Mio was just as confused, but before she could ask, her sempai went up to the clearly distressed girl quickly.
"Koneko-chan, are you sure that you sensed natural energy? Absolutely certain?" Rias asked quickly, kneeling in front of her Peerage member to look her in the eye.
Koneko just nodded slowly, her eyes staring past her 'king'.
The red-head's eyes narrowed at the confirmation.
Akeno walked up to her and whispered in her ear urgently. "Buchou, if it's who we think it is then..."
Rias was aware, as far as she knew...there was only one person that could enter the Underworld, stay undetected, and utilize natural energy.
The high-class devil stood up and marched past all of the teens in order to reach the 'queen' of the current Maou Lucifer.
This was more important than petty fears.
Naruto was staring ahead, contemplating upon the information he has just gotten from his clone.
Looks like he wasn't able to hide most of his abilities after all...now the guy that he wanted to thoroughly trash knew about his power.
Or at least, most of it.
Maybe it was a good thing that the the blond didn't manage to use senjutsu, best to keep it under wraps for future battles. Wouldn't want someone to create some kind of defense against it after all.
The shinobi's eyes narrowed a little as his thoughts drifted towards another matter.
...Who was that guy? The devil next to the bastard that attacked him the other day?
He had a lot of demonic energy...he was almost as strong as that stoic maid from before.
Shit...this entire event went downhill pretty damn fast, first Riser-san, then the phoenix, now a strange and powerful devil that was spying on him?
His luck was absolute shit when it came to these kinds of things.
Now Naruto was just trudging towards the castle, holding his former enemy over his shoulder and trying not to wince at the pain from his feet.
He shouldn't have used his new trick so much, obviously. It backfired pretty badly, he was lucky that he didn't do more damage.
The air step...a work-in-process 'trick' that relied on very careful application of wind.
It was pretty simple, he pretty much just focused his chakra onto the soles of his feet, then transformed it into molecular wind blades, similar to those found on his wind-based rasengans.
He condensed it enough to 'stick' to it using his chakra, then used it as a temporary floor to jump out from. It was his first real attempt at removing his flying weakness.
That being said...it had quite a lot of weaknesses, one of which he was literally suffering from.
It would always take him more than a split-second to create the air pads under his feet, leaving him open to an attack should someone utilize the opportunity.
Not only that, but the air pad itself could only stay condensed for a split-second as well, since Naruto had to release the condensed wind in order to grab it with his chakra. The wind blades inside the condensed air pad would be released almost immediately after he stopped holding it, meaning that the wind blades could possibly hit his own feet.
Which is exactly what happened during the fight with the phoenix, much to the shinobi's annoyance.
The only saving grace for his poor feet, was that the wind blades weren't nearly as powerful as the ones used in his rasengans.
Although, he supposed that someone could claim that he should just not use sharp wind blades to form the air pad, but there was a problem with that idea.
He can't use anything except wind blades, during his elemental training, he only learned how to convert his chakra into sharp wind blades.
From cutting a leaf...to splitting a damn waterfall.
Until he learned to utilize his wind abilities differently, he wouldn't be able to change his issue with his newest trick.
In short, he had a lot of work to do to get the air pads completely down. He wasn't even going to get started on the other experimental jutsu...
He also needed proper names for them. First and foremost. Priorities damn it.
Naruto winced again, his feet were still aching from the wind blades that hit his feet...it'd take a while for that to disappear.
Those thoughts soon disappeared as he got nearer to the castle.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he saw a lot of armed devils, seemingly standing still and surveying the area. Were those...guards, or something like that?
If so, then that's not good...he should probably hurry.
He made to take a heavy step, using incredible force to launch him into the air and get to the castle sooner.
...
"Fuuuuuuuuuu-!"
His foot! His damn foot!
The second he took that step, it felt like hundreds of little needles were stabbing his foot viciously. It was pretty damn painful.
Naruto glared at his own feet, as if it had done him an injustice, and finally glanced back to the castle.
Ugh...fine. He would have to slowly make his way there then. Hopefully Grayfia-san could take care of any mess that started up.
What could possibly happen in his absence with the Maou there anyways?
"Grayfia, I require your assistance."
The silver-haired woman turned away from her study of the melted architecture in order to look at her young sister-in-law.
"What is it, Rias-sama?" Grayfia responded obediently, still playing her role as a maid.
The woman was taking note of the damage done to the front of the castle from the flames from before, it was quite extensive. But more than that, they were legitimately dangerous.
What caused the young Phenex to grow in such power? The first growth in power after he appeared at the party was incredible enough, but what about during the battle?
These were important questions, she was hoping to get some information from Riser-sama when he came back.
Grayfia's eyes silently drifted off to where the the phoenix was vanquished, there was also the issue of the young human's power...that dome of wind he created was...something else to say the least.
"We have a problem, Grayfia. Koneko-chan sensed someone using natural energy." Rias stated seriously, eyes firm.
The maid's eyes widened slightly as she turned to regard the red-head, that meant...
Her eyes closed.
"I understand, please gather your friends and go to the main hall Rias-sama. For your safety, I must speak with the rest of the devils who have attended the function." Grayfia murmured to the high-class devil, straightening herself and moving back towards the main hall.
But not before creating a mini magic circle besides her ear and speaking into it, giving out instructions for the castle guards to take positions outside the castle and throughout the structure itself.
Rias watched her go, feeling a small amount of apprehension, before turning and going back to her friends, who were watching her with baited breath. Obviously curious to hear what has happened.
"So? What's the verdict?" Sona asked quickly, seeing the maid leave quickly with such a serious expression gave her a clue however.
"We are to go back to the main hall, for our safety." the Gremory heiress responded briskly, the tension of the day's events finally getting to her.
Slightly nervous glances were shared between all of the teenagers there, so it seemed that this was being taken seriously.
"Buchou, I understand that we shouldn't stay out here anymore, but...what should we do about Koneko-chan? She's quite out of it." Akeno pointed out, looking at the 'rook' with a worried expression.
Before Rias could make the call, Koneko finally spoke.
"No, wait...I'm fine. Please...let's just go."
Akeno looked at her 'king', her expression spoke more than her words could have conveyed.
Koneko wasn't fine at all.
Like a little cat with it's hackles raised, Koneko was twitchy and she kept glancing around the room. As if she was trying to find someone before they managed to get her.
But they couldn't deal with this here, so no one said anything about it.
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