Chapter 17 : As the Ghost Whispers says
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The resulting punch was better, but it was still pretty disappointing. Plus, his hand hurt now, probably a result of his adrenaline finally wearing off.
"Hmmm, you need to be a lot stronger," Xenovia idly observed. Of course she would say that, it's probably easy for the woman who could lift over eight hundred pounds to say tha- wait a minute...
"What do you do to train, then?" Vin looked over from the dummy.
Xenovia perked up, "Hm?"
"I said what do you do to train? You seem to be pretty strong, so you obviously know what you're doing."
She smirked, her grin teasing, cocky. Oh how he wanted to wipe that smirk off her face.
"I'm not sure you're ready for what I do for training," Xenovia replied.
"Try me then," Vin smirked back, sizing her up in challenge, "I have nothing better to do anymore."
Vin could see Xenovia's eyes alight with challenge, with excitement. Oh boy, he'd really done it now, hadn't he?
"Very well then, Vin. I'll help train you. Everyday, after your training with Griselda, you'll come to me, and I'll work you to the brink."
The borderline ravenous excitement present in Xenovia's eyes nearly caused the boy to falter, but hey, momma didn't raise no quitter. If he was going to become a strong enough exorcist to protect his family from whatever could be out there, then he was going to have to get better, fast.
"Let's get started then," Vin smirked.
Frankly, I haven't written fight scenes in almost half a year now; and combined with the fact that I've just gotten off studying for midterms and writing multiple papers for university, it's safe to say that this chapter didn't necessarily turn out how I wanted it. I don't even necessarily know what I wanted it to be like, but hey that's the price of writing one-third of a chapter one day, and then being forced to put it on hold for two-three days before writing the last two-thirds.
I think honestly, I'm just feeling a little burnt out, and the chapter sort of suffered because of it. I'll get better in one or two days, when my ideas start flowing again, and I have the motivation to put pencil to paper once more. Ultimately, the chapter is fine, the longest one I've ever written for this fic, as a matter of fact; at the very least, I hit all the beats I wanted to hit.
But on a brighter note, hey! We finally see Vin's Sacred Gear getting an official name here, that being [Midas' Rings]. The name obviously comes from King Midas, who while not being the first person in canon to have the Sacred Gear, is the namesake arguably because he was the user with the largest historical impact. [Midas' Rings] allows the user to create constructs made of gold using movements of their hands.
The Sacred Gear is held by a few different people across the world, so it's not a one-of-a-kind Sacred Gear, but it's still awfully curious that Vin's makes crystal structures. Wonder why… hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Yeah, I'm making Vin work for any improvement he's getting. Sorry, but no one could possibly be a perfect natural at using magic superpowers after a life of never knowing they even have them. So expect many more instances of Vin getting his shit kicked in, all while growing with the combined tutelage of Griselda and Xenovia. He may just yet become a good fighter, but for now… Vin kind of sucks ass.
Other details, uh, Asia's name is shadow dropped in this chapter. I figured that in this rendition of canon, she would have been at the Vatican a few times as a holy maiden, and probably healed some members of the Exorcist Gang at one point. Her, Xenovia, and Irina never had any connection, probably never really exchanged words even. But it would make sense, and it would explain how Xenovia and Irina recognized Asia by sight when they first saw her.
Alright, now onto the:
REVIEW ROUNDUP
wolf354 zxc says:
"Great chapter. Could the Pairing be just Vin and Xenovia?"
Perhaps. But I want to establish a friendship and connection between them first. Partners/friends first, then romance second.
Thanks for the positive comment, by the way. These things always put a smile on my face.
Crestowl says:
"The author's actually responding to comments? What an actual god, keep this up! Good chapter, nothing too special or exciting, but this period is a transition period, so that is to be expected. But why is my 6th sense telling me these new OCs are gonna be cannon fodder?"
He returns! Yes, I am responding to comments, just because I love to have discussion and conversation with this community, both from a writing perspective, and because I simply love High School DxD.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm a god; you all are the gods, seriously. In the immortal words of Tenacious D, "And we said nay, we are but men. Rock."
Yeah, these chapters are supposed to be more of a gradual buildup. This arc as a whole will be a rise into more action-heavy storytelling. I already have a rough outline for this story, and I already know how to end this arc, so I'll let you know that a lot of these more miscellaneous tasks like unpacking a room, or a movie night, or something like that are chapters that are moreso outlets to explore character dynamics and relationships. But worry not, the action will come.
;)
Thanks as always for taking the time to leave a review! Even now when I'm feeling slightly burned out, these reviews are starting to rouse the creative motors within me. You rock, and have a great day!
As the Ghost Whispers says:
"A lot of Issei hate comes from disliking his canon self for various reasons. I grew to dislike Issei more and more as the LNs went on, both for his lack of genuine character growth and the author's inability to make him consider any moral arguments in any depth.
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