Chapter 2

POV Change Ryuuta

Silence.

Silence permeated throughout the room.

I watched as numerous emotions flashed through Rose's face. That itself already told me that Gilgamesh was right.

"Though I do hope she will at least explain why she didn't tell me."

"…. In all honesty, I was planning on telling you about our relationship," she starts, "however I intended to do so later, around the age of 11."

I continue to look at her intently, she simply looks back with a somewhat complacent smile.

"Well at least now I know that she wasn't going to never tell me, she was just waiting for me to mature... I think."

"You see Ryuuta, before I tell you why I didn't tell you that we are related, I need to explain to you more about this world," Rose says.

"She must be referring to the supernatural," I think as she continues.

"You remember all of those myths, legends, and stories that I have told you about and that you have read?" she asks.

I simply nod.

"They all exist, everything from God, angels, devils, youkai, dragons, and other religions. While normal people are unaware that it exists, the supernatural still hold influence to this day," she explains.

I naturally already know all of this, but I still pay attention since there could be something new that could tie into my new family. Highschool DxD in general was very vague from the lore to the power levels of the beings that exist here. It was said that Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub were in the Top Ten, but how much power they truly possessed was somewhat of an unknown. Another thing that it lacked was a clear timeline of events, so I don't know if Uruk existed before or after the Great War. From I would guess it would be before since I have no doubt that Gilgamesh would have collected various Sacred Gears, yet he didn't mention having any and the way spoke of them was almost as if he found them interesting like a new toy.

"The beings within the supernatural have formed many pantheons and factions that they operate in, and each pantheon and faction all have leaders of their own that can form alliances and enemies. Sometimes when things get tense between various groups, it will lead to war. There have been many wars in the past, but for a while we have relative peace, but the peace is very tense. One of the biggest wars that happened in supernatural was the war waged between the three Biblical Factions: Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels," she continues.

"That war had also dragged in some other factions and pantheons as well since it was so large, and because of that some beings still hold grudges against them. If you ever meet any of those three, tread carefully," she says to me with a serious face.

"I understand," I respond.

"After the Great War, as it was dubbed, had ended, God had created something called Sacred Gears by sealing various creatures, beings, and powers into certain objects. He distributed these to humans so that they may protect themselves, but it was only a so-so solution. You see a few hundred years after the Great War ended, the Devils wished to restart the war. However, there was a certain group of Devils that did not want another war after seeing the casualties the first one. They would later be called the Anti-Satan Faction while the supporters of the war were called the Old Satan Faction. This caused tensions which eventually lead to a Civil War between the two sides. After years of war, the Anti-Satan Faction rose to victory. The descendants of the original Four Satans: Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Asmodeus, were evicted of there positions. The Devil Faction as a whole started out with 72 Pillars and various Extra Devil families, but by the end of the Devil Civil War there were only 30 Pillars along with only 40% of the Extra Devils remained. To replace the former leaders, they selected the four leading figures of the Anti-Satan side to lead them: Sirzechs Gremory took over the Lucifer position, Serafall Sitri took over the position of Leviathan, Ajuka Astaroth took over the position of Beelzebub, and Falbium Glasya-Labolas took over the position of Asmodeus," she seem to know quite the bit of information even though she wasn't even alive during that time.

"At the end of the war the Devil Faction faced the problem of a severe population drop. To make up for the lost population Ajuka, one of the smartest beings to live, created something call Evil Pieces. These Evil Pieces were used to reincarnated other races into Devils and create something called a Peerage, a system based off of the game of chess. The stronger the being that they were trying to reincarnate, the more pieces they would require. The Knights would gain a boost in speed, Rooks would gain a boost of strength, Bishops would gain a boost in magical reserves, Queens would gain the attributes of Rooks, Knights, and Bishops. Pawns do not gain any attributes they can promote to any of the pieces except the King. The King piece is only reserved for High Class Devils, which are usually from one of the Pillars, only a few Extra Devils are considered High Class while the rest are usually Mid and Low Class Devils. All reincarnated beings start out as Low Class, but have a chance to be promoted to a higher class. There is a level above High Class called Ultimate Class, these are extremely strong Devils who a true force to be reckoned with," she explains.

"There are only two Devils who surpassed that point, they are Sirzechs Lucifer and Ajuka Beelzebub, they are also known as Super Devils. This put them on the Top Ten Beings of the world."

(Author's Note: Rizevim's status as a Super Devil wasn't really known by the common people of the supernatural like Rose that is why she didn't mention him, but regardless he still is a Super Devil.)

"What happened to the Old Satan Faction?" I ask.

"I don't know, some say that they were wiped out, others say that they are waiting for their chance for revenge," Rose answers. I already knew that they would join the Khaos Brigade.

"That basically sums the Devil's side of things. Oh, and by the way, Asia has a Sacred Gear as well. It was how she healed you," she says.

"So that's what that was!" I feign surprise, of course I know what it was.

"Yes, and it is also why the Church came for her," she says with a frown, "at least she will be treated well since she doesn't have a Longinus. A Longinus, Ryuuta, is one of 13 Sacred Gears which have the potential to kill a god, but while all of them have the potential to do so, only the True Longinus has done so before."

"Well she's not wrong for now. Once Gasper unlocks the potential of Forbidden Balor View and becomes the 14th Longinus, it will remain as 13 until then," I think as she continues.

"The Church somewhat dislikes Longinus users, but there are a few exceptions like the current Strongest Exorcist Dulio."

"Rose, while this conversation about Sacred Gears is very informative, I would like to know more about our family," if I don't stop her now, I get the feeling that she would just go on and on.

She had the decency to look bashful about the fact that she was ranting.

"Right, right. Anyway, some of the legends you hear about had descendants that exist to this day, as you have already figured out. In some cases, the descendants hold influence in certain parts of the world. Most of England is within the influence of the descendants of Arthurian Legends. The Pendragon family tends to be the most powerful, they also happen to be our cousins."

I blink once then twice. Did she just say that the Pendragon family are my cousins?!?

"Holy shit, Le Fay and Arthur are my cousins. But why does Rose seem conflicted about it?"

"Just to be clear, by Pendragon, do you mean like the family of the King of Camelot? The wielder of Excalibur?" I ask to be sure that I heard what I heard.

"Yes, I suppose you now know your full name, but we're not related to the King of Camelot in a good way. Also, Excalibur was shattered into seven shards during the Great War and all the shards are currently within the Church's possession."

"What do you mean we're not related in a good way?" I had a feeling I should know why already though.

"Our ancestor was the reason King Arthur died, you and I are the descendants of Mordred Pendragon," she says with a solemn look.

…

…

"Well shit! First, it's the King of Heroes now it's the Knight of Treachery. What's next, am I Great Red's alter ego or something? I'm too young for this shit."

Sigh

"Roll with it."

"You mean the Knight of Treachery that I have read about?"

"Yes, you see for reasons that I do not know of, our ancestor decided to rebel against King Arthur. Before the rebellion, Arthur was expecting a second child, that child would later on become the head of the Main Branch of the House of Pendragon. At the same, Mordred's wife had just recently given birth to a child as well, that child is who you and I are descended of. Throughout the years our line has been highly disliked by Main Branch," she says.

"Is it because they blame the death of King Arthur on Mordred and by extension, us?" I question.

"Smart as always, yes, although Mordred also died during that battle as well," Rose responds.

"Great, now I'm also involved in family politics."

"What about the families of the other Knights of the Round Table? Do they hate us as well?" I ask.

"They also dislike us as well, but not to the extent of the Main Branch of Pendragon. After all, Mordred did kill members of the Round Table," she answers.

"Will they try to kill us?"

"No, they don't hate us to that extent, but they will try to make our lives harder. It was why your father was a police officer, he wanted to show the ones in the Main Branch that we could do good things as well. Some good news is that they are not aware that you are my brother's son since his relationship with your mother was only told to a few people," she says.

While taking all this in, it only strengthens the fact that I need to get to another faction, while I most likely will grow to be powerful, I can't take on the whole world on my own. I could always try to make my own group like Cao Cao did, but even he had the backing from Indra of the Hindu Pantheon. Unlike what most would think, influence and resources don't just pop up out of nowhere. After Cao Cao's loss Indra got his payment in the form of making Cao Cao his Vanguard, so trying to make deals like he did would not be wise.

"Is there anything we inherited from Mordred, like abilities or skills," whether or not he left a weapon for us doesn't concern me, while it would be nice, I could just pull a weapon from the GATES OF BABYLON.

"Yes, I don't know if you've noticed it, but we do have an affinity for swords. Another thing would be that our bodies are stronger than that of a normal human. While both Mordred and his brother were sons of Le Fay, Mordred inherited her knack for magic as well, particularly lightning magic. In some cases, people do say that he was the perfect heir considering Mordred inherited both talents of both parents while his brother only inherited Arthur's talent with a sword," she answers.

"Grandpa Mordred wherever you are, you're the best, traitorous, but still the best!!"

I did notice before that swinging a sword like object felt natural to me, and a physical boost with an affinity for magic is tremendous help. Gilgamesh already mentioned that I have a huge magical reservoir, the affinity with magic will only help with that.

"He also left behind his sword, Clarent. It was the same sword that had bathed in the blood of all the Knights of the Round Table, it was also the sword that ended the life of King Arthur. Originally it was a Holy Sword, but after Mordred's use of it, Clarent transformed into a Demonic Sword that is considered to be the demonic equivalent of Caliburn," so he did leave a weapon behind.

That is a very good thing. While I do want to use it proficiently, the GATES are not something I want to overuse. If I were to use Clarent, I could still keep the GATES as an ace in case I get into a dicey situation.

"Advertising to the world that I am the only descendant of Gilgamesh that is able to use the GATES OF BABYLON would not be the smartest thing to do."

In canon, Issei was killed for merely Possessing a Sacred Gear and not even knowing about it. He was to be terminated for being a potential threat, at least that was what Raynare believed when Azazel sent her to only observe. She was not wrong though, he really was a threat to his opposition after his power ups.

I, on the other hand, am the descendant of two Heroes and possess a Sacred Gear. I am much more of a threat than Issei will be even with that shitty plot armor.

"Considering that Rose is going to train me, I have to be extra careful when revealing my powers. I can only safely show what I am made of after I join a faction or if I reach the strength level to fight off any major threat."

"Can you help me train my swordsmanship and my magic control. Gilgamesh said that if I had better magic control then I could use the ability I inherited from him easier."

"Yes, I can. Your father was amazing when it came to sword arts and I have seen that you inherited that tidbit. I, on the other hand, am more talented when it came to magic, and you should have inherited an affinity for it from both sides."

"How strong would say you are compared to the rest of the supernatural?" I ask.

"Hmm, if I were to use the Devils' power ranking system, then I would say I am somewhere around a Low to Mid-Tier High-Class Devil."

I was hoping that she would use a more reasonable and accurate ranking system, but I can't be picky. The reason I didn't like the Devils' power ranking system is because of many reasons, but the biggest one could be contributed to the arrogance of the Devils. In their society, if a Devil is born to a Pillar or an already High-Class family, then the child is automatically labeled as a High-Class Devil once they reach the age to receive their Evil Pieces, which is usually the age of 10. The only two among the generation of canon's cast I could remember who truly earned that ranking were Sairaorg and Vali. Riser is a maybe in my book, even if he lost to Issei, Riser had experienced multiple Rating Games and had two older siblings who probably taught him. They only reason I believe Riser lost was because of his Holier-Than-Thou attitude and his somewhat mental shut down when Issei hit him with a cross. If Riser had remained calm and simply dodged the punch and flew out of range of the Holy Water thrown at him, then he would have won; after all, Issei can only hold the holy items in one hand, and all he knew at that time was how to throw a bad punch. You can't just go from normal civilian to a fighter in a few weeks. Maybe a Devil's constitution had a hand in that?

"Wait, now that I think about it. Did Issei ever throw a kick in the entire anime? What the actual fuck?!?!"

Other than Riser and Sairaorg, none of the Devil's in that generation were truly High-Class. At the most Rias was a High-Tier Middle-Class Devil until much later into canon. While she did have the Power of Destruction at her disposal, she hardly ever trained with it and if anyone got close to her, she would be destroyed. During the end of the Rating Game she had with Sairaorg, after Issei and Sairaorg exchanged a few punches, she was already beaten lying on the ground. She didn't even have the capability to dodge Regulus long enough for Issei to push Sairaorg back, which he should not have done anyway, that last minute transformation was utter bullshit. Her CQC was utter shit and she wasted her large Mana Pool with bad magical skills. Georg looked like he was around the same age or a few years older, yet he was way better, and Rias had near unlimited resources at her finger tips due to her being the Heiress of the Gremory Clan. Most of her peerage members probably were gained due to her brother, after all, Rias showing up during their times of need was way to convenient for it to be a coincidence. Sona, while slightly weaker than Rias, did start CQC practice sooner, she still was not up to par of a High-Class until the Young Devil Gathering. While she was intelligent, she was also naïve and predictable. Rias and Sona were basically spoiled by their siblings and they never got over it until much later. Vali and Sairaorg are the only two among their-no, our generation that I could say that they earned it. Vali, while he did rely on Albion, he had enough Mana and control to remain sane while he was in Juggernaut Drive; he was also capable of using magic with precision. Sairaorg lacked the Power of Destruction that the rest of his clan possessed and worked around the handicap and became the Strongest Young Devil of our generation. Sairaorg should not have lost to Issei, it was sheer dumb luck that the result of the battle was what it was.

"So, how will we be training?" I ask.

"Well I can't train you and look after the other children at the same time, so we will be doing it after everyone else has gone to bed. I will put up a Bounded-Field to keep them asleep just incase one of them needs to wake up for any particular reason."

She pauses for a second before continuing.

"While I can help you with sword play, I am not very good at it; however, like I said earlier, it should come to you naturally. I can help you when it comes to magic, as it is my specialization. At first, we will try to gain further control over your mana."

"That's good. I was going to ask you for help on that matter to begin with. Gilgamesh said that I need significant control if I wish to properly use one of his abilities," I state.

"Is that so? Well I can't wait to see how you use it, my Little Dragon," she says with a smile.

XXX

Later That Day

As I was doing my daily chores, I thought back to my conversation with my now revealed aunt. I already felt as if I was on a time limit considering that Asia is only a few months younger than me.

"That means that I have just about 14 years to prepare for when 'canon' starts. I have already made changes by simply existing. I know it sounds self-centered, but the power I wield is massive. Gilgamesh possessed more than one Divine Construct within his treasury, all of them containing enough power to bring many opponents to their knees without trying. The strongest one theoretically should be Ea."

I put away the broom I was using to sweep, and I go to grab the broken broom that I have been using as a practice sword. I head outside to the tree that Asia used to read under, and I start with push ups to get warmed up beside it.

"While Ea is the strongest, the one that I consider to be the most versatile and the one Gilgamesh trusts the most is Enkidu: Chains of Heaven. Those chains were what brought forth the concept of 'reigning over the Gods' because of its strength increasing proportional to the amount of Divinity one possessed. In this world where Gods still exist, it is imperative that I learn how to call upon those chains."

I finish my push ups and I move to start my sit ups.

"In order to reach the level of power I desire I need to prioritize what simply looks cool and what I actually need. I first need to be able to open the GATES OF BABYLON then I need to figure out a way to call upon holy, demonic, cursed, and neutral weapons separately. The holy weapons will definitely be useful in case a Devil decides to obtain me as a part of their peerage. I have no desire to join that slavery in disguise."

I stood up and started on doing squats.

"The next thing I need to get are some anti-dragon weapons. The Heavenly Dragons, the Five Dragon Kings, Great Red, Ophis, and the Evil Dragons are all dragons that appeared or were mentioned in the anime. If I were to look for a Prototype weapon, two good ones would be Ascalon and Balmung both of which possess dragon slaying capabilities. By using such weapons, opponents like Saji, Issei, Vali, and others that appear later would become a lot easier to deal with. Ascalon Prototype would be especially useful since it is already a holy weapon and if I am to involve myself into canon, I will most likely face those three in battle often.

I stop and lean against the tree to catch my breath, stupid child body.

"I then also have the other half of my bloodline, Mordred. The affinity for lightning magic in particular is useful in the sense that I can derive ideas on techniques from other universes like the Chidori from the Narutoverse or one of Sinbad's techniques from the Magiverse. Though if Mordred is like the one from the Fate series, then it is possible that the lightning I am aligned to is the Crimson Lightning."

I stepped away from the tree and picked up my "practice sword" and started to do some swings.

"I also have an affinity for swordsmanship that I inherited from him. After learning the basics, I should try to pick up on a style or two. If I don't find one with the skill books that Gilgamesh mentioned, then I will use from a different universe like I intend to do with my spells and magic. I also can not let technique rule my style and allow me to telegraph all of my movements like Kiba. What I need to do is develop my natural instinct and add that to my sword style.

I started to add some more diverse swings instead of the normal up and down.

"What I do not need is more power at the moment. Gilgamesh already said that I possess a large amount of Mana that will only grow as I grow. I also am the descendant of a God and King Arthur was said to possess draconic blood, so it is likely that I too possess at least a little bit of dragon blood in my veins. Being the descendant of both also increases my physical abilities, theoretically, to the same level of a Devil's body. It would be nice to learn some sort of body enhancement technique like Touki, but for some reason I just don't feel as if that technique is for me. Despite all the power I have gained and all the power I will gain, my race as a human being is a big handicap. However, I always did like a challenge, and what better way than to push myself to the utmost limit as a human; after all, humans are said to possess the most potential out of all the races in existence. While it is a little bit annoying that my life span will be short compared to most of supernatural in DxD, it is something that I can, strangely enough, deal with."

(AN: Why be afraid of death when you have already died once? Sure, to some it may seem that way, but everyone is different, some people tend to get over fears after experiencing something once.)

I pause for a second and tilt my head with a thinking face.

"Is it because I have already died once, and death doesn't scare me as much? Oh well," I shrug, "I already plan on living my life to the fullest after everything settles down, where I don't have to worry about my life every five seconds. I should take Rose with me too. She deserves a vacation for always looking after us and she is going to train me. All of that together is a lot of work and stress."

I go ahead and stop as I want to have enough energy for tonight to train with Rose and whatever she comes up with. So, I start to walk back inside to take a nap.

"Despite it almost being four years, it still feels very surreal for me. I had clearly died, yet I am alive once again not only with my memories completely intact, but also in a fictional world with overpowered beings that could destroy nations on a whim. I'm actually a little nervous about what my life will lead to be. I have never participated in a life or death battle, not to mention one as intense as the ones depicted in this world. However, I know it is something I will have to get used to. I remember a particular line from the United States Marine Corp, 'Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.' As a human while I am weaker, it is said by many that we also possess the most potential. The death, gore, and fights will be something I have to take in stride, and there will be gore; after all, I doubt that Freed is the only crazy person in this world. Especially in the supernatural aspect of things, greed is probably running rampart considering people would do almost anything for power."

Sigh

I push those thoughts away and decided to move on.

"I have no desire to become some sort of Hero, despite who I am descended of. I am not a Shirou Emiya or a Naruto Uzumaki. While if they are close to me, I will help them without a doubt. However, concerning some of the events that occur later on, I am perfectly fine with letting the canon cast deal with it. For example, why on Earth would I help them with the invasion of the Underworld by the Old Satan Faction. The only reason I would interfere would be to save Asia…"

I stop walking to ponder on that particular subject.

"While Asia is with the Church her safety is guaranteed with the likes of Vasco, Dulio, and Griselda being in the same faction. The problem is when she enters under Rias' peerage. While I am fine with it if Asia wants to simply be friends with them, becoming a Devil is a whole other ball park. I do not have anything against it if she does become another race, as her brother I will support her. The problem is Rias' peerage. That angst infested group is something that even I wouldn't poke with a 200-foot stick. Rias' incompetence shows once more as she did nothing to help solve her peerage's issues. Akeno Himejima hates Fallen Angels because her dad couldn't make it on time to save her mother when he was the reason that the Himejima Clan attacked in the first place. While I do feel bad that her mom was killed in such a way, it is no excuse to think so foolishly that her dad did not love her. Because of that, she did not use any of her holy powers, if she had then the battle against Riser would have been so much easier."

I start walking again towards my bed.

"Yuuto Kiba had a severe hatred towards any and all holy swords to the point that not only had he put himself in danger, but also to those who were around him. While he does get it worked out, it takes years after he joins Rias. Also, I did consider him to be somewhat of an idiot for trying to get revenge against a sword of all things instead of the person who was responsible for the events that happened in the first place. It was also hypocritical of the Church to excommunicate Valper, only to use the results of his research for their own gain and gather more holy sword users."

I lay down on my and close my eyes.

"Then there is Koneko, formally known as Shirone. While she is the one that I am the most sympathetic towards; after all, one moment she was with her sister, the next she is in a prison for a crime the same sister she was with did, which was the crime of killing her King. What I do disagree with is that she tried to make it seem like part of her did not exist by hiding her cat ears and tail. Even in my last life I believed that one stay true to themselves, of course there will be some moments where one needs to act differently like at a formal event or at certain work places. She also did not try to understand the power of Senjutsu, but instead chose to completely ignore it. The hate for her sister is a little understandable considering the entire fiasco was traumatizing for her. Now that I think about it the one I feel the most sympathetic for is Kuroka, she saved sister only for her to be branded as an insane criminal. If I ever do get the chance, I will help her; after all, as a fellow elder sibling I can understand where she is coming from."

While I was deeply pondering, I remembered another subject.

Excalibur.

"I am pretty sure that Excalibur was gifted to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, how exactly is it in the Church and Angel's possession? I was bit of a history, mythology, and legends nut in my past life, so I remember quite a bit about that sword. Excalibur, Avalon, and in some versions of the legend, Caliburn, were all forged by the Fae, an incredibly powerful race capable of various forging, crafting, and magic techniques. I never did understand why the Church claimed it as theirs, unless… that's not Excalibur is it? That made a lot more sense, in the show the seven fragments were broken apart and put back together way too easily for something that is supposed to be the Strongest Holy Sword."

Hmm, strongest, huh.

"I did always feel like Ishibumi exaggerated the strength of Excalibur way too much. Sure, it was an incredibly powerful weapon, but other weapons like the spear Vasavi Shakti of the Hindu religion and Rhongomyniad of the Arthurian Legends were more powerful than Excalibur. I am pretty sure that Gilgamesh had a weapon too, Ea, that was considered to be one of the most powerful swords in existence."

"While it doesn't make any sense to me, I can't go digging into something as time consuming as that for now. However, I should look into it later, I might even find out something interesting."

While finishing up my thoughts, I slowly, but surely slip into slumber.

XXX

When I wake up, I can see that the sun is starting to set, and dinner should be served soon. I get out of bed and start to head to the dining room.

"Well, well. Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake," I hear a smug voice from behind me.

"Good evening to you as well, Alex," I respond.

I turn around to see a short haired blond with blue eyes. He is about four feet and two inches tall while also a bit on the chubby side of the spectrum.

Alexander Smith, one of the nine-year-old kids here, is quite simply, a bully. While he isn't exactly the brightest, he knows enough to not get caught. He did make a mistake before though when tried to mess with some one that he should not have messed with. Me.

It happened a few months ago when I was accompanying Asia for a small morning routine that we used to do together around the neighborhood. While the orphanage is located in a somewhat busy area, as this part of England is a tourist attraction, the neighbors know who we are and tend to help out Rose by keeping an eye on us when we go out for walks or to the park.

Usually when I go with her for a walk to the closest neighbor's house so that Asia could play with the dog that lives there. While the dog is taller than both Asia and I, she is one of the gentlest dogs that I have ever interacted with.

Afterwards I take her to a fountain located about ten minutes from the orphanage. There I watch over her as she likes to play with the birds that she feeds bread crumbs to. I also make sure to pay extremely close attention to those she talks to in case they try something weird or unnecessary.

Then I take her back to the orphanage in time for lunch. It wasn't too strenuous and both of us enjoyed the outside, so we would do it every morning.

One day, however, on our way back from the fountain, we ran into Alex and a few of his now former lackies. After stopping us I asked them what they wanted. Turns out that every once in a while, they go after other kids who they know have been saving up our allowance that we receive every now and then and it seems that the two of us were their newest targets. They assumed like all little children that numbers meant ultimate power.

Now, while that would normally be true, I was someone who had constantly worked out and my body had reached a higher physical level than theirs did; it had also given me some height, so I was a bit taller than others in my age group. So naturally when I had refused, all four of them tried to get aggressive.

The key word is tried.

Not only was I faster than all of them, but I was also stronger.

When Lacky #1 swung his fist at me, I ducked and promptly drove my fist into his gut. Lacky #1 fell to his knees and looked like he was going to throw up. Looking back at things, it was then I should have noticed that something was different about me compared to others.

I then stepped back and Lacky #2 had just missed my head and in response I performed a sloppy but still firm roundhouse kick to the back of his knee bringing him down. It was there that I sucker punched him in the face. Lacky #3 saw how quickly that his companions went down and decided to book it. Alex, like I said before, wasn't the brightest. Despite the obvious disadvantages I had I was still faster than him, so every time he tried to punch me, I would simply dodge.

Eventually he ran out of breath and I ran behind him squatted down and proceeded to give him an attack he would remember the rest of his life. I gave him the good old One Thousand Years of Death.

After leaving him on the ground, I grabbed Asia, put her on my back and I ran back to Rose to tell her what had happened.

Not did the four of them have to pay back all the kids that they stole from, but they would also not get any money until New Years. It was also then that I noticed the only reason Alex's lackies followed his lead was because he used the fact that he was older than them; after all, they chose to do the smart thing by no longer associating themselves with him.

I felt kind of bad at first because I was beating up kids, although I am physically three, mentally I am in my early twenties. But I no longer felt bad when Alex thought the problem was his lackies and chose to do the same thing two weeks later with a brand-new trio of lackies.

I was once again confronted in the same spot when I was with Asia once more. Asia, bless her heart, tried to not let things escalate to violence like it had before, and I was all for it. I do try to keep my love for battle and my pride tame around her.

But at this point I more annoyed than anything.

After the first confrontation, I realized that I could get into a fight at any moment, so I decided to carry my broken broom stick in case something like it happened again.

Needless to say, I was not expecting the reason for me to carry that stick around would be the same reason for me to use the stick again. I didn't even struggle this time.

Fear the stick people! It does wonders!

When I told Rose that Alex was at it again, his new lackies received the same punishment as their predecessors. Alex wasn't going to get any money until Thanksgiving. While his lackies once again, proved to be intelligent enough to not be involved with him.

After a few temper tantrums on his part, he decided that was his number one enemy. He would continue to try to get back at me either by framing me for something I didn't do, fighting me again, or sometimes bully Asia.

All attempts ended in failure as he was either too dumb to find a good way to pin the blame on me or I would just kick ass.

Naturally he was going to be smug about Asia being adopted. I am just surprised that it did not happen sooner, I mean he had a whole day to during the party to do so.

"So, I heard your minion got adopted while leaving you behind. What's wrong feeling down that nobody wants you good for nothings?" he says with a smirk.

"One, she's not my minion. Two, she didn't leave me behind. Three, someone clearly wanted Asia, while you on the other hand, are about to turn ten and yet nobody even bothers to look at you," I can feel my frown deepening with each point I had to make. This brat gets on my nerves a lot.

He immediately drops his smirk and starts scowling.

"What was that you little-!"

"Alexander! Ryuuta! What are you two doing?" The two of us turn to see Rose standing at the end of the hall with her arms crossed.

"Nothing, I was just helping Alex get up after he tripped," I say with as much innocence as I could muster.

"Yeah, I have no idea what tripped me though," well would you look at that, he can play along.

I can see that Rose doesn't believe us in the slightest, if the narrowing of her eyes are to mean anything.

"Ok, Alex you head to the dining room. Ryuuta stay here." She commands.

The brat walks away with a skip in his step, and when he reaches the end of the hallway behind Rose, he turns around and sticks his tongue out at me. I let it slide as it would be childish to pursue him for such a reason.

"Ryuuta, I know that the two of you do not get along well, but you will be taking lessons with me that will take your mind and body to another level compared to regular people. I don't wish to say this to you as I wish you remain as child longer, but I need you to act a little more… forgiving. Because if you get into anymore fights with other children after your training begins, you might unintentionally kill them."

The grim look on her face told me she was being dead serious about this. It's not like I was planning on getting revenge on him or something…

"Oh, that's what I would do if I were a normal three-year-old isn't it."

"I understand Rose, I will act responsibly."

"Good, then let's go to the dining room to eat. You're going to need all the energy you can get for tonight." She responds with a nod.

XXX

"Today I will start by teaching you about magic and then towards the end, we will unlock your Mana."

After she had put everyone to sleep, Rose had brought the two of us to a nearby open field and set up something called a Bounded-Field around the orphanage to keep the others asleep and safe, and another one around the field to keep us unnoticed.

It's weird that this world seems to have so many parallels to the Fate series as Gilgamesh looked like the one from the game and recognize that spell.

"I guess I should start by explaining some of the different types of magic in the world. I won't be mentioning every single type, unless you intend to stay in that spot for a week," she says with a grin, "That's why I will go over some of the most common types to prepare you for the future. If you want to know more, I would suggest trying to find out about it on your own later on."

I nod while paying attention intently.

"The most common type that you are bound to run into will be the one used by the Biblical Factions, in other words the Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. The magic they use is based upon their imagination and thought. For instance, if a Devil wants to shoot a fireball, then all they would need to do is aim and imagine a Fireball and the spell would activate with the activation usually taking the form of a magic circle. Those three races have it the easiest when it comes to spell-casting."

"Next, we have Runes. Runes are mostly used by the Norse and Celtics, but they can be used by mostly anyone. Most factions and pantheons have their own unique form of Runes. This art requires for you to inscribe your Mana in a certain way onto a solid object. However, those who are skilled enough do not require a solid object to inscribe them on and simply use them the same way as magic circles. This can also be considered the most difficult type of magic, depending on who you ask. It is the type that truly uses the full applications of math."

"Now it isn't exactly considered magic you might often see something called Chakra or Ki that is used mostly by Youkai but can be used by others to an extent but not to the extent that Youkai can. Ki can be best described as the life energy that exists in, well, everything living, and Ki users are basically people who can manipulate that life energy. True masters of Ki can use something called Senjutsu but is harmful for the inexperienced as they take in the malice of their surroundings. Senjutsu can use something else call Touki to enhance their bodies. It is possible to unlock Touki by extreme training or having a connection to certain beasts. By technically becoming one with the world, Senjutsu users can read the Ki of others. I don't know much about it myself as I never really looked into it."

(AN: In some places the energy of life is referred to as Chakra and in others it is referred to as Ki. In the DxD wiki it is referred to as Ki so I will be using Ki.)

"Next we have what is called the Mist. It is mostly used by the Greeks where it monitored by the Greek Goddess of Magic, Hecate. The Mist is actually a bit of an unknown to me as the particulars are closely kept by the Greeks. But from what I know it acts similar to the imagination type magic except the concept it is based on is willpower, rather than imagination. For instance, if you want someone to forget something then wave your hand in front of them and will them to forget. I am pretty sure that is either the basis or one of the uses of Mist, because like I said it is something closely guarded, and no one wants to pick a fight with Hades to figure out."

"The final type that I will go over with you today will the type that most human mages use. The type of magic we use is based upon calculations, which will be inscribed on the magic circle that will form when you use it. They are also based on commands, which come in the form of chants. For example…"

She put her hand out and faced her palm to the sky and chanted.

"O' flame, may you come forth."

What I saw left me star struck. I, a person who had lived in a world without magic, am seeing it done for the first time in front of me. I was a bit of an otaku in my past life, so this was basically a dream come true. I almost leaked a few tears.

Above Rose's palm was a small red circle with an emblem of a dragon head in the center and with what looked like tiny letters, numbers, and characters around the emblem in layers forming the full shape of a magic circle. Above the circle was a small fire floating and burning endlessly. It made me want to reach out and touch it, but I refrained from doing so. I stared at it for who knows how long, but if it were up to me, I would stare at it the entire night.

"That's amazing." I finally utter out.

She cancels it out with a grin.

"I know that feeling. I was the same way when my grandmother showed me how to use magic for the first time as well."

"Are all chants that short or do they depend on the size of the spell?" I ask.

"While the length of a chant does increase with the size of the spell, it is possible to keep a chant short in one of two ways. The first is to increase the amount of Mana you use to increase the Output of the spell. You must understand Ryuu, that calculations-based magic does not equate to lots of math, what it means to do is to create an Input, then a Process, and finally an Output. Just think about it like a water filter, the 'dirty water' is your Input, in our case, it would be our Mana configured with what element or form of magic we wish to use. The Process would be like the 'filter' of sorts, this is also the part where the magic circle is formed. The 'clean water' or the Output is the spell effect itself that we wish to use. The second way is to practice hard enough that you can use more of your imagination and less of the Process. Some of the most talented mages in history were good enough to simply skip over the Process portion of the human method of magic."

She is a really good teacher considering what is supposed to complicated, was shortened and made understandable with a simple water filter analogy.

"While I did say that you do not need to a lot of math for the spell itself, you do, however, need formulas and algorithms to create a magic circle. Think about it like a remote control. For a remote to work, it needs to be specifically programmed to respond to the buttons being pushed and send the signal to the TV. The math used is the programming that you would need to insert into the magic circle in order for it to fulfill its purpose during the Process."

Well that is not as bad as I thought it would be. In all honesty, I was expecting something more chemistry like equations, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Algorithms I can deal with, but I was more of a history guy any way.

"Few humans have reached such a level, as it is incredibly difficult. A few mages I can name off the top of my head are Merlin Ambrosius, Johann Georg Faust, Samuel MacGregor-Mathers and Abe no Seimei. Merlin, I am sure you know plenty about how he guided our ancestors during King Arthur's kingship. The other one was based in Japan, Abe no Seimei was a powerful onmyoji. An onmyoji is a person who practices the art of Onmyodo, it means The Way of Yin and Yang, and it is the unique form of human spell-casting that the Japanese use. He was said to have been able to take on even Seraphs and was considered to be the magician version of Vasco Strada. Father Strada is a human member of the Church who wields Durandal and he was so powerful that he was even able to fight evenly with the Cadre of the Grigori. Vasco is said to have reach the peak of a human's physicality in the modern era. Like Merlin, Seimei too was able to surpass normal mages, even if their styles of magic were different. Samuel MacGregor-Mathers is the man who came about during the late 1800s and became well known for all of the numerous types of magic he can use and how much mastery he has over them. I am not using past tense when associating words with him because he is still alive. MacGregor was reincarnated as the Bishop of the Maou Sirzechs Lucifer. Even now his name is known by all who practice magic, even those in the Church and other Pantheons and Factions. Doctor Faust was an alchemist, astrologer, and magician who formed a pact with a certain devil during the German Renaissance.

"You should also know that the Norse Pantheon is considered to possess the best magic, whether it is the art itself or their practitioners, they are top class in the supernatural. There also exist multiple magic associations in the world where numerous users of magic, not matter the type gather to work together, compare notes, or to conduct experiments. Of course, they have some sort of obligation that they owe which ever association they join, but the conditions differ for each association. One such association that exists today is the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which was founded by MacGregor himself. Another one would be one that Mephisto Pheles, the devil who formed a pact with Johann Georg Faust, is the chairman of called Grauzauberer, which means Grey Wizards."

Here Rose's face turns a little more serious.

"You should also be aware of racial magic, like fairy magic or giant magic. The most dangerous type of opponent you could possibly face is a dragon or a user of draconic magic. Dragons are considered to be beings of magic itself, even the strongest being in existence is a dragon."

Great Red is naturally going to be brought up on the topic of dragons. It is literally referred to as the Dragon of Dragons and the True Dragon.

"Hmm, while on the topic of dragons there has been a question that I have been meaning to ask…"

"Hey Rose, I have a question about something related to dragons while we are on the topic." I ask.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I have read a few legends about King Arthur and there were a few parts of it that had differences, but the one that I am curious about is the one that mentioned that our ancestors had dragon's blood in them. One mentioned that all of the Round Table members drank the blood of a dragon, another mentioned that King Arthur was cursed by one to be part dragon. What I want to know is if we actually have dragon's blood in us?" I ask. If we do have dragon's blood, I also want to ask which dragon's blood it is.

"Yes, we do have the blood of a dragon flowing in us, although it is very diluted as King Arthur and Mordred existed generations ago. And neither of those legends are true, from what my grandmother told me, Merlin possessed two vials of dragon blood as well as two scales of a dragon. He used magic to transfer on vial of blood and one scale into King Arthur's system. He remained a human, but he did possess specs that were more draconic like magic resistance and higher Mana levels. At first Merlin intended to use the second scale and vial on Morgan Le Fay, but she rejected the offer; for what reason, I have no clue. At first, he was going to use them in some experiments, but it was then that Mordred was born. When Mordred was proclaimed to have a strong constitution like his father, Merlin decided to put him through the same procedure." She answers.

That actually is really similar to the Arthurian Legends from Fate. Now that I think about it, the two worlds could have a parallel that interconnects them from what I have seen from Gilgamesh as he looked like the one from the game.

"Do you know which dragon Merlin got the scales and blood from?" I ask.

"Yes, it was from the Heavenly Dragon Emperor Y Ddraig Goch, the The Dragon of Domination." She responds.

(AN: There is one version of Arthurian Legends that mentions Arthur, Key, Gawain, and Lancelot slaying the Red Dragon of Wales. This doesn't exactly change much of the story other than Ddraig recognizing that Ryuu carries a small amount of his blood, because like Rose said, the blood of Ddraig is diluted.)

"You have got to be fucking with me! Ddraig! Seriously! What the fuck were you smoking Merlin, whatever it was I want some!" I mentally scream.

I do a small inhale and a small exhale.

"Roll with it, Rose already said that the blood of the Welsh Dragon is diluted. While that does sound nice to have dragon's blood, there is no point in crying over spilt milk."

"So, anything else at ask before we move on to the last task of the day?" Rose snaps me out of my thoughts.

"No, not really," I answer. "What is the last task?"

"We are going to unlock your Mana!"

"FUCK YES!!!"

I am going to enjoy this.

"Wait but we still have a lot of time left, why is it the last thing we are going to do?"

"Because the first time you unlock it, you are going to feel extremely tired and we won't be able to do anything else today."

Okay, so maybe I won't enjoy it so much, but still, magic is every otaku's dream. And I will relish in it.

"Okay let's do this," I say with a nod.

"Glad to see that you are so enthusiastic about this Ryuu!" She says with a smile.

She walks to me and sits down cross legged in front of me.

"To unlock your Mana, I am going to have to stimulate it, and then you are going to have to 'reach' for it once you feel it. Then you are going to have to 'pull' it out and let it flow into your body." She says as she places here hand on my abdomen.

"For humans, our Mana flows through something called Magic Circuits. They can be classified as pseudo-nerves that are in a person. All human mages possess this but not all mages use them to the fullest, they tend to just use them to channel Mana through to cast spells. However, there are techniques that can be used for other things like strengthening the body, but we will get to that later."

"She was referring to Reinforcement, wasn't she? I see that from the evidence from the what I have seen and heard so far is that rather than the DxD that I know of, this can be classified as a form of alternate universe. There is not too much change it seems as the brief overview of the supernatural Rose gave me is pretty much close to the one I know from DxD. So, while my foreknowledge is not useless, it can only qualify as a guideline. I…am strangely okay with that."

"Now as a warning, this will hurt a little as I am going to literally chuck some of my own Mana into your body like a jump starter for a car. Are you ready?" she asks while looking me in the eye.

"YeEEESSSS!!!" I scream as feel something foreign enter my body.

It feels like someone took their hand and is trying to dig a hole in my mid-section. The worst part about it is that I need to actively wait so I can 'reach' out to my Mana so I can 'pull' it.

"Hang on Ryuuta! The pain is going to increase since your Mana Pool seems so large that it needs a bigger 'shock' from me!" I can barely hear her over my screams.

It was then that I felt the pain increase considerably, at least ten times as much from before. At this point I am desperately trying to feel for my Mana just for the pain to stop.

I try to focus, but the pain is overriding everything I try to accomplish. But is to no avail.

Then I start to feel something like a spark near where Rose is throwing her Mana. I try to focus on that point, but it feels like a light flickering on and off.

"I can feel you trying to focus on it Ryuuta! Keep pushing!"

So that is my Mana? I dig deep and continue to focus on it, and it seems to be slowly working as it feels like it is flickering less and less.

After what feels like an eternity of pain, the flickering stops, but it feels like it is barely there, almost dim in a way. I grit my teeth and I focus on it harder. I can slowly feel the pain lessening, but the pain is still massive. I continue this until I get a steady feeling from my Mana that feels like a light switched on. My screams have also subsided.

"You've 'reached' out to it Ryuuta, now 'pull'!"

I try to do as she says by focusing it into different places into my body. It doesn't exactly work so I then try to compact it while I keep in touch with it. The more I try to compact it the 'brighter' it gets. When I feel like I can't compact it anymore, 'pull' sharply as if I yanked up a fishing rod.

I feel the light encompass me and all of a sudden, I feel POWERFUL.

When I open my eyes, I see Rose a few meters away on the ground and she looks like she is trying to get back up. I try to ask what happened to her, but before I can even get a word out of my mouth, my vision gets blurry.

"I seriously hope that this worked, because I don't know if I want to go through this again." Was all I could think before I felt darkness encompass me.