Chapter 30: Return, Emergence & Party Prepping

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

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Rias POV

Fifteen days have passed since we started our training, and now, I and the girls are starting to become worried about Haruki. Throughout all this time, he hasn't contacted any of us even once. I know he said he was going to take a while, but him not contacting us has gotten us all nervous.

While we haven't been meeting up, we have been having group hangouts over communication magic circles, so we've been able to exchange experiences. Akeno has been having a somewhat solemn time with her father and Koneko has been feeling a bit cornered as of recent, especially with Yuuto, Xenovia and Issei recently surpassing her in destructive power.

Poor Gasper has been having a hellish time, but he's been pushing through it. Last I spoke with him, he told me that he could at least walk around in public for a while. If I ever get the chance to make whoever made him this way pay, I will punish them so severely that not even Satan himself could save them from my hands.

As for me, things have been a bit of a mixed bag. I asked Azazel to help me get some texts to help with my re-education on strategy, but he went on about his so-called neutrality in the matter of training us, so I had to embarrass myself and act as a brat, so that Father would help instead. I really should make more use of my family's fawning over me.

Issei said that his time with Tannin has been eye-opening, and that by the time we go in for the Rating Games, he'll be strong enough to be a trump card, and versatile enough to be a wild card. Now, while I love my servants, I do have a tiny bit of skepticism towards that claim of his. He has proven more than once that while he is somewhat intelligent, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Our training ends today, and so we're all gathered back at my home, with everyone else looking a bit worse for wear, even Akeno. Issei had come back on Tannin's back, Yuuto and Xenovia had their jersey torn at different parts, with Xenovia having greater damage done to her. She had most of her body under her jersey wrapped in bandages.

Asia was hugging Issei, whose jersey had scorch marks all over. Koneko… Well, she had headed inside before everyone else to get some rest. I clap my hands to get their attention. "Okay, everyone. We've all gone through our training. Now, come in, take a shower and change. Then, we'll meet to report the outcome of the training. Okay?" I said, and received a tired "Yes~."

…

Location: Familiar Forest, Tiamat's Lair

Narrator POV

The egg formed from runes that contained Haruki had grown massively in size over the past two weeks from 150cm tall to over 5 meters tall. The runes had begun pulsing, causing all of nature around it to have multiple reactions. Trees and grass grew larger, sometimes suddenly becoming ill or dying. Faults tore through the earth as it quaked, but sometimes closed up to make smooth ground.

Cyclones formed and blew out, lightning strikes filled the sky, sometimes even falling to the ground. At times, a deluge of rain would pour down, or a blizzard may suddenly pass. Extreme heatwaves blew outward as magma spewed out of the ground, then suddenly cooled. Every single creature that was anywhere close to Tiamat's lair had retreated for their own sakes, all because of the egg that contained Haruki.

Tiamat watched all this happen with rapt attention, making sure to not miss a moment of the occurring phenomena. The pulsing runes soon began to brighten intensely, as the egg began to ascend. The brightness intensified to the point that Tiamat had to squint to prevent damage to her eyes, then suddenly, the other phenomena ceased, and Tiamat sensed something that urged her to brace herself.

Shortly after Tiamat had braced herself, an explosion of draconic power stemming from the egg went off, as an earth-shaking roar erupted from within the light. A powerful shockwave went out from the epicenter of the roar, and devastated the environment around it. It was so great that even the very fabric of space started to quake and stretch, as if it was being heavily strained.

After a while, the roar stopped and the light cleared, revealing a massive dragon. It was 17 meters tall and had dark green scales all over its limbs and head, and cream-colored scales on its torso, with a pair of large, sharp, ridged black horns on its head, with smaller horns forming into a crown-like structure.

Its pair of black leathery wings were fully spread out, with a span of almost 30 meters. Its green eyes were piercing, seemingly capable of seeing into everything around it. As the green dragon finished its emergence, Tiamat came forward, her eyes holding an intense gaze.

"Tia." A deep voice came from the green dragon. "Haru. I see that you were successful." She said, her eyes roaming over his body. The green dragon was Haruki, who had completed his metamorphosis and advancement into the same level of power as most of the Dragon Kings that still existed.

Tiamat was relieved to find that he didn't possess the vicious, destructive aura that most Evil Dragons were known to have. She remembered the ones she had met in passing – Vritra, Zirconis, Apophis, Aži Dahāka, Vulshava, Crom Cruach, and was glad that Haruki didn't feel to her the way they did, as she would have been forced to put him down, if she could.

A flash of light came from Haruki's dragon form, and as it receded, it revealed him in a humanoid form, with his large black horns sitting prominently on his head, his arms and legs covered in dark green scales, with his fingers and toes ending in dark claws rather than nails, a pair of leathery dragon wings sprouting out of his back, and a long, thick, scale-covered tail with spines running down it. His hair had grown longer, now reaching just above his chest, and he had grown 10 cm taller.

As if in response to Haruki's unrefined polymorph, Tiamat transformed into a humanoid form as well. She turned into a beautiful, curvaceous, fair-skinned woman with long blue hair that reached her lower back, and a pair of white horns with spikes atop her head. Unlike Haruki's imperfect polymorph, hers left her with a truly human-like form, with only her horns – which were there by her choice – being other.

*Tiamat polymorphed*

"So I didn't get it right." Haruki said, looking at his body, which looked more like a dragon than a human. "Don't worry, Haru. I'll teach you how to properly polymorph." Tiamat said as she walked up to Haruki and held him in a hug. "What? You aren't going to call me a hatchling like you used to?" Haruki said, not fighting against the hug.

"Oh, shut up, you." She said, lightly tapping him on his head. "You've become a full-fledged Dragon King now, so calling you a hatchling would be an insult to you and your efforts." She said, releasing him from the hug. "Now, let's fix up your polymorphing before you return." Tiamat said, and for the next 20 hours, she drilled him on the proper use of draconic magic, extending beyond mere polymorphing.

…

Location: Gremory Main Residence

Issei POV

After cleaning up, we all gave our reports of our training. And as it turns out, I was given the hardest training out of everyone. But then again, I was being trained by a Dragon King who had expressly said that he'd do his best to torture me in the guise of training. Maybe I shouldn't have egged him on. Perhaps then, he wouldn't have gone so hard with it.

Kiba and Xenovia had it way easier, as even though they were also receiving their training in the woods, they had a cottage and a villa respectively to go back to after each day's work. I had to go full on Pear Mills to get something to eat, while they got a proper house to stay in. And the crazy part about all this is that I could have just asked to be brought back to the residence, and I would have been brought back, no questions asked. Except, of course, the ones questioning my conviction.

After the report meeting, we all went to bed, with Asia and Xenovia staying with me in my room. But what I didn't expect was me waking up past noon today. Normally, this wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the thing is, Buchou's elder brother had planned a party for tonight, and we as Buchou's servants, are expected to attend it along with her.

I've dressed up in Kuoh Academy's summer uniform, with an armband with the Gremory pattern inscribed onto it on my upper arm. As for the girls, the maids had taken them away to get them ready. Something about them needing more time to do so. But I wonder what exactly Kiba and Gasper are up to…

"Hyoudou?" I hear a familiar voice, and turn to see Saji. Wait, shouldn't he be at the Sitri residence with Sona-seikotaichou? "Yo, Saji. Why are you here?" I ask my fellow dragon-type Sacred Gear wielder.

"Ah, Kaichou will be going to the meeting place along with Rias-senpai and I followed her here. She went to meet Rias-senpai, and I kind of got lost." He says, and I don't blame him. This place is really big, so it's not strange to miss your way while walking around.

"You know, the game's going to take place real soon, Hyoudou. I've trained for it, probably harder than I've ever trained before. So understand when I say I have no intention of losing." He says to me with an intense look. "Well, you aren't alone there, Saji." I reply with a sharp-toothed grin.

"Hyoudou, you remember when the young devils gathered about a month ago?" He says after a short bout of silence. "Yeah. What of it?" I ask him, remembering the way Asia killed that Astaroth guy.

He then proceeds to tell me of his dream – becoming a teacher in Sona-senpai's Rating Game school. From what I remember hearing, Sona-senpai intends to make this school open to all devils, mainly to go against the remnants of discrimination in devil society that mostly comes from the elder devils, but also to give the low-class and Low Rank devils a better chance to move up in devil society. At least, that's the summary of what he said.

But he said something that kind of resonated with me. "I've not told my mom that I'm a devil yet, but she cried with joy when she heard that I want to be a teacher. "You, become a teacher!" she said. She said it doesn't suit me, but seeing her relieved face didn't feel bad." His face was wistful as he said that.

But thinking about it put the difference between my dream and his into perspective. I intend to eventually become independent of Buchou and properly chase after my dream of becoming a Harem King, while he intends to serve his master for his whole life. Even though we're both Pawns, we had different paths that we're going on.

"I think that's a wonderful goal, Saji. I hope you become a good teacher." I say with sympathy, and he smiles at me, almost cockily. "Yeah, and that's why we'll have to beat you guys this time." He says, and I playfully scoff. "That's no good, Saji. Especially since we're going to be the ones to win." I reply to him, my competitive spirit on display. After a few seconds of glaring at each other, we both laugh, but the serious glint in our eyes never left for a second.

"Ise, sorry for making you wait. Oh, so Saji-kun came by." A dressed-up Buchou says from behind me, and following her are the rest of the girls, all made-up and dressed to impress. Everyone looked ravishing, but I had one little problem. "Gasper, why are you wearing a dress?" While Gya-suke wasn't made-up like the girls, he still looked too much like a girl. And this is the guy that's been trying to be more manly.

"Helo, Issei. Saji, I see that you got lost." Sona-senpai's voice comes from further behind Gasper and the girls. If she wasn't Ruki's girlfriend… Sorry, fiancée, I know for a fact that Saji would still be shooting his shot. As I'm thinking that, I feel a tremor as the sound of something massive flying overhead passes.

Shortly after that, a butler came in and told us that Tannin-ossan and his family had arrived, just like he had promised. When we go outside to the garden, we see Tannin-ossan and 10 other red dragons that are about the same size as him. "I came just as promised, Hyoudou Issei." I don't think I could ever thank this dragon enough.

"Get on my back. I'll place a barrier so that your hair and clothes don't get messed up by the wind. Since those things are important to women." Classy and considerate. Thanks for giving me an image to look up to, Tannin.

"Thank you, Tannin. We'll be relying on you to until we get to the venue. By the way, the people of Sitri are here as well, is that okay?" Buchou says, and Tannin smiles. I had gotten a bit familiar with his expressions over the past month. "Ooh. Ms. Rias, you're especially beautiful tonight. Please, leave that matter to me." He says, then everyone else gets on his back, while I get a special seat at the top of his head, as we head to the party's venue. Now this is what I call arriving in style.

Chapter End.

Word Count: 2,336

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