That night in the training zone Nero was focused on the course ahead of him, ready to go the minute he was given the signal
"3.... 2.... 1.... GO!" shouted Rias as she flew above him
Pushing off the ground Nero shot forward, an orb of destruction flying along next to him as he jumped over walls, crawled under nets and ran along balance beams as Rias fired a variety of different elements at him, not powerful enough to truely injure him but enough that it would hurt quite a bit if he didn't avoid them
"You're doing well Nero" Rias praised "this might be the one"
Nero didn't respond to Rias's words as this wasn't the first time she had said similar words, only to nail him when he lost focus or for his magic control to slip causing him to fail, instead pushing harder
"Time for the moving obstacles" Rias called out, a bunch of monsters forming in front of Nero as he ran
"This is where Yumi's training really comes in handy" Nero thought as he used the footwork that he had learned from her combined with the practice that he had been doing on their trips into the dungeon to dodge all of the low level monsters with relative ease
"Nearly there, don't give up now" Rias noted as she looked at the clock, the time ticking away as she fired a wave of magic shots randomly, increasing the difficulty by making Nero have to read each of the shots landing spots in order to avoid them
Seeing that time was nearly up but that he was nearly there Nero dug deep and pushed himself even harder, aiming to pass the area that the magic was going to hit rather than being slowed down it by having to avoid each of the shots
Managing to avoid the magic by the skin of his teeth all that remained between Nero and the finishing line was a complex course that he had to make his orb of destruction go through and make it hit a target at the end of the course in order to be able to cross the finish line, all while Rias still attacked from above
"Last few seconds, you can do it" Rias cheered for him as she fired magic at him, making sure that she didn't let up in order for him to finish her training properly without her going easy on him
Managing to dodge all of the attacks Nero finally hit the target, diving across the line with barely enough time to take a breath before the clock signalled that time was up
Rias flew down and crashed into Nero mere seconds after he had managed to pick himself off the floor "You did it Nero, you really did it" giving him a big hug
"Yeah, I guess I did" Nero panted, struggling to get his breath back, gently hugging Rias back
"Congradulations to user for completing current training course" declared the system "Rias Gremory may now be summoned outside of the training zone, new trainer will be able to be summoned once she has been"
"Good to hear" Nero smiled, his breathing slowly returning to normal "does Rias get any benefits like Yumi did?"
"Rias Gremory will be presented with a set of demonic armor to ensure her safety in the world called the Crimson Empress Regalia, it's defence is proportionate to the wearers magic stat and can only be worn by Rias Gremory"
Appearing before Rias was a set of crimson red armor that seemed to have been designed with her in mind, the shape and size a perfect fit for her
"Oh my, a present for me" Rias gasped in shock
"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that you get something essentially as payment for training me" Nero commented "I forgot to tell you about that"
"Well we have some time before you finish, could you help me test it out?" Rias asked as a changing room materialized for her to change into the armor
"Sure thing"
A few moments later Rias reappeared, the armor suiting her perfectly and even seeming to have enhanced her beauty
"So, what do you think?"
"I think you look amazing"
"Thank you for the compliment" Rias smiled "now then, let's see how this thing works, fire some magic at me"
"Alright, you asked for it" Nero replied, starting off small with a simple stone bullet
As the stone got close to Rias it suddenly disappeared just before it hit her
"Woah, I thought the armor just increased your defence, but that doesn't seem to be the case" Nero determined
"Yes" Rias agreed "I could feel the armor using up a small amount of my magic to essentially cover me in a layer of my power of destruction, and when the stone bullet got close to me it used that power to erase it"
"That seems really powerful" Nero commented
"It is" giggled Rias as she actively poured more of her magic into the suit, a visible layer of red energy evident across her body "try something more powerful this time"
"Alright, here it comes" Nero noted, firing a black ice at her
Due to the increase in size and power compared to the stone bullet it was much more obvious to see what was happening when the black ice got close to Rias, the front of it seeming to hit a wall as it disappeared
"Hrm, it seems like the more powerful attack the armor blocks the more of my energy it uses" Rias commented, her breathing becoming slightly laboured after that attack
"Are you ok?" Nero worried, wanting to make sure she was ok
"It's nothing a little rest won't solve but this does show that the armor has limits, more specifically my limits and it isn't just something that I can use to get down to the bottom of the dungeon without increasing my magical powers by a decent amount" Rias smiled
"Well then is there anything else you want to do before you say goodbye to this place?"
"I am fine thank you for asking" Rias replied "in fact I would like for you to leave now so that you can summon me to your world even one second sooner, I can't wait to see all of the characters that I have read about in real life" she said excitedly
"Alright then, in that case the next time that I see you will be in my world" Nero grinned as he willed himself out of the training zone, waking up in his bed ready to summon Rias to the real world.