DxD : A New Hero : Chapter 74

Sona rubbed the top of her head while glaring at me. "This, this right here is why I hate jocks. Muscle brained idiots, the lot of you."

I laughed at her antics as I continued carrying her back to school.

...

As our conversation died down, I decided to use the opportunity to examine the staff. Raising it up before me, I eyed the runes that was carved into its wood. There were hundreds of them, all linking together to form rings around the staff. Unlike the other runes I've seen before, these were tiny. The largest was barely half the size of my finger nail if that.

Despite how it looked like, these runes weren't there to help channel any spells. Not that Sona needed any help with her spells. While human magicians needed magical foci such staffs or wands to help them channel their magic, Devils could do it entirely with their mind. Any Devil that carried a wand or anything like it did it for purely cosmetic reasons.

But that was fine, the staff wasn't there to help Sona with her spell casting. Its purpose was to serve as a weapon. When Mana is channeled into the runes, they significantly increase the weight and density of the staff turning it into a potentially deadly weapon.

There was a reason why I taught Sona how to fight with a staff instead of a sword when she came to me for training all those weeks ago.

Sona's forte has always been magic, and nothing is ever going to change that. The amount of training she needed to turn into a truly competent swordsman would simply take too much time and be better spent elsewhere. So instead of trying to turn into something she's not, I decided to go with something that would complement her strengths instead.

The reason I gave Sona the staff was twofold. The first was to give her an alternative method to defend herself when her magic is not available to her. One that will not hinder her when she casts her spells. The second was to help her improve her physical condition.

Being a mage is not a good enough reason to slack off from her physical training. Due to her heritage, she has the potential to become truly physically powerful one day. And there is no way I'm going to let that potential go to waste. Swinging around a 200 pound staff an hour or two a day will make sure of that.

And the staff, unlike the sword, can be used in tandem with her spell casting. While it's true that the staff will not strength her spells in anyway, neither will it weaken it. Allowing her to cast as many spells as she want without having to discard or put away her weapon.

All in all, I think it suited Sona quite well.

The sound of fluttering wings filled my ears just as a shadow was cast over me, only for the both to disappear as I felt a familiar weight appear on my shoulder. I turned to find a black crow with a single blue feather over one eye perching on my shoulder.

It was Ingrid, one of the familiars to the Devil guards stationed around the city. Or more precisely, former familiar to the guards. The poor girl lost her partner recently, one of the few Devils that died when the Fallen attacked.

Thankfully for both her and my sake, she and the other crows that lost their partners have already found new ones, my new pawns. Turns out that those four had some kind of affinity to the birds and all of the crows took an instant liking to them.

"So," I began to scratch the top of her head as I spoke, "if you're here I guess that means that those four are here too."

Her nod was all the confirmation I needed. I swear ever since I recruited those guys into my Peerage they haven't left me alone in public for an instant. Every time we step out of the house I could feel them following me.

The only reason why I was able to notice was thanks to the bond between me and Evil Pieces inside of them, even then it was subdued compared to Asia and Xenovia that I had to strain to sense them.

And seeing that Ingrid is here, that means they've followed me to school, again. Who knew that ninja's could be so paranoid? Sometimes it felt that instead of bodyguards they were more like overprotective stalkers.

"I still can't believe you have Fallen in your Peerage."

"What's so hard to believe about it?" I asked Sona as we approached the school. I was starting to catch glimpses of the school's white wall between the trees. "You do know that Akeno used to be a Fallen too right?"

"Half-fallen." She corrected. "There is a big difference between someone who was born and raised as a human, and someone who was created and stood by the side of God before falling from Heaven."

"Point. I take it they're rare then?"

"While I'm not certain it wouldn't surprise me if they turned out to be the first of their kind to be reincarnated. Remember it's only been 200 years since the Evil Piece system was introduced. 

Considering how little time has passed since its creation, it's not surprising that no one had tried to reincarnate a Fallen into their Peerage before."

It's easy to forget what Sona is at times. There are instances like these, where we chat with each other on our way to school that I feel like she's nothing but another ordinary student. 

But then she goes and talks about centuries as if they were nothing but a couple a years , and like a bucket of cold water tossed on my face I remember, that she is anything but human.

"Speaking of Peerage, have you reconsidered admitting your newest Knight to the school?"

"No, Xenovia has no interest in attending school. And before you ask, Asia doesn't want or need any schooling either. Don't let her appearance fool you. 

While she make act like an airhead at times, that girl is scary smart. I wouldn't be surprised if she can sit a medical school graduating exam today and pass with flying colors."

"I see." Though she sounded rather cross, Sona decided to let the issue be. For now at least. I have no doubt that she'll bring it up again.

This has been a small sticking point between us for the last couple of weeks. Sona has always been a strong advocate for formal education. It was probably one of the key reasons why she allowed me to attend here despite the admittedly flimsy excuse I had when I first arrived.

So it didn't come as much of a surprise that she had been trying to get Asia and Xenovia to attend Kuoh Academy ever since she realized that both of them had never been to, let alone graduated from High school. That those two had no interest in attending was irrelevant to her eyes.

While I didn't lie about Asia being capable passing med-school, I neglected to mention that she was unlikely to pass the high school exams. While Asia was highly educated, her education has been a little…specialized. Anything outside of the sciences or medical subjects and she's more than a little bit behind her age group.

However when I asked her if she wanted to attend school, Asia outright refused. As she put it, she's had enough of being trapped in a small room all the time and forced to listen to the commands of old fuddy-duddies who didn't want to be there anymore than their students do.

Xenovia on the other hand was another matter. While she had no particular objection to going to school, she felt that her time was better spent training her swordsmanship and learning about being a Devil than studying mundane subjects like modern literature and calculus. That she was still having a lot of trouble getting a handle on her new sword didn't help either.

And if there had ever been any real chance of convincing Xenovia to go to school, it was gone the moment she found out that Asia wouldn't be attending. To say those two became fast friends would be an understatement. They've been practically joined at the hips since the moment they met.

While Xenovia getting along with Asia didn't come as much of surprise, that she got along with Gasper as well did. Well, sort of. When they first met Xenovia was rather unimpressed by his girly appearance to say the least, and promised to whip him into shape and turn him into a real man.

Gasper was rather enthusiastic with the idea…at least at first. Last time I saw the two of them together, he was running around the house screaming his head off while Xenovia chased after him swinging her sword every time he slowed down. She called this the 'Griselda training method'.

"We're here. Shirou you can put me down now."

Blinking, I looked around to find that we had arrived to the woods' edge.

"Ah, right. Sorry got a little lost in my thoughts there." I turned to look down at Sona. "Are you sure you can make it the rest of the way on your own? You couldn't even stand a minute ago."

"I'm sure I can manage. We're almost to the back entrance, and I'd rather not risk anyone seeing us, no matter how unlikely anyone being here this early."

"Well, if you're sure." I shrugged before gently placing her back down on her feet. She wobbled for a couple of seconds before steadying as she found her balance. Taking a moment to clean herself up, Sona straightened her clothes and whip over the grass that still clung to her, before she adjusted her glasses and began to confidently stride forward.

Only to end up falling flat on her face as her legs gave up beneath her.

I did not even bother trying to hide my smile as I knelt down next to her. "You look like you're having a little trouble there Sona. Are you sure you wouldn't want me to carry you the rest of the way?"

"Just shut up and help me you jerk."

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Hey guys I really need you to throw some power Stones ;)

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