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[Ddraig talking]
[Ddraig thinking]
Mental Communication
"Regular Dialogue"
Attacks/Spells
A boy with hazel eyes and spiky brown hair ran through the city. His white and black robes fluttered in the wind, revealing a black tunic and black pants. He had a pair of silver wristguards. In his hands were twin blades that were intricately designed. The silver blades were slightly curved and had arcane symbols faintly etched into the blade. The hilt was designed beautifully with an upside-down omega symbol. The grip was wrapped in a beautiful and elegant red cloth.
The city was known as Naktamun. It had once been a vibrant and bustling city, filled with life and joy. It was simply viewed as a utopia. A paradise where man and god walked together in solidarity to their God-Pharaoh. Located in a world known as Amonkhet, Naktamun was the center of all life and culture in a world where the sands were harsher than the monsters in some ways and two suns existed in the sky. However, things had taken an extremely dark turn.
Just minutes earlier, he had witnessed the death of a God. The bird-headed deity who ruled over knowledge was slain alongside the feline deity who represented stability, order, and protection by an evil god. A grotesque god whose visage was that of a demonic scorpion. It had plunged its deadly stinger and used its claws to rip apart the gods.
The prophesied event that had been told since seeming time immemorial in this world was upon them.
The return of the God-Pharaoh. The Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas would soon make landfall upon this plane.
And now, he needed to find the others.
[Issei! You need to find them!] a voice said from a growing green orb on his wrist. Issei nodded as he turned a corner and stumbled onto several beings he had been hoping to avoid. He gripped the twin blades and readied himself as they turned to look at him.
The beings were nothing more than corpses, Issei knew that much. The corpses were well-armed, equipped with the finest weapons and the finest armor that they were offered. The beings growled and charged at Issei.
"Tch! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Issei said, swinging the blades. He channeled translucent red energy into the blades, igniting the blades with a crimson flame. He swung them, sending swathes of flames hot enough to melt rock and vaporize flesh to destroy the monsters.
"Fucking Eternals," Issei spat into the sand. He looked up into the sky and saw the sun hovering dangerously close to the horns.
As Issei looked around, he silently cast a spell. "Angelic Gift," Issei said. A pair of snow-white wings that faded into red at the tips of the first and secondary primaries. He flew into the air and spotted them, a ways away. A man cloaked in blue standing next to another man. A woman with red hair and clad in red armor followed them alongside a raven-haired woman dressed in violet robes that revealed a large portion of her skin as well as an elf dressed in sleeveless green robes.
"Found them," Issei said. He flapped his wings and jetted over to them.
"JACE!"
The man in blue turned around to see Issei flying to them. He landed next to Jace, staring at him with a grim face. The elder man's blue eyes looked at Issei seriously.
"Good. We'll have a better chance this way," the armored man said. He grinned, making Issei feel comfortable with the situation. No matter how grim things were, he could always count on this man. There were times he thought they were screwed even against the Eldrazi but that was a story for another time.
"Come on. We don't have time. He'll be here at any moment," the raven-haired woman said. Issei tried not to look as she crossed his arms, emphasizing the size of her bust.
"Liliana's right. Chandra. Nissa. Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Gideon asked.
The red-haired woman grinned widely and nodded. "Let's give Bolas hell."
"For the sake of this world. For its freedom, Bolas must be stopped and brought to justice," the elven mage said.
Issei clenched his fist and looked at the approaching sun.
"I don't know about this… maybe we should've listened to Ajani and Ugin," Issei said.
He turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Chandra smiled at him softly.
"We can do this," she said. "Bolas isn't an Eldrazi. He's a planeswalker like us so he'll fall… he has to."
Issei looked at her. Chandra seemed to be assuring herself of victory more than anyone of them.
"He's here," Liliana said. Her face had become paler than usual if her already white skin could get any paler. True to her words, they all turned and looked at the pair of horns with bated breath. A massive void appeared where the Sun was, sucking in all the light and sapping the radiance of the city from the surroundings. The sky crackled with power as clouds covered the entire sky. Lightning crashed and thunder boomed as Amonkhet experienced weather that it has never experienced before in such magnitude.
From the void came a being that he had only heard through stories from the dragon that raised him. From the very description of the curved horns that adorned his head like a crown, the golden armor, to the rustic yellow scales that resembled aged gold, the Planeswalker that hovered before them was terrifying to behold. His mighty tail thrashed behind him, leveling the massive monument to his entire being. A single beat of his wings sent winds billowing all over the city of Naktamun.
"Bolas," Liliana growled.
"We need to come up with a plan. Or else he'll grind our existences to dust and scatter them across the Multiverse," Issei said.
"I have a plan," Gideon said. He turned to Jace. "Beleren. Disseminate my thoughts to the others. Bolas will go down."
Issei and the others felt a scratching in their minds and allowed it to enter. The minute they did, Gideon's voice could be heard within their minds.
"I have a plan," Gideon said as they made their way to the dragon.
"Using your brain for once?" Liliana snarked through the link.
Gideon ignored her, focusing on the threat before them.
"We'll hit him with everything we have. Even if that is Nicol Bolas, there's no way he can survive a combined onslaught from all six of us," Gideon said.
"I…," Jace wanted to say something but remained silent. Every passing second was a second closer to death and the complete destruction of this plane. He steeled his resolve to fight the dragon.
He never thought that when he'd come back to this backwater wreck of a world, he would have to entertain unwelcome guests within his "home". It wasn't his home per se but it was common for the conqueror to refer to his acquired territory as his home.
He merely hovered there, scrutinizing the group of misfits while they stood there, gawking like a bunch of neanderthals who had discovered fire. Nicol Bolas chuckled, slowly licking his lips for added effect as he landed. He unfurled his massive majestic wings, despite the fact that he knew that he no longer needed such appendages for flight.
Bolas smiled inwardly. He felt microscopic pinpricks assault the walls of his mind.
Good my dear boy. Find your footing, Bolas thought.
His eyes drifted down to the brilliant telepath in their little band of heroes. The Gatewatch. What a pathetic name. It was as if they thought that there were gates across the Multiverse that needed to be watched. He raised a scaly eyebrow. No talking. Extending his mind ever so slightly, Bolas felt it. The ripples of thought flying between the simplistic minds of the beings in front of him.
A plan… How adorable… very well, Ur bless each and every one of them, Bolas thought. His gaze traveled across the group before resting on another one that interested him.
The boy. He discreetly gleaned some information from the mind of that boy.
Oh? So that's how he awakened his Spark? That's vastly different from what I expected. Interesting… Brother, you have chosen a most interesting boy to raise. And… what is this? I might have to adjust some of my plans… most interesting, Bolas thought.
His eyes furrowed in disappointment when he saw them move. So that was the plan they had gone with. He couldn't feel anything but despair and disappointment at their chosen course of action.
Of all the plans they could have gone with… Beleren, Ward of Ugin, you disappoint me, Bolas thought.
Their plan was simple. Kill the dragon. Not that there was anything wrong with a simple plan. Any plan in the hands of someone skilled was going to be effective. Simple plans were efficient and oftentimes, an intelligent being capable of concocting the most complex of all strategies would fall to someone with a simple plan. Simple plans in the hands of a master were devastating.
However, that wasn't what was happening in front of him. No, this was the textbook example of a plan destined to fail. A simple plan in the hands of simpletons attempting to perform one last desperate assault. This plan was going to have devastating consequences in the form of him.
The group surrounded him with the pyromancer known as Chandra and the Elementalist known as Chandra surrounding him. The soldier who fancied himself invulnerable faced him head-on. The arrogance of these younger planeswalkers at times. He looked up and saw the boy named Issei hovering in front of him, clad in Red Armor.
Flames licked his scales while roots began to erupt from the ground and assault him. The dead started to rise as violet wisps traveled through the area. Bolas wasn't surprised. There was no shortage of corpses given the carnage that had gone on that day. But if Liliana had believed this would be able to do him in, it was a wonder that she was still alive.
He swatted them aside with his tail, slamming Chandra and Nissa into a pillar. Issei flew into Bolas's face, swinging the swords. Bolas raised his hand and parried the blade with his talon. He flicked Issei away and focused his gaze on Gideon.
He laughed mockingly as the invincible warrior assaulted him with his magic. As he combatted Gideon, he felt someone attempt to assault his mind.
Jace…, Bolas thought.
Jace's eyes were glowing brightly as he found himself inside the psyche of Nicol Bolas. Bolas's mind was well defended. He had never seen anything like it. It was akin to staring at a massive black, crystalline wall. Smooth and solid, yielding no weak areas for him to penetrate.
As Jace explored for something he would never find, he became acutely aware of the massive presence of Bolas's mind. He was fighting an uphill battle and he knew it. The dragon mocked him and his friends.
Jace recoiled in shock when he finally felt Bolas move inside their minds. The Elder Dragon effortlessly tore down several of his psychic shields with no effort at all, penetrating his mind. Jace frantically retreated, attempting to reinforce his mind with several more psychic shields, however, Bolas tore them down faster than Jace could ever hope to erect them.
"You have been alive for all of an eye-blink, and because of a thimble of natural talent, you presume to touch my mind? And some have called me arrogant," Bolas sneered. He let out a burst of booming laughter. The very sound of it grated against his mind, slowly corroding at the shields he had erected.
Jace frantically tried to find an area of Bolas's mind he could crack. Anything would do. Even the most microscopic of cracks can be devastating. After what seemed like an eternity of searching, he had found it. In his arrogance, Bolas had left a trail that Jace could exploit. He followed the trail and found a small chink in the otherwise smooth and featureless obsidian shields of Bolas's mind. As Jace attempted to penetrate it, he heard a voice that chilled him to his very spark.
"If you wanted to come in boy, all you needed to do was ask," Bolas said, chuckling darkly.
Jace suddenly found himself, falling into the place that was Bolas's mind.
[Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!]
[Boosted Gear]. It was a divine weapon known as a Sacred Gear that Issei wielded and was born with. Having known about it since he was a child, he found out about it shortly after his spark ignited. It held the soul of a Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig Y Goch. One of the most powerful beings from Issei's world according to the information that Ddraig gave. A weapon capable of doubling one's power every ten seconds until the wielder reached their physical limit.
It had other forms that Issei had unlocked over the course of his adventures. The one he was currently using right now was referred to as [Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker]. The Balance Breaker was a state that all Sacred Gear were capable of achieving. A transformation that grants the wielder more power. His Balance Breaker removed the ten second cool down between the doubling of his powers and allowed him to accumulate power faster.
[Dragon Shot!] Issei unleashed a massive beam of red energy at Bolas. Bolas lazily raised his hand and instantly countered Issei's attack, reducing it to nothing but wisps of blue energy.
However, despite this massive boon, Issei instantly knew that there was nothing he nor any of them could do. After all, one-thousand times zero is still zero. This battle was lost yet they kept fighting in a desperate attempt that some sort of miracle would happen.
Issei heard someone scream and saw Jace kneeling on the ground, gripping his head. The planeswalker's eyes and mouth glowed blue as blue trails of energy poured from his head.
"JACE!" Issei flew towards him only to be knocked aside by Bolas's hand. Issei crashed into the ground, groaning.
"Don't mind him," Bolas said. He trampled on Liliana's undead, shrugged off Gideon's blows, and waded through Chandra and Nissa's onslaught. Issei shakily got to his feet, eyes wide in horror as Jace's body began to glow blue. The air around the telepath warped and collapsed into itself, producing a complex crisscross pattern of blue lights.
Liliana's assault ceased as she stared into the spot where Jace used to be.
Chandra screamed and attacked harder and harder as if the flames would do anything to harm the foe in front of them. Issei and Nissa fired spell after spell, only for Bolas to shrug it off. Bolas swatted the three of them aside and sent Gideon flying into the pyramid.
"Liliana, your complexion looks… healthy," Bolas said, walking over to her.
"Bolas, I'll kill you and then reanimate your corpse as-," Liliana snarled.
"Oh please, these children lost this battle before they were even born. You know this. You alone amongst them know what true power was. You alone amongst them know what true power can be again," Bolas said.
Liliana froze and took a step back. Bolas leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Something the others couldn't hear.
She took a step back and saw Gideon, walking back over to them.
Come on, Gideon… Do something! she said inside her head. Bolas stood straight, towering over them.
"I promise you this: whether you use the Chain Veil or not if you fight me today, you will die. I am a better telepath than your mind mage, more destructive than your fire mage, more powerful than your Elementalist and dragon and angel mage, and a better general than your so-called tactician. That each of you has lived so long is merely a function of how useful you can be to me," Bolas said.
"Tch! Like I'd believe that," Issei said, glaring at Bolas. He cast Angelic Gift and began to hover in the air. He channeled pure white energy to his hands and prepared a spell.
"He's right. You lie dragon," Nissa said, forcing the earth underneath her to respond.
"Lie, I have no need to lie. Look around you, human, elf. Look around and see what need I have for dissembling here," Bolas replied. His words angered Nissa, causing the Earth to grow more turbulent beneath her feet. Vines erupted from the ground and wrapped around Bolas's legs.
Chandra flew into the air and created a massive sphere of fire. Issei and Nissa were forced to cover their eyes as the sphere grew in brightness and intensity. It was akin to a small star, outperforming both of Amonkhet's suns in pure luminosity.
"GO TO HELL BOLAS!" Chandra screamed as she threw the fireball at Bolas's form.
The explosion rocked the entire area as Nissa and Issei were forced to move away lest they became vaporized like the majority of Naktamun. However, the heat that escaped from the blast was indescribable. Issei's eyes were protected by his armor however, he bore witness as the heat traveled into the desert of Amonkhet, turning the entire desert into a glass floor.
Nissa and Issei's eyes widened as they saw Bolas standing unharmed in what was left of Naktamun. The area in which they were in was nothing more than a pool of cooling molten slag.
"Chandra Nalaar. You had so many useful characteristics. Powerful. Emotionally unstable. Easy to manipulate. Refreshingly predictable unpredictability. I really wanted to make this work," Bolas said, flying towards her.
Chandra's eyes widened as Bolas grabbed her and began crushing her in his grip.
"But fire against a dragon. A dragon? I have standards, foolish girl," Bolas said as he tightened his grip. Chandra screamed in pain as she felt her ribs began to break. Blood started to come out of her mouth.
"CHANDRA!" Nissa yelled. Her eyes glowed green and raised her hand, forcing several vines and the earth itself to shoot into the air and grab Bolas.
"Ddraig!" Issei begged as he flew towards Chandra and Bolas.
[We have to use it?] Ddraig asked.
"Yeah," Issei said.
[I who am about to awaken.]
[Am the Heavenly Dragon who has stolen the Principles of Domination from God]
[I laugh at the "Infinite", and I grieve at the "Dream"]
[I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination]
[And I shall sink you into the depths of Crimson Purgatory]
[JUGGERNAUT DRIVE!]
Issei's armor shifted as it became more draconic in appearance. His helm resembled that of a dragon's head as his gauntlets shifted and the talons became more pronounced. A slender, writhing tail covered in metallic red scales with scutes running down the back of the tail was behind Issei.
"LONGINUS SMASHER!" Issei roared. He fired a massive beam of green energy that slammed into Nicol Bolas. Bolas was completely caught off-guard by the attack and was forced to release Chandra as he flew back. Bolas was sent flying through one of the remaining mega-structures in Naktamun. The ground shook as a massive explosion rocked the endless desert as a large mushroom cloud appeared in the distance about several thousand meters from the city.
"Nissa?" Issei called. "Is she…?"
"She's fine. Don't worry about her," Nissa said as she held Chandra.
Chandra gave Issei a bloody smile.
"Don't worry about me kid," she said.
"I wasn't," Issei said, relief present within his voice.
"Heal up Chandra. I'll hold Bolas off," Issei said. As soon as Issei said those words, several black vines burst from the ground and wrapped around Nissa, constricting as they were strangling her.
"NISSA!"
[Issei! Behind you!] Ddraig called out.
Issei turned and saw Bolas swipe his claws, damaging his armor and sending him crashing into the ground.
"I have to admit… I actually felt that a bit," Bolas said, beating his wings. "But you're several millennia too early to defeat me."
Issei got up only to be pinned to the ground once more by Bolas's foot.
"Ddraig?" Issei said.
"My my, child. Who is Ddraig?" Bolas asked.
Issei's eyes widened as Ddraig's breath hitched. With those words, Issei was forcefully pulled into his mindscape where he and Ddraig came face to face with the ancient Dragon Planeswalker. Bolas's towering form, which was only a bit taller than Ddraig, loomed over them. His green eyes bore into Ddraig and Issei's souls as they felt a massive wave of fear run down their collective spine.
"Bolas," Issei said.
"Interesting. Your history. Your homeworld. How Ugin found and taught you. How the Pyromancer developed a close bond with you. The loss you felt when you were forced to kill her," Bolas said.
Issei's eyes grew wide in fury when Bolas waved his hand and conjured a phantom inside Issei's head. Her blue eyes, her red hair, her smile. It mocked him. It reminded him of his failure. His failure to save her.
"Don't you dare!" Issei yelled.
Bolas smiled.
"Issei," the phantom spoke. "Why didn't you save me? Why did you kill me?"
"You're not real… she's gone," Issei said, swiping at the phantom. His eyes widened when he heard a sickening squelch. He looked down and saw his hand holding his sword. Its blade was deeply embedded into her chest. Issei stared back at the horrifying visage that met him. How she had become a shadow. A mockery of her former self.
"No, no, no, this isn't real," Issei said.
[Issei! Issei snap out of it!] Ddraig said.
[Damnit!] Ddraig roared and charged at Bolas. Bolas's eyes glowed and Ddraig found his mind being assaulted with every unimaginable fear and failure that he had ever experienced in his long life. Ddraig fell to the ground, his mind having shut down due to the immense mental strain that was inflicted by Bolas's mental attack.
Outside of Issei's mind, Chandra watched helplessly as Bolas stood triumphantly over Issei and strangled Nissa. She felt so useless.
"Go," Nissa choked out.
Chandra looked at her.
"We'll be fine," Nissa reassured her. Chandra attempted to talk back when Nissa smiled at her.
She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she disappeared in a spiral of flames.
Nissa sighed in relief when Chandra disappeared. She looked over at Bolas, who she was sure was currently torturing Issei mentally. But that distraction would be enough. She had learned throughout this battle that he was far more powerful than her. He had crippled her power to control the very forces of nature inside this plane with a mere thought. However, she managed to get a small portion of control back as Bolas reveled in Issei's pain. Her eyes glowed as the earth around Bolas erupted and several spears shot at the Elder Dragon with the intent to kill. Bolas evaded the spears with surprising speed and agility for someone of his size.
"GO ISSEI!" Nissa yelled. The spears grew faster, more furious in their attempt to keep up with the Elder Dragon. However, it was as if the Elder Dragon had surpassed the concept of speed itself, reality moving around him accordingly to allow him to avoid the spears. Eventually, Bolas grew tired of this farce and used his wings to block the stone spears, which shattered like glass upon impacting his wings. Bolas held his hand out and closed it, forcing the vines to further constrict.
In this distraction, Issei had managed to regain some of his composure as Bolas loosened his hold on Issei's mind. He saw Nissa struggling to breathe in the vines as Bolas's deep menacing laughter echoed throughout the whole of Amonkhet.
"Know this! Everything here exists and perishes at my whim, including you Gatewatch! The Hour of Devastation is upon this world!" Nicol Bolas said.
Issei had known this. He knew beforehand. Ugin's and Ajani's warnings were not heeded so they paid the price. To die in this dead husk of a world amongst the corpses of its gods.
He attempted to help Nissa but he was too weak. His injuries were great both mentally and physically. However, fate seemed to give him a break for just a moment. As Bolas relished their pain, he never noticed a bolt of pure white mana strike him, staggering him in mid-air.
Nissa, having seen it, took advantage of the momentary respite and performed a jump, disappearing in a swirl of imploding green energy. Issei saw Gideon running towards Bolas, whilst glancing back and mouthing one word to him.
"Run."
Issei heeded his word. His armor dispelled in an attempt to conserve what little stamina he had left and planeswalked away from this dead world, disappearing in a swirl of red light.
Miki Hyoudou hummed as she cooked dinner. Next to her, her daughter was currently helping her by cutting the onions and vegetables. Her other child, a son, was currently at the back of the house doing lord knows what. But dinner took top priority for her right now. Tonight's dinner. A nice curry and rice for the four of them.
Four.
It would've been five if he was still here. Her dear son. Her first child. A child born from a miracle after she had suffered two prior miscarriages. He would've loved having more siblings but now…
Her husband still hopes. She knew that. She spotted him from time to time within the office of their home, looking for leads that their missing son was somewhere out there in the world.
"Kaa-san."
She turned around and saw her daughter. She was born a year after her son and decided that a second pregnancy was nothing short of a miracle. They were proven wrong when their youngest was born.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Kiseki, go check on your brother for me," Miki said.
Kiseki nodded and left the kitchen to go find her brother. Kiseki passed the hallway and saw it. A picture of a boy that she barely had memories of but knew who he was. Her brother. Her missing brother. She wasn't ignorant. She was young when he went missing. Her brother was six and she was five. One can barely remember anything from that time. But she could remember his features. Somewhat. The soft brown hair. The hazel eyes.
Kiseki sighed. She saw her other sibling sitting on the porch at the back of their house.
"Takeru," Kiseki said. Takeru was two years younger than she was, being a second year in Kuoh Middle School. He was fairly short for a boy his age with messy brown hair like their father and had hazel eyes. He was currently dressed in a blue shirt and black shorts.
"Nee-san," Takeru said, turning to face her. The sound of the chair scraping against the ground grated against her ears.
"Kaa-san just asked me to check on you," Kiseki said, walking over and pulling a chair out.
Takeru nodded and went back to looking at the sky. The sun had long since set and all that there was for him to look at was the light of the full moon.
"The moon's pretty isn't it?" Kiseki asked.
"Yeah," Takeru said.
"What's wrong?" Kiseki asked.
"Nothing. Just… there's this girl in my class," Takeru said.
"Oh? Little Takeru has a crush~?" Kiseki teased, waggling her eyebrows as a smug grin made its way onto her face.
"N- No! We're study partners and she's coming over tomorrow so… please don't embarrass me," Takeru said.
"Embarrass you? I have kendo tomorrow so I won't be home," Kiseki said. She wondered. If Issei were still here, would she be having the same conversation with him about her crushes?
"Fine but when you get home, don't… let your weirdness rub off on her okay?" Takeru said. Kiseki nodded and raised her hand to say something when an explosion blew them off their chairs. Kiseki and Takeru landed a few feet from their porch table, displaying little to no injuries.
"Takeru! Are you okay?" Kiseki asked.
"I'm fine," Takeru said.
The two siblings carefully approached the center of the explosion. They jolted when they saw their parents at the door.
"Takeru! Kiseki!" Miki ran over and hugged them while Gorou walked. He wrapped his arms around his wife and children, his baseball bat leaning against one of the only standing chairs.
"Kaa-san," Kiseki started.
"I'm so happy that you two are okay!" Miki said, pulling away.
"Though," Gorou said, grabbing the bat. He looked at the fading cloud of dust and debris.
"Takeru wait!" Kiseki yelled as she watched her brother move forward.
Takeru walked towards the edge of the smoke and swatted it away from his face with his hand. As the smoke cleared, he made out the figure of a boy, slightly older than his sister. He looked like his father with the brown spiky hair and short tufts at the back. His clothes were foreign, appearing as if he came out of an RPG though Takeru contemplated that he was just a cosplayer. But the most striking feature were his injuries. The boy was injured like he had never seen before. It was as if the boy went to war against an army by himself.
"Tou-san! Kaa-san! Kiseki-nee!" Takeru called. Gorou, Miki, and Kiseki all walked over to see what Takeru was looking at as their eyes widened.
All Issei felt was pain. He had planeswalked but he didn't know where. His mind just brought up the first location and he ended up there. Issei's eyes darted to the figure that stood above him when he heard footsteps. A boy that looked like him albeit younger. The boy opened his mouth and called for his parents and sister. When they came running over, Issei's eyes widened upon seeing them. More people that looked like him. Too much like him.
He saw the woman begin to cry as she shakily reached for him.
Issei could do nothing but watch, his pain and injuries had taken their toll. His eyelids grew heavy with fatigue as the adrenaline wore off. As Issei's eyes closed and the comforting embrace of sleep consumed him, he heard the woman say something.
"Issei?"
Yup and welcome to the first chapter of the rewrite of Beyond the Gap! Formerly known as Beyond the Gap! As you can tell, I've made some changes off the bat starting with where the story starts. Please allow me to explain. Starting at Theros would highly delay the plot and the appearance of our main villain for at least thirty to forty chapters. Which of course is something I don't want to do. I'm not a novelist who writes a series and can wait five volumes to introduce the overarching villain so yes, we have skipped all the way to the Hour of Devastation. Don't worry, your beloved characters are still here... somewhat. Another thing you may have noticed is Issei's parents being alive. I changed that little tidbit because I didn't want to fall into the whole "Issei's family was killed by fallen angels/other faction because of the Boosted Gear" deal.
Anyway, let the reviews flow in with any questions pertaining to what is and what isn't different.
Edit: I made a major fuck-up with Kiseki's age and when she was born. In one line, it stated that she had memories of Issei but in another line, it said she was born after Issei ascended and planeswalked so my apologies for that.