Reborn as a Dragon Slayer in Draconic Deus

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

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Narrator POV

The morning after Haruki left the Gremory family residence, all other members of the ORC had gathered in the garden, with each of them wearing jerseys, even Azazel. Azazel held a wad of documents in his hand, which had the data that he had acquired by extrapolating from the scenes in the recording crystal.

"I'll be honest. I don't know if I should be impressed with Haruki for fixing y'all up this well, or with y'all for going through with that training." Azazel said, eliciting nervous chuckles from the devils.

"But still, this is the best training menu I could make up for immediate results. All of your trainers are going to be making sure that you get those results, with some of them being here to fix things up for you in the long run. Now, first is you, Rias." He said, then flipped over to a page among the papers in his hand.

"From the get go, you've basically had high specs on everything. Even without the training that Haruki has put you through, you'd still have become an Ultimate Rank devil in your adulthood. But it's pretty clear that you want to be stronger than you would in that future." Azazel said, and Rias nodded.

"So far, the training that Haru-boya's given you has been sufficient, getting you to a commendable level of strength for a King, especially one as young as yourself. However, the main part you are lacking in is strategy and in-depth knowledge of the Rating Games. So during this time, you will learn all you can about them, and work on your quick-wittiness and judgement, so that you can face any situation and use your group's servant devils to their full potential. But don't forget that until the actual game, you don't know what's going to happen. After all, it's the same as a battlefield." Azazel said, handing Rias a paper with more details of her training listed.

"Next up is Akeno." Azazel said, and Akeno smiled. "I'll be honest with you. There's very little that I could actually tell you to do now. You embody the concept of a Queen piece down to the T, and you also use the power in your blood to impressive levels." Azazel said, referring to her fallen angel heritage, then sighed.

"The only thing that can be done for you at this time is reinforcement. So Baraqiel is going to take charge of your own training." He said, lightly tapping his glabella.

"Now, Kiba. How long can you keep up your Balance Breaker?" Azazel asked Rias' first Knight. "I've not been able to properly check." Yuuto answered calmly. "What do you mean?" Azazel said with a raised brow.

"After the incident with Kokabiel, I haven't had any reason to use it for an extended period. Although, I am able to use it throughout our regular training sessions." Yuuto said, manifesting his Sword of the Heretic.

"Hmm, I see. For now, try to maintain that state for a full day. When you're used to it, you should easily be able to maintain it in battle. After that, I'll teach you one-on-one how to handle sword-type Sacred Gears." Azazel said.

"By the way, will you train under your swordsmanship teacher again?" Azazel asked Yuuto, and he nodded, saying that he planned to train on his swordsmanship from the ground up once more.

Azazel then turned his attention to Xenovia. "For you to be able to use Durandal better than you do now, you need to be able to use another holy sword." He said, and Xenovia looked doubtful. "Don't worry, this one will be slightly special." He said with a grin, that soon vanished, as he turned to face Gasper.

"Gasper." Azazel said. "Hiiiiih. Y-Yes!" Gasper screamed, then tried his best to calm down. "Don't be so frightened. Your biggest obstacle is that fear. Even though Haru-boya's been training your body, that mind of yours still needs to be whipped into shape." Azazel said, causing Gasper to whimper while grabbing his head.

Sighing, Azazel continued. "Your specs have been pretty substantial from the start, especially given your bloodline and Sacred Gear. Skill improvement of your bishop special characteristics and your magic will also support you greatly. Since I've constructed an exclusive hikikomori escape plan program, you must first put on a proper attitude as much as possible. Even if you can't go out in public entirely, you must make sure that your movements aren't dull." Azazel said to Gasper, who gulped audibly and nodded, a mix of nervousness and determination in his eyes.

"As for you, Asia. Your main task is to strengthen your Sacred Gear." Azazel said, causing everyone to look at him with confusion. "Her Sacred Gear is already plenty powerful, and her healing abilities are unmatched. What improvement would she need now?" Rias asked aloud.

"Her ability to heal one-on-one is unmatched, no doubt. She's even able to do so at range, but she's still limited to healing one at a time. For her to truly use Twilight Healing to its true potential, she has to increase the number of people she can heal at once." Azazel replied.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard. I mean, she only took a few days to learn to throw her heals, and that was with us only having 4 hours of daily training." Issei said, softly caressing Asia's head.

"How fast she learns to do it isn't the issue, Issei. The issue is Asia's tendency to heal anyone around her. She could end up healing both allies and enemies." Azazel said. "She could, but I'm sure she'll try to make sure that doesn't happen." Issei replied, hugging Asia with his left arm.

"Azazel-san, I know the dangers of healing an enemy, so I assure you, I won't make such a mistake, never again." Asia said impassively, her eyes seeming like an abyss. "Ehem, I see. Well, good on you for that, then." Azazel said, silently offering a prayer for anyone that may face Asia in a death battle.

"Next up is Koneko." He said, turning to the white Nekoshou. "There's practically nothing to criticize you for. You've practically maximized your elementary traits as a Rook. And although there are others that are better than you at offence in Rias' group, you aren't far behind them, for the most part." Azazel said, with an approving nod.

"The only thing I can say for you is to improve your basics and try not to fall behind." He said, and Koneko nodded calmly, tightening her already clenched fists. "Don't worry. I'm sure that Koneko-chan can become strong fast enough, especially with Haruki's training." Issei said, a sharp toothed grin on his face.

"Well, I hope you have that level of belief in yourself because... Hmm, he should be here soon." Azazel said, as he looked up into the sky. Wondering what he was looking at, Rias' group all looked up into the air, and Issei gasped.

With immense speed, a massive shadow appeared, heading towards them. They braced themselves as the being landed on the ground with a strong crash that caused the earth around them to quake for a while. A massive cloud of dust danced in the air, then settled after a short while.

As the dust cleared, the figure that had landed had its form exposed to their eyes. A fifteen meter tall behemoth with a similarly huge mouth, that held brutal looking fangs that also grew out of its mouth. Limbs as thick as some trees, two massive wings that spread out on its sides, and a body covered in reddish scales.

*Tannin*

"... A dragon." Issei said, then gulped as his thoughts ran about in his head at high speed. "Azazel, you really have some nerve openly entering devil territory." A loud, gravely voice came from the dragon.

"Hey, now. I've gotten express permission from the Satans to be in this territory fairly. Do you have a complaint, Tannin?" Azazel said playfully, as if he was familiar with the dragon.

"Hmph. Well, it's fine. I specifically came here because of Sirzechs' request. Make sure you don't forget your surroundings, Fallen Angel Governor." The dragon, Tannin, said to Azazel with a voice filled with exasperation. Meanwhile, Azazel continued to laugh, seemingly amused.

"Oh, yeah. Issei, this guy's your teacher." He said to the Red Dragon Emperor, who clicked his tongue in self-targeted annoyance.

"It's been a while, Ddraig. Can you hear me?" Tannin said, and the Boosted Gear manifested on Issei's left arm. "It truly has been a long while since we last met, Tannin." Ddraig said with a nostalgic tone.

"Friend of yours?" Issei asked him. "Yeah. Remember how I had told you of the Five Great Dragon Kings? Well, this guy is the reason they became five. Much further in the past, they were the Six Great Dragon Kings. The dragon called Tannin that was recorded in the Bible is the same one before you." Ddraig said, causing some questions to form in Issei's mind.

How was he responsible for the reduction in the number of Dragon Kings? Did he kill one of them? Did he kick one of them out? And why did he smell so much like a devil?

"Tannin became a devil, and so the Six Great Dragon Kings became the Five Great Dragon Kings. But this didn't mean that he had weakened, as even amongst the reincarnated devils, he is at the pinnacle, holding a similar level of power to the original Lucifer." Azazel said, and Issei's body language shifted to show respect to Tannin.

"So, Tannin. Think you could do me a solid and help Sekiryuutei-kun over here with his training? Y'know, teach him how to better use a dragon's power?" Azazel said, retaining his playful countenance, much to Tannin's chagrin.

"Why do you need me? With Ddraig teaching him directly, it should be fine, no?" Tannin said, seemingly uninterested. "Even with that, there's still a limit to it. He really needs true dragon training." Azazel said, as if hinting at something deeper.

"The original combat form. I see, you want me to torment this boy." Tannin said, looking at Issei with unmasked intrigue. "In as much as I would have liked to see that, I believe that he'll pull through pretty easily." Azazel said, a mischievous expression slowly creeping onto his face.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to give him my best efforts." Tannin said, as his maw split into a malicious grin. "This will be my first time training someone who harbours Ddraig. Make this a bit interesting for me, boy." Tannin said to Iseei.

Issei, despite hearing all this, looked at Tannin defiantly. "Why don't you make sure not to bore me, Ossan." He said, then quickly went into his Balance Breaker, brought out his devil wings, and flew up into the air, until he and Tannin were at the same eye level.

"Oho, Balance Breaker, huh? This might be more interesting than I thought." Tannin said, with one of his massive hands on his chin. "Miss Rias. Can you lend me that mountain over there?" He said, pointing to a mountain far off in the distance.

"Of course. Please teach him well." Rias said, with an intense look of Dr. "Leave it to me. I'll make sure to tor... train him right to the edge of death." Tannin said, catching his words before he said the wrong thing.

"Follow me, boy." Tannin said, then flew off to the mountain, with Issei following close behind him. "Okay, everyone. Let's get down to business." Rias said, and she received a resounding "Yes!" from her peerage.

...

Over the next few days, the devils of the ORC immersed themselves in high intensity training. Issei and Tannin caused earthquakes that affected areas over 50 kilometers away from the mountain that they were on.

Rias spent her time doing something that most devils would gasp at; approaching battle strategy while specifically leaving out the chess mentality that many devils face their Rating Games and other battles with.

Yuuto had gone under his swordsmanship teacher once more. The man that taught him the ways of the sword was no ordinary devil, but he was the man that earned the nickname of Sword Demon even before becoming a devil himself, Okita Souji, Knight of Sirzechs Lucifer.

Akeno trained with Baraqiel, trying her best to improve on her current repertoire of techniques. They also spent some time reminiscing on the times before the Himejima clan's attack on their home.

Koneko continued to go through the regimen that Haruki had given her, apart from the basic physical training, but was feeling unsatisfied with her progress. She pushed herself to exhaustion multiple times, hoping to increase her strength as quickly as she possibly could.

As for Asia, she quickly succeeded in creating a technique to heal in a dome around her. She now had to find a way to control the healing to only heal her allies. But as time passed, she eventually had a thought about the technique. "What if I could make it hurt the enemy while it healed us?"

With that as her focus, she moved well on her way to developing a technique that would be the bane to many of their enemies' existences. While she was making considerable progress in her training, the same unfortunately couldn't be said for their resident dhampir.

Gasper, for all of his effort, was far too aversive to having any form of direct interaction with people he didn't know. While he had little issue with interacting with others while his fellow ORC members were with him, the story was quite different when he had to do so alone.

Immediately he was put in a public place without them, his agoraphobia kicked in. Every second that ticked by felt suffocating to him. Everytime he tried to psych himself up to face this challenge, the fear seemed to grip his heart tighter.

He struggled to keep his senses, but he couldn't hold on. Before long, the people started to have their appearances distort in his eyes. He saw many of them look at him with malice and suspicion, and the words from his days in the lands of the Tepes clan rang in his ears.

The murmurs of activity played in his head as the disdainful words of the vampires back in Romania. The relative calm that he had before he was put out in public had vanished, now replaced with panic as he began to hyperventilate.

His eyes darted left and right, until he found an empty alleyway, which he dashed into, trying anything to be away from people. But even that didn't feel isolated enough for him, so he rushed into his empty box, which he teleported into the alleyway. Safe to say, everyone was having different difficulties in making progress with their own training.

Chapter End.

Word Count: 2,489

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