CxC Chapter 19: Struggle (Patreon)

~Rias Gremory~

Rias looked down at the church with conflicted eyes, her and her peerage were watching the entire showdown through their familiars, the fallen were not skilled to the point that they could detect familiars. And Kiba was on the ground securing the perimeter far away just in case just like Yuta had asked them to.

Watching the whole ordeal she couldn't help but think.

Her newest pawn was... something else.

She didn't know what exactly to think of Yuta. He was an enigma, he always had a vacant expression with dead eyes, he seemed completely new to being a devil yet acted like a fish in water. Yet despite being made a devil against his own will and that indifferent expression he was also very kind and caring.

He always made an effort to try and get along with others. He humored her and walked her to school to every day and tried to learn about her. He took cooking classes from Akeno and he fed Koneko and earned even her approval. Kiba seemed fine with him too.

She couldn't have asked for a better peerage member. It felt like she was learning about new faces he had every day. But she liked that about him. And the new face she saw today was one that made her insides feel hot.

The Yuta that she knew seemed to care little about himself. A very tolerant and indifferent person, uncaring of what others thought about him. Less stoicism and more like apathy.

But when he saw close to him get targeted or hurt. She never saw such fervour and light in his eyes. It was like a switch was flipped inside of him. He was unwilling to care much about himself but the moment he had to protect his friend he seemed willing to chase people down to the deepest layers of hell to make sure they were safe.

From the eyes of her bat-familiar, she watched as the sweat dripped from his face and his now-defined chest heaved up and down from exhaustion, the sweaty shirt clinging to his body as he sat on his cloud. She blushed and fanned her shirt a little.

Him standing off against his woman's enemies and not giving up even in the face of adversity, defeating them no matter what. It was an unexpectedly manly side to her newest pawn that made her insides clench. It didn't help that he looked damn good doing it.

Soon after the church collapsed Yuta floated over to them while riding his cloud like the nimbus. She could clearly see just how tired he was. His eyes half lidded but he wore a smile. His self-satisfied smile did things to her.

"Hey... can anyone give me a lift home? I kinda overdid it and my mana is at its last dregs, soon the mana will end and I drop very unceremoniously."

Overdid it wasn't enough to describe what he had done. Even she would find it hard to defeat 4 fallen angels and over 50 exorcists without a single scratch a very difficult task. Yet her newest member managed to do it within his first month of learning about the supernatural.

But well, if he wanted to be escorted home she could certainly do that. After all, he deserved a reward for taking care of the Fallen Angel problem, didn't she? I could certainly help them bond together a bit more~

Rias cradled her chin and nodded to herself. Her plan was perfect.

"Ara ara~ you certainly blew all expectations out of the water Yuta-kun. You can rest now, I will take you home~" Akeno reached out for Yuta before Rias grabbed her wrist. She narrowed her eyes and smiled.

"Akeno? Won't you be busy reporting what happened today? I can take care of taking Yuta-kun home." Akeno met her gaze and sparks flew, just one shared gaze told both of them they wanted the same thing, and neither would be willing to give it up easily.

"You don't need to worry about that Buchou. It's not urgent, besides, I am the only one here who knows Asia-chan here, we wouldn't want to worry her with a stranger entering her home right~?" She could see the cold light in Akeno's eyes challenging her. Rias folded her arms.

"I will need to meet Asia-chan sooner or later regardless. As his king, it's my responsibility to care for him isn't it?" Akeno and her butted heads, neither willing to back down.

"Uh... guys, kinda running out of mana here."

"...As an unbiased third party, I can carry Yuta-senpai home. Buchou, Akeno-senpai, you both seem like you will be very busy today." Akeno and Rias' rivalry was suddenly interrupted by a third, they both turned to face Koneko. The rebuttal seemed innocent at first glance but when their eyes met they saw the scheming eyes of Koneko.

Sparks flew again and both Akeno and Rias' eyes flew wide open.

'Koneko too!? / Even Koneko-chan!?'

An unexpected rival had stepped onto the table. They hadn't even considered her here.

"Seriously, I cannot hold on for much longer."

Rias bit her thumb. She was good, Koneko was the most logical option here. After all, both she and Akeno had paperwork to do while Koneko had zero work or responsibilities to attend to.

What a shrewd cat.

"Can someone please grab me before I fall?"

"No need to worry yourself with that Koneko-chan. I am perfectly fine going." Akeno tried to play it off while Rias thought of a rebuke.

"Oop, down I go."

"There is no need for-" As Rias was speaking-

Thud.

At the soft sound of something meeting the ground, all three stopped and slowly craned their necks down to see Yuta lying face down in the dirt.

...They were too preoccupied to notice that Yuta had finally run out of mana and plummeted down to the ground.

"...I'll just take him home."

♢—•♧•—♤—•♡•—♤—•♧•—♢

~Yuta Yukimura~

"Eurgh, that's not nice."

I woke up with a slight headache.

Whatever happened last night after I passed out from exhaustion and overuse was a bit of a blue for me. I know Rias eventually picked me up and brought me back home after callously letting me drop down but beyond that, I had little in terms of memories.

Well, I did have my rewards. And considering I could hear some vague sounds from the kitchen I probably had some time before I'd get disturbed. I tilted my head to see the black ball of fur inside of my shirt, with its head pressed up against my chest.

Bobby always has a special way of charming me up. Still don't know why she always rubbed against my torso.

Anyway, time to check out my spoils while I have the time.

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Quest Complete!

Defeat All of the Fallen Angels in Kuoh without intervention! +1x Gold Trait Gacha Ticket

The Quest Completion Reward was upgraded due to flawless execution! +1x Advantage Gold Item Gacha Ticket

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I nodded to myself in satisfaction, I made sure to not get hit, firstly because I promised Rias I wouldn't get hurt but also because I wanted to see if it would help.

As expected, the more impressive a feat is the better its reward is. And clearing the event hitless certainly was more impressive.

Onto the tickets, starting with the gold trait.

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Rolling Gold Trait Gacha Ticket...

An Uncommon Trait!

[Uncommon - Kakyoin's Gift]

"Lero Lero"

Women with children and/or married women find themselves slightly more attracted to you and it is easier to start a relationship with them.

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I am extremely conflicted.

I... wanted a combat perk like Esper or Enhanced Vitality. And a trait like this one had no foreseeable use for me considering I was fairly certain I wouldn't be trying to woo any married women soon.

But on the other hand, I cannot, in good faith, as a man. Complain about getting a trait that makes Milfs like me more.

So I will instead ignore it, I don't know the extent to which they work anyway. I know Helltaker seems to be working what with Akeno seeming to favour me but then again using her as a measuring stick was hard as she seems to have something wrong with her by design.

My guess is daddy issues.

Putting that can of worms aside. It's time to roll my advantage gold ticket. After all the effort I put in, this better be something good.

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Rolling Advantage Gold Item Gacha Ticket...

[Rare - Orb of Firmament]

An orb containing ancient and primordial magic that boosts the power of the Air and Lightning magic of those who hold it.

or

[Rare - Garden of Revelations]

A mystical garden full of life and flowers, being inside of the garden makes it easier to improve your magical abilities.

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Hmm, the Garden probably won't help me too much. For some reason, I was an absolute disaster in terms of learning magic so far. And just a rare rank Item didn't seem like it would help me that much with that. And my house is too small to put a magic garden inside of it.

Orb of Firmament on the other hand is very useful to me, not only was it a clear boost to my Cloud Elemental who has been nothing but a benefit to me. But in a scenario where I am out of magic, I can hand the Orb over to Akeno since she primarily uses lightning magic.

So I chose the Orb without much deliberation. I held off on pulling out yet, I would deal with those later, I deserve a break after busting my balls hunting down those rotten fallen angels.

Not wanting to wake up Bobby I tagged in Ghost Form into slot 1 before turning it on and phasing out of my shirt. After that, I wore another shirt in my wardrobe before going downstairs.

Downstairs I saw the sight of Rias cooking breakfast in my kitchen while Asia sat at dinner table and the two casually conversed. Seeing me enter Asia's eyes widened and Rias smiled.

"Yuta-san! You are awake! I'm so glad!"

"Good morning Yuta-kun. You woke up just in time for breakfast." Rias greeted me with a warm smile while I pulled out a chair and took a seat across from Asia. No need to comment on Rias' cooking, I'd murder a Freed for some grub right now.

"You two seem to get along well. Did I miss anything?" Well, I didn't expect them not to but it was a good icebreaker.

"Yes. Rias-san told me what happened last night, she is a very nice person Yuta-san. As expected of a friend of yours, they are likewise very kind." Gah! Asia is too bright! My poor eyes are getting charred.

"Asia is a very nice girl. I'm glad you two have each other, I'm almost jealous of how close you two are." Rias said in a strange tone that almost sounded like jealousy before she turned out with a tray of steaming warm dishes that made my mouth water. As we started eating together I couldn't help but wear a wry smile.

Finally, my ordinary life is back. No more stressing about Angels and Freeds. Hopefully, there won't be any more major upheavals in my life that I have to deal with again anytime soon.

...Right?

Who am I kidding? Of course, another problem will pop up sooner or later. I should just enjoy this peace while it lasts.

A/N: The start of the harem shenanigans. Yuta opened a dangerous pandora box by raising the affection meters of all three heroines at the same time without even knowing(except for Akeno) and now, on top of his gacha grind time, there is now the matter of dealing with the shenanigans you would expect from DxD.

Speaking of, Yuta is a lucky dog. Helltaker and Kakyoin's Blessing!?(Blessing is a downgrade of the gift Hakari has) if you know anything about DxD and what I tend to favour you know that those two traits have unlocked the Pandora's box. Now that Arc 1 is completed what did you guys think about the whole Fallen Angel matter and the rewards from it as well as the Rias pov? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.