A New Motivation: Chapter 3

I wasn’t able to wonder for long as I was soon preoccupied with trying to prevent my head from getting knocked off of my shoulders via the tiny Nekoshou's fist.

I just barely managed to dodge underneath the punch by crouching hastily, gulping slightly at the rush of air ruffling the top of my hair. Koneko was quick to follow up, swinging a fist upwards in a makeshift uppercut aiming straight for my jaw.

I sprang backward, my enhanced strength sending me soaring several feet away from the angry Devil. She was quick to follow however, and the moment my feet touched the ground I was forced to dodge another punch aimed at me, slipping to the side in a panicked motion.

I paled slightly at the rush of wind the strike had produced, endeavoring to not get hit by that at all costs.

I ducked behind a tree, using the thick wood as cover and crouching down to make myself smaller. Koneko’s fist slammed into the bark, splintering with astounding ease and practically slicing the tree in two with the force of her blow. Her hand passed just over my head, my wide eyes tracking its movement as it then retreated, leaving the irreparably damaged plant in its wake.

Thinking quickly as the tree began to fall, I grabbed it with a hand, fingers clenching into the bark with a light crunch as I guided its descent onto Koneko, aiming it so it would slam down onto her.

Devils were made of stern stuff, and Rook's were sterner than most. I knew it would do exactly nothing to the girl if it even managed to hit in the first place, I just needed some sort of distraction to gain some distance from her.

The distraction did manage to work as Koneko became preoccupied with grabbing the tree instead of letting it hit her. I was able to gain much more distance, jumping back until I was several meters away from the angry girl, watching for her next move warily.

Horror filled me as instead of simply putting the tree down or tossing it aside, Koneko hefted it above her head. With a small grunt, the first noise I had heard her make since our fight started, she threw it at me. The thing had to weigh at least half a ton and she threw it with barely any effort.

I was starting to realize I might be a bit in over my head here.

I stared in numb terror as the massive piece of wood soared towards me, before mentally slapping myself and springing into action. The angle she had thrown it at had made it practically impossible to dodge, having thrown it sideways and around waist height so I couldn’t simply slide under it or jump over it, I would have to stop it manually.

I slipped my demonic hand free from its sling, bringing it up beside the other one as I braced myself to do something I really would rather not have. The tree approached rapidly, closing the distance between us in seconds and as it reached me, I held my hands out to catch it.

It slammed into my palms with incredible force, nearly making me drop it then and there. I recovered quickly however, and my claws and fingers both clenched into the bark of the tree, holding it in place firmly. I grunted as my feet skidded backwards from the force Koneko had thrown it with, my shoes carving lines in the dirt as I did my best to bleed off the momentum.

I gave a small sigh of relief as I managed to halt the tree, coming to a stop a few feet from where I had initially caught it. It was still extremely heavy, but it seemed that this body was much stronger than I had originally thought. That was good, it would have been embarrassing to simply get bowled over by the tree in an attempt to stop it.

Suddenly remembering where I was, I rose my gaze back up to my opponent only to widen them in panic at the sight of the Nekoshou darting towards me once more. I had no way to defend myself with the massive log in my hands, and as I went to drop it she had already reached me.

Koneko’s fist slammed into the tree and broke through it with the same ease as before, fist crashing through the bark and straight into my chest. My eyes widened and my mouth opened in a soundless gasp as I felt my ribs bend to the verge of breaking, before I was sent flying backwards at incredible speeds. I flipped once, the world turning around me at a dizzying pace before I slammed back into the ground, all of my former momentum being sent directly into the ground. I slid across the dirt, completely stunned as I carved a furrow into the grass. My back and shoulders scraped along rock and tree roots, pushing everything out of the way of my durable body for several meters.

I managed to regain my bearings, and I placed my foot against the soft dirt left disturbed by my wake and pushed off of it with as much strength as was possible in my position. Luckily it was enough and I flipped back to my feet, stumbling slightly at the sudden feeling of vertigo that I was experiencing.

I groaned, bringing a hand up to clutch at my chest as my ribs ached in pain, feeling for the damage. They still felt as solid as ever so they were likely only bruised which was good. I couldn’t imagine what they would feel like if Koneko had simply punched me straight on.

I didn’t have much time to imagine however as soon enough Koneko was on me once more and we were once again trapped in our little dance of attacking and dodging. My aching ribs screamed out at me with each of my movements but I bore with it. I couldn’t afford another slip up or bruised ribs would be the least of my worries.

“Look, I understand the wariness, this is really sketchy and I'll admit that's my fault!” I panted out as I continued to dodge her, all the while extremely glad I wasn't fighting Kiba instead. I wouldn't have lasted nearly as long against the Knight, “But I don't understand why you're attacking me!”

Koneko just scowled, “Are you an idiot? You must be if you ever thought I would let you get anywhere near Rias.” She growled, swinging a leg that I just barely managed to redirect, my palms stinging with the effort as it slipped past me to crater the ground. I tried to step back, but she was immediately up and swinging at me again, “I don’t know what you are, but you don’t smell human and you definitely aren’t a Devil or Yokai. That’s all the reason I need.” She snarled.

I winced at the words, “I am human! Well, mostly at least.” I defended, continuing to dodge her to the best of my abilities, “And I swear I don’t have any ill intentions with Rias! I just need to talk to her!”

“Bullshit.” Koneko made to kick and I brought my hands up to redirect it once more, only to gasp in horror as she fainted, using my slip-up to instead grab my arms in her crushing grip. She twisted with my arms and my eyes widened as my feet left the ground, the small girl lifting me up and over her shoulder, before hurling me away from her with astounding strength.

I slammed into a nearby tree with a loud thud and crunch as the bark splintered from my impact. I slid to the ground with a pained sigh as my ribs ached strongly. I blearily opened my eyes as a sharp crack reached my ears, before opening them wide as I saw Koneko hefting another fucking tree onto her shoulders to throw.

I scrambled to my feet as she adjusted her grip, rearing it back and throwing it towards me as she had before. Luckily for me, this one was thrown much higher than the last, giving me the opportunity to dodge instead of catch it. I did so, sliding on my knees underneath the tree, bark ruffling by hair as it went soaring over my head.

I sprung back to my feet and was immediately met with Koneko once more as the girl had followed behind her projectile. She jumped into the air and I scrambled backwards as she slammed a fist into the ground directly in front of me, managing to actually gain some distance this time as she was left with her fist in the dirt.

I couldn’t keep this up. I didn’t know how much stamina this body had, but I was almost certain that the Rook had more. If I just kept dodging and trying to talk to her like this, I was going to slip up and take a hit I wouldn’t be able to shrug off. I needed to fight back.

I thought up a quick idea on what to do and as Koneko rose up to swing at me with a scowl on her face, clearly annoyed at my constant dodging, I put my plan into action.

She threw a straight punch at me, and I held up my demonic arm, using it to block as I knew it was much stronger then my normal one, bracing my regular arm behind it just in case it still wasn’t enough.

I grunted as her fist slammed into the arm with extreme force, feeling the impact run throughout my entire body. Luckily my arm held magnificently, and I was sent rocketing backwards from the force of her blow which had been my plan all along.

As I flew backwards, I focused my will into my hidden arm and accessed my storage. The moment my feet touched the ground, Koneko immediately followed up on her attack, springing forward to meet me once more, and as she got close, a bright blue flash lit up the forest.

Koneko’s fist slammed into the flat of Red Queen with the loud clang of metal meeting something just as hard and my feet slid along the ground slightly from the force of her impact. The Rook’s eyes widened as she took in the sudden appearance of my weapon, faltering in her assault for the first time, and something clicked in the back of my head.

Instincts that weren’t my own guided me as slid the flat of Red Queen along her fist, causing her to stumble forward slightly in her stunned state as it disappeared from underneath her, before twisting the weapon and delivering a quick slash in her direction.

She recovered from her loss of balance extremely quickly and dodged the attack by bending backwards, allowing it to fly over her. Red Queen’s blade passed inches from her face, cutting through the air with the sound of rushing wind as she stared at it with wide eyes.

Once again guided by instinct, I capitalized on the Rook’s unbalanced state by shooting a foot forward, slamming my shoe into her abdomen with all the strength I could currently muster. It was apparently enough, and Koneko was sent rocketing backwards with a grunt that I felt was more surprised than pained.

She managed to flip herself upright in the air, wings appearing on her back and flaring outwards to allow her to softly land on her feet several meters away from me in a crouch. They disappeared as she rose slowly, watching as I pulled Red Queen back to me, staring at the blade with the first emotion I had seen from her that wasn’t anger. Confusion.

The confusion soon gave way to what seemed like derision however, and she scoffed as she raised her fists once more, “That's a pretty good cosplay, but a sword isn't going to help you, especially one as bulky as that. It's not even a holy weapon.”

In response to her statement, I took a page out of the original Nero’s book, slamming the tip of the blade into the ground. I twisted my wrist on its hilt, activating the Exceed system as the red and gold weapon began to glow warningly as the propellant sprayed onto it was ignited with the sound of a revving engine.

“I'm sure I'll manage.” I couldn't help but comment snarkily. I brought my hand to my ruined hoodie, the cheap garment barely hanging onto my body. It was covered in tears and holes and completely filthy, covered in dirt and wood chips from the fight.

Knowing that it wouldn't last another exchange and wanting to get it out of the way so it didn't trip me up, I tore it off of me, leaving me in just a t-shirt. Koneko’s eyes widened as she caught sight of my arm, nostrils flaring and I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what she was smelling. Demons in DMC were a completely different beast to the Devils in DxD, and as far as I knew they didn’t have their own equivalent.

Well whatever, I would find out later. Provided I managed to fight off the girl intent on taking my head or at least talk her out of it.

There was a long moment where the two of us simply stared at each other, the forest around us lit up by Red Queen’s burning blade. My fingers twitched slightly around its hilt and Koneko's eyes immediately shot to it warily.

I swallowed roughly as I took in the sudden change in atmosphere now that I had a weapon and I was suddenly filled with the sinking feeling that Koneko hadn't been trying all that hard before now.

I would really rather not fight her for real if I could help it as I knew that my chances weren't the best. Koneko had been a devil for nearly her entire life and I had just been thrust into this body recently. The fact that I was even keeping up as well as I had been so far was nothing more than dumb luck and I knew that.

“Your arm,” Koneko spoke suddenly, causing me to blink free from my thoughts, “and that sword too, they're real.” she said it like a fact, and I gave a slow nod.

“How?”

I was confused, surely this wasn’t the weirdest thing she had seen, “What do you mean?”

Her lips twisted and I was slightly surprised at the amount of emotion she was currently showing, “They’re from a video game. They aren’t real. How do you have them?” She questioned again.

Wait what? DMC was a thing here? That made no sense, why would a form of media from my old world be present in another, completely unrelated form of media like DxD? I knew for a fact that it hadn't been like that in canon because… well, it was an anime.

“I-uh…” I was at a loss for words, not really sure how to explain it. I cleared my throat quietly, trying to organize my thoughts, before I realized something important. Koneko still hadn’t attacked me. Not only that, but she was regarding me with much less hostility than before, now looking mostly confused and slightly wary. Maybe I could still salvage this situation.

“Listen,” I started softly, doing my best to come off as disarming, “I can’t really explain it at the moment, but I don't want to fight you. I know how this looks and I realize that I really should have thought this through more, but the fact remains that I need to speak to Rias.”

At her narrowing eyes, I held up a hand in surrender, “Just speak. That's all. Or if that's too much, would you at least consider taking a message for me?” I offered.

There wasn't much I could say in a message but I could probably manage enough to give her an idea of the sort of information I possessed. Giving some information on Kokabiel or the Holy Sword Project should at the very least pique her interest in me.

And if not, mentioning the latter would certainly have Kiba on a warpath to find me, though I wasn’t sure if that would necessarily be a good thing.

Koneko frowned as she took in my offer and I swallowed nervously, my fingers twitching around Red Queen’s hilt as she failed to lower her fists, merely staring at me with intense eyes. I couldn’t tell what was happening behind them, but at the very least she seemed to be considering my offer, and now I could only wait for her answer.

I really hoped it was the one that wouldn’t end with her fist planted in my ribs. I wasn’t sure I could handle another one.