The God Complex

Chapter 2: Nightmare in Crimson

Smoke was what filled his lungs now with each deep breath. His vision was becoming more and more obscured with each passing second as the room began to fill with the poisoned air. The girl who left to bring him food stood in the doorway, her long hair a mess and her pale features red from heat. Behind her, there was a orange hue in a grey background of smoke.

To say he was shocked was an understatement, but he refused to show it on his face. If there were a fire in a hospital at all, one sprinkler on the ceiling would trigger them all on that floor. Not even to mention every single alarm system in the whole building would scream in multi-toned screeches that wailed to new heights at each second without fail. Even with that being factual, hospitals were slammed packed to the nines with state-of-the-arc anti-fire systems that would put firefighters alone to shame. And someone disabled them. He grew angry at the thought of who he thought it was.

He breathed in and was met instantly by a horrible smell, he gagged and reeled back in his bed, forcing his hands up to his nose. It was the smell of flesh and fire. It took a few seconds for him to steel himself, and in that time the girl moved to him, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face. She removed the IV that was attached to his arm and helped him stand, but she was far weaker. She tried to lift and support him, but it was more than she proved able to do, and he mostly lifted himself up on his own.

The girl fell to the ground and coughed until the sound was a horrible cackle that made her sound close to death. His instinct was what clouded his mind, he looked around the room, looking for something to help the girl. He grabbed the blankets from his bed and threw it around the girl, tying the fabric like a rope around her waist. She didn't seem to care, nor did she seem to notice. Her coughing only became worse, and he began to feel less and less effected by the smoke that clouded the room in a thick sheet.

[Partner. You are a dragon. You have an extremely high affinity to heat, smoke, poison, and everything else have the senses of a dragon as well as all the instincts and hormones. And yes, you have weaknesses, but we will go over them later. She cannot survive this like you, so hurry if your goal is to save her. Use that brain of yours and become a decisive tactician.]

"Stay here, I'll be right back." He said, sounding far more emotionless than he intended. The girl nodded and he felt stupid. Where exactly would she go? Into the fires? He turned and made his way to the open door, there was an explosion behind the door sending an exploded oxygen tank through the window to the left of the door, trailing a stream of flames behind it. He walked through it, feeling drawn like a moth. He walked through the fire, his gown caught fire on his body, but he felt nothing as the flames enveloped him. He moved to his left and peered through the window with a hole in it, taking careful notice to how far he was off the ground. And then he averted his attention to the flames that crawled up his leg.

[Normal fire can't harm you. You should be fine but be careful with the girl.]

There was a scream down the hallway to his right, he turned, and what he saw was something he wasn't sure he would ever forget. Another nurse, this one running frantically, trying to extinguish a fire that was eating away at her flesh. He didn't know what to do, but his actions came like instinct to him. A bone-chilling breeze swirled around him in less than a second, he pulled his hands out outstretched to his sides and took a single step forward as a prep to drive his hand into a fierce clap. The sound reverberated through the halls, and the ice-like wind whistled towards the girl, extinguishing every flame in the hall and sending the girl to her knees. She looked at him—tears in her eyes—and stood, her burnt fabrics barely covering her exposed body. She rushed over to him, and slammed into him, hugging him close to her as if he was sacred to her. He tried hard to ignore the fact that he could feel all of her exposed body touch completely against his nude one.

'This is not the time! Besides, I have a girlfriend! Remember Yuuma!' he tried to tell himself, but there was another explosion down the hall, he turned, fearing for the girl in his room who cared for him. But the flames got no where close to the door.

[Partner, I know now isn't the time, but… Yuuma Amano doesn't exist. She was a Fallen Angel. I can assure you she had some other intention for dating you, whatever it may be.]

When Ddraig said that, his world flipped. He knew the dragon wasn't lying, and that just made the revelation much worse. The chill came back, spiraling around him, and the ground at his feet frosted over. The girl let go immediately, and he looked her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…" he started. He looked down at his hands, and clenched them shut tightly, stifling his thoughts so he could focus on saving the only two girls he had seen since that night that were real. "But we need blankets. I can get you and another nurse out of here through a window that blew open, but I need blankets."

The girl seemed to get over her initial shock and nodded. She turned and motioned him to follow her. She guided him back the way he saw her come, and there was a door that she reached for. He looked at it, and immediately determined that it was smoldering hot. She didn't touch it, she caught herself before she did more harm to her body. She turned to him.

"There are clean ones behind that door in the hamper, but… the door…" That was the first time he had heard her speak. Her voice was delicate and soft, it was sweet, and she sounded young. He reached for the handle, and grabbed it, there was a sizzle almost like metal cooling rapidly in water. The girl flinched as he touched the metal, but then looked intently at him as he opened the door without a single ounce of pain, shock filling her face.

He walked in the room and grabbed as many towels as he could, hoping they would be enough to lower the girls out of the window that was blown open. He threw one sheet at the girl gently, "here, wear this for now." She nodded, catching the fabric and wrapping it around her as fast as she could. Without another word between the two, Issei turned and ran back to his room to save the nurse he left. The girl behind him followed closely.

The hallway had started catching fire once more, but it wasn't bad enough to hindrance their rush back to his room. Once they arrived at his door and rushed inside, he noticed immediately the smoke had cleared some, allowing the two nurses to breath easier. The nurse that sat on the ground grew a huge blush and looked away, trying to hide her unprofessional embarrassment of his nudity situation. She stared at the nurse behind him, and recognition seemed to befall onto both of them, replacing the embarrassment she had painted on her face.

"Kuriko?" the nurse he saved said to the girl who he left behind. He had to admit, Kuriko looked a lot better when she was able to breathe… and without the smoke obscuring his view of her. He listened to the two form a conversation while he went to cutting the clean bedsheets into long strips, tying them together at each end to mimic how long he thought he was from the ground.

[Partner, you are running out of time. While they aren't looking, use magic to braid the straps together. They will be enough to support their body weight, but not yours. Just picture the rope weaving into braids and magic will do the rest.]

He did as he was told, imagining the strips of sheet tangling into thick braids, and there was a red mist that surrounded the sheet, and he watched as it folded itself and a very fast pace.

"K-Kyrie?" Kuriko said, trying to fix her long blue hair from the mess it had become. "What happened to you? Are you hurt."

"I'm fine. I came back to get you, but the fire… there was an explosion, and… and I was set on fire… but Issei… he saved me." Kyrie sounded more tearful at the end, her delicate voice cracking. Issei finished tying the ropes and gave each not a good tug for safety. From outside the doorway, the fire picked up, another tank of oxygen exploded. Their attention shifted to it as issei finished his magic tying.

"Come on, its time to get you two out of here." He said, interrupting the two and grabbing the makeshift rope they didn't seem him use magic to make. But his thankfulness ran out as they were more perceptive than he thought they would be in times of their crisis.

"How… did you make that so fast?" Kuriko questioned. Issei signed, but he couldn't hate how smart she was. He actually kind of liked it.

"Well… How about I tell you all later and save you now?" he said, walking over to her and tying the rope around the sheet he tied around her before he left. She nodded along with Kyrie, but her questions weren't done as she stood with the makeshift rope attached to the sheet he tied around her to hold her.

The three walked towards the door. Issei threw his arms out, sending a pulse of wind through the door and blowing out the fires that stood in his way. The girl's eyes both widened in complete shock and amazement at the display he showed. They didn't question him as they were guided out the door and to the left towards the broken window.

He tied the rope to the frame of the window and turned to Kuriko. "I'll hoist you down, then I'll hoist Kyrie down with you. Do you trust me?"

They nodded, not having any reason to not trust him, giving them. "How will you get down, Issei?"

It was a good question. But he had a good lie for it. "I'll climb down behind you all, but I need the rest of you to go first." He sounded sincere, and he did his best to make it seem like he was being honest. Fortunately for him, they believed him. Kuriko moved to the window, stepping her feet out and Issei grabbed the sheets. Slowly he let her down, sky lights landed on them from the ground below , and one followed Kuriko from the air above. The fabric was stretching, and he noticed it more than he would like to admit. He hurried his pace—thanking his luck that she wasn't very heavy—and after several second that felt like eternity, she was finally close enough to the ground to jump down without damage, and he let what was left of the rope go, and she landed semi-gently on the ground. She untied herself, and he quickly pulled the sheets up to send Kyrie down.

When he pulled the sheets all the way up, she tied it around her waist, using it like a seat. "Promise me you'll be safe. We both want you to make it with us more than you know. We owe you our lives…"

Issei nodded once again, lying with a smile. He was completely calm, and he knew he wouldn't be getting out the same as them. But it was alright, it was all to protect them. He picked her up bridal style and sat her on the window to prevent her from showing him her private parts, which was strange for him, but felt like the right thing to do in the scenario.

He let her down, faster than how he let Kuriko down, the flames behind him sneaking up on his back being the reason behind that, and the sheets began to catch fire in his hands. He knew his mistake then; he shouldn't have piled them up beside him on the floor.

She landed on the ground just as the sheet snapped from the frame. The sheet fell from the window seal and landed beside her. He could have caught it, and the two girls below him knew it, but they couldn't process what had happened or why he didn't seem to care. They looked up together, fear in their eyes as they stared at him, tears stinging the side of their eyes.

He leaned over and looked into each of their eyes, then turned his eyes to the crowd and looked around. One caught his eyes as the wind blew her hood down to reveal her golden eyes and hair. He smiled before backing away into the flames, the screams of the girls saying his name through tears filled his ears. He wondered why they were feeling those emotions. The sky light pulled away, assuming he was already dead. He felt calm in the fires though, and he couldn't help but wondered why.

[Adrenaline is different from Dragons and Humans. You are calm because your Adrenaline clouds those other emotions. Women can cause that effect, as well as anger. Otherwise, you would still be in a lot of pain from your body's transformation into a dragon.]

The hairs on the back of his neck began to stick straight up. Visions of that night filled his head. His parents strung up by wires, mangled and cut to pieces. The rage came to him and his vision began to go green at the edges. This feeling was too familiar to him…

He walked and opened the door he would have never dared open with the girls in his party. He touched the handle, and there was a horrible sizzle, but the door swung open still. He looked in after some of the smoke cleared. The scene would have given him nightmares if he hadn't seen worse already.

There was a family, burned black and lifeless. He couldn't possibly imagine who it was, the life they lived, the fun and joy they had that was stripped from them far before their time should have been up. He wasn't sure why he was having such thoughts, they were things he wouldn't have ever cared about before, but now… there was an understanding and longing that he would have never felt before. He sympathized.

[Partner… he's in this building with you.]

And then it hit him. His eyes widened. He fell to his knees.

Everyone died because of him. The rage had fully taken over, the rationality had left Issei. He yelled in anger, and fire exploded around him.

…

She wasn't in time. She stood in the crowd of people outside the hospital as it burned. She knew Issei was inside, she could tell. He was on the fifth floor, much to her dismay. He was alive though, and he was moving. She could only wait, she couldn't reveal herself to the public, and she only needed to breathe to know there were other supernatural watching but suffering the same fate as she was.

Issei was to be hers, and she had made it very evident to lay claim to him to all factions who kept a close eye on him. She had made that call when she felt the disturbance in the air the night of his parent's murder. She knew from the moment she felt it whose power it was and made her way over as fast as she could. She used all of her skills and diplomacy to claim her territory from the devils, and it was made easier since they failed to know he was alive until it was announced. She used that against them.

She knew though, that she could never take the place of his mother, but she could bring him a new happiness. She would give him a good life, like so many Red Dragon Emperors before him failed to have.

Her eyes went wide under her hooded kimono as she saw him at the window, his eyes would have gone unnoticed to normal people… but there was an anger behind them that she couldn't ever comprehend, and pain that she only hoped she could replace with something more. A blue haired girl stepped out the window and he hoisted her down after a few short exchanges of words. She smiled at his willingness to help others, but it didn't sate her worry for him. After the girl landed, he pulled the makeshift rope back up.

He brought another girl to the window, this one he sat down in the window. He pulled the rope around her and sent her down faster than the first one. He looked down at the two as the rope fell, and then gazed out into the crown… and his eyes locked with hers for only a brief second before he recoiled into the flames with a smile she knew was fake.

Her blonde hair fell behind her hood and caressed the side of her face as her heart was hit with the realization of every emotion the yell contained: rage, despair, sadness and loneliness. The hospital exploded, one entire floor like a bomb erupting. She knew why it had happened, and she knew he was okay, but it still made her heart clench, to know what he was going through and not being able to do anything. She could rush in, but she wasn't immune to flames like he was, and she wouldn't because she had a daughter to return home too.

The ground below her shook, and the flames began to change colors—it was only a slight shift, but it was noticeable to the trained eye. She found herself backing away with the crowd, being pushed further away from the hospital by police and firemen. The top floor collapsed and sent with it the floor that Issei was on.

Then the fear came as she felt the magic. She watched as the people around her disappeared along with the fires of the hospital and across from her, there were devils and fallen angels alike, their wings fully exposed by force. And her golden nine tails flowed freely behind her back. This was a reality marble, and it belonged to Issei entirely. The sky was filled with stars and the black was a hazy purple. The devils made their way to her, and the fallen angels prepared themselves together.

"Yasaka." It was a greeting from the crimson haired princess know as Rias Gremory.

"Hello. I would proceed with caution from this point forward, I have no idea what he is capable of—and so far, it is far more than what I have imagined from a newly awakened dragon." She informed, offering the princess a friendly word of advice that she was sure wasn't needed, but perhaps the rest of her peerage didn't know what power was coming from that hospital.

"Since the fires are out…"

She wasn't listening past that phrase, but she knew immediately what she needed to do.

…

It was because of him that he was like this. It was because of him that he lost everything he had ever come to love. It was him that he would seek his vengeance on. He moved through the halls, fire roaring around him.

[Partner… calm down. If you let your anger take over now, you'll lose even more.]

"You're wrong. I have nothing more to lose."

[Maybe not now, but you will. The waves set in motion will bring you so much more. Do you really want to throw it away?]

Issei clenched his teeth together until they hurt, he gave no response to Ddraig. His anger couldn't subside. His power exploded around him, immediately extinguishing the flames, and his vision of the world around him turned gray. There was a dark shifting veil of red that surrounded him, his eyes turned green and were slit like an animal. Scales began to form on his body in a mist of red.

He ran, the anger rushing through his hot-blooded veins. He burst through the door at the end of the hallway, and rushed down the stairs, following after the power he wanted to destroy. Once he was on the main floor, he rushed after the power, jumping over debris, not questioning where the people he expected to see went. He ran through a door, busting glass as the scales finished covering his body, and ended up outside.

He stared out at a group, bat winged and black feathered. The one that stood out was golden tails. Confusion began to replace his anger as he noticed them all looking at him. The attention shifted behind him, and the group with bat wings and the lone girl with tails looked angry. There came a laugh behind him… and it was like clarity that washed over him.

"Wow kid! You've gotten good at running since I last saw you! Too bad you weren't that good when you came home."

The rage he felt toward the voice he recognized as his target was unimaginable. He turned, power rushing to his hands, the ground shook violently, and he swiped his hand up, turning as he did so, all rationality leaving his head of who he might hurt behind the more than powerful attack. Behind his attack came a streak of red energy.

The energy shot a beam of power forward, that reached high into the sky and destroyed everything in front of it with a powerful sweep. Claw marks were left on the ground below him and the energy that shot out began to grow jagged edges like mountain tops. The streaks of energy subsided, and the amount of carnage they left behind was flabbergasting for the lookers behind him. Building were ripped in half; the ground was destroyed as deep fissures were formed that took the shape of his clawed gauntlet.

"Wow! That was impressive kid! You are really something—" the killer never finished, as the ground began to shake from the aftershock of Issei's attack. Building that stood strong fell at the violent rumbling of the earth. The killer fell, and he looked up for only a moment. His eyes widened, and he smiled terrifyingly.

Issei looked down at him, his red scales covering his arms and legs, his neck and all the vitals of his torso. Power formed behind Issei in a terrible orb of red that pulled more and more energy from the world around him into a red center he couldn't possibly understand. The power gave everyone a dark chill, and the energy only increased exponentially with each passing second.

Issei's hands moved, and the orb followed. The killer disappeared, flashing behind Issei in only a second of time. The orb smashed the ground, and briefly, the sound of everything became a ringing silence that was shattered by a loud and low rumbling wail that made everyone take several steps away from Issei. There was a flash of red that lit the sky, and once the light settled, eyes went wide.

Beyond where Issei had thrown the orb, was nothing. Buildings and nature were wiped away without a trace, and Issei was facing the killer, his left hand drawn back. Green energy burned from Issei's eyes and flowed above him to his side, wings exploded behind him, crimsons scales with green gems decorating each joint.

He drilled his fist forward, connecting with the killer's stomach. Wind exploded around them, and blood shot from the man mouth onto Issei's chest. The attack was enough to send the killer spiraling backwards as blood gushed from his mouth and nose.

…

She looked with wide eyes as his attack sent the killer flying back in a mess of his own blood. Her tails fluttered behind her in worry, not for the killer, but for Issei. He was emitting a feeling that could only come from someone driven by revenge. His blood boiled with the power of Ddraig, so thick with destructive force she felt it in her bones.

Her eyes followed the killer, who landed on his feet and showed he wasn't going to lose very easily. She prayed that he would say nothing, but from what she had already seen from him, his goal was to see how much Issei could take. He wanted to toy with the boy and break him mentally now.

"Ahaha! You hit like your mother did! Hmm… if I look at it from the right angle, it will be like killing her twice."

Her eyes widened, along with the group beside her. She looked at Issei, and he was dead still, his face was cast down and silhouetted. The power from him shifted, and she had an idea of what it was that was about to be unleashed, the green orbs floating around Issei were enough to steer her in the right direction.

[All of you… if you wish to not die, I would leave this area immediately.] The voice came from Ddraig as she remembered, and she knew immediately her guess was wrong… and then the fear began to seep into her core. She turned to the others, the fallen angels already evacuating.

"We need to leave now!" she yelled, the panic in her voice showing more than she cared to admit. The group fled and she followed, watching Issei from a further distance as he started to glow.

Power exploded around Issei, sending shockwaves of red energy into the atmosphere, slicing the wind with a force so profound it sliced building clean through, and the ground around him cracked under extreme pressure. She felt everything he felt, the hatred, anger, sadness… and fear?

"I, who shall awaken"

"It's started… the time has finally come."

She was wrong… she was so wrong.

"I am the Heavenly Dragon who stole the principles of domination from God,"

"It has always been this way… always and forever."

She watched as his body shifted, growing larger with more scales. Wings exploded from his back in what she could only assume was extremely painful, and she swore she saw his bones break and shift back together in new patterns.

"I laugh at the Infinite, and grieve at the Dream

"What the world desires… and what the world forgets."

She had to wait it out. She knew she had to wait it out… she would save him. She was the only one that could, but she would have to wait for him to exhaust his power a little.

"I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination."

"And once this world remembers… this world shall cease to be."

"It was always for power… the path to ruin."

She stopped her thoughts. The echoed voices said something she wouldn't have expected even in her wildest of imaginations. She knew then she would have to do something she hasn't in such a long time. Use her own true form.

"I shall drown you in the depths of crimson purgatory!"

The ground shook and shadows shifted, and the power grew to almost unbearable levels, almost like an attack was being prepared. When the dust and debris cleared fully, she was able to see Issei, magic flowing with a mind of its own and covered in crimson scales and green jewels. He looked more like a dragon than a human, but it was a pitiful transformation. One capable of destroying the host… but it was reversible.

There was a low growl as Issei stared at the man who killed his parents, his body a broken and unmoving mess. His left arm move above his head, and swiped down, hitting the ground with a destructive force that would put even her best attacks on a knife's edge. There was a bright flash of light, followed by an explosion that blew dirt and debris straight up, while sending a gust of wind strong enough to uproot trees.

She didn't need to look to know there was nothing left. The man got what he deserved… but she was more interested in Issei. She started to run towards him, her cloak falling off as golden flames burned on her tails that swung freely behind her. Her eyes slit as she ran, she transformed, letting her human body burn away as she grew to a height far larger than Issei.

She was running out of time. She wasn't in Kyoto; her magic wasn't limitless here which meant she had to be very careful about her next few moves. If she died trying to save the boy she wanted in her future with Kunou, she would have failed her promise to give him a good life while dooming her people. It was a risk, and a big one at that… not even to mention she would have failed as a parent.

She wouldn't make a mistake. It had to be impossible. She leapt to her side, landing in front of Issei, making sure no one was behind her. She summoned her fox fire, and that was enough to catch the attention. But her attack didn't come first… but she thanked her lucky stars for finally aligning.

"Longinus Smasher!"

A giant beam of red energy shot past her, missing by only an inch. Everything around her became silent, and a second later, there was a screech that made her head pound. She looked slowly to her right, and she was thankful it was a miss. Everything behind her was gone, like it had never existed to begin with, and it stretched as far as she could see… just how big was this world he created? How strong could he get?

She snapped herself out of her daze, now was her chance! She lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. To a complete transformation, this would have been a stupid move for her, but she hoped her guess was correct and he was exhausted of his power. Her fire covered the boy, and herself as well, there was a scream of pain. And it hurt something in her heart, but she knew she had to do it to save him.

Her flames were able to burn through almost anything, nothing could be spared from their wrath. But it was the other properties of those flames that were going to be her saving grace. They were eating through the boy's magic, consuming it down to nothing and returning it to her in full. He shrunk down in size, growing weaker as the blue flames ate away more and more. She shrunk down with him, his bones crunched loud enough for her to hear, and it was enough to make her stomach churn in disgust. She rushed to him as he turned back human.

She looked at the boy, and she was shocked at his appearance. Red swirls and markings in a language she had never seen before adorned his body, but they looked aggressive in nature. And the power that seeped through them were anything but good-intentioned. She grew disgusted at herself as she looked closer at his death-like still body. She had burnt the right side of his body. She didn't know if he would ever heal from that, but she hoped he would. She couldn't bear looking at him knowing that was done from her own hand.

She shook her head and looked at the issue at hand. She threw her black and gold Kimono on him to cover him up. The marking were not normal for any host, in fact it was more unnatural. There was nothing like this ever written down, so to say it peaked her interest was the understatement of the year.

She was running out of energy, and it was because the boy was now absorbing it, and the thought alone was scary. The power of a half-dragon was already enough to scare her… she didn't want to imagine the future. What exactly had she done? This might have been a bigger problem than she could have handled. No, she joked herself.

She summoned a circle below the power and watched him disappear in flakes of gold energy. He was safe at her shrine now, and she watched as the destruction he had caused inside his reality pieced itself back together slowly, reversing itself before her very eyes in one of the most amazing displays of pure power she had ever been in.

She turned to the devils, and she knew she would need their help to fix everything. To make everything correct in the human world. She needed to make up a story for the killer, the hospital, and Issei…

She sighed. She needed a drink.

End of Chapter 2: Nightmare in Crimson

I was planning to have this out about a week ago, but I had so conflicts. Sorry.

Let me know how I did or if I should continue. Thank you for your time.

Gosh, I really hope this is good for everyone.