A New Motivation: Chapter 6

Later that afternoon, the entire peerage was gathered in an open field on the edge of Kuoh. There was a small patch of forest nearby and the sun shone brightly down on us from the cloudless sky.

I watched curiously as Akeno lowered her hands, faint wisps of magic fading from her digits. As she did so, something snapped into place in my senses, like an invisible cage that extended several dozen meters in all directions. I looked up and around, not seeing anything but somehow still knowing something was there.

“The field is set up, Rias.” Akeno said as she stepped back to her place beside the redhead, “Nobody should bother us so long as it’s active.”

Rias smiled, clapping her hands, “Wonderful! That means we can get started.”


I raised my hand in questioning, “So what exactly are we doing out here? You said something about testing my abilities, right?”

“That's right.” She nodded, “ Since you're the newest member of the peerage, we need to test your abilities to see what you might need to work on in the coming weeks.”

That made sense. Issei went through training when he first joined, though I was pretty sure that had more to do with how laughably weak he was than anything else.

“Okay, so how are we doing this?” I asked, looking towards my King, “Just spars or something more technical?”

She put a hand on her chin, making a thinking face, “Hmm, I’m thinking two spars. One with Kiba to test your swordsmanship and another with Koneko to test your strength and general endurance. I know you two have already fought but from what you've told me, it wasn't really much of an actual fight.”

“True.” I nodded, “It was more me trying to defuse the situation and Koneko trying to bash my head in.”

“You're pretty good at dodging.” The white-haired Rook chimed in, “Even if you can't fight, being hard to hit counts for something.”

“Well we don't know if she can't fight just yet.” Akeno said, “That's what we're here to figure out.”

Rias clapped her hands, “Alright then, no reason to wait any longer, let's go ahead start with swordsmanship. Kiba, if you would?”

“Of course, Rias.” Kiba walked from the group to stand across from me on the field.

Whatever was laying heavy on his mind from two days ago was clearly still there, hidden in his eyes and the way he walked, but just like in the show, the Knight was extremely good at hiding his true feelings, making it hard to tell if they were even there in the first place.

He gave me a gentle smile as he turned to face me, “Let's get this underway, shall we? I imagine I don't need to create a sword for you considering, well…” he gestured at my arm.

I laughed lightly as the rest of the Peerage went to stand off to the side, “No, I think I'll be fine.” I said, holding my demonic arm out in front of me.

Yamato appeared in my hand in a flash of blue light, the sheath already absent from the weapon as I began to get into a ready position. The movements felt natural to me as I lowered my stance and adjusted my grip on the weapon’s hilt.

Kiba's eyes widened as I finished readying myself, “That stance… Nero, you said you don't have any formal training, correct?”

I blinked at the sudden line of questioning, “Uh, yeah. The first time I even held a sword was when I was transported here.”

“I see… Well then, perhaps it's just a coincidence.” Kiba shook his head to clear away the thoughts before placing his hands together in front of him as if he was grasping something. Light coalesced in his grip much like it had for me when I summoned my weapon.

When it died down, he was holding a simple yet sturdy-looking longsword in his grip, He gave it a few experimental swings before lowering into his own stance, “I look forward to seeing you use that blade of yours, Nero. Even if this is a simple spar.”


I gave him a somewhat nervous grin, “Well don’t get your hopes too high. I’ve never actually used Yamato before so I’ll be going completely off of instinct here.”

Kiba just gave me a gentle smile, “Just do your best, Nero. We’re here to test your abilities, not compete in our swordsmanship.”

‘Thank God for that.’ I thought, only to immediately wince at the mention of the deity. Right, I couldn't do that anymore. That was gonna take some getting used to.

“Alright, are the two of you ready?” Rias called out from the sidelines. I adjusted my grip on Yamato, nodding firmly while across from me, Kiba did the same.

“Begin!”

At Rias’s words, Kiba shot towards me with incredible speed. I was barely able to bring Yamato up to block in time, my shoes digging into the ground below me as I fought against the strength of his strike.

Instinct guided me and I slid Yamato across the length of his weapon, breaking our bladelock and aiming for his body behind his guard.

Kiba's arm blurred and suddenly his sword was in front of me once again, deflecting my strike off to the side even as he stepped forward into my guard, striking out with an elbow that I managed to dodge.

As we settled into a steady rhythm of clashing blades, it became abundantly clear that Kiba was holding back. The blond teen was only a little faster than Koneko had been when they fought which didn’t make much sense considering the Rook was arguably the slowest member of the peerage before Issei joined.

My eyes were able to keep up with his attacks and my body took the information it had been given and acted accordingly, parrying and defecting strikes while my brain looked for openings in the Knight's guard or an opportunity to create one myself.

I found an opening as Kiba’s body shifted just a bit too far forward on one of his downswings, leaving his right shoulder open. My blade flashed as I swiped out with it, hoping to score a clean hit on his shoulder.

Kiba’s body blurred and his blade was suddenly in front of mine once more, blocking my attack. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“You know,” Kiba suddenly spoke up as we locked blades once more, “I had half expected to have already needed to create another sword by now given how sharp and powerful that weapon is said to be.”

His blade pushed hard against my own and I took the opportunity to dance backwards and away from him, creating some space between us as his sword jerked at the sudden loss of resistance.

He immediately closed that distance however, not willing to give me any sort of respite as he slashed out towards me once more.

“The Yamato is only as powerful as its wielder.” I answered, defending against a thrust towards my abdomen by deflecting it off to the side, “With how weak I am compared to the people who usually wield it, it’s nothing but an extremely sharp katana.”

It was something that I had found out through my admittedly limited experimenting with the weapon. The legendary weapon was said to be able to slice through anything it touches and had been the only thing able to actually damage Nero’s arm if I remember correctly. In my hands though, it was sharp, sure, but it wasn’t cutting through steel without a great deal of actual physical force behind it.

Kiba made a face of understanding, “Ah, I see. Well then we have something to work towards. I would hate to see such an incredible weapon go to waste.”

I gave him a smile as we broke apart to stand across from each other once more, “Well then why don’t you take it up a notch? We can’t really test my abilities unless you’re pushing them, right?”

Kiba smirked and his stance changed subtly, “I suppose that’s true. Prepare yourself, Nero. I am about to stop holding back.”

Less than a second after his words, Kiba blurred in my vision and suddenly he was directly in front of me, swinging at my middle with his sword. I scrambled to defend myself, managing to deflect the strike along the length of Yamato but it was just followed up just as quickly by another one. And then another, and another, and another, until my arms were beginning to strain just from the effort required to keep up with the more experienced devil.

The assault ended as my footing failed and I tripped over myself, falling backwards into the grass as Yamato fell from my fingers atthe shock of the impact.

The moment that I landed, I began to rise in order to continue the spar, but I froze when the sharp steel of Kiba’s sword was placed under my chin. I slowly looked up to him, finding him smiling down at me genially, “I suppose that’s that.”

I nodded slowly and the weapon was immediately removed from my throat, “Yeah, I guess so. Man, you're fast.”

“I try.” He said in amusement as he bent down to help me up. I accepted his offered hand gratefully and he hauled me to my feet with little effort on his part, “You performed quite well considering that was your first sword duel. Well done, Nero.”

“It was mostly all instinct.” I waved off his praise as I bent down to pick up Yamato from the ground, “This body has an instinctual knowledge on how to handle a sword. I just sort of went with the flow during that fight.”

Kiba shook his head at my words as I dismissed my weapon with a blue flash, “Even if it's instinct, you did well keeping your cool and allowing that instinct to take over. Most new fighters would lock up or panic when faced with a superior opponent, but you didn't. That means you're already on the right track.”

“If you hone that instinct and add some of your own, I’m sure you’ll be a proficient fighter in no time.” He patted my shoulder lightly, “Just keep practicing. And if you are ever up for another spar, you can find me any time.”

I smiled, slightly buoyed by the sound advice, “Thank’s Kiba. I just might do that.”

“Alright!” Rias clapped her hands loudly as Kiba moved to stand on the sidelines, “That was a great showing, Nero! Now it’s time for the next test. Koneko.”

I looked over at Koneko as she made her way towards me. The white-haired Nekoshou pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves with pink pawprints on the back, giving me a stoic look, “Make sure you fight back this time. That kick was pretty good but we need more to actually judge you.”

In response to her words, I looked over towards Rias, “Can I use Red Queen? I'm not sure a hand-to-hand fight between her and I would be of a fight at all.”

Rias raised an eyebrow at my request before looking over towards Koneko. The Nekoshou just shrugged, “She’s probably right . I don't mind letting her use the big sword as long as she doesn't use the sharp end.”

Rias gave me the nod and I grinned, “Awesome.” I held out my hand and brought out Red Queen, my arm dipping slightly at the familiar weight.

I turned the blade around, holding it backwards so the blunt end faced outwards. It would prevent me from using the Exceed system unless I wanted to light myself on fire as well, but given that this was a friendly spar there shouldn’t be any need to use that aspect of the weapon.

I took a moment to get used to the change that this caused in my stance before turning to give Rias a nod, “Alright, I’m ready.”

She looked over to Koneko, making sure the girl was ready as well, before raising her hand in the air to signal us, “Ready… Begin!”

Unlike with Kiba, I was the one who went on the offensive first. The moment that Rias gave the signal, I shot forward at my max speed, clearing the distance between Koneko and I incredibly quickly as I brought Red Queen back to slam it forward into her stomach.

As I got close, the Rook simply jumped upwards, dodging my attack by moving over it and allowing me to pass her by. As she landed behind me, she twisted on her heel and lashed out with a closed fist which I managed to dodge by a hair.

She continued turning with her attack, bringing her other fist to bear and I sidestepped this one, swinging out with Red Queen as I dodged past her in hopes of scoring a hit on her side. She managed to turn in time, holding her palms out to catch my attack.

Red Queen slammed into her hands with a heavy thud. Koneko’s eyes widened and she took a small step back, having underestimated the amount of force I had put behind my strike. She recovered quickly though, throwing her arms downward and causing me to stumble as the resistance behind my weapon disappeared suddenly.

She lunged up, leg bent as she attempted to plant her knee in my jaw. I swerved to the side causing her to miss, but wasn’t able to do anything about her next maneuver as she kicked the ground to continue rising with her knee. She grabbed me by the shoulders before flipping over me, keeping her grip all the while.

A yelp escaped my mouth as she used her monstrous strength to literally throw me across the field.

By some miracle, I managed to flip myself in midair so that I landed on my feet instead of my face, stumbling slightly on the grass. I whirled around as I got my footing, bringing Red Queen in front of me as my eyes locked onto my opponent.

Koneko had jumped up after she had thrown me, leaping into the air and cocking her fist back to strike at me from on high. Just like I had in the forest, I bright Red Queen up to block the attack, trusting the powerful metal to hold up against Koneko’s strike. That was a mistake.

My eyes widened as Koneko suddenly twisted in mid air, reeling her foot back and slamming it against the bottom of Red Queen’s hilt with an incredible amount of force. The sword shot out of my grip at mach speed, becoming nothing more than a blur of steel as it flew to impale the ground several yards away.

I reeled backwards, unbalanced from the sudden loss of my weapon. Koneko landed on the ground in front of me and the Nekoshou wasted absolutely no time in following up on her attack, pivoting on her heel and landing a devastating kick directly to my chest.

I went flying backwards, the air completely knocked out of me. I let out a silent gasp as I landed on the ground with a harsh thud, and I had less than a second to recover before my head up as I caught the sound of footsteps approaching rapidly.

My eyes widened in horror as Koneko leapt into the air, bringing her leg back for a heel smash directly into my body. My mind flashed back to the damage such an attack had wrought on the ground in the forest and the horror only deepened. Increased durability or not, an attack like that would destroy me!

Later, I would think to myself that Koneko likely would have stopped before she actually hit me, but in the moment and faced with the tiny devil’s incredible power, I panicked. Filled with fear at the thought of taking that devastating kick to my body, I thrust my oddly tingling demonic arm out in a feeble attempt to defend myself.

A bright blue spectral arm shot forward at my gesture, surging towards the airborne Koneko as her eyes widened at its appearance. Devil wings emerged from her back as she twisted in midair to dodge the attack, arresting her momentum completely as she flipped backwards and the Devil Bringer slid along her chest, just barely missing her surprised face.

I broke out of my shock and capitalized on the opening that presented itself. Guided by instinct, I thrust my hand forward once more and was rewarded with the spectral arm shooting towards Koneko again, the splayed hand closing into a fist. She wasn’t able to dodge the second attack, having turned her back to me during her flip and the arm slammed into the middle of her back.

With a grunt, she was sent flying towards the nearby patch of forest. She wasn’t able to arrest her momentum in time, either due to surprise or simply because she was moving too fast, and I winced as she slammed into the trunk of a tree, snapping it in half and flying through it.

I just stared at the spectral arm as it floated back to me, dissipating into thin air moments before it actually reached me. That was one of the powers of the Devil Bringer! How had I done that?

I wasn't able to dwell on it long as the sound of snapping wood caught my attention. I turned my gaze forward once more to find Koneko standing up from the remnants of the tree, shaking leaves and twigs out of her hair.

The Nekoshou dusted herself off, looking at me with far more wariness than before, before settling back into a fighting stance. I tensed, preparing to rise, but I was saved from having to go another round with the pint-sized girl by a voice shouting from the sidelines.

“Alright, that's enough!” Rias called out ending the spar before we could start again.

Koneko immediately dropped from her stance at the words, relaxing her body as I did the same with a sigh of silent relief. She walked forward to help me up, grabbing my sword from where it had fallen as I got back to my feet, and tossed it to me as if it weighed nothing, which to her it probably didn't.

I winced slightly at the twinge of pain in my fingers as I caught my weapon. Koneko kicking Red Queen out of my hands hadn't hurt in the moment, but now that the adrenaline was fading it was actually starting to sting a bit along with my chest where she had kicked me.

I put it out of my mind as the rest of the peerage made their way over, Akeno immediately moving towards Koneko to check the girl over.

The stoic girl didn't make any noise of protest as Akeno looked her over, “Hmm, nothing but some scuffs and maybe some bruises. You're as sturdy as ever, Koneko.”

Koneko nodded as if that was a given, and Akeno then made her way over to me, giving me the same treatment as the Rook.

“And what about you, Nero?” She gave me a smile, “Any injuries?”

“Oh, uh my fingers hurt a little, I guess. My chest too.” I said quietly, not really sure why I did. She held out her hand and I hesitated for a second before placing my hand in hers.

“Hmm… not broken luckily.” She said as she examined my digits, “A very minor sprain I'd say. A good night of sleep should fix it right up.”

Even as she spoke, I could feel the pain lessening, as if it was healing by the second which was likely true. Nero had an insane healing factor, all of the DMC protagonist's did, and I had inherited that from him as well.

In a few minutes, my fingers probably wouldn't even be slightly sore.

“Thanks, Akeno.” I said quietly, not quite looking at her face as I moved to pull my hand back

“Of course, Nero. Now I just need to check your chest for injuries as well.” She said happily, like it was nothing.

I froze, “U-um, no thank you. I think I'll be fine.” I said quickly, practically jerking my hand out of her grip, “I'm sure it’ll be fine. I'll just sleep on it!”

She blinked in slight surprise before a smile split her lips that she covered with a hand, “Ufufufu… if you insist.” She tittered, stepping away from me.

Rias shook her head at her Queen's actions before turning to Koneko and Kiba as the pair walked up to her “So what do you guys think?”

Kiba hummed, “Her swordsmanship is much better than a beginner's. If she works on her fundamentals and trains her brain up to the same level as the instincts her body currently possesses, I'm sure she'll be a force to be reckoned with in no time.”

Rias took in his feedback intently before nodding and turning to Koneko for hers.

The Nekoshou shrugged, “We didn't really fight long enough to test her endurance, but that kick I gave her probably would have put most people out.”

She looked down at her hands, now bereft of her gloves and I noticed they were slightly red, as if she had received a particularly hard high-five, “She's strong too. It actually kind of hurt to catch her sword.”

“I see.” Rias put a hand on her chin, thinking to herself, “This will definitely make it easier to come up with a training regimen. With just a few more tests, I should be able to have one out by the end of the week at least.”

She closed her eyes in thought for a moment, “Let's see… scheduled practice with Kiba and Koneko to go over some fighting fundamentals and training with myself to get a handle on your new physiology…”

“Speaking of physiology,” Kiba chimed in, “What was that blue arm you manifested during your fight with Koneko? Something to do with that right arm, I assume?”

I nodded, bringing it up to examine it, “Yeah, it was a manifestation of the Devil Bringer. Nero used them to extend his reach and pull demons in, but I've never actually created one before today.”

“Can you bring it out again?” Rias looked excited by the prospect of seeing the spectral arm once more but I hesitated.

“I’m… not sure. Like I said, today eas the first time I’ve ever brought them out and I was panicking when I did it.” I looked down at my Devil Bringer, “Hold on, let me try.”

I raised my arm in the air, trying to manifest the spectral arm once more as I focused on the same tingling feeling I had gotten when Koneko had been about to put a hole through my torso.

Nothing. Truthfully I had no idea where to even start when it came to bringing out that aspect of my powers.

“Nothing's happening.” I said, pulling my arm back to my side, “I'm not really sure how to actually bring it out. Sorry.”

Rias looked more than a bit disappointed but didn't let it get her down for long, “That's alright. That can just be something else to work on. It wouldn't do to have such a big part of your arsenal inaccessible.”

“Perhaps its manifestation is akin to magic.” Kiba spoke up with a suggestion, “That might be why it doesn't come to her instinctually like her fighting abilities. She may have to train to use it consciously.”

Rias made a thinking noise, “That might be it…”

I blinked, having forgotten that I technically now had magic thanks to being reincarnated, “Oh yeah, aren't we going to test my magic? I have that now, right?”

Even back on Earth, the idea of magic interested me. I knew I wasn't going to be spewing lightning from my fingertips or conjuring ice storms any time soon, but something like an illusion spell to hide my arm would be extremely useful.

In response to my question, Rias shook her head, “Magical talent isn't really something that can be tested like everything else. Sure we can test your capacity for magic, but you have to have a grasp on the fundamentals before we can actually test your abilities.” She explained, “The quickest way to get you to that point is with one on one tutoring.

“Luckily, we have the perfect person to teach you right here!” She finished happily, looking off to my right.

My gut sank slightly as I followed her gaze, already knowing what I would find. As I locked gazes with her, Akeno just smiled back at me serenely. Right, she was basically their mage, wasn't she?

“I would be more than happy to help our new Kohai learn to harness her new abilities. It is my duty as the Queen after all.” The closet-sadist said happily. I gulped at the faint twinkle in her amethyst eyes as she stared into mine, “As long as that's alright with her, of course.”

Rias looked towards me curiously, “Well Nero, how about it? It might help you manifest the Devil Bringer again and depending on how quickly you pick it up, you might be able to learn a spell to let you hide your arm as well.” She commented, unknowingly mirroring my earlier thoughts.

And with that, how was I supposed to refuse?

“...Yeah, that sounds great.” I said faintly,

I could handle some teasing if it meant making my arm look normal. Hopefully.