Tale of Discovery

After an awkward breakfast, Asia, Koneko and I head to school together. On the way, I have a little chat with Asia.

She was a little fidgety when talking with me, which was mostly because she didn't know how to refer to me and act in front of me now that she found out about my "identity".

Once I informed her that she could still refer to me by "Your Holiness" and act like normal, she began to fidget less and less, until she finally got used to it.

As soon as we get to our class, I use Rework and Illusion to get make us invisible and get to our seats silently. I know we've already been marked as absent for the previous lessons, but who cares about that.

In order to not attract attention, I make ourselves visible in the blink of an eye. Some students are a little confused, while Kiba is scowling at me.

Looks like someone is mad. Now that I think about it, I don't see Issei around, which means his mental breakdown was a success.

Now, I just need to wait for the right juncture to go to the Occult Research Club...

------

"Good afternoon," I say in a peaceful manner as shortly after entering the clubroom

Not waiting for their response, I am about to announce something, only to be interrupted by the arrival of a group of students.

Turning around, I evaluate them carefully.

A girl with short black hair and wearing glasses seems to be leading the group.

"Who's this?", I ask Rias.

Understanding what I meant by my question, she begins to explain,

"She is Sona Sitri, second daughter of the Sitri Clan. She's the president of the Student Council in this school."

Ho~ So basically another nobly raised girl with her little peerage handed to her? No, that may not be necessarily right. I can't base every noble Devil off of what I've heard about Rias from Koneko.

"Good afternoon, Rias," she says.

"Good afternoon, Sona, what has brought you here today?"

The two of them seem to glare at each other for a few seconds. Is this rivalry I am sensing?

Leaving that aside, I wonder how do these Devils fare compared to Rias and her peerage. Hopefully not as foolish at the very least.

Huh? The only guy in their group is glaring at me for some reason.

Have I ruined his life yet? I don't think so.

"I've come to introduce you to my new pawn, " she says, "Saji, introduce yourself."

The guy pridefully moves forward and says,

"Hello, I'm Saji Genshirou, Sona Sitri's pawn."

After that silence ensues. Sona glances at me then at Rias, who is looking at me with a complicated look on her face.

Okay, if I leave her hanging like this, I'll be no different than a douche. However, I can't just introduce myself as a "servant". Screw that.

"Hi, my name is Haru Kasuganou. I'm probably the most powerful existence you will ever come across in your lives."

My words appall them as they gawk at me, while most likely doubting the fact that they heard someone seriously make such an arrogant claim.

However, I am not being arrogant, as if I were to compare the beings in this world to myself, I can say that I am perhaps already the strongest. However, there is always a small chance that there is more to the world than one might think, so I can't get too cocky.

Thus, I've come to the decision of asserting dominance over all the beings in this academy. For that, I don't need to take on the identity of God. First of all, I've got the major population to deal with, which are humans.

They're easy to manipulate and can be skillfully misled by anyone who's charismatic and knows to twist his words adequately.

Oh, looks like they've already snapped out of their trance.

"That's quite the pretentious gentleman you got there, Rias."

Rias is still confused and doesn't know what to do day in regard to all this, so I will continue to assist her.

Definitely not because I'm pissed at the fact that the girl didn't address me directly,

"Punch me."

My words once again attract her attention as she says,

"You're an odd one."

Shaking my head, I slowly walk towards her.

Saji puts his guard up and raises his left arm in preparation for something, while Sona just peers at me.

"I'm not going to repeat myself, punch me. Do it as hard as you can. If you're able to touch me, you can make whatever ailment you wish and I will go through with it."

Sona furrows her brows. Yeah, she is definitely sensing that confidence in my tone and she certainly isn't liking it.

Now, she needs to make a choice. Rationally, one shouldn't punch another just because they told you to, so I have to resort to underhanded means.

"You were glaring at Lady Rias a few seconds ago, so I reckoned you would be worth something, however, I suppose I had my expectation bar set too high, as you are as weak as you seem to be."

I can already see the fruits of success from the way her brows twitch. The noble lass is angry at me.

This isn't going to work on her based on how she's reacted so far, so it's time for some good old reverse psychology,

"My apologies if my words have offended you. I may have sounded a little rude and arrogant, but it was nothing more than an act to see if you had the galls to punch a random new Devil.

"You may not punch me and I won't hold it against you. For you see, I was surprised when Lady Rias actually went ahead and punched me without any hesitation, so I was impressed and wanted to see if her acquaintances are as dignified."

Upon mentioning Rias, I use Illusion while making sure to cover it up properly to make it seem like she has a mocking smile on her face.

Sona is unable to hold back any longer, so she punches me at the speed of an ordinary human. Knowing that she wants to test the waters first, I cancel out the vectors of her punch, making her arm freeze in the spot it's at.

Surprised, she pulls it back and opens then closes her hand to see if there is anything wrong with it.

Once she is sure that it's fine, she throws another punch at me, but stronger. Once again, I cancel the vectors of her punch.

Her expression has gone from mild surprise to interest, with a small smile on her face.

Pulling her arm back, she channels some energy into her arms before punching me with a force that's difficult for humans to emulate.

I remain unfazed as I cancel out the vectors of her punch again and subtly use Destruction to get rid of the energy.

Now, other than genuine shock, nothing else is apparent on her face as she inquires,

"How?"

I dismissively ask her back,

"Why should I tell you?"

She thinks for a few seconds before says,

"I'm going to go pick a familiar with my peerage for my new servant. Once I'm done, how about we play a game of chess?"

What? Familiar? What's that, and why does she want to play chess with me?

"Sure we can play chess, but first, what's a familiar?", I directly implore.

The only guy in Sona's peerage, which I assume is the one who will be getting the familiar says mockingly,

"How ignora-"

Before he can finish what he wants to say, Sona shuts him up with a glare, before turning back to me and saying,

"I apologize for the insensitivity of my servant."

Tsk. She ruined a perfect chance for me to cut his head off with a justified claim- He offended me. Too bad...

"It's fine. I'm sure he has a lot to learn, " I say redirecting what he had to say back to him politely.

"Back to the main topic, a familiar is a being that helps their master in various ways."

Interesting.

"What's the strongest familiar?", I ask.

She takes a moment to reply,

"I'm not sure exactly, but there is one that could probably fit that category."

"Which is?"

"One of the Five Great Dragon Kings - Tiamat."