"I'm teaching you how to use magic." Mephisto informed Rin one day during lunch. It was lunch period for the students, so Mephisto took his lunch break with them to eat together.

"Why?" Rin wondered curiously. "Because you need some long-range fighting skills too. No more using your own body as a shield in battle. That'll be your very last resort." The Time Lord explained, narrowing his eyes at the boy. Rin sighed and nodded. "So does that mean I'll be able to snap myself wherever like you and Amaimon do?" He asked.

"Possibly. It depends on your magic. Demons, and especially Demon Kings, don't all have the same magic. I can do it because I'm the god of Time and Space. Amaimon can do it as long as he's touching anything touching the ground because he's the God of Earth and can travel through the ground as dirt itself. I don't know what your area of expertise is other than fire. You could have other kinds of magic due to the fact that Satan is a being that connects to nearly everything. Do you understand?" He answered, waving his hands about in gestures that conveyed his confusion on the matter. "Yeah, I get it. I could have literally any type of magic at my disposal, but we gotta test that theory out." He repeated, simplifying the concept. Bon snorted. "You make things sound much simpler than they are." He told his boyfriend. Rin shrugged, grinning. "It makes things feel less threatening." He admitted, taking another bite of egg from his bento.

"So we'll be starting with magic symbols and Shields on Saturdays." Mephisto decided, interrupting the start of banter between the two teen's. "That's fine." Rin agreed and they carried on their lunch. "I wanna watch, this'll be fun." Bon put in.

§~•~§~•~§

They made it to Saturday and Mephisto took Rin to the roof of the Academy with the audiences of Bon, Amaimon, and Shiemi. Shura wanted to see it too, but a mission had come up and she was needed for her taming abilities.

Rin had asked why they weren't doing the magic inside, Mephisto told him that it was better to practice something as sensitive as magic outside so there would be less property damage if things went awry. That was pretty sound logic, so Rin left it alone.

Mephisto wrote glowing magenta symbols into the air to show Rin an example. "These are the main symbols, the strongest. They are the hardest to cast, but high-levels have never struggled with using them. It's the weaker, more precise ones that took us a while to learn well enough to use in battle." He began. He was about to go on, but stopped when he saw Rin staring at the symbols intently. He raised a brow in question.

Rin knew exactly what they said.

Truth, Strength, Weakness, Vitality, Poison, Opening, Closing, Love, and Emptiness.

Come to think of it, every time he'd seen Mephisto or Amaimon absently trace/draw those symbols onto his skin while they relaxed and cuddled before, he'd known what they said. Was that natural? Was it just him?

"Ah, interesting. You can read them, can't you? I suspected as such. You can understand the ancient language you heard in your dream and in Section 13. I figured you'd understand these as well." Mephisto nodded at the symbols.

"Every Demon King has at least one that they specialize in casting when needed. Azazel can cast Strength like it's nothing and spread a boost of strength to a decently sized army. Lucifer can cast Weakness, though he's usually too weak to cast it, ironically. I can cast Vitality, which goes along with preserving my own host through my powers over Time." Amaimon cut in.

"I cast Truth the best. And I believe you'll also find it one of the easier symbols to cast, Rin." He said sincerely. "Yes, Amaimon casts Truth because he's a very blunt person, unwilling to sugarcoat things uneccesarily or lie when all he has to do is tell the truth and watch things either come together or fall apart. He's very neutral, much like you in regards to morals." Mephisto continued with a slight glare at the Earth King for interrupting. Amaimon didn't show any sign of remorse and Rin held back a snicker.

"Iblis can cast Opening very well because she's an open person to many options. Egyn is Closing because he's a backstabbing little cumdumpster who closed his connections to everyone but Lucifer, whom he's creepishly obsessed with. Beelzebub can cast Poison because he's a nasty man to be around if you're a fickle person and he's very guarded. Astaroth can cast Emptiness very well because he is Rot and rot takes everything away and leaves nothing unaffected. None of us can cast Love very well yet. The only demon King who's ever casted it strong enough for it to affect anything, Azazel cast it at Iblis to stop her rampage through his territory because if something she viewed as an injustice. It shocked her enough that she stopped in her tracks and let herself be talked down by Azazel. He's the softest of us all–exceot for you once you join us." Poison-green eyes slid to him knowingly. Rin was still shocked at the Time Lord's use of crude language to describe the King of Water.

"We'll start you off with Truth. We can all cast more than one, but we all have specialities. You'll be very good at things like Truth, Strength, and Opening. Those three are very true to your personality and overall being. Love is also very well suited to you, but you're still getting used to being loved. It works both ways, so even if you love us more than anything, your end is incomplete because you have a hard time letting people care about you. We'll give it more time." Mephisto mused. Rin nodded along.

"If you can trace Truth in the air, we'll start there. If you can't, we'll focus on drawing that power out of you. Just remember–there's no rush and you don't have to feel pressured, Darling." Mephisto said with a reassuring smile. "Okay." Rin affirmed, smiling back.

He closed his eyes and thought about all the things he'd been able to accomplish this past year. How far he'd come from just shooting rogue blasts of flames in a direction and hoping it didn't burn anything important. He could light the two candles on the outsides. He'd controlled the Kashoū Zanmai so it only burned away the Impure King. He'd even been able to form coordinated attacks with Shura's help. He could write a simple symbol in the air in front of him.

He opened his eyes, drew on the confidence and hope those thoughts gave him, and raised his hand. With his index finger, he slowly and carefully traced the lines and curves of Truth in the air on front of him to match the magenta magic already there. Bright, electric blue magic held it's shape just as he'd willed it to, though he grimaced slightly at the color. He hated blue. His world was all blue. His friends and his boyfriend's were the splashes of brighter, prettier, more satisfying colors. Rin finished tracing  and watched the symbol, waiting for it to disappear, but it stayed there. He released a shaky breath and grinned at Mephisto, who looked very pleased. No, more than pleased–he looked proud. Of Rin.

Rin felt his cheeks warm as he felt the pride and fondness roll off the man in waves. His tail swayed happily behind him.

"Now," Mephisto stepped in front of Rin's symbol. "Force the influence of the symbol. Ask me something you think I'd lie about." Mephisto coached. He fully trusted Rin with this. Rin wouldn't take advantage. The boy thought for a moment before deciding on a question.

"Do you actually hate Gehenna?" Rin asked. Mephisto's gaze softened and then glazed over. "No. My Homeworld will always call to me. I just got sick of being stuck there simply existing for thousands of years." He answered. His eyes cleared and he blinked. "Hm. Interesting question." He commented. Rin smiled. Amaimon loved Gehenna and Rin wanted to go there one day, but he would have felt bad if Mephisto couldn't stand the place and went anyway because he loved them.

"Very good, Rin. Let's try Strength next. Draw it in the air and then I'll drop something on you. Possibly a car or a shed." Mephisto instructed. Rin copied the symbol for Strength.

They carried on like that, testing how well Rin could enforce each symbol and working from there. Rin was happy that he could actually understand what he was learning. Mephisto didn't go into their history or how they'd come to be or anything complicated like that. He merely showed Rin how others handled and enforced each symbol.

He couldn't do closing because he just cold turn his back on things that he could help or put an end to. Rin ended things so there could be peace. It was a part of his morals.

Mephisto wanted to avoid having Rin do Emptiness, but Rin insisted. When he tried it, his magic came out black. "Woah...." He stared into the darkness if the symbol. It felt familiar to him. It felt like the presence that only he could understand and speak to. "Well that's interesting...." Mephisto hummed.

"Let's not try to enforce that today, Rin. I don't want to get sucked into a black hole or something of the sort." The Time Lord suggested and Rin agreed with the sentiment, banishing the symbol from sight.

He was actually feeling kind of tired after enforcing all these symbols. Some were easier, some were more difficult. They didn't attempt Love just yet. "Let's get you washed up and into something comfortable, hm?" The Headmaster offered. Rin nodded in agreement.

He told Bon and Amaimon all about the training when he was done. They'd decided to watch a new movie that had finally come out to DVD. Rin fell asleep between Bon and Amaimon, Mephisto sitting on a cushion on the floor with his head between Rin's legs so Rin could play with his hair. They both fell asleep like that during the movie and Bon and Amaimon carried them to the bed to sleep when it was over.