Chapter 105: Notorious, so Notorious
"And this-" Joshua said, pausing for a moment to cover his mouth and yawn. "Is a simple way to connect wards between each other so that Draining Wards can power others. One could say that a Draining Ward together with another one, whichever, could be considered one of the simplest ward arrays one can cast. Certainly one of my standard go tos, at least… Granted, it's been forever since I cast just a two spell array," he explained with a small smile, feeling the weariness on him.
He'd worked until late the last night, chasing a particularly elusive idea he'd had regarding the case of Sairaorg's mother. Granted, he'd already been pushing things while reading on the information Azazel had provided in regards to the Fallen Angels – and Angels as a whole, really – and then something had gotten into his mind and… Well, things had escalated a little. Joshua was fully expecting Yasaka to tell him he was an idiot or something in that vein as soon as he showed up to spend some time with her and Kunou later in the day.
With any luck, he'd be able to get a nap in between his House of Water class and then… Or Kunou would be a nice lil' thing and let him sleep during their time together. He didn't want to rely on that though, it'd be shitty of him.
'Stop looking at me like that,' he projected to Cheshire, who was staring at him from his desk. Rolling her eyes, the cat – at least at that moment – made her way around the class, deciding to instead bother his students. That suited him just fine.
"Now, from the spells we've seen so far, which ones do you think would make a good pair in an array of two?" he asked, trying and likely failing to keep his weariness out of his voice. Fortunately, none of his students pointed it out, or so much as looked at him funny for it. Maybe they weren't entirely as stupid as some of them had shown to be at times.
As expected, Levi immediately raised his hand, an excited shine in his eyes that hadn't been there before. Where before he'd been a nervous, shy thing that wasn't sure if he was worth anything despite his vast knowledge and thorough understanding of magic, Levi had started showing a lot more confidence since Joshua had spoken with Sona. If he had to bet, he expected the two had talked and things had gone well.
As Joshua nodded and listened to some of Levi's ideas though, he noticed something else. Nearby, Cheshire had stopped on Meredith's desk and he noticed then that the girl had been… less engaged in his classes than she had been before. She seemed distracted, at times annoyed and at others nervous. 'Maybe…' he considered, his feline familiar quickly agreeing, even before he finished the thought.
Well, a nap was suddenly seeming less likely.
Regardless, he continued with his class for the moment. Once that was done however, he asked Meredith to stay behind. She'd been his first star, as the other students liked to call them when they thought he wasn't hearing. At times they wouldn't even bother to be discreet, but it wasn't anything bad, so Joshua supposed it was fine.
He didn't think he favored them too much however, at least outside of George and Levi, if one could call that favoring. He simply acknowledged their efforts in his class and their talent for his teachings. If the others thought that was something worth praising and being envious of… Then maybe they should try to do better, honestly.
Joshua himself had simply coasted through most of his classes back in his old life, but at least he hadn't been bitter when others did better.
"Is everything fine?" he asked the girl once they were the only ones in the classroom. He's seen several of the students both from the group of "stars" as well as others giving the girl looks, but nobody had done anything. Cheshire, standing beside him, hadn't reacted much either, so he guessed things were fine.
"Of course, Professor Davis," Meredith answered instantly, standing stiffly and visibly trying to appear "fine". He was nowhere near fooled though. He might not have many wards around the classroom when compared to his home and such, but that didn't mean he was blind. Besides, even without his spells, he still had his Magic and Life Senses.
"You are not," he told her, making the girl grimace. "I'm just your teacher, magical teacher at that. So, if you want to pretend that you are alright, then we can do that," he told her simply and she deflated. Even being able to read her energies a fair bit, Joshua wasn't sure if she was relieved or saddened by his words. Likely a bit of both, he imagined.
Cheshire chided him through their bond, but he remained strong. Meredith was a great student, yes, but that didn't give him the right to interfere in her life. Most he could do was offer help, but if she was determined not to accept it… There was little he could do.
"Do you care… Professor Davis?" Meredith asked him then, looking down at the floor and poking it with her foot. "I'm just another student, aren't I?"
"You are," he confirmed with a nod and he didn't need to read her life energy to know that she was hurt. "That doesn't mean I don't care. You are one of my best students, Miss Ordinton. It'd be a shame if that stopped being the case for something that could be solved. So, yes, I care."
"Why? There's a number of students that stand out too," Meredith asked then, which was fair.
Most of Joshua's interest in her had come from the fact that he was fairly sure that she was somewhat related to DxD plot. Her name was familiar to him, at the very least and that was enough to catch his attention. It went further than that though…
"You were the first to stand out though, Miss Ordinton," he answered, his hand finding its place on top of Cheshire's head when his familiar approached him. "All the way back when I'd first started and nobody knew how well I'd do. That matters to me."
She'd been the first to seriously engage in his class, and that was important. He hadn't known how he'd do, and while he hadn't much cared at the start, he had been happy to do well, to have someone that seemed invested in what he taught other than Kunou. So, Joshua felt like returning the favor, at least a little bit.
"So, if there's anything I can do to help with whatever is going on with you, please do let me know, Miss Ordinton," he told her, visibly affecting the girl. How, exactly, he wasn't sure, but he also wasn't sure if it mattered. For a moment, it looked like Meredith was going to speak, opening her mouth and all. Ultimately though, she seemed to decide to keep things to herself.
"... Thank you, Professor Davis," the girl told him in the end. "I appreciate that."
With that said, the girl left before anything else could be added to the conversation. Idly, as he watched the classroom's door close, Joshua wondered if he should get involved with whatever was going on there. Cheshire seemed to think so, but he was already having to balance a whole bunch of plates and he wasn't eager to add more.
'I'll let things be for a bit,' he decided, unsure. Cheshire seemed to think that was reasonable, fortunately.
[}-o-{]
[Kuroka]
"Expanding from blondes to people with black hair, Davis?" one of the fallen angels asked. Despite the nonchalant way the question was voiced, however, Kuroka knew the woman was anything but calm on the inside and no doubt Davis was aware of that too. "Should we expect blue haired women to come next?"
"Depends on the hair color of the next woman to decide it's a good idea to mess with me or around my warded areas," Davis answered flatly with a shrug. The Fallen seemed relieved that nothing bad had happened though and Kuroka was starting to understand why.
She thought she'd gotten a good read on Davis' character since she was captured, but she was very obviously wrong. Back then he'd seemed calm, considering the feeling of his bond with his familiars. At most, he'd seemed annoyed to have to deal with her and all the… baggage Kuroka brought to the table, as it were.
As time passed, she got a peek of something else though. Something that was much more obvious at that very moment, once she was introduced to the Fallen Angel trio. There was a cold, unfeeling machine hiding in the depths of the kind man's mind. He cared little for Kuroka or the fallen, and that was very obvious at that very moment.
It filled her with dread, the way Davis' gaze would sometimes remind her of her old King. Especially because she wasn't sure she could deal with the human as she had the devil. The only reassurance she had was knowing that he wasn't as much of a monster, but she wasn't so sure how good that was, considering she wasn't precisely on the man's good side.
"Today's exercise is simple. Kalawarna, Raynare, Mittelt, you are fighting Kuroka," Davis announced before lazily waving his hand in front of him. "Get started."
And that was that, the fallen charged at her and Kuroka did her best. Davis' spells weighed on her though, weakened her. She wondered if that was a punishment or if the fallen were dealing with the same thing. 'Yes, they definitely are, but less,' she noticed through her life sensing, her only skill that wasn't being affected by the constraining spells.
Apparently, Davis' magic limited them only as much as was necessary for the fight to be even.
In the meantime, the man simply watched while the spar progressed. Kuroka felt the spells watching her every move, the mechanical observers that were the wards, the glaring beasts that were the hexes and the… 'That's new,'Kuroka thought, noticing the almost inconspicuous guarding sentinel. The last one was strange, new to Kuroka, but unnerving enough to know what it likely was.
'Holy,' she realized. It's presence was small, but it stood out enough for her to be nervous. Fortunately, it seemed to be merely some kind of overseeing spell. If that was there though, Kuroka very much didn't want to find out if there was anything more… direct hidden in the spells.
As if she needed more than she already had witnessed to know that Davis wasn't one to be crossed. Besides, there were much better things she could do with Davis than antagonize him. He was strong, after all, especially – but not only – considering he was human. On top of that, he was well connected, if he could just call one of the Satans and the way he talked about other figures such as Yasaka, one of the youkai leaders.
Davis was powerful and Kuroka liked that.
She liked that very much.
It was, then, unfortunate that she seemed to have some… very strong, very concerning competition on that front. Serafall Leviathan wasn't someone that she wanted to cross and if she was reading things right, that might not be the only one Kuroka needed to look out for. So, she might need to be very careful and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that she might have started with the worst foot possible.
Fortunately, Kuroka was used to having the odds against her.
For the moment though, she needed to focus on not getting herself killed. The good thing was that Kuroka was pretty sure she'd have to try to get killed for something to happen. Davis didn't strike her as a man eager to deliver punishment so, as long as she didn't press any dangerous buttons, she would be fine.
Probably.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
He couldn't help but stare.
In front of him, to the side, Serafall looked entirely too amused.
On the other side, Sirzechs Lucifer himself looked… not much better than Joshua imagined he did.
And then there was the target of his gaze.
"Dad," the kid whispered, tugging at his father's clothes, as if Joshua couldn't hear him. "It's really Domino Mask," the kid added, visibly excited as he bounced on his feet.
"Indeed, he is, Millicas," Sirzechs confirmed wryly.
"And that's Luna," the kid added, eyes moving to look at Margalo. Contrary to how awkward Joshua felt, his familiar seemed very pleased with the attention of the boy. Then he noticed the wonder in the little one's eyes, which reminded him of Kunou, and that's when he knew that he'd lost already.
No wonder they hadn't asked before teleporting in.
Crafty bastards.
Giving up, he let a smirk form on his face as he brought a hand up and took out a mask from a storage spell.
"A fan, huh?" he asked as he placed the item on his face and got "in character" as it were. Judging by the way Millicas' eyes lit up, it was the right choice. "You hear that, Luna?" Joshua said, turning to look at Margalo, who seemed just as excited as the kid was as she played her part. "Now, that's always nice to see."
"Could I have an autograph?" the kid asked instantly, as if afraid that he might forget or miss the chance. "From both of you?"
"That could be arranged, I suppose," Joshua answered, making a show of thinking it over. "First, we have to make sure of something though," he added with a grin before he looked at Serafall. "Am I better than Levi?"
"Excuse m-?!" the Satan started exclaiming, scandalized.
"Of course!" Millicas exclaimed, completely missing the shattered and betrayed look on Serafall's face and the noticeable amusement on his father's. "You are the coolest character in the whole show. On the whole Devil Network!"
"Now, that's someone with good sense for once. We have to reward that, don't we, Luna?" Joshua commented, grinning wider than before. His pleasure at Serafall's plight wasn't solely because of his character. That's what she got from springing this on him out of nowhere.
With a wave of his hand, he produced a sheet of paper to give the kid what he wanted. Margalo even added a footprint next to his signature, for good measure. Joshua had to admit, it was neat to make a child so happy with something so simple. Millicas looked like he might just have made his day.
"Best day ever," the boy whispered, looking at the sheet of paper as if he couldn't believe he actually had it in his hands and that it was real. "Domino Mask is the best."
"And don't you forget it," Joshua told him, pointing at him as if to affirm that sentence. "You know what? Here," he added, before taking off his mask and handing it to the kid.
"No way…"
After entertaining Millicas for a while with some illusions and spatial magic, Joshua left him with the next best thing after Domino Mask, Luna – a.k.a. Margalo, who definitely liked having someone so in awe of her –, and made his way to where Sirzechs stood next to a mock devastated Serafall. 'At least, I hope it's an act,' Joshua mused, looking at the woman.
"Was this entirely a social visit or was all that a convenient side effect?" he asked, waving his hand towards where the Satan's son was playing with his familiar. He'd be fine regardless, but the whole thing had come a bit too much from out of nowhere. He had the feeling that there was more to it than just entertaining Sirzechs' son.
"The latter," the Satan Lucifer answered, his lips pulling up in a wry smile. "I came to tell you that my parents can't afford to stall for much longer. They've been pulling most inconsequential favors for this so far, but if they continue, it might start actually negatively impacting our house. They'll still do it, if they think it can achieve something and so will I, but I wanted to check on you before letting them burn actual bridges."
Well, that was nice of him, even if it was still for his own benefit.
Joshua looked to the side, idly casting some illusions to keep Millicas entertained. Sirzechs obviously didn't feel like including the boy in their conversation, which was understandable. He also communicated with Margalo through their bond so she'd know to keep things going. Not that she really needed a reason. She was having as much fun as Millicas was, probably.
With that out of the way, Joshua considered the situation Sirzechs presented before him.
The Phoenix Spell obviously wasn't ready yet. There were a lot of things that needed to be worked on. It'd take him months to perfect the thing, if not years. However, that wasn't as bad as it sounded, at least.
"Hm, I think I can have something ready for us to use against the Phenex," Joshua replied in the end. "How long do we have before House Gremory has to start really pushing things?"
"I can't say for sure, since it depends on other Houses, not even only the Phenex," Sirzechs answered, giving it actual thought. Which made sense, really, since this was his sister's life that was on the line, maybe even the whole family. "It's likely that we don't have a month before that, however."
"Ok… I can work with that. I just have to make some definitely needed changes to my spell right now, prioritize some things and…" Joshua mumbled, his eyes unfocusing as his mind got to working. There were things he needed to work on for the "presentation" of the spell, as it were. It wouldn't be fully ready but…
Well, he was thinking about it like a game announcement. Put some CGI scenes to make it look better than it was, maybe some specifically staged in-game scenes. Essentially, the Phoenix Spell wouldn't be that good on release, but he'd get there with some updates. He just needed people to think it was that good.
"Yeah, I can definitely work with that," Joshua decided, a little more firmly. "Tell your parents not to rush into anything. I'll do my best to get things ready before they have to do anything drastic," he told the Satan, only realizing a second too late that maybe he was a bit out of place ordering the man to do anything.
Fortunately for him, the Satan seemed to take that well, smiling a little more honestly.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it," he waved off, before smirking. "Besides, you'll owe me for this."
"I won't forget. Now, I think I'll take advantage of this and spend some time with my son, if you don't mind hosting us for a little longer," the redheaded man commented, to which Joshua just waved him off.
"Not at all, go have fun. Margalo is enjoying the attention anyway."
"Thanks for that," Serafall said once her fellow Satan was gone, her voice soft. "This means a lot to him, more than he lets on. He's really worried for Rias."
"It'll be fine."
"You believe that, and that means he can believe it a little more too. This was as much to inform you of that and get an opinion as it was to reassure him," the woman explained to him, making him hum in understanding. "And I'll have you know Domino isn't better than Levi!"
That was an argument waiting to happen and Joshua knew what he needed to do. Defuse and say he was just getting in character to better entertain Millicas.
He was feeling bold though.
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Excuse me?!"
[}-o-{]
Leaning back, he looked at the wall in front of him as Morag stuck some notes to it. His spider familiar's threads connected every piece of paper and picture between each other. Morag had, apparently, at some point figured out how to make silk of different colors. Joshua wasn't very sure how, but it likely could be explained by just saying "magic".
"Thanks, girl," he mumbled, his eyes fixed on the notes as the spider crawled her way back to him and climbed on his back. He felt her pride through their bond and he made sure to feed her as much appreciation as he could manage. His mind was a little preoccupied at the moment though, but the arachnid seemed to realize and understand that.
He was running out of time with the Phoenix Spell, after all. Every other project could wait and so they'd been pushed aside for the moment. Fortunately, the Church hadn't called for another base to be secured so far. As for Hexennacht… Well, House of Water was doing its own attacks on that front, so that meant that he could leave things be for a bit without feeling like he was letting them have time to recover.
His own personal projects could be ignored for the moment too, so there was that. He'd be at the cafe less too, but Jeanne would be keeping an eye on Kuoh for him just in case Issei and Aika needed him. As for Rias, he'd communicated to her that his training ground was still available to them but he wouldn't be able to provide more help than that for a while.
Then there was Sairaorg, who he'd had to apologize for. The Bael had reassured him saying he understood, but Joshua wanted to be done with things quickly so he could go back to working on the Sleeping Disease. He felt very shitty having to push that particular project to the side.
Unfortunately, the Phoenix Spell was a lot more time sensitive.
"I gotta adjust the filter a bit," he mused first of all. He'd have to make it seem like the thing could heal anything just as well as Phoenix Tears could. Without being magic experts, people wouldn't be able to tell that particular limitation, and Joshua was fairly sure that even then it would be hard without looking for that flaw. "Strain on the focus is there, but I can tone it down a little bit so it won't be noticeable without extended use."
Morag clicked her mandibles next to his ear, being the offered ear for him to speak to while he brainstormed. She offered actual feedback though, even if it was mostly through the muddled bond they shared. It still helped keep Joshua's mind going.
"Definitely need to reduce the energy consumption. It's the most glaring issue it has right now," Joshua mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, yeah, I know," he added with a grimace as Morag reminded him of all the times people had told him that he needed to work on that particular point.
He'd been more focused on improving the effectiveness of the spell though. Consumption wasn't as important back then. Now though, since he was sort of pushing the actual effect to the side, he needed to make it seem like the spell was as solid on the energy cost side of things as it was supposed to look like on the actual healing side.
"Besides that… Well, there's little else, right? Am I forgetting something?" he asked, tilting his head. Morag replied on the negative before hesitating. Then the spider thought of something, quickly sharing it with Joshua, who started smiling wider. "Oh, that's just mean… But it's perfect," he commented, chuckling to himself. "Nagini would be proud."
Morag seemed a little torn on if that was a compliment or not, but she decided to go with yes.
"Well, lots of work to be done. You up to keeping me company, girl?" he asked, receiving a quick affirmative answer from the arachnid. "Thanks, Morag, you are great."
To that, the spider seemed to reply with what was essentially a "don't you forget it".
Chapter 106: Like There's Something Missing
The energy consumption problem of the Phoenix Spell was turning out to be more of a pain in the ass than Joshua had anticipated, and that was saying something. The fact of the matter was that the spell was powerful and like with all powerful things, there was a price to pay. The energy for the healing had to come from somewhere, after all.
Some would argue that Phoenix Tears didn't need that, but those were liars. Joshua wasn't privy to all the information about the process of making them, but he'd gathered from previous knowledge and some bits and pieces he'd gotten while studying to make the spell, that the Phenex used a ritual to make the tears. It wasn't just them gathering their tears every time they cried or something equally as ridiculous.
No, there was a process. Joshua would bet that the energy for the healing came from some part of said process. He wasn't too sure where, but it didn't really matter. He wasn't replicating Phoenix Tears, after all. He was replicating the effects, which was a different matter entirely. Different processes, different conduct, different energy sources.
In his case, it became complicated. He would bet that draining the energy of the target to heal them would be seen as a point against the spell. The Phenex were bound to exploit that weakness until Devil society tore the thing apart, figuratively speaking. To be fair though, Joshua could kind of see it. One could argue, after all, that the spell would be useless if the target was low on magic. Hell, it could very negatively affect them if they were recovering from magic exhaustion, like him after the Kokabiel incident.
So, he was currently trying to find a way around that.
The easiest way to go about it was a pseudo-magic battery. It was what most of his arrays used, after all. A web of spells that gathered magic over time and then other spells redirected somewhere else when the energy was needed. He'd been using that trick since forever ago, really, so Joshua was confident that would work.
Even still, there were problems with that idea too.
Mainly the fact that the spell used a shit ton of magic to fuel itself, and even a pseudo-magic battery would have trouble healing a lot over a short period of time. The more injuries and people were added into the mix, the more the spell would struggle. 'But that's not that much of a problem right now, right?' Joshua mused. 'After all, I just need it to work well for a demonstration.'
He wasn't liking having to basically ignore so many problems while he rushed the spell into "working", but it was what was necessary. He could continue working on it after the fact once he'd helped free Rias. For the moment, however, he had a deadline and he needed to make it. 'Besides, I can definitely get it to work before the deadline. After that, I can work on improving other stuff in the meantime,' he reassured himself.
And yet, he couldn't stop himself from sighing and leaning back.
Which caused Nagini, who was once again the one he was leaning against while sitting, to hiss something at him. The gigantic snake seemed to take joy in just sitting together with him for some reason, and he was happy to spend time with her in such a simple manner, really. At that very moment though, she was making him grimace.
"No, Nagini, we can't just kill them," he mumbled. Then his shoulders dropped. "Much as I'd like to," he added. Because oh wouldn't it be easier to just kill the Phenex instead of going through all the trouble he was. Sadly, there were a ton of issues with that approach, but that didn't mean he couldn't imagine it happening.
Creating the Phoenix Spell was that frustrating, honestly.
Deciding to do something about that, Nagini dropped her massive head on his lap, making him smile. Joshua followed that by placing his hand on top of the snake's head and absently petting her as she closed her eyes contently. 'You'll get to kill many enemies, Nagini,' he projected at her through their bond. 'There's bigger fish to fry than the Phenex.'
To that, she hissed something half eager and half determined.
At times like that, Joshua surprised himself. Back when he'd first fallen into the supernatural world, with the Hunter, he'd freaked out about killing a person that had no qualms about torturing and killing him. And then there he was, perfectly fine with the idea of killing a much bigger number for relatively lower offenses. Then again, he was counting Khaos Brigade and associates as a whole. He couldn't stop to consider individuals, else he'd lose his nerve, he knew.
It was necessary to do what he was doing. Khaos Brigade would bring death to the world in numbers that weren't small at all. He couldn't afford to hesitate to kill their numbers if it helped prevent such an outcome. He'd always disliked the Greater Good concept but… He wasn't really doing it for the Greater Good anyway.
He was doing it for the good of his loved ones and himself, and he was fine with burning the entire world if he could get that.
Fortunately, he didn't need to go to such lengths, but that didn't change that he would if he needed to.
Nagini chose that moment to hiss something and he smiled softly at her. Yeah, he wouldn't be alone, whatever the path he chose was. His familiars would doom themselves to hell for him, and he loved them for that. They were a family and they'd do everything together as a family.
For the moment, his goals were less drastic, however.
Still frustrating though.
"Back to work it is for me, I guess," he mumbled, smiling a little wider when the snake on his lap moved her head to rub the side of it against his chest. "I love you too, girl," he added, drawing a pleased hiss from Nagini.
[Bond: Nagini has gone up a level.]
[}-o-{]
For once in those days, Joshua wasn't working on the Phoenix Spell. In fairness, it wasn't like he was working on that all the time. He still took some time off to teach at House of Water and visit Kunou and such. He even visited the cafe whenever he had a moment to get something to drink and snack on, but that barely counted.
Joshua still felt like he was burning out anyway, because every other moment was spent working on the Phoenix Spell. Which made him be very grateful that someone had decided to interrupt that on that particular day. His hand moved to the side and picked up the perpetually cold beer that he'd gotten courtesy of Nephthys.
The goddess sure knew how to make him happy with small things.
Joshua resolutely ignored the smug feeling he got from the Charm once more and took a sip from the drink before regarding his visitor. Serafall seemed to be content staying silent, which was a somewhat unusual thing. Sure, she usually stayed silent if she was over and he was working on something, but at that moment he wasn't doing much and she still seemed fine with not speaking as she enjoyed some snacks he'd prepared.
"You came just to make me take a break, didn't you?" he asked then, a smile on his face as he took another sip. It was the only thing that made sense to him, considering everything. If she had come for business, she'd have talked about it once he showed that he was somewhat free. If she had come for a social visit, she'd have started talking about some nonsense or another.
Instead, she'd decided to be mostly silent.
"Mhm," she confirmed with a grin as she continued eating. Then she gulped. "Have to make sure you don't work yourself into the ground, after all. I kind of like you, Joshua, in case you hadn't noticed."
He snorted, smiling as he leaned back and took another sip from his beer. With comments like that, sometimes, he wondered… Ultimately, he didn't bring attention to it.
Because he was a coward.
"Thanks then, I appreciate the concern," he replied with a nod. "I'm pushing myself as hard as I can, just in case something happens and I have less time than Sirzechs said. But…"
"You can only push so hard before it starts working against you," Serafall told him with uncharacteristic seriousness. "It's fine, Joshua. Take your time. Something unexpected might happen to hurry the deadline, but you can't control that. Nobody thinks what you are doing is easy. If anything, you've broken everyone's expectations. Nobody will blame you if-"
"I'll blame myself," he said, his voice just as bitter as the beer he was drinking. "I could have worked on it more before. I could have taken less projects, or I could have trained Rias more, I could have-"
"And maybe doing any of that would have been worse. If you worked on it more, maybe you'd have burned out before now. If you had taken less projects, maybe you'd have had less information to work with. If you had trained Rias more, maybe it'd have upset the Pillar Houses or made the Phenex put more pressure and shorten your time," Serafall told him kindly but firmly. He grimaced, having to acknowledge those points. If anything, she knew how things would have gone on the devils' side better than he did for the most part. "You are frustrated, Joshua, and that's understandable, but don't make things worse by torturing yourself."
"I get it," he mumbled, taking another gulp of his drink. Absently, he extended his hand to pick up a snack but didn't immediately eat it. "Life would have been better if I'd just stayed a normal magician in some backwater place."
"But then poor little Kunou would still be sad!" Serafall accused, pointing at him with the Finger of Doom. He had to concede that point too. "And you wouldn't have met my awesome self!"
"Yeah, I guess Kunou was worth it," he replied with a nod.
"You are a meanie sometimes, you know that, Joshua?" she asked him, pouting.
"I mean, I could not be… but where'd be the fun in that?" he shot back with a slight grin as her pout intensified. "Should have continued picking on your lil' sister instead of me."
"I don't pick on her!" she protested before pausing. "And I don't pick on you either!"
"I guess you don't… anymore," he conceded, taking another gulp from his beer. Or trying to, at least, since he'd finished it already, it seemed. 'Shame that,' he thought, before blinking as another appeared on the table. 'Thanks. Last one though,' he told Nephthys, getting an easy agreement. Not that he thought drinking more would be bad. For one reason or another, he seemed to take a lot more to even feel the alcohol. 'Maybe Vitality? Or who knows, maybe Poison Resistance works on this too,' he mused. Regardless, he turned to regard the still pouting Serafall. "Anyway, did you find a way to make Domino Mask be out of the show for a bit?"
"We did. The bad guy is gonna knock you out and you'll be captive in sleep while Luna and I work on getting you out," Serafall told him, bouncing back to her regular enthusiastic self, which suited Joshua much better. That was what he liked about her, after all, that she could always bring the mood up as easily as she breathed.
Joshua smiled, wearily but smiled all the same, as he heard her start explaining all the details about the change in the plot they'd had to make to accommodate his sudden lack of time. He'd have felt bad, if he didn't know that she had fun brainstorming story ideas. As it was, he decided to humor her more for the show once things calmed down. That would make her happy and that was the point.
[}-o-{]
[Agnes Waterhouse]
She looked at the sight before her with an almost bored expression.
A second Hexennacht base was being destroyed before her very eyes and Agnes only thought that it was… disappointing. When she'd organized with Báthory to assault the Stray Organization, she had thought it would be more troublesome, maybe even a little dangerous. Instead, what she found was a rather… sad thing, really.
Then again, she knew why other magician strays survived for relatively long and went mostly unbothered. Because they weren't worth the hassle, most of the time. Strays might be sick, twisted individuals at times, but they were still not stupid, for the most part. They knew how to keep their heads down and only cause trouble with those that they could safely deal with themselves.
No stray magician association would dare make an enemy of someone stronger, because there was no way they'd survive. Hexennacht was proving as much, basically, with the rather swift way that they were falling to pieces by Davis' efforts and now Agnes' and Báthory's. Then again, most of the time, magicians of their caliber wouldn't care to come out to deal with such vermin.
Alas, Davis had a personal grudge to deal with this particular group, and Agnes was only too happy to help him with it if it meant lowering her debt even a little.
Still, maybe it was a bit overkill to come with both of the two strongest magicians in her association. Between her Curses and whatever Báthory had cast on the poor bastards with her Sacrifices… The unfortunate souls stood less than zero chances of not suffering a pitiful, painful death at the hands of her association members.
As it was, Agnes idly wondered if there would have been more of a struggle if the two of them weren't there. Would Hexennacht have stood a chance?... Probably, she supposed. Certainly not if one of them got involved, but as it was, both had, so the strays basically fell like flies.
"They need to hurry up or people will start coming," she heard Báthory say from beside him. "Or did you cast that signal jamming curse again?"
"No, too bothersome," she replied, running her fingers through her hair as she considered what to do. Things were almost done, but if they were delayed too much, then someone much more troublesome could end up appearing. Hexennacht wasn't all that, but they were bound to have a few members that could give Agnes or Báthory a run for their money. Maybe even both of them at the same time, since neither of them were what one would call a direct fighter.
"... I guess it's a good thing that we are done here then," Báthory commented after a pause while they both looked to the side and saw that the battling was done. "Still, we still have to check over the place quickly."
"We do," Agnes agreed, if reluctantly. Even if it was the sensible thing to do, being of the same mind as Báthory felt like surely there was something wrong going on. "You think there'll be much to take from here?"
"I don't think we'll be as lucky as we were last time," her fellow magician answered wryly, to which she hummed and nodded. It made sense. Somehow, that base they'd hit before had been… weirdly full of things. Must have been more of a "warehouse" type of base than anything else, she supposed. Otherwise, it'd be weird. She imagined stray organizations had to separate their resources between their bases instead of having most of it in a single place, else it be hit and they lose everything.
Not that the idea was doing much for Hexennacht, really, but their situation was a bit of an anomaly.
"If nothing else, this will be good to keep our combatants in shape," Agnes mused out loud, looking at their battle magicians relax after the battle was over. A number of other magicians, there for support and to take care of the after raid duties, moved forward and started inspecting the base in search for anything they might want to take.
"House of Water was never one for battle magicians anyway," Báthory commented and Agnes almost expected a barb about that. The woman had always wanted for the organization to turn to more… violent and drastic ways. She must be very pleased with herself to see that her "way" of things was being applied now. "I am pleased, indeed," she added, as if she were reading Agnes' mind.
She guessed it was kind of an obvious thought though.
"So, have you gotten word for those Divination supplies you asked for?" Báthory asked. Anges was almost surprised, actually. After all, she knew why the woman was reallyasking. It wasn't out of any interest on her deals or the organization's. It was to know more about Davis and the situation with him.
"Some, but I imagine it'll be more than enough for a new magician," Agnes answered truthfully. As it was, for once, both her and Báthory were on the same page. They needed to get on Joshua Davis's good side. If that meant working with one another and not trying to stab each other on the back, then they'd do it.
Reluctantly, but they would.
"I've pulled a few strings of mine to get some that weren't on your list," the other woman told her, to which she nodded. Whatever Báthory managed to get couldn't be considered nice by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn't mean Davis wouldn't appreciate it. The man seemed to understand that even "bad" things could be useful to know. If nothing else, his fondness for Hexes showed that.
"We are done, Ma'am," a young magician told Agnes, looking between her and Báthory nervously. If one were to trust the man's expression, he believed that they might just vaporize him for fun, amusingly enough.
"Good job," she replied simply. She might not have shown it, but she was very pleased that they'd been so fast. Granted, she had specifically prepared the entire group of people to be as efficient as possible so there'd be little to no risk, but still. They'd been faster than she'd anticipated. "Take everything back, we are going."
"Yes, ma'am."
Still, between her raids and Davis'... Hexennacht was bound to do something drastic sooner rather than later. She'd have to prepare even more for future attacks. As for Joshua, she'd comment on it, but she didn't think the man needed warning, really.
If anything, Hexennacht needed one.
[}-o-{]
[Unknown]
He watched, curiously, how the human went about his days.
Or, maybe it was more accurate to say he sensed how it happened. Couldn't very well watch, without giving himself away. He didn't have the benefit that some of his fellow deities had. However, he didn't need the help of the Charm to have a good enough idea of what was going on.
He wasn't the only one to reach out either. Shed had spread the word rather enthusiastically, after all, but few had given it much thought. From time to time, one of them would pick up something from their domains and they'd get curious. It was something that happened and likely would pass.
Except, it hadn't.
Now, Nephthys and Set had joined Shed too, and he'd been… concerned, one could say. His relationship with those was complicated, to say the least, but then again, few had uncomplicated relations with Set. He was a god of chaos, after all, and those tended to be a little more troublesome to deal with even when you were on their side.
He would know.
Regardless, he was one of those deities that, while not connected, checked on the human more than the rest. It was no wonder, with the domains the man treaded in. What was a wonder was that it had taken him so long to find Joshua Davis. Then again, most of his pantheon was now known for not being the most connected to current affairs.
Except for Aten, but one god, no matter how powerful, couldn't keep a pantheon up by themselves.
Now though, things were stirring, he could feel it. Where before the members of his faction had been lethargic, they now moved, looked, reached for the world further than their domains. Where people would before barely react to their names, now the mention of the Egyptian pantheon was starting to mean something.
It was slow, so very slow.
Just a little, so very little.
But it was there, and nobody could deny it. Each day that passed, things changed for them, something that hadn't happened in a long time, if one didn't consider the slow descent into almost unconsciousness. The world was changing and so was their situation.
And he could see why.
He could also see what Shed had been talking about before.
Maybe his fellow god had been onto something, he'd admit. Joshua Davis was special, and maybe some wouldn't notice with a single glance. After some time observing the man, however, he could see it. A fast development for a human, nevermind the power he wielded. Talent without measure for the magic arts. A just as powerful mind that was doing miraculous things.
However, the most important thing had nothing to do with any of that. Had little to do with the man himself, ironically enough. No, his most defining and eye catching feature was his reach. The man seemed to make allies wherever he went and without even trying.
In less than two years, he'd spread strings everywhere. Every faction he came into contact with, he'd gain something. A friend, an ally, a family member, a colleague. People were bound to become something of his, it seemed. It was a very interesting, very strong talent to have.
Without even noticing, Davis was gaining favor all over the place. He was changing things, just by existing. 'What a strange being, indeed,' the deity mused to himself, curious and slightly disturbed. If the man could do so much in so little time. What could he do with more time, with more resources, with more help?
The deity wanted to see that, and he could tell that so did others. Oh, would they be watching the man. Now more than ever. He thought it humorous, actually. He'd just been thinking about how Davis seemed to draw people, factionsto himself and he hadn't even considered that his own pantheon counted for that too.
Yes, Davis would go far, but before they could get involved, he needed to prove himself more. Prove himself like he had for Shed. Prove himself like he had for Nephthys. Prove himself like he had for Set.
The deity rather doubted that the man would be found wanting. If anything, he'd be surprised if it took Davis too long to start drawing the attention of more and more of his people. Especially considering what the man was doing at the moment. The many things he was doing at the moment, really, but the most prominent of them was what he was working on the most those days.
Yes, the deity was very curious about that. Davis certainly knew how to make himself noticed in the deity's domains, that was for sure. Yes, he definitely would be getting more personally involved like Shed, Nephthys and Set soon. First, because Davis would exceed expectations with this one project. Second, because he didn't want to join late for such a likely important event in their pantheon's history.
The times were changing indeed and it was for the better. Their pantheon would be out there in the world once more. Maybe not as active as some of the others, but they had never been like that. They'd leave a mark on the world like they'd always done.
With a champion, the intermediary between the deities and the people.
Yes, Horus couldn't wait.
Chapter 107: Between the Good and the Evil
[Kalawarna]
Things were calm, and that was both worrying and reassuring at the same time.
She was starting to feel like being conflicted about her emotions was going to be the norm, honestly. However, there was an explanation for those. On the one side, being left alone meant that Davis was more likely to just forget about them, or at least focus on them less, meaning that they were punished less. On the other side though, if he was too busy to torture them in the name of training, then he was obviously cooking something.
And that could only mean bad things for someone.
Someone that might be her.
"We can take it easy now, don't you know?" she asked pitifully as she blocked one of Raynare's light spears. "Davis hasn't been looking at us in a while," she added, trying to make her ex-"leader" see reason. She failed, if the following blow was any indication.
"You are more of a fool than I thought if you think that," Raynare replied, sneering at her as if she were a particularly mentally challenged slug. "He's alwayswatching," she said, a tinge of an emotion in her voice that Kalawarna couldn't quite place. "And even if he isn't, his familiars are, and that means he is."
Suddenly, as her eyes darted up to see the Davis' spider familiar on the ceiling of the training area, Kalawarna feltlike a particularly mentally challenged slug. That is, for the split second it took Raynare to kick her in the gut and send her into a wall. After that, there was a bit too much pain for her to really focus on much else except stopping more hurt from coming her way.
"Besides, even if he's distracted, he'll look back at us at some point," Raynare continued, pressing Kalawarna against a wall with her light spear dangerously close to the latter's face. "If he does and finds us wanting… Well, you can be lazy if you want. I certainly won't be. I'm tired of being this… pitiful."
And with that, Raynare seemed to decide she was done talking for the moment. Kalawarna herself couldn't have done a lot of that even if she'd wanted to, really. She was a bit too busy trying to keep herself in one piece against the clearly stronger fallen she was facing in a spar. If it could be called that, because she'd have called it a deathmatch herself.
Once Raynare was done with her and Kalawarna was left a mostly bruised mess on the ground of the training grounds, she was finally able to think for a bit. Granted, there wasn't much more that her brain could process other than exhaustion and hurt, but she managed to get a few thoughts together. The main one was, as it usually was as of late, how to get herself the fuck away from where she was.
It was depressingly sad to admit that she wasn't seeing many options. Or, maybe it was better to say that she didn't see any that didn't have a concerningly high chance of her dying a slow, painful death. She could try to backstab Davis at some point, but unless the situation was perfect, she was more likely to die herself before she got anywhere close. She could try to run away but… The chances of that working were zero, she was pretty sure. She could try a number of other things, but Davis was just too strong, especially under his defenses, which was where they were most of the time.
She was seeing no way out of her situation, but she could be patient. She had literally nothing else to do but try and wait for a chance, an opportunity. That was all that could save her at that moment, and Kalawarna would just have to hope for an opening to appear at some point.
Bruised and weary, she pulled herself to a standing position and finally left the sparring area. Mainly because Raynare had pulled Mittelt to the one next to where she was and she didn't want to be hit by a stray attack. She might just die if that happened, considering the state she was in.
As she moved, however, she caught movement from the side. Off the corner of her eye, Kalawarna saw Davis' cat familiar moving, golden eyes firmly on her. After Raynare's comment, she was especially on edge at that realization.
'Great, now I'm gonna be even more terrified of the fucking beasts,' she thought. The cat tilted its head then, and if Kalawarna hadn't known better, she'd have thought the thing was reading her mind. 'I'm getting even more paranoid than I need to be,' she thought, shaking the thoughts off. She needed to keep her mind in the game.
Keep training, so Davis wouldn't have a reason to punish her, if he didn't make up one. Keep waiting, so that whenever there was a way out, she'd be able to act. And maybe keep the fuck away from Raynare as much as possible too, because seriously, what had gotten into that woman?
Mittelt was kind of bending over backwards to appear like a harmless little thing that she definitely wasn't. Kalawarna knew that she herself was basically a desperate woman trying her best to not get herself killed or in a world of hurt. Raynare though, almost seemed to be rolling with the punches, and doing so well at that.
The woman trained like she wanted to, instead of just having to. She hung on to Davis' every word like they were the teachings of a Cadre. She observed the man like she admired him, for crying out loud. Kalawarna was pretty sure she was starting to lose it due to constant fear, pain and helplessness.
There was no way all that was happening… right?
[}-o-{]
[Kuroka]
She sat there, feeling incredibly small in a room where Serafall Leviathan, Azazel, Gabriel and Yasaka sat too. She didn't know what the most incredible thing happening at the moment was though. Was it that all four of those were working together? Or was it that Davis was sitting next to her, looking entirely at ease in the presence of such a gathering of people while idly working on something on a notebook?
Kuroka honestly wondered if the man was just used to it all, which was a terrifying and also very interesting quality to find out. On the other hand, maybe he just didn't realize what was going on? Surely he did though. It was difficult for even ignorant people to not be surprised to see devils and angels working together.
Or maybe the man was a little crazy.
Unfortunately, she couldn't quite focus on the man as much as she wanted to, which was a shame. She already was seeing very little of Davis since he seemed to mostly be out of the house or working on something. That meant that Kuroka couldn't really try and get involved, else she risked simply annoying him, which would then lead to her being pressed against the ground by his spells…
And not in the fun way.
As it was, at that very moment, Kuroka needed to focus on the conversation of the faction leaders that the man next to her had basically summoned for a meeting. It wasn't quite how it had gone, but it was how she saw it. He'd called Leviathan to deal with her case, and that had somehow snowballed into the madness of a gathering that she was witnessing.
The fact that everyone seemed to be friendly with Davis was just the cherry on top of the unbelievable cake.
Back to the topic at hand, the leaders were discussing the information she'd provided. They were organizing themselves against Khaos Brigade. Kuroka knew this was massive, especially because the organization she'd been part of wasn't aware of any of this. They'd just thought the factions were starting to take them more seriously, not that there was an alliance in place to act against them.
Suddenly, Khaos' chances of succeeding in their endeavors were looking very slim, to Kuroka at least.
More importantly though, they were discussing how goodher information was. Was it worth the trouble that she represented on several fronts? Was it worth risking more after confirming some of the things she'd provided intel on?
She dearly hoped the answer to those questions and a few more would be yes, because if not…
"Do you have an opinion on this, Joshua?"
Kuroka was surprised the question even came. She was further surprised that it came from Gabriel. Because sure, he seemed to be close to Leviathan and Yasaka in one way or another, and maybe Azazel would have made sense because he was an oddball, from what Kuroka knew. But Gabriel, the seraph? That was… That was…
"Joshua," Leviathan called, poking the man's side with her magical girl staff and snapping him out of his thoughts. The nekoshou was shocked, truly shocked that he could be so distracted in the presence of people that would have most bending at the knees and trembling.
Instead, she saw the man blink and look up like a student that had been woken up from a nap in the middle of class.
"What did I miss?" he asked, casually at that. He was acting like he hadn't been caught not paying attention to figures that decided what went on in a chunk of the supernatural world. It was… Kuroka didn't know what that was.
"We were discussing which of these pieces of information we should act on," Gabriel supplied, apparently unbothered by the disrespect. Maybe that was part of her angel thing? The others didn't look much different though. "The merits of going for a less important target over a bigger one that might be more risk than we are willing to take considering the dubious nature of the information."
Davis considered that for a moment, leaning back on his seat and looking up at the ceiling. Then he pulled the file he'd been given, which he hadn't so much as looked at before. Opening it, he skimmed over it for a moment. There was silence in the room as the four faction leaders waited for him to say something.
Kuroka really didn't know what to think anymore. As if Davis hadn't been in her radar enough, really. She could only look at him in awe… But not for long, considering there were four sets of very important eyes around that she'd rather not piss off in any way. She was also fairly sure that Yasaka and Leviathan were onto her, the former because of life sensing and the latter because… she might have been a tad reckless when they first met.
"Small target, medium target, big target," Davis said in the end, closing the file and pushing it away. "That's what I think. One from a different territory each. If you attack too many small ones trying to confirm things, then they'll get suspicious, nevermind the fact that they will when Kuroka takes too long to go back too. Besides, hitting a big target quickly has its own merits too, so there's that."
"Told you," Azazel shot immediately, drawing slightly annoyed reactions from all three of the other leaders. "Thanks for backing me up, buddy."
"... Sure," Davis replied, blinking blandly since he clearly had no idea what the Governor was talking about. "I thought I was here mostly as a formality, by the way," he added, turning his attention back to his notebook as he started working once more.
"That might be the case," Gabriel agreed with a slight nod that the man didn't see. "But it's always useful to have another perspective to problems. One that might be less in line with one's thoughts is all the better."
Kuroka wondered if that was all there was to it, because she was fairly sure there was more. She couldn't pick up much with her life sensing, but there was definitely something there. Especially judging by the narrow eyed look Yasaka sent. The youkai leader was obviously much better than Kuroka herself, or at least enough to have a better grasp of what was going on with the seraph.
"Hm, I guess," Davis replied absently, fully pulling away from the situation around him again as he continued working.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
He sat, as was usual during those days, with a notebook on his lap. He worked through ideas on how to improve his Phoenix Spell prototype, determinedly ignoring the sounds of battle coming from in front of him. Rias and her peerage had dropped by for some training. She'd been fine with training by themselves, in her own words, or just doing so back home instead of at his place, when he'd told her that he'd be too busy to participate himself.
He'd waved off her concerns though, simply setting up the training spells and siccing the fallen angel trio on her group. The two teams could keep each other entertained while Asia treated any wounds. Jeanne had joined the side of the fallen to add a little more balance to the whole thing, and probably because she usually went with them when they attacked somewhere with the fallen too.
He'd mostly nodded at the suggestion and let her do as she wanted. His mind was kind of busy with other things, really. They knew the drill by then anyway, so there was no need for him to get overly involved, fortunately. Instead, Joshua could keep his focus on brainstorming ways to improve the spell he was working on so that it'd be more "presentable."
The target filter, the wardstone strain, the healing power… All of those he could slowly improve, he knew. The real problem was the energy consumption though. He just couldn't seem to find a way to optimize that without everything falling apart. He couldn't cut corners on the other areas, after all. There was only so much he could streamline from the established design.
It just wasn't feasible to heal someone on the same level as a Phoenix Tear without it costing an arm and a leg in terms of energy. The spell basically had to pull everything together, sometimes even creating new tissue and such from nothing. It had to combat curses and other spell damage. It had to fight off diseases that were, more often than not, magical in nature if not influenced by some other type of supernatural energy.
Joshua just couldn't find a way to do all that without spending a big amount of power in turn. It wouldn't have been a problem for him, since the power consumption was more than fine in his opinion. His opinion wasn't, unfortunately, the one that mattered though. No, he needed to make the spell good for everyone else.
Specifically for people that would try their best to be against it. He needed to make the spell, but make it in a way that would brute force its way through the biases of the devil Houses. That complicated matters more than a little bit, honestly, and it was building a wall that Joshua just kept hitting his head against.
'Is there even a way to pull this off?' he wondered, not for the first time. He was starting to think that maybe it couldn't be done, that the best he could hope for was a bootleg version of the healing effect. Maybe he couldn't replicate the same thing without some aspect of it falling apart.
If that was the case, he'd better hope that Rias and her group were strong enough to defeat Riser, especially since she didn't have Issei in her peerage anymore. Still, he was fairly sure that they were much better now than they were before. Joshua was almost positive that they could win that fight, but then again, Phenex. That regeneration power was just bullshit.
Even with Scale Mail, Issei had needed to basically cheat with the holy water and cross trick… Or so Joshua remembered. So, what did that say about the bullshit level the Phenex Pillar's power reached? Not even a Longinus Balance Breaker could kick their ass, apparently. Granted, that Issei had basically a bootleg Balance Breaker since he had to cheat it into existence with a deal with Ddraig, but still.
With a groan, Joshua looked up and chastised himself for getting distracted. He needed to focus and continue working, not letting his mind go through worthless tangents. Rias was doing her best with the tools he could give her and he needed to make sure she didn't need to win that fight anyway.
"Joshua?" a voice called from the side hesitantly and he turned to see Asia, nervously shifting on her feet with a tray and a cup of tea on it. "I thought you could use something to relax a bit?" she mumbled, sounding more like she was asking instead of stating. "I can leave if you need space though."
"No, it's fine, Asia," he told her softly, shoulders dropping. "Take a seat, yeah? The girls like you anyway," he told her, and the girl sat next to him, not quite leaning on Nagini as he was. "Things are going well for you in Kuoh, right? Nothing I should know?"
"Ah, um…" she started, clearly hesitating to say something. Ultimately, her honest, open nature won out in the end. "There's these two boys at school," she said and Joshua already knew where things were going. He hadn't yet killed someone from the mundane world, but he was pretty sure but he could make an exception if- "They were… not that nice," Asia commented, which might as well be saying that they were war criminals in Asia-speech. That might be a little bit of an exaggeration but still, the point stood. "But everyone helped me when I got uncomfortable."
"Everyone?"
"Hm." She nodded. "Jeanne, Issei, Aika, Rias' group, the kendo club," she listed off and he nodded. Good, people were having the girl's back. That was nice, especially considering that she was sort of his responsibility and he hadn't had much time to help her with things.
"And with the Church?" he asked, because there was a non-zero chance that someone would mess with her over there too, even with the side he was supporting watching out for her. "Nobody is doing anything suspicious or bad, right?"
"No, not that I've seen," Asia answered, giving him a little smile that looked entirely too adorable. She was giving Kunou a run for her money, if he were honest. "They… They ask me similar questions whenever I have to go and heal them… Things are bad, for the Church, right?"
"... I haven't personally seen much besides the one attack and it wasn't all that," Joshua answered, idly looking towards the sparring groups. "But I do know that things are… tense, there are skirmishes happening and ambushes. That's what I've heard, at least. They are tight lipped, at least around me."
"Hm, I understand that," Asia replied, looking down while Joshua took a sip from the tea she'd brought him. It looked like she needed a moment to herself, so he gave it to her. "I just… I don't understand."
"And that's what makes you a good person, Asia. No, that's what makes you a great person. Because you don't understand how someone could do the things they are doing," Joshua told her, bringing a hand up and patting her head. "The world should be filled with people like you instead of people like them, like me."
"But you are a good person too, Joshua. A great person," Asia told him, pouting cutely as she protested his statement. In turn, he gave her a sad smile.
"I've killed a bunch of people, did you know? Most of them I'm not even sure if they deserved it," he confessed, pulling his hand away from her then as he watched her eyes widening. "I've killed Khaos Brigade members and a whole lot of Hexennacht, for the sole reason that they were just that. I don't know how bad they were, if they'd even done anything at all. But they were part of a group that did terrible things, so I killed them."
He paused then, bringing the cup of tea to his lips.
"So, I don't think I'm a good person, but I'm fine with that. I'll make the world a better place for the actually good people," Joshua told her softly, a sad smile on his face. "I think I could be happy with that."
"I still think you are a good person, Joshua," Asia said, more firmly than he expected, making it his turn to look at her with wide eyes. "You've been kinder to me than some of the people that preached to be good," she told him, giving him a grateful smile. "I think that makes you good. Maybe not great, as you say, but good. And maybe I'm not great either, for thinking that, but I can be happy just being good."
"Throwing my words back at me, huh?" he pointed out with a smile. "That's not very nice."
"Then it's a good thing I'm just a good person and not great."
"You are going to keep saying things like that, aren't you?" he asked, drawing an innocent smile that he could almost believe. "We've corrupted you, we finally did it."
Asia giggled.
"And I'm grateful for that," she told him softly.
"Well, I guess that's what matters," he replied with a nod as he took another sip from his tea. And that's where the conversation ended, with them remaining in companionable silence. After a minute or so, he felt Asia shift so that she was resting her head on his shoulder and he tried to make her new position as comfortable as possible.
Eventually, he was done with the drink, setting it inside a Storage Space to wash later and picking up his notebook again. He didn't have much better luck than before, but he did find himself more relaxed. That by itself was a win in Joshua's books, at least. Frustration didn't really help him work better, after all.
He was interrupted then, when a dagger flew towards them. Looking up, Joshua's hand shot to the side to catch the knife before it could hit Asia. It'd probably just have grazed her, but she wasn't really a fighter, so there was a chance that she'd flinch or try to dodge the wrong way. Better to be safe.
"I'm so sorry," Yuuto said, looking genuinely dismayed by what had happened.
"It's fine. No harm done," Joshua reassured him. If he hadn't known how bad the boy felt, he might have given him a harder time, but he did. Besides, he was getting to know him better, since he would sometimes drop by to spend time with Jeanne, there or at the cafe. Bold of him, considering everyone knew he practically knew everything that happened inside his wards. "Be more careful next time."
"I got carried away. It won't happen again," Yuuto replied with a nod and pursed lips. Not that Joshua fully believed him. The boy would certainly try, but one was never in complete control of a fight.
"See that you don't," Joshua commented, idly looking at his hand. The dagger had gone cleanly through his palm. Normally, that'd be at least a painful injury but with Set's blessing, it was barely more than an uncomfortable thing. Pulling the dagger off, he saw the sand that was his body reform into his normal hand.
And then Joshua paused.
Blinking, he stared at his palm before stabbing it again.
"Joshua?" Asia asked, clearly confused, but he ignored her. Instead, he pulled the dagger off again and saw how his hand returned to normal with the grains of sand going back to their place after the hole was free once again. "Is everything ok?"
"Just perfect," he breathed out absently. Then his lips pulled up into a half-smile. "Yuuto!"
"Yes?" the boy asked, turning around stiffly, his expression worried. Evidently, he was expecting to get into trouble after Joshua reconsidered things or something in that vein.
"You might have just earned yourself my blessing for Jeanne's hand, just saying."
"Josh?" his sister said, clearly caught off guard. After a moment, she repeated that, but this time having had enough time to process what he said and being shocked. "Josh?!"
However, he ignored her too, and everyone else for that matter.
He might just have found exactly what he needed.