Chapter 2 WOOOO. Thanks for all the reviews guys, the support really helps me. As I said in the last chapter, I won't be following a schedule as far as updates are concerned. There's gonna be a few time skips in this chapter as this is mostly backstory content. Just as a quick FYI, until canon begins the first few chapters will be the prologue.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, as always, I will be responding to reviews at the start of each chapter.
I apologize for the delay, I would've brought this out sooner, but my computer decided to play dead for a week, then the internet cut off for a few days. I've also made a few changes to the previous chapter (adding in the Japanese suffix's) so without any further delay (Hopefully) enjoy the chapter
ethan lukkar - Thank you, as I said, I'll update whenever I can, but it might take a while between chapters
sandwolf72 - I liked the concept I came up with for the original story too, but I just wanted to add a bit more 'original content' so to speak.
BANKAIZEN - Thank you
Guest - Thank you for the compliments, however, I do plan on adding Issei to Rias' peerage.
Guest - I'm glad you like it
Guest - Nothing mean about it, it's your opinion. But I'm glad you like it
I own nothing but the story.
[Albion speaking]
'Thinking'
[Albion speaking aloud]
(Underworld - Dragon Territory)
Issei and Tatsuya emerge from the dragon portal in a mountainous area, the two observe their surroundings, Issei looking around in amazement and Tatsuya with a look of nostalgia. Deciding that they'd spent enough time standing around, Tatsuya began to walk off to one of the larger mountains, after calling for his son to follow. About 20 minutes into their walk, they come across a large cave, which is supposedly their destination, if the look on Tatsuya's face was any indication.
"It's been a long time since I was last here..." Tatsuya spoke with a bright smile on his face, after shaking out of his reverie, he turns to Issei "Well, let's go in." The two walk in the cave, the only noise being the echo of their footsteps hitting the stone floor. As they get further into the cave, a light can be seen and a deep voice heard, muttering something to someone else. When they reach what seems to be the doorway, they see two dragons, the first a fifteen meter purple western dragon. And the second was a ten meter tall red western dragon. The two dragons in the room turn when they hear footsteps, only to see Tatsuya and Issei, the former with a smirk, and the latter a look of awe and slight fear. After studying the two carefully, the purple dragon's eyes widen. He turns to the other dragon and dismisses it before speaking.
"Tatsuya, is that you?"
"Long time no see, Tannin" he said with a small smile
"Yes, it has been a while. How have you been old friend?"
"I've been well, my friend. I'm actually here for something important" he turned around and gestured for Issei to walk next to him "This is my son, Issei. Unfortunately, his best friend and her mother were killed by rogue fallen angels, and even though I tell him it's not his fault, he still believes that he is to blame for not being able to save them" he spoke sadly, Tannin looked at Issei and spoke.
"I'm sorry for your loss young one, you have my condolences" Issei nodded his head in thanks "So what is this important business?" he asked already having a good idea of what it was. Issei looked towards his father who nodded. He stepped forward and bowed deeply
"Please train me... I want to get stronger" Tannin smirked after hearing his request
"So you want my help?" Issei nodded "If you want my training, you will have to work for it. I will not train someone with no potential to grow. If you want my help... you will have to show me your resolve!" seeing Issei's determined face, he smirked and grabbed the two "Then we shall fight. I will test your strength, and see if you deserve my assistance" after saying this, the three flew upwards out of the cave and over to what looked like a battlefield.
Tannin placed the two on the ground and flew about 100 feet away. His eyes widened in shock when Issei activated Divine Dividing.
"Balance Break" [BALANCE BREAK]
The voices of Issei and Albion sounded at the same time as a familiar white armour began to form around him.
[VANISHING DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER]
"Amazing, not only are you the descendant of Albion, but to have his Sacred Gear as well, this will be fun." Tannin smirked widely before flapping his wings and charging straight at Issei. Issei did the same thing, aiming for Tannin's head, but moved slightly at the last second and struck the large dragon on the side of the head, which didn't faze him in the slightest.
[Divide]
Tannin stumbled slightly as he felt his strength leave him. Issei was in a similar situation, struggling to move with the amount of power received from Tannin, trying to think of a good way to expel the energy quickly. After thinking about it, he stuck his hands in front of him and began charging a ball of pure magical energy. Tannin saw this and created a ball of fire between his jaws 'Albion, instead of sending the energy out of the wings, is it possible to send it into the magic bomb?'
[You should be able to, though it will use up a lot of your stamina at your current level] Issei nodded before focussing the energy into his hands, causing the ball to grow even larger than it was before. After focussing the excess energy into the attack, he fired it as soon as Tannin shot his fireball. The two attacks collided, both fighters pouring power into the blasts hoping to overpower the other.
[Divide]
Issei faltered once again as he felt more energy enter his body, quickly sending it into his attack. Tannin realized that he couldn't waste any time as his power would be divided again, so he tried to end the fight by increasing the power of his blast. Issei noticed that he was being pushed back, so he fired a burst of energy into his attack to buy himself enough time to escape the blast radius.
After moving out of the way, he charged at Tannin aiming to strike his head. Noticing this, the large dragon tilted his head to dodge. Issei used too much force on his punch, so he stumbled slightly, rendering him unable to dodge the oncoming hand flying his way. As the giant claw connects, Issei was sent crashing down into the ground, leaving a huge dust cloud as he impacted with the ground.
Inside the crater was a barely conscious Issei, with his Balance Breaker armour long gone, covered in multiple bruises and wounds, struggling to stand up and breathing heavily "Not yet... I can still fight" he spoke between gasps, wiping the blood from his lip. He attempted to reform his armour, but due to his lack of stamina, it dispersed quickly as he collapsed again.
"That is enough" Tannin called out as he and Tatsuya landed near the crater Issei was in "You may rest now child... you did exceptionally well for one so young. That blast would have hurt if I didn't counter it." Issei smiled at the praise he was given "You have the potential and resolve to become the strongest Hakiryuukou to date, I will gladly train you" Issei smiled before finally passing out
"Thank you Tannin, you have my sincerest gratitude" Tatsuya said while he picked up his son
"It's no problem Tatsuya, I think I might enjoy training him. We will begin on the Monday of next week, so bring him back here on Sunday so he can get settled in to his new home" Tatsuya nodded
"Is it alright if he can take the weekends off, so we can see him then?"
"Of course"
"Thanks, do you still have the special ring I used for my own training?"
"Yes, it's still where you left it, I will give it to him before we officially start." Tatsuya nodded again "By the way... Why not ask her to help train him?"
"Hmm... maybe I could ask her. Not until Issei's older though. You know how Tiamat is, she'll see it as a waste of time unless he can put up a good fight."
"I suppose you're right. Do you plan on giving him the sword?"
"When he's older, yes." Tatsuya felt Issei move slightly in his arms "I'll take him back home, he needs to rest for now so we can get all of his things packed"
"I shall see you in a few days then Tatsuya"
"Oh, and could you keep the fact that he is Albion's descendant a secret, it doesn't matter who the host of the Red One is, they would jump at the chance to fight the person who is, for lack of a better term, Albion reincarnated" Tannin nodded in acceptance. Tatsuya thanked him before he opened a dragon portal and waved to Tannin as the dragon flew back to his cave.
After reappearing in his home, the first thing he saw was his wife with a worried look on her face when she saw the state of Issei, and after treating his wounds and laying him in his bed, she returned to the living room to speak to her husband.
"What happened to him?" she asked worriedly
"Tannin wanted to test his resolve, so they sparred. I wouldn't worry too much, I doubt that he'll end up the same in the future." Hitomi nodded "His training will begin Monday morning, so I'll take him over the night before. Tannin is preparing a place for him to stay, but he'll be back on the weekends"
"Okay, we should probably start packing his things" Tatsuya nodded as the two left for Issei's room after grabbing his suitcase.
The day finally came for Issei to move into dragon territory, he is currently stood next to the portal his father opened into Tannin's cave. After checking his belongings once again, he said goodbye to his mother and jumped through the portal with his father. The two were greeted by Tannin, who promptly guided the two to Issei's new home.
After 5 minutes of flying, they eventually landed next to one of the smaller mountains when Tannin began to explain "This is where you will be living from now on. On the morning of every weekday, you will wake up at 6 o'clock, eat breakfast and get ready for the day of training" Issei nodded with a look of determination, but quickly turned into one of curiosity as Tatsuya reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box and gave it to Issei
"Issei, in here is the ring I used to help me with my own training" Issei nodded and put the ring on his finger, immediately feeling the effects as his body felt much heavier than before "I call it the 'Gravi-Band', it automatically adjusts your body to a weight slightly above what you can handle. You will need to wear this every day to help to gradually increase your speed and strength, without doing anything. I wouldn't recommend it, but you can also adjust the amount of weight the ring applies by continuously focussing your magic into the ring, and as soon as you stop, it will return to the original weight"
Issei began channelling a little bit of his magic into the ring to test it, and promptly collapsed to the floor due to the pressure on his body. He stopped channelling his magic and stood up as his weight shifted again, allowing him to move more easily.
"Alright, the first part of your training is to unpack your belongings with the ring active" Issei nodded and started picking up some boxes on the floor "When you're done I want you to stretch for five minutes and do 2 laps of the town." Issei paled as he heard "That'll be your work-out for today, so when you're finished you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Your real training starts at 7am tomorrow, so be up bright and early."
"Hai" Issei replied as he began unpacking his items. Over the coming years, Issei would go about the same routine almost every day; Wake up at 7, train with Tannin, eat, and then sleep. The first few weeks went by slowly, as all Tannin had Issei do was run to increase his stamina. However after two months of running, they finally began what Issei referred to as 'the real training', increasing his strength and magic power.
{Time Skip - 4 years later}
A 12 year old Issei was lying on the grass, looking a little worse for wear as he had just finished his afternoon training with Tannin. As the years went by, Issei changed a lot; he was no longer small and scrawny but fairly tall with a toned figure, unexpected of someone his age. He was now able to maintain [Balance Breaker] for 2 months, and 1 week in Juggernaut Drive. He lay back, happily chomping away at some Dragon Apples, his mind wandered as he thought about what Tannin had told him a few days ago.
(Flashback)
"You've improved greatly since our last spar Issei, however there is still room for improvement. You still rely a little too much on Albion's power, next time try and fight me with only your own strength." Tannin said and spoke again after seeing Issei nod "By the way, three days from now you might be meeting someone important so be prepared."
"Hai, Sensei"
(Flashback End)
"I wonder who Sensei wants me to meet" Issei mused to himself, but was cut off as he felt a familiar presence approach him, accompanied by two others, although these were unfamiliar to him "Looks like Sensei's is here" he said looking towards the purple dragon as he descended next to Issei. As Tannin landed, Issei noticed two others riding on his back. The first was a man with crimson red hair and blue-green eyes, wearing some sort of armour and a smile on his face as he looked at Issei, the second was a silver haired buxom woman with matching eyes, she was wearing a blue maids outfit with an unreadable expression on her face. Issei's eyes widened as he felt their power 'Woah, they're stronger than Ossan... why do they want to meet me?'
"So this is your student Tannin?" the man asked, his eyes never leaving Issei
"Yes; this is Issei Hyoudou, the current Hakuryuukou" Tannin replied as he smirked at Issei's confused expression. The man seemed to notice this as well as he moved to introduce himself to the boy
"Ah, where are my manners. I am Sirzechs Lucifer, one of the four Maou, and this is my wife Grayfia" the now named Grayfia pulled out a harisen and swiftly delivered a strike to the back of Sirzechs' head as she spoke
"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge, head maid of the house of Gremory. I apologize for my master's joke"
"Nice to meet you both, my name is Issei Hyoudou, please take care of me from now on" he replied with a bow "Sensei, are they here to spar or something?" before Tannin could reply Sirzechs' smile widened
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. Grayfia why don't you test his strength, but don't go all out" Grayfia sighed as she turned to Tannin
"Do you mind Tannin?" the dragon laughed at the question
"Not at all, it might help the boy if he fights someone other than myself" Tannin said, then he turned to Issei "Well brat, are you up for a fight?" Issei grinned and nodded vigorously as he got into a fighting stance
"When am I not?"Issei replied before activating his [Balance Breaker] Within seconds the snow-white armour was covering his body, although this time the armour was thicker than before giving Issei more protection at the cost of some speed. Tannin and Sirzechs moved to the side before calling for the start of the fight
"BEGIN"
At the call Issei charged towards Grayfia with his foot cocked back while discreetly channelling fire into his left hand. As he reached Grayfia he threw his foot towards her left temple, which she easily dodged, however, she wasn't prepared for the fireball that was shot towards her stomach. The fireball connected and Grayfia was blasted away from Issei. After regaining her balance she began to form a large ice spear and fired it at Issei, who's response was to create a barrier to block the spear. The attack collided with the barrier and struggled in an attempt to overpower it, of course if Grayfia was using her full power, Issei would be dead by now. The spear and barrier both exploded causing a cloud of smoke to appear. Issei took advantage of this and shot towards Grayfia, and sent a punch towards her abdomen too fast for her to dodge. As he connected, she flew back and landed on her feet.
[Divide]
She stumbled as she felt the power leave her body before regaining her composure. She lifted her hands above her head creating multiple ice spears in the air above her. Issei saw this and smirked, deciding to match her by creating the same amount of magic bullets and fired them at the same time as Grayfia did, hoping to stall her until the next divide. The spears and bullets crashed against each other in a flurry of explosions.
As the battle continued, Issei obviously had the upper hand as small beads of sweat rolled down Grayfia's face as she was breathing heavily, Issei was doing a little better, although he was sweating slightly. Grayfia realized that she couldn't win without using more of her power, so she did just that. She ceased in creating her smaller spears and formed a gargantuan spear above her head and threw it at Issei while freezing his feet in place. He realized that he could not win the fight, so he surrendered. After hearing this Grayfia dispersed the ice as Issei did the same to his armour and fell backwards onto the soft grass
"Well Grayfia, what did you think?" Sirzechs said as he and Tannin flew over to the two fighters
"He is incredibly strong for his age Sirzechs-sama, I even had to use more power than I had originally intended to" she replied with a small smile. Issei rubbed the back of his head embarrassed at the praise he was receiving from the strongest queen
"Thanks Grayfia-san, but I know you were holding back a lot during our fight"
"Even so, you fought really well. I underestimated you and almost lost because of it" Issei nodded "Sirzechs-sama, it's almost time for your meeting" Sirzech's eyes widened in realization
"Ah that's right, well anyway it was nice meeting you Issei"
"Goodbye Sirzechs-sama, Grayfia-san. It was an honour meeting you both" he bowed as the two left
"Well brat, I must say you put up a good fight against the strongest queen. Your training is really showing some good results, but that doesn't mean you can slack off" Issei nodded and left for his home after being dismissed. Thus concluded his encounter with the Maou Lucifer and the strongest queen, and as he lay in his bed, he had begun thinking about Akeno and his fight with the fallen angels.
{Time Skip - 3 years later}
After the fight with Grayfia, Issei trained harder than before after his defeat, hoping to challenge her again when he could match her in strength. He was now fifteen years old, and due to a spontaneous growth-spurt, stands at 5'8" he had also decided to grow his hair out to his shoulders. Issei and his parents were now stood in the living room of the Hyoudou residence, now in Kyoto, preparing for their vacation. Issei had received a call from his parents inviting him to go with them to Rome, which he eagerly accepted. Luggage in hand, the trio left for the airport, unaware of the awaiting problems.
YAY CLIFFHANGER! I hope you will enjoy what I have in store for you in the next chapter. As a side note, I don't think canon will start until about chapter 5. so until then I hope you enjoy the original stuff. As always Rate and Review. Shadow out!