Dawn arrived like a personal insult.
I was having a perfectly good dream about not being electrocuted when someone yanked my blanket away. The cold morning air hit my exposed skin like a slap.
"Rise and shine, Ryder-kun."
Akeno stood over me, already in uniform, smiling with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely enjoyed other people's suffering. Which, based on everything I'd learned about her, was probably accurate.
"What time is it?" I croaked.
"Five-thirty."
Five-thirty. In the morning. To train. I didn't sign up for anime boot camp.
"I changed my mind about the devil thing," I mumbled, reaching for the blanket. "Can I get a refund?"
"Ara ara, no refunds." She grabbed my arm and pulled me upright with strength that shouldn't exist in someone her size. "Rias-buchou is waiting. Don't make her wait."
Fifteen minutes later, I stood in the training ground behind Kuoh Academy, wearing borrowed workout clothes and questioning every life decision that led me here. The sun hadn't fully risen yet. Mist curled across the grass. Birds chirped cheerfully, completely unaware of my impending doom.
The entire peerage was assembled. Rias in athletic wear that probably cost more than my old apartment. Kiba stretching with practiced efficiency. Koneko sitting on a boulder eating a rice ball. And Akeno, who had somehow changed into a training outfit and was currently generating sparks between her fingertips.
"Good morning, Ryder." Rias nodded approvingly. "Ready to begin?"
"Define 'ready.'"
"Willing to try and not die."
"Then sure. I'm ready."
She almost smiled. "We'll start with the basics. Akeno, you're first."
Akeno's expression brightened in a way that made my survival instincts scream.
[TRAINING SESSION INITIATED]
[INSTRUCTOR: AKENO HIMEJIMA]
[SPECIALIZATION: LIGHTNING/MAGIC]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: ...CALCULATING]
The fact that my system is calculating survival probability is not reassuring.
"We'll start with energy manipulation," Akeno said sweetly. "You became a devil yesterday, so your demonic energy is still unstable. We need to teach you control."
"Okay. How do we do that?"
"First, you try to channel your energy." She raised her hand. Lightning crackled between her fingers, beautiful and terrifying. "Then I provide... motivation."
"Motivation?"
"Positive reinforcement." Her smile widened. "Every time you fail, I shock you. Just a little."
I stared at her. "That's not positive reinforcement. That's literally the opposite of positive reinforcement."
"Ara ara, details."
What followed was forty-five minutes of concentrated suffering. Akeno was right about one thing: my demonic energy was unstable. Every time I tried to channel it, the power flickered wildly, surging and fading without pattern.
And every time it failed, Akeno delivered exactly what she promised.
The first shock was mild. A tingle that made my fingers twitch.
By the tenth, I was pretty sure I could feel my skeleton.
"Focus on the center of your chest," Akeno instructed, watching me twitch on the ground. "That's where your demonic core resides. Draw the energy from there."
"Hard to focus," I gasped, "when I'm being actively electrocuted."
"Consider it incentive."
I'm being trained by a sadist. An actual, literal sadist. This is my life now.
But somewhere around shock number fifteen, something clicked. I stopped trying to force the energy and let it flow naturally. The dark flames around my hands steadied, holding their shape for three full seconds before dissipating.
"Good." Akeno's voice held genuine approval. "You're a fast learner."
"I'm a motivated learner. There's a difference."
She laughed, and for a moment, the sadistic edge faded. "Rest for five minutes. Kiba is next."
Kiba's training was significantly less painful, though no less humiliating.
"Combat footwork is foundational," he explained, demonstrating a stance. "Without proper positioning, power means nothing."
"Makes sense." I tried to copy his stance. "Like this?"
"Your weight is too far forward. And your back heel is floating."
I adjusted. "Better?"
"No."
Kiba was patient. Infuriatingly, genuinely patient. He corrected my stance twelve times without a hint of frustration, explaining the reasoning behind each adjustment with the calm precision of someone who'd done this a thousand times.
We moved from stance work to basic movement patterns. Shuffle left. Shuffle right. Pivot. Retreat. Advance. Simple movements that felt impossible at combat speed.
"Your reaction time is good," Kiba noted, after I'd failed to block his practice strike for the twentieth time. "But your body hasn't learned to translate thought into motion yet. That comes with practice."
"How much practice?"
"Months. Maybe years." He sheathed his practice sword. "But you'll improve faster than a human would. Devil physiology accelerates learning."
Great. So instead of being terrible for years, I'll only be terrible for months. Progress.
By the time Kiba finished, I was sweating, my legs burned, and I had a new appreciation for how much I didn't know about fighting.
Koneko was next.
She led me to a section of the training ground with various weights arranged in neat rows. Dumbbells. Barbells. And what appeared to be actual boulders with handholds carved into them.
"Strength training," she said flatly. "Basic."
"Okay." I eyed the equipment. "What do I start with?"
She pointed at a dumbbell. It looked reasonable. Maybe twenty pounds.
I grabbed it with one hand and nearly dislocated my shoulder. The thing had to weigh at least two hundred pounds.
"...that's the warm-up weight," Koneko observed.
"The warm-up weight."
"Nn."
She walked over to one of the boulders, the smallest one, which was still roughly the size of a compact car. Gripped the handholds. And lifted it over her head like it was made of styrofoam.
"...you're weak, senpai."
"Thanks." I dropped the dumbbell, which left a small crater. "Really feeling the team spirit here."
Koneko set down the boulder with a ground-shaking thud. For a moment, her expression flickered. Not quite a smile, but something adjacent.
"Try the smaller one." She pointed at a dumbbell that looked marginally less impossible. "Twenty pounds. Devil-standard."
Devil-standard twenty pounds is human-standard two hundred. Note to self: never arm-wrestle any of these people.
I managed three sets of ten reps before my arms gave out completely. Koneko watched the entire time, occasionally offering corrections in her usual two-word sentences.
"Elbow higher."
"Back straight."
"...pathetic."
That last one wasn't a correction, but I was too exhausted to argue.
Finally, after what felt like years but was probably three hours, Rias called me over.
"You've done well," she said. "Better than I expected."
"I've been shocked, knocked around, and called weak about fifteen times. But sure. 'Well.'"
She smiled. "Now the real training begins."
Rias led me to an open area away from the others. The morning mist had burned off, replaced by clear sunlight that felt uncomfortably warm on my skin. Another devil perk, apparently.
"The Power of Destruction is my family's legacy," she began. "I won't teach you that. It's impossible to copy, and attempting could kill you."
"Good to know. What will you teach me?"
"Control." She raised her hand. Crimson energy gathered in her palm, swirling like liquid fire. "Watch carefully."
She didn't attack. Instead, she manipulated the energy slowly, deliberately. I watched it shift shapes, from sphere to disc to spiral to a perfect cube. Each transformation smooth. Controlled. Effortless.
"Demonic energy responds to will," Rias explained. "Most devils learn to project it outward as attacks. But the foundation is internal control. You must understand the energy before you can weaponize it."
I nodded, trying to process. "So I need to... what, meditate?"
"In a sense." She dispersed her energy and stepped closer. "Hold out your hands."
I did. She placed her palms beneath mine, not quite touching. The proximity made me acutely aware of how close she was. The faint scent of something floral. The crimson of her hair catching the sunlight.
Focus. Training. Not the time.
"Close your eyes," she instructed. "Feel the energy in your core. Don't try to move it. Just feel it."
I closed my eyes. Focused inward. At first, there was nothing. Then, gradually, I became aware of something. A warmth in my chest. A pressure that pulsed with my heartbeat.
"I feel it."
"Good. Now, imagine that warmth flowing through your body. Down your arms. Into your hands."
I tried. The warmth shifted, sluggish but responsive. It traveled through my shoulders, down my biceps, through my forearms. By the time it reached my palms, it was barely a trickle.
But it was there.
"Now, push it out. Gently."
I exhaled. Let the energy flow beyond my skin.
A tiny spark of dark red flame materialized between my palms. Smaller than a candle flame. Flickering wildly.
But real.
[SKILL ACQUIRED: DEMONIC ENERGY PROJECTION]
[PROFICIENCY: 5% (NOVICE)]
[NOTE: CONGRATULATIONS. YOU MADE A CANDLE. VERY INTIMIDATING.]
Did my system just roast me? Again?
"Excellent." Rias's voice held genuine warmth. "That's faster than most newly-reincarnated devils manage."
"It's the size of a birthday candle."
"Everyone starts somewhere." She reached out and ruffled my hair.
I froze.
Did I just get head-patted by a devil princess?
Rias pulled back, apparently oblivious to my internal crisis. "Rest now. We'll continue tomorrow."
Evening found us gathered in the ORC room for dinner. Akeno had somehow produced a full traditional Japanese meal, and I was too tired and hungry to question the logistics.
"You did well today," Kiba said, passing me a bowl of rice. "Most people can't even sense their demonic energy on day one."
"Most people aren't being actively electrocuted as motivation."
Akeno giggled. "Ufufu, but it worked, didn't it?"
"...senpai complained less than expected," Koneko added. She was on her third rice ball. "Slight improvement."
"High praise from you."
The banter continued through dinner. I learned that Kiba practiced sword forms every morning at 4 AM, which explained his preternatural patience. Koneko's appetite was apparently legendary among the peerage. And Akeno's sadistic tendencies were, in her words, "a hobby, not a lifestyle."
Sure. Tell that to my still-tingling nerve endings.
But despite the exhaustion, despite the lingering pain from training, I felt something unexpected. Belonging. These people were weird and dangerous and occasionally terrifying. But they'd welcomed me. Trained me. Fed me.
Is this what having a team feels like?
After dinner, I retreated to my room to review my progress. The system obliged with a summary.
[TRAINING SESSION COMPLETE]
[SKILLS IMPROVED:]
DEMONIC ENERGY MANIPULATION: BASIC → BASIC+ COMBAT FOOTWORK: NEW (NOVICE) DEMONIC ENERGY PROJECTION: NEW (NOVICE)
[PROFICIENCY GAINS ACCELERATED BY DEVIL PHYSIOLOGY]
[LEVEL UP! 4 → 5]
STR: 9 (+1) | INT: 11 (+1) | AGI: 10 (+1) | VIT: 9 (+1) | SPR: 8 (+1)
POWER LEVEL: 22 → 24
Not bad for one day of training. At this rate, maybe I'd actually survive long enough to matter.
I'm really doing this, I realized, staring at the ceiling. Living in an anime world. Training with devils. Learning magic. This is my life now.
Weirdly, the thought didn't terrify me as much as it used to.
[QUEST COMPLETE: SURVIVE TRAINING]
[REWARD: RESPECT (+5 ALL RELATIONSHIPS), SKILL IMPROVEMENTS]
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: INVESTIGATE FALLEN ANGEL ACTIVITIES]
[DESCRIPTION: SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY DETECTED IN KUOH TERRITORY]
[ACCEPT? Y/N]
Before I could respond, glass shattered.
I rolled off the bed on instinct, heart pounding. Something had come through my window. Cold night air rushed into the room. Moonlight glinted off scattered shards.
And drifting down through the broken window, spinning lazily in the breeze, was a single black feather.
Well. So much for rest.