[182] In Dire Need of a Heavenly Beast’s Deadbody
<span style="font-weight:400">Chapter 182: In Dire Need of a Heavenly Beast’s Deadbody
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua was incredibly busy with his and his team’s training montage. Although he was raising all of them, only a few would join him in his travels to Pangeal. So the girls must work hard to one-up each other and prove themselves worthy.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua wasn’t going to take someone who was going to be a burden on his journey.
<span style="font-weight:400">There were the obvious choices in his head already; Ai, Ruby, Tsubasa, and Ranefer. Especially Ruby, whose Dimensional Lost was going to carry them through Pangal. In total, he nned to take eight members other than himself and his Goddess, so he was waiting for four others to grow fast.
<span style="font-weight:400">Ruby and Tsubasa needed to grow a lot, as well, they were far from ready. Ruby was not in a bad position, she was as powerful as an Archlord – thanks to having 5th Circle Magic as well as Gold-ranked Martial Arts, on top of Dimensional Lost.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua nned to raise her till Archlord and 8th-Circle Archmage, but that’s probably a fool’s dream in such a short time. He’ll take Underlord and 6th Circle Mage too. He was giving her enough attention for her to achieve both.
<span style="font-weight:400">As for Tsubasa, it was a little…plicated. She was at 4th rank of this world’s Touki Rank, but when her mother took over, she became 7th rank for a brief period. So when Aqua gave her a Path to cultivate, he had to make her start from scratch.
<span style="font-weight:400">She needed this because, as he noticed in his sparring against her, she was extremely weak for a 4th rank. The explosive gauntlet Sacred Gear was a waste to her.
<span style="font-weight:400">So he made her start over, now training in his cultivation power system.
<span style="font-weight:400">So from 4th Rank, which was equal to Jade, she dropped to Foundation. It took Aqua a year as a child to advance from Foundation and reach Copper, but with his current Sage powers, as well as multiple formation arrays set around the area, on top of the 7th rank pure Qi that her mother’s soul provided, he managed to raise her to Iron in just three days.
<span style="font-weight:400">The [<b>Stormforged Iron Body</b><span style="font-weight:400">] was what she received.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, she sped through the next ranks in a breeze by training the breathing technique of the path he provided. She reached the peak of Jade in no time.
<span style="font-weight:400">The Path of the White Tiger, that Aqua made based on himself from his 6th life, was a path suitable for her indeed.
<span style="font-weight:400">It granted her immense strength and snowstorm powers until Jade, and upon reaching Gold, she''ll get a [<b>Gold Sign</b><span style="font-weight:400">] that’ll allow her a proper Hybrid White Tiger form. She’s going to turn her into a powerhouse, because along with the hybrid form came the power concept from his 6th life’s world. Soul Core, Bloodline Core, and Divine Core. The first one will let her learn techniques from my 6th life that even I can’t learn due to my current body; the second will grant her bloodline abilities that my wifey and I created in my 6th life. The third one… it’ll activate after Underlord when she gets ess to Soulfire, which is like divinity.
<span style="font-weight:400">The Lord ranks and thereafter, as she’ll get ess to Soulfire, she’ll learn the path’s White me techniques. It’ll turn her into a powerhouse.
<span style="font-weight:400">So she better advance fast.
<span style="font-weight:400">– <b><i>Bam</i></b><b>!</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Her face winched as she was punched in the face, tossing backward and about to hit a wall, as she twirled in the air andnded her feet on the wall. She leaped from that position, shooting toward Aqua.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua could dodge, but he didn’t. He decided to face her attack head-on, and Tsubasa hoped that’d be a bad choice. She clenched her fist, as cold energy swirled around her forearm, spinning so fast as if to create a vortex, and she mmed it toward his face, but he blocked it with a palm. The area exploded with snow and ice immediately.
<span style="font-weight:400">Tsubasa leaped back when he tried to grab her, and this time she opened her mouth – shooting a beam of cold energy at him. It’ll freeze a city block if hit, yet Aqua blocked it with a hand. Soulfire burned on his palm, and he pped the technique away.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Let us stop here,” he said when the technique ended. She panted, sweating even in this cold room, and nodded slowly. She was d he didn’t nt her against the floor with an attack before ending this, something he did every time against Ruby. “I think you’ve properly reached the peak of Jade. So it’s time for Gold advancement.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alright…” Tsubasa nodded. “I’ll try my best.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She had her mother inside her, who remained a 7th-ranked entity. She didn’t need to be stripped of her Touki since she didn’t have a physical body to be granted an Iron Body, and so it was a waste to make her start over. That 7th-rank energy in Tsubasa’s body helped her grow a lot faster, which was wee.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Gold rank is going to be very beneficial to you. Your gauntlets create explosions, which is good but isn’t very suitable with your ice powers. So in Gold, when you’ll be able to learn Firestorm and Thunderstorm techniques, the gauntlets will be a lot more useful. Gold will also give you a lot of other important stuff, I’ll exinter,” I told her. “But there is a little… problem with this.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Huh?” she blinked, while Ai walked over with a wet towel. She smiled at the older woman and stood up, epting the towel.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua exined, “Gold usually requires a martial artist to absorb a strong, powerful monster of simr affinity. If you remember, I hunted a Rainbow Unicorn for Ruby’s Gold ascension a while back. For Asia’s iing ascension, Ranefer promised to give me a phoenix when it was time. I’ll go hunt a ck Dragon for Yuzuru soon.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“As for me…” she frowned a little, already guessing the problem.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. I’m sure your mother’s soul told you already, that the Shinra family serves the White Tiger; the real one, the legendary creature of the West.” Aqua said, and Tsubasa gulped a little. She wasn’t sure how to process the information; was she going to meet her other family for the first time, only to attack them and kill their Divine Deity?
<span style="font-weight:400">“I have a meeting with the Shinra n, actually. Well, I’ve dyed it for a long time, but I don’t think they’ll mind.” Aqua said and Tsubasa understood. How could they dare to mind him, who killed Thor and wreaked havoc in Vedas? They should be d and grateful that he was bothering to spare them at all.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So… what’s the n? Are you going to kill that beast?” She asked gently, fearing the worst. To her dismay, Aqua rubbed the back of his head with aplicated look.
<span style="font-weight:400">“If necessary, yes. We’ll see. That’s why I’m going to school tomorrow to meet with Tsubaki Shinra.” Summer vacation ended a week ago, and none of them could bother to attend sses. It was the first time Aqua was going to attend. “After I talk with her, you and I will go to the Shinra n to talk to the White Tiger ourselves.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Tsubasa closed her eyes and sighed. “I understand,” she opened her eyes. “I won’t be attending ss tomorrow. I’ll wait for your call and leave when you need me to.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She needed to train more, and she wouldn’t mind if she had to annihte her mother''s side of the family to grow stronger. Since… he needed her to be stronger, that’s what she’ll do.
<span style="font-weight:400">He smiled at her, “I’m d.” Tsubasa felt a little tingly in her tummy, recently he was looking at her more lovingly than usual. It made her feel… great. She hoped that he wouldn’t stop looking at her that way, ever.
<span style="font-weight:400">****
<span style="font-weight:400">The autumn wind was gentle, with leaves scattered around the school grounds. Japan looked very different throughout its four seasons; while its most popr look was the pink Spring, filled with cherry blossom trees, Rias liked Autumn <span style="font-weight:400">better.
<span style="font-weight:400">The entire country was a shade of red, and Kuoh High was no different. As red leaves danced in the trees, she observed it with her red hair swaying in the wind. She sat at the window seat of the ss, near the end, as the teacher did his job, and she did hers.
<span style="font-weight:400">As a student, she should be paying attention, but she couldn’t be bothered to. It was September, school reopened after a long time, and she was bored beyond belief. Bored and… lonely.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Why isn’t heing to school…</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Rias pondered with a distant look on her face.
<span style="font-weight:400">It’s not as if she didn’t know why, but she didn’t know the exact reason. He seemed to be preparing for something big, but she didn’t know what. He was busy training as if he was going to war against the world, but if so, why wasn’t she included?
<span style="font-weight:400">She’s now a part of his Sect, right? Then why was she excluded from this?
<span style="font-weight:400">Rias was sad. Some might say why not visit him if he’s not visiting you (the school) - but those ‘some’ would be toote. She did visit his house every now and then, but he was always too busy with others to give her any attention. It’s not like she wanted him to waste his time by flirting with her, she wouldn’t mind if he trained her too.
<span style="font-weight:400">But s, she was far from the most important one in his mind right now… recently, she’s been doubting if she ever was.
<span style="font-weight:400">sses ended briefly, and the bell for lunch break rang. The students stood up and walked out of the ssroom, save for her and her peerage who gathered around her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rias~ get up already, it''s lunchtime.” Her Queen dragged her by the arm, and she let out a sigh.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not hungry today, Akeno.” She really wasn’t, she didn’t even sleepst night. “You guys go, I’ll stay here and watch the clouds.” She said, taking a note of Koneko, who already had her mouth stuffed with homemade food.
<span style="font-weight:400">Kiba came from another ss and waited at the door, and she also noticed Saji show up, beginning to talk with Kiba. Those two were in another ss, and they were here to wait for her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Look, everyone is here,” Akeno crossed her arms and said. “Let’s go already.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Come, President,” Koneko gently grabbed her sleeve and tugged, causing Rias to shake her head. She couldn’t win if Koneko asked her like that.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fine, fine,” she got up, “I’ll just get some juice.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yay~” Akeno stuck to her side, putting an arm around her. Her flirty friend has been there for her for a long time, they were super close. But Rias couldn’t help but look at her with a soft frown when she wasn’t looking.
<span style="font-weight:400">As she mentioned earlier, she visited Aqua’s home now and then. There, she received no attention from him. Yet, somehow, for some reason, Akeno would easily spend a lot of time with him without him minding it.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">…Just how close did they get during that session with Kokabiel?</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Rias couldn’t help but wander, as she and her group reached the cafeteria.
<span style="font-weight:400">After grabbing food, they sat down at a table. Rias, as she said, only grabbed a ss of orange juice. Many students looked their way, whispering among one another. It wasn’t anything bad, she and her group stood out even among these celebrity kids. But what was the point in having their attention, when she couldn’t have the attention of the only person she wants it from?
<span style="font-weight:400">Truthfully, she didn’t know why she expected so much from him. If someone asked, she wouldn’t be able to exin why she liked him that much. Sure shecked friends when she first met him, but she and he didn’t really befriend back then – he just gave her a KitKat. No, thinking back, he just felt… familiar when they first met. As if from that moment onward, they will spend a lifetime together.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Haah,” she let out a sigh and took a sip of her juice. Her peerage talked about this and that, while she leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.
<span style="font-weight:400">That’s when a familiar aura walked into the cafeteria, causing her to blink and turn her head toward the door. Tsubaki, Sona’s Queen, walked inside the cafeteria. But it wasn’t her aura that attracted Rias’ attention, it was the young man beside her, a head taller than everyone in the school.
<span style="font-weight:400">They were conversing, and his face was uncharacteristically serious, just as it had been for thest few weeks.
<span style="font-weight:400">Aqua was in school.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Why didn’t he let me know…?</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Rias wished to go greet him right away, but for once, she turned her head to the side and decided to act like she didn’t notice. If he didn’t want to talk to her, she decided to not disturb him too. So she focused on her juice instead.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hey,” yet, to her surprise, he walked over to her instead of ignoring her. Rias turned to find him looking at her face, his expression softening. “You look tired, are you not getting proper sleep?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“....” Rias sipped her juice from a straw, even as her face grew a little red, a soft smile spreading on her lips. He noticed what even her peerage hadn’t.
<span style="font-weight:400">She put her juice down and stood up. She was about to hug him, but just when she spread her arms, he pulled her into his arms by himself. “Take care of yourself better,” he said, ruffling her hair. “I’ve trusted you with the responsibility of the devil side of my Sect, so I expect you to be strong-minded and mature. What if you get sick?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“....”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What’s with that orange juice?” He shook his head, “Come to my table, I’ll feed you something better.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...Yes,” she agreed as he led her away, while everyone in the cafeteria watched this in dumbfounded silence. They sat down, and Riasposed herself to listen to why he was here. He didn’t seem to havee for a simple stroll.
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