Disclaimer: I don't own anything, so what did you expect? =)

Author's Note: Well, there was Order's introduction. But for anyone who has read up to where I am at for Cursed Legends, you all know who Order is. Either way, Issei is still the main character, so don't worry.

I have finished editing the past chapters. I'd recommend checking back to them in case you might have missed some small info, but it's not mandatory.

If you see anymore mistakes, no matter how small, please tell me so I can make a quick edit. Thanks!

Thanks to all the reviewers! Happy New Years to everyone!

"Ddraig talking"

[Sacred Gear Talking/Juggernaut chant]

"Voices of past possessors talking"

"Thoughts of characters"

[Rating Game system speaking]

"Spell activation chant"

"Great Red Talking" (NEW)


Chapter 9: Ash Like Snow


"...I'm still alive."

The young Issei woke up to a world of pain. His entire body screamed in agony, with his shirt and jeans in tatters. Whenever he tried to move, his muscles would strain and stiffen.

However, the physical damage felt like nothing compared to the emotional trauma he received.

What hurt him the most was the pain in his heart.

Surprisingly, Ophis had only grazed his head after she had shot him in the head at point blank range. One would not normally expect a dragon god to miss their intended target, and a easy one at that too.

"...Ddraig?"

There was no answer from the Heavenly Dragon. Ophis's snake must have done something to his head when she failed to kill him. He couldn't connect with Ddraig anymore.

"I guess you left me as well, huh?"

Unfortunately, Issei could still feel the snake's poison working its way through his veins. The toxins burned like fire as it wrecked havoc on his nervous system, but the boy was beyond caring.

"After all, everyone abandoned me. My comrades, my sister, and even my parents. The one I loved has also betrayed me." Issei started laughing bitterly. He began to cough, violently and painfully from straining himself.

"What's the point in living if there's nothing left?"

A light snow began to fall, slowly blanketing the destruction that had occurred. Issei used the last reserves of his strength to flip himself over. Feeling the cool flakes kiss his cheeks, the Red Dragon Emperor closed his eyes as he awaited death.

The snow eventually grew harsher. Issei was getting annoyed at the amount of snow buffering his face. Having enough, he finally activated his Sacred Gear.

[Boost!]

Feeling slightly energized, Issei flipped over and began to crawl. He didn't have the energy to stand with his legs, but he could still make do with the rest of his limbs and torso. Thick blood began to pour from his head as he re-opened the injury.

Issei was unable to see where he was going with the harsh snowstorm, but he didn't care. By thinking of Ophis and her betrayal, Issei was able to ignore the pain signals sent from his body.

Each memory that he remembered of them together spurred him on.

[Boost!]

Eventually, Issei collapsed when he finally lost all his strength. No matter how much more he boosted, his body just wouldn't respond.

He had come to his limit, crawling for what seemed like a eternity's worth of time.

[Burst!]

The Prince of Devils didn't regret anything. He had stopped the Khaos Brigade from starting another Great War, or atleast for the time being.

After all, Ophis, their leader, was still alive.

Someone else would have to deal with her, since he just wasn't strong enough. However, maybe his death would allow his grandfather to finally accept his family.

Issei had originally taken up the mission just for that reason alone... Well, he had initially thought he was also protecting Ophis from the terrorist organization by attacking it.

He didn't regret any of his actions. Not even when he had decided to kill, and especially not when he was betrayed.

Betrayed by the one he loved...

Issei's memories began to flash before him. The Red Dragon Emperor weakly smiled as he remembered his happy moments in life.

"But I wish that I didn't have to die like this..." Issei slowly closed his eyes as everything finally faded to black.

Breathing his last, the Prince of Devils died.

"Then I shall turn your dreams into reality. And in return, you will become the Envoy of Dreams. My Envoy."

What Issei didn't know was that a certain Dragon of Dragons had been watching all the events unfold in the Dimension Gap. Puffing, Great Red finally made its decision after hearing the Red Dragon Emperor's final words.

"You will become mine."


Waking up, Issei Maou lazily stretched his sore limbs from bedding on the hardwood. The Prince of Devils was getting really annoyed with these frequent flashbacks of the past.

"Seriously. I don't know why I keep dreaming about my death in third person perspective." The Red Dragon Emperor shook his head in disbelief. "It's like some creep is writing about my life story or something."

Performing his daily rituals, the teen headed downstairs for breakfast after packing up his school items. Issei was annoyed that the weekend was already over, and he didn't get a chance to study anything.

"When you're a kid, just being a fast runner makes you popular. In middle school, its holding your own in a fight. After that, brains make you popular." Issei always took those words to heart.

Run fast, hit hard, and read books.

Raynare had already finished preparing breakfast by the time he got downstairs. Sitting down, he observed the other individuals within the room. A plate of eggs and bacon was placed in front of him.

"Alright, so I have questions for both of you." Issei suddenly pointed to the eating Mittelt and Tiamat after saying his thanks to Raynare.

Both of the new occupants sat at the kitchen table with himself, Raynare, and Alas=Ramus. Tiamat stopped chewing on her piece of bacon as she looked up to the teen, giving him a mischevious smirk.

"Why, what do you want? A dinner? Bath? Or m-" The Chaos Karma Dragon was silenced abruptly by a quick chop on the forehead by Issei.

Ever since she woke up, Tiamat began trying to seduce Issei every time she found a chance to. At first, the Red Dragon Emperor didn't mind her playing around, but lately her advances became more and more irritating to the teen.

With Mittelt, the fallen angel was still in a mild state of paralyzed shock. However, to Issei, she still seemed able to speak. Even if she would not speak willingly, he would still force every last drop of information from her.

"Quiet. And I'll start with you. Mittelt was it? Tell me what you fallen angels were attempting to accomplish by kidnapping Raynare." Issei commanded.

Mittelt angrily averted her eyes, avoiding Issei's cold hazels. Sighing, the Red Dragon Emperor's tone hardened. "Start talking or I'll drag you back to Order."

"Order?" Tiamat went back to chewing on her bacon. "Who's that?"

It was a bluff, of course, since Issei didn't know where in the world the Black Dragon Emperor was. He didn't want to know either, especially from the way the man had acted on their first meeting.

Luckily, it had the intended effect when Mittelt screamed and covered her ears. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut. "No, please! I'll talk! Just get that monster away from me!"

"Woah there!" Tiamat snapped her fingers, causing ropes of water to bind the thrashing fallen angel. "Calm down shorty. So who's this Order person?"

"A third dragon emperor." Issei spoke solemnly, causing the occupants of the room to freeze in place, minus the struggling Mittelt. "He has the power of the apocalypse dragon, Acnologia."

Tiamat suddenly slammed the table with her fists as she stood up. Her cold, icy eyes glowed angrily.

"That's impossible! Acnologia never existed, he was and is a myth! Why would he appear now if he had never made an appearence in the past?"

"Calm down, Tiamat." Ddraig's voice echoed in the room, causing Mittelt to shriek in fear again. Raynare was already used to the dragon suddenly speaking from nowhere, after Issei had explained to her the mechanics of the Boosted Gear.

"I was also skeptical at first. However, once Issei and I sensed his aura, it was the real deal. Acnologia's strength was atleast in the same rank as mine, perhaps greater."

"No... Way." Tiamat fell to her knees as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. "Then it means that the true apocalypse is coming. Great Red represents dreams, while Acnologia represents the end..."

"Not quite. Acnologia is said to be very solitary and a bystander in the legends, although he hates and likes to kill other dragons." Ddraig corrected.

"It is said that although he could easily destroy the world, he chose not to. But the God of the Bible sealed him along with Trihexa for reassurance during the Great War. After, all three entities were deemed deceased." The dragon added.

"Wait, God is dead?" Raynare questioned in shock. "And Trihexa is the beast, 666, right? But God is dead?"

"Yes, yes, and yes." Pausing, the Heavenly Dragon continued. "Honestly, if God had only sealed Trihexa, and hadn't wasted power in killing Acnologia, then he probably wouldn't have died."

"But I still don't understand why Acnologia would reappear now, as well as being in a Sacred Gear. There's no records of any past possessors." Ddraig reasoned thoughtfully.

"And Order called his Sacred Gear Imperial Canceller." Issei added in his knowledge of the subject.

"Apparently, as Ddraig had told me yesterday, Acnologia's power lies in nullifying the supernatural. Order also mentioned that his Gear's the 14th Longinous, even though only 13 are supposedly known."

"So we can assume the Sacred Gear's "cancelling" ability is nullification of the metaphysical. However, even I don't know if Acnologia has any other hidden powers." The Heavenly Dragon finished.

Mittelt had begun to scream shrilly ever since Issei had mentioned Order, and it irritated the prince of devils. Expressionlessly, he smacked the fallen angel's head with the palm of his hand, causing the lolita to cry out in pain and shock. "Quiet, please."

"Issei-sama!" Raynare glared at him as she threw a punch at the teen's face, who easily caught her hand. "Stop being so mean to my friend!"

Deadpanning, Issei gently placed her hand back onto her lap. "Well, they weren't exactly your friends if they tried to kidnap you."

"I agree." Alas=Ramus mumbled as she nodded her head. A bagged loaf of soy bread in her left hand, she stood up and pointed at Mittelt.

"Raynare is part of our household now, so harming her is also a challenge to our entire family!" Alas=Ramus took another bite of bread.

Blushing, Raynare smiled bashfully as she looked down. "Aw. Thank you, Alas onee-chan."

However, Alas=Ramus wasn't finished talking. A sense of deep dread suddenly washed over Issei. "Oh no..."

"Also, I'm making sure she's part of our family by having Issei take her virginity!" Alas=Ramus had sparkles in her eyes as she lifted her loaf of bread, making squeezing motions with her hands.

"Those breasts are just too big and soft to give away!"

"..."

Everyone stared at Alas=Ramus for a long, awkward moment. Raynare then collapsed face-first onto the kitchen table, knocked out from the amount of blood rushing to her head. Tiamat and Mittelt remained like marble statues, still staring at the white-haired girl.

Slowly, Issei stood up from his seat with dead fish eyes. Hiding his face by looking down, the broken teen lifelessly trudged back to his room to prepare for school.

"Let's just leave the questioning for another time..."


Sighing, Issei handed in his papers with the rest of his classmates just as the bell rang. The Red Dragon Emperor had forgotten that a unit test on Electrochemistry was today.

It was lucky that he had paid attention in class, although it took him longer to finish because he had to recall everything in his head.

"Well, that's a bullet dodged." Packing everything up, Issei pushed past the Perverted Duo as they began to spout nonsense about how Bishōnens should die. The prince of devils was tired, and he looked forward to taking a nap when he got home.

"Issei!" The teen in question felt his hopes shatter when he heard Rias Gremory call his name. He was just about to exit the school gates as well.

Scowling, Issei mentally screamed while Ddraig laughed hilariously at his plight. Looks like his plans for a normal day after school just went down the drain.

"Yes, Rias?" Issei's face was filled with fake pleasantry as he greeted his senior. However, Rias was oblivious as she grabbed his arm and began dragging him towards the Occult Research Clubroom.

"Two priests arrived in Kuoh yesterday. They asked for a meeting with us, and I thought that you should attend as well." Rias informed him.

"Oh." Issei's face turned serious before suddenly reverting to confusion. "Wait a second. Why do I have to go? I'm hungry, and I want to go home."

His words fell on deaf ears as Rias dragged him even faster. Her facial features were now red from anger.

"He wants to go home so desperately, eh? Well, I won't allow him to be seduced by that dragon bitch!"


Back at Issei's house, a certain Chaos Karma Dragon sneezed violently. Finding a tissue, Tiamat blew her nose twice before crumpling it up and throwing it into a waste bin.

"Are you okay, Tiamat-chan?" Raynare asked as she looked up from her cleaning. The fallen angel was currently dressed up in ideal housewife attire, complete with a frilly white apron and a casual dress.

Nodding, the Dragon King frowned as she went back to her manga of Freezing. Mittelt was also reading it beside her. "Yeah, I'm okay. I don't know why, but I'm having a strange urge to kill redheads."

"Oh. Okay." Paying no mind to the strange comment, Raynare went back to wiping the household appliances.


Issei sighed as Rias finally stopped dragging him. Stopping in front of the Occult Research Clubroom, the two teens stepped inside the spacious building.

"Issei? Is that really you?" The Red Dragon Emperor's eyes widened when a girl with light brown hair in dual ponytails approached him.

She was dressed in a white hooded cloak with gold and blue accents. A silver cross dangled from her slender neck. Her violent eyes complimented her innocent-looking face, while her slim figure further radiated her natural beauty.

Staring into her eyes, Issei was hit by a sense of familiarity. However, he was still unable to remember who this girl was. "I'm sorry, but I really can't remember who you are."

Pouting cutely, the beautiful girl leaned in as she poked Issei's chest. "You meanie! We were childhood friends! How could you not remember me? It's me, Irina Shidou!"

Issei gaped at her. "S-Shidou-kun? But you were a guy!" The teen trailed off as he remembered his childhood.

Irina had never told him if she was a girl or a boy back then. He had always naturally assumed. "I mean, I was certain by the way you acted..."

Irina giggled as she suddenly hugged Issei, making him catch his breath as her silver cross came in contact with him. Although his holy and demonic blood conflicted with each other, they also appear to cancel each others' weaknesses out.

However, he would still feel the chills once he touches any of the two elements. But the only elements that he would be severely damaged by would be the weaknesses of dragons.

The Red Dragon Emperor immediately sensed a wave of hostility coming from Rias, but it had nothing to do with what he was thinking. Strangely, Yuuto also had one, except that it wasn't directed at him, but rather at Irina specifically.

"Well, I was quite the tomboy back then. I shouldn't be so surprised. Is your mom and dad still abroad as well, Issei-kun?" Irina hugged him even tighter.

"As they have been for about the past decade. I moved to here from England just recently, after you moved to a different city." Issei nodded stiffly as she finally let go. "How are your parents doing, Irina-chan?"

Irina giggled again as she blushed, putting a hand on her cheek. "And now you call me Irina-chan. But yes, my parents are also doing quite well as of late."

A loud cough from behind Irina interrupted their moment of reunion. Another girl, except with short blue hair with a green fringe on the right side, turned to Irina as everyone's attention was now focused on her.

She wore a church battle suit. A black, skin-tight unitard without sleeves and mathing fingerless gloves that went up to her biceps. The girl also had black, thigh-high boots adorned with straps.

"Irina, I hope you remember our mission here." She wore a serious expression as she spoke.

"Yeah, I know. Stop being a killjoy, Xenovia." Irina whined. Issei finally noticed that she was dressed in the same battle attire under her cloak. "Anyways, what are you even doing here, Issei?"

Issei froze. He had no idea on how to explain this to his childhood friend. After all, Irina had always believed him to be a normal human.

"Actually, I'm curious as well. Why have you brought a human here?" The blue haired girl, Xenovia, also questioned. "I don't feel any holy or demonic energy from him. So why is he here?"

Issei looked around. Koneko and Akeno were looking away. Yuuto continued to glare at the two priests hatefully, which made the Red Dragon Emperor curious. Rias was nonchalant, waving at him to explain himself.

"Erm, I'm the host of the Heavenly Dragon, Ddraig, and the wielder of the Boosted Gear. Since I help Rias keep the peace in Kuoh, I guess she just thought to invite me here as well." Issei explained, hoping that it would pass.

It can't be considered lying since every single word was true. He just didn't tell them everything. If Issei didn't suppress his prescence, his entire aura would be felt across all over the supernatural world.

Luckily, it was the first thing he had mastered under his father. Weakening his own presence.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Irina had sparkles in her eyes as she tackle-hugged Issei again. "I never knew that my best friend could be the Red Dragon Emperor! Would you ever consider working with the church, Issei?"

"I'll think about it." Issei immediately felt more auras of hostility directed towards him when he broke away. "So what brings you two to Kuoh, Irina?"

"Recently the holy swords, Excaliburs, that were kept by the Catholic Church Headquarter Vatican, Protestant Church, and Eastern Orthodox Church were stolen." Stepping back, Irina informed everyone loudly.

"The holy sword broke into seven pieces during the Great War and was re-forged into seven new swords." Issei nodded.

"Correct." Xenovia unwrapped a long, large sword wrapped in cloth. "This is one of them. Excalibur Destruction. It is under the possession of the Catholic Church."

Issei immediately felt chills just from seeing it. However, he soon realized something strange. That man, Order Nightshade, had a sword that contained the same aura as the one in front of him, except greater.

"And both of you know for certain that the Grigori has the rest?" Issei asked.

"No, the last piece, Excalibur Ruler, disappeared during the Great War. We only know who possesses which of the rest of the six pieces." Xenovia shook her head.

"Could Order have the last piece of Excalibur, Excalibur Ruler?" For some reason, his brain was telling him that it wasn't the case.

It was the most likely probability, yes, but he was missing something important. The Red Dragon Emperor decided to not bring the subject up in case he was wrong.

"And this is my Excalibur. Excalibur Mimic!" Irina proudly stated as she took her armband off. It transformed into a katana in her hand.

"It can change its shape into anything, making it really easy to carry around. It is in the possession of the Protestant Church." She winked.

"Irina... There's no reason to tell these devils the ability of that Excalibur, is there?" Xenovia shook her head disapprovingly.

"Ara Xenovia. Even if they are devils we still have to form a trustworthy relationship with them in this situation. Also, even if my sword's ability is revealed, I won't fall behind all the devils here." Irina chided back.

Issei couldn't help but smile slightly at his childhood friend's behaviour. Seeing enough, Rias finally decided to speak. "So who are the ones who stole them and brought them to my territory?"

"It was the Grigori." Rias's eyes widened in surprise. "The main culprit is one of the leaders of the Grigori, Kokabiel."

"Kokabiel. One of the leaders of the fallen angels that survived the previous wars since ancient times. I never expected to hear the name of the one that appears in the Bible." Rias crossed her arms as she smirked at the name.

Xenovia sighed. "We sent priests, exorcists, to this town secretly but they kept getting killed."

"Our request... No. Our order is to not to have any devils intrude in the battle between us and the fallen angels for the Excaliburs. In other words, we came here to tell you not to interfere with this incident." Xenovia finished after a brief pause.

Rias became angry at the priest's last sentence. "Such manner of speech. Is it restraint? Are you thinking that we might collaborate with those fallen angels? Perhaps that we might team up with them to do something with the Excalibur pieces?"

Xenovia was unperturbed. "The headquarters did not think that it be an impossible occurance."

Issei eventually drowned their conversation out. It was a complicated situation, since Rias was the little sister of a Maou. More complications would occur even if they had worked under a temporary alliance.

After all, the three factions were paranoid about the balance of powers shifting.

However, Issei judged the strengths of both Xenovia and Irina to be inadequate for their mission. They needed help, or they'd be walking towards their death and basically giving the fallen angels two more Excaliburs to play with.

"...Our minimum objective is to get the Excaliburs away from the fallen angels. To accomplish that, it is okay for us to die." Issei's head snapped up from Xenovia's words.

"The only way to fight Excaliburs are with Excaliburs." Xenovia motioned to her Excalibur Destruction.

"No, it's not." Issei became serious as his face tightened. "You two idiots are only walking towards your deaths. Don't do this with only yourselves."

"You also seem confident." Rias added. "Do you have a secret weapon?"

"Maybe. I'll leave it to your imagination." Xenovia replied coolly. She gave Issei an annoyed look. "Also, I believe that the one least adequate to be here should be silent."

"Xenovia! Don't be so mean to Issei! He's just worried for us!" Irina cut in. However, she stopped when Issei held a hand out to silence her.

"This is good timing. I will be your opponent." Yuuto was carrying his sword as he spoke. Issei's eyes narrowed at his huge aura of killing intent.

"Who are you?" Yuuto smirked at her question.

"I'm your senpai, although I apparently was a failure." At that instant, countless number of demonic swords appeared in the clubroom. The situation had reached a climax as all waited to hear Xenovia's reply.

Xenovia smirked. "Then let's take this outside."


"So how did I get dragged into this?" Issei found himself facing against Irina and Xenovia. Yuuto was standing a bit away, but still beside the teen.

"Let's start the match." Xenovia spoke solemnly.

Irina and Xenovia took their white robes off as a barrier of red aura surrounded the four combatants. Issei noticed the other ORC members standing outside, spectating the battle.

Unwrapping their swords, Excalibur Destruction and Excalibur Mimic appeared in the hands of Xenovia and Irina respectively. Yuuto had also activated his Sacred Gear and there were several demonic swords around him.

Sighing, Issei lazily sat down onto the grass as he watched Yuuto have his brief exchange of words with Xenovia. "I guess he really is the sole survivor of the Holy Sword Project..."

"Issei-kun."

Issei's attention turned towards his own opponent. Irina had a shy look on her face as she fidgeted. "I haven't seen you in so long, and now we have to fight..."

Issei gave her a soft smile as he activated his Boosted Gear. "Don't worry about me. Think of this as a friendly spar. Excalibur wouldn't affect me as they would affect devils."

Issei sweatdropped when he realized that Irina was shedding tears as she pointed her sword at him. It was like she was pretending to be reluctant, but was in fact eager to battle.

"Alright Issei-kun! I will give judgment to you with this Excalibur! Amen!" Irina charged towarded the sitting Issei.

[Boost!]

Tilting sideways, his incredible flexibility caught Irina off-guard as she swung, causing her to lose balance. Chuckling, Issei did a pop-up followed by a backflip. "Try again, Irina-chan."

Irina blushed deeply. "Mou! Stop being such a tease, Issei-kun!"

Smirking, Issei then noticed Yuuto's large demonic sword being easily shattered by Excalibur Destruction. Xenovia proceeded to use the hilt of the sword to impale Yuuto's stomach, causing him to collapse to the ground and puke.

"Ouch. Sorry for doing this, Irina. We can chat more later." Irina's eyes widened when he suddenly disappeared from her vision. Issei then chopped the back of her neck, knocking her out.

[Boost!]

"Irina?" Xenovia was shocked to see Issei still standing. Rias and her remaining peerage had taken the fallen fighters out of the barrier. "Well, it looks like I was wrong. You really could hold your own."

Issei deadpanned. "Even though I said I possess a Longinus, you still underestimated me?"

Xenovia shrugged. "You could have been an complete idiot who had just awakened it. Either way, let's finish this match already."

"I agree." Issei lifted his Boosted Gear again. He pointed the Longinus at Xenovia, with a familiar red aura surrounding it.

"It's time to end this charade."

[Dragon Shot!]


"That was really anticlimatic." Issei commented as he watched the two unconcious priests sleep in the clubroom couches. He had toned down the strength of his energy shot, but even the sheer power of the blast itself had knocked Xenovia out.

Yuuto had been pissed when the match finished. Even Rias couldn't stop him from suddenly bursting out the doors and running away. After Rias had begged him for about an eternity, Issei promised that he would bring Yuuto back.

Finally, the Prince of Devils was allowed to exit the spacious building.

"Well, my normal after school plan got completely ruined." Issei sighed as he called home to explain everything to Alas=Ramus. After getting a earful, he finally received permission to stay out on a school night.

Issei's hazel eyes turned predatorial. "Now, it's time to go blonde hunting."


AN: Finally done!

Sona and her peerage will make their official appearence next chapter. Also, The fight against Kokabiel and Vali is arriving shortly too!

Also, Happy New Year to whoever missed my message in the AN above. Remember to read and review!

Helldragon signing out!