So this was started as a challenge from Zanark Sathanus so a lot of the ideas for this story are coming from him, of course I will do a fair bit with my own ideas and how I'm going to make everything work but the main concept is completely on them. While it will not be immediate Issei will eventually be OP enough to fight equally with some of the world's biggest guns… probably around the time that cannon starts. Anyways I hope you enjoy and let me know if you want me to a crack at one of your ideas that you just don't know how to put to paper.

Anything you recognize I don't own and High School DXD belongs to Ischium Ishibumi. The concept of this story belongs to Zanark Sathanus.

"Talking"

'Reference in speech'

"Phone talking/Mental Communication"

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks & Storytelling

{Sacred Gear}

{Sacred Gear Thinking}

[Magic/Weapon]

(Author's Notes)

"Shouting"

It was a bright sunny day in the town of Kuoh. It was a nice place full of attractions such as malls, stages for performances and even a couple shrines, but the focus of this story is a young, seven year old boy sitting alone under a tree staring longingly at the other children playing it the park.

This child is Issei Hyoudou, and just the day before his only friend, Irina Shidou, had left the city to go to Italy with her family, well not that he knew she was in fact a she. Issei has short, messy, brown hair and kind amber eyes. He's wearing a red t-shirt along with green shorts and light red sneakers with a white outline.

As he was sitting under the tree he didn't notice the small black haired girl walking up behind him.

"Hello…" she said monotonously, making Issei turn to look at her before she continued "Why are you alone..?" she asked.

The girl was just a little shorter than Issei. She had long silky black hair that cascaded down over her pointed ears, framing her impassive face and large grey eyes. Her skin provided contrast to her black gothic Lolita dress by being a flawless milky white. Curiously enough she was not wearing shoes.

Issei was initially surprised from the appearance of this strange new girl but he calmed down quickly enough "My only friend left to Italy yesterday…" he said now looking the girl in the eyes for the first time "and nobody wanted to play with me."

The girl tilted her head before taking a look around "I see…" she replied looking back at Issei.

Whipping his head from the children playing to the little girl and back a couple times before grinning happily "I know! My name's Issei, how about we play together? Then neither of us will be lonely!" He exclaimed happily.

The girl once again tilted her head but gave a small nod before being pulled along by the excited brunette. The two had played the entire day, Issei never won any of the games they played but he enjoyed himself anyways.

Although for the majority of the time the girl maintained her apathetic expression, there was one time that Issei noticed her cracking a smile and he found himself spending the rest of the day trying to see it just one more time.

At the end of the day, just before sundown, Issei's parents had come to bring him home. Noticing the very faint frown on the girl's face, Issei turned to her "Hey… wait what's your name?" he asked, slightly embarrassed that he forgot to ask about it earlier.

The girl, still with her frown, answered him "Ophis… my name is Ophis…"

"So Ophis, do you want to play together again tomorrow?" he asked with a bright smile.

Ophis, despite herself, adopted a smile to her face, unknowingly as it may be, "Sure… I'd like that…" she answered.

Issei jumped into the air and cheered a little bit, confusing Ophis before he explained himself "I did it! I got you to smile again!" he said, his smile never leaving his face "I really like it whenever you smile, it's really pretty!"

Ophis had many thoughts running through her head at the moment but one was at the very forefront 'Why did I smile? Am I… happy?' Her thoughts were cut short however when an adult man looking to be about 27 years old began approaching Issei's parents, his long crimson hair billowing in the wind as he leisurely made his way towards the two. 'A devil?' she thought before looking back at Issei and feeling something she hadn't noticed yet 'He has a sacred gear? How did I not notice until now?'

Issei on the other hand was looking at his parents and the man walking up behind them, feeling off put by the way he carried himself, despite not really knowing any better. It also confused him that his parents didn't seem to notice the man until his hands were on their backs.

The red haired man smiled "Sorry" before blasting a hole through their chests with a stream of red and black energy before turning to a mortified Issei "Oh? A [Sacred Gear]? You'll make a good gift for my sister…" he said before summoning a ball of fire which he launched at the brunette.

Issei, reacting faster than he thought he could, grabbed Ophis as he jumped to the side, making sure to keep his new friend safe. Ophis was completely untouched but Issei had gotten a burn on his leg due to the heat of the flame. {P******} he heard from seemingly nowhere before he returned his gaze to his parent's assailant.

"So you survived that huh? Well no matter, I could do this all day." The man said before hurling another ball of fire at the boy.

Somehow knowing he would be unable to dodge the attack, Issei smiled towards Ophis before roughly shoving her out of the blast radius.

As she was moving towards her destination, if you could call it that, Ophis was once again thinking about the young boy who'd quickly become an enigma to her 'He's willing to sacrifice his own life for someone that he only knew for a couple of hours?' she thought 'Why would he? And why does it feel good?'

No sooner than Ophis was out of the area did the fireball strike Issei, enough to put third degree burns all over his body, but not quite enough to kill him. As he was lying there, awaiting his inevitable fate, his mind drifted to the past day and how much he had enjoyed his time with Ophis {Part**r!} it was then that he realized that the black haired girl was still in danger!

'I can't die yet!' he thought 'I have to save her!'

As if to answer his determination he finally heard the voice he'd heard earlier loud and clear {PARTNER!} it bellowed into his mind.

"What's going on? Who are you?" Issei tried to think towards the voice which surprisingly worked.

{I am Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor! The spirit sealed within your Sacred Gear. But explanations will have to wait for later, do you want to save your friend?} The voice, now known as Ddraig, asked.

"Of course! How do I do it?" Issei replied, 'voice' full of conviction.

{I'll have to turn you into a dragon is that alright?} Ddraig asked for confirmation.

"Of course, so long as it will save my friend I'll do anything, besides dragons are really cool!"

The bit at the end made Ddraig chuckle slightly {I feel that we'll have a long and prosperous partnership…} he thought before Issei erupted in a crimson glow.

The red haired man, who'd stopped to try and get in contact with his sister stumbled back slightly when his targets energy began to skyrocket. Of course this didn't really deter him but what did was that the boy was now gone, completely untraceable, along with the girl he'd pushed to the side before getting hit by the second fireball.

Sighing about losing a gift for his sister the man dispelled the magic circle he'd been talking through, but not before saying his apologies "Sorry Rias, never mind…" then disappeared.

After Ddraig had turned him into a dragon, Issei had been encased in a crimson set of armor which he used to grab Ophis and fly away, yes fly, Ddraig had mentally transferred the means in how to do that to him during the transformation.

Ddraig had also taught him how to open a portal to the Underworld while he was flying, which saved him a lot of trouble of having to hide.

And all of this took only 10 seconds to accomplish and over this small interval of time, Issei had astonished both Ddraig and Ophis by boosting 42 times, to which he promptly fainted upon landing.

As the two watched the young brunette now without his armor they were both thinking the same thing:

'{He is going to be the strongest Sekiryuutei to date}'

There we go! As usual this chapter is a bit shorter since it's the prologue but the next chapter will be longer. Issei will have a 'Dragon Peerage' which will not be limited to 16 like the Evil pieces or 14 like the Brave saints but will instead be 20, a lot I know but I think it will be fine.

Now for the Harem:

Ophis (Main), Female peerage members, Gabriel, Yasaka, Amaterasu, Tiamat, Serafall, Akeno, Koneko, Fem Vali (Valia), Sona, Artemis, Penemue.

A few more may be added or removed depending on the wiles of Zanark and myself but who knows? What I do know though is that the peerage will be revealed as they come into the story.

See ya next time!