Of course, Vali and I weren’t the only ones training.
“Hey, it’s Issei!” Xenovia called as she made her way over.
“Are you finished?” Irina added by her side.
After seeing off Sun Wukong, I joined up with our sword-fighting members—Kiba, Xenovia, and Irina—who had been practicing a short distance away. We also had a magic squad made up of Rias, Akeno, Rossweisse, and Asia. Meanwhile, Kuroka was training Koneko and Gaspy. We all had our own regimens, but we also held larger meetings as a team.
Ravel wasn’t with us. She was still at the Hyoudou residence wrapping up the final details of my mage pact with Le Fay. I probably should have been there with her, but she insisted I needed to get in as much training as possible.
“Leave it to me!” she said. “I’ll call on you if we need you.”
With a manager as astute as her, my best option was to do as she instructed.
We always wore sports tracksuits while exercising, but frontline training meant they were usually in tatters by the end of the day.
Xenovia’s and Irina’s tracksuits were already torn to pieces. They must have gone all out.
“Issei! Issei! Take a look at this!” Irina called cheerfully, flying toward me on her angel wings.
She spun through the air, striking a pose like an action hero mid-flight.
Ah! Only then did I notice it—she had four angel wings!
“When did you get more wings?” I asked.
“Hee-hee! I had a revelation this morning that helped me increase my angel level!” she declared, puffing her chest out with pride. “And look! When I spread my wings, there were four of them! This has to be a blessing from Lord Michael! He’s always watching over me!” With that, she pressed her hands together in prayer, eyes sparkling.
Ah, so her status as an angel had improved. Come to think of it, she had been through a lot of intense battles, so it was no surprise she had earned herself a promotion. She had definitely deserved her place as Michael’s Ace.
Xenovia nodded approvingly. “So you’ve unlocked new angel powers?”
“That’s right!” Irina nodded. “It should be easier to get permission to use sacred weapons stored in Heaven. I had to go through all sorts of applications and procedures to get approval before, but I can skip most of them now!”
Whoa. Did that mean she could draw on new weapons from Heaven?
“…My self-proclaimed angel friend is finally spreading her wings…!” Xenovia answered, covering her face with her hands. “I couldn’t be prouder…!”
There was a tremble to her voice as she said that… Hold on, she was still calling Irina a self-proclaimed angel?!
“Ngh! Don’t cry, Xenovia! You’re embarrassing me!”
And Irina was just going along with it!
Keeping an eye on this passionate friendship, I shifted my attention to Kiba.
Equipped with the Gram, exuding its ominous aura, he had just finished summoning wave after wave of Holy Swords.
“H-how’s it going?” I called out.
“I’m trying to control the Gram with a Holy Demon Sword,” he answered without shifting his gaze from the blade in his hands. “Like how the Excaliburs were able to tame the Durendal.”
Huh. That sure sounded like an interesting experiment.
“First, I’m tapping into the Holy Demon Sword’s dark magic to embrace the Gram’s curse,” Kiba continued.
“What happens when you do that?”
“It increases its dark energy, such as its curse. But that also means it stabilizes the reverse side. It’s scary to think how boosting one negative force can stabilize another.”
Bringing its dark energy under control? That sounded like it would be easier said than done.
Kiba tightened his grip on the Holy Demon Sword. “After boosting and stabilizing its dark energy, I contain it with the holy powers of my Holy Demon Swords. It’s like putting a lid on a pot, to use an analogy. The pot has to be simmering at just the right heat so it doesn’t boil over. Once you’ve done that, you can draw on as much of its energy as you need.”
“…You make it sound simple, but I’m guessing it’s pretty tricky to control?”
“That’s right,” he said with a grin. “If I don’t strike the right balance, the curse will fall on me. It might even hurt my friends and allies.”
So that was his task, to stabilize the Gram’s dark energy and contain it within a sheath of Holy Demon Swords? Given how much power that demon sword packed, he had to be careful it didn’t explode when he drew on it.
Explaining the process was one thing, but actually carrying it out required an abundance of skill, determination, and natural talent.
“But you aren’t going to mess it up, are you?” I asked with a grin.
“Of course not,” he answered, undaunted. “If all goes well, I might be able to add some extra attributes to the blade. That would open up entirely new ways of fighting.”
“You can use your Sacred Gear in all sorts of ways, huh? Like launching elemental attacks, using your swords as platforms, and even summoning those Dragon Knights…”
I suspected he was the most skilled Sacred Gear user among us. Saji was getting more adept at using his, but Kiba was still several levels more proficient.
“I’m not particularly flamboyant compared to some of you guys,” he continued. “I need to increase the number of moves at my disposal so I can exploit my opponent’s weaknesses better.”
This coming from someone who had already fought tooth and nail to get this far.
“Anyway, how’s your training going?” he asked.
“Slowly but steadily. I just have to get the hang of it. But there are some things I can’t try until Ddraig gets back.”
My White Dragon Emperor power that I awakened in the battle with Euclid was one such example. It involved launching miniature white dragons from the jewel in my gauntlet, which I needed to activate my reflection and halving abilities.
That had been my goal with this round of training, but just as I started hitting my stride, Ddraig and Albion decided to delve into their Sacred Gears, putting a halt to my efforts.