Tale of Discovery

Chapter 218: True Bully ; Strange Relationship

"Good morning," I say as a response to Nao's silent gesture.

A cute yawning sound reaches my ears as Ayumi rubs her eyes before taking a seat at the dining table.

"Hey," Misa, who is sitting beside Nao, suddenly says, "the teacher will be conducting a few tests next week."

Understanding what she's getting at, I nod my head and say, "Okay. I'll make sure that you're properly prepared."

I take this moment to look over at Sora who is cooking with the help of Kristina and Saturnus.

From the looks of it, breakfast will be prepared in a few minutes. So, I should go and retrieve Asia from heaven.

"Excuse me," I say before getting up from my seat and directly teleporting to heaven.

"Asia?" I mutter while looking around the place.

---

"Take care," I say before giving Ayumi a light peck in front of her school building.

This earns me quite a reaction from the surrounding children who were on their way to their class.

The females mostly let out some mildly annoying screeches before beginning to speak of how nice it is to have a 'handsome older brother'.

As for the males, well, they mostly didn't seem to care about the matter, but they sure stared at me intently.

"Goodbye, Brother Yu!" Ayumi cheerfully says.

I get back on my feet and lightly pat her head before saying, "Bye, Ayu."

As such, I separate from Ayumi and make my way to the others.

---

"Come on, Nao, I'm not that overprotective," I say in a little awkward tone.

"Are you trying to pass it off as you being aware of it?" she immediately asks.

"That's not true," I say, hoping that we reach the class soon.

"This guy here would probably burn the school down if something were to happen to his little sister," Misa interjects, "I would do the same too."

"See?"

"That just means you both are overprotective," Nao remarks while rolling her eyes.

"Um" Asia says a little nervously, "I think that His Holiness is just very caring."

At this moment, I sense someone latching onto my arm and pulls me along as they begin to walk faster.

"Sora?" I confusedly question.

"We will be late to class," she responds.

Hah~ At least, this is better than my over-protectiveness being determined by Nao.

Shortly, we reach our class. With the door being open, we simply step inside and head toward our seats.

---

"Rias," I say with a smile-plastered to my face, "I hope you've been doing well."

Hearing my words, Rias issues an awkward laugh while her peerage curiously looks at us.

"Your Holiness?" Akeno says, seemingly unable to cope with not knowing what's going on.

"It's nothing," I say, "I just remembered that it has been a while since I've trained Rias."

Before anything else could be said, I intone, "Arena."

The moment we arrive in the peculiar city, I use Clairvoyance to check for the presence of anything uninvited.

Fortunately, I find no traces of such a thing.

"Well then," I say, "Raynare and the rest should arrive soon. Rias, you will be accompanying me to the back of the city."

The moment my words fade, I appear behind Rias and carry her princess-style.

Startled by my actions, a slightly red hue covers Rias' face as she doesn't know how to react.

Shaking my head a little, I leap into the air and utilize Godspeed to perform an air-jump.

Then, I dash toward a park in the distance.

Upon nearing the location, I cancel out all the vectors on our bodies before crashing into the ground.

I then proceed to let Rias down before backing away from her a little and say, "You will now experience what genuine bullying is like."

Hearing this, Rias' face turns pale as an expression of abject horror forms.

"Don't be afraid," I say, "You'll just be experiencing a few new things."

Well then, it's time to see the full extent of my power.

Looking down at the ground I pull my arm back before punching at it with as much force as I can.

The next moment, the ground shakes as a ridiculously huge crater forms at the point of impact.

That's not the end of it, as I swiftly grab Rias and fly into the sky before my punch's shock-wave spreads.

Once we're high enough, Rias and I watch with widened eyes as dozens of surrounding buildings crumble down one after another.

"No way," Rias mutters disbelievingly.

Well, I can understand why she wouldn't want to believe what she just witnessed. After all, this one punch of mine destroyed more than half of the city.

Looking over at where her peerage is, I notice that the shock-wave barely reached them.

Letting out a sigh, I descend to the ground set Rias down once again before saying, "Sorry about that. Now, let's practice, shall we?"

The moment the words leave my mouth, Rias' demonic wings appear as she gets down on both of her knees and says, "Forgive me!"

"Get up," I immediately say while telekinetically lifting her, "I obviously won't be using my full power during practice."

Despite getting back on her feet, I notice that there is a glint of fear in Rias' eyes.

Of course, she would still be afraid of me... I should've tried the extent of my power some other time.

Looking over at Rias once more, I'm reminded of the fact that she's just a teenager that has a little more responsibility than others.

Letting out a sigh, I take a step forward, causing Rias to flinch.

However, I continue to approach her before embracing her.

Startled, Rias lets out a yelp before stepping back and looking into my eyes with confusion apparent on her face.

"I've said this already, but you don't need to fear me. I have no reason to hurt you."

After a few seconds of pure silence, Rias finally opens her mouth and asks, "Why are you doing this now? Isn't your objective complete now that you have taken back heaven?"

A smile forms on my lips as I say, "You have changed, Rias."

Previously, Rias would've just made assumptions on her own. That in itself is not a bad thing, as she most of the time was right, however, she wouldn't have relied on anyone else for most matters, which was a fatal flaw.

Now, she can look me in the eye - the one who just demolished most of a city by a single punch - and ask me about my objective.

Raising my arms, I begin clapping, confusing Rias even further before I say, "It's very simple."

I let my left arm down, but keep my right arm raised and point my finger at her before proclaiming, "You already belong to me."

Rias' confusion grows as she asks, "What do you mean?"

"You will receive everything you desire, accomplish your objectives, and achieve your dreams," I state while grinning.

Instead of rejoicing, Rias frowns and says, "This offer is too good to be for free."

"You're right," I say, causing her to furrow her brows even further, "You will offer me yourself in exchange."

"Offer you myself?" she mutters before her eyes widen as she disbelievingly exclaims, "Marriage?!"

I don't respond to her exclamation but just grin.

Seeing this, Rias' face flushes red as she begins to mutter some gibberish to herself for a few seconds before she looks into my eyes and says, "But, I'm a devil..."

"Do you think that matters to me?" I teasingly question.

Anyway, this should be enough.

The smile on my face disappears as I adopt a serious expression and say, "We've wasted enough time. Let's begin our training."

Sensing the seriousness in my voice, Rias tries her best to compose herself before taking on a defensive stance.

"Here I come," I shout before appearing right beside her, prepared to punch her side.