Read my explanation at the end.
"...talking…"
'...Thinking…'
"..Host talking to Sacred gear only.."
[ Sacred gear spirit talking ]
[Sacred gear spirit talking to host only ]
I OWN NOTHING
"Kaichou, I want to join you."
Sona smiled brighter than she had in a very long time. She had just gained the Red Dragon Emperor as a member of her peerage. Her plans change the underworld for the better were now looking far better than before.
Chapter 6
The members of the Student Council stood across from Issei, Katase and Murayama. Sona had the 7 other pawn pieces sitting on the desk next to her, she knew Issei would need more than 1 piece, but the exact number was unknown. But before Sona would reincarnate him, some other parts of being a devil should be explained to Issei. Her hand traced over the pawn pieces as she looked back to the boy who would potentially become her only pawn.
"Issei, before I reincarnate you, I want to tell you what else goes into being a devil."
Sona lifted her right hand, and a piece of paper appeared in it through the brief glimmer of a magic circle. The paper had the Sitri family crest in the center, Sona held it out to Issei who took it and glanced over the symbols.
"Devils are ranked by a class system. When someone is first reincarnated as a devil, they are considered low-class, a servant devil to their king. The majority of devils are in this rank. The paper I handed you is a summoning seal, we use that to be summoned by humans to grant their desires for a fair price. This is one way that devils make their way into Middle-class. There is no difference between Low and Middle class, other than the acknowledgement of your strength and knowledge by devil society. Performance in rating games is among the ways to advance, as well as performance in a conflict like a war or battle of some kind outside of a rating game. The pacts with humans and rating games are the most efficient ways to go up in rank, since the cease-fire is still in effect." Sona said to Issei, watching him look over the summoning seal.
"From middle class you rank up to high class, the same methods are used to determine if someone is worthy of the title. When someone becomes a high-class devil, they are given a set of evil pieces to make a peerage of their own." Sona finished. Sona hadn't made Issei an official member of her peerage yet, but that didn't mean she wasn't thinking of ways to motivate him further, wanting to draw out his ambitions to become stronger. Sona and by extension, Rias, would need him to reach a level of strength that had never been attained in the amount of time they had left. And what better way to motivate someone who had been previously talked about making a harem, then to subtly give him step by step instructions of achieving just that.
Issei lifted his eyes from the paper, looking back to Sona.
"Kaichou, is this a point based system? A value placed on each commendation to know when I'd be able to go up a rank?"
Katase and Murayama, who were still standing directly behind Ise, listening closely to their talk. Sona hadn't paid them any attention, choosing to focus on Ise since he was the one she would be recruiting. They'd learned quite a bit more about devils today. The biggest piece of information being that, if Issei made his way up in the ranks, he could reincarnate people himself. As interesting as that was, the thought of Issei being in control over a group of people, probably all women was frightening. Issei could hardly manage himself.
"Unfortunately not. The ones that are determined to be eligible to take the test to progress to the higher rank, is overseen by a committee of elder devils." Sona replied to Issei.
'Well there goes ever getting a peerage of my own. Never been good with first impressions hehe.' Issei thought. The only positive first impressions he'd made, had been with Sona, that he could recall at least.
"I see. Is there anything else Kaichou?" He asked the violet eyed girl. Sona nodded her head and held up her right index finger.
"Yes, one more thing. In the next month or two, we'll need to get a familiar for you."
Issei's eyebrow rose in confusion. Issei had heard the term from videogames before, creatures mostly animal-like, that were in some sort of master-servant pact..Much like Issei would soon be to Sona.
"Familiar?" he asked.
Sona pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, and nodded.
"Yes. A creature that is contracted to you only, and will help you in any way you see fit. They come in a wide variety of forms, most can only communicate with their master, but some are capable of speech."
Issei thought about what kind of creatures he would have the chance to be contracted to. His thoughts slipped into wondering if there were any female humanoid familiars for….reasons. But now that Sona had said all she felt necessary at this time, she brought him back to reality.
"Now that's finished. Issei, are you ready to be reincarnated?" Sona said, trying to hide the excitement of having such a potential powerhouse being hers.
Issei looked around the room. Yura was still looking at Issei like he was a mystery. Tomoe had stopped being nervous about the Kendo girls being in the room, and gave Issei a bright smile with a thumbs up. Momo and Reya were both clearly excited that Issei would be joining their peerage. Tsubaki mirrored Sona's expression, which was that of a small smile.
"I'm ready." Issei said, coming back into eye contact with Sona.
-LineBreak-
Sona stood in front of Issei, with 6 of her pawns in her left hand, the other 2 were in her right hand held up to Issei's chest. The 2 pawns started to glow lightly, meaning Issei needed more than only 2 pieces. This didn't really surprise Sona all that much, the power of a heavenly dragon was bound to be costly, but it was a price she was willing to pay.
Sona had done this process a few more times, now seeing what reaction 6 pawns would receive, the glow was only a little brighter than before. Sona held her usual stoic expression, but some of her servants were getting nervous that he would require too many pieces. Momo bit her bottom lip, hoping to hear that he wouldn't require more than the 8 pieces given to each high-class devil. Reya was hiding the same emotion as Momo, she took to shifting her weight from side to side, trying to remain still.
Sona placed all 8 pieces onto Issei's chest, and felt them resonate in the familiar form they had for her with each previous time she used them. The pieces then started to glow much brighter than they had before, and began to move around by themselves, forming a circle on the center of his chest. The Sitri magic circle appeared inside the circle of pawn pieces, telling Sona that she only had to use the chant to complete the process.
Sona took a step back, holding both arms out to the side and started the chant to bring Issei into the world as a devil. She held her eyes closed as she focused on the magical process of binding the piece of herself in the pawns, to Issei's soul, marking him as her servant.
The rest in the room all waited with anticipation, seeing the final steps starting to take place.
"In the name of Sona Sitri, I call to you Issei Hyoudou, to reborn as my servant. You my pawn, flow with the tide of the underworld, and live under my command."
As Sona's command started, the evil pieces attached to Issei started to rotate around the magic circle counter-clockwise. And as she finished the chant, the pawns sank into Issei's chest, making his skin glow the same azure blue from underneath his clothes.
Sona opened her eyes and looked at Issei, seeing how the reincarnation went. When a human was reincarnated into a devil, there would be a surge of their demonic presence after the process took hold. She watched him as he looked at the way his skin was glowing.
When the pieces started rotating on his chest, the feeling of being immersed in water came over Issei. But that quickly changed as the pieces started to be absorbed into his body. The calm sensation of floating in water changed into being swept away by the undertow of the ocean. Issei's eyes shot all the open as he stumbled, nearly losing his balance, and falling face first onto the floor.
As the glow started fading, so did the feeling of being thrashed around by the strongest water current he'd ever experienced. Issei let out a sigh of relief as he started to feel normal again. He looked at his hands in front of his face, clenched and unclenched his fists, seeing if anything felt different.
He could feel the difference in the strength of his hands. Issei closed his eyes as his arms dropped back down. He remembered Momo saying that devils had really sensitive hearing, and judging by the sound of birds chirping and footsteps walking in the hall, that was true.
Issei took in a deep breath through his nose, and could smell and identify each of the perfumes the girls were using. The pleasant smells sent his mind back to his old ways, imagining them in bikinis, nurse outfits, naked aprons, and then finally just naked.
Issei scrunched his face and bit the inside of his cheek to bring his hormones under control, this wasn't the time for fantasies. Issei opened his eyes and looked at the group he'd just become a part of. And was met with a scene he hadn't been expecting.
All of the girls were staring at issei, like he had grown horns or something, their eyes were locked onto him. Momo, Reya, and surprisingly Sona were blushing. Sona seemed to be the only one trying to fight it, biting her lip hard enough for it to start bleeding.
Reya normally clear light brown eyes, now looked hazy as she stared at Issei like he were ripe for the taking.
Momo was squirming a little,her eyes shut, her legs tightly clamped against themselves, and the slightest sound of moans coming from the bubbly bishop.
Issei sent the girls a worried look, not understanding that it was the surge of energy that flooded the room that caused this reaction. Issei looked back towards Katase and Murayama. They weren't looking at him the same way the Student Council was. They had confused expressions, even they had been able to feel the change coming from Issei, but didn't know exactly what this sensation was.
"So this is the presence of a dragon...amazing!" Issei heard the voice of Tomoe for the first time.
Issei turned towards Sona's servants. Just as he made eye contact with Sona's knight, a different feeling than the one when the pawns entered him. A searing, burning pain that radiated throughout his entire body.
"UGH!" Issei grunted out, as he fell to his knees.
"Ise!" Murayama and Katase yelled out, trying to catch him before he fell down, but quickly retracted their hands as they touched his arms.
When their skin touched Ise's, it felt like his skin was on fire. Not just feverish, no, it was like they had touched the side of a pot of boiling water.
Sona snapped back into her analytical persona, looking at her new pawn on his hands and knees. Sona stepped towards Issei and knelt down beside him. Momo ran up to the group on the ground, kneeling down in front of Ise, and placing her hand on the side of his face. Her eyes widened in fear of the heat coming from him, she turned towards Sona, the volume of her voice almost screaming.
"Kaichou! He's burning up! He'll die if we don't cool him down!"
Sona knew how hot the inside of his body was right now, she could feel it too, only on a lower scale. The evil pieces didn't just give the servant a piece of their king, it also established a link between Master and servant. This connection was normally small, just enough to tell the emotions of the reincarnated devil, the king could almost read the minds of their servants if they practiced enough.
Sona was good at reading her peerage, and was able to tune out the connection normally. But she miscalculated what would happen if one person held 8 pieces in their body. The link had been there ever since the pieces formed the magic circle on Issei's chest, she felt the floating feeling. She felt it turn into a torrent of water trying to pull her under. And now, she felt like her blood vessels were filled with fire instead of blood. It was borderline excruciating. She couldn't imagine how it felt for Issei.
"I need him laying on his back." Sona said calmly, fighting off the burning sensation to try to help issei.
Both her and Momo covered their hands in a layer of water magic, so they could withstand the heat, and grabbed Issei by the shoulders. The water started to steam and evaporate just as soon as it came in contact with Issei, but they were able to flip him onto his back before the heat was unbearable.
Once Issei was on his back, his eyes were fluttering in pain, but still remained closed. He took a ragged breath before making a strained attempt to ease the worry he could feel coming from his newfound connection to Sona.
"I'll be..alright...Kaich-" Issei couldn't finish his statement, as he passed out from the pain he'd been feeling.
"What's wrong with Ise?! Why is he so hot?!" Katase asked Sona after she saw issei lose consciousness. Her and Murayama kneeling at Issei's feet.
Sona sat on her knees at her pawns head, looking at him, wondering just how to cool him down so that he would be out of harms way. The only way she could come up with at a moments notice was to cover him in magically enhanced water, but she'd need someone else who was adept with elemental magic.
Sona raised her hand to her right ear as she thought of who to call for help, and made a comm circle, and called the one who had a lot to lose if they couldn't save Issei.
The circle spun as the connection was being made, when it stopped, she heard idle chatter in the background. "Hello?" Came the voice of Rias Gremory from the other side.
Sona wasted no time in asking for the assistance of her Rival. The urgency of her request was clear as day by the tone of her voice.
"Rias! I need you and Akeno in my office immediately! We need to cool Issei off before his body fails!" Sona commanded, yet the concern was clear.
Sona heard all the talking on the other end stop, her voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone in her clubroom. Some shuffling was heard through the circle before Rias replied and then ended the call.
"We're on our way. Hold out until we get there." Was she said as she ended the comm circle.
Sona summoned the purest and coldest water she could muster, which wasn't even a quarter of the amount she needed. She covered Issei's neck and the inside of his thighs with the water, having it act like a ice pack, cooling the larger arteries in the body.
Sona watched as the water started to lose the magical stability it had, and started steaming off once more. She couldn't afford to summon more until Rias arrived with Akeno, pacing herself was important here. If she exhausted herself, than that could end badly for Issei, either comatose for life from an overheated brain….Or dead.
Tsubaki had run next door to the infirmary, grabbing ice packs to hold on Issei, until Rias and Akeno made it to them. Thankfully that didn't take very long, even with the distance from the old school building to their location.
Rias and Akeno burst into the door, panting slightly, and made their way to Sona kneeling on the ground still. Sona made eye contact with Rias, seeing the sweat start to form on her brow, a combination of the heat and physical exertion.
"What do you need us to do Sona?" Rias asked, not wasting any time on learning what caused this to happen, she could hear about that after Issei was stable.
Sona straightened up from her more relaxed stance she had while she was waiting for help to arrive. She summoned the enhanced water once more, placing on the same spots she had before. Before addressing Rias.
"Summon water at the highest purity, and coldest temperature you're able. Rias, place yours at the under arm, and forehead. Akeno, make yours blanket his torso." Sona gave out her instructions, hoping the ice packs had done enough to give them the time they needed. Rias and Akeno didn't bother responding, instead doing as Sona had requested.
They placed the water onto the designated spots on Issei's body, and it seemed to be holding, at least for now. Sona Rias and Akeno were now standing, and were talking about what put the boy in this position.
"The pieces took hold, and he seemed alright at first. Rias, you're familiar with the surge of energy from a newly reincarnated servant correct?" Sona asked Rias, who nodded in response, so Sona continued.
"His surge...only a minimal amount of it was of devil origin. The rest, was the energy signature of a dragon."
Rias sat herself on top of Sona's desk, crossing her legs and arms as she went over the information, but she'd never seen a reaction like this before. But after recalling Sona's words, she asked her question.
"Sona, you said pieces...as in multiple were used to reincarnate Issei. How many did you have to use?" Rias asked Sona.
Sona sighed, she knew what reaction was about to come her way, but she'd find out eventually anyway.
"Yes. Issei required all 8 pawn pieces to be reincarnated."
Both Rias and Akeno faultered, and shot Sona a look of disbelief. They'd only heard of people of Satan class strength needing that many pieces to be made into a devil. And this was only a teenage boy who hadn't even awoken his sacred gear.
"All 8 pawns?!" Rias exclaimed. The sound of her yelling caused Issei to stir slightly, before returning to his motionless posture.
Momo Reya Katase and Murayama, were all seated around Issei, waiting to see when he'd wake up. Momo brushed the hair out of his face, the worry still plastered on her face. The unconscious Issei leaned his head into the touch, causing all four girls to sigh with a smile, he seemed to at least be doing a little better.
Momo had been racking her brain for the cause of Issei's pain, and had found something interesting that might explain it. So she looked up to her master, calling out to her.
"Kaichou. I think I might know why Ise's like this."
The entire room paused in their actions, looking towards Momo, Sona included.
"Please tell Momo." Sona said to her bishop. One of Momo's skills was sensing a beings energy. It wasn't quite on the level of a capable senjutsu user, but it was better than most others. It was also what made her intuition a force to be reckoned with. But Momo along with the other three girls were distracted by the green light that started pulsing Issei's left hand.
"Kaichou, Ise's hand, it's glowing again." Reya said, not paying attention if she had interrupted any current conversations. The object of her attention was laying there, unconscious, and there was little that would tear eyes and ears away.
Sona and Rias walked up to where Issei was laying, looking at his left hand, and that same green glow was there.
Rias looked on in great interest, having not experienced what the student council had the previous day, when Elsha had taken control of Issei. She looked at the symbol on Issei's hand, and was baffled when she didn't recognize it, especially since she fancied herself reasonably acquainted with most written languages that were still around.
Sona looked at the glow, and a glimmer of hope spread itself through her, hoping if this were Elsha...That she could explain what was going on in Issei's body.
Murayama and Katase looked at the glow in awe, not drawing the connection to the green and blue glow they had seen coming from Issei's bedroom window yesterday.
Sona's hopes were answered as the glow brightened, but the voice that came from the hand of Issei confused and slightly angered Rias.
"Hello again Sona Sitri and her peerage. OH! Murayama and Katase, you're here too?" Elsha spoke from Issei's hand.
When Elsha spoke, Sona's attention was solely on the spirit. The only voice she would concern herself with at this moment was hers. Murayama and Katase on the other hand, had turned from expressions of awe, to confusion. What was this voice, and why did it know who they were?
Sona answered the voice for the group. "Hello. Issei wanted them to be here with him. Do you mind if I ask what's happening to him?"
Elsha hummed, the words of how to properly explain Ise's predicament, and how it was being handled.
"Hmmmm...Well in short the 8 pawns used on Ise, while required to reincarnate him, were too much for his current body to control. It made his body start to tear itself apart, However, I'm handling it. Ise will be just fine by tomorrow morning, he will need some time to adjust though."
Sona crossed her arms gently, listening to the NorseFire Dragon. The condition of her pawn was Sona's top priority at the moment, and she wanted to know just what was being done to him to rectify the problem.
"Forgive me if I come across rude, but can you tell us what you're doing to fix the problem? And is there something we can do to hasten the process?"
Elsha giggled lightly at Sona. Had Elsha not been able to access the connection between her and Issei, she may have been insulted by the tone she used, but Elsha could feel that she was only worried for her new servant. And that was a trait she respected about the Sitri family, even if their connection to their servants wasn't as famous as the Gremory's.
"Ufufu, No need to Apologize Lady Sitri, I can feel the connection with you just as Ise can. The excess power had already started to damage some vital organs, so I'm….altering them. His lungs, heart and blood vessels to be specific. The only thing for any of you to do now, is wait for him to wake up, which should be tomorrow morning."
Sona heard the kendo girls gasp when they heard Ise's heart and lungs had been damaged so quickly. Had this mysterious voice not taken action, he'd likely be dead very soon. Sona had an idea of how Elsha was altering Issei's physiology, but asked just to be certain. As it may just change how she trained Issei over the next year.
"And by alter the damaged organs, you mean replace them with the dragons equivalent, correct?"
"That is correct Lady Sitri. The problem was that when the power increase took hold during the reincarnation, Ise took a deep breath and activated a fire breathing ability of his sacred gear. His human lungs weren't capable of withstanding the heat so soon. The heat then spread through his veins and arteries, damaging them along with his heart. The dragon organs will be better equipped to handle the strain of his abilities." Elsha said, trying her best to explain the exact cause of Issei's need for new body parts.
Rias didn't know who this Elsha person was, nor did she care at the moment. What she did care about was the fact that Sona lied to her, which was more unacceptable when she recalled the fact that she promised to marry this boy if he helped defeat Raiser. Rias had accepted being married to THE Red Dragon Emperor, but not this unknown apparently female dragon. Her outburst over her assumptions taking hold of the conversation.
"But you should know, there are some side effects." Elsha said, simultaneously as Rias spoke louder.
"Sona….What the fuck are you trying to pull here?" She asked with a dangerously low and gravely tone.
Sona caught on that Rias was mad about something, but didn't realise that she was the ONLY one who knew about Elsha Laevateinn, due to her family's interaction with the legendary Boosted Gear user. Rias stepped closer, her eyes changing from the usual serene blue-ish green, to crimson orbs of fury.
"What are you talking about Rias?" Sona asked.
Rias started to shake, rage threatening to boil over.
"I'm talking about our deal! You promised me the red dragon emperor! That was who I agreed to marry if he beat Raiser!" Rias yelled out, her Crimson aura flaring around her.
Murayama and Katase both heard the conversation happening between the two high-class devils, but their reactions were vastly different. Murayama was alarmed at the mention of Rias being married off to Issei. And Katase at the mention of a potential problem when Issei wakes up.
"WHAT?!" Murayama yelled out, referring to the marriage comment, that wasn't something Ise told them about.
Katase was getting just as angry as Rias, but for people speaking over the voice coming from Ise. She needed to hear what would happen when he wakes up, hoping it wasn't too bad.
"EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP AND LISTEN TO HER!" Katase yelled at nearly the top of her lungs, getting everyone in the room to quiet down instantly.
Rias' eyes were still crimson with fury, but agreed that listening to the absent female voice was a more pressing matter.
Sona quickly shut out the thought of why Rias was angry with her, giving her attention once again to Elsha.
Seeing the room quiet down, Elsha repeated herself.
"Right, as I was saying...Ise will experience some side effects for about the first few days after waking up."
"What kind of side effects should we expect?" Sona was quick to ask.
Elsha gave a response that only really upset Katase and Murayama, while Reya and Momo were a little excited to see this.
"Since Ise is having a good amount of his more vital parts changed into that of a dragons, he will act more like a dragon does. His actions will driven by more...Primal urges."
Katase sighed, that was not what she was expecting. But...A pervy Ise, was better than a dead Ise. She never thought she'd say that...ever.
"Just great...Ise the pervert is coming back." Katase said, defeated. All that hard work seemingly for nothing, not that it was really his fault.
Reya chuckled, before looking towards her bishop counterpart.
"That sounds like it could be fun, doesn't it Momo?"
END
I decided to end here, since I won't be able to update for a week or so. Figured a short chapter is better than none at all.
Now onto the events.
Sona's reincarnation chant, i just couldnt come up with anything else on the spot.
The main I wanted to touch on, is Issei being in pain from the reincarnation.
In canon, Rias had to seal off most of the power the 8 pawns gave him. Seeing as he was dying, Rias would have been watching him closely and notice an adverse reaction from the given power. The fact that he was asleep also helped Rias, since your bodies functions are slowed down while you're asleep.
So with Issei being awake when he was turned into a devil, the effects hit him quicker and harder.
I will touch more on why the girls were reacting to the power coming from Issei more in the next chapter. But it goes back to canon stuff, Issei has very little demonic power, so the majority of his strength lies in the boosted gear, hence the dragon power flooding the room.
I forgot what else I wanted to put here.
So, thoughts?
OH! One last thing, i'll be going through and updating grammar and spelling stuff soon, to fix that. That's what I wanted to say….I think.