Chapter 19 – A Fun Trip To Kyoto
One month passed without too much happening.
The group chat was quite peaceful for Medea. Unfortunately, so far no one has bought any items she listed since it was just too expensive.
Although Artoria only bursted out that one instance in class, rumours spread around school very quickly and the next day, no problems rose regarding her classes or lecherous gazes.
She was also quite mysterious in the way she acts. Apart from showing up to teach and marking work, she didn't really appear much around school.
This was partly because she found out that a certain club called the Occult Research Club was secretly investigating her, and she didn't like it. After all, a woman's privacy was important.
She also found out that it was this club that had the most people with mana, in other words, the most suspicious club. After asking Medea to do a check, she discovered that most of them are devils, or something related to the supernatural. There were some powerful mages, and she also realised that the chemistry teacher called Azazel was actually a semi-divine spirit.
Her training in composure in the past wasn't for nothing however, so she managed to act without suspicion. But, it was only necessary in school, since anytime they followed her back to the café, either Rimuru or Ciel would just delete their memories and send them back to what they were doing before.
...
It was now Autumn, and a trip has been scheduled to Kyoto. Due to some situations, Artoria now found herself on a train to Kyoto.
Before, she desperately denied trying to go on the trip, but alas:
"Hey Artoria, you need to stop being so cooped up and go explore, and enjoy the sights. Think of it as a vacation of the sort. Don't worry about Kanna, I'll reluctantly take care of her for the duration of the trip"
Before she knew it, she was already boarding the train, and Rimuru was waving her off.
*Sigh, there's no need to dwell on the past. What's important is to enjoy the present and grasp the future!
An optimistic look shone in her eyes, as she suddenly sensed something jump of Issei and infect another student.
Is that a curse of lust? I would expect nothing less from Issei. His lustful side is so potent that it actually manifested into a spirit and infected another
Her position was actually in another room on the train, but as usual she was very cautious and her senses covered all the carriages.
After a couple more hours, they finally arrived.
...
Artoria didn't know why she couldn't go to her room yet and just collapse.
Apparently, everyone including the teachers would have to listen to Azazel's debrief, but it was just rubbish which went through one ear and went out another.
Azazel wasn't the only extraordinary one here though. Someone called Serafall also joined the party, even though she didn't go to this school, her sister did.
Suspicious. Oh well, not my problem.
Although, now Artoria is here, she actually sensed even more supernatural beings. Perhaps it wouldn't be so boring after all. At least she had her trusted infinite bowl to accompany her.
If one asked any student, they would say that not a single moment did they see Artoria leave a vicinity of 5m of the conspicuous bowl.
It's like a life box that would kill her if she left.
Anyway, after a full 10 minutes, the students dispersed on their own, and Artoria went to her room and unpacked her things.
A debit card slipped out of her clothes, and she stared at it for a full minute, before suddenly, her eyes started to glisten.
Of course... how could I forget. According to Rimuru this thing has lots of money in it. He said it was legal...
She then looked outside the window into the city, then looked back at the card, then back at the city.
Oh well... I'm already here and no one can stop me... Maybe I could have some fun...
Her life was started anew now, but still some old habits were still prevalent. Even until now, she constantly had the mindset of a king that had to do everything for her kingdom, and nothing for herself. However, ever since she made the best choice of her life and started working here, slowly but surely, her mentally has changed. At least to the point where she could make decisions to treat herself, and just for herself.
Putting on a suitable outfit, she left the building and started shopping on the streets, something that the old her would never dream of doing.
And... it was surprisingly fun. She experienced everything that a normal teenage girl would experience, apart from the fact that she had too much money.
Having a special storage was very convenient, especially for situations like this. It removed the need to worry about how to carry everything.
She bought clothes, jewellery, interesting souvenirs and more. She also tasted some traditional cuisine because even though she could imagine any food and it can come to life, her dictionary only had the Western cuisine and only some popular products like rice was from the East.
After a satisfying day, she planned to head back, and once she did, she slept soundly and peacefully.
And the burden she placed on her heart started to lighten up even faster.
At least, no more nightmares...
...
The next day came as quickly as the last passed, and Artoria, after doing her delegated tasks, headed out to enjoy the scenery.
She walked into the area of a shrine, but as she crossed the boundary, something didn't feel right...
Huh? Was that my imagination?
She retraced her steps and entered again, and once again the familiar feeling of something being off alarmed her.
No, there's definitely something wrong with this.
Activating her spirit form, her figure gradually disappeared and with a slight movement of her hands, a small fissure opened up and the mist glided in.
She was met by a change in scenery, but not by much.
The only difference was the appearance of extra people. It seemed to be some sort of meeting, but she couldn't get any more information, since it literally just ended.
The only bit she heard before the mist dispersed was: "meet at the Nijou Castle tonight to end this once and for all..."
Nijou Castle? Seems like I will have to pay a visit there tonight.
Swiftly, making use of her expertise in stealth she left the party unnoticed by anyone.
...
"Hey, choose an opponent."
"I'll choose the obvious swordsman and woman the white haired and the blue haired ones," a person who identified himself as Siegfried said.
"The twin tails is mine." A tall girl called Jeanne said.
"Then the remaining girl with the white hair would by my opponent," despite the contrast between the Heracles previously mentioned and the current Heracles, his name was no doubt 'Heracles', and he chose the girl as his opponent.
This then left what looked to be the leader, Cao Cao, and the red-haired teen Issei as a match. The other one was busy trying to deal with a mind-controlled nine-tailed fox spirit, who was rampaging. The only one with the ability to stop the spirit was Saji, who possessed a skill to transform himself into a legendary snake-dragon.
... (A/N to be completely honest I can't really be bothered to introduce any of the following characters, so if you haven't watched DxD, just regard the fight scene as a fight scene. After all, the names I'll use requires prior knowledge to understand)
...
Kiba and Xenovia engaged Siegfried, rapidly swinging each respective sword at each other. Xenovia called upon her two swords, Durandal and Excalibur, but neither of them was the real version, only a very strong fakes made from forgers who were inspired by legend.
She wielded both like a two-sword style, and both coordinated with each other to corner Siegfried by timing their assault. However, a simple trump card could turn the tide of any battle.
Siegfried revealed his own sacred gear's balance breaker, and three extra arms appeared on his back. Each one wielded a different weapon. Now, he had the equivalent of three peoples' worth of arms.
...
Meanwhile, being an angel, Irina was well versed in light magic. Therefore, she attempted to shoot Jeanne with her light spears, but she just continually dodged them all.
Then, multiple holy-swords were created underneath Irina, who also dodged.
The battle was a stalemate until Jeanne revealed her balance breaker.
A metallic dragon made of different types of swords manifested and rushed towards Irina. She couldn't dodge such a massive attack, and was swallowed...
...
Elsewhere, Rossweisse attempted to fire her full burst magic at Heracles, but he was able to endure it due to his magic resistance, and he attempted to punch her whilst tanking all of her attacks.
If this was the heroic spirit Heracles summoned by the holy grail, she wouldn't even stand a chance and would be destroyed in less than seconds, but this 'Heracles' only had the bloodline and innate talent, not the experience nor the achievements, which means that he was basically a nerfed version.
Seeing his comrades activating their balance breakers, he also didn't hold back and used his own, which was an attack in the form of missiles.
Conjuring a shield, Rossweisse blocked most of them, but it was still not enough. Some still snuck through and injured her.
Having a healing type sacred gear, Asia behind her healed her injuries, and then she got up to continue battling.
...
Watching his friends getting injured, Issei couldn't stand by doing nothing. Cao Cao hasn't made a move yet, so he attempted to assist Rossweisse who was suffering the most. Unfortunately, Cao Cao used this moment to impale Issei with his spear.
Quickly dropping some phoenix tears on himself, he was able to regenerate his wound, but nevertheless stayed on guard around him.
"Ahhh!"
Knowing he had no luxuries in a battle, he still turned around to see Asia screaming as the other members had defeated his friends and their collapsed bodies were brought back to him.
His mind was numb with rage at himself for being so weak. He was very confident in combat after travelling to other worlds via the group chat and fighting there. But it was now that he realised the power levels between worlds was very different.
The strength of a common soldier in one universe could be that of a high-end leader in another.
He only realised just now that he was already very powerful, to the point where he never had to push himself to the limit in the other worlds, therefore he didn't really gain any important experience.
This thought plagued his mind, even to the point where he completely ignored using the chat for help.
Frustrated by this lack of strength, he started crying internally, after all he was still a teenager.
(Issei...)
Huh
(Issei!)
What? It's you, the person inside the sacred gear!
(Yes, it's me)
What should I do? I'm so weak...
(It will be fine, just think of the person you want to appear here the most... think of the things that belong to you...)
Belong to me? Appear here? Rias?...
As such thoughts appeared, an invisible string of light stretched out of the sacred gear and shot up into the sky.
But unfortunately for Issei, the string was going to go to Rias, but it happened to travel in the direction of Artoria, who sneakily watched the battle whilst eating popcorn.
And it grabbed the first person that it travelled through.
Normally, it would avoid everyone unless it was the intended target, but the condition was that it had to be of this world.
Artoria was definitely not of this world.
Oblivious to such happenings, she was happily munching away when suddenly she sensed something heading straight towards her. Although even with her vision, she couldn't see it, all those years of combat warned her that something was coming her way.
And before she could react, a feeling of being wrapped by layers of string was felt in her mind, before suddenly she sank into the floor.
And before either parties knew it, Issei's history teacher appeared before everyone.
"*Crunch *Crunch . Huh?"