Well… where to start? Oh yeah, somewhere like here:
"What the hell? A Spanish-language writer on the English fandom? And one that already has some fanfics published on Spanish? And this same fanfic is already published in Spanish! What the f*ck is he thinking?!"
Shortly, I'm doing this because:
1. I'm not a native speaker. I want to improve my English. Feedback is always received for improving in any sense, from corrections to words and grammar. I'm confident that I know enough to translate my own fanfic with the minimal help of a translator using a very, very basic English overall, but probably I'll have to learn a lot of words and rules to get a decent thing.
2. One of my objectives from back to 2016 was to translate most of my fanfics to English because I sense that the English fandom (not discriminating the Spanish one) is, in many ways, better than the others. Will it have to do with culture? Who knows.
3. I don't know, forgot the other reasons. Really, I don't have a good memory.
So, that being said, I welcome everybody here and hope you enjoy this fanfic. On a personal note, this story is kinda special for me, so well, hope you don't destroy it to shreds on reviews or anything.
On the more technical side, this will have short chapters (most of them probably won't exceed 5k words for the first part, until later). I think that that is mostly because I try to emphasize one theme per chapter. If I should do them longer, please tell me. For now, this will have the three chapters already published in Spanish.
Highschool DxD doesn't belong to me.
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Chapter 1
A New World
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A park in Kuoh. Dawnfall.
Issei didn't knew what was happening, at all. He was in his date with Yuuma Amano, and everything seemed to be fine and ok. After getting into the park, he planned to end the date, get Yuuma to her home like a gentleman he was planning to behave, and the call his friends to boast even more about the fact that he had a girlfriend while they did not. But after entering the calm place, his girlfriend had to make that question of "Would you die for me?" and everything went to hell at once.
Well, at least figuratively it went to hell. Because, if what he was seen was real, then surely it should exist hell (or underworld) somewhere. Anyhow, his head was just starting to function again for all these thoughts and what was happening in front of him. How he could think about all that until this point was a mystery to him.
"W-wh-what…?"
Oh right, he also couldn't muster a word right now, because of the impression. But really, is this the time to care about that? Of course not, though it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Talking about that, what was in front of him was his girlfriend, Yuuma Amano, with a more mature form and some leather "clothes" that wouldn't fit anywhere except a porn movie, whit black wings in her back. Like, real wings and all. She had throw at him something like a light spear (if what he had read in light novels and seen in anime gave him any hint) at him, being blocked a few feet before him by the person who appeared out of nowhere.
Last thing he saw right was when that blonde person, wielding the most elegant cane Issei had ever seen, created a freaking magic circle that protected both of them from the attack. Every second seemed to slow down on Issei's mind as he registered the individual sparks flowing from the point where spear and circle met, distorting the light around it. It seemed like that circle would break, but after a few everlasting seconds, the spear disintegrated, and the circle followed up in no time. Both, Yuuma and the stranger, carefully watched each other, until an angered expression showed on the otherwise beautiful face of the winged woman.
"Who are you?" asked the black-haired, poison on her voice.
"That doesn't matter. I will ask for you to let him on peace, be it by peaceful or violent means, so I can take care of him" answered the mysterious person. Issei took this time to analyze him, finding blonde, well-ordered hair and tall height, besides his good, elegant clothes and obviously, the cane.
"Do you have any idea of who are you talking to? If you knell and ask for mercy, then maybe, maybe, I could let you get away with one or two broken limbs" the superiority voice she used was absolute and Issei ended terrified, but the blonde person seemed undisturbed.
"May I know your name, miss fallen angel?" he asked in a well, educated manner.
"For you, human, is The Great Raynare."
"Well, miss Raynare…" Issei didn't miss the ironic tone on that line "… I'll say it directly. Either you let me go away with the chenut boy behind me, or I'll be seen in the obligation of engage yourself with more than displeasing measures. What will you choose?"
"Yeah, right. What could a human do against-"
The arrogant words or Raynare were cut sharply when the blonde pass his cane over the little rocks dispersed around him. Above all of them a small, almost imperceptible, magic circle appeared and disappeared, just before a storm made of those same rocks hit the fallen angel all over her body, but without sustaining any serious injuries. Small rivers of blood appeared over her pale skin. The black-haired angel seemed taken by surprised, and Issei could have swear that those rock weren't there when he and Yuuma entered the park. There were simply too many to not notice them. He concluded that the blonde guy must have throw them when he appeared.
"So?"
"Tch"
The fallen simply looked away before flying out of the place, the barrier she set up dissolving into thin air. Quietly, the blonde signalized Issei to follow him, and he set on his way out of the park, the brown-haired teen at his back still not knowing what to think.
"Hum… I'm sorry, could you please explain me what's happening?" He asked after they passed two streets.
"Soon. For now, walk or we won't be alone for long" he answered without stopping. Issei agreed with his head in silence.
"If we don't hurry… who could appear? You scared her, right? She's injured."
"Well, she could be back with more of her kind for revenge and pride, or worst, the devils at your academy. I would rather deal with some egocentric fallen because of their age that some mommy-kids with overconfidence because of their lineage. Those are the worst of all." Certainly, Issei noted, he didn't care to insult other people, where they present or not. "But if we hurry we won't have to deal with any of that. At least, not for now."
The rest of road went in silence. After a few streets they got into a building near the town's center and Kuoh Academy, climbing the stairs with no delay and finally standing before a… totally normal door.
Aiming slightly the head of his cane to the door, the blonde muttered a few words and the door opened alone. Both entered the apartment, and when the blonde closed the door, Issei could swear he saw an overly complicated magic circle form at the back of the wooden structure for half a second. Turning around, he saw an apartment that seemed like the owner almost didn't se it. It was clean, sure, but besides some basic furniture it didn't have anything. His blonde companion sighted profoundly before turning to face Issei.
"I'll be short here. You won't remember anything until a few days have passed, but when you do, come to the park we meet. You'll find in your locker of the school a few instructions. Until then." Then he aimed his cane towards Issei, who suddenly felt like hasn't got any sleep for the last 3 days. He fell to the floor, unconscious, before his blonde companion took his cellphone and made a call.
"Would you come here and help me with the new recruit?"
"…"
"Say whatever you want, I didn't hear a "no." See you here in 3 minutes."
XXXXXXXXXX
5 days later.
Lunch break had just begun. It was the second favorite time of Issei and the Pervert Trio's day, only after the end of classes where he could spy on the girls changing. Sadly, that moment of food and rest was going to be interrupted by a calling played on the school speakers.
"Hyoudo Issei, please come to the Student Council room."
"W-what?"
"Hyoudo Issei, please come to the Student Council room."
"What did you do now, Issei? Did they discover you doing something again? Maybe it's… a new observation post?!" asked Motohama, starting to shake Issei.
"Like he could keep that from us." Said Matsuda, waving the possibility away "But really, Issei, what did you do now?"
"I don't know, really." Answered the brown-haired. Nevertheless, he stood up and got himself in his way to the aforementioned room. In the way there, he thought why the Student Council would call him out of nowhere.
And if they got the permission to expel him?!
Composing himself, he knocked twice before been given permission to enter. There, formed up at one side of the room with perfect discipline, were the Student Council members. At the other side were the Ocultism Club members, somewhat less rigid and serious but still formed up. At the end of the room, just before a large window that let pass a good amount of light, where sited the presidents, with their respective vice-presidents, of both groups. Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, both from the Ocultism Club, had both little smiles, while both Souna Shitori, the Student Council president, and her vice-president, Tsubaki Shinra, were serious like the rest of their group. The light behind both presidents made her appearance much more intimidating that the situation already made her appear.
Issei couldn't help but feel like he was entering an interrogatory.
"D-did you call for me, Shitori-Kaichou?" He asked, his voice trembling.
"Yes" a sharp and cold answer, scaring Issei even more "We would like you to answer a few questions, if you don't mind of course."
Forget the interrogatory. This was a public execution.
"Y-yeah, of course."
"Sit down please" Souna pointed a chair near her desk in the middle of the room. The chair was near enough of the desk to signalize that the conversation was with the person behind the desk, but far enough to say, indirectly, that everyone in the room was part of the conversation. Pretty convenient for the public execution they had planned for him. Issei sighted inwardly and took seat, praying to whatever gods he knew for salvation.
"What happened with Yuuma Amano?" was the first question, made by Rias. Issei could understand that they talked about a girl (one that probably suffered sexual harassment), but the name didn't sound to him. At all. Maybe they thought it was him the one that made it.
"Who?"
"Yuuma Amano, your girlfriend" Issei gave a sad laugh, thing that made the redhead raise her eyebrow "Did I say something weird, maybe?"
"Jokes should be funny, Gremory-senpai. Me, with a girlfriend? Even if I'm going to be the King of the Harem in the future" as a side note, he regreted saying that aloud in that same moment "that's still a long way ahead me, making the thought of me with a partner a sad and lame joke."
Souna's disapproval look didn't take long, but it corrected itself after a couple seconds. Meanwhile, Rias gave him a confused look. Did he answer that badly?
"Let me ask another thing. What did you do last Sunday in the afternoon?"
"Last Sunday…?" Issei repeated, trying to get his memory to work for something that wasn't ecchi related "Nothing special, really. Homework, videogames, light novels… some… adult games" he answered, almost saying unacceptable words for the context.
Souna's eyebrow raise "That's all?"
"Yes, I swear."
"And if you stop lying to us, Hyoudo-kun?" Rias tone was way colder and darker than before, and the fact that a cloud passed and made the shadow bigger and the room darker at the same time was something that let Issei, at least, absolute terrified. He could have sworn that he saw some bat-like wings in the shadow of the people inside the same room he was in.
That scared him even more, if that was even possible.
"I-I'm not lying! I swear!"
Soune seemed ready to answer, but a short look at the back of the room seemed to make her change her mind.
"Alright, this is all. You can retire and remember to not say anything of this conversation to anyone." Issei was so scared that he didn't question it, and, after a short bow, he got out of the room. There was little time left of the lunch break, and he though how much money he was going to take from his friends as a payment for eating his lunch when he wasn't present.
He didn't notice, of course, the serious look on Sona's face, and the concerned one in Rias factions.
"What do you think, Sona?" Asked Rias after Issei left the room "Is so mundane that is convincing, and his expression help him. But even so…"
"I know, that's why I made my peerage search for his memories while we where chatting." Answered Sona Sitri, true name of Souna Shitori.
"And?"
"Nothing. What he says is the truth. He wasn't involved with the fallen in his memory."
"Also, there isn't any trace of magic of alteration. Those are his real memories." Added one of Sona's peerage members.
"So… were the fallen mistaken and let him be like that?"
"Maybe. But still, they would have just killed him. This doesn't make sence."
"Maybe they didn't though it was a threat and let him live."
"Either one is no good for you, Rias, and you know it. Each day that time is getting closer."
"I know, Sona… I know."
XXXXXXXXXX
After class.
Issei was getting ready to go out of school, when he noticed something weird. A slightly brilliant circle under his wrist that wasn't there before. He sat down again and checked it. It seemed like one of those tattoos that often came with ice creams and chewing gums, though he surely didn't remember taking one of them lately. The circle was similar to those he saw at the light novels he usually read when he was bored. Curious, he touched it gently with the tip of his finger.
Memories he didn't know he had flooded into his mind. He held himself into his desk while he tried to put his brain in order, as weird as it sounded. He then remembered the last words of the blonde person he met before.
"I'll be short here. You won't remember anything until a few days have passed, but when you do, come to the park we meet. You'll find in your locker of the school a few instructions. Until then."
He stood up quickly and rushed to his locker. Indeed, inside it was a little paper with a few instructions and a short list of things he had to bring with him, that were basically a cellphone and a notebook. Then he quickly walked to the park, where he found the same blonde sited down and reading a book, same that was closed as he saw Issei came.
"I see you've arrive. Good. Follow me" he stood and started walking, Issei following him on the same road as five days earlier.
XXXXXXXXXX
Same apartment and same way of entering. Now Issei was sure about the magic circle appearing at the door when it closed. Then he was conducted to the living room, where he was invited to sit at one of the couches while the blonde came with two steamy western-style cups of tea.
"Now… I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I place my bet into that you already have started to figure out some things, like the existence of the fallen angels, and by extension, the angels" Issei nodded, insecure "I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Frederick Bradley, 24 old nice to meet you. Other information will have to wait a few minutes. What I would tell you should answer some of the questions you have, though you'll have access to more data afterwards. Let's start by your own introduction, if you don't mind."
"Y-yeah, of course. Hyoudo Issei, 17 years. Second year at Kuoh Academy."
"Well, Issei… you don't mind I call you like that, right?" Issei shaked his head, understanding that his interlocutor was from a foreign country by his accent "Well, as I was saying, since now you'll understand that part of what you now until now is not quite true, like… at all. You surely have thought that this world, even with all the people that practice occultism and things like that, and all the people that follows a religion whatever it is, that this is a world based on reason and logic, where the facts are always explain by something following some rules. Don't think it's bad to think that way, in fact, the Japanese society in the adulthood is pretty similar if you ask me."
Issei nodded at this, unsure. He couldn't deny that, from time to time, even he doubted about his harem dream. Heck, he even had doubts about finding a girlfriend, let alone many of them. It was so far from reality and those anime he usually saw, that it seemed impossible for him to made. It was just how the world worked, after all.
"Please remain silent until I'm done. It's true that this may be shocking, or you could not believe what I will tell you, but I can always demonstrate it later. For now… just listen. It'll make things easier."
For the next minutes, Frederick explained everything about the supernatural world, or at least, by his own words, the basic stuff Issei needed to know about it. And the things he told him… surprised him, to say the least. Who would have thought about angels, fallen, devils, Nordics and Shinto? Not only that, but many other cultures as well, take the Greeks for example. But when he learned about just how many of them existed, and how much they had blend into human society, he started to feel a small, almost ethereal fear. His first encounter with Yumma crossed his mind, and he certainly felt like a stupid for believing that a cute girl would ask him out without knowing him a little bit. He should have seen something coming, and because of his lack of foresight, he almost paid with his life.
"Have you understood everything until now? I now it may be hard at first, but…"
"I-I guess… it's a lot of info, but I can deal with it and catch the general grasp."
"As you probably figure out by now, this is all secret. Common people like your classmates don't know anything about this. Coming back at you, here we enter the part that involves me and what I'm doing here" Frederick continued. "As I've said before, humans had developed magic to help and defend themselves against the supernatural world. I belong to one of those organizations of mages. But magic isn't the only thing humanity had to defend itself.
The Biblical God, also called Elohim, developed these things called [Sacred Gear]. How they're made is still largely a mystery until today, but they have ranks to difference themselves. 13 of them are more powerful than the rest and are called [Longinus] after the first one that was recognized as that level. Inside you there's one of them, the famous and infamous [Boosted Gear]. Inside it has sealed the mythological dragon Ddraig."
"[Boosted Gear]?"
"Yes. Its power is mainly duplicating one's power each ten seconds, though there are other uses. What I can and will tell you is that the [Longinus] status isn't just for mockery or anything else that show it's true level of power."
"Really?! That's awesome! How can I unlock it? I can be very, very powerful with that, and everyone knows that power attracts girls! Many girls… hehehehehehe-"
"Stop right there."
"What? Just think about the possibilities! With that, I could be powerful, kick some asses, get some girls… what's the probl-"
"The problem, Issei, is that you don't know the power that a [Longinus] bears. [Longinus] are weapons capable of killing [Gods]. And we both know you don't know how powerful a [God] can be."
"Aren't they something like a more powerful version of the basic supernatural?"
"No, Issei. You can't know it. They are in a very superior scale. You can't even figure how powerful is a god unless you have face one. They're being that could easily kill all your school in a matter of seconds if they are bored. What you have inside is a weapon capable of killing them, limited only by your emotions, body and imagination. It isn't a women magnet, is a weapon capable of killing beings of immeasurable power and level to the floor cities and continents in a whim. What is inside you isn't a toy you can show for attention, is a tool that can duplicate almost everything in the world. Can you get the idea behind this?"
Isse stood in silence, his eyes fixated on the floor.
"I know my way of speaking may be a bit threatening, but…"
"No, it's ok. I get it perfectly" the memory of Yumma, now Raynare, trying to stab him with a light spear crossed his mind again, this time Issei knowing better what was behind that action. She was surely after his [Sacred Gear]. She was only using him, toying with her prey before attacking and killing. He fell, completely oblivious to the trap, and he felt even worse after that thought appeared and didn't wanted to go away. "I think you came for me to recruit me, am I right?"
Frederick seemed surprised that he said that "Being frank, yes. That was my objective. The fallen angels got ahead of me when I arrived, so I had to let subtlety fall aside."
"Wel… I think I can join your group after all. You guys at least approached me and saved me, even if that was because of what's inside of me. I know it's bad to think that if I didn't had what I have inside you would have just let me die, but-"
"You are wrong, Issei" the brown-haired boy watched the blonde as he took another sip at his cup. "If you didn't had a [Sacred Gear] inside you… you wouldn't even be at any real danger. A [Longinus] is powerful and power always attract power. If you didn't had that, you would be a completely normal human teenager. Keep in mind that."
Issei took a moment to let Frederick's words sink in. After that, he sighted and found himself doing a small smile.
"You'll have to teach me everything. I don't want to be lagging you or any others behind if I'm not good enough…"
"Is it related to that fallen?"
"How do you know that?"
"Intuition and studies. Here we value a lot the knowledge, but more on that later. What you must know here is that we, as mages, value general knowledge of many things for our magic. I will explain it later."
"Anything else I should now?"
"Are you up for a history lesson? Don't worry, is short" Issei nodded.
"Is it related to magic?"
"A lot, actually. Let me get started:
When Merlin (and yes, he existed) invented the actual magic system many people use around the world, he invented it without any flaws. A truly genius, if you ask me. That is what we call nowadays "Western Magic". On the other side, and quite literally the other side of the world as well, is a magic system based on sorcery, and we call it "Eastern Magic". These two are the main magic school in our world by many users, at least if we talk about human beings. We used to use the Western-style magic, but we found a fatal flaw that made us rethink our approach.
You see, Issei, the Western Magic is based upon the devil magic. That system uses the imagination and raw power a lot, and that's something that we, as humans, lack in the same quantities that the devils. This was countered by the introduction and use of Magic Circles, that allowed us to close the gap, but at the end the system stood by the principles of the one it was based upon and the breach persisted until our days, at least for the ones that still use that system. The principle of Magic Circles was to turn a pure imaginative spell into an equation of the reality, and long story short, it falls short on today's expectations. But everything seemed perfect. Can you guess what the problem was?"
Issei shook his head, confused between the mysterious reason and the fact that he barely understood anything Frederick spoke.
"That system couldn't evolve. Merlin was a genius that designed an almost perfect system that couldn't evolve. A few centuries later, nothing in the supernatural agenda, Western-magic was falling short to adapt to the new times, advances and Scientifics discoveries everywhere in the world.
A few people tried to combine both the western-magic and the scientific advances, but most of the leaders were blindfold or arrogant, so their magic schools and cabalas where doomed to stay behind the rest of the world. That flattened the ground for a new magic school to take place, at first underground, but now known through the magic world. That meant that this new school was, indeed, a new type of magic."
"A new one?"
"Yes. It was called "Contemporary Magic" by it's founders, honoring the start of the Contemporary Age that happened to be a bit earlier in your history book, but that's another matter entirely. And you'll have to believe me when I tell you that this "new" school of magic is way more powerful than the others. Now, if you were so kind to follow me…"
Both stood up and Issei, following Frederick, entered the hallway of the apartment. But in the middle of crossing it, Issei's surrounding changed, and suddenly he wasn't anymore in the middle of a hallway in some apartment in Japan near downfall, but in a shiny and spacious hallway in a modern yet classical building with the sun appearing at the opposite side of where he left it back in Japan…
…oh God… what the hell did just happen?!
"Now that you are more inclined to join us, Issei, allow me to introduce you…" Frederick said, turning around while he extended one of his arms. A few people were walking in the hallways, some paying them attention, and some others not. "…welcome to the [Organization]."
Issei could only watch in awe how massive the structure seemed to him, even if it wasn't that impressive at all. Without wasting any time, Frederick dragged him through the labyrinth of hallways until they arrived to one of them full of doors with no distinctive whatsoever except the number above them. Issei could only flashly think "How many floors has this place?" before entering one of those said doors, always dragged by Frederick.
Inside was a small living room with some papers dispersed, but it was clear to anybody that it was a place to pass time and have conversations, like the hallway of barracks or something like that.
"This is the room of my team" Frederick said after a few seconds, siting down on a swivel chair. "All of them have similar ones. Sit down, we still have a bit to talk" he showed Issei a couch near him, and Issei relaxed after feeling the softness of the piece of furniture. The blonde had a thoughtful expression, and after a while, he got straight in his chair and let a sly grin get into his face.
"So… tell me, Issei… would you like to know what we did to your memories?"
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So, that's it. I hope you like it.
If anyone here has read "Ashbell" by the author Terminus Ashbell, then yes, that name is a reference. Also, yes, I know extracting the Sacred Gear kills the user, but Issei doesn't know that, that's why he made up those assumptions. Any feedback is well received.
By the way, if anyone from the Spanish fandom is reading this, "Hi" in English.
RedSS.