Training, Mounts, and Madness

Training Dimension 3 (Valerie's P.O.V.)

Deep in the third training dimension, Valerie was sitting down meditating on the authority of life she now held. She was going over all the powers she had access. Unlike her new friends, she didn't need any immediate training aside from gaining control over her increased stats. She already knew how to use the Graal's power even if it was tiring. Now that she was a demon on top of being a vampire, her stamina had increased tremendously. She just had to make sure she didn't overload her targets with life energy. The one thing she planned on testing rigorously was her ability to transmute life. She wanted to be able to create perfect creatures, life that would be as beautiful as it was powerful. Rias had even given her the role of researcher for the group. Her first assignment was to determine whether new devils and angels could be created. Then, determine whether they would be recognized by heaven's system and how far she could modify them. The best part, she had plenty of samples in the building they were in to scan with her authority. She didn't actually need to conduct the experiments. Her power combined with the derived version of Rias's power of prophecy would be helpful here. In short, she could simulate any experiment as long as she was clear on the variables being tested.

Aside from her was the newly minted heavenly dragon, Ingvild Leviathan also meditating. She was identifying her new dragon instincts and isolating them from the rest of her feelings. It wouldn't do to have less control over herself due to the race change. Especially now that she was a demon dragon.

From what she noticed, her pride and lust increased significantly. She'd need to talk to Rias about it. Considering what Rias told her about her condition prior to the conversion, it was very likely that her primal feeling of lust and pride would be focused on her. The parts of Rias's soul inside her and the pillar bond that now bound her reinforced this point. It wasn't really a problem as they were demons and this was expected, but she would need time to come to terms with these new foreign urges. She would need to get to know Rias more and from the looks of it, have a discussion with Esdeath.

Standing up, Ingvild started toward a distant corner of the training area. As she walked, a deep sapphire trident with golden engravings and edges emerged from a swirling portal. With its appearance, the humidity in the air increased to the point where thirst could be quenched with a breath.

Once she reached the corner, she began focus on the trident's power. In an instant, multiple sapphire orbs appeared around her. With a thought, the orbs shot pressurized streams of water at a set of nearby trees. Then, she began manipulating the water into different creative forms like cubes, dogs, and others as a form of control. She would need to do all this with the massive reserve of power she had at her disposal. Aside from magnifying her own power over water, the trident was the equivalent of the boosted gear, but instead of doubling the power every 10 seconds, it gave her a constant exponential growth to her power. Controlling her power when it was magnified by so much would be a challenge. This was what she would be doing for the most part until the event.

Land of Pride (Artoria P.O.V) (The Next Day)

"Alright, Rias said that Heaven Bolt Mountain Range was in this direction. I should make it there in about a week, at least if this map is accurate." Artoria said as she looked down at her map.

She had asked Rias for ways to acquire a good mount to fight the supernatural. King Arthur's original one was out of the questions as it wasn't bound to his soul like Rhongomyniad was. She would have to find her own. Rias had looked at her for a quick second and told her to find the Heaven Bolt Mountain Range. According to her it was a place that had natural sacred lightning streaking in bolts on a constant basis. It also had divine beasts that were attuned to the area. It was a place she had come across during her travels. According to her, the perfect mount would be here and she would know it when she saw it.

She sighed. "Why didn't I just ask Rias to teleport me here. I just had to take this as a training opportunity didn't I. There are some parts of my ancestor I really wish I didn't inherit." She mumbled to herself. It was going to be a long week.

Old Complex (Location: ????)

Within a dark complex stood a relatively short old man in priest robes. In front of him was a blond-haired young man strapped to an alter with seven blades surrounding him. In the old man's hand was a bundle shaped like a sword.

"Yessss this is it! I'll finally be able to wield Excalibur." A manic smile on his face, the old man unwrapped the bundle to reveal a long silver sword with a cross-shaped guard. He proceeded to stab the sword in a spot of the ritual next to the young man. Then, he took multiple soul crystals and placed them on the outer edges of the formation.

With all of that done, he walked up to the young man, his hand raised above his head.

"With this, I will become the wielder of the most powerful sword in the world. Excalibur reformed with Caliburn as its foundation. The fusion of these two legendary swords will be magnificent and I will be its wielder!" with that, he started laughing like the madman he clearly was.

With a mad smile, he slammed his hand on the young man's body, which then began to glow. The young man began to scream in intense pain. The alter began to glow as well, followed by the swords and the soul crystals. As the glow got brighter, so did the man's scream crescendo into a deafening chorus until it slowly died down and eventually came to a halt. Soon everything, including the soul crystals, the young man, and the swords melted into the old man.

With a blinding flash, an explosion of light shot out creating a beam of light that pierced the sky. Slowly, the beam began shifting and darkening until all that was left was a black and red light that blackened the sky. At the base of the new shadow spire stood an abomination of a man. The hulking mass reached nine feats of deformed muscle. His skin was a menagerie of colors spanning different shades of gray to lime green. Decorating his form were the faces of the souls with the strongest light that had been collected in the crystals. Disgustingly enough, the majority of them were children.

"Yesssss. With the new sword forming my bones and the collective core of souls forming my heart, I have transcended my humanity! I am both the strongest sword and the brightest light in the world. I am the pinnacle of the faith!" He roared.

As he did, the faces on his body roared with him, tears of blood streaming down their face.

"When the factions come, I'll show them. I'll show them all!" He continued to rant to himself as streams of natural energy poured into his deformed body. He wasn't doing it consciously. It was an automatic process after becoming what he was now. His size began expanding as he received more and more energy. He even found that his massive muscles were growing stronger by the second. What he didn't notice was that his already heavily frayed mind, was coming closer to absolute madness.

"Yesssss. All that's left before the event is to use this and I'll be done." He said as he held up one of the Vanishing Dragon's cores. This wasn't from Vali, but the previous generation's fight with the Red Dragon Emperor. With this, he could perfect his research. He would be the perfect masterpiece.