The Unexpected Summoning Ch.10 (Harry Potter/High School DxD)

Read Chapter 9 here

Harry didn’t get to bend Rias over, nor did he push Akeno against a wall. Not because he didn’t want to but because they were all far too exhausted to have the energy to do so.

Harry wasn’t sure precisely what Rias and her peerage were doing during their training, but they always returned completely spent and listless. He wasn’t much better, to be honest. Grayfia made sure of that. It was as if she knew what he was thinking after he killed that Dame Blanche and decided to ensure it wasn’t possible.

It had only been three days since he killed his first supernatural creature, and Harry was already about to sink his knife into his seventh and most challenging kill.

“FUCKING DIE!” Harry’s eyes were bloodshot as he gritted his teeth and used every muscle he had to stab into the porcelain skin of the woman beneath him. If his magic hadn’t been enhancing his strength, it was unlikely the skin would have been broken.

The relief Harry felt when he saw the knife sink into the slender neck was unmatched. He was in a sorry state, with his left arm almost ripped out of its socket and a freighting amount of blood covering his body. If it hadn’t been for the ability that was unlocked after Harry had made his first kill, he was convinced he would have died of blood loss.

Harry shuddered slightly as his wounds started rapidly healing, stitching themselves back together at an unbelievable pace. Even the sound of his arm cracking as the bones mended only made Harry flinch minutely. He had become far too used to this happening in the past few fights.

The woman below him gurgled for the last time before life left her eyes… though Harry supposed she already had no life since she was undead. Being a vampire does that to people.

“Bloody hell,” Harry shifted off the body and took deep breaths, “I never want to do that again.”

[Ask the maid for one more. You are almost about to unlock another ability.]

Harry couldn’t even pretend to be interested. All he wanted was to go back and sleep while cuddling with Rias and Akeno. That sounded fantastic right now.

He fell on his back and stared at the sky, intending to relax for a few minutes but made the mistake of looking at the dead body next to him.

“Fuck!” Harry scrambled away from the withered corpse as he fought to keep himself from vomiting.

The previously stunning vampire had turned into a dried husk with wisps of white hair acting like a poor wig. This was the result of the healing ability that Harry had unlocked. It was incredible but required absorbing the vitality of another.

Harry should have gotten used to it by now, but still, it was hard to see a beautiful woman get turned into stuff fit for nightmares.

“Congratulations, Harry-sama,” Grayfia commented as she stared curiously at the corpse, “You are almost ready. Just a couple more, and you should be ready to meet the devil responsible.”

Grayfia didn’t react when Harry whimpered in sorrow. He had been making that sound often in the past day.

“I don’t want to!” Harry was aware that he sounded like a child, but his mind might break if he had to see another woman die under his knife, “I need a break!”

“Very well,” Grayfia didn’t show if she was disappointed or not, “We will return to the training ground shortly. I suggest you make your final preparations for the rating game tomorrow.”

Harry groaned as he was reminded that the big event was tomorrow. Honestly, he didn’t feel any nervousness after what he had been through the past few days. The brutality was worse than anything Harry had experienced before, and it might have made him dangerously insensitive to death. Specifically, him causing that death.

Harry glanced at Grayfia, feeling slightly guilty at wanting to quit when he saw her waiting for him patiently. However, it wasn’t enough to change his mind. As Harry told Akeno, he didn’t have masochistic tendencies.

“Hey, um, I really appreciate that you arranged all of this,” Harry felt the need to say something with Grayfia staring at him, “It really helped.”

“As I mentioned, Harry-sama, Rias-sama is treasured by her family. Helping you was necessary.”

Harry exhaled tiredly and immediately gave up. He had been trying a couple times a day to get Grayfia to warm up to him like she had been for a brief moment when all this started. Since Harry had no intention of giving up Rias, it would only do him good if her sister-in-law accepted him. That was without mentioning that it might also help Harry when it came to Lucifer, with the overpowered maid being The Devil’s wife and all.

After a minute of silence, Harry asked, “Grayfia? Do you mind telling me why every creature I had to kill were women?”

He hadn’t even thought of the gender of the creatures he had to kill the first few times. However, it was far too glaring when every single one seemed to be a woman with an increasing amount of beauty.

“Riser-sama’s peerage is filled with women that could be a detriment to your ability to fight. I decided this was the best way to combat that,” Grayfia said smoothly, “I hope it was effective.”

For some reason, Harry suspected that wasn’t the whole truth. However, Grayfia was right to assume it was effective. He had stopped seeing them as women and instead as something he had to kill. Once again, Harry wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“…Thanks?”

“You’re welcome, Harry-sama.”

[Break]

Grayfia pushed the door to her husband’s office, still thinking of how Harry handled the last fight he had. She was surprised that the young boy had acclimated so quickly to the battles.

Grayfia wasn’t a fool.

She knew that Harry was a long-range fighter. It was evident with his build and movements during his fights.

That had to be corrected quickly.

Grayfia would have preferred a months-long training session to instill the fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat, but there obviously wasn’t time for that. This would have to do until there was.

With what Grayfia had seen when Harry was drunk out of his mind, magic clearly wasn’t a problem. But that would mean nothing if he couldn’t deal with close-range fighters that could neutralize him before using said magic.

Hence, Harry faced creatures that became progressively more proficient with close-range combat. Grayfia even had to change her planned targets once Harry revealed that strange ability to heal himself by sucking the life out of his opponent. Harry would shed tears if he knew he had made the fights harder than needed.

“Ah, Grayfia! You came just in time!”

“Lucifer-sama,” Grayfia nodded to her husband, then turned to the surprise guest, “Beelzebub-sama.”

“Grayfia,” Ajuka Beelzebub said her name as if he could barely be bothered. Grayfia didn’t take any offense since she knew of his legendary addiction to his research. Anything else was considered a waste of time by the Satan.

“Ajuka was telling me about something interesting about Ria-tan’s boy toy.”

Grayfia raised an eyebrow at the way her husband referred to Harry. She might not show it, but the boy was growing on her, making her feel strangely protective when Sirzechs mocked him. Or maybe it was just pity at seeing Harry’s constantly bloody form the past few days.

“Hmm, Grayfia’s been of great help. The data she sent to me had been invaluable,” Ajuka scratched his chin as he recalled the knife he saw, “I can say for sure that he does not possess a sacred gear originating from heaven.”

“That’s… obvious,” Grayfia deadpanned.

“Yes,” Ajuka replied seriously, “It’s strange since the gear contains frightening potential. None of the other gods are so benevolent, especially the ones associated with death.”

Grayfia wasn’t surprised to hear that a death god could be involved. The knife that Harry used reeked of a deathly aura, and that was without mentioning the effect it had on the creatures that were killed by it. However, Grayfia knew what the word ‘frightening’ meant when a man like Ajuka Beelzebub said it.

The minimum was to be capable of worrying Ajuka himself, a Super Devil.

That was the part that Grayfia didn’t really believe. Making a sacred gear with that much potential would require someone like Hades to be involved, and even then, it would need the death god to part with a portion of his divinity. Grayfia knew how unlikely that was.

“We thought the same thing,” Sirzechs could easily tell what his wife was thinking, “That cranky bastard would never give a human this much power.”

“Even if Hades did, we would know. He would be diminished,” Ajuka added, “Plus, none of the other pantheons suddenly have a weakened death god either.”

“… Could it be Him?” Grayfia’s low voice couldn’t hide the fear she felt.

“Unlikely,” Ajuka’s immediate denial was soothing to Grayfia, “The boy wouldn’t have fallen into our clutches if that was true.”

Sirzechs tapped his finger on the table, something that he had been making a habit of since Harry appeared. “It’s unlikely to be any of the Gods we know.”

He didn’t have to mention that they would have come knocking if Harry belonged to them. Who would give all this effort and leave it for another faction to benefit?

Sirzechs broke the silence with a clap of his hands. “This isn’t the best situation, but neither is it the worst. Since none of the usual suspects are involved, the best option now is to make sure Harry isn’t willing to leave.”

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Ajuka stood from his seat, not interested in where the conversation was going, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sirzechs. Hopefully, the boy will show me something interesting.”

Sirzechs waved his friend off before asking Grayfia, “How far did he get this time?”

“Harry-sama stopped at Seraphina Bloodworth,” Grayfia said, causing Sirzechs to sigh in relief, “He decided to give up the hope of meeting the devil responsible.”

“I never thought I could come close to owing a favor to a human.”

“No need to act, Lucifer-sama. We both know Harry-sama would have never fulfilled the requirements.”

“Grayfiaaa,” Sirzechs whined, “Let me have my fun! Besides, can you imagine if he somehow did? I wonder what his face would be like when he met Ajuka.”

Grayfia frowned slightly but didn’t comment on how a Satan tricking a mere human was more than a little unfair. After all, they were devils, not angels.

[Break]

Harry let out an embarrassingly loud groan as he sank into the plush cushion.

The sun wasn’t about to set for a couple more hours, so Rias and her peerage were still causing all sorts of explosions outside the manor. Harry wasn’t keen on listening to the ear-damaging sounds and chose to relax inside.

“You almost sat on me.”

“Gah!” Harry jumped in his seat at the unexpected voice, “Where the hell did you come from?”

A small white-haired girl, Koneko, if Harry wasn’t mistaken, was sitting next to him with a far too large cookie in her hands.

“I was here first. Move.”

Harry’s automatic reaction was to start shifting over, but then he resisted. Who did this kid think she was? If he was asked politely, Harry would have no issue making some space, but he had no reason to listen to what seemed to be an order.

“What was that?” Harry acted oblivious, “Did you say something, midget?”

Harry was happy to see Koneko’s expressionless face twist into annoyance. Seeing a little girl’s face frozen all the time was a little unnerving, which was another plus for not making space.

Harry might not have seen many muggle movies, but even he knew about the little girls in horror movies that were expressionless like Koneko. It might be silly to be slightly scared of that with what he went through the last few days, but who said the mind was logical.

“I said move.”

Harry cursed when he was launched off the couch and onto the floor when Koneko lightly pushed him. He rubbed his sore bottom while glaring at the small girl before standing up to look down at her.

‘I forgot she had super strength.’

[Glad you did. Watching this tiny thing make you fly was worth it.]

‘Shut up, Tom.’

Harry intended to continue teasing Koneko, but the more he stared at her, the less he wanted to. She was nibbling on the cookie while warily watching his every move, reminding Harry of a squirrel. It was honestly way too cute.

“You can’t have it.”

Harry blinked, not expecting Koneko to talk to him. “Can’t have what?”

“My cookie. It’s mine.”

Harry’s lips twitched as he fought the urge to laugh. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. The devils he had met so far all seemed to have odd personalities that were exaggerated in one way or another.

Even Rias, who seemed the most normal on the surface, had odd quirks that set her aside from the humans, or magicals, that Harry was used to.

“Yours,” Harry nodded in agreement as he retook a seat on the couch, this time keeping a comfortable gap from Koneko.

She still looked at him like he was some sort of thief as she finished the cookie in her hands. That only made her seem all that much adorable in Harry’s eyes. Especially when she stared at her hands sadly after the cookie was finished.

“Did you want another?” Harry vaguely remembered Rias mentioning that they kept the kitchen well-stocked with sweets.

Koneko tilted her head, thinking of the pros and cons for a few seconds before nodding. “Yes.”

Harry held out a hand, making the small girl look at him in confusion until something flew into the room. He had randomly summoned something sweet, so when a slice of cake was hovering above his hand instead of a cookie, Harry made a plate and fork follow soon after.

“There you go,” Harry handed a drooling Koneko a plateful of cake.

‘This… is nice. It takes my mind off that hellish training Grayfia put me through.’

By the time Rias and the rest trudged into the manor, they were presented with the view of Koneko surrounded by snacks while Harry was rubbing her hair like she was a pet.

“Harry?”

“Oh, Rias!” Harry said brightly, “Koneko and I were getting to know each other.”

“By using her addiction to sweets against her?” Akeno questioned with a giggle.

“Harry,” Rias covered her face with her palm, “At least tonight’s the last night we’re staying here. Otherwise, I’d have to ask the cook to make more.”

Harry visibly saw the mood drop. He didn’t need high emotional intelligence to feel the depression the younger members felt, and in Koneko’s case, eating a pastry less enthusiastically.

Rias and Akeno were the only ones that tried to keep up a facade of happiness, though that wasn’t too effective either.

“Hey, did you all forget that I’m here? And that Grayfia has been training me?” Harry tried to cheer them up, “Why are you all acting like tomorrow’s already a loss?”

“… Do you really think we’ll win?” Rias looked at him with such hope that Harry hesitated to answer. He was confident, of course, but nothing in this world was a sure thing.

But there was no way Harry would let them lose tomorrow. “There’s no doubt. Do you really think I’d let you run off and marry that arse?”

The smile Rias gave Harry took away his breath, and the next thing he knew, she was pulling him into their bedroom.

Read Chapter 11 here