaha…Ha…ha…oh that's beautiful. If that's not poetic then I don't know what is!" The Goddess of Beauty had a wide grin on her face

"…Are you done?" I deadpanned as I fed some more fruits to Jade.

"Oh you have got to admit that's funny. I mean the first Familiar you got is the same thing as you're first Chi Animal, that has to mean something!" Aphrodite chuckled a bit more before petting the small creature.

"Yeah, yeah it's a real hoot. You want to explain what you said before?" I had an idea on what she was talking about but I had to be sure.

"Sara gave up my blessing." Aphrodite spoke with a serious face. "She's still going to be an Emissary but she believes she's gotten complaint with our blessings."

"So she just gave it back, just like that?" I asked a bit shocked.

"She didn't give it back, she let it go. Blessings given can be done with the receiver however they like, Gods and Goddess' can't take them back. Of course there are rules we put on the blessings so they don't end up in the wrong hands; Sara chose to reject it and now it's gone." Aphrodite explained how blessings worked.

"So she's still going after Zeth even though she doesn't have your backing? Why?"

"Revenge." Aphrodite shook her head. "She blames Zeth for her party's destruction and wants to get back at him."

"...While I think she should have been ready for something like that to happen when agreeing to this, I don't really care. Why me though? Why not Adrian or some new Emissary? You have time till Zeth starts making big moves."

"Your right we could, but you're a better option." Aphrodite took a sip of water before continuing. "Adrian already has 3 blessings, the max a human can get and your team has already taken down 2 Generals. It just makes more sense to give you a blessing to help you along."

"Okay." I was tempted, not going to lie. A blessing like Aphrodite's where you can't be fooled by illusions sounds great and that was just what she gave Sara, she may have better ones. But… "What's the catch?"

"You swear allegiance to the Greek religion." Aphrodite shrugged and spoke honestly. "All Emissaries swore allegiance when they receive our blessing, that's why they have to be careful when going to other territories since they are a part of the Greek faction…I can already tell your answer."

"Yeah I can't accept that, sorry." I shook my head at her offer. It may not be much, but I really like my current freedom. There was a reason why the Gods chose humans to be their Emissaries and that was because humans were the most neutral race in all worlds. Why? Because as a whole, humanity is weak. Humans that aren't magicians, Sacred Gear holders, Holy/Demon users, or spirit inheritors are pretty low on the food chain in DxD. It was sad but it was the truth. I wasn't really offended when Adrian told me that the first couple of weeks I joined the team. I don't have a hard-on for proving humanity to be better than it was like Cao Cao does, I'm just trying to live a full life. And if you really think about it, they weren't wrong. A Satan-Class Devil like Serafall can cause an ice age on Earth within a week if no one bothered to stop her (she would never do that but she could). Humanity can do the same thing…just give them a couple hundred years, have them learn how nuclear fission works, spend an ungodly amount of money to build nukes, and launch them all. When the nuclear winter starts then we'll be close to what Serafall can single handedly do. And there are plenty of beings stronger than Serafall. Moral of the story? The amount of damage humanity can do is far less than any other supernatural race so we're not really restricted on where we can go (of course strong humans like me, Adrian, Maven, etc. are still monitored).

'Huh, when I think about it like that…Cao Cao was an idiot.' Funny thing was that I liked Cao Cao as a character yet his goals were very stupid. I mean his greatest pride was his True Longinus yet that was created by the God of the Bible, one of the supernatural beings he swore to wipe out for humanity's sake. 'Bitch please; the greatest threat to humanity is humans. Devils, Dragons, Gods, and every other supernatural race have better things to do.'

"Well, if you're ever interested then let me know." Aphrodite nodded understandingly and continued eating. After eating a full course meal of probably the best food I've ever had (a godly cook for the Gods, makes sense) Aphrodite stood up. "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" I quirked a brow but got up nonetheless.

"I said I'd give you a reward and we're going to go get it." Aphrodite walked out of the dining hall and I followed along, putting Jade on my shoulder.

"Not that I don't want one but what about the others? Everyone else helped kill Shiruku, it doesn't seem fair that only I get a reward." I also nearly killed Sara when I saved Yukan, getting a reward for that seems pretty bad.

"Because this is for me to give and if you don't want it then I'll just gift it to another." The Goddess of Beauty smiled and led me down a long hall. She stood in front of a large door and knocked on it twice, the gaps shone and it slowly opened. On the other side was a large set of stairs leading downward and even when I channeled Chi into my eyes I couldn't see the end. Just an endless black abyss.

"…You know if you wanted to kill me then you didn't need to bring me here. The garden would have been discreet enough." Aphrodite snorted at my joke.

"Yeah, well Akio saw you there and I didn't want any witnesses." Aphrodite smirked and she started walking down. Following along, I saw torches light up as we walked by and about 10 minutes later we came into a deep cavern. The walls were flat and simple pillars held up the interior, a gate was seen up ahead. Short guardsmen with halberds stood on both sides and they bowed when we approached.

"Lady Aphrodite." They spoke and one stepped forward. "Pardon my rudeness, but Lord Hephaestus does not like to be bothered when working. Can you please state your business?" My eyes widened when he finished.

'This is the smith God's home?' I nervously looked over at the door and rubbed my clammy hands. It wasn't Hephaestus himself that worries me so much…it's more of the fact that most of the legends on him are about his and Aphrodite's very messed up marriage. 'Okay, maybe she did bring me down here to kill me.'

"He knows I'm coming, he has something for this man here." Aphrodite pointed at me and took a bronze medallion. "This should be enough." The guardsmen took the medallion and nodded his head. Both guardsmen lifted their halberds and stuck the tips in two holes on the door, rumbling was heard shortly after. I could hear mechanisms moving in the door and with a final clang, the door opened. Aphrodite started walking forward but stopped when she noticed I wasn't following. "Are you coming?" I stared at the Goddess of Beauty and sighed.

"Jade, if I die here let Melissa know I love her…and that Aindrea is still a dick." I whispered to my pet rabbit (who just gave a cute tilt of the head) and walked into the room, the large doors closing behind me ominously.

Hephaestus' Forge

'…This is Hephaestus' workshop?'

A very high class room was on the other side of the door. Hard marble floors, bright lights on the ceiling, white pillars that held up the room and one side of the room looked like a high end bachelor pad (a bar, a beautiful fireplace, large sofas, and a…)

'Wait a minute.' My eyes widened and I snapped back to what I saw. 'Is that a…'

It was a TV. It was an actual TV. It looked very high tech too.

"…Aphrodite."

"Hm?"

"…Are we in the right place?"

"Yeah we are why do you ask? The Goddess of Beauty was curious about my reaction.

"Just…this wasn't what I was expecting." A man's laugh rang out when I finished and I looked to where it came from. A tall man walked towards us carrying a large hammer. He had puffy black hair, brown eyes, a full beard, and was quite burly. He was wearing grey robes with a smith's apron and gave us a warm smile.

"Everyone always says that, I never know if I should be offended or proud." Hephaestus nodded to us. "Hello young warrior, welcome to my home. How's it going Afro?" The smith God smirked at Aphrodite.

"It's been pretty alright, kind of boring but what can you do. Where's the thing I gave you?"

"It's in storage, I'll go get it." Hephaestus walked away to a room in the back and went inside. I blinked at the exchange and looked at Aphrodite.

"You guys seem close."

"Yeah, I mean we were married for a while so we got to know each other well." Aphrodite shrugged.

"Really? Then all the stories about you and him having problems were false?" I asked and Aphrodite didn't answer, looking away instead. There was a period of uncomfortable silence. "Um, you know what just forget I said anyth-"

"They're true." Aphrodite cut me off

"…All of them?"

"Yes, all of them." Aphrodite sighed and faced me. "Look I made a lot of mistakes in my past, many which ended up hurting him and I'm not going pretend they didn't happen."

"…You don't need to explain anything to me Aphrodite."

"I know." She rubbed her forehead. "But I should at least be honest about it, I owe Hephaestus that much."

"If they're true then how come you seem so close?" That wasn't the look of a man talking to someone who wronged him. Aphrodite gave a wry smile.

"He got over it. After a certain amount of time, he realized I wasn't worth his love and moved on…He's not wrong." I frowned at her forlorn tone.

"…Do you regret it?"

"Huh?" The Goddess of Beauty looked up in confusion.

"Do you regret your decisions?"

"…All the time."

"Then there you go." I shrugged and smiled at her confused face. "Aphrodite, bad people don't regret the bad things they've done and many "good" people don't own up to their mistakes. So as far as I'm concerned you're better than most, me included."

"…Thank you Pierce." Aphrodite smiled

"Anytime." I gave my father's patient goofy smile.

We heard Hephaestus coming back and he was carrying a wooden box in his hand. It had a lot of engravings on it and a golden lock. Setting down on a nearby table, we walked over and the smith God patted the box.

"Here it is, from what Aphrodite has told me, I'm curious about this myself." Hephaestus smiled and I raised a brow.

"Curious about what?" The smith God didn't answer, instead he took out a golden key and put it in the golden lock. Clicking off, Hephaestus opened the box and inside lay a sword. It was a large claymore with a golden handle, a red hilt, and I could feel the holy aura emitting from it. "Is that a?"

"It's a Holy Sword." Hephaestus smiled at my excited face. "The Sword of Damocles, it was created by the alchemists of Dionysius during his reign and it's a great weapon. Sharp enough to cut through tempered steel with ease but having the weight of a single hair. A worshiper of Aphrodite found it and gifted it to her."

"Wow." I stood in awe. "C-can I?"

"But of course." The smith God laughed. "That's the reason she brought you down here." I thanked Aphrodite for this chance but she waved her hand.

"I have no need for it, use it well." She gave me a supportive smile.

"I'll try to." After saying that, I turned towards the magic sword and slowly grasped the handle.

Then I felt a sharp pain and I immediately let go. My palm was burnt.

The silence was deafening.

Maven's Room

"…Are you still moping over there?" Maven looked up from her book and stared at my downcast form in the corner.

"You don't understand! My dreams are shattered! You hear me!? Shattered!" I dropped to my side and chose to lay there till doomsday came (actually Trihexa will be released in the modern day so that'll take a while). Maven shook her head at my act.

"So you can't use a Holy Sword, lots of people can't, it's not something to cry over."

"But I really wanted a magic sword…" I grumbled at the injustice of it all (I even tried using Touki but it still burned). Of course I couldn't use a Holy Sword, I probably should have seen this coming but I tried to stay optimistic. Here's a lesson for you boys and girls; never be optimistic about anything, try to be as negative as you can about your hopes and dreams so when they don't work out it's not too bad (actually if you do that, when you succeed it'll probably feel better). There was a way around it; if I remembered correctly Rossweisse put defense magic on her hand to block the adverse effect of using a Holy Sword. Problem? We had Vargas try it out and, surprise surprise, the spirit inheritor of Galahad (the perfect knight) could use the sword. Typically to tell if someone's a natural born Holy Sword user they need to grab a Holy Sword and it will react if they have the Property of Light inside them. And boy did that sword react to Vargas. Aphrodite offered to hold on to the sword until I could find a way to use it. So it was either have the Goddess of Beauty keep the sword, wait for me to learn defense magic, and finally be able to grab the Holy Sword or give it to Vargas who can actually use it to its full potential. The choice was obvious. 'This blows so hard.' But that didn't mean I liked it. Sighing once more, I caught the book Maven threw at my head.

"I didn't bring you here to mope around, come let's open your spiritual channel." Maven got up and walked over to me. I sat up and crossed my legs. "Have you felt your Spirit Core?"

"Yeah." I said and focused. A Spirit Core is the thing in your spirit that generates Spiritual Energy; I was able to feel it yesterday. Maven crouched and pointed her staff at my forehead; her Spiritual Energy slowly went inside. I felt it make its way into my spirit and find my Spirit Core. After grabbing it, she "pulled" and my formless Spiritual Energy came out into the air. Regular magicians with no teacher typically had to do months of mental exercises to bring out their Spiritual Energy (if they knew they had to do that). Many magicians' descendants like Lay Fay and Georg inherited their Ancestors' overwhelming Spiritual Energy, they have such a large amount a spiritual channel is naturally formed. I had an average amount but thanks to Maven making my channel for me I could skip that long step. 'Perks of knowing a super genius mage.'

"Alright I've done it. Now, tell me what you see." Maven smiled and I closed my eyes, reaching out with my new Spiritual Energy.

'Holy shit…' I was in awe. I could "see" lights of every color in the air and they were everywhere. There was red, blue, green, yellow, silver and even black light floating around. My Spiritual Energy reached out to touch them and the majority of them didn't react, the silver and green were the ones that came close. I opened my eyes and two light orbs floated in front of me. One was silver and the other was green.

"Now shape one." Maven instructed me and I got to work. I reached out a hand to the silver, letting go of the green for now, and the light started changing. It slowly morphed into the shape of a circle with chains interlocking within the lines. A gap was left in the center. This was the base form of a Norse magic circle. I learned to read basic Magical Languages and that was enough to do a 1st Order spell.

"How's this?" I looked at Maven and she observed my work, nodding her head after a short review.

"It's good, no smudged lines and it's quite stable."

"Thank god." I sighed in relief. Maven told me what happens when you put Mana inside an unstable magic circle. The spell will still go off but more likely than not it will blow up in your face. It was the same thing even for healing magic. Mana without stability is a dangerous thing.

"Now start writing."

I reached out with more Spiritual Energy and shaped it like a pen; I started writing on the magic circle. The first spell Maven gave me was a Norse strengthening spell and it was quite strong among 1st Order spells. I sweated as I wrote down the magic symbols and by the time I was finished I just barely had enough to keep myself conscious (exhausting your Spiritual Energy is almost as bad as using up all your Chi). The magic circle shone in silver light and I felt something brand itself onto my mind. The spell collapsed but I didn't care as I looked into my mind and saw…the same one floating in black space. It wasn't the same part of my mind my Chi was in but the magic circle was definitely in my head.

"Pierce." Maven called me and I opened my eyes, she was smiling down on me. "Congratulations, you're a 1st Order Magician now."

"T-there was a magic circle in my head." I gestured with my hands and Maven chuckled

"Yep, that's how we magicians use magic. We make a magic circle and it becomes engraved in our minds, we call on them when we need it." Maven tilted her head and made an amused smile. "Did you think I just remembered every spell I've ever learned?"

"…I just figured you had a really good memory."

"If only." Maven shook her head and tossed me a bottle. "Drink that, it will replenish your Spiritual Energy." I looked at the clear liquid inside before popping the cork and drinking. It tasted like vanilla as my Spiritual Energy was replenished.

"How many of these can you drink at a time?" I asked curious. Something like this had to have a limit or you can spam spells without worry.

"You can drink 2 a day."

"What happens if you go over that?"

"Nothing, you just waste a bottle. There's only a certain amount of Spiritual Energy your core can squeeze out a day and drinking more won't make it bigger." Maven explain

"Oh." I thought there would be some side effects but I guess not. I held out my hand and said, "Gryttr Ham." The same Norse magic circle I created instantly appeared on my hand and a silver glow covered my body. I touched my skin and it felt like rock, I hit the floor and a small crater appeared. My hand felt perfectly fine.

"…Pierce, please don't put a hole in my room." Maven deadpanned and I blushed in embarrassment. She waved her hand and a magic circle appeared over the damage, reversing it. "Now that you can create a magic circle, let's go make it official."

"Official?"

"You are a 1st Order magician now but getting the Magic Association's stamp of approval will help you out in the long term." Maven explained. She told me about the Magic Association's director and that I needed to meet him to really begin my magic path. After Zeus' Emissary died, Zeth's Generals seemed to have retreated into his dimension so we had some free time. "We'll go tomorrow in the morning, don't worry it's more formality than anything." I nodded and got up to leave but stopped.

"Hey Maven." I turned to the mage. "Who is this director we're going to meet?" I felt like it was important but I couldn't remember why.

"He's the Chairman of Grauzauberer and the Devil that formed a pact with Johann Georg Faust, Mephisto Pheles."