Author's Note
TheAnimeSage: Hello my dear readers, it's been quite some time since my last chapter. Life happened and 2016 has generally been quite an awful year so far but life goes on.
Raskator: I'm afraid if I do another cliffhanger, you might explode from being so pumped.
pochonwes: Bless you, so nice to have someone think about my story. If you want a good story check out Silent Songbird's stuff.
Wizardmon0073: To be honest, I don't think I'm going to incorporate the big harem list I posted a while ago. I'm not going to force something like that instead, I will write the story as it goes on and see the romance develop naturally.
Red Satoshi ketchum: Sorry this story won't have any characters crossing into it and I'm not that experienced of a writer to juggle so many characters.
Verno Rayan: 'Kept you waiting, huh?'
Fenrir44: Things aren't set in stone. Maybe they'll be there, maybe they won't.
Pokemon Trainer Tom: There will be references, I'm hoping for people to spot them. Ravel, I'm not sure yet until I fully explore her backstory in my mind. On harems, yeah I get what you mean and I'm trying to fight hard against what I want and what's best for this story.
Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: Thank you for your kind words, and it really does warm my heart when you say that I am an original writer. Sturgeon's Law has not applied to this story. Yay! When I write the characters in this story, I often depict them or represent them in a way that is realistically possible but some of the moments I put in are for the comedic purposes. I really liked Aika and was quite saddened on not seeing her fleshed out as her own person in many other fanfics so I decided 'I can make her awesome.' As for Issei, I wrote him so that he is you know, an actual person and not just a typical manga hero and he says and does things with purpose. He chooses his words carefully so that on the surface, it may seem like one thing but keep in mind that he didn't bow down to Rias instantly.
Beyond Infinite Dreams
Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD.
Issei blinked his eyes open, light permeating through the low light windows, and groaned at the throbbing pain that he was feeling in his chest. His vision was still hazy but his other senses were still sharp and he could feel someone else was in the room with him. He tried to sit up from his bed but a hand held him down.
"No, rest now." He nodded, the aching was too much now and his head fell back on the soft pillow. His sight turned to gaze at the man and he found his eyes to be the most astonishing feature about him. One cerulean and the other blood ruby, shining with wisdom, he sported a five o'clock shadow. "You are the foolish young man I've had the pleasure of meeting." The man walked about the room, bringing in a tray filled with bottles and cups. The man held up a bottle and the little pieces of metal clinked against the glass.
"Nothing held back and fighting with your life on the line. You were barely breathing when I found you. I found all these bits of shrapnel lodged in your body."
Issei remained silent and he looked up at the man with a blank expression, hiding away his emotions. "You should have left me there to die."
"Now why would I do that? You haven't done anything to make me leave you." He shuffled around on the wooden chair and the heavy cloak followed him.
"But I haven't done anything to make you save me either."
"True, I guess it was my decision to make and I chose to save you." He didn't do anything but remained silent and the elder man clicked his teeth distastefully as he inspected the bloodied bandages.
"It will take you a few weeks to recover."
"Then, it will take a week then." Issei said in assurance, no arrogance in his voice but a statement of fact.
"Don't be so sure about yourself, I will get you some new bandages. Don't move from the bed, you're still recovering." The man left the room, the wooden door clicked behind him and Issei turned his mind inward.
The emptiness of his mind greeted him, a swirling vortex of emotions that bathed him in a kaleidoscope of colours and he stood on an island, a chunk of earth that existed in this world and he looked up to see similar islands floating in the world but there was someone missing in this world.
"Ddraig!" When he didn't see the massive dragon call to him, he felt a cold sensation seep into him. "Ddraig!"
He frantically flew up to search each island, only to find nothing but the silence greeting him. He was about to leave when he saw a new island floating lower than any others.
When he touched down, the ground was barren, no life was present save for the dragon resting in front of a massive gate.
"Ddraig!" He cried happily and ran forward to hug his snout but when the dragon did not respond, he shook him harder.
"Ddraig, wake up." His happiness turned to worry when his companion did not stir and deep down in the pit of his soul, he knew that he was the cause for Ddraig's state.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He cried despondently and he turned to see the massive gate had several chains over it with a massive lock.
Chapter 4: On The Precipice
Tamamo stood by the doorway, her eyes narrowed at the exhausted form of Issei and her eyes moved to the fallen angel who had taken to analyse the curious boy before her and she was dressed in a sweater and pants after convincing her that wearing a dominatrix outfit must have chafed and much to Raynare's chagrin had to admit that she was right. He began to cough and hack but Tamamo's hand was on his chest, soothing him and she wiped a trail of blood from his lips.
"What the hell happened to him?" She noted that his uniform was battered, the cuffs had stains of blood and his red shirt did a good job in hiding the fact that there was a lot of blood on him.
"He did another idiotic thing that almost got him killed." She frowned, her eyes crinkling in thought.
"Disappointed that he didn't die?" She harrumphed, turning her head away, choosing not to dignify that with a response.
"So what's going to happen to that girl you brought?" Tamamo pursed her lips at the other girl, who was slumbering peacefully in the other room.
"That remains to be seen." The cold stare made Raynare uncomfortable and she shifted uneasily on the spot, fiddling with the hem of her sweater. Raynare tried to keep her eyes up but Tamamo's golden ones were far from warm and the awkward silence continued until Issei groaned awake.
"Why do I feel like crap?" He had to clutch his head in pain, getting smacked by an angry fox spirit was not a pleasant experience.
"Because you were being you, stupid." She wasn't smiling and he could see the frustration and the sadness.
"Sorry, Tamamo-chan." He sighed wearily, resting his back against the couch and eyed Raynare.
"What are you doing up so late?" Raynare held a deadpan expression and gestured to the entire apartment.
"Uh hello, trapped in your apartment. Nothing else to entertain me besides the mess that showed up while I was in the middle of watching television." Raynare said quite snidely.
"Well, sorry that your fedora-wearing buddy jumped me in the middle of the street. I'll tell him next time not to bother me, okay?" Raynare stared at him, shocked for a moment.
"What happened?"
"He tried to kill me, I kicked his ass and Murayama got a hole in her stomach. Patched her up as best I could and with Tamamo, we brought her back." He listed off, before getting off unsteadily from the couch and making his way to the kitchen.
"Doesn't explain why you showed up half-dead."
"It was a me thing." Raynare couldn't resist the twitch in her brow at the vague answer. She didn't know what to think of him, one second he was apathetic, the next he was sincere and now he was being vague. All of it was very frustrating to her.
"Anyway, since you have nothing to do here, I'm going to be training you later with Aika and if she accepts Murayama as well." He was still for a moment before perking up and gestured for Tamamo to check up on Murayama.
"Tell me about yourself, Raynare. Why are you a Fallen Angel?" Issei rifled through the cabinents and shrugged before showing a cup of ramen. "You hungry?"
"No. Why do you care? It's not like it matters." She mumbled, pulling her legs up on the seat.
"If you're going to be staying with me, why not get to know each other after all?" She sighed, resigning herself before she began to tell her tale.
"I was born during the tail-end of the War, I was old enough to actually witness God." She laughed hollowly to herself. "Then it ended, it all came to a stop, God and the Satans wiped each other off the map, the Fallen Angels were low in number and the cease-fire was created. I was trained as an assassin to eliminate targets that would be an obstacle to our cause." Issei sat down on the opposite chair, a steaming cup of ramen in hand as he listened to her.
"But really my existence if I was born earlier, based on a singular purpose, to serve a creator who made me to love and serve him. Isn't that selfish?"
"Well, look at us humans. We're born into the world fumbling for meaning and purpose in life, that's why we got free will."
"Lucky you then. You got free-will and we got eternal servitude to God." She bit out angrily.
"No, I think we got the short end of the stick. The problem with us is that we're shouting and screaming for answers for our meaning in life. We're asking someone else to validate our own existence." He slurped the noodles from the cup and she stared at him for some time.
"Being created for one particular purpose is a shitty experience too." She rebutted, Raynare honestly didn't know why she was getting into such a deep conversation with him.
"It's funny then how the human race has the opposite problem."
"Because you were created to be the pawns of every other higher being." She was startled at his laughter and she was trying to wrack her brain on why he would laugh at such a thing.
"That could be an answer but it's because we're left with a terrifyingly abundance of freedom." She blinked in confusion at his words. He slurped the rest of the soup and tossed the plastic cup away.
"What do you mean by a terrifyingly abundance of freedom?"
"Say that there is someone who doesn't believe in God, the government or an organisation. He is a lone man without any purpose in life, and with no guidelines to measure his actions against. He's forced to make up a moral code to live by. Now apply that to every human, and we have to figure out for ourselves how to live."
"That doesn't sound so bad." He snorted in amusement and shook his head.
"You don't understand though, what if that man decides that it's okay for him to slaughter a continent of people because it suited his moral code or if he becomes the world's greatest doctor and saves millions of lives because it fit what he thought was right. That is the terrifying potential on what we are free to do."
"Oh." What could she say to that? She had a straightforward idea on what it meant to have free-will but now here he was laying it out for her. He leaned and bore his eyes into her, judging her.
"And how about you? Whenever you went on a mission and followed someone's order to assassinate someone, did you question whether or not it was right, that it fit your moral code or did you blindly follow them believing that it was?"
"Stop it." She stiffened and balled her hands, she was shaking in anger. How dare he?! How dare he question her on morality!
"How many lives have you taken and really thought about it? Was it your choice or did you justify yourself thinking that you were doing this for a greater cause?" Those eyes, she hated how it had looked into her and scrutinised her.
"Shut up!" She glared, her anger burning in her eyes as she stood up. "What gives you the right to say such things? Do you think yourself so superior to me? You don't even know what I've been through and what things I had to do and here you are, all high and mighty, sitting there and spilling all this crap about me."
Issei waited patiently for Raynare to calm down and he kept his gaze level with her never leaving her eyes. "Raynare, out of all the people in this apartment, I could relate to you the most because I was once like you."
Raynare froze at his admission and he rose to his full height, standing in front of her. "I've done things that…calling it sinful would be putting it mildly but an old man taught me the value of our actions and I spent many nights reflecting on mine."
Issei brushed past her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and she flinched at his touch. "The point I'm trying to make is that take the time to stop and think about yourself and I mean truly think about what you've done and what you will do in the future."
Raynare's eyes closed as a memory, something that she had buried so long ago and it tore her apart, as tears streaked down her face and she collapsed to the floor.
'I'm so sorry, mama.'
Murayama couldn't believe the words coming from Issei's mouth when he explained everything about the fight from last night. Fallen Angels? Devils? None of it made sense but the proof was there when the school nurse had revealed herself to be the freakin' Tamamo no Mae and was blown away at the fact. When Aika had come over for breakfast with Issei and nonchalantly revealed that she was actually a half-vampire/half-succubus, she was left with one thought.
'That explains so much.'
So here she was, walking with Issei and Aika, a thousand-yard stare on her face and she snapped out of it when they walked past the school gate.
"Oi we're here. Look, just… meet me after school and I'll… work something out so you don't have to worry about anyone else killing you." She nodded dumbly and took a step forward before being dragged away by an exuberant Katase who was whispering at a fast pace and asking questions on why she was walking with Issei.
Issei watched as Murayama got dragged to her group of friends who were gesturing wildly in his direction and he scratched his head, puzzled at their behaviour. He wasn't that bad, was he?
He was blindsided by Matsuda and Motohama who dragged him away and they turned to Aika. "Excuse for a moment, we just need to have a quick chat with a friend."
"How the hell did you get the freaking Captain of the Kendo Club to walk with you?" Matsuda cried indignantly.
"What did you do? Did you bribe her? Hypnotise her? Blackmail her?" Motohama joined in on the interrogation but Issei already irritated shrugged off the questions.
"What the hell's gotten into the both of you? I met her on the way to school and we got to talking, what's the big deal?" They both spluttered in exasperation.
"Big deal? Dude, do you know how much this could mean to us, we'd get access to peep at girls whenever we want if you're laying the foundations for a good...relationship."
"What do you mean relationship?"
"Don't think we didn't miss the glazed over look in her eyes." He had to groan at that misunderstanding and the urge to slap them was taking remarkable restraint on his part. "Look, I'm not helping you spy on girls just so you can look at some boobs."
"But they are glorious breasts, big, round and perky with amazing nipples that I want to stuff my face in them." Motohama yelled proudly, a couple of girls walked by looking at them with loathing.
"Ew, it's those guys. Talking about it so openly."
"Shameful!"
"So awful."
"Erm, I mean can you teach us how to get a girlfriend?" Issei sighed at the hopelessness of these two.
"Just tone it down with the perversions…-"
"Appreciation." Matsuda interjected before being stopped by the blank stare from Issei. "Continue."
"And treat girls with the respect that they deserve. If you actually get to point when you go on an actual date, be nice, be yourself but not 'yourself'. Do you get what I mean?" They nodded, accepting the answer.
"Thank you so much, Issei!"
"Surely, your words of wisdom will help us in our dream to attain a harem!" Issei tried to hide himself from the numerous glares being sent his way. He chopped their heads when they continued their overzealous worshipping.
"What did I say before about shouting your dreams?"
"Not to." They murmured before giggling madly to themselves. Matsuda pulled out a DVD with the case showing various girls in erotic positions and various states of undress "Ah, well I just got the newly released Tropical Kiss, and I'm so excited to watch this. Say Issei, do you want to join us?"
"No, no you guys can help yourselves, I've got some business to take care of after school." He walked back to Aika who was waiting for him.
"What did they want to talk about?" Aika asked with a raised brow and Issei stopped her with a raised hand.
"Let's not go there." He spotted Rias on the second floor who was peering down at him and he reciprocated with a two-fingered salute.
"So where are we going?" Issei asked with a yawn, Aika and Murayama were trailing behind him. Issei had been invited personally by Rias to deal with a stray devil as well as making amends for manipulating him the way that she did, and to show how the Evil Pieces worked. He had accepted her invitation but not without adding that Aika and Murayama tag along as well. Rias had asked why Murayama and he had sarcastically responded that the threat of the rogue Fallen had revealed the Supernatural world to her, to which she mentally kicked herself for failing in her duty to protect her territory.
The group were standing before a dilapidated building, one where you would suspect that it would make a great filming location for a cheesy horror movie or a hideout for kids to play their made up games but this place oozed a sense of dread that put off many who walked by. However to Rias, it was sign that they were in the right place. She turned to the confused girls to explain for their benefit, "We received an order from the Arch Duke that the stray devil Viser was in this area and as I'm the devil charged with this territory, it is my job to track down and eliminate it."
Noticing that disinterested look from Issei, she further explained, "This will give me the opportunity to show you the traits that my servants have."
"Hmm, this will be an educational experience then."
"Quite." This raised more questions and Rias took this time to clarify herself. "To explain why my servants have traits, I must explain the history of my kind."
"There was a conflict, a war between three factions, the devils, the fallen angels and the angels. All three were led by the Four Satans, The Governor General and God respectively, where they fought for eons and each side were evenly matched with each other. However, while they were all evenly matched, they had lost most of their troops and the war ended centuries ago with no one winning."
Akeno continued after her the red-haired president.
"Now, the devils are no exceptions to this and most of the troops fell in battle. Some of the 72 pillars have been wiped to extinction due to this war and that is why we can no longer form any new armies and have turned to an alternate method." She held a serene smile. "Even though a ceasefire has been issued, there have been tension between the three factions and a system was devised to replenish our numbers."
Rias held her hand up and a bishop chess piece, floated above her palm. "This is the Evil Piece system. High-ranking devils are gifted with their evil pieces and it allows us to reincarnate any being to become a devil. It was modeled after the human game of 'chess' and we have come to use those traits for our devil servants. The master of the peerage is given the rank of 'King', which is me. Now, as you know there are different pieces such as the Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight and Pawn with all their unique traits. Although, we can't make an army, a small group of devils with a massive boost in power compensates for that number. This system was created in the past and has become popular amongst devils with their peerages as a way of settling conflict and a form of entertainment."
"Popular how?"
"Well, everyone started to compete against each other. Some would compare the strength of their pieces, saying 'My Bishop is stronger!' or 'My Pawn can take down your knight!' High-class devils would start to play a game like chess using our servants which we called the 'Rating Game'. As its popularity continue to grow, it has become a competitive sport with tournaments. I think that's enough for now."
The group nodded dumbly at the exposition, before she strode forward past the threshold. A heavy atmosphere flooded the room. Murayama almost dropped down to her knees at the killing intent being directed to her that was stopped as Issei shielded her from the presence.
"Now what could that smell be? I can smell something disgusting. But I can also smell something delicious? Is it sweet or bitter?"
Emerging from the shadows was a woman with her top half naked, but the bottom half was grotesque which could only be described as a monstrous centaur with claws and teeth.
"It's here."
"Thank you, Koneko." Issei said dryly as she pointed out the giant monster that was literally standing in the middle of the room.
"Stray devil, Viser. You have abandoned your master, and have let your powers run rampant. You will face judgement for your sins. In the name of the Gremory, I will destroy you."
The woman smirked at her with a half-lidded gaze. "What an impudent little brat you are. Shall I dye all of you in bright red, like that hair of yours?"
She began fondling her breasts, laughing manically as Murayama stood there in disgust while Aika shifted over to Issei and covered his eyes with her hand.
"Are you sure... this is a stray devil and not a weird exhibitionist?" Issei commented and slapped her hand away, the magical circles that appeared around the stray devil's nipples shot a yellow beam towards them. Everyone dodged from the attack except for Issei who just leaned down.
"Hey, 500 yen." He surveyed the wall behind him which was slowly trickling down with acid.
"Do succubi have ac-"
"No." She said definitively and he pouted before shuffling over to where Rias was, backflipping from another glob.
"Watch closely. Yuuto." Yuuto's hand hovered over his sword before disappearing before them.
"Wow, he's fast." Murayama gushed in awe.
"Yuuto's position is that of a knight, meaning that he's speciality is speed." He was under the monster and with two swipes, the arms fell off with a heavy thunk and Viser screeched in agony as blood sprayed from her stumps. Koneko, the white-haired girl that reminded Issei of a cat, stepped forward. Viser transformed once more, her beautiful appearance shifted, her teeth growing longer and the slit in the middle of her legs grew massive jaws that enveloped Koneko in one bite.
"That is one monster vagina." Issei's comment earned him a whack from Aika.
The jaws were slowly being pried open by the diminutive girl although her uniform was in tattered exposing her bra and panties.
"Koneko is my rook, her speciality is strength." The little girl's fist slammed into Viser's torso, and she flew back with tremendous force shattering a pillar.
"Akeno." The vice-president stalked forward towards the grounded devil, with a tranquil smile. "Ara ara, whatever should I do with you, I wonder?"
Something in Akeno's tone sent alarm bells ringing in Issei's head as he narrowed his eyes at her deceptively sweet voice before seeing the clawed arm move from the rubble. He watched as it flew towards Rias, its sharp nails ready to tear out her delicate throat. He swiped it from the air and used it to scratch at a particular itch on his back.
"Ahh that's so much better." He sighed in bliss and Rias stared in bewilderment before casually tossing the hand behind him, bursting into a ball of fire.
"Those who try to lay a hand on my president...will be punished!" Lightning arced between Akeno's fingertips.
"Akeno is my queen, she has all the traits of my pieces but her speciality is magic."
"Oh my you still look alive. I'll have to fix that, won't I?" A beam of lightning struck her, electrocuting the stray devil who screamed in agony.
"Also she's the ultimate sadist." The fact that she said this with a smile as Akeno continued to light up the enemy like a christmas tree. "That will do, Akeno."
Akeno seemed sullen that she couldn't get to continue to 'play' with her new toy and cupping her cheek but the sadistic smile was still there and she acquiesced to Rias' order.
Rias walked towards the charred and blackened body of Viser who moaned pitifully.
"Any last words, Viser?"
"Kill me." She said simply, wanting the pain to end.
"Very well." A ball of red energy coalesced in her hand hovering over her palm before it flew forward, enveloping Viser.
Everyone watched as the woman disintegrated before their very eyes, the only evidence that she was alive at some point were the splatters of blood on the floor.
"That concludes the demonstration of our roles here."
Murayama's thoughts on how she so casually wiped the monster from existence shocked her to the core. She had some preconceived notions that devils would take your soul in a contract but here she was finding out that they protected the town from supernatural beings even people from their own race.
Issei swept his eyes over to Rias and her peerage who looked at him with expectant gazes and he struggled to find the words to conclude his thoughts. "It was…interesting."
Rias caught on to the fact that he wasn't entirely telling the truth but let him be as pursuing that line of questioning was exhausting so she nodded, accepting his answer.
"I guess we'll bid you adieu." He waved before handing her a blank tile piece.
"What's this?"
"It will be important in the future, but hold onto that for now." Rias held the tile up to her eye and turned to find that Issei and his friends were gone. She put a hand to her temple to stave the headache that was Issei and figured that she would deal with it tomorrow.
Whistling as he hopped down the stairs to the basement of the apartment complex, he found Raynare, Aika and Murayama were waiting for him. Raynare looked at the dusty basement in disgust before she sniffed irritably. Aika seemed to have found her amusement by mercilessly teasing Murayama evident by her reddening face.
"Aika, stop teasing Murayama, I'm pretty sure all the blood rushing to her head isn't healthy for her." Aika still held the cheeky grin and directed her perverted leer towards me. "No, Aika. Bad."
"Aww, you're always ruining my fun."
"I'm doing my job to protect Earth from the evil forces of Aika." She stuck her tongue out in a childish rebuttal while Issei rolled his eyes before pulling out a key from his pocket. He jabbed it into the air before an oak door appeared in front of them, the silver key nestled in the lock and Issei turned.
Opening the door, they were greeted to the sight of a desolate, brown, craggy land that was dotted with dead trees and on the far side, they could see a big lake with a tiny island in the centre. Raynare quickly stripped off her uniform and transformed into her true form a.k.a the BDSM clothing while Aika had taken to wearing a black sports bra and some shorts. Murayama was hesitant in changing but Issei pointedly turned away while he handed her the training clothes. She muttered a quick thank and her respect grew for him when he didn't turn around only steadfastly staring at the wall.
It was amazing that Issei's composure didn't break when Aika tried to distract him with her warm-up stretches. He knew that puberty was hitting Aika quite nicely by her still developing bust and her shapely rear. Damn, she was good but he didn't let her know that because this was an ongoing game for the last year and he didn't want to lose at this point.
"Alright, I'm going to be training you three to be the very best at kicking ass, but first," He clapped his hands together, getting their attention. "By the end of this month, you will be stronger, faster...deadlier. But first things first, what the hell are you wearing?"
"It's my combat outfit." She said, to see him raise an eyebrow at her 'combat outfit'.
"Yeah, if the combat zone was the dungeon and the enemy was strapped with his arms and legs to the bed. Then I could definitely see you defeating someone in that."
"Hey! This outfit works, it distracts the guys while I shove my spear into their chest."
"Doesn't really do much if your opponent is better than you and could capture you, by then you already dressed yourself for the part of what he's going to do to you." Raynare scowled fiercely at his verbal assault but when she saw something in his eyes. A pain as he said those words and she decided not to be brash in her actions this time so she grunted her acceptance. A runic circle flared to life before some shorts and a shirt fell into Issei's hand, tossing it to Raynare who grumbled changing into it.
"One more thing," He tossed her a blank shogi piece and she caught it, looking at him in confusion. "What is it?"
"If I'm going to train you, then you need to have that at all times." She shrugged before stuffing it into her pocket. He tossed another piece to Murayama who accepted it as well.
"Anyway, I will be having my lovely assistant help me today." Tamamo appeared wearing her traditional outfit and was smiling rather eerily at Aika.
"What kind of training are we going to be doing?" Aika said uneasily as a fireball appeared in front of Tamamo.
"Evasive training." He picked up a few rocks from the ground, lightly tossing them up in the air before Raynare took to the air hoping that it would give her an advantage before she was pelted by rocks.
"Stay on the earth, learn how to dodge on steady ground first." She clicked her teeth in irritation, landing on the ground before a rock struck her shoulder.
"I didn't say stop dodging." She cursed inwardly, when she had to twist her body from a hail of rocks from Issei, who she could sworn had a grin on his face.
Murayama, however, had an easier time going at it as she had been trained to dodge attacks from close-range but a few rocks struck her and she was reminded that even though she was good, she was going to have to be better if she didn't want to be hit.
"Ehm, Tamamo-san I didn't mean to grope you last night, we're good right?" Aika said nervously, sweat dripping down her brow.
"Oh silly Aika, we're good when I say we're good." A dozen fireballs burst into existence around her as one thought ran through Aika's mind.
"Help!" She mentally screamed.
Issei looked down at the panting girls on the floor. He situated himself on a boulder and let out a breath, feeling that the last few hours of training was cathartic in some way with Raynare screaming abuse at him while Aika pleaded with Tamamo to stop throwing fireballs and Murayama had questioned his sanity on using these insane methods. She was answered with a hail of rocks.
"Y-you s-sadistic ass." Raynare groaned, rubbing at the bruises as she tried to sit herself up to breathe easier and turned to meet her tormenter who was busy digging away at the inside of his ear.
"Sorry, couldn't hear that, did you say you want to continue training?" She paled instantly and shook her head.
"I think they did very well for their first day of training." Tamamo said airily bringing a tray of tea over to him. Issei pondered that he would have a lot of work to do if he were to train them to meet his standards but he was impressed with their potential.
Raynare while she was a low-level angel with only a pair of wings, she was learning quickly and adapting to her situation far better than he had expected though the bruises attested to her efforts and he was pleased that she was trying to improve herself.
"He threw rocks like they were javelins." Raynare complained to the girl next to her.
Aika, thanks to her vampire and succubus heritage, had shown remarkable speed being able to nimbly dodge, duck and weave out of the fireballs. Tamamo took this as a personal challenge and had conjured up several more fireballs launching them faster than before leaving Aika with more than a few singes.
Murayama was showing the aptitude to become a great swordsman, thinking fast on her sweet and her agility was nothing to scoff at. He had to give credit to the Captain of the Kendo Club, she took her training very seriously and Issei was glad to see the determination in her eyes.
"At least he didn't throw fireballs at you." Sometime during the training session,all of them had ended up running together and a strange camaraderie had formed between the three for their mutual loathing of Tamamo and Issei as they ran away from explosive fireballs and pieces of stones that left cracks on boulders.
"Alright, that was a good warm-up now we can start training." All of their eyes bugged out at what he said before he laughed uproariously falling from the boulder as he tried to stifle the laughter from his mouth but it was a futile effort. They all glowered darkly at him but that just fueled his howls as he rolled on the ground clutching his stomach.
"But it is time for us to stretch our legs, isn't it Tamamo-chan?" He grinned to her, standing up from his boulder.
"Are we planning to give them a demonstration or do you want us to go all out?" Her outfit disappeared replaced by a black catsuit with no sleeves and silver rings that covered her wrists and ankles.
"A bit of both." He said casually. A silver ring illuminated itself behind Tamamo and she exploded forward, cracking the ground underneath her. Her form was nothing more than a blur to the spectators but Issei could see her getting closer, a foot extended to cave in his chest. He bent his body backwards, watching as her leg sailed over his face.
She wasn't deterred with her miss and burst back into the fray with another kick to his side. Issei brought his forearm to block her and grabbing her outstretched leg, he proceeded to slam his fist down her face driving her to the ground. She caught herself and watched as his punch cracked the ground where her head would be and magic rune sprung up in the palm of her hand, a powerful gust swept Issei away from her and she brought her hands forward, the rings around her wrist glowed with power as several spears of ice formed in the air and moved forward to skewer Issei.
He batted each spear aside easily but he wasn't prepared for the earth to shoot up with jagged spikes and he had to roll out of the way if he didn't want to be impaled. His hands flashed and a runic circle appeared in front of him, revealing a bow. He grasped it in hand, firing several volleys at her with his energy providing ammunition. She was calm however and a wall of ice, blocked the arrows.
He poured much of his energy into his last arrow and watched as he let it loose streaking forward and crashing into the ice, shattering it. Tamamo had her hands in front of her again but a massive runic array glowed ominously.
"Well, things are starting to get serious, aren't they?" Issei took in a deep breath, a film of energy surrounding his body. "Guess I got to be serious as well."
"Grand Incineration!" A beam of concentrated plasma shot forward, destroying boulders and carving a deep trench into the ground, melting it into slag as it came closer.
He stepped forward, pulling his fist back, the seal behind his glove glowing as he did so and launched it forward meeting the beam where it split into two but Tamamo instantly put up barrier after barrier in place.
The result of Issei's punch wasn't truly realised until they could hear the sound of glass shattering and they watched as Tamamo's last two barriers had sported cracks on them. She released the technique and panted a little.
"What."
"The."
Fuck." Each word was punctuated by the girls as they watched the spectacular battle take place in front of them and the awe-inspiring attacks each combatant did raise their respect for them.
'I never stood a chance against him.' Raynare thought as she watched Issei prepare himself for another round with Tamamo.
'Is it wrong to be kind?'
Asia Argento had pondered the question when she had left Europe, excommunicated from the church. She had been praised by them, they had called her 'The Holy Priestess' and she had thanked God for giving her the gift to help people, to heal the sick and the people in pain. Until one day, she had helped him, a devil, but she had smiled and used her power to heal him.
When they found out what she had done, all the praises turned to scorn. "A gift that can heal a devil is blasphemous!" They said. Her kindness, her compassion was rewarded with pain and betrayal and she was reminded of her existence. Something that she had tried to forget, but she had always known that was always alone.
'Is it wrong to feel joy and sorrow?'
She was far out of her comfort zone, where she had lived a life to devoting herself to serving God and healing the sick with her power but she had always wished what it was like to be the people she saw, who laughed and cried. To simply be like them instead of being 'The Holy Priestess' and a cynical thought entered her mind for a moment, 'Now I have all the time in the world to be normal.'
But her train of thought was interrupted, when she felt a droplet of rain splash on her face and she realised that the clouds had darkened, the grey cast over the sky as more droplets fell down from the sky. She stood there in the rain, her suitcase clutched tightly in one hand as she closed her eyes and simply lost herself in the cascade of water.
Her clothes were completely soaked at this point but she found that the rain was liberating, in a way. Many would say that the rain was quite sad, that it was reminder of the all the misfortune in your life but the rain was there for the people who needed the rain express their sorrows, even when their tears had dried up long ago or to mask the pain for when there were tears. She loved the rain though, the way that it poured down on her, drenched her, it was washing away her past, her faults and absolving her of her sins.
She noticed that her body had stopped being pelted by the rain and saw a hand holding an umbrella over her. She traced that hand to his arm and eventually to the face of the handsome brown-haired boy, who smiled warmly at her. He was dressed in a long coat and he kept his eyes to her and she wanted to look away but he was mesmerising.
"You're gonna catch a cold, if you stay out here like that." His voice hummed, in contentment as he stared out towards the emptiness, the never-ending rain. "But it is something to admire, you know, the rain."
She felt her heart beat faster, standing closely to this angel, the thunderous roar dulled to white noise as she focused on his words. "If we fall in the mud, the rain would be there to wash it away, purifying us, leaving us cleansed and whole again."
"The rain moves from drizzling to torrential, you think to yourself, that things will always be like this, that it will never get better, and it will only continue to get worse."
The pounding of her heart drowned out the rain and his eyes, so warm and full of compassion, stared deeply into her own and she felt her mood lift up, her sadness being washed away by his smile like the water down a storm drain.
"Even though the rain can be quite sombre to many, it's necessary for us to have these sad times because it makes the good times all the more precious." He unclasped the long coat and brought it over her shoulders.
"You know, it's not right for a girl like you to look so sad." She stammered shyly, trying to deny his words but she nodded instead.
"Thank you, I'm just going through a trial from God..." She trailed, embarrassed that she didn't ask for his name but he returned it with a soft smile on his lips.
"Oh, you're a sister of the cloth?" She shuffled nervously on the spot, not sure how to answer that she was excommunicated from the church as the topic was still too sore to mention in front of a stranger, albeit a handsome one. No, she had to keep impure thoughts out of her mind.
"I-is it alright if you help me find the church in this town?" She asked quietly and the warm smile was there again, making her heart beat and her face flush.
"As you wish." Asia never knew the moment she took his hand, her life would irrevocably change.
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