A/N: Harem: Yes- Kuroka (Main), Kunou, Yasaka, Akeno, Grayfia.
No- Rias, Sona, Gabriel, Asia.
Maybe- Serafall, Xenovia, Irina, Rossweisse.
Note- There is a time skip this chapter of 2 years.
Over the years that Issei had learned about what he is, He focused on building himself better, The 8 year old boy had focused on building his muscle mass specifically to help build his endurance towards his shadow form, He could last about 3 hours in it currently before being completely drained, He started to learn senjutsu as well, But he decided to hold off on it until later due to the fact it was too straining, He was going to start trying again later today after Erebus's training.
He is currently walking around outside trying to find a area with no people like Erebus told him to do, Soon he eventually found himself in the forest, He grinned to himself, Knowing the perfect place to train in here, He started walking off the trail and about 10 minutes later he came across a clearing about 20 feet wide, No one nearby at all, The perfect place to train.
"Erebus will this do?" Issei asked in his head.
[It's fine kid, Actually you can use this place to practice senjutsu when your ready, But first where gonna go over your shadow abilities and learn some new ones.] Erebus explained what they were doing.
"Ok then what do you want me to do?" Issei asked curiously.
[First go into your shadow form.] Erebus answered with a smirk.
As Issei tried he felt like he was missing something, He wasn't able to go into his form for some reason.
"I can't go into the form." Issei thought confused.
[Issei the last time you went into your form was at nighttime, So there was no sunlight, You had darkness all around that allowed you to be able to quickly go into the form, Since their is sunlight now, You need to be able to pull the shadows towards you like a magnet to be able to go into your form.] Erebus explained.
Issei thought about what he said for quite sometime and it made sense to him, No sunlight gave way for a easier transformation, While in sunlight he needed to be able to pull the shadows towards him, He wouldn't get the luxury of walking straight into a piece of shade just to transform in a battle, He needed to be able to do it on a split second decision.
He looked over to one of the trees and saw a patch of shade that he could use, He took a few steps to it, And stopped about 10 feet from it, He closed his eyes and focused on the single patch of shade that he saw, He imagined it coming towards him on its own.
If anyone was there to watch him, They would see that patch of shade start to morph and flex, Like it was changing shape, It soon looked like it was growing a limb like a tree branch, The limb started to reach for Issei as if it was drawn to him, Issei felt something which caused him to open his eyes, He stared at the patch of shade as it came closer to him, He continued to focus as he saw the limb climb up his feet and started to cover his whole body.
[Congrats kid, You successfully willed the shadows too you, This is important to remember, They respond to how strong your will power is, You must make them obey you not the other way around, Now that you've successfully drawn out the shadows, It's time to work on your abilities.] Erebus spoke.
"What do i do?" Issei asked.
[We'll start with Shadow's Edge, It was the technique you used to make a blade and launch an energy wave.] Erebus replied.
"Ok what do you want me to do?" Issei responded to him.
[First off, I get the feeling that you believe Shadow's Edge to be a type of technique that's good for one thing, When in reality its good for everything, It is the physical manifestation of any object you can imagine, Not just a sword, You can make anything your imagination can come up with, Just have enough focus and will the shadows to make it.] Erebus explained to Issei.
"Hmm, Anything i can imagine huh?" Issei pondered on this for a while before getting a idea.
Ever since he was a kid he always liked to watch supernatural movies, He remembered a sick scythe he saw from a grim reaper movie, He started to focus and imagined detailed in his head.
He held out his palm and willed the shadows to make it, Soon he heard a swishing sound as he saw the shadows start to swirl and rotate as they grew and formed the scythe.
The scythe he held in his hand, Looked like it was straight out of a horror movie, It was a sinister black with carvings all the way down the shaft of the scythe, The blade itself was creepy as well, It was super jagged as if someone took a grinder to it and fucked it up making it sharper and more deadlier than before, It was super lightweight allowing Issei to have a pretty fast swing, But there something that bothered him.
He remembered how he swung the sword and it emitted a wave of dark energy, The scythe didn't do that at all, Just slicing through the wind, After a few tries he got frustrated and slammed the blade into the ground, That's when the energy wave came.
But not the way the sword did it.
The moment the blade of the scythe embedded itself in the dirt, The area directly in front of it, Had a decent sized earthquake, About 6 feet across and 20 feet long, But that wasn't what shocked Issei, From the bottom of the earthquake seemed to unleash a massive amount of dark energy like a volcanic eruption.
He was astonished at the power of the scythe unleashed, He now understood why Erebus and Yasaka took it personally to train him, He had devastating power that could easily kill thousands of people, He thought that if this was powerful he knew when he was older it would be indescribable.
[Issei, I'm impressed with the amount of power you unleashed at such a young age, Truly astonishing, As you may have noticed the scythe had a different effect with your dark energy, That is because everything you make with Shadow's Edge is unique and will have different properties, Once you make it through it is stored like a database, So you can summon the weapon easier, That scythe though is naturally powerful, By just having it makes you feared, Due to the fact that a scythe is carried by the Grim Reapers, The harvesters of souls that work for Hades.] Erebus spoke.
"Ok then what now?" Issei asked after discarding the scythe.
He stared as it melted back into the pool of shadows under him.
[Its time for you to learn a new ability, Its called The Primordial Claws Of The Moon.] Erebus explained.
"Ok then how do i summon them?" Issei asked confused.
[First you need to revert out of Shadow's Embrace, Then you need to focus on partially making claws on both of your hands without going into Shadow's Embrace, If done correctly you will summon the claws of the moon, Think of werewolf claws to get a hand on it.] Erebus explained.
Issei thought about this for quite sometime, Thinking about what he saw in the movies he watched, He imagined razor sharp claws that can pierce metal, He focused some of the shadows around him on both of his hands, Forcing it to stay where it was, He started to form them, He had to resist the form taking it full form, He willed them to stay where they were, He soon felt alot of weight on his hands, He looked at both of his hands to see 5 extremely sharp claws about 7 inches long that were pure white on both of his hands, The shadows didn't go past his elbows.
The claws looked really sharp to him, He got a grin on his face as he dashed towards a tree near him and slashed a few times each with his hands, Taking several big chunks out of the tree he looked to see it fall down in front of him, He made it a stump.
[Congrats kid, I honestly didn't expect you to do this well today, These are the Primordial Claws Of The Moon, Extremely sharp and fast, Easily enough to be able to pierce steel.] Erebus spoke deeply impressed.
[That is enough for today, You've far exceeded my expectations for today, Go home and rest you've earned it Issei.] Erebus spoke before falling silent.
So Issei made his way out of the forest and back to his house after a day of training with his dragon.
{Scene Break} {Issei's House}
Issei awoke to the sunlight shining through his window, He groaned as he realized he had to go to Yasaka's shrine today, He got up out of his bed tiredly and went to take a shower like he did every morning.
After the shower he left early to get a head start on his training with Yasaka and to have sometime to play with Kunou.
Soon he was standing before the shrine doors, He entered and was greeted by a hyperactive Kunou, Who proceeded to jump up on him and hug him.
"Hi there Kunou." Issei said while trying to maintain his balance.
This statement only sparked a pout to come from her, He sighed to himself knowing he wouldn't win an argument with her, He decided to placate her as he intended to from the start.
"When will we play?" Kunou asked.
"In a little bit, I swear." Issei responded.
That's when Yasaka came into the conversation, Surprising both of the young kids with what she was going to say.
"You two kids go play, Issei today is a free day, I have some important matters to attend to." Yasaka spoke before walking off.
Kunou got a big grin as she got off of Issei and dragged him away to her room, Issei wasn't expecting this, But he wasn't complaining either, He actually liked that he was able to play with Kunou for today without training, It would be a day he would enjoy.
Soon the pair find themselves sitting in her room with the TV on, They hadn't really been able to actually play together since Issei first found out about the supernatural world, He was too busy, But now he could play with her, She was beyond happy, She was ecstatic like a child at Christmas
"Finally we get to play." Kunou screeched happily.
"I know its been a while since we've had free time to ourselves, Its nice just with us." Issei replied happily.
Kunou smiled and hugged him in which he returned.
"Why don't we go outside?" Issei asked.
"Sure ok!." Kunou beamed before hopping off the bed along with Issei.
They went out to the back of the shrine where their was a small playground, Where some other kids just happened to be playing, Probably the children of the shrine workers.
Issei didn't really mind sharing it, Neither did Kunou, They settled on playing tag with the other kids around, And soon everyone was running from Issei, Due to the fact that he was it, He didn't mind being the person who was chasing everyone, He thought of it as a way to build his stamina, Sorta of a way to train while playing, He laughed at that thought as he chased Kunou around the playground a few times before switching on to the other kids, This lasted on for about an hour or so before everyone went back inside and ate dinner.
Soon they both were pretty tired from a day of just them playing and being themselves like the kids they are, They eventually found themselves asleep holding onto each other in Kunou's bed, Away from the troubles of the world they lived in if it was just for a moment the two kids shared no worries of the what the future could hold.