So, to reply one of the Guests' comment, Yes. I changed the story of the DDE. I find my previous writing quite...childish? I believe that's the right word. I want to make changes in the story. Though some parts may stay the Same, some may be Altered.
I hope that is alright with you all. I'm merely trying to improve my writings and stories.
I DO NOT OWN HIGHSCHOOL DXD OR ANY OTHER ELEMENTS/CHARACTERS FROM OTHER ANIMES/MANGAS.
"… …" – Speaking
'… …' – Thoughts
"… …" – Spoke Mentally/Telepathically
{… …} – Ddraig speaking
"I'm sorry you have to witness something like that. The devil himself excused his action by removing himself from the seraph's cuddle and morphed back to his teen appearance.
"You know I'm always here to listen." Gabriel offered an ear while also returning back to her younger appearance. There was a brief silence until he muttered, "...What I'm about to tell you, is something highly classified." She didn't say a word, but waited for him to continue. However, she did not expect the question he's about to ask. "Are you familiar with the Apocalyptic Beast?" She tilted a head a little. "You're talking about the Number of the Beast from the Bible, right? But isn't it just a myth–"
Her eyes widened in horror when the devil shot her down with a grievous shook of his head.
"It's not a myth. The Trihexa is real. It was your Father that discovered its existence. Upon his revelation, your Father came to me in secret for advice. According to him, its power was on par with the Apocalypse Dragon and Ouroboros Dragon. But unlike the two dragons who ignore the mythological factions, Trihexa's sole existence was to destroy everything. To prevent the calamity from happening, we decided to take matters into our own hands..."
Issei shut his eyes and let out a gravely slow, deep sigh as flashbacks of the fight resurfaced in his mind.
"...It was a fight that dictates the future existence of this world. Your Father and I threw everything we had at that abomination with, but we couldn't kill it. The prolonged fight severely exhausted your Father and left me in a bad condition." He remembered the number of times he lost half of his face, limbs, and even torso. "In our last ditch effort, we ended up sealing the Beast by creating several thousands forbidden seals. However, the drawbacks of using those seals taxed us hard. I blacked out just seconds just after our victory. By the time I came around...the Great War was at least 100 years ago, you were there and told me he..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Not in front of her.
But a question hanged above Gabriel's head as she digested the story. "But why...why would Father keep such secret from us? W-We could have assisted him. We live to serve him. We–" The devil stopped her by shaking his head. "No, Gabriel. It's because he loved you and the rest of the feathers so much that he decided it was best to hide it from you all. No parents would stand watching their children die fighting for them. He knew the risk of fighting Trihexa. You may call him selfish or stupid, but I highly respect that guy. After all, he's my greatest enemy, before I even named him as my dearest friend."
Knowing the young man was being sincere, Gabriel gave him a sad, grateful smile as he went back telling his story, "While your Father and I were making necessary preparations to deal with Trihexa, I had been deal with the Underworld as well. I've discussed with my Chief Adviser, Bael, the First Great King of Bael Clan, to propose and create the new position. A position that was heavily inspired by your Heaven's Four Great Seraph, the Four Great Satans."
"The original purpose of this position was to ensure that the Underworld wouldn't plunge into chaos when I die. With Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan Asmodeus as the chosen candidates. They were supposed to lead the people to a better future, not start a freaking civil war!"
Irritated, the young man clicked his tongue. "If I hadn't lose my consciousness after the battle, I could've helped him prevented the war." He started blaming everything on himself. "I was a fool to pick those four to lead the Underworld. I thought their descendants would at least be brighter." While the Issei kept on rambling on his own, Gabriel's gaze never once left his. She never judged him.
It was then she asked him a question that's been on her mind for a long time, "Why didn't you go back to the Underworld?"
"...Because I'm a selfish bastard." He shamefully admitted it. "When I left the Underworld, I left believing that everything was in good hands...I left believing that I would die fighting the Beast. But I lived, Gabriel. When I learned about the Great War and news of your Father, I was truly done with Three Factions. At the same time, I became curious about your Father's creation. I wanted to know why for someone who possessed such divinity would love something as frail as mankind so much. With the newfound freedom, my desire to mingle and interact with the mortals grew exponentially. From there onward, you know the rest of the story."
He chuckled miserably. "40 Clans are gone...All because of my poor decision." Initially, the angel never spoke a word. Instead, Gabriel floated towards the devil and cupped his cheeks. She wanted to make sure that he would hear what she's about to say.
"...I'm sorry you for your loss, Satan. But you can't blame everything on yourself. You never knew their lust for war would outweigh their desire to lead and protect the people. You've fought a battle that was beyond our petty, little war to protect this very world. Because of you and Father's deed, mankind and everyone else exist till this day. So please don't be so hard on yourself."
Her warm smile captivated the devil for a second before he started chuckling a little. "I see why he had tasked you to look after me. You have his kindness...Thank you, Gabriel." He gave her a sincere smile as he took her hand and gave it a peck. "And thank you for risking your life to protect us all." She returned the favour by planting a kiss on his forehead.
The next day, as Gabriel had promised, they came back to the ORC building. "Yo." The blacked-haired young man casually greeted the devils in the room. "Apology for yesterday's trouble. I had to...sort out my mind." Issei subtly explained his reason for leaving.
"It's alright. Gabriel-san did promise you would return." The crimson-haired girl offered them to sit across them once more as she reintroduced herself to the duo. "To pick up where we left off, I am Rias Gremory, the Heiress of the Gremory Clan. These are my peerage. Oh, I am also the governor of this town." She proudly announced her position by puffing her chest out. Sitting next to her, the bespectacled lady also spoke, "I am Sona Sitri, the Heiress of the Sitri Clan."
Done with their short intro, the gremory immediately asked him a question without any hesitation. "So, Hyoudou-san. Did you come from one of the Extinct Clan?" The young man merely shook his head. "I'm afraid you've mistaken, Gremory-san. I don't belong to any of the 72 Pillars. It's just that the news about losing over half of the clans took me by surprise."
"So you're from the Extra Demons then." She confidently concluded, but his vague reply of "Something like that." caused her to briefly knit her eyebrows. While the devil laughed at Rias' exasperation he tried to calm her by saying that both Gabriel and him were merely trying to experience the modern high schooler's lifestyle.
That's when the president of the student council turned her attention to the sole angel and asked her, "Gabriel-san. According to your name, are you really..." Though she hesitated to finish the sentence, the belle of heaven confirmed her suspicions with a small nod. "Yes, I am one of the Four Great Seraph."
The atmosphere of the room promptly shifted uncomfortably as the devils on the opposite side stiffened like a deer caught in the headlights. Even Saji, who fell for her beauty began to sweat profusely in fear. "There's no need for you to fear me. I hold no animosity on you people." The seraph assured by giving them a goodwilled smile.
While she maintained her impassive expression, Sona decided to ask the angel the question that was bugging her. "How...How did you know I'm from the Sitri Clan?" Her tone carried a trace of nervousness. "I didn't. Issei did. He pointed it out after detecting the presence of Devils and Fallen Angels in this town." Everyone immediately had their eyes on the young man. Nevertheless, much to their annoyance, he brushed it aside with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders. "What can I say, I'm unique."
"But why would a Devil be with an Angel? And it's not just any Angel...it's the Great Seraph herself." Rias questioned. Trying to piece the puzzle, her eyes darted from the young man to the young lady, then back to the former one.
"Alright, enough questions about me. I have a question for you guys as well." The young man then set a pawn chest piece on the table. "Could you tell me what this is?" Rias and Sona had their eyes widened in surprise as soon as they recognised the item. "Where did you get this?" The crimson-haired girl immediately pounced at him. "Found it in the devil who used to reside in an old mansion."
"You...It's you who killed the Stray Devil, Viser." She spoke in a bemused state. "Stray Devil? Viser?" The young man simply innocently tilted his head to the right. Rias Gremory pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed tiredly as his lack of knowledge regarding what he had done caused her to have a small migraine. Sona took this as a sign and took over the explanation. "Hyoudou-san, This is an Evil Piece."
Seeing his expression indicated that more clarifications' required, the Sitri continued. "Thanks to the Great War and the Civil War, our numbers had dwindled a lot. In order for us repopulate at a quicker rate, the current Beelzebub, Ajuka Beelzebub-sama created the Evil Pieces to allow us to reincarnate Humans and other races into Devils. All High-Class Devils are given a set of 15 chess pieces."
The young man listened with great interest as the president went on and explained the next part, "Stray Devils are Reincarnated Devils who went against their masters to satisfy their own selfish desires. Without their masters' supervision to keep them in check, the Stray Devils could run wild and pose a threat to us and others. Any Devil who turned Stray are to be killed on sight." Issei couldn't help but whistled at the harshness of the ruling.
He tapped his chin a few times as he processed the information. "...I see. Thank you for explanating, Sitri-san." The president merely shook her head lightly and corrected him by requesting Issei to call her by "Shitori" when in school. "You're not a Stray, are you?" The heiress of the gremory clan dubiously stared at the young man with her eyes narrowed. But Issei tittered at her question.
"No, I'm not a Stray."
"Then who's your Master?"
"I serve no one, Gremory-san."
"Then would you like to join my peerage?"
Taken surprised by Rias' sudden offer, Sona and the rest of the devils panned their heads to her in disbelief. Even Issei and Gabriel were taken aback by it. "...Pff-Hahahahahaha!" The silence was swiftly broken by the devil's laughter. Taunted by his guffaw, the gremory's right eye twitched a bit as she forced a smile. "What's so funny, Hyoudou-san?"
"Do forgive me, Gremory-san. It's just that your frankness never cease to entertain me."
The crimson-haired teen's friend who has been sitting beside her all the time tried to stop her, but Rias didn't give her the chance.
"So what's your answer, Hyoudou-san? would you join my peerage?"
"My answer is no, Gremory-san. I have no intention on serving anyone."
"...I see. You sure there's nothing I can offer you to make you join my side? Wealth, fame?"
"You're quite persistent, aren't you?" He offered her an amused smirk.
"I have a habit of wanting things that interest me."
"Well, I guess this wraps up our little conversation. It's nice meeting you all, but we'll be taking our leave." Just as Issei and Gabriel stood up from their seats, Rias threw out another proposition to him. "How about we make a bet?" That caught the devil's attention.
Issei stopped before the door and turned his head to face the heiress of gremory. "Hoh. What's in it for me?"
"If I lose...then I owe you a favour. You may name whatever you want."
"Whatever I want?" Rias raised an eyebrow after sensing that his tone suddenly changed. She made a blink. All she did was one quick blink, and Issei was already standing in front of her. A wicked grin hanged on his face as he leaned forward and taunted her, "And if I desire your body?". This caused the alarms in the devils' heads to promptly go off.
Summoning a sword into his hand from thin air, Yuuto who previously stood behind his master leaped forth and placed himself between his master and the unknown devil. A female student with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair and brown eyes also mimicked the young man's movement. She swiftly brought out her katana, drew and raised it to his throat. Forming a crisscross pattern with the young man's sword.
Issei noticed that he never got the chance to know this girl's name because of Genshirou's interruption. While he was distracted in his thoughts, the vice-president of the student council also stepped in and had a naginata rested on the nape of his neck. The three of them have trapped his neck in an X-Bar formation. "Don't move." They gravely warned him.
The devil however paid no attention to the them as he panned his gaze to the remaining devils in the room. Some of them got fists up and took fighting stances while others had their demonic power gathered at their palms that's aimed at him. Then, a thought came to him and his mischievous grin returned right away.
"Most of you are Reincarnated Devils. So I wonder if it works on you all too..." He stated it sinisterly. "What are you–" Rias never had the chance to finish her sentence when the young man's eyes abruptly glimmered in crimson. At that point, Issei calmly uttered one word. "Kneel." To their horror, all the reincarnated devils in the room did as he told. They dropped their weapons and hands, bent one of their knees to the ground and lowered their heads.
Though the reincarnated devils tried their best to stand up, their bodies were no longer theirs to command. "What–" Ignoring both Rias and Sona's shocked expression, the devil tapped his chin amusedly as he's pleased with the result. "So it does work on Reincarnated Devils." As soon as his eyes dyed back to grey, grunts and heaves of the devils from ORC and student council could be heard as they finally regained control over their body and flopped on the floor.
"Well, I thank you for your generous participation in my little experiment. But Gabriel and I really need to go now. We still need to shop for our groceries." He cared none about the heiresses' wary glare and walked back to his partner. He paused momentarily before he exited the room. "Oh. A word of advice, Gremory-san." He side glanced the crimson-haired teen and smirked at their uneasiness. "Don't ever toy with forces that's beyond your control." None dared to usher a word as they watched the devil and seraph walked out of the room.
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