"Rocky watch crew die. Could not fix. Grace say Grace will die. Rocky fix"
Sniff! Sniff!
Adrien looked to his right. Tears were shining in Mahiru's eyes as she watched the movie. Then he turned to his left. Akeno was sitting there too, also on the verge of tears, though a huge grin was still spread across her face.
'Why am I about to cry too!? I'm really about to cry over some Fuckass rock.'
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"Amazing movie," Adrien said with a thumbs-down.
"Yes!" Akeno said excitedly. She looked at Adrien as he walked beside her. In front of them, the other girls were also walking while sharing their thoughts on the movie. "Adrien, fist my bump!"
"Ah hell nah!"
Akeno chuckled at his reaction. She closed the distance between them until their shoulders touched. "Thank you for inviting me, Adrien."
Adrien smiled.
He had decided to invite her because he did not want her to be alone, especially since she had seemed a little depressed yesterday. It was always better to be surrounded by people when going through a tough time.
Akeno was not part of his peerage, but that did not mean Adrien would ignore her. When Adrien liked someone, he took care of them. It was a hidden side of him that not many people knew about.
Mahiru suddenly walked up to him and wrapped herself around his arm. Her face was slightly red, and she avoided looking at him.
"Ara~, it seems Mahiru has a jealous side," Akeno said teasingly as she looked at her.
Celia then stepped in front of them with both hands on her waist. "Hey, I was here first, so stop stealing my man!"
"I don't see your name written on him," Akeno said as she looked Adrien up and down.
"Yeah, neither do I," Mahiru said firmly. She had decided she needed to be bolder, because at this rate, she was going to lose to the other girls.
Saeko chuckled, though she did feel a little left out, as if she was already out of the competition.
Xenovia and Mary both looked confused, but also curious about what was happening. The two of them had trained to become swordswomen since they were children, without doing much else, so almost everything they had done today was a new experience for them. They were also still seventeen-year-old girls, so they naturally had some interest in what a relationship was like. Because of that, watching the three girls fight over one man caught their attention.
"Stop fighting and keep moving, we can't teleport from here so just keep walking." Adrien said as he passed the three girls and continued moving forward.
Adrien returned to the shrine with Akeno. The rest of his Familia, including Mary and Xenovia, his two new knights, went to Adrien's apartment. They would be split between his apartment and Mahiru's place.
Adrien and Akeno walked up the long stairs leading to the shrine, with the moonlight shining down on them.
"I didn't expect you to take both Xenovia and Mary, especially in Rias's territory. You basically poached them," Akeno said with a light chuckle.
Adrien shrugged. "She should have approached them first. Besides, you all owe me, so just think of it as paying back your debt."
"You saved our lives. I doubt Rias would think that is enough."
Adrien did not answer. They kept walking until they reached the shrine. Just as they were about to split up, Akeno stopped and turned to him.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"That depends on the question."
"A few days ago, I was reading a book, and creatures called Shinigami came up, have you heard of them before?"
"Shinigami...?"
Akeno nodded.
Adrien closed his eyes and entered his mind palace. Akeno was slightly confused, but she did not say anything. She assumed he was simply thinking. After about half a minute, he opened his eyes again.
"They are a race that survives by killing humans to extend their own lives. You can think of them as grim reapers. Not much is known about them, only that they once had some kind of civilization led by a King of Death. Their race was wiped out around a thousand years ago by the god of death, Hades."
Akeno smiled and nodded once more. "Thank you."
Adrien waved his hand dismissively, then entered the room where he was sleeping.
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Mary leaped above Xenovia and threw her Sword of Destruction at her. Xenovia swung Durendal and knocked it aside, shattering the Excalibur blade into multiple pieces. Mary landed and quickly created some distance.
"Stop," Adrien said as he watched them.
"Mary, how many swords can you form per second?"
"Per second?"
"Yes. I want you to continuously create those swords and use your demonic energy to throw them, until you can launch at least five swords every second. Another thing—you can use Excalibur Ruler, right?"
Mary nodded. "I can, but since it is the strongest of the Excaliburs, I can only use it once or twice at most before my energy runs out. Well... now that I have demonic energy added to my body, I suppose I could use it three times, maybe."
"Makes sense. Just start doing what I told you."
Mary nodded again.
Adrien turned to Xenovia. "Come here and sit on the ground."
Xenovia looked slightly confused, but she did as he told her. Adrien knelt behind her.
"I'm going to pour my demonic energy into you and guide it through your energy points. Then I'll direct that energy into Durendal in your hand, through the energy point in your palm. The amount won't be small, since I need to suppress Durendal significantly, so it may feel uncomfortable. I want you to relax and focus on the demonic energy moving through you, understood?"
"Is that even possible? You need to be a natural to be able to pour energy into Durendal, so it might hu—"
Xenovia's body suddenly squirmed. "Ahh!"
Adrien had already poured his energy into her body. Her whole body felt strange. It was uncomfortable, yet weirdly pleasant at the same time.
"Mhmmmm..."
Adrien's energy flowed through her energy points until it reached the point in her palm, then passed into Durendal.
Adrien increased the amount even more, pushing her energy channels and points to their limit. Xenovia's face turned beet red, and she trembled slightly, but she kept a firm grip on the hilt of Durendal.
After about a minute, Xenovia's body was trembling violently. Adrien stopped pouring energy into her, and she collapsed forward onto the ground. Her body kept jolting as if she were being electrocuted, unable to speak. She was panting heavily.
"Rest for a while. When you feel better, try using Durendal and tell me what happens."
Adrien ruffled her hair, then moved on to his next Familia members.
Saeko and Celia were doing push-ups with bags of rocks strapped to their backs.
Both of them were Pawns, and they could promote into any other piece once they reached enemy territory. But they needed strong bodies to handle those transformations without breaking apart. When promoting they would gain the abilities of each piece, including an increase in demonic energy, so they needed strong bodies to contain that energy. So Adrien had given them a rigorous training routine.
"123, 124, 125..." Saeko was doing fine. Her body was already above average since she had trained in kendo for many years. On the other hand...
"HAAHHH!" Celia dropped face-first to the ground after her tenth push-up.
Adrien crouched next to her. "What happened to all that energy you have when we're fucking?"
Celia quickly buried her face in the dirt, her ears turning red.
"Shut up! That's... different."
Adrien chuckled, "continue, if you get to forty I'll reward you later."
Celia, hearing that immediately continued her workout.
Adrien finally turned to Mahiru, she was sitting on the ground meditating. A pink orb surrounded her close to her body. She was training at maintaining Sanctum Veil condensed profusely. Every ten minutes she would stop take a break then start again.
Adrien smiled as he saw all of them training, he turned his head toward the stairs leading up to the shrine, after a few seconds four people appeared.
Three girls and a boy, Rias walked first followed by Akeno, Asia and Issei.
"Hey, Adrien," Rias said with a smile.
"Sup, you good?"
"Yes. I just came to talk to you for a bit."
"Sure," Adrien said as he glanced at the group with her. "Yo, Issei." He waved a hand at him.
"Yo."
Rias looked at Adrien's Familia training and got an idea.
"Issei, why don't you do push-ups with Saeko and Celia?"
"Wait, right now!? I'm not in training clothes!" Issei said, clearly trying to avoid the workout.
Rias snapped her fingers, and a set of gym clothes appeared in the air before falling to the ground. Issei turned a shade paler when he saw them, but he gave up and went to change.
Issei left the group, leaving the three girls standing in front of Adrien. Asia had already heard that Adrien—the mysterious person who defeated Riser after the Rating Game—had saved Rias and her friends from Kokabiel, then beaten Kokabiel himself. He still scared her a little, but she knew he was not a bad person… probably.
"First, I have a message from my brother. He wants you to attend the Three Faction Meeting in six days."
"I was going to be there with an invitation or without one," Adrien said casually. "No way I'd miss a meeting between the big shots. Sounds interesting."
"I thought you'd say that," Rias replied with a smile. "Are your sleeping arrangements comfortable? Repairs on the old school building are finished, so we can give you a room there if you'd like."
"Nah, I'm good here," Adrien said, dismissing the offer.
"I see." Rias then glanced toward Xenovia, who was walking toward them, while Mary trained on the other side of the shrine yard. "Congratulations on your new Knights. Both of them are excellent pieces. I'm jealous."
Adrien shrugged. "Should've moved faster."
"I don't mean it like that," Rias said, shaking her head. "Compared to everything you've done for us, you taking both of them is nothing."
"Don't mention it. If another Three Faction war started, it'd be a pain in the ass. So I did it for selfish reasons too."
"Ara~, I don't think so," Akeno said with a teasing smile. "I think you're just surprisingly kindhearted."
"You, shut up." Adrien pointed at Akeno, making her chuckle softly.
At that moment, Xenovia reached the group. The first person she looked at was Asia.
Asia shifted nervously. After all, Xenovia had spoken harshly to her the first time they met.
"I owe you an apology, Asia Argento," Xenovia said seriously. "If there is no God, then there is no hope for salvation or love. I was wrong. I'm sorry." She lowered her head, then added bluntly, "You may hit me if that will make you feel better."
"…N-No, thank you, Xenovia," Asia replied, shaking her head. "I'm happy with my life. I may be a demon now, but I've met someone… I've met so many people who matter more to me than anything else. I'm truly grateful I was given this second chance."
Xenovia stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "…You, Mary, and I are the only Christians who learned of the Lord's demise. I can no longer condemn you."
Her expression hardened. "To fall from being a respected Holy Sword wielder to an exiled heretic… I will never forgive how quickly the Church cast me aside."
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Yo what's up, let's try and reach 50 power stones, if we do I'll drop another chapter today