Okay, you can roast me for not updating for so long. Have been pretty busy with real life and college has been pushing me away from writing.

After eating the food -which was really good- that was given to him by Akeno and cleaning himself up, both teenagers sat at the dorm's lounge with a tea set on the coffee table.

Speaking of the dorm, this dorm has a rather vintage look. The lounge itself is rather large, with two brown camelback sofa and two love seats. There are also two small lamps placed on two lamp table that is on both sides of one of the camelback sofas and a coffee table surrounded by the sofa. All the floor and the stairs, except the dorm room as far as Issei knew, are covered in brown and green square patterned carpet.

Currently, in Issei's mind, he is thinking about what he should ask Akeno. How did she save him? Why is he not in the hospital? How did the wound recover so fast?

He thinks in silence for a few seconds before he decided to ask one question first. "What happened to me?"

Akeno placed down the tea she was drinking and averted her gaze on him. "To be fully honest, you were almost dead if you haven't awakened your Sacred Gear and the contract paper did not summon me."

Issei is shocked when he heard that from Akeno. He was supposed to be dead last night if he did not have this sacred gear thing on him?!

"Wait, 'contract paper?'" Issei asked Akeno, what does she mean 'contract paper'.

"Oh erm, this paper." Akeno pulled out a paper from her skirt pocket. Issei saw it and recognized that this is the same paper that he saw on the ground after Akeno went into the dorm. "When a human has a strong desire, the magic in the paper will respond and summoned any person to accept the calling."

"So that means…" Issei asked her. He believed he knew the answer, but he doesn't want to jump to the conclusion.

"Yes, I was summoned last night… when you were in the edge of life and death. Then I used a massive amount of mana to stop the bleeding." Akeno replied in a rather strained voice and confirmed what Issei was thinking.

Issei stayed silent for a while to process the pieces of information he just heard. He was supposed to be dead. That was for sure, but Akeno saved him when he was bleeding out and-

Wait, stop the bleeding?

"Did you just said you stop the bleeding?" Issei immediately asked her and widened his eyes before he instinctively touched the supposed wound. "Then if that is the case, how did you… you know…" Then he pulled his shirt up and pointed at the literally fully healed wound. "Heal this?"

"Oh, I sleep next to you with both of us naked until you were healed. Skinship healing ritual was the fastest way to heal a grave wound available." Akeno looked at his stomach and gave him the answer with a straight face.

…

What?

Did she just say…

"Skinship… ritual?" Issei can only say that word. From how she said it, she was not joking at all. Issei blushed and he imagined Akeno's naked body. Her perfect waist, slender yet thick thighs, soft, big brea-

"Ise-kun, are you okay? Your face is red."

The brown-haired boy snapped out of his stupor immediately after hearing the voice of the raven-haired girl. The girl gave him a curious look and Issei recovered from his imagination.

"I-I'm alright." Issei coughed and looked away from her.

Akeno made a fake surprise and gasp so obvious that he was pretty sure she ripped that off from an internet video. "Audible gasp. Are you imagining my naked body, Ise-kun?" Then she had to make it worse when she made a very seductive smirk after she made that statement.

Issei tried and failed to deny her statement when he immediately does everything, he could to avert his eyes away from her and could not do anything.

Dammit, right now he needs to focus for more on his questions. "So… this… ritual that you do, somehow healed my wounds completely?"

Akeno continued her smirk and leaned into Issei's ear, whispering in a very husky voice. "Ara ara, are you dodging my question with another one?" She giggled after saying it and moved away to see Issei's reaction. She got the reaction she wanted, with Issei face turning as red as tomatoes.

Akeno giggling for one more second before she calms down and gives him a small smile. "In all seriousness, yes, this ritual healed your wounds."

Issei sigh in relief, at least now he doesn't need to worry about his wounds opening again. Totally not about sleeping naked with Akeno.

Which begs the question…

"Erm, does mom and dad knows-"

"Yes, and don't worry, I told them that you collapsed from exhaustion, so you have to rest in the dorm until tomorrow."

Issei sigh in relief, at least he doesn't need to deal with his parents asking him where he had been last night.

Speaking of which…

"You seem to know who that crazy guy was. Actually, what was that guy and…"

Here goes nothing.

"Just what are you really, Akeno Himejima?" Issei asked her with a firm voice and his light brown eyes never look away from her purple eyes.

The two of them stared at each other in the eyes for who knows how long. Both of them watches every small movement that both of them made. Eventually, Akeno stopped stalling and decided to give the brown-haired a straight answer.

She stands up and closes her eyes. Taking a deep breath and let it out. She then opened her eyes with a focused determination.

It's now or never, she said to herself. She can't lie to her best friend something like this, something so important. So…

… She will show him the answer.

"Alright then… I am Akeno Himejima, and I am a fallen angel." she said that and suddenly two pitch black feather wings spout out of her back.

Issei stared at the wings for one whole minute before he snapped out of it and stare back at Akeno's eyes. He couldn't help it, he convinced himself. The wings were so mesmerizing to him, it's like staring into an empty void that has no end.

He stood up from his seat and slowly reached out to the wings. Unfortunately, his curiosity was cut short when his left hand was slapped away by Akeno, who glares at him.

"I get that you are curious but touching another person's wing is highly offensive." Akeno informed him with a frown, feeling upset that he tried to touch her wings, but could not find herself to blame him. He just began his life on the other side of the world.

"Oh sorry." Issei immediately apologized and looked away from her with a small amount of shame for trying to touch it. Noting to himself not to do that next time.

Still though, fallen angel? What does she mean by that?

"I see that you still don't get it. Then let me explain to you then."

And so begins the long exposition of what Issei had got himself into.

Long ago, a three-way war between Angel, Fallen Angel and Devil called the Great War. It started both as spiritual war and physical war (between the supernatural beings that is). This goes on for many years, from the time before the creation of human, to the rise of civilization and the foundation of religion, to even all the way to the founding of Judaism and, later, Christian.

Then the three-way war comes falling apart when the influence of the three factions spreads out further outside towards the other European regions. There were several conflicts, but that never stopped the Great War.

This changed about a thousand and two hundred years ago when the factions were within the crossfire of the Two Heavenly Dragons: Y Ddraig Goch the Welsh Dragon and Albion Gwiber the White Dragon. Obviously, this caused the three-way war to completely fall apart as Dragon is a race in the world that has the strongest potential to kill a God, especially the Two Heavenly Dragons.

The attacks from both dragons -both intentional and not- had forced the three factions to fight together against the two dragons.

This goes on until both dragons' body was destroyed, but at this point, all armies have almost exhausted their resources and as far as the Devil side goes, all the original leaders were dead. Leading to all three factions to call a ceasefire stalemate to recover (and till this they still are).

As for the two dragons, God had their souls sealed in two different Sacred Gear, God's artifact bestowed on human and human hybrid, which are called Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, two of the thirteen Longinus Sacred Gear, named after the Holy Lance itself.

This… Issei couldn't really describe how he felt about this. Is it absurd? Yes. It is real? If Akeno did not tell him she saved him from his injury or that what happened yesterday was real, then he would have asked if Akeno had read too many light novels recently.

But the reality is often cruel or strange, sometimes both. This is his new reality, the explanation of what he had got himself into was as absurd as it was real.

"So… what now?" Issei asked Akeno with a confused look. "I mean, this is just really… I don't know how to describe aside from ridiculous." Issei then raised his left hand and stared at it.

Akeno looked at him and gave him a sad smile. "I know this is hard to process, so it's okay if you need time to process on what I told you." The raven-haired girl said.

The two teenagers sat on their seat in a rather uncomfortable silence and avert their gaze at each other. There was no sound made by the two of them aside from the sound of the fan. Akeno then made a side glance at Issei before she decided to look at him again and opened her mouth.

"By the way, Issei, I have been meaning to ask you," Akeno asked him. "I can feel the presence of a powerful Sacred Gear on you, can you show me so that I know what it is?"

"I don't think I can." Akeno raises her eyebrows when he said it. "Wait, hold on! I meant to say that I don't know how to do it. I mean, I was near death's door so I'm not sure what was the real trigger."

Akeno makes a silent "oh" before she coughed once and then took a deep breath. "Okay, sorry. The way to bring it out is simple: just concentrate/ meditate, relax and think of the strongest being you can think of on top of your head. "

Issei nodded and followed Akeno's instruction. First, he took several deep breaths to relax. Breath in, breath out he mentally said to himself. Then he thinks of the strongest being that he can think of in his head.

To him, it's obvious what or who was and is the strongest being that he could think of on top of his head.

His hero…

The man who stood tall with a crimson muffler.

"Oh my…" Issei was taken out of his trance when he heard Akeno's gasp. Issei opened his eyes to look at her while raising his eyebrows.

Suddenly, he felt something on his left arm. He slowly raised his left arm and he saw…

"This is… what saved me yesterday?" So, this is a Sacred Gear, Iseei thought. He could tell that this gauntlet is part of him. Still, though, he couldn't help but be entranced by it, maybe even Akeno too.

"Issei… this is… Boosted Gear."

Issei was in a complete shocked when he heard what the raven-haired girl said. He, an ordinary teenager, gets one the most powerful artifact in the world.

…

"Shit"

Issei's cuss was an accurate way of what Akeno felt.

Any normal people (or any supernatural creature) would kill to have such a powerful Sacred Gear.

However, in this world, power attracts power. Meaning the person who got Sacred Gear this powerful will attract danger. That means Issei will have to fight in an indefinite future.

"Boosted Gear huh… So, I guess that means I have to fight in the indefinite future?"

All Akeno could do at this statement was to nod. There is no need to deny or tell him that there's no need for it.

Akeno made an audible gulp before she spoke again and gave him a worried, but hardened gaze.

"Yes," she replied to his question. "You will have to for your life sooner or later. Power attracts power, which means there will be people trying to find you if they know that you hold Boosted Gear, especially your rival dragon. And they may also end up hurt your parents."

"But I'll help you if you are willing to let me train you that is." Akeno continued, but now her eyes are filled with determination instead of worries. She then raised out her left hand to Issei. "So… are you willing to discard your normal life to become stronger for everyone?"

Issei looked down and became very silent. Akeno could not see his eyes so she had no idea what the boy was thinking.

Akeno holds her breath. She might be worrying over nothing, but her mind was running higher than a hundred miles per hour. Will he accept it blindly? Will he decline the help and go to his own way? She really wants to help him. He was attacked last night, so she wants to give him a solution to the problem.

"Well," Issei finally said something after the tense silence. "I really want to stay being in normal life, I admit that much."

Issei continued his sentence "But then, from what happened yesterday, I am pretty sure the guy will chase me down. And like you said, there will be other people try to find me and wreak havoc because I somehow won the world's most powerful lottery."

"So yeah… I won't discard my normal life." Akeno's body immediately became stiff, imagining the worse in her mind. The girl became a little confused when she saw Issei stand up and raised his hand and accept her hand, all the while giving her a soft smile. "But I accept your offer. So please teach me everything you know about protecting myself and those around me, Akeno-san."

Akeno looked at him as if he had grown two heads. How was she supposed to respond to this kind of answer? And why is Issei suddenly facing away from her while his eyes are staring at her?

"Ah… erm… I… errr…"

"Besides, I may or may not think that this gauntlet can help me to fulfill my hero dream."

When Akeno heard him saying it, she couldn't help but to giggle and then laugh out loud.

"I'm... I'm sorry. It's just that this answer is something that is so… you! Ahahaha."

Issei sigh while looking away from the girl -who is trying hard to calm down.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?"

Turns out his friend hadn't quite completely figured out on how to help him aside from daily physical training. Though consider he just recovered from the attack, Akeno recommended that he should take a day rest before they start (and for her to get a complete idea on how to train him with his Sacred Gear).

Currently, Issei is walking back home after the whole info dump on him. In his honest opinion, he still feels overwhelmed by just the sheer scale of what he had got himself into.

Sacred Gear, all mythological creature being real, The Great War… it's all felt so surreal.

Issei made a long sighed. He really needs to clear his head once he gets back him, today is exhausting and he needs to process this longer.

Issei continues to walk for a while until he finally got home, where once he entered and announced he came home, his mother seemed to zip from the living room to the entrance and hugged him.

"Mom… I only fainted for a night only, no need to get panic this badly."

"No need to panic this badly?! Ise, you did not even answer any of my calls! I was worried you know!"

Now, this is not the only time that Issei's mother has panic because of him. Many times, when he got into a fight with bullies, his mother would panic and would go to the school (at least when he was young).

Nowadays he tried not to be that reckless and charges in when there are people trying to do bad things to his friend (especially Akeno).

Issei looked down and apologized to his mother for making the Hyoudou parents worried. While she forgives him, Issei can tell that she still could not stop worrying and (maybe) was tired of all the trouble he had caused her.

"I need to seriously slow down with my frequencies on fighting bullies." Issei thought. Never mind the fact that Akeno reacted the same way as his mother all the time.

"Mom, I'll go ahead and get some rest for tomorrow." He shouted from the stairs to his mother. He couldn't see his mother, but he was sure that she nodded before she replied to him. "Alright. I'll call you when the dinners are ready."

Issei nodded and continues his way to his own room. Hoping that he could clear his head and get some rest before the dinner is ready.

"Now that I think about it," Issei thought. "Akeno did say she will help train us. I wonder what she got in mind."

Issei immediately felt chill down his spine. Know the well-endowed friend of his, it will probably involve some form of body breaking exercises (they are dealing with supernatural beings after all).

Hopefully, it won't make him fall flat on his face.

"Hmm… yeah, that should work."

Akeno had been spending some time writing and drawing diagrams in a small notebook after Issei left (and finishing her daily task first of course).

Figuring out on what she can help with Issei is easy on the surface, but as she continues to brainstorm and thinking some theories, she found herself getting more and more curious as to the limits of Boosted Gear. The sky is the limit after all.

Akeno looked up from the book and stare at the clock on the table, realizing that it's late at night right now. Then again, living in the supernatural world will make you used to stay up late due to the denizens being more active during the night.

A few knocks were heard from the door. Akeno walked up to the door and opened the door.

Behind the door is an unearthly beautiful girl with an hourglass figure rivaling Akeno's. She has a pair of aquatic blue eyes and fair white skin. The most striking feature about her is her long crimson hair that reaches down to her tights with an ahoge and has loose bangs covering her forehead -and side bangs on both sides of her face. She is currently wearing a pink flower-patterned pajama hung loosely on her body.

"Rias-senpai," Akeno addressed the girl's name when she saw her on the door. "Why are you outside of my room? Come in."

Rias nodded and muttered a "thank you" to her junior. Akeno allows her to walk into her room and she closed the door before she sat on her bed beside Rias.

"So senpai, what is it that you need me for?" Akeno asked. She doesn't know why Rias wished to see her. As far as she knows, there were no jobs that require her currently and she seems not to be in the mood to vent on Akeno.

Rias stayed silent for a few seconds, collecting her thoughts; then she spoke up once she knew what to say. "Well… I'll just be honest with you, I felt an anti-teleportation barrier yesterday near the dorm, a rather weak at that."

"Naturally, I flew back from school and try and figure out why it was there." The crimson-haired girl continued. "So, imagine my surprise that the barrier was broken when I reached the scene and there were only traces of teleportation magic being used."

"The teleportation magic was pretty familiar." She turned her head and stared at Akeno. "You were in the scene, were you Akeno?"

Akeno stared back at her senpai when she made her statement and nodded. There is no reason to lie to Rias, she could tell that it was a lie fast.

"Yes, I was there. Someone summoned me when he was near-death, and I had to save him, but I wasn't the one who broke the barrier. I teleported right beside him." Akeno admitted.

Rias was astonished when Akeno said she did not break the barrier. It was weak and she was there, so why?

As if the girl was able to listen to her thought, Akeno continued and answered the question in her mind. "As far as who broke the barrier… I'm not sure. Also, I wasn't able to feel the barrier from here and I'm not sure how."

"Stealth implementation, perhaps?" Rias replied to her. The redhead then frowned place her thumb and index finger under her chin. "But why would they try and place a stealth implementation on a weak barrier?"

In the end, both girls were not able to figure out what really happened before Akeno was summoned by Issei. Rias then bid Akeno good night and exited her room since she had done what she sought out to do for the night.

Deciding that it was time to hit the hay, Akeno laid down on her bed and closed her eyes while hugging the Patamon plushie. However, the question as to how the barrier existed still lingers in her mind. And most importantly…

Who broke it?

"Damn that fucking brat."

Freed is not having a good day. First, he got his ass kicked back by that brat (at least he is six- feet under now), then he couldn't fucking go out because of the bitch of a boss he got.

Yeah, he bloody fucking get it, he needs to rest and recover from his own wounds, but at the very least let him go out and fuck and kill some babes! Not sitting on a church bench while waiting for his wound to close and do absolutely jack shit.

"So… you said he had a Sacred Gear before he dies."

Freed turned his head to the left and saw one of the boss' subordinate. He a middle-aged-looking man with short black hair and dark blue eyes. The man also wears a pale gray trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora.

"Yeah, that dead fucker had one. Why the fuck do you ask?"

The man glared at Freed, but the albino doesn't care. "I would have killed you right here, right now, but Raynare still needs you for some task."

Freed ignored the death threat. After all, who the fuck cares for a death threat when he can just kill them better than they do.

Still though, where the hell did his boss gone to? He hadn't seen her since he came from his job of killing an exorcist and that fucking brat who was there unintentionally.

Freed turned his head when the front door of the abandoned church was opened and saw his boss walking in with a cloak on -and the hood covering her face- before she closed the door.

"So, what took you so fucking long to come back, woman?" Freed asked.

"I would like to answer that question with a question," she said coldly before she sneered at him. "Why don't you fuck off?"

Freed raised his hand and gave her a fake surprised face. "Woah there, what got you so cranky there? Didn't fuck a man for months or something? You need me for this whole 'ascension' operation, right?"

"Silence." She replied without missing a beat. The woman then walked pass Freed and stopped in front of the altar.

"By the way, we have a new collaborator for our operation." The woman said.

The man with the fedora raised his eyebrow when he heard it. "A new collaborator? Mind if I ask who it is?"

Even though both men could not see her face, they could tell she was smirking as she pulled out a strange belt with a red gem and it's left half missing.

"Well, they never give me the name." She said and put the belt. Then she took out a knuckle with her left hand before she turned around. She pulls down the hood and revealed to be an extremely beautiful raven-haired woman with violet eyes.

"But they did give me a… gift for our collaboration." She continued and then press her right palm on the knuckle. The knuckle then made a mechanical sound before a word was announced from the knuckle.

"RE-A-DY."