[Hajime POV]
Since we were on the train, Kimiko and Blue were stored in my magic suitcase. They could be brought out using a familiar summoning spell, but they stayed inside for now.
I had already set up a living space for each of them when I got the suitcase.
While Kimiko and Tsubaki spent a lot of time together, Kimiko was still a monkey at the end of the day.
Blue and Kimiko each have their area.
Kimiko has a jungle biome reminiscent of Southeast Asia.
Blue, on the other hand, has a desert biome. Though she was given a jungle biome in the movie, velociraptors were better adapted to live in deserts like Mongolia, where their fossils were found.
Once Tsubaki and I had our things, we took the first train to Osaka before transferring onto a train headed toward Nara.
The entire train ride took a few hours, which was stressful.
Getting Akeno to join me isn't necessary, but having her on the team would be useful.
Her potential as one of the heroines means she could reach supreme-class at the very least.
At the start of canon, she was likely at initiate or beginner high-class for a few years; however, despite her innate potential, she barely breached ultimate-class within a year.
This was because of multiple factors.
First was her dislike of her fallen angel blood. Her rejection of part of herself and refusal to use her full abilities meant she grew very little in ways that mattered. She might've grown stronger at using devil magic, but she was a fallen angel first, meaning she would grow faster using that aspect of her bloodline.
Second was the fact that, due to her hatred of her father, she was completely unwilling to use her holy magic, even if it would have helped her. To understand just how bad it was, she didn't use it during the rating game against Riser. Even though losing would mean her friend would suffer, and likely her as well, she never once used holy magic, which would've negated Riser's biggest advantage, his healing. Instead, she got eliminated by Yubelluna, who was about advanced mid-class, two stages lower than Akeno in strength.
While her explosion magic and one of the game-allotted tears allowed her to eliminate Akeno, a single holy lightning attack would've instantly decided the match there, and yet Akeno completely refused. Riser even made himself clear that Akeno and Koneko would be his women by extension, yet she willingly held back to such a degree she, a high-class, lost to a mid-class.
The last reason why she was so weak was because of her King. Rias was extremely lazy, and that laziness extended to her peerage, who she often had play with her. Many fans of DxD complained about it because she had over a decade to train, yet only spent the ten days before the rating game training seriously. Akeno, who would often be by Rias' side, ended up training as much as Rias and trained even less in the human world because they were focused on school.
Akeno, someone with supreme-class potential, wasted it all because of this incident.
The ironic thing was that resurrection in DxD was very much possible. While evil pieces were the best-known way, there was also Sephiroth Graal, one of the Longinus. So, Akeno's trauma had ways to be dealt with.
While an evil piece likely won't work at this time since Shuri's been dead for a few days, Sephiroth Graal would likely work.
I still have other ways, like using Xerneas to revive her, or I could stack rolls for a few weeks. That would guarantee a god-like individual and possibly a revival ability.
It was the best way to recruit her. With my powers, so long as I live, I can do anything given enough time.
The train finally pulled into the Nara station. Tsubaki and I got off, and I took out the compass.
Pointing east, I grabbed Tsubaki, activated my Grimm wings, and flew where the compass pointed.
While I could've flown us here instead of taking the train, it would've been exhausting, and I didn't know my current limits yet.
As Tsubaki and I soared through the air, the compass slowly adjusted as we got closer.
Eventually, Tsubaki saw a small fire in a nearby forest. Looking up at the fire and then double-checking the compass, I figured that was where Akeno was.
Quickly heading over, Tsubaki and I saw her lying on the floor with two clan exorcists standing above her.
"Let's kill her and get this over with. I'm sick of looking at this waste."
"Agreed."
Before they could do anything, I sent a bolt of thunder in their direction before speeding up and getting in front of them.
Putting Tsubaki down, I activated Barrier to protect her and Akeno while the two clansmen were hit with a large lightning bolt.
*Boom*
-----
[Third Person POV]
Tsubaki stepped forward, preparing to deal with the two men before her.
Hajime stayed back. As much as he wanted to fight, Tsubaki would benefit from this, fighting two people at a power level similar to hers.
Besides, Akeno needed protection. She was passed out and covered in injuries, likely on death's door.
Taking out the health potion he got from my gacha, Hajime gave it to her, quickly healing her injuries.
Despite the healing, she was going to stay unconscious for a while. The pain and exhaustion created a large amount of mental stress, which wasn't something the potion healed.
Once her injuries were healed, Hajime relaxed, focusing on the fight that was going on in front of them.
Tsubaki, who was standing before the two men, had surprised them.
"A child did this?! You brat! I'll kill you for saving that stain!" As he prepared to charge forward, his teammate held him back.
"Calm down, Takumi. If these children came here, they had means of finding us. They also likely came ready to fight."
"Koichi, you can't be serious! They're just kids; we can easily beat them!"
"Like how Sadao was able to beat the stain? That kid next to her is emitting lightning energy; he was the one who hit us, and it was stronger than what Sadao was hit with. We need to be careful.
Since he's protecting her, we'll take out his teammate first."
"Yeah. Yeah! You're right, let's do this!"
The two men rushed toward Tsubaki, ready to fight her.
Takumi reached her first, swinging his sword towards Tsubaki's neck, trying to end the fight quickly.
Tsubaki brought her naginata up to block before redirecting the sword to block the burst of flames that came from Koichi.
*Tsk*
Koichi clicked his tongue, realizing this wouldn't be easy.
Takumi rushed forward again while Koichi prepared a special attack.
Swinging at Tsubaki again, Takumi didn't give her the chance to redirect his attack. When the sword clashed against her naginata, it was immediately withdrawn before shifting into another attack.
Despite Takumi using all his might with each swing, Tsubaki blocked each attack, but it was tiring. Fighting an adult male with more experience made each attack extremely heavy for her, and without redirecting the attacks, she had to face each one completely.
Finally, Koichi cast his spell. Out of three magic circles came birds made of flame, reminiscent of the clan's Vermillion Bird.
Tsubaki's eyes were immediately drawn to the attack, which allowed Takumi to finally land a hit, cutting into her side but not reaching further, with Tsubaki barely blocking it.
The three birds flew toward her, causing Tsubaki to use the naginata to move away.
She activated the weapon's flames and used them to push away Takumi before launching a flaming slash at the birds.
They were hit and slightly dispersed before suddenly reforming. Seeing this, Tsubaki realized she'd have to take out the caster to get rid of them.
Now going on the offensive, she ran toward Koichi, preparing to take him out of the fight, but Takumi stepped in front of him.
Quickly acting, she swung her blade at Takumi, causing him to block.
Taking advantage of the situation, she started unleashing a barrage of strikes against him, reversing the earlier situation.
To make it worse for him, Tsubaki used her flames to make each attack even more dangerous. With each attack, a small flame burst from the tip of her weapon, which Takumi tried to move from to avoid burning himself.
Taking advantage of that, each time he dodged, Tsubaki would get closer, swing harder, and prepare a stronger flame.
Seeing his teammate being easily pushed back, Koichi launched the birds at Tsubaki, causing her to split focus.
Instead of launching flames at Takumi, she saved them, launching them at the fire constructs before preparing to swing at the swordsman again.
Though she couldn't deal with the caster, she had drawn even with them. Neither side was able to land a finishing blow on the other.
Eventually, Tsubaki missed hitting one of the birds, which left an opening that Koichi quickly exploited.
Sending the bird at Tsubaki, who was currently mid-swing towards Takumi, Koichi was prepared to hit her and give Takumi a chance to finish her off.
Unfortunately, his expectations failed seconds later. Tsubaki, uncaring, kept swinging.
Just as it was about to hit her, the bird slammed into a mirror and disappeared.
When Koichi saw that, he realized she was a sacred gear wielder.
Tsubaki, who hit Takumi's sword as hard as possible, locked the two weapons together and faced them to the ground.
Takumi, who hadn't yet noticed the mirror, was surprised when Tsubaki moved it in front of her.
With his weapon locked against hers, he couldn't move away, or he'd be unarmed.
Tsubaki unleashed the attack from the mirror at him.
Now twice as strong and fast as before, the bird slammed into him with no chance of him reacting.
The bird carried him into a tree behind him. As he hit the tree, the bird finally exploded, scorching his entire body.
When the bird vanished, he fell over, covered in burns.
Grabbing his sword, Tsubaki ran at him and beheaded him before anyone could help him recover if he was even alive at this point.
Koichi was standing there, shocked that his attack had just killed his friend. Even if it didn't, Takumi's sword going through his neck would have done it.
Now facing Tsubaki alone, he realized that he was likely to lose.
Tsubaki, now fully focused on Koichi, was prepared to end him.
-----
Hajime watched Tsubaki fight the two exorcists and was extremely impressed with her.
In just a few months, she went from a low-class to a mid-class and was able to fight two people of the same class at the same time.
Though maybe not the best comparison since they were all only mid-class, where the difference between stages was small, it was still impressive.
The two exorcists worked well together. One used their sword to pressure others, while the other used fire magic that could easily create openings to finish them off.
Sensing something coming from his right, Hajime saw a third exorcist charging at him with a sword.
Charging a strong bolt of lightning, he released it at the exorcist, who was immediately hit with it and collapsed into a seizure before being finished off.
As he refocused on the battle, he saw Tsubaki use her sacred gear to finish off one of them, leaving only one opponent remaining.
The fight didn't last long once the swordsman was dead. Koichi was an almost purely magic fighter, so he could not defend against her weapon once Tsubaki got close.
With all their opponents now defeated, the two took the unconscious girl with them to a nearby hotel, discussing how to deal with her once she woke up.
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Author's Note:
Several comments have said that they dislike the omakes, so for now, they will stop. I'll also be thinking about whether or not it will continue after some time. I'm not writing this to complain; I just want to explain my thoughts.
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!