Me? Human? : Chapter 48 : Well played, Azazel. Well played..... (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

Nephilim Institute

–Motohama Kenji–

He was really starting to hate ice now. Also, he was seriously contemplating just jumping towards the sphere, out of curiosity if nothing else, as the surrounding ice continued to increase, in direct response to his own power compensating for the ice all around him. He couldn't do much about the lack of visibility, but his power seemed to be working on something that could help him sense magic past this storm of magic.

Whatever it was, it couldn't come fast enough, as he had to constantly deal with ice all around him. Ice that was only getting progressively harder and harder to ignore. The Light Armour was also getting shattered in some places, forcing him to focus even harder to keep it intact. For some reason, he got the sense that his power too was lagging. As if it was getting harder for his power to respond with the same speed.

The ice had also gained an unnatural coldness to it. The color of the ice had changed as well, and at this point, the tunnel vision he was granted with respect to the ice sphere that froze everything upon touch was also gone, forcing him to twist and turn constantly to avoid that ice sphere.

Even now, after having spent what felt like hours inside this icy hell, his power hasn't completely adapted to the ice and the temperature drops here, not to mention that ice sphere. Sure, Lavinia had done something to the ice, changing it so that his power’s adaptation to it no longer applied, but he was more worried about that ice sphere and less worried about the cold. 

Presumably, his power registered that as a threat and, despite that, he could still feel danger whenever that sphere came anywhere near him. The speed of formation for that ice sphere had increased as well. 

The ice temperature modulation. The ice hardness control. The line of sight view being closed off. The ice sphere. The speed of that ice sphere.

All of it pointed towards Lavinia either playing with him, which did not seem likely given the short exposure to her personality he had earlier, or she was testing him. More likely, it was Azazel who was testing him, and that just pissed him off. Not for the resting part, but because he knew that the longer he showed Azazel that he could grow, the longer he was going to have to stay inside this icy hell.

Part of him relished the challenge, and couldn't wait to the time he could easily break out of Lavinia’s Sacred Gear’s best work, but the other, far more vocal part of him, the part that absolutely detested being inside this space for even a second more, raged at this caged animal treatment, to the point that he actually contemplated reaching out towards the ice sphere.

What’s the worst that could happen? He would get frozen stiff and then suffer heavy injuries, pushing his power to the limits, forcing Azazel and Lavinia to end this, or he would overcome the freezing effect from that sphere and come out stronger from this.

Either way, he got out of this hell, which he considered a win at this point.

At this point, his body was literally steaming, the temperature of the Light Armour increasing as well somehow, vaporising any ice around him. He was still running around, mostly on autopilot, as the ice sphere came ever so close to touching him, which felt like a game of cat and mouse, something he thought was behind him now that he had gained some power.

But nope. As it turns out, there was always a bigger fish somewhere, and the sad part was that it wasn’t even the people he knew to be stronger than him. It was not Azazel, not the Four Satans, not Michael, and certainly not the other Gods, who he knew could overcome him with little effort. It was a freaking Witch Girl, a fellow human, with a Sacred Gear, that had managed to keep him trapped for hours, and probably could have killed him in minutes if she was so inclined. It was all making him so…angry. Some part of him thought that the sudden surge of anger was irrational and unnecessary, especially since he was the one benefiting from this whole thing anyway, but that part was drowned out by all the rage he had flowing inside of him.

At this point, his body’s temperature had soared so much that instead of the white of the ice dominating his vision, it was now steam, as he began melting the snow in an increasingly large area. The icicles that were constantly bombarding him found themselves melting long before ever reaching him. His vision was still unclear, but his magical senses had gotten better. It told him of the ice sphere forming at a much higher rate than before.

His fingers flexed as the spear formed in his hands once more; the sudden surge in speed and power was acknowledged dimly, the euphoria from the boost in power overshadowed by the sheer rage coursing through his body.

It was as if he was the Hulk, and everything in sight an enemy. The ice sphere formed near him, such that by the time the sphere was complete, the edge would touch him. Taking a smooth step back, his hand was a blur as he thrust the spear in the direction of the still forming ice sphere, grinning as the sphere formed instantly, far faster than before, just in time for his spear to touch the completed ice attack, instead of a partial one.

It confirmed that they were testing him and that Lavinia could still go further. That just brought forth yet another wave of anger at him. 

Predictably, his spear froze, but he did not let it go, not even when every part of his mind was telling him to. Whatever the sphere was, it had the ability to absolutely freeze anything that came into contact, even Light. It stood to reason that it could actually affect his body, his power, even his energy, but at this point, he was so far beyond reason that he gladly took those odds and pushed forward, forcing the spear to try and puncture the sphere.

He felt the Light Spear go unresponsive immediately, as it had been robbed of all its connections, which meant right now, it was just a piece of frozen light that he was using to stab the sphere.

The frozen spear meant that his power boost was gone as well, but once again, he was too far gone in the haze of rage to care. The ice increased in potency as well, as he felt really sharp, really durable ice reach his Light Armour once more, ignoring the aura of heat he now had around his body. Once again, proving that Lavinia could still go on.

It was kind of amazing just how weak he was in the grand scheme of things, and just how big of a head he had gotten with that meagre power. Shaking his head, he felt his power respond to the ice with even more heat, to the point that he began panting from the heat, turning the inside of his Light Armour into a sauna of sorts.

He had turned the entire Armour solid, with no openings whatsoever, to make sure that the ice that did get inside did not turn immediately into water and create a pool inside the Armour. Now, that same decision was making him cook inside. While he was sure that his power would eventually compensate for that as well, he did not want his body to think about cooling down somehow, not when he was in the middle of a blizzard that was very much hostile.

So, he opened up the Light Armour, letting the steam escape, and thankfully, the recent increase in temperature meant that even these hardened spikes of ice did not reach him before melting.

As for his hand still pushing that spear, he frowned as he saw that the ice continued to spread, even as he felt like the spear was making real progress. The ice progression had slowed down as his body’s temperature increased, but he knew that this alone was not going to be enough.

The sudden haze or rage was still there, but he felt like he could make somewhat rational decisions now, which was good, but what was not good was his foolish decision to just push through the spear, and see what the sphere was all about.

Just because he wanted to get out of this place. There were other options, but now, since he already had his arm half frozen, he could only go all the way. The other option was to withdraw and risk the injuries on his arm, or call out Lavinia or Azazel to stop the test. The last option was unpalatable because the fact that he was still awake meant he could fight more and adapt more, and grow even stronger. 

That was the end goal, after all. 

Grow so strong no one could do anything to him, and from the looks of it, he still had far to go.

Shaking his head, he felt his power respond by increasing his body’s temperature up a notch, turning the insides of the Light Armour partially red, forcing the ice to recede before it paused. He narrowed his eyes as he felt a spike in energy all around him, reversing the trend and forcing the ice to flow back up his arm.

The spike of magic came from everywhere at once, so the ice durability also increased in response. 

At the same time, his eyes widened as he realised something, something that he probably should have realised from the start, and what probably was the reason why Azazel sent Lavinia to the spar.

The energy required for his adaptation.

How could he forget so soon that he needed energy for his power to do anything? Before coming here, he had to make do with absurd amounts of food, even resorting to eating tree branches and everything, just to fuel his power. After his first encounter with Kokabiel, and then Baraqiel, it was made clear to him that he no longer needed to eat to fuel his power.

It was probably first created when he ate Raynare’s wing. This pool of light grew so much over the course of his fight with Kokabiel, as his body constantly came into contact with the Light Spears, got injured, and then had to adapt to that using all the food he ate in the entrance exam as fuel.

His power probably added things up and just began absorbing all that light into the small pool of energy created from consuming part of Raynare’s wing. That made the pool grow so large that he managed to adapt to so many things before even feeling hungry. 

Lavinia’s Sacred Gear meant that he could not absorb anything to fill up the pool of energy he had within him, and that meant he was not going to adapt to many things from now on. Her Sacred Gear was the perfect counter for someone like him, who needed energy to fight and grow, and this application of her Sacred Gear deprived him exactly of that.

No Light. No Heat. No Food.

Nothing.

Just ice, cold, and darkness, as his mind grew frustrated from the lack of progress, and he made moves that eventually led to his defeat. Sure, he was going to lose anyway, but if he had made some smart decisions earlier, he would have….

Eh.

He shrugged, discarding that line of thinking. Haze of rage or otherwise, it was he who made those decisions, and now he was going to go through with them.

So, even as he felt the pool of energy dip to dangerous levels, he continued to push, and miraculously, because he chose to ignore the Light Armour’s defence and focus only on offense, he managed to crack the sphere, and the last thing he saw was a flash of white, followed by a chill so overwhelming that he probably felt it in his soul.

Well played, Azazel. Well played.