Me? Human? : Chapter 16 : A spiral of Self doubt broken by a SLAP! & Saved by her own thoughts....

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

Kuoh, Japan

–Rias Gremory–

As she read through the letter sent by her family, she couldn't help but groan in frustration as her power enveloped the letter and destroyed it, and a little bit of her dress’ sleeves as well, prompting yet another groan of annoyance from her. 

He was moving the date up again. Again! Her power flared out around her as she didn't even bother trying to control it, and ended up shredding her clothes, her(thankfully not Bond! James Bond!) chair, as she fell through it and just lay on the floor, looking up blankly at the ceiling.

She had years before this, but now she only had a year before her engagement with Riser. Her father refused to take no for an answer, her mother believed that she would eventually learn the importance of the marriage, and her brother was useless here. His insistence that as a Satan, he couldn’t show favouritism and use his powers to nullify an agreement of his own sister meant he was lesser than useless here.

If he wanted to, he could just solve this with words. Mere words and then Riser would never even dare look at her again, but nooooo, he had to be Mr.Role Model Satan and not abuse his powers, even if it were for his family.

Tears gathered in her eyes as she refused to acknowledge Akeno standing on top of her. She was naked, and she didn’t care about it. She was hurt, and there was not one person she could go to!

Her peerage, her family, was there, within walking distance, and yet she couldn’t approach any of them, because all of them had their own problems. Problems that she hadn’t solved yet! And she was going to be married off before that. Who knows if she would even be able to help them after her marriage?

She felt like a failure of a Devil, failure of a King and failure of a Daughter, every time her parents looked at her in disappointment, every time her peerage was hurt and she could do nothing but wait for them to heal on their own and provide them the space for it, and every time she had to read yet another bunch of hateful comments that showed her as playing human in Japan while ignoring her responsibilities as good and proper Devil heiress.

The comments didn’t bother her as they were just devils enjoying the anonymity of Devil-Net without anything to lose, but after reading some of them, she realised that they made some good points at the very least. What was she doing here in Kuoh? Sure, it was her dream to live and experience Japan in its entirety; it was the entire point she came here, but was it worth it to live a few years of freedom in what was the best place (In her opinion) in the world if she had to live with a person she loathed for the rest of her long life?

The weak defense that came to the forefront of her mind was the Peerage angle. That her long term stay in the human world would naturally lead to her finding good humans to reincarnate, and gain a Strong Peerage. Her stay here would have been more than justified if she had been able to do that.

Alas, it was not lost on her that Akeno, Koneko, and to an extent, Kiba had all been people who had been handed to her. She knew that had it not been for her brother, she would have never found a Wonderful Queen like Akeno, a hurt and yet, strong Rook like Koneko and Kiba, her dashing Knight. Gasper was the only one she could get credit for, but it didn’t feel right to do that.

They were her family, not objects she could gather in a market. Which is why she hadn’t been able to reincarnate anyone in the few years she had been here.

Her peerage, Koneko and Akeno in particular, had found a few Sacred Gear users for her that either lived in Kuoh or were passing by, but she had been too apprehensive, too afraid that her carefully cultivated family would be shattered by the addition of a wrong person, to act decisively. 

There was no undo button for the Evil Pieces. Once a human was reincarnated as a Devil, they were stuck as a Devil for the rest of their very long lives. The only feasible way out was hope that your King traded you for a better Piece and you got a better King out of the deal. Aside from that, there was the High Class exam, but even that didn’t get you out of being a Devil.

She understood that step was an irreversible one. Coupled with her aversion to disturbing the already delicate balance in her peerage, she could not find any peerage members in her time here. Contrast that with Sona, who already had a full peerage now and had begun the next step in the process, which was maximising the synergy between all the pieces, and she once again, fell into a spiral of self doubt.

Some of the comments rightfully pointed out that despite being appointed overseers of Kuoh at the same time and both of them having a Satan as the elder sibling, Sona seems to have accomplished far more than she has.

Yes, she was happy that Sona had her peerage and was progressing towards her goal of opening an all inclusive Rating Games academy, but where does that leave her? When in a few years at the latest, when Sona felt like she had all the Pieces and training she could need away from the Underworld and went back home to make a name for herself, where does that leave her?

She was supposed to be the prodigy here. They called her the Crimson Princess, a talented user of the–

SLAP!

Her face snapped to the side, as she mechanically turned her tear stricken face to look at Akeno with a dumb look on her face. In contrast to the rather hard slap she just got, Akeno had a soft smile on her face as she extended her hand.

“Stop thinking too much, Rias. It doesn’t look good on your face.” Akeno commented as she continued to stare dumbly at Akeno, before she snapped out of it and grabbed Akeno’s hand. 

In the process of getting up, however, she pulled Akeno’s hand towards her, and it inevitably sunk into her boobs, prompting an amused, “Ara Ara” from Akeno. Her face went a bit red as she snapped her fingers and hurriedly summoned clothes for herself out of embarrassment. Despite both of them showering regularly, it was always Akeno that seemed to have the upper hand in teasing her, a fact she resented greatly.

“Mou You always do that to me. You know I have no defense against your wicked charms.” She pouted at her Queen, who seemed to take perverse pleasure in her suffering, which was no big secret in the Peerage.

Nevertheless, her Queen’s antics did put a smile on her face as she felt the self doubt begin to be pushed back to the corner of her mind. Before she could thank Akeno, however, she felt it, a distress signal, one inbuilt into the flyers she had her peerage hand out to specific individuals of interest.

The only one who had one right now was…

“Issei!” She whispered the name before looking at Akeno, as a magical circle appeared beneath her, Akeno stepping forward without asking. She answered Akeno’s unasked question, “He’s dying.”

Akeno’s eyes widened as the magical circle swallowed both of them and dropped them a dozen feet above Issei’s location. A gasp escaped her lips as both of them dove down immediately, looking at Issei’s unmoving form, with a pool of blood beneath him.

“It’s Motohama Kenji!” Akeno shouted as she checked on the other injured human. “He’s still breathing!” Akeno confirmed it a moment later.

Issei was the same, but his breath was growing weaker, and he had lost a lot of blood. She bit her lip as she recalled why she had her peerage hand Issei the flyer. Koneko had confirmed that he had a Sacred Gear, and in the past month, the scent had been growing strong enough for Koneko to confirm that it was a Dragon Type Sacred Gear. Those, more often than not, were really strong Gears. As for Motohama, he likely had a Mental Type Sacred Gear as well.

Here was her chance! She could reincarnate both of them, and save their lives. In doing so, she would gain a favourable impression in both their minds! The chances of them disturbing her family were reduced there, and not to mention, the letter from her father was a warning slap to her face that she did not have the luxury of time anymore and had to take some risks if she wanted her freedom a few years from now.

Between choosing to be a broodmare for the Phenex and the so called Good of the Underworld and having to reincarnate someone who was already vetted and was suitable enough to be reincarnated into her Peerage, the choice was clear, made even more convenient by the situation.

Biting her lip, her last bit of hesitation disappeared as she summoned her Evil Pieces. Now, she had to choose what piece she could give Issei.

Issei had neither the large magical reserves nor the mental intellect required to become a good Bishop piece. A Dragon Type Sacred Gear almost always came with some sort of durability boost on its own anyway. That left her with the option of a Knight, a Pawn, or maybe a Rook.

Her decision made, she tried to reincarnate him with her Knight piece, only for the piece to be rebuffed, which meant Issei was worth more than 3 pawns. She felt no happiness at the news as she took out her Rook piece and hurriedly pushed it into his chest, only for that piece itself to be rebuffed as well.

Her eyes widened as she realised that Issei was worth more than 5 pawns as well. With no other option, she took 6 pawns out and realised he was worth even more than that. Eventually, Issei took all 8 of her pawns to reincarnate, a fact that brought her no small amount of joy.

The light faded away, revealing Issei’s still bloodied form, but his breathing had evened out, and with some light healing overnight, he should be fine. As for Motohama….

She shot to her feet and reached Akeno, as both of them stood and looked at the skin of Motohama. It was twitching in place, along with his face, which was set in a pained grimace. 

“He was stabbed, through the back, by a large blade. He had feathers around him. Fallen Feathers.” She winced at the venom in Akeno’s tone.

“Which meant that it was a Light Spear. They are hunting Sacred Gear users.” The finality in Akeno’s voice finally made her realise the connection here.

Shaking her head, she pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she realised that she didn’t have any pawns to reincarnate him, and as a Mental type Sacred Gear, the potency of which was still unknown, the thought of wasting a Bishop on a potentially useless Gear entered her mind.

….She then cursed herself mentally for being so callous and greedy. She already had a Draconic Sacred Gear that took all her Pawns to reincarnate. She should consider herself lucky! No matter the cost, she should save Motohama here as well.

Plus, it would help you gain an even better reputation in Issei’s eyes if you saved his friend without caring for the cost.

Her mind insidiously supplied her, but she shook her head and convinced herself that NO! She was not doing this for her own good! Motohama was—

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Motohama’s eyes fluttering open and a grunt escaping his lips.

She hurriedly made him stay down, lest he aggravate the injuries, “Stay down. I am going to save you. Don’t—”

A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist with immense force, making even her wince, as Motohama looked at her with bloodshot, pleading eyes, “S-Save Issei–first.”

She had no words to that, as Akeno replied, “She’s already saved him. He will be fine.”

Motohama smiled a bit at that, settling on the ground, as she moved to reincarnate him, only for the boy to reply, “Don’t–cough–Don’t use the Evil Pieces on me. I will heal on my own. Just need—munch–need some food.”

She watched, transfixed and shocked, not just because he displayed knowledge of the Evil Pieces but also because he was currently eating all the grass his hands could grab around him.

“Look,” Akeno’s whispered warning made her realise that the slight twitching on Motohama’s face had accelerated and now looked like worms wriggling under his skin as he continued to eat the grass around him, and when he ate that, he hauled himself using his hands and began eating the grass around that spot.

It was…..fascinating.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she ordered Akeno, “Get Issei out of here! Call Sona and everyone. Also, bring him all the food you can.”

She took out a chocolate bar from her pocket space and offered it to Motohama, and had to suppress a yelp as the bar disappeared down his throat, wrapper included. She turned to Akeno with a smile as his breathing evened out as time went by, telling her that whatever it was that Motohama was doing, it was working, “He’s hungry. Bring him everything.”

Akeno nodded and spared, as she stood guard over Motohama. Once he was in a good enough shape, she would take him to the ORC.

As she watched him decimate yet another small circle of grass around him, she helped him gather all the grass and even some small plants in the garden so that he wouldn’t have to move around as much.

As she watched the wound on his stomach begin to heal, she muttered to herself with a smile, "Mental Type Sacred Gear, my shapely ass!”

A/N - Gremory House trait really is Luck. How else do you explain the very recent mental breakdown that led to her hesitating for a few seconds more when she was about to reincarnate Motohama and make a big mistake that would have led to huge repercussions across the Underworld, and the wider world?

Lol.

Word Count - 2470 

Once again, the biggest chapter of the fic. NOT the usual size.