DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 54: Wayward Pawn

This chapter marks the end of Volume XI: The Big Apple. Enjoy the brief teenager drama! <3

Grigori Headquarters, the Underworld

Three days after Zach and Sona's return from New York, Asia walked through the halls of Grigori HQ for the first time completely on her own, having been invited personally by Azazel. "Um, excuse me," she said to a fallen angel guardsman. "Do you know how to get to Azazel's office?"
"Lord Azazel's office? Why would- oh, you must be Miss Argento!" the guard realized.
"Y-yes, that's right."
"Well, you're on the right track already. Just head up the elevator at the end of this hall. Punch in the top floor, and you'll be taken straight there."
"Top floor, got it. Thank you very much!" Asia bowed to the guard and continued on her way, following his instructions. When the elevator doors opened, she entered Azazel's office to find it a mess. Papers and half-finished inventions were everywhere.
Azazel, sitting lazily at his desk, looked up as she entered, a smile on his face. "Asia, good afternoon. Have a seat, make yourself at home." He gestured to the chair across from him. "How's your day been?" he asked as Asia sat down.
"Today was good, thankfully uneventful. How about you?"
"Eh, you know me. Same old, same old. But I didn't call you here to make small talk, as I'm sure you're aware."
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you call me here for?" Asia asked. "It's not often we talk one-on-one."
"Correct, and before we begin, let me apologize for that." Azazel leaned back in his chair. "I haven't given you and your development as a healer the attention you deserve. Hell, it'd border on neglect if you were my kid. I've spent too much time focusing on the heavy hitters, namely Zach and Issei. As a result, the rest of your group's growth has largely stagnated. And for that, I'm truly sorry."
"Oh, it's alright!" Asia assured him. "You're a faction leader and our advisor, I can only imagine how busy you must be."
Azazel chuckled. "Kindhearted as ever, Asia. Speaking of Zach, I know he and Sona have already thanked you profusely for healing them the other day. Heh, heard they even took you out to some expensive sushi joint in Ginza. Well, I'll say it again: thank you for healing them. And for constantly healing the rest of your friends as well."
"No thanks necessary. I'm always happy to help my friends."
"Don't I know it. Although, on the topic of healing, one thing I wanted to discuss was how you were only able to partially heal Sona's back. This isn't the first time you've been able to only partially heal someone."
Asia looked down in shame. "Yes. The first was when Irina was injured by Kokabiel and Freed Sellzen. Zach and Tsubaki had to finish healing her on their own. The second was Issei, after he used the Juggernaut Drive. I had to heal him in multiple sessions, rather than being able to do it all at once. Then there was when Zach went out of control and attacked us. Everyone I healed that day, I was only able to get roughly three-quarters of the way there. And then the other day, with Sona's injuries from Rizevim."
Azazel nodded. "Precisely. As you hopefully remember from your summer training, Twilight Healing's capabilities are dependent on a combination of the innate talent, magical potential, and learned experience of the user. Those factors together set the skill ceiling of the Sacred Gear. A skill ceiling is the maximum potential of a skill, in this case that being the effectiveness of Twilight Healing. During the Kokabiel incident, you had plenty of experience and a decent amount of innate talent, but due to a lack of training, your magical potential was low, leading to a pretty low skill ceiling, which was why you were only capable of healing Irina partially. Issei's Juggernaut Drive healing was similar, requiring a higher amount of skill than your skill ceiling allows for, even after your training. But Zach's outburst and the most recent incident had next to nothing to do with your skill."
"Then why couldn't I heal them fully?"
"Daemonic energy has this anti-healing effect," Azazel explained. "Remember when you had to heal Akeno and I from Zach's energy blasts? And how my face took almost twenty minutes of constant healing despite mostly being a flesh wound? That's why. Same with Zach's gut and Sona's back. Since the injuries were caused by Daemonic energy, they resist attempts to heal them. And of course, the more severe the injury, the harder it is to heal in general. And yes, if your skill ceiling were higher, you probably would've healed them faster. Combine all three of those factors, and you've got a hell of a difficult healing process. I just wanted to clear the air and wave away any self-doubt that might be springing up in your mind."
"That does make me feel a bit better," Asia said, putting a hand over her heart. "I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to heal them... but that just means I have to get even better at healing to make up for it!" Asia fist pumped, mimicking Issei. "I won't let you down, Azazel!"
Azazel chuckled. "Issei's rubbing off on you, it seems. Hopefully in the good ways. At any rate, I know you won't disappoint. You never have before. I have high expectations for you, Asia. You're free to go."
Asia stood and bowed. "Thank you for inviting me. Have a great evening!" she said with a smile before teleporting away.