A few days had passed, and right now, we could see Issei running as Steve followed him, jumping on the roofs of buildings.
"This... is... too... much..." Issei yelled between his breaths.
"YOU RUN LIKE A PRIMARY SCHOOL GIRL!"
"HEY FOR YOUR INFORMATION IN THE PAST FEW DAYS I'VE GOTTEN QUITE FAST!" Issei yelled back, seeing a red flash passing his face the next moment, making a hole in the ground on the side of the street.
"... Nevermind"
"THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!"
After an hour, they came to a stop.
"8.7Km, in an hour. Decent, can do better," Steve said.
"BETTER!"
"This is good by normal human standards, but well, for a devil, this is below average."
"B-b-bu-"
"You want to be strong right?"
"..."
"Alright, so any luck with your sacred gear?"
"Yeah, I talked with Ddraig, and we talked about my overall power and the Balance breaker. Also, while Buchou first thought that I was too weak to actually fly using my devil wings, it's not the case. I'm more of a Dragon than a devil, since Ddraig and Boosted Gear influenced my growth, so I can't fly. But these days I get summoned," Issei said.
"Good. Now here's the deal. We'll focus on magic, because that's a decent backup and distraction, and also, you have a pretty nice advantage over other devils," Steve said as Issei looked at him, eager to know.
"Well, I guess since you were nearly killed by a girl you actually fell in love with, you had a lot of despair and sadness," Steve started as Issei looked at him with a glare.
"How's that good?"
"Well, most likely because of that, you developed a Usable amount of Cursed Energy before being reincarnated. So... you can also use that."
"AWESOME! SO WHAT ARE WE DOING? CAN I DO WHAT YOU DID?" he asked jumping in excitement.
"Nope. You have cursed Energy, but not my cursed technique. I was born with Six eyes and the ability to utilize infinity, I just controlled and innovated it to this level. But the good news is, I actually feel some kind of technique from you. We just need to figure it out. So, this evening we'll train that."
"About that... we're actually going to get Familiars today," he said as Steve nodded.
"Right, I remember all that fiasco, and then the Dodgeball game... alright. Well, do your best to find a good familiar, and don't go finding some based on your pervy tendencies," Steve said as Issei pouted.
"I'm getting better you know."
"Right, of course, you are," Steve replied with a giggle.
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Steve didn't know why he and Artoria were tagging along.
Or well, he did.
A few hours earlier, Rias had offered him and Gil to accompany her peerage to get familiars, only Gil already had one.
And so, there they were, in front of a large forest, when they heard a loud voice.
"I'm the familiar master, the TAWJI!" yelled a man standing on top of a tree.
"Knock-off Ash Ketchum," both Steve and Issei said at the same time and high-fived.
"Great, now they're in sync. Next thing we know, he'll be peeping on us too," Koneko said with a straight face.
"Koneko Chan, I'd never peep on you. I like when the girls show it themselves. Ask Art," he said as Artoria blushed.
"SHUT UP!" she growled as Steve smirked.
"..." Koneko felt a pang in her heart as she looked at Artoria and Steve.
"She said she'd share," Issei whispered to her as she looked at him.
"..."
"Don't be salty," Issei said with a sweatdrop as Koneko glared at him.
"Mmm, the Moon is nice and full, perfect for getting familiars. So which kind do you want?"
"Ano... I want a cute one," Asia timidly said as Issei was deep in thought.
"I feel an energy signature 2 km Northwest, I'll be checking them out," Steve said as he put his hand on Artoria's back and disappeared.
"... Damn, he's got powers," Issei said as others chuckled.
As for Artoria and Steve, they were in the middle of the forest, with nothing but trees everywhere.
"Hmm... the air around here is heavy, it's almost worrying," Steve said with a smile as Artoria gulped a little.
"A little worrying? This is extremely bad. Whatever it is, is extremely strong," she said as she took out her invisible sword.
She then felt something behind her as she turned to slash at it. But whatever it was, was so fast that it disappeared before they could get a good look at it.
"Hmm... this one seems good for you, Art. It's speedy while you're more on the stronger side, so this can cover for you against faster opponents," Steve noted as he dodged an attack even though he didn't need to.
"Right," she said as she felt it coming from her left, only to be pulled by Steve.
"Swing the sword," he said as she made it blunt using Invisible air and hit whatever it was, nailing it in the face.
It skidded to a stop, only to reveal a majestic Lion with a flaming mane.
"... Yeah, I call dibs," Artoria said as she rushed at it.
"And there she goes," he muttered when he felt another strong presence behind him.
"... I'll be back in an instance," he said as he quickly took off in the direction while taking off his blindfold.
He kept on running for a while, and all of a sudden came to a stop and turned right in a crouching position, coming face-to-face with a pair of green eyes.
He felt the cold breath on his face, as he smirked.
"So, a Snow Leopard huh? Wanna be my partner?" he asked bowing, as the Leopard stood still, staring at him.
After a few moments, he grunted and bowed down, causing Steve's smirk to turn into a grin.
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Steve and Artoria teleported back only to see happy Asia and Rias, an indifferent Koneko, smiling Akeno and smirking Kiba. As for Issei, he was bright red.
"What happened?" he asked as Kiba laughed.
"Well, a slime attacked us, melting the girl's clothes. Issei was having fun and all until one went to... Asia and Buchou's nethers, only for Issei to yell 'THOSE ARE ONLY FOR ME YOU BASTARD!' and destroy them completely. I didn't even know he could fire attacks with his gauntlet," he said as Steve laughed.
"Issei is a pervert," Koneko mumbled as Steve pet her, causing her Cat instincts to surface and making her pur.
"SO CUTE!" gasped Steve as Artoria too joined him in petting her.
"... Stop," Koneko muttered shyly, as Rias looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then looked at Issei, then back to Koneko.
"Do you really want us to stop?" asked Artoria, joining in the teasing, causing Koneko to blush harder.
"Art... are you into her?" Steve questioned with a raised eyebrow as she too blushed.
"... Is that a problem?"
"Heh, au contraire, m'lady. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little interested in girl-on-girl action," he said causing them both to blush.
"You're a pervert too," Koneko muttered as Steve pulled her close to him.
"I'm just really into you, Ko-Ne-Ko," he said as her face turned even redder.
"So? What about you?"
"... I... I want you..."
"... That's very very suggestive, please say it with context, we have Issei around us, he might just start crying blood," Steve said as Issei pouted and glared at him.
"Be my boyfriend..." she muttered as Steve once again petted her, as he looked at Artoria, who shrugged.
"I already said, I'm fine with sharing," she said.
"Alright, Koneko Chan, I guess we're dating now," he said as Koneko hugged him.
"Damn it, it was my dream to become a Harem king," Issei said, with tears streaming down his eyes.
"I-Issei san, I am sure you'll achieve your dream. I'll help you," Asia said as Issei hugged her, still crying.
Rias just looked at him, with a hint of sadness in her eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Steve.