DxD: Celeste 16

DxD: Celeste 16

…

Commissioned by Chaosbrain

Wordcount: 2000

…

I wiped a tear away from my eye.

They grow up so fast.

“Ise, you’re a man now! Congratulations!”

“Sensei!?” My student was flushed as I popped the confetti popper over his head and as a drone flew over him with a ‘congratulations’ banner trailing behind it. “How!? What!? Are you spying on me!?”

“No, Azazel is. Guys spy on guys. Girls on girls. That’s how espionage works.” I joked with a smile. Everyone spies on each other no matter what bits and bobs they had. “Congrats on getting into a relationship. Now comes the hard part of maintaining it and doing your best to not lose!”

Hyoudou paused at my words before going pale.

“If I don’t do everything right, I’m going to get NTR’d!?”

“Mhmm, maybe? It’s more like you and whoever you’re with might just break up because of differences, then see one another person. That’s more likely.” Relationships were more often than not pretty healthy in my world. People were pretty much galvanized to bring up the birth rate, so we wouldn’t have to supplement with clones. Rather than espouse polygamy, Sheridan co-opted education to teach people how to communicate better and not be dirtbags. On average, most people just went their separate ways after a good talk. “Oh, that’s for my world. Yeah, that might happen if you’re not careful, I guess.”

“NOOOOOO!” Ise fell to the ground in despair. “I HATE IT!”

“Hey, relax kid, it might happen.” Oh, dang. He’s actually crying tears of frustration just thinking about it. Time for some good, old-fashioned inspiration. “All you got to do is be so much better than everyone else that the thought doesn’t even occur to them!”

That’s how Li did it.

I think.

Brain usually goes bye-bye when the shirt comes off.

Mmmm, shirt-off Li.

What was I doing again?

“Alright, kid. You’ve already got a stable job and the best insurance anyone could ask for, and you’re not slouch in the body department.” That was putting it mildly. He was superhuman compared to the rest of humanity in this world. That’s probably how he kept up with two women on his first time. I should consider giving the girls a helping hand, too. After their probation, of course. “All you need to do now is learn how to care for them. You’re going to do that by getting super strong, by learning how to talk to them, and finally how to make them happy. I’ll take charge of the first two, but Azazel will be taking the lead on the last part.”

My son’s hedonism and centuries of having a harem were finally useful.

Hyoudou brightened up at my words and got up like a coiled spring.

“Got it, sensei! I’m ready to learn! What are we doing today?”

I gave a nod at his pep and gave him a thumbs up.

“Today, I’m going to push you to your limits and figure out what you need to work on!”

In other words… I’m going to put the kid through hell.

Not the nice Hell where Devils lived.

The metaphorical, terrible hell.

…

Unfortunately for Hyoudou, now that it was clear that all the retroviral transformations were complete, I could freely find his limits. Sure, there were scientific methods and estimates that I could use, but I wasn’t drowning in people to look after. With that taken into consideration, I could personalize his training even further.

I wasn’t horrible, though.

Cardio went first one day and then weights were on the second day.

“Sensei… I feel like I’m dead, but I’m not.” Hyoudou was well above average for a human teenager back in my world. His max out for overhead press was 200. Squats 230. 5 minute mile. 60 minutes endurance. All of which would place him at the top twenty percent in this world when combined, but below the average soldier back home. Before Li started handing out power to anyone with the gumption. “Why do I feel like I’m dead, but not?”

“That means you’ve hit your limit and your body is really feeling recovery for the first time.” He lay in the clinic of my ship and the medical drones were tending to him. A few injections for increased recovery rates, lots of food, and some rest would get him back up and ready for school tomorrow. “Those new injections are just for quicker recovery by the way. You’re pretty much a normal human from my dimension now.”

“The ‘normal’ humans that can regenerate, get shot in most places and shrug it off, and learn how to use their soul to kill immortals?”

“Yeah.”

“…cool.”

“Yeah, right!?”

I looked over the readouts for a bit longer, before frowning at a specific piece of information that popped up.

“Hey, kid, what’s up with your magical power? It seems messed up.” I’d slapped an analyzer on his wrist to track his magical power. “Are you having trouble casting the spells I’d asked you to practice?”

They were simple cantrips. Not even magical circles, let alone the runes that Miyakuro was spreading around and giving everyone headaches with.

Hyoudou frowned.

“Yeah, I am. But they’re supposed to be hard, right? I’m getting the hang of one.”

“You’re supposed to have been training with all of them already.”

“Oh. That’s bad.”

“Yeah, it looks like we’ll focus on your physical strengths, before working on your magic.” I filed that away as a note for later, before moving forward. A drone helpfully handed me the VR dive helmet I’d cobbled together. Hyoudou saw it and his eyes widened. “Relax, it’s just a virtual reality helmet. I’m going to use it to give you time to study and learn while you recover.”

“O-oh, thanks!”

“Yep, your neural plasticity is good enough to endure a few months of time dilation. Enjoy all of modern high school, kid!”

“Wait, what—

With that, I slapped the helmet onto his head and turned it on.

Man, I’d planned on using it to enjoy a few months of R&R this evening, but it couldn’t be helped.

Only the best for my new student!

…

“My brain feels like mush, and the air tastes funny.”

“Oh, I gave you the regular oxygen mix on the space arcologies. It helps keep headaches away.” I checked on Hyoudou after his first stint in virtual space. Humans, even without retroviral injections and augmentations, were fine with experiencing things in dilated time. Decades of research backed up that particular belief of mine. Still, it didn’t hurt to make sure. Trust, but verify, and all that. “Look into the light.”

“Oh? Okaaaayyyy!?” I activated the sensor I held in my other hand right next to his head. “What—oh, you scanned my brain while I was distracted.”

“Yep… and you’re looking just fine.” The little scanner was something most VR chairs had. AI monitored brain waves at all times to make sure nothing went wrong. It was a cushy job for them and one they liked, since they got to interact with lots of people at their own preferred perception of time. “No chance of strokes, extra sheathing is working perfectly, and no issues with memory loss. Can’t have you go through all of that only to forget everything, right?”

“Please, don’t let that happen. I don’t want to.” Hyoudou groused and shook his head. What were a few hours for me was a few years of catching up to him. Sure, he had plenty of time to relax and study on his own, and interact with various programs… but one VR suite meant that he didn’t have many people to really talk to. I sent him a bunch of messages constantly and kept an eye on him. For him, my stream of messages came every couple of weeks. I’d pulled him out a few times to reorient him and make sure that he wasn’t going crazy, but apparently he did have someone to talk to. “Ddraig says that he’ll only go back in if you add more battles.”

“Figures, dragons always like that part.” I sniffed, but I was relieved that he had that mental companion to help him out. This could’ve taken a lot longer if I had to pull him out every couple months/minutes. “So, how does it feel to have a basic understanding of most things?”

“I don’t feel different. I think that I just know much I don’t know?” Hyoudou confessed, and I gave him a swift pat on the back. “Ah, I guess that’s the whole point.”

“Yep! That’s right. You leave college knowing you need to learn more and get more things under your belt, but you can do it as long as you try!” A lot of things were reliant on automated labor and AI back home. Not much need for humans to work all the time. People can live multiple lives again and again in virtual space. The fact that it conserved on food, oxygen, and other things was important too. AI, of course, monitored vitals and woke people up to exercise and eat, but even eating can be avoided with just supplement full-meal drinks. It was a luxury that also acted as a method of conservation. “School will be pretty easy from now on, but you should still go to have fun and make friends.”

Hyoudou blinked at the mention of friends… and leapt up from his seat.

“I haven’t seen my girlfriends in years!”

“Years for you. Hours for them!”

“I miss them enough for all of us!” Hyoudou put his hands in his head, and I had to take a step back. This must be a result of this Earth’s culture. He seemed near-inconsolable at the drop of a hat even after not really missing anything out. “I really want to see them again! They’re… they’re not just a dream or memory, right!?”

Alright, looks like I’ll have to make several pods before letting this guy back in.

“Alright, I get it. Let’s cut today short. I was going to take you out to dinner to celebrate, but you’re obviously distressed.” I moved and motioned to a drone. Soon enough, it was scanning Hyoudou passively just to make sure everything was okay. “Go ahead and prepare to go down and reconnect with everyone. Take it slow. Remember that it’s been a while for you, but barely a few hours for them.”

“R-right. That’s fine.” Hyoudou paced for a bit and noticed my worry after a few seconds. He blinked a few times, before forcing himself to stop. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just that… it still feels like I’ve been away. I think, in your world, there’s loads of people there all the time and they stay connected. It’s not the same here.”

“I get it. It’s an oversight on my part.” All the research I had on this subject confirmed that everything was okay and it was a good way to get lots of non-physical training into someone, even in solo-trials. Kids around Hyoudou’s age participated in the trials. However, those were kids from my dimension and with similar education to me, and who grew up knowing about the tech. Everyone involved will also return to a society that understood the tech and accommodated for it. Here and now, though, Hyoudou couldn’t tell anyone or share what he went through. “Don'’ worry. You won’t do that alone again. I promise.”

Hyoudou’s shoulders dropped in relief at my words, and he gave me a nod, before moving to leave the room and my vessel entirely.

I’ll need to make up for that mistake later and not make it again.

I can’t let my excitement and wish to have someone who went through something similar to me cloud my judgement.

Rather than forcing this world to be how I like, I should look for a way back home.