Me? Human? : Chapter 53 : Stalled & SHE DID WHAT?! (Patreon)

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

Nephilim

–Motohama Kenji–

“So–” His voice trailed off as he looked at the silent and looming form of Baraqiel, who was sitting behind a desk, and he was sitting in a chair. Both of them were in a class, with the two of them being the only occupants. Granted, the room was barely enough to sit maybe 15 students at once, but even the relatively small classroom felt big when only two people occupied it.

Not to mention, the silent treatment. That was the thing that made him notice all the little details about the room in the first place. Beyond the usual greetings, Baraqiel hadn’t said anything, and neither had he. He was just told that he had class today with Baraqiel, and he had actually expected something combat related, only to be plopped down into a classroom with Baraqiel.

Well, a theoretical lecture would have been fine as well. Maybe he could get some tips on how to better shape his Light, as it was his primary weapon at this point. But nope. Nothing on that end, either. It was as if Baraqiel was just tasked to sit with him here and do nothing. Which was stupid since Azazel definitely wouldn’t task one of his premier fighters to just babysit someone, right?

…Maybe if the person in question, who was to be babysat, was quite the human. As he was now, he could probably defeat anyone in Grigori save for Azazel, and if he lost, it would only be due to his lack of combat experience, or experience in general. He was only a teenager, after all.

With that in mind, he decided to confirm his suspicions, asking the man, “--what are we going to learn today?”

What WE? It was just him here.

Baraqiel took a while to respond, “I was told to keep a watch over you for the day. I was not given a syllabus to teach you.” The message was delivered with such a dry tone that for a second, he actually expected the man to break out into a smile and tell him that it was all a joke. Then, he was reminded that this was Baraqiel, the Fallen known to have a sense of humour that was shot dead somewhere before he was even born. 

“Alright then,” He shrugged, taking a moment to think of what they could be doing. “Can you teach me something about Light Manipulation?”

To demonstrate, he raised his hand as a light sword, then a knife, then a hammer appeared in his hand, changing shapes seamlessly, all powered by his will. It was really cool to look at, something that his mom agreed with, but it got really boring to look at his own powers after the first few times. Plus, it was not like he had anyone else to show off his powers to, so after showing the one person close to him, he was done showing off.

Baraqiel’s gaze locked onto the light shapes floating on his hand before grunting, “I was told to keep you here in this classroom, at all costs.”

He grinned, understanding the underlying message. “Great! Then you should teach me stuff, or otherwise, I will leave the classroom immediately.”

Baraqiel stood up and positioned himself in front of the door instantly. “I am afraid I can’t allow you to do that.”

Looking at the serious face of Baraqiel, with clear fighting intent, he realised that the guy was not joking or subtly referencing the fact that keeping him here was paramount. It was as if the guy had no understanding of subtlety, which meant Baraqiel was really willing to fight him to complete the task that was assigned to him.

He sighed, flopping on his desk as he realised he was dealing with just another broken Fallen Angel. Then again, thinking a little deeper into the existence of all Fallen Angels, weren’t they, by their very nature, broken?

He supposed that Baraqiel was maybe a bit more broken than everyday Fallen, what with the loss of his wife and the subsequent shunning from his only child. He wondered what Baraqiel would think of the fact that he had met and interacted with Akeno multiple times before coming here. Hell, he had received his first mental magic adaptation at Akeno’s hands.

He waved to Baraqiel to calm down. “Calm down. I am not going to leave or anything. We can just talk.”

Baraqiel looked at him for a moment more before nodding and sitting down in the teacher’s chair, which was a tad more comfortable than the ones reserved for students. He supposed that standard school rules for student comfort applied here as well, even if it was a supernatural school.

Speaking of school, “How about we trade light shape manipulation mastery lessons?”

He looked at Baraqiel and wiggled his eyebrows as he summoned a sword; only this sword was tiny, barely the size of his palm. Baraqiel looked at his sword before his hands twitched, summoning a Long Greatsword that was half his size.

His eyes twitched at the size discrepancy. Was he dealing with a broken Fallen or a not all there in the head Fallen?

Before he could say anything, though, Baraqiel corrected his mistake and shrank the sword. 

“I am not used to this,” Baraqiel offered an explanation, which he took to mean asking for the use of being able to create shrunken weaponry. He grinned as he began educating the centuries older Fallen on the art of slipping in much smaller weapons under the guise of larger ones to confuse, distract, and then, eventually, kill your enemies. It was not a tried or tested tactic by any means, but anything to pass the time, he supposed.

He wondered why Azazel wanted him here for a long time. It couldn't be anything bad, as Azazel would have sent more people to deal with him if Azazel thought that he was going to fly into a rage episode. Thinking of something, he asked the man himself, “How long are you supposed to keep me here?”

Baraqiel didn’t reply for a moment, too busy engaging in the mini sword fight in front of them, all with knights on horses and more. It was funny watching Baraqiel try to fend off his attacks, especially since he elongated and shrunk his conjurations at will. It was fun watching the man not even change his expression, as Baraqiel did his best to match him in terms of light manipulation. 

Sure, macro light manipulation? Baraqiel would probably beat him or match him hands down, but micro? Now, that was a skill that Baraqiel apparently did not have, or rather, did not need to cultivate in his long life. Understandable, but it just made the game all the more funny, as he absolutely demolished Baraqiel in a game using skills that had zero use in regular combat, all the while Baraqiel was taking it all seriously.

After a while, Baraqiel replied to his original question, “Until evening.”

He nodded, as they engaged in yet another miniature battle. It was fun. Sure, he was curious and somewhat suspicious as to what Azazel was doing, but he couldn't really do anything about that, beyond storming his way out of here and depriving his mother of what little stability she had gotten after their entire life back in Kuoh had to be uprooted. No, it was far better to just ask Azazel himself when he inevitably appeared. After all, Azazel was narcissistic like that.

___xx__

“So,” he began, watching as Baraqiel’s sword suddenly turned into a twin sword, skewering his warrior and destroying his warrior’s sword at the same time, “You know where I come from, right?”

Say what you will about the Fallen, but Baraqiel, being an old fuck warrior who should be rigid and inflexible, at least when it came to combat tactics, was anything but, as the old Fallen had picked up on all he could in the past couple of hours and was not matching his micro light conjurations blow for blow. 

Until suddenly, Baraqiel didn’t quite stop the very obvious blow coming for his warrior, coinciding with his question.

Baraqiel stopped the game and looked at him with a blank look on his face, even more so than usual. “Yes? You come from Kuoh Town. It was in the debrief we were all given.”

He rolled his eyes at the blatant admission, as Baraqiel was really blunt.

“Yup. I come from Kuoh Town, and more importantly, from Kuoh High School as well.”

Baraqiel gave him a look, somewhere in between don’t say anything and please say more, so he just continued.

“You know, I have an energy sensing ability, right?”

“...It did come up in the debrief, yes.”

“So, that energy sensing also gives me, let’s just call them flavours, of magic. And yours, in particular, is quite similar to that of a senior I used to know.”

Baraqiel sighed before straightening up in his seat, giving him a deadpan look, somehow drier than even his normal expression, which was supposed to be impossible!

“I assume you are talking about Akeno?”

He gasped theatrically, “Ho! So, you know about her!”

“Yes, she is my daughter.”

Seeing that Baraqiel was not playing anymore into the game, he shrugged, “Just wanted you to know. I thought you didn’t know about her.”

Baraqiel went silent once more before replying, “I have known about her for a long time.”

“Then why not approach her?”

“.....It’s complicated.”

“Then uncomplicate it.”

“...You are not going to let this go, are you?”

“Do you have anything else interesting to do? Or are you going to let me walk out of here?” He countered with a grin on his face, enjoying the byplay.

“She….hates me.” Baraqiel finally admitted, and it looked like the admission caused him physical pain, which was understandable for a father with responsibilities that did not give him the luxury of living with and raising his own daughter.

He nodded, “I see. Why so?”

Baraqiel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I think that is enough.”

“Why, though? We were just about to get into the fun part!”

One way or another, he was going to get a big reaction from Baraqiel.

____xx___

New Lilith, Underworld

–Serafall—

“She did what?!” She shouted into her phone, receiving a squeak in response, as she slammed the phone down and looked at the stack of papers that arrived a moment later. Snatching them before they even touched the table, she rifled through them speedily because of the urgency.

Once she was done, she looked up, as if asking for help from someone who was one, dead, and two, would not have helped her even if he was alive. Then, she threw the report on the desk before groaning and leaning back in her chair.

Why did Rias have to let such a valuable piece get away?

An Ultimate Class human at high school age? Even if Rias had tried to turn him, she would have failed, but at least she would have known which protocols to invoke in that case. Instead, she scared him off to the point that he was now a part of Azazel’s academy, and they couldn't really move against him anymore. While Devils were not really an official signatory to the treaty between Azazel and Michael about the neutrality of that school, they still unofficially abided by the terms.

It was just that making it official would have raised quite the ruckus, so it was more of a private arrangement.

Just what was Sona doing all this time?!

Then, she perked up, a smile finding its way to her face, as she hastily grabbed the phone and called Sona.

After all, this was an official reason to call her, so she couldn't just hang up and ignore her.

Truly, every cloud has a silver lining.