The cursed way (Highschool dxd x OC)

Chapter 13

"U-unbelievable... I did it..." Issei muttered, feeling a sense of accomplishment as tears formed in his eyes.

"It's not that unbelievable, I knew you would do it," Steve said as he sat on the ground next to him.

"I... wow... that was unreal."

"Technically, it is unreal since it was all a type of illusion, but congratulations. Now your real training will begin from tomorrow," he said as Issei looked at him wide-eyed.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN REAL TRAINING!" he yelled backing up as Steve chuckled.

"Don't worry, it won't be as brutal as this was. This was to sharpen your combat instincts and help you build up more stamina and endurance. You see, your Sacred Gear uses your base strength and speed and enhances it, putting a lot of strain on your body. So the more stamina and strength you have, the longer time you can have and the more it can be boosted," Steve explained as Issei nodded.

"But wouldn't raising base strength and speed be better?"

"In the long term, maybe, but we're talking about the time frame of 10 days. you see, when you boost yourself, it doesn't go from 2 to 4 to 6 times, it goes like 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 and so on. So by 12 boosts, your power becomes 4096 times the base value. Hence why you could create such a big explosion, and why you can only go up to 13 times now. If you went up to 20, you'd be over a million times stronger than you are right now, and in your base state, I'd say Riser is about 1000 times stronger than you, and Rias about 1000 times too," Steve stated.

"So Buchou and Riser are around the same level," Issei muttered at which Steve shook his head, declining the statement.

"I am talking about Strength and magic. However, Riser has the ability to regenerate, being a part of the Pheonix clan, so he's much stronger than Rias, since Rias will become exhausted fighting him."

"Then how can I win?" Issei asked, feeling a little down.

"Well, even if he can heal, unlike me he doesn't have near unlimited stamina. Even he gets tired, and even he can exhaust his regeneration. So your aim is to either beat him to the point he exhausts his regeneration, or breaks mentally due to the pain and suffering. And to do that, you will have to continuously destroy him, and the more of his body you can destroy in one attack, the better. Also, going for the head would be better, since the head contains Neurons which usually are the hardest to regenerate," Steve lectured as Issei took out a notebook and started taking notes.

"HAI SENSEI!" Issei yelled causing Steve to giggle.

"Alright. Having said all that, now it's time to have lunch. Oh, and by the way, only three and a half hours have passed in the real world. I can stretch an hour into a day inside the dungeon, so we'll mostly be training and resting in there, to give you enough time to develop your muscles," Steve casually explained as he walked into the kitchen, leaving a dumbfounded Issei behind.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Issei and Artoria could be seen filling their faces as Steve cooked and ate simultaneously.

Gil was still outside, completing a request that had been made, and would be back by the evening to train Issei.

"So, after this, we'll be working on your cursed energy, and test whether your Gear boosts that too. And also, you'll be getting hand-to-hand combat lessons from Artoria," Steve explained and Issei nodded.

"And one more thing..." Steve said as the air around them became heavy and there was a sudden chill, with a strange pressure emanating from Steve.

"Think anything perverted about her, and I'll destroy your thing."

"HAI SENSEI!" Issei yelled, scared as Artoria sweatdropped.

"Good! Let's go then!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Three more days had passed in the real world, but for Issei, it had been over a month of training.

On the second day, the Domain was Goblins, who, unlike Zombies, could actually defend themselves.

But as Steve had said, the main aim for most of Issei's attacks was the head. He had a target order, going from Head to Heart to Groin, since these were either the hardest to heal or the most painful.

On the third day, there were Stone Golems, and it was much harder to destroy them, and the fourth day was also goblins, but these ones were way faster, and thus it was a pain for Issei to deal with.

Today, he had just completed the Worm dungeon, which consisted of worms that dug through the ground. AND IT WAS IRRITATING!

As per Steve, this was to help him with reflexes and to teach him to find openings, since they could only be significantly damaged inside their mouth, and with digging and all, there were very small windows of time in which they could be killed.

Right now, he was having lunch when Steve suddenly stood up from his chair.

"What happened?" asked Gil with food in his mouth.

"Felt some presence. Don't worry about it though, I'll deal with it," Steve said with a smirk.

This was an interesting development.

From what he remembered, Kuroka didn't appear in the anime until season 3, and right now, they were nearing the climax of season 1.

"Alright, I'll be off then. And I might not return for a while, so train hard Issei," he stated as Issei nodded.

"HAI SENSEI! I'll train my Jujutsu technique too!" he said as Steve smiled. He remembered how Issei triggered his cursed technique during his fight with the Goblin boss, who was dominating the fight. However, with just one move, the tide was changed.

Thinking this, Steve teleported out of the house near the Gremory estate.

Kuroka was being cautious. She had perfectly hidden her presence, and with the help of an artifact she got, she could now turn into a cat.

Why all this? Just to catch a glimpse of her precious sister.

She wanted to make sure that Shirone, or as she now went, Koneko was having a good life. She didn't want her to end up with someone like their previous master.

She was on top of a tree, looking through a window of the Gremory estate, when she felt a chill run down her spine.

'W-what is t-that?' she thought, turning, only to look into deep blue eyes.

"MEOW!" she yelped in her cat form as she jumped back, only for the Leopard to grab her.

The next moment, she felt as if she was being sucked into a vacuum before they both hit the ground.

She looked around to see that she was in a room with a desk, a few chairs, and a large window showing the view of the city.

"Welcome to my office, stray cat. Or should I say, Kuroka Toujou," came a voice as the chair behind the desk turned to reveal Steve sitting with his right foot on his left knee.

Kuroka knew she was exposed and there was no way of escaping as she jumped back and turned into her normal form, standing defensively in front of him.

"Alright, Snowbell, your work is done, you can go rest now," Steve said giving the Leopard a head pat as it bowed and then left the room.

"W-what do you want from me, nya!" Kuroka said, knowing that she was at a disadvantage.

"Me? I am just a hunter, hunting Stray devils. But I want to talk," he said as he smiled at her, while Kuroka only gulped and suspiciously stared at him.

"W-why didn't you just kill me, if you were hunting me?"

"Well, I would, but then you're the older sister of my girlfriend."