Meeting the Devils.

------------(Ichigo's-POV)------------

The room I was led to looked more like a large office than anything else. There were a few people waiting inside and from what I felt, all of them were devils. Though only one of them felt like Sitri. It was a red haired... girl? She didn't look a lot like a teenager and the one standing behind her, who seemed to embody the spirit of Yamato Nadeshiko, also didn't look like a teenager. There were three boys and everyone else was a girl. I looked at the red head and asked.

"Gremory?"

"Yes. Kurosaki-san. My name is Rias Gremory and these are my peerage members." She started to introduce all of them. Though my attention was on one of them. A petite blonde that seemed familiar. After Rias was done, Sona also introduced her peerage members. I decided to put the familiarity I felt aside and go directly to the main thing.

"That's good and all, but let's leave that aside for now. I came here for two reasons. First, is that the familiar forest has a lot of items I want and second, because I thought this would be fun." I stopped and looked at them. Seeing none of them answering, I went on.

"Now, you said something about training. How much do you even know about me to ask for such a thing?" I asked Rias with a raised eyebrow.

"Very little admittedly. Just that you are a hunter and a contractor, that your completion rate is hundred percent and that you usually take extermination requests and commissions that result in helping a lot of people." She said with a smile.

"Well, let's get to the details. I don't think you want to waste any more time, do you?" I said after hearing her answer. This was just a little break from my usual routine and to be perfectly honest, I wanted to see the power of a Longinus. I have been in this world for some time now but I haven't really seen an actual sacred gear.

She told me a few details about the match. Her team, her opponents team and the fact that this was going to be her first match, the fact that her team was incomplete and that Riser Phenex had some experience with rating games and a complete rooster made her chances of winning quite low. I didn't think they had much chance of winning, but I wasn't going to say that. Not only because it wasn't my place but also because I wasn't one to talk. How I won against Byakuya was still a mystery to me, besides him underestimating me.

With all that, we teleported to some place in the underworld, I think. The sky being purple was the first thing that I took notice of. Besides Gremory, the Sitri peerage also came along. I still didn't know their names besides Sona and I think there was one called Momo? Eh, whatever. Now, how should I train them? Only one of them was a swordsman from what I understood. Koneko was a brawler. Akeno was a long range magic user, same with Rias. The petite blonde, Asia, who I remembered after she was introduced, was a healer and I still hadn't met Issei, i.e the Red Dragon Emperor. After a few minutes of contemplating, I decided on what to do.

I would make them go through what I went through, when I was first trained by Old Man Zangetsu. Hands on experience. Satisfied with that, I walked in front of them and said.

"Where is your final member?"

"Issei was left here when we went to meet you because he was too tired." Kiba gave me the answer.

"Well? Call him. We will begin immediately." I said raising my eyebrows.

For some reason, they looked pretty calm. From what Azazel told me, Rias absolutely hated that fiance of hers and that sentiment was shared by her entire peerage. Soon, the first mediocre looking teenager showed up. A somewhat scrawny looking kid with slightly longer brown hair and brown eyes. He looked tired but perked up when he saw Rias and Akeno.

"Buchou! Where were you guys! I woke up and found myself alone in the house!" He ran towards them shouting. I looked at him for a bit longer and felt only the slightest bit of power. He was weak, at least his presence was weaker than all the others present here. The demonic power, that felt hollow like to me, was barely there. Just looking at his body was enough to tell me that he hadn't trained all that much, barely, if at all. The closer he got, the more confused I became.

"This is the Red Dragon Emperor?" I mumbled to myself, but apparently I wasn't quiet enough.

"He may not look like much, but even 1 becomes a 1000 if you double it ten times." The one who said that was Sona, who was standing a bit further away. That was true and all. I guess I was similar, in a sense that there was something different about me that made me stronger, but Issei didn't have his friend on a death row, or a rogue captain wanting to destroy an entire town or something similar, an incentive strong enough to push him further. For now, let's test their will.

"Alright. Let's get this started. All of you! Stand in front of me!" I turned away from Sona and shouted at the Gremory party. They quickly came forward and stood in front of me.

"Let's start this with a simple test." I told them and turned towards Sona.

"You and yours can join them if you want to."

"What will this test entail?" Sona asked me, adjusting her glasses.

"A simple and straightforward one. I will release some of my power and you have to stay upright." I told them with a shrug.

"If half of you are still standing, I will give you the same training I went through for the next six days, that's double what I had to go through."

All of them collectively narrowed their eyes. Sona motioned her peerage to join the Gremory's, who were also frowning at me. The only one not doing so was Issei, who probably didn't even understand what was going on, besides that his king had left to get me.

"Let's start with.. ten percent I guess." I said as I suddenly opened the dams by a slightly large margin. I could visibly see the surroundings being affected. From the devils side, none of them were standing straight. Rather, the only ones still on their feet were Rias and Sona. I guess ten percent was a bit too much all of a sudden. Besides the two of them, everyone else was on on their knees, though Issei was struggling very hard to get back up and Asia was clearly out cold. I decided to increase the output to fifteen percent and, well... the earlier mentioned devils were the only ones still conscious, though they were lying flat on the ground.

"Well, let's stop here." I said after a minute of watching them struggle to get back up. I stood still as they shakily got up, looked towards me with caution and quickly checked on their peerages. I let them do all that and started thinking about the smaller details on what to actually do to give them a chance of success.

"Hmm. None of you were even standing, let alone standing upright." I said to them after they were conscious again.

"What... was that, if I may know Kurosaki-san?" Sona asked me after getting herself cleaned.

"It's what I call spiritual pressure. It doesn't apply pressure on the body, but directly on the soul." I told her with a shrug. It wasn't exactly a secret or anything.

"It.. felt terrible." Koneko spoke up, surprisingly.

"It was supposed to test your spirits or your will if you may, but the only ones who could barely handle it were Sona and Rias." I told them while shaking my head.

"Are you still willing to train us?" Rias asked while looking at me with suspicion.

"Since I'm already here, might as well. As I said, I do have a few things I want from the familiar forest." I told her with a shrug. I felt a smirk forming on my face.

"H-How will you train us?" Rias asked me, looking even more skeptical.

"Simple, really." I felt the smirk getting deeper. They all shivered, especially Akeno.

"We don't have much time to actually train you up to a decent level." Now I was sure some of my teeth were showing.

"I will simply force you guys to adapt, faced with a highly dangerous situation and a very lethal foe." I started to chuckle as I looked at their faces.

"You have half an hour to get ready. We will start simple and increase the intensity in large margins." I turned my back on them and went to sit on a rock some distance away.

"You and yours can join them if you want to Sona. It won't be pleasant, but I am sure it will be effective." Well, it was effective on me. Meh, I'm sure they'll be alright.

I could see both of them huddle together with their peerages and talk back and forth, somewhat furiously. I didn't hear everything, but I did get a few snippets. The only one I could hear who was against my idea was Rias. She didn't want her peerage to go through such a rough, crude or unexplained training method, but the others were adamant that if this could help them get stronger, they were going through with it. With or without her permission.

It was pretty clear that while Rias' group was smaller, it was a lot more closely knit together. They were willing to go through with this nonsense, with someone they barely met because it might enable them to help their king. Issei was especially outspoken.

On the other hand, Sona's group was larger, but it felt more like a boss talking to their employees than a group of friends. Though she did ask everyone and even took a vote before deciding to go ahead with it and it was easy to tell that they were following her happily. With both groups agreeing, they made their way towards me.

------------(Issei's-POV)------------

I had gone through a lot of ups and downs recently but overall, I would rate my current situation an extreme positive. Why? Because I finally had a chance to achieve my dream of becoming a harem king!! Also because I have been surrounded by beautiful girls, and two of them had the biggest boobs I had ever seen in my short life! The pain I felt was nothing compared to the boobs!! That said, there was a very big thorn in my path that was suddenly introduced, a freaking fiance of Rias-senpai! A complete douchebag who not only made fun of everyone but also had a freaking harem of his own! And he still wanted Rias-senpai!

Ugh, such an asshole! Just recalling what that fried turkey did makes me irritated, thinking about Rias-senpai being with that asshole makes me so angry! But it was also clear that I wasn't strong enough to stop him. Because of that, I started to train and train hard. For the last three days, I have been doing everything I could to get stronger and it once again became clear that it wasn't very effective. Last night was another hard night of training, I was completely tired and didn't wake for some time. When I woke up, I was alone in the house we were staying at. I looked around and found no one, so I ran outside thinking that they had started to train without waking me up.

What I saw made me stare for a moment. There was a freaking ikemen standing there like he owned the place. Just looking at him made me twitch. That pretty boy Kiba wasn't enough, now there was an ikemen as well. My dream... I shook my head and quickly made my way over to them and asked them where they were. I was quickly given the whole story and told who the handsome man was. A trainer Rias-senpai found for us, a known competent contractor, someone with hundred percent success rate, but all that aside, why the hell is he so handsome!?

Tall, broad and handsome, with sharp features, golden eyes and that self assuredness, that confidence. Kuh, all of that was irksome. I wanted to say something but something deep inside me told me that I wouldn't survive the aftermath, so I kept my mouth shut and tried to listen to whatever he was saying. I wasn't exactly paying attention to him with something much more beautiful in front of me, but whatever he said seemed to have annoyed everyone, including Sona-senpai and her peerage. He told all of us to stand in front of him and said something about pressure. Moments later, I kind of understood why that voice deep down inside me wanted me just shut up.

I don't think the pressure was just physical, because if it was, Koneko would not have fallen down like me. I tried to look around and saw only Rias-senpai and Sona-senpai still standing. I was barely able to turn around and look at the fallen Asia. She was out cold. I struggled to make my way towards her and failed miserably. Before I could try again, the pressure suddenly increased even further and I completely blacked out.

When I woke up again, everyone else was also getting up. They all looked okay, a bit shaken up, but thankfully no injuries. Sona-senpai asked him what he just did and he explained it as spiritual pressure. I didn't hear anything else as I was worrying over Asia and seeing if she was hurt. Though when I turned my attention back to him he had this sadistic looking smirk on his face. It just got deeper and deeper as he explained that he will force us to grow and adapt. Damned handsome man only gave us half an hour to get ready.

------------(Ichigo's-POV)------------

"This is how we will do it." I said to the two peerages standing in front of me.

"I will release tiny amount of spiritual pressure and when you grow used to it, I will increase its intensity. We will keep doing it for the next six days, including when you're eating or sleeping. My spiritual pressure can cover this entire area and if you leave it, I will know. I will drag you back, so this is your last chance to leave." I told them with a glare. None of them moved back or made any attempts to leave. I nodded.

"Let's start then. Today, you guys will do what you usually do, but under spiritual pressure." I released the slight amount of pressure I could without opening the dams at all and I could see that they felt it. They went back to do their own things without really questioning my crude methods, so I didn't bother telling them that I didn't have an actual plan on how to train them.

Well, I could beat them up slightly and see how they react to that and go from there. With that done, I slowly increased the pressure after every hour or so and got to around three percent. I didn't exactly have an exact number, but that's how it felt like.

------------(Break)------------

The next few days went by pretty quickly. I slowly increased the pressure on them and also started to fire weak little ceros at them. I taught Kiba about swordsmanship and different ways he could use his sword birth to his advantage. He was a great swordsman but he was too conventional. This was not going to be a fair fight, he did not have to fight fair as well. Spamming weaker swords, leaving them all around the area. Running around and throwing those swords at the enemy, creating heavier swords for greater momentum and bigger damage, creating lighter swords for greater speed and accuracy. He tended to stick with one sword, which was stupid considering what he could do.

I asked him if he could create fencing sword for pinpoint stabs and thick, meter wide swords to act as a shield and he could. It was harder when he started but by the end of the fifth day, he was using those tricks to defend against my ceros. Though it became clear that his talent was leaning towards speed, but we didn't have enough time so these tricks would have to do.

Koneko was strong but slow. I wanted her to increase her speed but again, no time. So, I had her focus on her reaction speed. If she could react faster, she would more easily find a vulnerable spot and deliver a far more devastating blow. Hence, she was the one pelted the most by ceros. I also realized why she felt similar to Kunou. She was a youkai, a bakeneko of some sorts maybe? It didn't matter. When I found out, I told her about Touki and how it worked because it was clear that she was focusing on her physical strength. She probably wouldn't achieve it but I told her just because.

I didn't know what to do with Rias, Akeno and Asia. For Rias and Akeno, I could at least help them increase their reaction speed and create more diverse forms of attacks because all they did was fire or rain down a big bolts of magic at their opponent, which was again stupid. They became highly predictable after just a few minutes of watching them. Riser being somewhat experienced would no doubt take advantage of that. Telling them that was enough to fire them up.

Rias was easier because her power was similar yet a far more destructive form of my cero. I showed her the ways I could use a cero and thankfully she understood what I was trying to say and got practicing on her own. She also had far greater control over the shape of her power of destruction, creating small bolts and spikes, hiding them from view by using a more flashier attack and finally using the hidden one to attack from a blind spot. Once she realised her mistake, she got creative on her own.

Akeno was far more harder. The only magic I had seen her use was lightning magic and I didn't know much about that. Her reaction speed was pretty good compared to the others but she focused too much on lightning magic and due to the bullshit known as demonic power, she was good at it. But that it. To me, she felt like a glass cannon. All the other side needed was a good blow to render her incapacitated. I had to make her see that point by flicking a few ceros at her while she was 'powering up' basically. The only thing I could tell her was to focus more on smaller bursts of magic, so she could react even faster. Besides that, it would be best if she followed behind a tank like Koneko. One could focus on defense and other on offense.

Asia, I didn't have a slightest bit of clue on how to help her. She was already tired just getting used to the increasing spiritual pressure in the surroundings and I didn't have the heart to ask anything else of her.

Finally, Issei, the Red Dragon Emperor. I understood very quickly that all the incentive he ever needed was boobs. At first I thought that was all he had in his head but fortunately for him, it wasn't. At the very least, he was a hard worker... as long as the end goal had something to do with boobs. I will admit that I was harsher on him because of that. He was also the one who needed practical experience the most and thanks to that, Asia also got to practice her healing on him, a lot. He was a chatter box and rattled on and on about the greatness of boobs and such nonsense. It just gave me a reason to hit him harder.

By the end of the third day, he had learned that dodging was a thing he could do and by the end of the fifth day, he had built enough pain tolerance that he wouldn't go down easily. I had kept increasing the pressure on them and by the sixth day, they could handle around ten percent without taking on their knees. I gave them the next day to rest and absorb everything they 'learned'.

Sona and her peerage on the other hand didn't really need any assistance at all. They knew their weaknesses and how to get rid of them. They also had a solid training plan to follow so all I ended up doing for them was giving them a daily spar for them to see their improvement.

All in all, it was pretty fun for me and I went back to Kyoto with a smile.