Issei woke up the next morning completely exhausted. His body felt heavy and sluggish, and even moving his arms was difficult.
"Ddraig…" Issei muttered as he stared at the ceiling. "Is this really the way to train for my Balance Breaker?"
Ddraig's voice echoed inside his mind.
'Yes. Just keep doing whatever this Adrien kid tells you. He is not only training your raw power. He is also teaching you the fundamentals you are lacking.'
Issei sighed heavily and forced himself to sit up. Every part of his body complained, but he still dragged himself into the shower. After washing up and changing into clean clothes, he slowly made his way downstairs to the hotel's breakfast buffet.
Adrien was already there, sitting at a table by himself and calmly eating breakfast.
Issei walked over and dropped into the chair across from him.
A maid soon approached and placed a plate of food in front of him. It was filled with all kinds of breakfast dishes: warm bread, roasted meat, eggs, fruit, and a small bowl of thick mushroom soup.
"Thank you," Issei said with a tired nod.
Normally, seeing a pretty girl in a maid outfit would have sent him into some kind of excited panic, but right now, he was too tired to react.
Adrien noticed Issei's lack of excitement and smiled slightly. He took a sip of tea, then asked, "How do you feel?"
"Like shit," Issei muttered.
"That's good," Adrien said calmly. "It means you're doing well."
Issei slowly raised his head and looked at him. "Koneko… the Prez's Rook. She's been acting strangely since before we came to the Underworld. I've been worried about her lately. I kind of want to know how she's doing…"
"I noticed that girl is probably struggling with how to face her own powers and identity. It's not an easy situation for her."
Issei frowned. "…Her own powers and identity?"
Adrien looked at him. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"You haven't been part of Rias's Familia for very long, so I guess it makes sense. Fine. I'll tell you."
Issei nodded, now paying full attention.
"There were once two cat sisters. The siblings were inseparable. They slept together, ate together, and played together. Their parents were gone, they had no home to return to, and there was no one they could truly rely on. So, in order to survive, they relied only on each other."
"One day, a devil found them and took them in. The older sister became part of his Familia, while the younger one was allowed to stay with them. For a while, things probably looked fine."
"But then the older sister started growing way too fast. Her power kept increasing after she became a devil, and abilities that had been sleeping inside her started waking up. Those two weren't normal cats. They were from a race of cat youkai that specialized in senjutsu, youjutsu, spirits, and all that troublesome mystical shit. As for the older one, on top of her natural talents, she had a rare gift for a kind of ancient sage magic that only a handful of people could even touch. So, naturally, she grew until she became stronger than the devil who owned her."
"Her power kept growing, and eventually, the older sister killed her own master and became a stray devil. Not just some random stray either. She became one of the most dangerous strays ever. Every squad they sent after her got wiped out. The younger sister was left behind, and because devils are paranoid as fuck, they blamed her too. They thought, if the older one went crazy, then the younger one might do the same someday. So they decided to get rid of her before she became a problem."
Adrien clicked his tongue softly. "Pretty disgusting logic, but that's politics for you. That's when Sirzechs stepped in. He argued that the younger sister was innocent and convinced the higher-class devils not to execute her. But because he defended her, he also became responsible for her."
"Still, surviving didn't mean she was fine. Her sister had abandoned her, the devils around her treated her like a monster, and she was basically one step away from breaking completely. So Sirzechs gave her to Rias. And little by little, after meeting Rias that little cat started getting her emotions back. Eventually, Rias gave her a new name, Koneko."
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Issei was sprinting along the road, his breathing rough as the two of them headed toward the huge mountain in the distance. Adrien floated above him with his arms crossed, barely paying attention to the road below.
His mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about ways to break the engagement.
Several ideas came to him, but most of them ended the same way: Adrien gaining a higher political status and getting buried under a shit-load of work. Which was exactly what he was trying to avoid at all costs.
One idea, for example, was becoming one of the Four Great Satans. He probably couldn't defeat Sirzechs yet. Ajuka was also a problem, and Serafall wasn't someone he could underestimate either. Falbium on the other hand, Adrien believed he might be able to surpass him soon enough.
If Adrien became Asmodeus and then married Rias, people could accuse House Gremory of gaining private influence over another one of the Four Great Satans, alongside Sirzechs Lucifer. That alone would make the engagement politically dangerous.
The problem was that becoming Asmodeus came with endless meetings, military duties, government responsibilities, public expectations, and a mountain of annoying political bullshit. Adrien would rather die before putting himself in this fuckery.
He dismissed the idea with a sigh, pulled out his notebook, and started studying while still floating above Issei. One thing was certain, he needed to become stronger.
The stronger he became, the more influence he would gain. And the more influence he had, the easier this whole engagement problem would become.
Sirzechs was a twelve-winged True Satan. So were the other three Demon Kings. Most noble House leaders were only normal ten-winged Satan-Class devils. As of now, Adrien believed he could defeat most of those ten-winged elders if he really wanted to.
But that still wasn't enough. Demonic power wasn't his real problem. Because of his lack of energy leakage, he could do things that even twelve-winged beings could do, despite still being Ultimate-Class. His efficiency was just that absurd.
The real problem was technique. He didn't have a guaranteed way to win against the true monsters of the world. He needed a proper winning condition, a technique or ability that would make fighting him feel like a nightmare.
Dismantle was powerful, but against the top beings in the universe it wasn't enough.
Soon enough, they arrived at the base of the mountain.
Issei bent forward, breathing heavily. His legs were shaking, and sweat dripped down his face. He had been sprinting for several hours straight, and his body looked like it was one bad step away from collapsing.
Adrien landed beside him and looked up at the mountain.
"Good. It's around three in the afternoon right now," Adrien said calmly. "You have until eight to reach the top. Start climbing."
Issei slowly turned his head and stared at him like Adrien had just killed his parents. "What the fuck do you mean, climb it?!"
"Exactly what you heard, start climbing. After you reach the top, you still have four more hours of hand-to-hand combat training."
Issei's face went pale.
Adrien smiled. "The faster you climb, the more time you'll have to rest before I beat the shit out of you again. So if I were you, Basenji, I'd start moving."
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Issei lay on the ground, half-conscious. It was around eleven at night now, and the artificial moon of the Underworld glowed brightly in the sky.
Adrien sat nearby, scratching his head as he stared down at the notes in his notebook.
"How the fuck did he do it…?" he muttered.
He was trying to understand Ajuka Beelzebub's formulas.
When Adrien was younger, Ajuka used to visit the Agares estate from time to time and teach him demonic power calculations. Back then, Adrien hadn't been interested in the slightest. To him, it had just sounded like a bunch of annoying numbers and complicated theory. But now he needed that knowledge badly.
Ajuka was a monster-level genius. He had possessed that kind of understanding from a young age, and in the entire Underworld, only someone like Azazel could even compete with him in that field.
Adrien clicked his tongue and leaned back slightly, frustration clear on his face.
"Damn it… I should've paid more attention when I was a kid."
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Yo when we reach 150 Power stones I'll drop a bonus chapter.