I do not own Highschool DxD. Highschool DxD is owned by Fujimi Shobo, Fujimi Fantasia Bunko, Funimation, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
[Ddraig talking]
[Ddraig thinking]
{Albion talking}
{Albion thinking}
|Tiamat talking|
|Tiamat thinking|
(Mastema talking)
(Mastema thinking)
Mental Communication
"Regular Dialogue"
Attacks/Spells
Ayr, Scotland, August 10, 2020, 1:30 PM, Current Time: 2 Minutes and 40 Seconds Til Midnight
"Irina glared at the demon before her… No, that doesn't sound right," a girl said to herself. She mashed the backspace button rapidly, erasing her sentence. She ran her hands through her blonde locks and sighed. Her alarm went off, causing her to groan in annoyance.
"Time to take my meds," she muttered. She got up and walked over to her table and grabbed a bottle. She opened it, taking out a small pill and placing it in her mouth. She grabbed the glass of water that sat beside it and drank it.
As she walked back to her computer chair, she suddenly fell to her knees, clutching her head. Her eyes snapped open, flickering gold repeatedly.
A scene played out before her. This one was far more horrifying than anything she had ever dreamed of or daydreamed of. In front of her was a burning town. Burnt bodies lay everywhere. Loud explosions resonated from the sky as two red blurs collided with each other. She recognized one of them. Sirzechs Lucifer. He was covered in his Power of Destruction Aura.
The other one was a woman she didn't recognize however, the woman had red hair much like Sirzechs. Her eyes were spinning with an arcane symbol. Other beings were battling as well. Gods fighting Demons. Angels fighting Demons. Devils fighting Demons.
An ear-piercing roar shattered the burning sky. A massive western dragon flew across the sky. It had to be at least a few hundred meters in length. A crown of ten horns sat upon its head with two large horns forming a v-shaped crescent and two sets of four smaller horns. The red scales on its skin were tinted black. Its eyes were a malevolent gold as it unleashed a deluge of fire on an unsuspecting group.
Another Dragon flew in the sky as well. A pure black, serpentine dragon with two pairs of feathered wings. It had a crown of six horns with two larger horns framing its snout. It roared, discharging large amounts of destructive violet lightning, scorching the land around them.
At the center of it all, a woman hovered in the air. Her snow-white hair, her toxic yellow eyes, her nigh-expressionless face made her recognizable to her. Six floating blades floated telekinetically behind her.
"It's all over… you can't fight your destiny," she said.
A boy stood in front of her. His red gauntlet tipped her off to his identity. That and the people behind him. His friends. The Occult Research Club. The boy's identity was clear to her. He was Issei Hyoudou.
"Screw destiny," Issei said.
"It is written, Issei. You are the one. You were always the one… now, accept your fate," she said as she summoned several portals all charged with powers from all Devil Clans.
She watched in horror as the woman fired.
A ringing sound interrupted her vision, the golden glow fading from her eyes. She rubbed her forehead, feeling the throbbing pain still resonating within every brain cell within her skull. She growled in annoyance as she walked over to her phone and unlocked it. A text from her editor was on the screen.
Hey, Nancy! It's me, Mikasa, your editor from Fantasia Bunko! Some people want to meet you!
Meet with me? The now-named Nancy thought.
Who wants to meet? Nancy typed on her phone.
Some new authors! They said they wanted some advice from the author of Highschool DxD!
"Oh God, fans," Nancy groaned, typing rapidly that she didn't want to meet any fans.
Like I said, they're not fans. They're just new authors who are looking for some advice and inspiration in order to get some footing on their new story!
"I guess that's fine," she said to herself.
Okay.
Sweet! They'll get to Scotland in a few days so be prepared, her editor responded.
Hyoudou Manor, One Day Earlier
"Nyaaaa~," Kuroka moaned erotically as she laid on the couch. Issei smiled with a healthy blush on his face as he massaged her back. It had been a few weeks since Kuroka and Issei had seen each other with her job in Kyoto and all that. Thus, any romantic connections that Kuroka wanted to make had to be strong and impressionable. Her job would keep her away from Issei for long periods and so, she would need to keep up with Rossweisse and Irina when she was away. Speaking of which, the two had been on more dates with Issei than she did. She could count… well, she could count how many times she hadn't been on a date with Issei. They had yet to go on one.
"Kuroka, you have a lot of stress in your mid-back," Issei said, applying some pressure.
(It seems that you're bringing her closer to orgasm than you are to removing her stress) Mastema interjected. Issei nearly jumped out of his skin at Mastema's sudden interruption.
He hadn't expected to hear from any of his mental residents today. Ddraig and Tiamat were napping inside the gear while Mastema stated that she would meditate. She was watching the entire time. Issei glanced to his side and saw the familiar translucent figure of the being inside his soul floating above Kuroka. In her arms was a bowl of popcorn chicken. Where she got the food, he didn't know.
"Come on! Don't do that! What if I accidentally hit a nerve and paralyzed her from the waist down!" Issei hissed to her.
(My bad, my bad but seriously, look at her face) Mastema said, placing her hand on her chin.
"I can see that," Issei said as he removed his hand.
"Alright, finished," Issei said.
"Issei-kun?" Kuroka said, sitting up as she put her kimono back on. She looked at him as he sat down on the couch next to her.
"I'm fine," Issei said with a slightly red face.
"Well, if you need to talk, I'm right here and will be here until… about five?" Kuroka glanced at the clock in the living room. It was 2:45 PM.
Issei nodded, looking down at the floor. He wondered how she would take it if she knew what was happening. What would happen to him at the end of the year… but he wouldn't. At least not yet. He still hadn't told his friends in the ORC nor had he told his other sisters, Asia and Lily. Maybe Kuroka could provide some insight on keeping secrets from your younger siblings. After all, Koneko never knew Kuroka's true intentions until much later and spent the majority of her life being afraid of her own powers and her sister.
"Hey, Kuroka," Issei finally said.
"Hmm?" her ears twitched as she heard Issei speak.
"How do you deal with keeping secrets from your siblings?" Issei asked.
"Secrets? Like what kind? Earth-shattering like mine or minor like the fact that you may have erectile dysfunction," Kuroka said.
"Er… earth-shattering," he clarified.
"Hmmm, well, as you know, I slaughtered my King to protect Shirone from being used as an experiment for a Demonic Power-Senjutsu merging power thing," Kuroka said. "Why what's wrong?"
Issei looked away.
"Come on Issei. You can talk to me? Don't we have something?" Kuroka asked, remembering the kiss she gave him during the Azazel Cup.
Issei looked at her, knowing what she meant. Their relationship prior to… well, everything was fairly normal. She was another member of his harem so what should change between them. Though, he did realize that their connection was fading and… he didn't want to lose her. She was still the same affectionate girl who sacrificed her entire future and freedom for family.
"Well, it's far more complicated but I guess I'll let you in on the details. I feel like you'll be the only person who understands sacrifice," Issei said.
"Alright, but you're kind of scaring me, Issei," Kuroka said.
"Yeah, me too," he said before he began spilling his guts to her.
Kegon Falls, Japan
"Irina, are you sure that we shouldn't bring Issei with us?" Rikka asked, trying to keep pace with her.
"Yeah, I mean, from what you guys told me about… what the hell Issei got himself into, it's only right, right? This is his deal. Maybe they'll rescind it if he confronts them willingly?" Bova said.
Irina stopped in the middle of the ramp, looking down at the ground and sighing. She glanced over her shoulder, her cold violet eyes unnerving the two.
"Senpai, Bova, Issei doesn't need to know about this because… lately, he's been out of it. He hasn't mentioned his deal not once. Not ever since that day Mitsuki and I found out. Now while Mitsuki spends her time in the Blacklight Data Archives looking for ways to break it, I'll go ask an actual Devil how," she responded.
"But who are you going to find? It's not like you can just walk up to any elder Devil and they'll talk to you," Bova said.
"There is one… in Blacklight who I think might help," she said, continuing her walk down the ramp.
"Wait, Dantalion? You're going to ask Dantalion?" Rikka asked.
"She's the best we've got right now," Irina responded as she walked over to the Warp Gate Terminal. She tapped the operator on the shoulder.
"Open a Gate to Sioux Falls, South Dakota," Irina said.
The operator nodded and pushed a few buttons before pulling the lever. A massive green vortex opened before them and the three walked through. On the other side, Irina, Rikka, and Bova were greeted with a massive amount of workers moving in and out of green portals. Sparing no time to reminisce about her experience here, she immediately left the hangar bay with a frazzled Rikka and Bova on her tail.
As she walked, she heard someone call out to her.
"Irina?"
Irina turned around to see Eric and Lisa standing across the hallway.
"Eric. Lisa," Irina said.
"This is a surprise. What brings you by?" Eric asked.
"I need to talk to Dantalion," she said.
"Dantalion? Uh yeah sure. Dantalion's down in the MagiTech Facility. We can take you there if you want," Lisa said as she walked over to one of the carts used to get around such a massive base.
The angel nodded gratefully as she and her friends hopped on the cart with Eric and Lisa.
"So where's Tohka and Mica?" Rikka asked.
"They're on an assignment. We've detected high amounts of monster activity in Quebec and they're taking care of it," Lisa said, turning a corner.
"Quebec? What's going on up there?" Bova asked. He was still getting used to the whole assignments thing. All he had learned so far he had learned from Rikka.
"Werewolf turf war. You see werewolves here aren't as organized as they are back in the Old World. Here they're more like gangs," Eric said. "And like gangs, werewolf packs have territories and when one pack enters the territory of another…"
"A war happens," Rikka said. "Are you sure they'll be alright?"
"They'll be fine," Lisa said. She looked in the rearview mirror to see Irina being oddly silent. Despite not knowing her well, Lisa was more than adept in psychology to see that that expression on her face was not normal. Not in the slightest. This girl had a lot on her mind. A burden that she forced herself to carry for reasons that Lisa couldn't possibly begin to fathom.
"So why are you visiting Dantalion?" Lisa asked, her yellow eyes staring directly into Irina's.
"Huh? No reason… DxD's putting together a manhunt for the demons that escaped from that Gehenna Gate and so, we figured that since Beelzebub ran the whole operation, they thought that maybe an ancient devil was working with him," she said, completely talking out of her ass.
"Hmm, so you think Dantalion might be able to identify who he was working with? Does that have anything with what might have happened down in Southeast Asia?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, possibly. I mean, Lord Hephaestus did give us these things that will compare the two signatures for a possible match," she said.
"I see," Lisa said as she slowed down outside a set of massive metal doors.
The five exited the cart and walked inside. The MagiTech Department looked similar to the one in Greece with all the people working the assembly line and whatnot. Various agents in white coats rushed past them, all looking at their tablets and expertly maneuvering their surroundings with great ease. Lisa led them to an office in the back, much like Hephaestus was.
"Dantalion," Lisa said, knocking on the door.
The door opened to reveal the silvery-blue haired devil in the middle of some work. Her toxic yellow eyes reminded Irina so much of the demons that she and her friends have fought, yet they contained none of the malevolence they did.
Interrupted from her work, Dantalion sighed and placed her tools down. She turned in her chair to look at them.
"Oh, Michael's Ace… Taki's Apprentice, and… new guy?" Dantalion said, tilting her head when she saw Bova. She smiled and crossed her arms.
"Well, well, well, you three are new visitors. I never get any new people coming down here," Dantalion said, standing.
"Wait, I'm here to ask about-"
"Upapap! Let's go make this a bit more private shall we?" Dantalion said, summoning a large magic circle. Several pieces of text from various cultures around the world revolved around the room before everything turned grey, except for them.
"Private?"
"No one can hear us speak nor see us. It's a nifty little spell I picked up while I was in…among some monks in Tibet. It's all based on a concept known as Wu… which literally means Not," she said, smiling.
"Alright," Irina said.
"So… what does the Ace of Michael want with me? Is this about the typhoon down in Southeast Asia because I can tell you right now… it wasn't me. I swear I wasn't playing with the weather machine," Dantalion said.
"The what? You know what, nevermind, what do you know about deals?" she asked.
"That's an archaic concept. I thought that stuff went out of fashion after Mom died. You know she outlawed it but secretly brought it back during the Great War because she got desperate. I mean her kids and grandkids were dying left and right and she lost Lotan and…"
"Dantalion, focus," Lisa said. "Though, I am curious… why do you want to know about an outlawed practice?"
"Because… Issei made one. A deal," Irina said.
"He did?" Eric asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I know it sounds crazy but he did. Mitsuki died a while back. Died trying to save his life and Issei just went," Irina couldn't even finish. The mere thought of her boyfriend selling his soul to such vile beings left a bad taste in her mouth.
"So how long does he get?" Dantalion asked.
"Right now… he has about six months left and he hasn't done anything to save himself. He's just taking assignments from Blacklight and DxD like nothing's happened. Like I won't have to watch him die in a year," she said.
"Have you ever thought that this might be his way of coping with his situation?" Dantalion asked.
Irina shook her head.
"I see… but anyway, let's get back to business, shall we? The deals? I can't break them per se but," she said. "To break a deal, you must do one of three things."
"What are they?" Rikka asked.
"One way is to take your contract back from the devil who holds it. This is rather difficult no?" she said.
The three nodded.
"Two is perhaps the most straightforward and easy one. All deals run on a system of magic that is based on contracts and thus, violating part of a contract would activate the magic imbued into deal-making. Said stipulation being that Issei has to die. All he has to do is survive until the next day on the day of his death," Dantalion said.
"Right, and the last?" Irina asked.
"Kill the contract holder," she said.
"Kill?"
"If for some reason, the contract holder has hidden the contract or made it impossible to access, kill the holder. A deal requires both parties to be alive, part of the contract magic that holds the entire thing together. Without the dealer, the whole contract falls apart," Dantalion said.
"Easier said than done and I don't want option three to be the one option… not unless it really has to be," Irina said.
"Okay, so the first and third one sound viable. How do we find the demon that Issei made a deal with?" Bova asked.
"That's rather easy. All you need to do is summon it," Dantalion said.
"Well, sorry to disappoint but we don't have a pamphlet with its magic circle on it lying around," Irina said.
"Oh please, not that new age bullshit. That's so… ugh. This is old. Deep dark medieval magic, complete with dead animal bones, blood, and Latin chanting," Dantalion said.
Irina grimaced at that. She had heard of magic like that. It was practiced by humans during Dark Age Europe… at the height of the Great War. That was blasphemy in the eyes of a believer like her but… what was she to do? Issei's salvation was far more important than her beliefs at the moment.
"What do I need?" Irina asked.
"Well…," Dantalion said as she began thinking of the ingredients.
Mitsuki sighed as she walked through the door of their house. Hours of research only to find nothing. Not even a smidge of how to overturn a deal or anything. She only hoped that Irina had better luck than she did. The Angel had sent her a text that she would be gone for the next few days on some mission with Rikka but would continue looking for more ways to free Issei from his contract. But it wasn't over. Not if the large bag of books and tomes had anything to say about it. As she entered the living room, she saw her brother passed out on the couch.
"Oh Aniki," Mitsuki said, grabbing a blanket from one of the chairs and covering him.
"Nee," a voice said. She turned to see Lily running down the hall. The little redhead jumped and hugged her, causing Mitsuki to smile and hug her back.
"Hey, Lily. How are you?" she said.
"Look!" Lily said as she opened her hands. A small ice bird manifested in her hands, taking off and flying around Mitsuki. She smiled. Lily was getting stronger. Teaching her how to use her powers was a decision that Issei had made after the two were kidnapped by Beelzebub and to prepare her for a world without him. Not that she would ever let that happen. She was going to save him. Even if she died trying.
The door suddenly opened as Asia and Eren walked in with serious faces. The two saw Mitsuki playing with Lily and sighed in relief.
"Nee-san," Asia said.
"Asia?" Mitsuki said, turning her head. She saw the serious look on her sister's face. "Do I want to know?"
"Yeah, you'll want to see this… and so does everyone," Eren said, tossing a book in front of her. Mitsuki raised an eyebrow as she caught it in her hands. She turned it around and read the title.
Highschool DxD
"What the…?" Mitsuki picked the book up and flipped through a few pages. "This… this is how Aniki became a devil? Did someone from the Underworld publish this?"
"No… that's what we want to know. We should wait for the others to get back," Asia said.
"Yeah… this, this is nine kinds of crazy," she said as she flipped through the book.
"What's crazy?" Issei said, groaning as he woke up. He saw Mitsuki, Asia, Eren, and Lily standing in the living room. His twin sister had a light novel in her hand and read it. Her face went through various expressions of shock each time she flipped the page.
"What is it?" Issei asked.
"Umm, don't freak out," Mitsuki said.
"You know whenever you say that I probably should freak out," Issei said, crossing his arms.
"Someone wrote a story about us… not just us. Everyone we've ever met. You. Me. Raynare even. She has an entire chapter devoted to her and her date with you," Mitsuki said, shoving the book into his chest.
Issei looked at his twin sister strangely before grabbing the book and reading it himself. What he read made his eyes bug out of his face. Mastema hovered over his shoulder and her hand flew to her mouth in shock.
[I don't know if I'm seeing this right but… that looks like your date] Ddraig said.
|Date?| Tiamat asked.
[Yeah, Issei went on a date with this Fallen Angel and he got stabbed in the stomach] Ddraig said.
"Wow, you make it sound so stupid," Issei snarked.
(So this is the story of your life huh in written form? I wonder what kind of sick pervert's been stalking you the entire time.) Mastema said as she floated over to Mitsuki.
"So what kind of sick pervert's been putting our life's story out in literally every bookstore on the planet?" Issei asked, closing the book.
"Well… some guy named Ichiei Ishibumi," Asia said.
"Well, let's go pay this Ishibumi guy a visit and tell him to stop publishing! I mean, this is our privacy being put out there. What if someone from school sees this?" Issei asked.
"They'll probably think it's just a coincidence or that you wrote it or something. Chances are people already know about it or knew of it since the beginning," Mitsuki said.
"How is that supposed to make me feel better?" he hissed.
"Hey," Eren said. "Look at this. There's… fanfiction of you guys on the internet," Eren said, showing them his phone. Issei and Mitsuki grabbed the phone from his hands, fighting over it. Asia, deciding that her two older siblings would sooner destroy the house than get the phone, took the phone and began to read. All the while, little Lily sat on the couch playing with snow.
"Hey Eren," Asia said. "What's slash?"
"I don't know," he replied.
"Slash?" Slash is a term used in fandom to denote people of the same sex in a romantic or sexual relationship. Why?" Mitsuki asked.
"There's fanfiction of Nii-san and Gasper, Nii-san and Vali, Nii-san and Kiba-san," Asia said, scrolling down.
"Wait what!?" Issei said. He looked over her shoulder and lo and behold, Issei felt bile traveling up his esophagus and into his throat.
"I think… I think I'm going to be sick," Issei said. "Even if I was gay, me and Vali… really? I can do so much better…"
"What's wrong with Vali?" Mitsuki asked a tad bit offended that her brother insulted the boy she liked. She took the phone from Asia and scrolled down. Her face paled when she saw the other stories.
"What is it?" Eren asked.
"Dear Lucifer in Hell and all the Prime Demons, what the ever living… fudge!?" Mitsuki said, censoring herself due to Lily being in the room.
"What? What is it?" Issei asked.
"There's fanfiction of you and me… together!" she yelled.
"Together? As in together-together or just fluffy sibling bonding?" Issei asked.
"Together together… Oh god, I think I'm going to throw up," she said.
"They do know that we're siblings. Twins even," he said.
"Well, with Fandom, there are normal people and there's… weirdos. Twincest is wincest is apparently okay with some people," Eren said.
"That's not helpful!" the two yelled in sync.
"This… whoever the fuck this is wrote a sex scene between my and my twin sister!" Issei yelled.
The sound of bags dropping alerted them to a presence by the door. Rossweisse and Rias stood there with their groceries all over the floor, having dropped them due to the sheer shock that they felt.
"You and Mitsuki did what!?" Rossweisse said, going up to Issei and grabbing his collar.
"Look! Look at what kind of sick mind writes this!" Issei said, showing her the phone.
Rossweisse sent him a look of confusion and gingerly took the phone. Her face scrunched up in disgust upon reading the pairing.
"That's… disgusting. They know you two are twins right?" she asked.
"Doesn't seem to stop them," Mitsuki said. Her face turned green as she read a rather explicit line of her and her twin doing it in a rather… kinky manner. She ran over to the nearest trash can and promptly began to vomit her breakfast, lunch, and yesterday's dinner.
"So what now? This guy… he knows all of our lives so that means that he knows all the times me and Issei attempted…," Rias said.
"Yeah… I can only imagine how Tatsuya will feel when he reads this," Issei said.
"Yeah," Rias said, glancing off to the side. She couldn't keep this up anymore. The mere mention of his name made Rias feel extremely guilty. She needed to break this off before things got worse.
"I say we find this guy… and kick the ever-living crap out of him!" Mitsuki said, lifting her head from the trash can.
"Mitsuki, we can't just assault a human being," Rossweisse said.
"Sure we can! We do it all the time whenever we fight Arthur and Cao Cao in matches and back then," she said.
"That's different. You're talking about breaking into a middle-aged man's home and beating him to near death," Rias said.
"That's what he gets for publishing our life's story for the entire world to see!" she said.
"First, let's find him," Issei said. "I'll ask Sensei and Az-nee. Maybe they know something."
"I'll go show this to my brother and see if he can help… not that he will be with little Ana taking up most of his time," Rias replied.
"We'll look around the internet and see if we can find anything," Asia said.
"So we all have our assignments," Issei said.
"Wait," Rossweisse interjected. "Why go so far just to find one person? Why don't we go directly to the people who know him?"
The others looked at her in confusion. Rossweisse slapped her forehead in frustration, wondering how these people managed to defeat Rizevim and Trihexa during the Evil Dragon War. Seriously, the answer was right in front of them and so obvious that it might as well have been holding up a neon sign.
"We go to the publishing company. Every publishing company sends one of their own to meet with the author to discuss book sales as well as to listen to the next pitch or volume that the person will add to the series. Meaning that if we can get in touch with the publishing company, we can go ask them where Ichiei Ishibumi is," Rossweisse said.
"Yeah, but how? It's not like the company that publishes his work is just going to hand over his address," Mitsuki said.
"We'll make something up. As for how to contact the company, how about we make our own light novel?" she said.
"Ooh! I want to be in on this!" Rias said, appearing in front of her rook. Rossweisse took a step back as her king looked at her with bright sparkling eyes.
"I've always wanted to make my own series!" Rias said. "It was going to be based on our lives but someone already stole my idea…"
"So we come up with another idea," Issei said.
Vali had dropped by not fifteen minutes later and was filled in on the situation. His reaction was as expected. The instant he heard slash, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen and attempted to commit hara-kiri if not for him and Mitsuki.
Like his sister, Vali had resolved to go beat the author within an inch of his life. Issei had to practically manhandle Vali into staying at home and helping them with their little pet project.
After that, the others had arrived as well. Gasper and Koneko were a bit creeped out, no extremely creeped out that someone published an entire story about their lives. Akeno was more or less indifferent to the whole thing. At least, on the surface level. In her eyes, one could tell the inner turmoil she was going through about having her entire life up for consumer pleasure.
Needless to say, even with all of them working together, coming up with an idea to pitch to a representative was going to be harder than they originally thought. So far, Rias seemed to be the only one who was wholeheartedly enthusiastic about this entire thing. She had gone through three notebooks of ideas in under two hours.
"I think I finally have it," she said, humming in approval as she closed her notebook.
"Okay, pitch," Issei asked.
"We're calling it I summoned the Black Goat of the Woods and now she wants me to call her Big Sister!" Rias said.
"Wait… what?" was the collective response.
"You guys will love it I swear! Or… unless one of you has an idea?" she asked, her face morphing into a sly smile. A smile that knew that she had won.
"Fine… but… save it for the publisher," Issei said as he summoned a CC. The circle glowed and pulsated for a few seconds before a voice was heard.
"Hey, Az-nee?" Issei said.
"What is it? I'm helping my idiot twin deal with a backlog of paperwork," Azrael responded.
"Hey! That's not my fault!" Azazel's voice could be heard from the other side.
"Shut up you idiotka!" she yelled.
"No you shut up you, walking genocide!" he yelled back.
"Aniki," Mitsuki said, "Is that what we sound like to other people?"
"No, no, our insults are more creative than theirs," Issei said.
"Though, I would never think to call the Angel of Death a walking genocide," she said.
"Anyway, what is it?" Azrael asked.
"We need to get in touch with… Fantasia Bunko? A publisher. Is there any way you can do that?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure but why exactly?" Azrael asked.
"We found some books about… us," Mitsuki said.
Azrael went silent.
"Az-nee?"
"Give me a few seconds…," she said.
"Sure…," Issei said as the link was suddenly severed.
"That was weird. Does the Archangel of Death usually act like that?" Vali asked.
"Depends on her mood," Mitsuki said.
A circle appeared in front of Issei. He swiped it.
"Okay, you have one… tomorrow at Akiba. I advise that you… leave this alone though but it's up to you," she said.
"Wait? Why? Did… did you know about this?" Issei asked.
"Er… no?" Azrael replied.
"You did…," Issei said.
"Well, good luck with your pitch!" Azrael said before severing the link again.
"Wait… did she know? Who else knows?" Issei asked.
"Probably my brother," Rias said.
"Anyway, let's rest up. We have a meeting tomorrow at Akiba! We're going to be light novel authors!" Issei said.
Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, August 10, 2020, 9:45 AM
"We really should've brought Rias," Vali said, placing his hand on his chin. The three were in a maid cafe in Akihabara, the agreed meeting spot that Azrael had told them to go to if they wanted to meet with a publisher.
"She needs to sleep. She was up all night remember?" Mitsuki said.
"Well, if you guys remember, she sort of a closet weeb in the human world so if she came here, someone from school might recognize her," Issei said, drumming his fingers against the table. "Good thing I have her notes…"
In front of Issei was a large binder that had been created by Rias over a period of twelve hours.
As they waited, Issei noticed Mitsuki sitting a bit too close to Vali. He chalked it up to his nerves but nearly snapped the table when he saw Mitsuki place her hand over Vali's.
"Okay… what?" Issei asked.
"Huh?" the two turned to look at Issei who was looking at them with a large red aura.
"When did that start?" Issei asked, glancing at their joined hands.
"Umm… can we talk about this later?" Mitsuki asked.
"Oh, you guys are here!"
The three turned to see a beautiful and well-endowed woman with fair skin and a curvaceous figure walk into the cafe. She had brown eyes and straight brown hair reaching down to the front of her shoulders and further behind her back, slightly curling at the tips. Her fringe covered her right eye and a single ahoge arced off the top of her head.
The woman wore a purple dress, with a dark purple long coat over it. She took a seat next to Issei and introduced herself.
"Hello there! You three must be the people that wanted to publish a new light novel. My name's Mikasa Kurokami. I'm a publisher over at Fantasia Bunko," she asked.
"Yeah, I'm Issei, this is my sister, Mitsuki, and that's our friend, Vali," Issei said.
"Nice to meet you three!"
"Right so, we have a few things we wanted to discuss with you today," Issei said, taking the lead once more. "Other than discussing our book which is obviously why we're here… we were wondering if you could get us in touch with one of your authors. We were partially inspired by their work and wanted to get some tips from a professional."
"Really? Which author?" Mikasa asked.
"Um, Ishibumi-sensei," Mitsuki said.
"Sure but for now, tell me what your novel is about," she said.
"Er, well," Mitsuki said. Issei slid the binder to her, causing her to look at him annoyed.
"R- Right, this story is about a middle school boy who is lonely and bullied at school. Everyone ignored him or made his life a living hell. He lives alone in a big house that his parents left to him after they died. To summarize, his life sucked. But then, he found this old tome called… the Kitab Al-Azif and decided to summon something to grant his wish," Mitsuki said.
"That's a rather interesting start," she said, taking a sip of her juice. "Please… continue."
"R- Right, so the boy summons a being from another world to grant his wish. The being is a demon, for lack of better terms. The being asks the boy for his wish but warns him of the dangers of contacting a being such as them. The boy responds with Please be my big sister!" Mitsuki said.
"Oh… this is interesting. We haven't published one of those in a while," Mikasa said.
"One of those?" Vali asked.
"A shota protagonist novel," Mikasa said.
"S- Shota!?" Mitsuki said, her face turning red from embarrassment. Was this… was this Rias's secret fetish?
"Yes, a shota protagonist story. So tell me, will this have an appropriate level of ecchi scenes for the fans?" Mikasa asked.
Mitsuki rapidly flipped through the binder and stopped at a certain page that made her face glow red. Issei and Vali peeked over her shoulder and began to snicker. Rias was really pulling out all of the stops with this one. This girl had described in detail ever ecchi scene that was going to be placed in this novel.
"W- Well, there's this one scene w- where the protagonist c- comes back and sees her n- naked and s- she pins him to the bed and the two h- have… off-screen sex," she said, powering through.
"I see, I see. Very well. If you would allow me to take the binder back with me so I can discuss terms with my superior and I can get back to you guys on a later date? Sorry if this seems rushed, it's that I have another appointment in half an hour and we had to squeeze you three in," the publisher said.
"No, no, it's fine. Here," she responded, handing Mikasa the binder.
"So about Ishibumi-sensei," Issei said.
"Of course! What do you want to know about her?" Mikasa said.
The three froze.
"H-Her?" Vali asked tentatively.
"Oh, right, everyone assumes Ishibumi-sensei is a male. No, he is a she. And a foreigner. We never get too many foreigners turning in light novels to us," Mikasa said to them with a smile.
"Do you happen to know by chance where she lives and her contact info so we can get in touch with her?" Mitsuki asked.
"Her address? Well, that I don't know but what I do know is that she lives in Ayr, Scotland, UK. Her contact info is here," Mikasa handed them one of Ishibumi's business cards.
Issei took the card and his eyes widened when he saw who the name was.
"Aniki, are you alright?" Mitsuki asked upon seeing her brother's expression change into one of shock.
Issei handed her the card and she and Vali read over it. "What the…" Vali said in shock.
"Is everything alright?" Mikasa asked.
Mitsuki immediately schooled her features and turned to the woman. "Of course! We're fine. We just thought her name looked familiar," Mitsuki told her.
"Oh, it must be from the news. Poor girl. Her older brother went missing all those months ago. And then they found his body mutilated in a graveyard in America. Makes you wonder what happened to him," Mikasa asked.
The three nodded stiffly.
"Can me and my friends talk for a few seconds?" Issei asked. "In private."
"Of course, this is an important, life-changing choice after all," Mikasa said. "I need to go use the restroom anyway. How about we order food once I get back?"
The three nodded and Mikasa got up and made her way to the restroom.
"What the fuck guys?" Issei said. "It's Lance's younger sister! The one who's sick!"
"Yeah, I can't believe this. How are we supposed to do this!? We killed her brother for God's sake!?" Mitsuki said.
"Okay, calm down you two. I'm sure she's an okay person," Vali said.
"Yeah, I hope," Issei muttered as he saw Mikasa sit back down next to him.
"So, who's ready for lunch?"
"So did you guys find out?" Kuroka asked, popping a chip in her mouth.
"Yeah, we did. Nancy… her name is Nancy McCarthy," Issei said. "She lives in Ayr, Scotland and several months ago, her brother disappeared and turned up dead in a ruined graveyard outside of Sunrise, Wyoming…"
"That's where we…?" Rias said.
"Yeah, that's where we fought Beelzebub," Issei said.
"So, do we just walk into her house? If she knows this much about our lives, then she knows that we were the ones who killed her brother right?" Rossweisse asked.
"I killed her brother," Issei said. "If anyone will take responsibility in front of her, I will. Not you guys."
"So how do we even get there?" Rias asked.
"Get to where? Where are we going?"
The entire room jumped at the sound of Risa's voice. She sat on the couch in her gear, eating some ice cream.
"Jeez! Have some more tact! Don't just pop up in the living room!" Issei said.
"So what's going on?" Risa asked.
"This," Issei said, handing her the novel.
Risa's eyes widened.
"And I thought we got rid of every copy in Kuoh," Risa muttered. She sighed and looked up at them.
"Look, just please… drop this," Risa said.
"No, not until we figure out how this person knows what we do, what our favorite pastry is, and how the hell we live our lives!" Mitsuki said.
"Look, Risa-san. This person knows too much and she might leak out some secrets that we don't want getting out to the public like top-secret battle plans against the Ha-Satan or something," Rias said.
"I mean, you have a fair point but still," the Tanuki Angel said.
"Then it's settled! Can you teleport us to Scotland?" Issei asked.
"Er…," she looked down at her ward, not wanting to comply with his demand.
"Please," Asia asked, pulling her puppy dog eyes.
"Ugh… fine," Risa said, giving in. That girl was really unfair. She was lucky she was cute. Otherwise, Risa would have refused her outright.
They started cheering in victory until Risa spoke once more.
"The only thing is that I can only take three of you. Having all of you go might scare her and we don't need her… losing control," Risa said, muttering the last part.
"Losing what?"
"Nothing, so who's going?"
They discussed amongst themselves.
"I think that Issei, Mitsuki, and Vali should go. They're the ones who pitched my idea so… they're the ones Nancy will be expecting," Rias said.
"Hmm, I guess we can go," Issei said.
"Very well. Just remember… don't do anything that might piss her off or scare her otherwise… the entirety of Northern Europe will be plunged into the ice-cold depths of the Baltic Sea," Risa said.
"Wait what?" Vali looked at the Angel with some concern only to see Risa with a cheerful smile on her face.
"Well! Off we go!" Risa said, placing her hands and tail on them and disappearing in the sound of wingbeats.
Ayr, Scotland
"Jeez, can't I get a break? New authors that want me to mentor them seriously," Nancy said as she placed her phone back on her desk. She fell on her bed and looked up at her ceiling.
"Ugh, and I'm out of pills," she said, looking at her medicine.
"Alright, no moping around… I need to get this new chapter finished and then the rest of the current volume," she said, stretching. As she walked over to her desk, the doorbell rang downstairs. She raised an eyebrow.
Who is that? My doctor? I'm not scheduled for another visit until Friday, she thought as she walked down the stairs. Nancy bound across the hallway and placed her hand on the door handle. When she opened it, she saw three people standing outside the doorway.
"Hello, are you Nancy McCarthy?" Issei asked upon seeing a blonde girl open the door. She nodded.
"Y- Yes… who are you three?" she said, tilting her head.
"Well, don't freak out," Mitsuki said.
"Sure?"
"I'm Mitsuki, this is my twin brother, Issei, and that's Vali Lucifer. We're the people you've been writing about," Mitsuki said.
Nancy looked at the three like they had gone insane. Seriously, who walks up to someone's house and says that to them? She concluded that these people had something seriously wrong with their mental states or were on every combination of drugs on the planet. She smiled and closed the door in their faces.
What the hell!?
The doorbell rang again and Nancy opened the door.
"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do. I really do and it's always nice to hear from my fans but… for your own good, please go get another life," she said before trying to close the door again.
Issei blocked her, putting his hand on the door, preventing her from closing it.
"Look, let's make this easy for everyone here. You see, you've been using our life to write your books," Issei said, forcing his way inside. Nancy's eyes widened with fear as she backed away into her living room. She tripped and fell on her couch as Issei, Mitsuki, and Vali surrounded her in her living room.
"Look, I don't know what you want but this isn't funny okay! The money's in the drawer over there and I have a piggy bank in my room-!"
"We don't want your money. We want to know how you know," Vali said.
"How I know what?" she asked.
"Are you a Devil?" Mitsuki asked.
"What? No, I'm a teenage girl!" she said.
"Then how do you know so much about our lives? About the secrets of our movements during the Evil Dragon War?" Issei asked.
"What? Are you on drugs? Issei Hyoudou is a fictional character. So is Mitsuki Hyoudou and Vali Lucifer! I made them up!" she argued.
Issei sighed.
[Show her the Boosted Gear] Ddraig said.
He nodded internally and raised his left arm. Nancy looked at him, wondering what he was going to do next.
Her eyes widened when a red gauntlet manifested on his left arm. She knew that gauntlet. She had spent hours drawing it and writing its description every time it changed form and evolved. But her mind couldn't believe it. This can't be real. It couldn't be real.
"U- Um… I think I forgot to take my medicine," she said.
"You're not going crazy," Vali said, following Issei's lead and summoning the {Divine Dividing}.
"Oh my God, that's… wait, so oh god, if you're real then that means that," she said, pointing her finger shakily at them.
"Yup," Mitsuki said, summoning her wings.
"I… need to cope," Nancy said. "Oh my god…"
Nancy sat on her couch, staring at the floor before the realization hit her.
"Oh my God… I killed him didn't I?" she muttered.
The three looked at each other.
"Who did you kill?" Issei asked.
"My brother… I wrote his death and it came true. That means that… that means that-!"
"It's not your fault," Issei said.
"But… then how! I wrote that down and it came true! This is my fault! I killed all those people! I killed my brother! Dear God, I made you and your friends suffer, and for what? For the enjoyment of other people!? Money!?" she screamed hysterically.
"Guys," Vali said, glancing out the window. It was raining. In the middle of a sunny day in Scotland. Lightning crashed outside of the house as winds began to pick up to gale like conditions, numbering in the double digits. The very sound of it slamming against the house alongside the rain was deafening.
"Oh crap," Issei said.
The sound of wingbeats filled the room, causing Issei to turn and see Risa alongside a man with black hair and green eyes. If he remembered correctly, this man was the Archangel Raphael.
Raphael walked over to the screaming Nancy and placed his hand on her shoulder, sending soothing waves through her. Nancy's hysterics eventually subsided and the storm along with it.
"Nancy," Raphael said.
The poor girl turned to see Raphael and her eyes widened.
"Doctor Raph?" Nancy asked.
"Nancy, it's okay just calm down," he said.
"Risa, Raphael-sama, what are you guys doing here?" Mitsuki asked.
"We're here because I was afraid that this would happen," Raphael said, sending an annoyed glance at his Queen. Risa's ears and tail perked up before looking away in embarrassment.
"Lord Raphael, what is she?" Vali asked.
"It seems that we couldn't keep this a secret forever… this was bound to get out," Raphael said. He glanced at Nancy, who had calmed down considerably.
"This girl is a prophet," Raphael said.
"Prophets are extinct. Ever since the Biblical god died, there hasn't been a Prophet seen anywhere in centuries," Vali said.
"Normally you would be right until… little Nancy here was born," he said.
"Have you been treating her hemophilia?" Issei asked.
"How do you know about that? Knowledge about the Prophet is top secret," Risa said.
"Her brother told me," he replied.
"Hmm, I've actually gotten rid of it after she awakened as the Prophet but I needed an excuse to keep visiting the family so I falsified her condition," he said, feeling ashamed.
"Wait… the whole reason Lance killed all those people was to heal Nancy! You're telling me that she was well the whole time!" Issei yelled.
"Yes, and it was a grave sin that I committed and for that, I am deeply sorry…," Raphael said.
"It's alright," she said. "This was all my fault… if I hadn't made that prophecy or whatever, my brother would still be here and be alive."
"Stop blaming yourself," Issei said.
"So what now?" Nancy asked, changing the subject.
"Now? We move forward. Issei-san, can we trust you to keep her safe?" Raphael asked.
"Yeah," Issei said. "I would've done it anyway. I made a promise…"
Irina finished burying the lockbox filled with her ID, a bone of a black cat, milk from a black cow, and a vial with a lock of Issei's hair. All the ingredients that Dantalion had told her to get. To get a contract demon, or Faustian Demon, as they were properly called, one had to bury their lockbox in a crossroads with their ID, the bone of a black cat, milk from a black cow, and if they wanted a specific one, genetic material from someone who had summoned the demon before.
From the side, Rikka and Bova watched carefully, fully prepared to move in case something happened to their friend.
A strong gust blew through the entire area. For others, it might have felt normal but it was August and the middle of summer. A chill breeze like this was extremely uncommon. However, Irina knew that this breeze was anything but normal. It carried malice and greed inside of it. The feeling made her sick to her soul. How could someone be so rotten?
"Oh, an Angel. Never had one of you before," a female voice caused Irina to turn around.
A woman with brown hair and red eyes wearing a black dress appeared in the crossroads.
"So, what's today's deal gonna be?" she asked. Irina summoned Hauteclere and pointed it at the demon.
"Oh, so it's going to be like that, is it? Guess I'm leaving then," she said. The demon tried to teleport out but found that she couldn't. She looked down and saw Enochian Runes drawn in a circle around her into the concrete.
"Tch! What do you want?" she asked, turning back to Irina.
"You're the devil who made the deal with Issei Hyoudou, correct?" Irina asked. The demon nodded with pride.
"Yup! Never thought I'd get such a high profile soul," she said. "Boosted my reputation in Hell!"
"Break it off. Issei's deal. And no funny business. I'm the one pulling the strings here. Mitsuki lives. Issei lives. You live," Irina said, walking up to her. Hauteclere glinted menacingly in the dim street light, causing beads of sweat to appear on the demon's forehead.
"Sorry Feathers but we have a strict no return policy," the demon said, fighting through the fear she was currently feeling.
"Then take mine," Irina immediately answered, offering her own.
"Nope. His deal is locked down tighter than a nun's… well, you get the picture," she smirked.
Irina snapped and slashed her in the torso with Hauteclere.
"GAAAAHHHHH!" the woman screamed in unimaginable agony as her wound began to burn and she felt her soul being cut into, causing the wound to flicker an orange color.
"I dipped Hauteclere in Holy Water. I was told this would be an effective method in getting answers," Irina said as she raised Hauteclere and swung it. This time, she severed the demon's right hand.
Rikka and Bova grimaced. Despite not having known Irina for long, they were familiar with her kind and bubbly personality. Seeing her torture someone, this was not normal. It was a bit terrifying.
The devil squirmed in agony as she screamed her lungs out. Irina continued her grisly work and stabbed it through her leg and began to twist the blade. Her wings began to flicker indicating she was about to fall.
"PLEASE STOP!"
Irina pulled Hauteclere out of the demon's leg just seconds before she could completely fall. Irina's wings reverted to their snow-white color.
"I- I can't break the deal. I was just following orders! I swear on my life!" the female devil said, confessing everything to Irina.
Irina leveled Hauteclere at the demon's throat. "WHO TOLD YOU TO MAKE THE DEAL!?" Irina snarled.
"OUR LEADER! OUR LEADER DOES!" the demon yelped.
"Who's your leader?" Irina asked, stabbing a light dagger into her leg. The devil screamed in pain and agony.
"I DON'T KNOW! I SWEAR! I ONLY MET HER ONCE! PLEASE LET ME GO!" she screamed.
"A name, give me a name!" she roared. Rikka walked over and pulled Irina back.
"Calm down before you fall," she hissed. Irina nodded and composed herself, checking her wings. Still white.
"Ha-...," the wounded devil rasped.
"Ha?" Bova asked.
"She… she's called Ha-Satan, that's all I know," the devil said.
The three looked at each other before Irina glanced back at her.
"Alright then," Irina said.
"I told you. Now, let me go," the demon said.
Irina complied and slashed one of the rune's destabilizing the circle.
"Pleasure," the Faustian Devil said as she turned around. Her eyes widened when she felt the most intense pain. She looked down and saw Hauteclere sticking out of her chest. Her entire body spasmed as she glowed with flickering orange light. The demon fell limp on Irina's blade. Irina pulled the blade out and sat down on the pavement.
"Damnit," she said as tears began to stream down her face. Rikka and Bova glanced at each other before kneeling before next to her.
Alright, that's it for the chapter. Please leave a review and I'll see you guys next chapter!