Dxd: A demon Among Devils-Chapter 31: []:Koneko

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Rias decided not to mention that her friend's cheeks had become flushed.

"Though I am surprised he has such experience in wielding a Sacred Gear when he professed he had no knowledge of them."

"Because it is not a Sacred Gear," remarked Koneko simply.

Rias looked at her Rook in interest. The Nekomata followed the battle just as Akeno did, but her eyes were solely reserved for the black claw that overwhelmed the red one in each ruthless exchange.

"What do you mean?"

"It mirrors Boosted Gear, but it has yet to Boost," the girl blinked, "It could be a Persona."

"That should be impossible shouldn't it?" Yuuto murmured, "Demon swords, I can deal with. It doesn't surprise me he can do that. But how exactly does one copy a Sacred Gear with..." the boy grappled with the words for a moment, "...a manifestation of thought?"

"He said the power of Personas were limitless," Koneko stated.

"And you're just going to take that at face value? I thought he was not being serious with us."

"When has he not been serious with us?" Rias pointed out, "He has always been serious with us. The demonstration he provided in the student council room is proof of that."

Kiba nodded reluctantly.

"I see your point."

They turned and resumed watching the battle. Issei was now barely managing to keep up, and had relinquished all initiative to his opponent. Her Pawn was now solely on the defensive, struggling as the boy with blue hair pressed the advantage, hurling heavy punches with the hand armored in black and swinging the frost blade in elaborate patterns with the other. It was inevitable now. She resigned herself to not having the chance to recruit him ever again. Honestly, she was surprised Issei had managed to last this long. There had been a good number of blunders her Pawn had committed throughout the fight that Minato either did not notice or chose not to notice.

"Do you think he might be angry?" Akeno put into words what she was thinking, "With us, I mean. He is dragging the match on for a long time, and there were several openings earlier where he could have ended it immediately."

She had noticed that as well, though she had been reluctant to pin that as the only reason.

"That might have been my fault," Kiba suddenly looked sheepish, "I may have insinuated that he could only become a Bishop under your peerage."

Rias sighed. Akeno shook her head in amusement.

"Asia is already here," she nodded to the girl in question, who was watching the duel anxiously, her hands clasped together tightly to her chest, "Did you forget about Gasper?"

"Well, I didn't actually tell him we already had a second Bishop. I wanted to get a rise out of him, see if it would make him react. Make him fight better," he held up both his hands, as if to ward off the chastisement he knew he would receive, "In my defense, it worked with Issei."

She turned to glare at the sword-user.

"He is not Issei."

"Yes," Kiba said studiously, "I figured that out when he summoned a demon sword from his ass and copied a Longinus class Sacred Gear like a cheap magic trick."

"You seemed bothered by that," Akeno smiled.

"It just seems unnatural," Yuuto gestured to the fight, "Still, if he is dragging this on purposefully, shouldn't we stop him? We need our Pawn's strength for the Rating Game."

Rias was about to reply when a soft voice interrupted her.

"Um, I do not think Angel-san is the type of person to do that," Asia said gently.

She frowned.

The induction of Asia Argento into her peerage was still somewhat of a mystery to her. When they carried the former priestess onto academy grounds, her vitality had been at its lowest point, ebbing dangerously between life and death. She had stayed in that condition for hours on end, with no hint of improving, and besides the short periods of time she awoke weakened and barely conscious, had lingered in a fretful sleep. Issei had spent as much time as he could with her, taking the time between classes to check up on the girl he felt was his responsibility. He had gone in to cheer her up, but each time he came out he would have a worried look on his face and professed to her that Asia's condition had not improving. She had been helpless then and could do nothing but console her Pawn.

And then something had happened, something that occurred when neither her nor Issei had been there to witness it. For the next time she entered the hospital room, her peerage in tow, Asia had awoken almost immediately, and despite the weakened state she was in, the former priestess had smiled readily at them from her bed. And then with remarkable calmness she had requested to be resurrected as a devil. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Others of her rank would not have entertained the thought. The Rating Game was too important, too essential for a peerage to include a member that could not assist in winning. But she had been prepared for that and agreed to Asia's request even if it meant wasting one of her pieces. If it meant making Issei happy and giving life to a girl that deserved it, then she would have no regrets. There still had been a nagging worry though, that her willingness to make one amongst her peerage happy would weaken the group as a whole.

As it turned out, she needn't have worried at all.

Asia's condition had rapidly deteriorated after that, and she never woke once more as a human. Koneko estimated that she had a day before death would finally take her. Issei had volunteered to watch over the girl, and had stayed true to his word, sitting loyally by her side in solemn silence as life slowly receded from her body. There were times when even he had to rest though, and it was on one such occasion that she entered the room and found her Pawn sleeping soundly, slumped over his chair, using his arms as a cushion by Asia's comatose form. She would have smiled at the sight if her eyes had not immediately shot to the gleaming fragment that rested on the pillow by Asia's head, surface shining softly in the dim light.

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