Secluded Dragons
DAMN! Over twenty reviews in a single night!? You better believe I was shocked when I checked my smart phone at school! You guys are awesome!
Okay so I finally found out about the horizontal bar thing... I might add the ones that are supposed to be there to the other chapters also, just tell me how this looks, please. (easier to read/harder to read/annoying to have)
Aight, serious stuff now. I apologize to reviewers for not responding as I usually do (though I can't to anonymous reviewers, obviously) I was really busy and somewhat lazy. There is a super long-ass A.N. at the bottom, I advise anybody that gets confused in this chapter to read those, mainly because now, looking through this myself, I could see many points that might lose people.
Shout-out to AKidLikeMe, who guessed plenty of the 'mysterious' figures from the last chapter, and ArchRaphael for his (or her) amazingly long review that actually had great grammar and spelling! (While I don't really get super pissed when I see a review that has 'teen writing', I still think its nice and somewhat considerate when a reviewer has such good writing) I especially have this shout-out due to the fact that he/she had a funny writing thing at the end! Props to you!
I awoke in the morning, tired, sore and tense. I noticed the immediate absence of Asia and Gabriel, but ignored it. Gabriel probably had something to do, and Asia was most likely already up, or she had decided not to sneak in to bed with me for once.
Doubtful.
Anyways, I shifted lazily in my bed, smacking my lips a few times due to how dry they were. I grumbled and moaned a little as I tried to get comfortable, only to stop upon realizing that it wasn't meant to be. I glared at my pillow.
Damn pillow.
As much as I hated it, I'd have to get up. And so I did.
Slowly, very slowly, I sat up in bed and stretched up, yawning simultaneously. I felt a presence of bliss for a moment, before I tried to stretch out my legs as well.
Big mistake.
With a single moment, I went from bliss to extreme pain. My leg throbbed and burned, and it took plenty of my strength to not scream in pain. Not I didn't shed a few tears, anyways.
"Shit!" I whispered loudly, rubbing my aching muscles. I must've pulled a few in my leg on accident, and I gingerly held my leg like I was cradling a baby. I sighed as I stared at the dark door, having already heard someone.
"You can come in, Asia," I said dully, believing that she was going to heal me.
"Er… my Imouto left today, Ise-sama," I heard, and I stifled a curse. Raynare strode into my room like it was the most natural thing to do, and came up to me, idly placing a hand on her hip.
"And if you're going to masturbate please be less loud. My senses made it possible to hear you curse from all the way in the kitchen," she chastised. Wait, chastised!? Who was the master here?
"Agh, shut up. You know I wasn't mas… mastur…" I stumbled on the words, what she said having just reached my mind. "MASTURBATING!?"
"So that was what you were doing? Huh, I never would've guessed," Raynare said, pretending to ponder my words with a finger on her chin. She looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. I growled a little.
"You…! You…!" I said. She put her hand back on her hip and smirked.
"What? Oh, and by the way, breakfast is ready. Gabriel and Asia went to church, it's Sunday, remember?" she asked me. I stopped my demanding and thought. Oh right.
"Really? I guess that makes sense then. Wait, why didn't she last week…?" I asked. She sighed like I was a child.
"Ise-sama, you were passed out last Sunday, from magical exhaustion. That was only a day after your battle with Kokabiel, after all. Oh and by the way, my other master, Azazel-sama, is stopping by in about a half-hour. Please make yourself presentable," she said, opening the door. I watched with satisfaction as she struggled to get out, considering what she was wearing. Her maid outfit.
"EHHH!?" I demanded, confused, tired and annoyed.
"Op, twenty-nine now. I'd hurry if I were you, Ise-sama," she said, leaving my room.
Thirty minutes later, a man with black hair and looking in his twenties stood outside of the door, his clothes swaying with him. Finally, he yawned a little before looking around casually, and whistling to his car that was parked in the driveway, a car that looked almost like a lotus.
"Hey, got anything to do while we wait?" he asked, mentally patting himself on the back for building a personality into the sports car.
"I dunno. So what are we here for?" the car asked. Azazel sighed like an adult explaining something basic to a child for the fiftieth time.
"As I've told you, the power surge I felt a week ago was amazing. I wanted to see who caused it, but to my surprise, the power had been too brief to pick up, despite reaching all three plains, the other side of the world, and likely crossing into the dimension gap as well. For all I know Great Red himself may be coming to visit the kid as well. So of course, I had to do some innocent digging around to find who caused it," the man said, whistling innocently.
"How many people did you blackmail this time, sir…?" the car asked in a deadpanned tone. The man sweat-dropped.
"I didn't blackmail anybody! For the record, all I had to do was ask around, and lo' and behold, little Raynare-chan knew the boy. I always wondered when she would get a boyfriend…" the man wondered to himself. The car sighed.
"Sir, I highly doubt that considering the boy was most likely the one that Raynare nearly killed," the car said, and the man sighed dramatically.
"Yes, but for all we know, they might've met in combat and their love may have surfaced in an everlasting array of- oh, I hear something coming. Can you toss me my glasses? I need to look presentable," the man said off-handedly, and the car grumbled a little, a small object being thrown to the man, who quickly caught them and put them on, covering his eyes.
"Ah, there now my artificial Planar View sacred gear are online," the man said, tapping the glasses on the sides a few times. Through his vision, he began to see lights, which differed depending on the type of energy being given off, the brightest coming from around a boy that was sitting in the kitchen, a duller, blue energy coming from a woman he knew well that was coming to the door. The light coming from the boy was near blinding, but before he took off his sacred gear from the pain, he noticed that some of the magic was surrounding the house, and even more was surrounding his old subordinate.
"Azazel-sama, it's a pleasure to see you again," Raynare said in a checked voice after opening the door, giving him a once-over with her eyes, calculating.
"Hmm, I think she's gotten a little cold," Azazel thought, before throwing on a grin. "Hey Raynare-chan, been a while eh? How's your new master?" Azazel asked cheerfully. Raynare scowled.
"I haven't slept with him yet, if that's what you mean you old pervert," Raynare said, letting him in and taking his coat. She threw it haphazardly onto the coat hanger, but Azazel ignored it.
"Oh, and before I go any further. Will the winged knights please let your masters know that I am here in peace? I'd rather you not all die, after all," Azazel said carelessly, and soon, four winged angelic knights appeared, all quivering in fear before disappearing to warn Michael and the Seraphs. Azazel smiled. It was good to be recognized.
Raynare looked grim as she walked into the living room, to inform Issei of Azazel's arrival. To her surprise, however, Issei didn't look the slightest bit scared or intimidated. Instead, he looked calm, as if powerful leaders visiting him in his house was a regular occurrence.
Strange, she didn't think he had it in him.
"Hello there, you must be the leader of the Fallen Angels, Azazel-san," Issei said, and Azazel raised an eyebrow at his boldness while Raynare wanted to smack him. Not being able to, she did the next best thing.
"Ise-sama! You've got to treat him with respect!" Raynare whispered loudly to Issei, who stared straight at Azazel, not even bothering to look down or anything. Azazel, however, found the boy to be very amusing and instead laughed a little, taking a seat.
"Well then, as you have said, I am the governor of the Fallen Angels and Grigori, Azazel. I was a former Angel that defected before the first war, and I've been leader since," Azazel shrugged, and Issei nodded, seeing it as an opportunity to introduce himself.
"My name is Hyoudou Issei, and as you can probably tell, I'm human, at least, for the most part," Issei added as an after-thought, "and if I may ask, why are you here? Raynare didn't exactly explain when she woke me up."
"Oh? You don't know then? I'm quite amazed, to be honest. I'm here to investigate the power that appeared a week ago, and it took quite a bit of looking on my part to find you. That's why I'm here, if you really wish to know. I'm here to find out who you are, what you like, how you've been treating Raynare-chan, and of course, how much of a threat you are to peace," Azazel summed up, and Issei looked at him incredulously, before scoffing.
"Peace? I thought I knew why you were here, but apparently not. Were you blind to the fact that your own subordinate, Kokabiel, was trying to restart the war between your faction and the angels? Had I not killed him, the entire war may have begun again! And let's not forget how Raynare became my servant. Your control over your subordinates is terrible," Issei said, scowling. Raynare felt a little faint.
"Excuse me? I'm sorry, but while I understand all that you've said, you were on that mission for the Angels, correct? How do you know for sure that Kokabiel was evil, and that he betrayed me? How do I know you aren't a threat to the peace I've been trying to keep for decades?" Azazel shot back, nearing the end of his patience.
"I don't like your tone," Issei growled back.
"Nor do I. I guess with great power comes great arrogance," Azazel stated, and Issei near leapt to his feet.
"Take that back!" he shouted, and Azazel glared, while Raynare looked horrified. He was never this agitated!
"Ise-sama, maybe it's been too long since you've let out magic? It might be affecting your mind," Raynare pleaded, trying to prevent the two from fighting. While she wasn't particularly attached to Issei, she didn't need him dying.
"Your magic is affecting your mind? Do you realize how bad that is for your mental health? For all we know, you might simultaneously combust at any moment," Azazel said incredulously. Issei growled a bit, but stopped from attacking.
"Shut up! I know my power is in flux, but I can handle it!" Issei declared, gripping his hands. Azazel sighed, trying to control himself.
"I think you need to understand something, human," Azazel stated, closing his eyes slowly. Raynare's eyes widened at the same time, and she desperately tried to stop Issei from agitating the Fallen Angel any more, to no effect.
"I'm not a damned human!" Issei growled, his eyes shifting colors a bit, red hue growing in one, white in the other.
"Shut up!" Azazel shouted, slamming a fist on the table, his power exploding from him at the same time. Issei could only look on in shock as he felt the enormous amount of power Azazel had, power that Kokabiel dwarfed by leagues. He shivered and nearly curled into a ball as his anger and lack of control completely faded, his common sense and more logical mind returning in an instant, as Azazel calmed down as well. Raynare, who Azazel had conveniently excluded from the Killing Intent, simply sat and patted Issei on the back, feeling a tad sorry for him.
A while later, both Azazel and Issei had calmed down, for the most part.
"I… apologize for that," Issei said, and Azazel, having calmed down, smiled weakly.
"I guess we all have our own demons, eh?" he asked, and Issei nodded.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself, I'm Hyoudou Issei, part human and as you probably already know, wielder of Divine Dividing and Boosted Gear," Issei said respectfully as he could. He was still having trouble, but the more arrogant personality he had was still there, just suppressed.
"In which case, allow me to reintroduce myself as well. I am Azazel, leader of the Fallen Angels, and former master of the Fallen Angel you currently have as a slave," Azazel said, and the two chuckled after a while.
"So do you see me as a threat to peace?" Issei asked, and Azazel sighed.
"Unfortunately, with how you currently are, yes. I viewed your body through magic viewing glasses earlier, and it seems that as of right now, your body can't really handle the two Sacred Gears, am I right?" Azazel asked.
"Yes, though I don't really know how long it'll take, Albion and Ddrag informed me that my body would rebalance itself within a week, and that until then, I'll have a surplus of magic flooded into my body, causing me to be more agitated and violent, as you may have noticed," Issei added drily. Azazel burst into laughter, as did Issei, though more restrained, and Raynare looked back and forth between the two, before lowering her head in submission.
"What did I do to deserve watching this…?" she wondered, hoping someone would put her out of her misery.
"Anyways, I think I may be able to help you a bit with this issue of yours. You see, besides being the leader of the Fallen Angels, I'm also a scientist of Sacred Gear, and I'm pretty sure I could help you balance the two out a bit. Have you managed to simultaneously manifest them yet?" Azazel asked curiously. He didn't expect him to be able to, in fact, he shouldn't even really be able to be alive or walking, but Azazel supposed that was why he was so special.
"Ah… I'm quite a bit further along than that, actually," Issei said, shifting a little uncomfortably. Azazel raised an eyebrow at this. That was even more peculiar, but possible all the same. That comment, however, if proven right, would shoot up the boy's worth significantly.
"How far along are you?" Azazel asked excitedly. Issei rubbed his neck a little.
"Ah… in my battle against Kokabiel, the reason why I was able to release so much energy was because I achieved Balance Breaker…" he said slowly, and Azazel's world nearly shattered, as his jaw dropped comically, and he gaped like a fish.
"P-pardon?" he asked weakly. "Did you just say you achieved a Balance Breaker while having two contradicting Sacred Gears in your body? Longinus, no less? Wh-which one?" he asked. Issei smiled uneasily.
"I uh… both?" he said weakly. Azazel heard the boy, and his mind constantly repeated the word, and what it meant.
"Both… both… both… both…" Azazel repeated to himself, both confused and amazed at the same time.
"BOTH!?" Azazel shouted as loud as he could, standing up, the chair falling down. Raynare nearly burst out in laughter over the comical reaction, and even then was shaking from trying to hold it in.
"Y-yeah…?" Issei said meekly as Azazel grabbed him by the scruff.
"I'M GIVING YOU A CHECK-UP IMMEDIATELY!" Azazel shouted at the top of his lungs, and the door broke down as a fallen angel female in scrubs and a surgical mask came in at Azazel's call. He pointed at her dramatically.
"Coca! Give him a thorough check-up! I want you to find out any problems with him, and write down any of them! I want everything, any blood-lines, possible angelic ancestors, demonic or otherwise, amount of magic radiated per minute measured in demonic, then human standards, and of course; semen production count!" Azazel demanded. The woman nodded, moving towards a nervous Issei.
"W-why do you want to know my semen production!?" he shouted, and Azazel smiled.
"Why, to see how many hot Fallen Angel girls I can bed to you!"Azazel said, laughing manically. Issei squirmed even more now.
"I DON'T WANT TO BE A CHILD FACTORY!" he shouted, clearly distressed. Azazel kept cackling in the prospect of studying Issei and his powers, and as Coca's hand reached towards a bound Issei (when did Azazel tie him up!?) many things happened at once.
From the north side of the house, the side opposite of where the door was, the entire wall was destroyed as a girl ran in with a taller, red-headed male who were followed by an entire group of people.
From the west side of the house, opposite the stairs leading to the second floor, the entire wall was blasted apart as well, two people following a blond girl and male to match.
Pretty soon, Azazel, Coca, Issei and Raynare were standing in the middle of two opposite sides. On one side stood Xenovia, Asia, Gabriel and a man with golden hair, a semblance of power around him.
Opposite from them stood Sona Sitri and her entire peerage, Leviathan Serafall, and man with red hair.
"…" a moment of silence was active before all three sides began to prepare spells and shields, light spears being drawn, devil circles stopping in mid-cast, ready to be fired at will.
"Eh… I can explain?" Azazel said meekly.
"So let me get this straight," Gabriel said, still confused about the entire situation. She and the other blond man were sitting on one side of the magically enlarged table, as were Leviathan and the redhead and Azazel and Coca. On a longer side of the entire table sat Asia, Xenovia, Raynare and Issei, Sona and her peerage standing by.
"You were here to investigate that power surge that appeared a week ago," Gabriel began, pointing at Azazel, who smiled, nodding.
"You're all here because Sona Sitri's peerage are the ones in control of this territory," she continued, and the devils all nodded.
"And you live here," Gabriel continued, smirking at Issei, who looked rather stressed.
"That just about sums it up I think, Gabriel," Issei said, rubbing his neck, irritated. "Although I do have to ask, since I only know most of you. What are your names?" he asked the blond and redhead men.
"My name is Michael, Archangel and leader of the Seraph and angels," Michael said, nodding to Issei.
"My name is Sizerch Lucifer, one of the Maou and the older brother of Rias Gremory," Lucifer said, also nodding. Issei sighed.
"Alright then. I don't suppose I could just ask you all to politely leave?" he asked hopefully. A bunch of heads shaking answered his question. "I thought not. I assume that you all have something to speak to me about then," he sighed.
"Yes, in fact we do. Though I'm not sure what the importance of Azazel's supposed 'check-up' was," Michael said, glancing at the Governor, who shrugged.
"You all know how I get with Sacred Gears, and something like Issei's never happened before."
"And might I ask, exactly what happened?" Lucifer asked, a tad curious now.
"The boy achieved Balance Breaker with not only one of his opposing Sacred Gears, but both. Though he did lose quite a bit of control as a result," Gabriel said immediately.
"Gabriel! Don't give away secrets so easily!" Michael chastised, and Gabriel shrunk back a little. Issei scowled at Michael.
"Be nicer to your subordinate, I already had a shouting match with Azazel-san over that," Issei said. Michael was taken aback by his impoliteness, and gritted his teeth trying to refrain from shouting. He wanted him on his side after all, and he had already shown he was defensive of his appointed Guardian Angel.
"Very well, I suppose it was simply impulsive on her part," Michael apologized, and Issei stopped glaring.
"Both though?" Lucifer asked after the long pause.
"Yes both, I tried viewing his body through the energy sensitive artificial Sacred Gear and was nearly blinded by the amount of energy his body was giving off. It's amazing I tell you," Azazel said enthusiastically. Lucifer looked hesitant, and Leviathan spoke up for the first time.
"Cha~~ you've gotten a lot stronger since you were with Rias-tan, Dragon-tan," Leviathan said to Issei in that cheerful, childish voice of hers.
"Hmm, I guess I have gotten quite a bit stronger since I last saw you," he admitted, allowing himself to brag a little. She raised her eyebrows at this however, as did Sona's peerage, who were keeping quiet. Sona looked nervous though, probably due to seeing so many high level people.
"Eh? I've never met you before, Dragon-tan, are you sure?~~" she asked me, and he nearly spoke about meeting her when they thought he was dead until he realized that it was when he was watching a clip with Gabriel.
"A-ah, I must've been mistaken," he said, trying to cover up his mistake.
"Hmm… whatever you say, Dragon-tan!" she said, and he sighed in relief, turning to Gabriel to see if she remembered. To his surprise, she was glaring at him, and when she noticed that he was looking, she turned away with a little 'hmp!'
"I-in any case, can any of you tell me what you're here for?" Issei asked, a little desperate to get all of them out of my house. Lucifer spoke first.
"Yes, actually this is a favor to me…" he said, and Issei raised an eyebrow. This guy wasn't exactly friendly in the clip…
"You see, a man from a prestigious clan of devils named the Phenex enslaved my Imouto…"
First POV (M.C. again!)
"…what…?" I thought, as I heard the words 'enslaved'. People could enslave others? Then again, I did enslave Raynare technically…
"I suppose you wish for Ise-sama to help your sister?" to my surprise, Xenovia spoke up, and I looked at her questionably. She whispered 'later' and I nodded, turning back to Lucifer, Rias' older brother.
"Yes, that's the basic gist of it. However it's not only her that's been enslaved, her entire peerage has been as well," he told me, and I scowled, remembering the little cute cat girl that had defended me.
"Why can't you do anything?" I asked. He sighed.
"I tried, believe me, I went straight to his compound and nearly destroyed everything but… then he made Rias and her peerage try to attack me and I… I couldn't handle it. I fled. I left my Imouto behind, and for all I know…" he left the threat hanging, and I realized what he meant. This Phenex man sounded abusive already, and I could tell this older brother was taking the worst of it.
"Wait a minute. Issei-kun, this'll be your next mission then. Kill the Phenex man, but avoid killing Rias Gremory and her peerage, essentially I want you to break up this marriage," Gabriel spoke up suddenly, and everybody turned to her.
"Why would you help?" Lucifer asked, sounding suspicious of her motives.
"Yes, Gabriel, why would we help?" Michael asked, confused as well.
"The Phenex and Gremory clans are both very powerful and prestigious. If they were to combine, the Devil Faction would be more unified than ever. Sorry, but we can't allow that so easily," Gabriel said to Lucifer, who cracked a grin.
"Fine by me. As long as that piece of shit dies I honestly don't care what happens, I won't allow anything to happen to my little sister," Lucifer growled, the air around him contorting a little like what happens often with me. I watched and eventually nodded, approving of the mission.
"If that's it then-" I began, before I was interrupted.
"That's not all, Dragon-tan," Leviathan interrupted me, and I turned back towards the group, waiting for her to speak.
"As a way of acknowledging the faction you've created…" she began, and I immediately heard Azazel and Michael perk up.
"Faction?" they both asked.
"Yes," I said, "as of right now, I currently am the leader of the Dragon Faction." Michael looked like he was about to scoff, while Azazel simply nodded.
"Anyways, as I way of acknowledging the faction you've created, or started, I've decided it's time I settled down~" Leviathan began, and I could sense a feeling of dread emerging.
"What?" I asked dumbly, as I felt Asia grip my arm a little tighter, and I saw Xenovia's knuckles tighten a bit, Raynare flat out saying the same words as me. Gabriel was glaring holy spears at Leviathan, but she didn't seem to notice.
"What I mean is, Dragon-tan, is that in order to ensure peace between our two factions, I've decided to arrange a marriage contract, as is my responsibility due to being the ambassador of the Devil Faction. This marriage contract includes yourself, Issei Hyoudou with myself, Serafall Levi-tan~" she said to me, and I could only gap my mouth like a fish at what she said.
"A-a marriage contract!?" I shouted in confusion, as did many others. She simply nodded at me however, and explained what this meant.
"Yes. This means that I'll be moving into your house within a week, and we'll be married within a year, though it can be broken off before then. That also means that So-tan will become your Imouto though!~" she said, and I noticed Sona looking embarrassed, was that why she looked nervous earlier? Because she knew of her older sister's weird personality?
"I-I, don't I have a choice in this matter!?" I asked, and the girls next to me finally stopped being nervous in front of so many power figures.
"T-this can't b-be happening!" little Asia shouted.
"Azazel-sama! Make her stop!" Raynare shouted, pointing at a gleeful looking Leviathan.
"My master's wife! I thought I would be given such an honor but apparently not! I will never let go of the position of concubine though!" Xenovia declared, and to my increasing horror, I thought I saw hearts in her eyes. My god, what was the world coming to!?
"Leviathan…!" I heard Gabriel growl. Leviathan smiled at her, but not the nice type of smile. I could nearly feel the anger and malice directed through it.
"Gabriel-tan, I suppose I've won the first round, eh?"
"Damnit you!"
That day was the day in which I truly experienced chaos.
A while later, everyone had left. I had assured Lucifer that I would help with his sister, and he had promised me anything if I succeeded, though I'd only be holding onto the favor in case I got into his bad side.
Gabriel had, of course, stayed behind to sleep over, as she normally did. To my surprise, after Azazel and his assistant did their check-up on me, he had left with the information, promising to be able to stabilize my body by the next morning, and so he had left.
Michael had left a rather sour taste in my mouth, as what he had wanted to talk to me about wasn't anything I wanted to, especially after Leviathan's statement.
Flashback
"So you see, Issei-san, we are running out of stronger Angels. Thus, I thought it would be prudent for you to help us by perhaps breeding with Gabriel or another of the Angels," Michael said bluntly. I shook my head.
"That's not going to happen, Michael-san. Gabriel's already tried, but if I want to do that kind of stuff… it'll be much later anyways. I'm only fifteen for heaven's sake!" he smiled.
"Yes… for Heaven's Sake," he said.
Leviathan had left in a bit of a hurry, saying something about a cosplay shoot or something. She also assured me that she'd move in within a few days, not really giving me much of a way to refuse what she said, or protest in any way.
I sighed deeply as I sat in my previously ruined house, Gabriel having fixed it up for me. I gripped the sides of the couch as I tried to get my mind the organize itself, and process all the new information that had came in.
I was to go to a noble Devil Marriage the following day, by the afternoon, and assassinate a grade one prick. That actually sat well with me, except for the fact that I would have to see Rias again.
Serafall Leviathan, one of the Maou of the Underworld, had pretty much said we were going to marry each other.
Azazel, leader of the Fallen Angels, had assured me that he could heal me in a mere day.
Oh yes, and of course Xenovia had explained while blushing that, since I had essentially saved her (though I wasn't in control of myself at the time, Albion and Ddrag were) that I was her 'lord' again, whatever that meant…
…
How eternally troublesome…
A few hundred feet away from an enormous castle, a figure sped past, running through the treetops and fleeing as if Lucifer himself were after them.
A flash of white showed as the girl continued to run, thoughts running through her mind furtively as she tried to run as fast as she could, crying as tears ran from her cheeks, knowing that she was essentially abandoning her family.
But she couldn't do it. She couldn't stay in that cursed home for any longer. I watched from above as the girl finally slowed down, coming to a clearing, where a stream ran constantly, koi fish swimming in it.
The girl, who I had now identified as Koneko, had finally slowed down, allowing me to get a clear look at her disheveled appearance.
Her black shirt was ripped in many places, her entire back being shown and short-shorts torn. She wore a little black choker, and nothing covered the brand that was on her shoulder, a strange little insignia that had 'slave' above it.
She cautiously poked at the water with her hand, as if it were a paw. I don't know how, but I could easily hear her thoughts, as she relaxed a little, believing herself to be safe.
Immediately however, alarms began to blare and she stiffened, startled as she looked around like a cornered animal. Out of the nearby bushes came a long, fiery hand that snatched her up before she could react and she was dragged howling and screaming back to the mansion.
I awoke from my dream with a start, rubbing my face a little. A dream though? It had seemed so real…
I yawned a bit as my heart rate slowed down considerably, and I smacked my lips together a few times, the room still blurry to my eyes. I looked to my left, and saw Gabriel, her angelic features really showing as she was on her side facing me, hands together and put up near her face. She looked really cute, and a few strands of her blond hair had fallen on her face.
On my right side, I saw Raynare surprisingly enough, though she wasn't asleep. Rather, she was just laying in bed, hands behind her head. She noticed me looking and turned to face me, not saying a word.
"Hey," I whispered quietly. She nodded to me, still not saying anything. She wasn't wearing her maid outfit for once, instead she was in a small black T and pajamas. Where she got the cloths… I had no clue.
"Why are you over here?" I asked quietly. She shrugged, and I sighed, ignoring the fact that she was essentially sharing the bed with us, before I laid back in bed, and the two of us just looked at the ceiling for a while, not doing anything.
"You know, I expected him to take me back," I heard Raynare say a while later. I turned my head a bit to face her.
"Really?" I asked, not having really thought of it.
"Yeah. I… I know it's a bit childish, but I always have served him, yet he just… threw me out, practically, like an old shoe," she said wistfully. I nodded, understanding why she was acting the way she was.
"You liked him, didn't you?" I asked.
"No, it wasn't like that… it was more like… like he was support, always there and all that crap. Like he was a long-time friend or mentor that just threw me out like yesterdays news," Raynare said, exasperated. I nodded again, turning back to face the ceiling, before checking the clock. It said that it was 6:30, and normally they left the house at 7. I wasn't going with them, obviously.
"How's school been?" I asked. She snorted.
"Easy. All I have to do really is watch over the little one. She's always too enthusiastic about things, and get's hit on by the older guys sometimes," she said conversationally. I chuckled a little.
"That sounds like her alright. You been making any friends?" I asked. She snorted again.
"Are you trying to act like my dad now or something? School's fine, worry about your shit first, Ise-sama," she said blankly. I shrugged, ignoring what she said.
"Look, from what it sounds like, Xenovia's going to be going to school with you guys also, can you please try and make her feel welcome?" I asked. She seemed to ponder on it.
"As long as she doesn't pull out her Excalibur or insult Asia, I'm fine," she told me. I nodded.
"Thanks, though I meant more that she doesn't exactly understand modern culture, she was an isolated church kid, remember?" I reminded. She had an 'oh!' moment and nodded back.
"Gotcha. Okay, I'll help make sure she doesn't bring condoms to school or something. Something's bugging me though. Do you really think I'm a friend of yours? You said something about it when Xenovia and her friend first insulted us," Raynare asked suddenly, turning to face me as Gabriel was. I suddenly found it a bit hard to speak.
"Y-yeah of course," I rambled. She pouted a little.
"Then why do I have to be your slave?" she asked me. I sighed, wondering how to answer her question.
"I suppose… that it was just to make sure you didn't slit my throat at the time or something. Admit it, if I hadn't done what I did before, would you really even be asking me this question?" I said. She shook her head.
"I'll admit, my old ways of thinking were really bad, even for a Fallen Angel. I get it now, so does that mean you'd be willing to cancel the contract now?" she asked me. I chuckled quietly, before shaking my head.
"Heck no. I always have wanted a maid to do every single thing I asked," I grinned in a perverted manner. She rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"Are you serious? You probably don't even know the female anatomy, or how to properly turn a girl on, or-" she began, and I felt my face heat up with every single point she made.
"Quiet!" I hissed, getting up and rolling over her to get out. We made eye contact at close proximity, but I just kept going and landed on the ground.
"I'm going to go make some food, stay in bed today or relax or whatever. Don't do your duties today," I said on my way out.
"Thanks," I heard after a while, when I was halfway through changing. Strange, I never really cared about changing in front of them.
"Erm… no problem," I said, tossing my clothes in a basket before walking out the room. Big day!
When I got to the kitchen, I was surprised (and a little shocked) that Azazel himself was casually sitting at the dining table, reading an article. He had little glasses on, and was eating a bowl of cereal.
"Good morning, Issei-san. I presume you are ready to stabilize your power?" he asked, and after snapping out of my stupor and writing off his appearance in my house as a regular occurrence, I nodded, grabbing some cereal myself before I heard a murky voice in my head from Ddrag.
[Watch it, partner. Remember you have to eat more healthily if you want your first plane to get stronger] he chastised, and I grumbled a bit, taking out a few eggs that Gabriel or somebody else had no doubt picked up. I took out the oil as well, and poured some on the pan, waiting for the stove to heat up.
"Now now, Issei, wouldn't you like to do that with magic instead? The process of correcting your magical balance while painful is very quick," he told me. I raised an eyebrow.
"Painful? I guess that was to be expected…" I muttered, "very well. How long is 'very quick'?" I asked.
"Oh, perhaps a minute or two, depending on how much pain you can tolerate," Azazel said off-handedly. I looked at him in shock. It would only take a minute to correct my magical balance!?
"Well then what are we waiting for?" I said, turning off the stove as a precaution. Azazel, taking a hint, reached inside of his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a glowing orb that had condensed colors in it.
"What… what is that?" I asked, confused and amazed.
"This," he said, holding up the sphere for emphasis, "is a sphere of highly concentrated Yin magic. I studied your body results yesterday and for some reason, there was a high dosage of Yang magic in it, though this probably didn't cause your magic spike and control loss, I guarantee you its harmful. This is what will cleanse you of the evil magic's, as well as return your vitality. You have no doubt been feeling quite tired recently, no?" he asked. I shook my head. "That's strange… in any case, if we do not remove this power, you will eventually die, possibly in the very near future. Thus, while this is what will cause the majority of the pain, it is at the same time, very necessary," he said. I sighed, before nodding.
"And what will reset my magic control?" I asked. He sighed.
"That part's actually quite simple. All I have to do is expand your magical reserves. Despite how much magic you can already leak out, there is still a lot that is latent, and remains unused. This magic, if drawn out, will both dilute your body of the dragon influence and raging war, as well as increase your natural control and of course, magical reserves. This will mean a very high increase in power, though I'm sure you'll be at best, as strong as my former follower, Kokabiel, without using Balance Breaker. Keep in mind however, that I can only do this once. After, you'll have too much magic to handle in your body, and opening up your reserves more would damage your body even worse."
"Wait, do you mean my reserves contain more than my body can handle?" I asked, slightly shocked.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I would say you that if you were a devil, you would have about as much magic as Sizerch himself. Given, this is just an estimation on my behalf. I don't really know how much magical power your body has, just what it allows me to see," he said. I nodded after a while, looking at the condensed Yin magic.
"Hit me," I said, flexing my body and clenching my fists to try and brace myself. He nodded before tossing up the ball a few times, and on the third catch he lunged forward, the yin magic penetrating deep within my stomach as it cleansed my body.
The first thing I felt was pain. Immense and continuous pain. It felt as if someone had ripped out a vital organ of mine, yet kept me alive. Or if someone had taken out a not so vital organ of mine, and stitched me up again.
It was a thousand times worse than getting a spear of light in the chest. Yet soon, I realized it was fading, and before the feeling of pain left, I felt a sigh of relief, from me or from Azazel. With a sigh, the pain stopped, and the world returned to normal, having been a blank canvas of white a second ago.
I groggily opened my eyes to find myself sitting on the couch, the worried expressions of Gabriel, Raynare, Asia, Xenovia and Azazel all above me. I mumbled incoherently, but somehow Raynare picked it up, getting me a glass of water.
I gulped it down eagerly, before sitting upright and breathing heavily.
"Why… why are you guys all out here?" I croaked. I must've been screaming or something.
"I… I heard you scream, Onii-chan!" I heard Asia say. Well, that confirmed it.
"S-sorry about that guys," I wheezed, letting my magic work to repair my vocal chords a little. To my surprise, the second I thought about it, the tissue in my throat repaired itself, barely any magic used.
"Are you quite alright, Issei-kun? Azazel here forgot that I can cleanse people of Yang energies," Gabriel said, directing a glare at Azazel, who looked apologetic.
"Its fine, I'm fine. How long was I out?" I asked, trying to look for a clock.
"You weren't, that's the thing. You just suddenly stopped screaming and came to. To be honest, I thought you'd keep screaming," Raynare admitted, and I nodded. Xenovia hadn't said anything, but it didn't look like she would any time soon.
"Look guys, thanks for the concern and all but I'm fine now. As a matter of fact, I feel great, amazing even," I said, gently pushing them all back a bit as I levitated myself onto my feet, walking hastily over to the kitchen.
"Issei-san, I don't honestly think it's a good idea-" Azazel began, but I ignored him, waving a hand over all of the food products. Over the eggs I pictured them shedding the shell immediately, before being superheated and spun in a miniature vacuum as the heated.
When my hand waved over the oranges, I used my left hand, focusing Ddrag's power onto them. Immediately, all of the oranges doubled, then tripled in size before I threw them up, using Albion's power to slice off all of the skin, the peels going into the trash due to a little breeze that carried them there, the oranges being crushed by a mental clap that near obliterated them.
The bread was also tossed up, and I pictured more mental claps, a pile of toast falling perfectly onto a plate that was telepathically pulled out of a nearby cupboard.
"See?" I said, levitating all of the food and carrying it over to the table. I pointed at a nearby apple and simply willed it to completely strip itself of the skin and low and behold it flew at me at a manageable speed completely skinned, my right hand darting out multiple times to provide apple slices, each of which were enlarged by my left.
"Okay, while I do admit that's impressive, Issei-san, your body-"Azazel began. I sighed, before nodding, telepathically pushing my food away and facing him.
"Yes?" I asked. He grimaced.
"Your body still isn't exactly accustomed to this much magic running through it, so I think it'll only be a matter of time before your 'anger issues' catch up. I think you need to lower it to a manageable amount, so we don't get into another shouting match," Azazel explained.
"He has a good point, Milord," Xenovia added. I sighed before nodding, finishing up my food as quickly as possible.
"While I understand the need to lose some magic to keep sanity, Azazel, he's going to be battling the Phenex boy soon. He can expend his magic then," Gabriel said, surprising me. Oh right, I was still to go and kill the Phenex guy, opps…
Azazel snapped his fingers, "Right, he does! Well in which case, I leave him to you, have fun kid," he said, leaving with a flash of light. I stared at the spot he had previously occupied dumbly, before shrugging. Weirder stuff had happened.
"Now then, the wedding starts in about fifteen minutes, so you've got to get ready. Xenovia, Asia, Raynare, don't you all have school today?" Gabriel asked, and in a few seconds, the three girls were all panicking. I watched them and smiled, before they left and Gabriel sat down across from me.
"Look, Issei, while I know my mission for you was simply to kill this Phenex guy, I have to explain something…" she began. I looked at her expectantly, "those of the Phenex clan can regenerate, as their bodies are essentially made of fire. Thus, I really, really hope you can't be hurt by fire," she said, and I laughed a bit. A fact that I had long forgotten to mention came up.
"Erm, actually Gabriel, I'm immune to fire for the most part. You see, when I began to learn magic on my own, I accidentally lit myself on fire, but I didn't burn. Not even the hottest flame I could conjure. So I honestly don't think that this guy is going to be too big of an issue for me," I explained. She sighed, but nodded.
"Alright then. I suppose you can be a little cocky, considering you took down Kokabiel a while ago, though of course, you weren't in control at the time. Just be careful, okay?" she pleaded uncharacteristically. I hesitated a little, but nodded, patting her on the head awkwardly, considering she was as tall as I was.
"Now then, a kiss for good luck!" she said, surprising me as she darted forward, pinning me against the wall as I stood up and got ready. My eyes widened as her tongue swirled a bit in my mouth, before she stopped, blushing for some reason. I saw a hint of black, and her expression turned from bliss to irritation.
"Oh damn it! Why must that always happen!?" she exclaimed, and I couldn't help but laugh now, watching as she pouted at me in a cute little face.
Elsewhere, in the Underworld, a mansion was being lit up in lights and music, hundreds of guests in dresses and tuxes littering the property, but more importantly was the interior.
Underneath a large spotlight, five figures sat gagged and blindfolded, each wearing a choker as well, with a sign of 'SLAVE' visible on their shoulders. These five figures, each thoroughly disheveled, were being watched by other devils, all feeling a mixture of disgust and amazement at the scene of the younger sister of one of the Maou and her peerage being reduced to this.
Sizerch Lucifer himself and his wife Grayfia stood stoically near the five, both being watched as well, though they weren't supposed to know that.
Not too far away, Serafall Leviathan was standing by as well, her normal cheerful expression unreadable, though she was the standing Satanist.
Riser was having the two watched due to the fact that he hadn't forgotten the attack he and his family had taken from the redhead Maou days prior, nearly all the defenses falling before Rias and her peerage were sent out, controlled under the brand and ordered to try and kill the Maou.
The man himself sat on a golden throne, as egotistical as it looked, many of the devils were actually applauding his boldness, and many expected him to be next in line as a potential Maou, should one of the current die.
He wore formal robes, covered with symbols of his family and his family's arms. Their motto was written in Latin as well, across his chest. "Never kneel your head to those less worthy," was the motto, and everyone that knew it saw him as a prime example.
"Now then, if I could have everyone's attention while my concubine- I mean wife is dressed, I shall present this evening's entertainment!" he announced, spreading his arms in a wide, grand gesture.
The crowd quieted and faced him, Rias and her peerage being brought by a devil who brought them by their chains, ushering them into a nearby room.
A door near Riser suddenly swung open, and out from it came his own peerage, all fifteen females dressed at a bare minimum, and all still feeling the effects of the last battle against the Gremory Peerage.
Sizerch's eyes narrowed.
"As you may know, I was nearly defeated in battle by Rias Gremory when I challenged her to a Rating Game. And whose fault is it? These despicable slaves of mine! Why should I even have a servant, if she cannot do her duty? Why should I have these miserable creatures, is it for my sexual benefit alone? What is the worth of a worthless slave I ask you!?" Riser asked the crowd. Nobody answered, and Riser continued.
"Nothing! There is no use in a slave that has no uses, as any devil man should know! So answer me, most noblest of the Underworld; what does one do with a worthless pawn!?" he asked, and again nobody answered, but he already knew an answer.
"He throws them away!" he said, beckoning a girl to his side, before reaching into her, a vortex of fire appearing above her chest. When he finished, he had in his hand a pawn piece, and the girl fell to the ground, her staff falling as well.
"This is madness!" Sizerch said quietly, his wife nodding as the two stared at the Phenex.
"So I encourage you, friends, rivals, leaders, followers alike," he said, with each word taking out a chess piece from the girls.
"Get rid of what you have no use for! There is no need to be so hesitant," he finalized, taking out his own Queen's piece, leaving her a crumbled heap at his feet.
While Riser was busy abusing and disowning his peerage, Issei had just knocked out a guard in red and black armor on the outskirts of the grounds. The guard had been female (as most of the non-important members of the Phenex clan seemed to be) and hadn't proven a threat at all. He ignored her, tying her up with twine before continuing on his trek up to the mansion.
1st POV
"One more down, a hundred more to go," I muttered to myself as I snuck through the brush, Raijin on my shoulder.
"(Don't sweat it. There's a few flying around up there, three I think. Oh, and one off in the brush to the right, two on the left)" Raijin relayed to me.
"Go it," I muttered to him, covertly using the Tamer's spell of silence before bringing several things of twine to life, sending them off to the different directions. Several shouts of surprise that only reached me due to the spell alerted me of their positions, and five minutes later there were six more unconscious devils.
"This is getting really easy," I said, looking into my pouch to see how much twine I had left. Plenty.
3rd POV
Back in the room, Rias Gremory and the rest of her peerage had finally been brought out, Rias sporting a strapless white gown, Koneko and Akeno following suit while Gasper and Kiba both were dressed in simple Suits. Sizerch grimaced as he sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that Issei hurry up. His little sister was about to be married!
Riser laughed one time as he faced Rias, Serafall Leviathan appearing to give the vows. She spoke with a much more strained voice than usual, but otherwise tried her best to sound unbiased.
"We have all come here today to celebrate the coming together of two lovers," she said, and Grayfia began to cry silently, Sizerch wrapping his arms around his wife.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come soon," he whispered, kissing her head as the two watched.
Low and behold, a minute after Leviathan began the speech, she grinned characteristically and stopped. Riser gave her an irritated look as the entire room began asking why she had stopped. She suddenly broke out into laughter, and Sizerch, realizing why, broke into a wide smile.
"Why'd you stop, you crazy bitch?" Riser growled, ignoring the fact that he was speaking to one of the Maou. She simply laughed in his face however, her sides beginning to hurt from what was happening.
"That's why, you dumb fuck~" she said, pointing to the door. The door suddenly thumped once, then twice, two human sized bumps being created in it. Finally a third thump sounded, and the grand dual doors flew off the hinges, three armored guards falling to a heap on the floor.
"Who the hell is that?" Riser began, staring at the teen standing defiantly where the door was. "Whatever. Guards! Get him!" he shouted, and suddenly, fifty guards appeared and began rushing him, as he stood still.
"Heh, it'll take a hell of a lot more than that to take me down," Issei said confidentially, putting one foot forward as he put his hands together, making a circle with his index fingers and thumbs. He centered the circle on the large group of devils.
1st POV
"Divine FireBlast V.2 baby!" I shouted, and from the circle created my hands came a huge burst of fire, purple in color with blue streaks in it. It ran completely through the group of guards, disintegrating any on contact. Then came the second Firebolt, which was white in color, streaks of yellow streaked in, which also ran through the group of guards, destroying any more survivors, as well as any that were regenerating. Last came the third Firebolt, which, red and violet in color, ran straight into any survivors of the first two attacks, but this time, those that were reviving were actually knocked out automatically, there being a large block of ice in the coolest fire, being protected from the heat by further concentration on where the bolt burned.
I heard shocked gasps of surprise throughout the crowd, but ignored them, instead concentrating on controlling where the bolts ran, and pretty soon, they were headed towards Riser. His eyes widened and before contact, I erected a fire-resistant shield around the Gremory Peerage, not wanting them to get hit in the explosion.
With enough color to hit the color spectrum off the charts, the three bolts collided with Riser simultaneously, creating an explosion that rocked the entire mansion and very near threatened to take it down entirely. Seeing how the crowd was disoriented from the explosion, I saw Lucifer and Leviathan take the cue to hold the crowd back, many probably wanting to fight me, or run to the pricks side. I was thankful for their help.
"Get up, Riser! I know that's not nearly enough to kill you," I sneered, and as if spurned on by my comment, a figure rose out of the smoke, and within seconds, Riser was facing me, his skin much more red than usual, hair a little singed, face covered in soot.
"You dare to burn a Phenex! How mad are you?" he shouted across the room. I laughed, beckoning him to come at me with a hand gesture. He snarled before speaking his next words.
"Who are you, arrogant enough to challenge one of the next Maou's!?" he asked me, pointing a finger. I looked at him for a moment, before laughing, locking expressions with Lucifer who shook his head.
"Oh you know, just a random, traveling warrior," I smirked, realizing that it'd be important to refrain from letting him know my true power 'til a bit later, when we fought.
"Damn you!" he shouted, running at me, wings of a phoenix sprouting from his back, pure fire in essence. It was an intimidating move, very flashy, but it wasn't very powerful as far as I could tell. As he ran (he had quite a bit of distance to cover) he punched at me multiple times, sending little fireballs at me at rapid speeds. The first few hit me, but honestly, they were simply fire in essence, so my resistance came through, and they did nothing.
Seeing this he scowled, before kicking out at me with a classic roundhouse at very fast speeds. So fast that my duck was barely fast enough to get out of the way, his leg actually clipping my ear a little, before I threw a quick one-two to his chest, though it seemed to do nothing at all. I began to try and add a gravity spell to him, to slow him down, but before I could do anything, another one of his kicks nearly got me, and I had to return to dodging and weaving.
Pretty soon he seemed to get tired of this however, and he faked a kick, my duck putting me in perfect position to receive a solid fist to the stomach, giving me a little air, knocking the breath out of me for a split moment. I dropped low, trying to perform a leg sweep but he did a little hop to get out of the way, weight forward as he fell, all of his weight into his fist as he began to swing. Before he could however, I used the momentum from my failed leg sweep to kick at him, knocking him back by his hands and the two of us got up again, a little worse for wear.
While Riser only had the injuries he had taken from my magical fireball, I wasn't so good. My ear was still ringing from all of the clips I had gotten from his kicks, and I could feel my stomach begin to bruise.
"Damnit!" I thought, "My physical strength still can't match up to his!" As he rushed me again, however, a thought occurred to me.
"Rapid Fire Ice shards!" I shouted, lifting my palms up to face him as he sprinted at me, multiple dangerous-looking, sharp as hell icicles came shooting at him, a result of my taking moisture out of the air and rapidly condensing it, before sending them at him. To my annoyance, he simply burned straight through all of them, and I still had my palms facing him.
He quickly, in a mere moment, grabbed my right arm with his two hands and tucked it in between his two, before he twisted it in to a weird angle, pain shooting up my arm and from my hand, my hand feeling like someone was stabbing it with a million small, sharp needles.
"Gah!" I cried out, trying to punch him with my other hand only for it to have no effect. He let go of my now broken hand, before punching my twice in the face, sending me flying back from the force. I flew through the air, landing hard on the ground from the blows.
"Agh…!" I said, holding my face with my not-broken hand. I was getting thrashed!
"Come on, punk, I can still go a few more rounds," I heard Riser say cockily, most likely smirking. I tried to get to my feet, only for him to punch me in the stomach again, sending me flying back and into a wall, where I sunk to the ground.
"Alright then…" I thought, wiping my mouth from the blood that was now running out, "No more mister nice guy," I thought, before groggily reaching forward, as if I was going to collapse forward. Instead, however, I slammed my fists into the ground-broken hand included- and watched in satisfaction as the ground shook, my hands transferring magic into the ground the create the earthquake, which sent ripples throughout the room, destroying plenty of it.
"What the-!" Riser began. I grinned as I got up slowly onto my feet, savoring the moment.
"Good luck, Riser," I began raising my hands up.
"More magic? I hardly think that'll work," he replied cockily.
"No, not that. Let's go, Boosted Gear!" I shouted, and my left sleeve was completely destroyed as the familiar red gauntlet appeared, shredding anything that had been covering it. To my surprise and pleasure, my entire right arm was now covered with the Sacred Gear, it ending at my shoulder, where there were spikes protruding back from it. The entire Sacred Gear was covered in large jewels, green in color, and covering each jewel was a protruding spike, the colors being alternating between yellow and white, and the knuckle part having spikes protruding forward as well. There were a total of ten jewels on the Sacred Gear, but they were all huge, much larger than they had been in previous transformations.
"What in…!?" I heard Riser ask. Before he could continue however, I lifted both hands forward, and shouted another two words.
"Divine Dividing!" I shouted, and felt my entire right arm, again up to the shoulders, get covered with the armor. While ten jewels were also evident, they actually created three circles around my wrist and two around my upper arm, circling around my entire arm. In between the circles were where spikes grew out in white, and to my surprise, there were also spikes on the knuckles.
I felt my wings stretch out as I released them, a brilliant amount of white appearing as I spread them wide and flapped them a few times, before having them fully balanced and usable. Across from me, Riser simply watched with an open mouth, before he seemed to have realized I finished.
"Tell you what. Become my serf," he said suddenly, and I nearly lost all of my composure, asking him, "what!?"
"I said become my serf. With your power, the two of us could easily become Maou's! Think of it, the entire Devil World at your command, all that you could ever want. Do you know that I disowned my peerage earlier? You can have them as your sex slaves if you wish, I really don't care," he said, and I couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Are you serious!? Become your serf!? More like your slave! I wouldn't ally myself with you if you got down on all four limbs and begged me to! Now get ready to die!" I said, spreading my wings for emphasis.
"Oh, and by the way: Boost!" I shouted, Boosted Gear echoing me. He growled at me, before throwing himself at me, fist raised. His fist met Divine Dividing in a second, and as we strained against each other, I shouted, "Divide!" some of his power left him, traveling into me and being expelled out of my wings as we continued to trade blows, neither of us even bothering to block. Why should we, when neither of us needed it?
I ate my words in a few seconds when I began to feel my body break down, and realized that despite my accomplishments, I was still a human with a weak body. One last push sent him flying away as I shouted once again, "Divide!"
The two of us now stood a dozen meters away from each other, and both of us were breathing heavily. From what I could see, I had made a large bruise appear on his face, while I spat out blood, and I had a black eye.
"Damn," I muttered, before realizing that ten seconds had long passed, "Boost!" I shouted, green aura flying up from me.
"Do you… give up… now…?" Riser asked me in between pants, trying to look tough. Idiot, any fool could tell that both of us were tired.
"You wish," I said, trying to catch my breath. A 'boost' later made me feel more pumped, but as we faced each other, I felt myself begin to see black, and cursed.
"Why can't I handle this guy when I was easily able to deal with Kokabiel!?" I asked myself.
(Idiot. Obviously it's because you weren't in control of yourself before, we were, and because you were using Balance Breaker. Don't be a fool and believe that that was all you before) Albion chastised, and I winced, realizing what he had said was right.
"What now then?" I asked hopelessly.
[Partner, remember what I told you about the fourth plane in a human, and how it's where we reside?] Ddrag asked. I mentally nodded.
[Well it's also where sub-species of Sacred Gear can be activated, since right now, every Sacred Gear wielder has multiple, latent sub-species. I… I believe one is 'waking up'] Ddrag told me. Sub-species? Wasn't that-?
"I got it," I said, spitting out more blood.
"You've got what? Admit it, fool, you're going to die," Riser said across from me. I smirked.
"Not that. What I've got is what that thing Ddrag meant is. Alright then, buddy, let's try this shit out!" I declared, pounding my fists together.
"Boosted Gear: Exponential Growth! Divine Dividing: Direct Divide!" I shouted, feeling pure power surge through me. With a shout, I punched the ground with Boosted Gear, and suddenly, I felt my power square itself. Then cube itself. Suddenly I was more powerful than I had ever been, and only after two levels!
Next, I directed my right gauntlet at a shocked Riser, and with evident glee, I said, "Divide!" causing Riser to gasp as he lost power and I gained even more power, before nearly filling my reserves back to the top. I felt my hand that had been snapped realign itself, at my blackened eye healed completely, my stomach no longer feeling like someone had caved it in. Even the small scrapes were now gone, and my ear no longer felt crushed.
"Hahaha!" I laughed, as Riser watched, no doubt amazed by how much power I had.
"Still think you'll kill me?" I asked rhetorically, before bringing up my hands, having an idea.
"Thanks for the power, now disappear, Dual Dragon Shot!" I shouted, creating two miniature, concentrated orbs of magic, one white one red, in each palm, before tossing them up and sucker-punching each of them, a huge blast of power emitting from both when I punched, completely disintegrating the cocky Devil.
Within a few seconds, I began to laugh and laugh as I stood over his ashes, thinking it ironic that he had died so easily. As I turned my back away from him however, I looked at the crowd to see what their expressions were. To my surprise, both Leviathan and Lucifer looked concerned, and a split second passed before they began to try and warn me, but their warnings came too late.
I looked down to see a hand sticking out of my stomach, and I fell to the ground sideways as my life began to fade, gauntlets and wings disappearing.
The world began to dim as I heard laughter and yelling, and a few brightly color lights appear. The world began to darken even more as my eyelids began to feel heavy. When I finally blinked, I could see a man in a boat, asking for a coin.
What…? Coin? Where did I put my coin…
Wait… why do I need a damned… coin…?
Why should I pay this… guy?
When will I get up and keep… fighting?
How did I end up nearly… dead?
Dead? Was that what I was? Dead?
I can feel my soul now, strange as it is. I can feel the cold seeping into my body.
Am I going to die?
I guess I… I guess I'm done then.
Sorry, Asia, for not being that great of an older brother.
Sorry Raynare, you'll no doubt die now also, or be free of your enslavement.
Sorry Gabriel, I never really gave in, despite how much you tried.
Sorry Serafall, I guess we'll never get married.
Sorry Arc and Raijin, I… I guess you guys will be stuck there for a while…
And lastly… I'm sorry Irina, I guess I'll be seeing you sooner than I thought.
Are you serious?
What? Who's there?
I'm asking you, are you completely serious? You killed Kokabiel, one of the most powerful Fallen Angels, only behind the leader himself, and yet you can't take down one measly brat in a noble devil clan?
Hey, quiet you! It's not like I could go Balance Breaker on him again, like I did on Kokabiel! Besides, I heard Ddrag and Albion, I wasn't in control anyways…
You idiot! Despite anything they may have said, who's body actually took down Kokabiel? None other than you and Arc, the two of you easily ripped Kokabiel to shreds!
Well maybe we did…
Stop being so hesitant you damn idiot! Blah blah blah, whining about death and all of that. What a little coward!
Excuse me!?
You heard me! What are you, a little freshly hatched Dragon with his tail in between his legs?
Shut up! It's not my fault I died!
But you aren't dead yet! That's the thing! Now don't miss out on what I did, go on and kill the bastard!
He's immortal though!
Nothing is immortal.
Well… well he regenerates!
Yeah, and now you know that, don't you? What does fire need to be created? What resists fire?
Obviously, fire needs air to burn, and what resists fire? A lot of things, rocks, water puts it out…
You see!? Now go on, go back and kick his ass!
I… I guess it's possible. Wait, wait who are you!?
Come on, you would forget me Issei-kun? I'm shocked! Whatever, we'll meet up again soon, now go on and kick his ass!
In an instant, I was back in my body, and I gasped as I looked down to the bloody hole in my stomach. Within a few seconds, the hole was patched up as if nothing at all had happened to it, and I turned to look at Riser who was walking back to his slaves, the former Gremory Peerage, confident that he had won.
I flung myself at him, and in an instant I blasted him with a dragon shot which ripped through him, destroying his throne and narrowly avoiding hitting the peerage.
He began to turn himself around towards me, and I could already see the flames on his body regenerate his body, turning him back to whole. I frowned, before using Wizardry to completely cut off all the oxygen where he was standing, and the regeneration halted, his face already having been half-formed, I could see his expression of shock.
Next, I conjured a bit of sand by grinding a rock until it dissipated. With the newly acquired sand, I used the hottest mortal flame I knew, white fire, to heat up the sand and spin it rapidly until it turned into glass. I then melded the glass into a container type of material, and, still keeping Riser in a small barrier box, I began to write a symbol on the glass with my blood.
"Ddrag, Albion, please tell me you know the magical symbol for indestructible!" I pleaded, and Albion quickly described one to me.
After finishing the symbol, I followed his directions and channeled my magic into the seal, before sending another dragon shot to completely destroy Risers body and only leave the ashes. I then put my glass container near the no-O2 area, before using a breeze to make all of Riser's ashes fall into the container, before I capped it with a bit of the granite on the ground, by cutting some off with Albion's power and melting it into a sort of cap.
I then began to toss the glass container up and down, before walking over to a happy-looking Lucifer.
"Well then, Lucifer. I think I'll take this little guy, to make sure he doesn't somehow escape, and I'd like all of the things owned by Riser to now be mine, considering I practically own him," I said, still tossing the glass container up and down.
"Don't do it, Lucifer-sama!"
"Kill him where he stands!"
"Fool, to kill such a devil of noble blood!"
"Who's to take the throne now? I heard Riser-sama killed his father!"
The devils behind Lucifer and Leviathan all began to protest, but Lucifer himself still had a large grin on his face.
"Why do you feel you deserve to have the possessions of the deceased Riser Phenex?" he asked formally.
"Why, because I killed him, and besides that, I do need payment for helping to rescue damsels in distress, don't I? Actually, I need it to complete the job. You see, from what I can tell, those five won't be freed until someone that owns them 'releases' them. I kinda' need to own them to set them free, ya' know," I responded. He must've thought I meant something else, because in that moment, he looked like he had an 'oh!' moment, and put his left hand on my shoulder.
"Right then, as one of the four Maou, I hereby bestow all of the properties of the deceased Riser Phenex upon you. So mote it be," he incanted, and while I felt no different, I could tell that the grounds now welcomed me.
"Er… I declare you all free now?" I said hesitantly, gesturing a hand towards the five peerage members. They all sprung up immediately, their tattoos fading as they all looked confused and ready for battle.
"Em… what's going on…?" I heard Rias say, before she turned to face me.
Okay, so for anybody that thought this chapter was a complete and utter cluster-fuck, or that Issei keeps falling to his own arrogance or whatever, or is too weak, allow me to apologize first.
I will admit, I overestimated my own ability quite a bit. I believed that I could update weekly, with my word count going well above 10 thousand words, despite the fact that I only have at most, three 'writing sessions' a week for each chapter. Now normally this wouldn't be much of an issue, considering that's usually enough, especially with how much day-dreaming or theorizing about story ideas I have during the day. My mind is always able to jump to writing ideas, whether its from real life experiences, something I see or watch, or just the spur of the moment. It's the same with dancing of course, since I'm both a writer and dancer, and my friend actually had to stop me at school once because I really just wouldn't stop dancing, a constant beat and tune playing in my head from my own memory.
I'm getting sidetracked quite a bit… Let me just say it simply: I'm sorry for my crappy quality. I was a bit rushed. (I only had one or two 'sessions' this week) but since school is now out for me, I will try and continue this update rate, just with more sessions for me personally (I'm going to try to amp it up to about 5 sessions) and yeah.
Anyways, to anyone that wants to know, the reason today's update is so late at night is because I was attending graduation at my school. I have several friends that are graduating that I look up to, unlike the year directly above me who I view more as… comrades than teachers. I was there for quite a while, thus my late update.
Oh, and kudos to InTheYearOfTheCat once again, for reminding me to update (though he/she did it while I was getting molested by some friends of mine… though that's a story for another time [yes they were girls]) As a message to InTheYearOfTheCat, and to anybody else that every decides to send me a crazy PM telling me to update, thank you, while other authors might complain about your craziness, I love it, it makes me feel important and gives me more reason to actually update.
Okay finally, on to the story and some explanations and probably asked questions.
Why so much Raynare? I don't like her/I love her!
A review actually brought to my attention the fact that Raynare and Asia have become slightly… side… characters, more than they should be. I sought to address that in this chapter, and hopefully in future chapters as well, though of course, it will still be a harem. It'll just be super frickin' long and probably be longer than any of the stories currently in this section of fanfiction. Thus, I also decided it necessary to update more often, so I can actually finish this story before I graduate school.
Azazel-Issei confrontation? That would never happen!
To anybody complaining that Azazel was extremely OOC, or that Issei picked a fight way to easily, allow me to explain:
Azazel: Azazel in my story is as he is in the wiki description. He is someone that wants to avoid war and carnage, a pacifist basically. I've enhanced that image a little bit, and made him more wary of those that disrupt the peace. Issei in the first few moments was very, very volatile, causing Azazel to be a little wary. Then of course, his scientific and mad-scientist side kicked in after finding all about the whole balance breaker thing, and he went back to more canon-ness.
Issei: Issei is still experiencing a magic overdose in his blood at the moment, and as you no doubt saw, a bit of Yang magic in his body. This yang energy was eventually balanced out by the yin technique that Azazel helped him with, returning his temper to normal.
Semen production count?
A bit of humor on my part.
All the people appearing at his house?
Okay, Issei right now, despite really only being strong enough to take on someone a little bit more powerful than Rias at the moment, like Riser, could very easily become as strong as Ophis or Great Red. Thus, all three factions that are mainly displayed in canon, the two angels and devils, all have tabs on the house, or at least, the Angels and Devils, the Fallen Angels were much smaller of an organization, and so it took them a bit long to actually find Issei. Add the fact of course, that the first two actually took the chance to know him much earlier, first by having him a devil, then by resurrecting him. Since Azazel himself popped up at the house, all of them were probably informed and were going to stop the Fallen Angel leader from abducting Issei or something, and really only appeared at the same time by humor, on my part.
Serafall Leviathan engaging herself to Issei? Is that even possible? Is that even plausible?
Okay, let me explain some more stuff. It says in the wiki that Dragons naturally attract beings of other races of the opposite gender. Now imagine the two strongest dragons sealed in one being, who is slowly taking their power. That's a lot of attraction, right? But putting that aside, Leviathan has shown herself to be instinctive in smaller situations, though they generally are for the better sake of her, or her faction. She saw Gabriel get defended by Issei, and no doubt realized that the Angels were a step ahead of the devils, (which is imaginable considering Gabriel sleeps with him some nights, though most of them don't really know that) so she took rather drastic action. She and Gabriel are also, of course, rivals of each other, as was hinted at before by Albion (Hottest woman in hell… most beautiful in heaven). Lastly, Leviathan is the person that negotiates with other factions, as I've stated constantly. She could've easily added that as an excuse to marry herself to Issei, which she did, mind you.
And I'm going to try my best to make her still mentioned as I said earlier.
Just because they are in a marriage contract doesn't mean she's a part of the harem. That's still up to reviews, though that will be the default.
Michael's so weird? Why is he so manipulative?
Unfortunately, many power figures cannot be perfect, far from it. A leader can try to satisfy everyone, but it's nearly impossible. So Michael does the smart thing: he does everything for the 'Greater Good' (Harry Potter is not owned by me)
*ahem*, OMG, y Issei so powerful? Magic reserves? Wtf? (Sorry, I couldn't resist)
Anyways, the reason for his magic reserves being huge, even though plenty is latent? No reason really, just the fact that he will eventually match Great Red and Ophis, in case everyone forgot.
Issei vs Riser, weak as hell
In the fight against Kokabiel, Issei's magic really shone through for him, but it was the briefest of skirmishes, and yeah. This time however, Riser is coming at Issei with too much speed for Issei to really cast any spells, his mind still a little scrambled from all the magic running through his body.
Weird Sub-species…?
The sub-species I created were specifically tailored by me, and thus the ideas do belong to me (though I'd really only need someone to ask me if they wanted to use them in their story) believe me when I say that I wanted to make the sub-species more directed towards magic or something, to help Issei, but I realized that all Sub-species are connected to their base Sacred Gear. Thus, I couldn't and with a heavy heart, scrapped the idea before creating a new one: higher growth rates and long distance division. One of the major flaws or limits in Divine Dividing was originally the fact that it could only affect the target if the gear was touching it. This Sub-species actually goes past that, brilliantly enough. It'll be a great, much down-toned version of Balance Breaker form (the ten second rule does apply)
Random person talking to him?
It'll be touched on more eventually, though many people can probably guess who it is.
Albion's understanding on seals?
It'll be mentioned more eventually, it's a way to counter Ddrag's immense knowledge about swordplay and magic, since the two are rivals and nature has made them equal.
Issei gaining Riser's things?
This'll come in handy in the future, and I had to find some way over the slave seal!
Okay, a personal message to Dark scythe666. Nice guess and insight if you found it, I actually didn't realize the connection until I looked it up in wiki, which is why I added one element in this chapter. It'll be like the canon version, just a little bit… stronger…
ALRIGHT! I'M FINALLY DONE! (typing this at 10:30 PM hoping to finish before the day ends and InTheYearOfTheCat kills me)
MG TLE
DBJ JY