Hey guys! It is I, the Phoenix, appearing for a surprise update after months of going inactive!

For those of you who have followed by other stories, please know that I'm still alive and still writing. I've just been super busy with my last year of medical college, and have had no time to write as a result of it. The combination of a time-consuming schedule, 110 Degree weather and a lack of air conditioning means that I'm basically just a melting pile of goo when I get home. And that's BEFORE I have to do my homework and study for whatever exam my sadistic Professors cooked up.

Grand Eroge will be finally getting its rewrite soon, so please don't lynch me for being gone for so long.

Anyways, that aside, welcome to my latest story!

One might tell me that publishing another story after all the ones I already have are being left to rot might be a really bad idea, but I've never really been big on common sense to begin with. A little quirk I have is that once I come upon an idea that I both find good and have the resources to actually put on paper, I can't help but write it. If I write it once, then I can always come back to it and expand on it later, no matter how long it takes. That's the mentality I adopt.

That aside, let's talk more about this particular story, which is in fact a Spin-Off/Spiritual Successor to my other DxD story, DxD: Multiplayer. A couple of weeks back, I happened upon an old fanfic named "Naruto: Ramen Days". After reading through it, I realized that the System used in that story was basically an alternate take on the System I had used for Multiplayer (or maybe the other way around, considering it had come out long before I became an author), and that had gotten me thinking. Before I knew it, I was a couple thousand words into this story's first chapter.

I'm sure you've all read DxD Gamer fics before, considering there are a metric ton of them, but I hope I'm able to bring something new to the table with this story. I'm interested to see how it's received.

Whatever happens will happen. I'm kind of rusty after not writing for months, but I'm proud of how this turned out. I just hope you are too, because this is an interesting story that I'd like to keep telling if you guys are willing to keep listening.

Also, read the Author's Note at the end of the Chapter. I write a concise explanation for the events that go on in the chapter as well as my reasoning behind them, which is often critical to help you understand some things you may not have gotten at first glance and clarify some doubts that may have popped up.

With everything accounted for, let's get on with the story!

("{}" is used to refer to Ddraig's Speech btw, and "[]" is used for anything related to the Gamer power.)

Chapter 1 - Failure and Fate

There were many words that one might use to describe the young man known as Issei Hyoudou.

Words he used to describe himself, such as "Future Harem King" and "Oppai Enthusiast".

Words others used to describe him, such as "Comrade in Arms" or, more commonly, "Perverted Degenerate" and "Sex Offender".

Perhaps even words uttered in more hidden circles such as "Sacred Gear Holder" or "Potential Peerage Candidate".

However, as the boy in question woke up in his own bed to the all too familiar ringing of his alarm clock, he seemed to be none of those things. If anyone had seen him at that moment, only one word would come to mind in lieu of a description.

Tired.

Physically, there seemed to be nothing wrong with him. For a teenage boy his age, he was remarkably healthy, and he took great care of his own body (though perhaps, not exactly for the purest of reasons). However, that illusion would falter the moment someone looked him in the eye.

Those light brown orbs seemed almost blackened with the amount of illusory weight that appeared to be behind them, as if their owner was shouldering the burdens of the World.

The sigh that escaped his lips would only reinforce that feeling.

"Dead again, huh?" he muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. The alarm clock continued to blare next to him, but Issei couldn't even be bothered to shut it off. The near-apathy in his voice was almost chilling, and was something no one who knew him would ever have expected to be borne from his mouth.

Issei Hyoudou was known for being loud and passionate, but the teenager lying down on that bed happened to be neither. Perhaps once upon a time, he had been like that. But that person was long gone, worn away by the personal hell he'd been trapped in for what seemed like an eternity.

"Well, at least I know that spiking her drink is totally useless. Maybe ordinary booze is too weak to affect their kind."

With that rather ominous statement, he dragged himself out of bed, the slouched posture he adopted practically screaming his unwillingness to do so.

Slapping his cheeks, he went over to the bathroom and performed his morning ablutions, a small flicker of energy returning to his ashen face as the cold water touched his skin.

"Can't... give up... yet." he whispered, looking at his reflection in the mirror. "I can't... give up. I can't. For... her sake, I gotta... keep going."

A memory leaped into his mind, unbidden. The face of a blond-haired girl with a smile that could light up the room. How she had thanked him profusely for the paltry kindness he had shown her. How she had looked at him, a useless pervert with no redeeming qualities, as her friend. How she had lit up at the prospect of hanging out with him and meeting his friends, genuinely thrilled to be in his presence in a way nobody had ever replicated.

And more prominently, how he had failed her in her time of need.

Even if his other memories had faded, reduced to mere glimpses of images he could barely associate with, he would never forget the sight of her corpse, still bearing that pure and angelic smile, while that bitch laughed overhead.

It was so he could see that smile again. It was so he could keep the promise he made. That was why, no matter how much he suffered, he would never stop moving. Because if he gave up on Asia Argento, his own life would be meaningless.

As Issei walked out of the bathroom, his eyes immediately flicked to his bedside desk, and the four words floating above his desk that only he could see.

[Characters]

[Inventory]

[Log]

[Notifications]

Then, to his surprise, he noticed that there was a small icon next to "Log", with the number 1 placed in a small bubble.

"That's... never happened... before…" he murmured, moving over to the table.

'I don't think I've ever seen the Menu do that, except the time when I first unlocked it.'

This strange power, which referred to itself as the "Paradox System", had become a part of his life from the moment he'd first failed to save Asia in the abandoned Church on the edge of town.

He was too much of an Otaku to not know what it signified; that somehow, he had become an honest to goodness, real life Gamer. It didn't take much for him to believe it; having your life turned into a videogame wasn't that much of a revelation after learning about the existence of the teenage Devils attending his High School and the World connected to them.

However, the initial burst of excitement and confidence he had felt quickly gave way to despair as he learned more about just how exactly the Game worked.

The first, and main rule was simple; moment he died, he would be returned to the morning of the day when he'd died for the very first time, on that date which had gone so terribly wrong. Whether his progress was reset or not, he couldn't say; he'd never actually progressed, after all.

The second rule was that he couldn't just access the System from anywhere. He still had a HUD, containing his health, magical power and a Minimap, but he couldn't actually access any of the Game's functions unless he was in his room, where the Menu options hovered above his table.

The third rule, and perhaps the worst part about the Game, was that he couldn't tell anyone about its existence. No matter who he had tried to tell, they would either laugh in his face or forget what they had been talking about seconds later.

On their own, these rules were annoying enough. But put together, they had worn down the once-cheerful pervert into what he was now; a shadow of his former self, driven only by the desire to save his friend.

The first few lives, he'd kept his hopes up; after all, one of the staple trademarks of being a Gamer was the ability to massively increase your combat abilities. Issei's plan had been to join Rias' Peerage as he had in his original life, and then train with his Gamer powers to become strong enough to save Asia from Raynare. With the enhancements from being a Devil combined with the potential of a Player, in his mind there had been almost no margin of error. The plan couldn't fail.

So of course, that was exactly what it did.

As in his original life, he'd grabbed the flyer used to Summon Rias, and had died to Raynare.

However, instead of waking up as a Devil, he had woken up in his own room, thrown back in time to that morning.

That was when he'd discovered the first flaw in his plan; if the Game Reset him whenever he died, he would just go back to the beginning if Raynare killed him, meaning that Rias would never get to reincarnate him into her Peerage.

It wasn't that hard to work around though. The next time, he'd just grabbed the Flyer, abandoned Raynare and gone home to summon Rias.

He'd been impaled by a Light Spear before the summoning could even finish, as the Fallen Angel wasn't one to just let her mark walk away.

As he soon found out, even if he never showed up to their date, she would just track him down no matter where he was and kill him.

Even leaving Kuoh Town wasn't an option, because of the massive wall of light that cordoned off the area and prevented any escape or entry, at least for him. The barrier was invisible to everyone but himself, and didn't affect anyone but him either. There was a time when he had painstakingly sold his porn mags and used the money to buy himself a train out of Kuoh, hoping to get stronger and come back to defeat the Fallen, only to die when the barrier had stopped him from leaving; holding him in place while the train kept moving.

That particular death was amongst the most painful ones he'd experienced, almost literally reduced to human pulp by the speed at which the train had slammed through his immobilized body. It was enough to discourage him from ever trying to leave again.

As such, Issei came to the realization that without Rias' protection, there was no way he could survive the day.

Unfortunately, Rias' protection was a lot harder to come by than he'd initially thought. As it turned out, he'd been extremely lucky when she had reincarnated him into her Peerage the first time, and that luck wasn't limitless.

The main issue was time. He had less than a day before Raynare killed him, and that simply wasn't enough time for him to work with. He couldn't just waltz into the Occult Research Club, considering that Rias and the others wouldn't even be there because they had classes, and he had no good reason to stay after school that wouldn't result in him getting kicked out by the Student Council, who made sure there were no stragglers on campus.

There was the option of hiding somewhere within the school grounds. He knew the hiding places around Kuoh Academy better than just about anyone thanks to his escapades, after all.

It didn't bear fruit though. Either the Student Council was scary good at smoking out students, or they were magicians of some kind. No matter where he tried to hide, they somehow found him and forced him out.

As his failed attempts piled up, Issei began to get more and more desperate. The confidence he'd had in the beginning that he would be able to right his wrongs with the new ability that he'd spontaneously gained had begun to wane, torn apart by his inability to recruit the allies he'd originally had.

In one particular Life, as a last ditch effort the teen had had snuck into the Occult Research Club Building during class, intending on camping out there until they returned so that he could convince the Devil to let him into her Peerage.

That attempt had ended up with him being impaled by one of Kiba's swords. As much as he wanted to hold a grudge over it, he had to bitterly admit to himself that he would've done the same thing in the Knight's position.

After that particular Reset, Issei pretty much gave up on trying to get help from Rias. It was clear that he was on his own thanks to the Game's rules.

So obviously, the next best course of action was finding some way to defeat Raynare himself.

Of course, that was easier said than done. Issei, fool that he was, hadn't realized just how weak he happened to be. In hindsight, it should've been obvious considering he'd been unable to defeat her even as a Devil. He'd hoped that his Gamer powers could close the gap in their strength, but he was only Level 1; meaning, he had no more power than an ordinary human.

However, he had an Ace that few humans possessed; a Sacred Gear, one that he already knew how to activate.

When he discovered that he could unlock it even as a Level 1 human, the boy had been ecstatic. With his Twice Critical, he could Boost himself to twice his normal strength, meaning he could actually put up a fight against his would-be murderer.

What an absolute joke.

Raynare made sure to teach him that 2 multiplied by 0 was still 0. The fact that he'd thought he had a chance in the first place as a human was laughable at best.

The issue was twofold; he had no idea how to fight, and his opponent could fly. Issei was an ordinary teenager, and he had no background in martial arts. Weapons were out of the question. He'd never picked up anything more dangerous than a kitchen knife in the years he'd been alive.

As such, he was a sitting duck against an opponent who not only had combat experience but could just fly out of the range of his attacks (read: badly telegraphed punches) and bombard him with Light Spears.

So, to summarize; he couldn't defeat Raynare, he couldn't escape her, he couldn't get help from Rias, and he couldn't even utilize his Gamer powers because he had no Dungeons he could farm EXP from to Level Up and gain power.

In short, Issei was completely boxed in. No matter what he tried, he couldn't survive past Day 1. What rankled him all the more was the fact that it was his own lack of any sort of notable talent that kept him where he was. If he had been smarter, he could have been able to find some way to avoid Raynare or gain Rias' favor. If he had been stronger, he would've been able to beat the Fallen Angel and her cronies himself. Since he had neither, he was stuck in this time loop that only served to emphasize just how much he sucked.

Still, he didn't give up. He couldn't, not when his surrender meant the death of a person who deserved happiness more than anyone else he knew.

But that didn't mean he had withstood the constant cycle of life, failure and rebirth without sustaining any damage. Slowly, but surely, as the Lives ticked by, he'd been worn down.

It started with the regrets.

'I should've learned martial arts instead of watching porn all the time.'

'I should've learned how to network from mom and dad.'

'I should've studied harder and tried to cultivate some kind of skill or talent.'

Then came the self-loathing.

As his own incompetence was repeatedly thrust in his face, he couldn't help but wish his younger self had taken his life more seriously. Being trapped in a time loop gave one ample time to reflect, and it was to no surprise that he couldn't even think of one quality about himself he could take pride in.

Sickening.

That was all Issei could say about himself. He had the wondrous power of a Gamer, and yet he couldn't even pass what was essentially the Tutorial Stage.

Finally, there was the despair.

'I can't do this'.

He didn't know how many Lives back the thought had popped into his mind, but its appearance signaled what could only be described as the end of the boy once known as "Issei Hyoudou". His smile, his enthusiasm, and even his addiction to the female form eroded as the hopelessness of the situation encroached on his very soul.

Despair could transform a person, and in his case, that was exactly what it did.

Of course, he stubbornly pushed on. Even through his crumbling mind, a single thought, a single wish kept him going.

'I want to see her smile again. I want her to be happy.'

But the spark, the life in his eyes had been extinguished. It was clear as day for anyone who bothered to look that he was little more than a machine that continued to trudge forward in his maddening bid to change Fate. His emotions had been reduced to little more than dull throbs, and his facial expression was fixed in a blank, hollow stare.

However, Issei wasn't gone yet. Somewhere deep in his heart, a fragment of his psyche still held on, fighting desperately against the winds of ruin.

That was why, instead of ignoring the first change in the System he'd ever seen since its appearance in his life and trudging off on another soulless attempt at defeating Raynare, the teen walked closer to the desk, a spark of curiosity bubbling up within him.

"Notifications."

[Congratulations! You have earned the Achievement: "Legacy Player"! Rewards: 1 Ability Point, 1 Trait Point.]

"Legacy... Player?"

[Legacy Player: Complete 1000 Lives.]

Issei froze. 1000 Lives? That was..., considering the fact that Raynare always killed him at night, almost three years. Had he really been trapped in this cycle for that long?

He knew he'd lost count of how many times he'd been Reset, but this was...

No, he couldn't continue down that line of thought. It might just destroy what little sanity he still had left.

Instead, the boy turned his mind towards the Rewards he had gotten for that "Achievement".

This was the first time that the Paradox System had actually done something other than just float menacingly at his bedside, and it had no Tutorial or Help Manual worth mentioning, so he had no idea what an 'Ability Point' or 'Trait Point' actually did.

But he did know where he could likely find out.

"Characters."

A list appeared in his mind's eye, with only a single name on it.

[Issei Hyoudou]

He rolled his eyes. The System really was an ass sometimes. Why the hell did it do this when he was the only Player and it had no Party option?

"Issei Hyoudou."

[Issei Hyoudou

Level: 1

Experience Points: 0/2000

Stats:

- Power: 5

- Precision: 3

- Toughness: 2

- Vitality: 4

Skills:

- Magic Mastery: 0/300

- Weapons Mastery: 3/300

- Combat Mastery: 5/300

Abilities:

- Boost: 1/5

Traits:

- Sacred Gear Holder

- Demoralized]

As expected, his "Character Sheet" was hot garbage. He had a single Ability, no Skills worth speaking of, and absolutely F-Tier Stats.

"Not like 'Demoralized' makes it any better..."

That was a Trait that had shown up a couple hundred Lives back, probably when he first started to lose hope. It had only served to make his already poor prospects even worse.

According to its description, the Trait could be removed once the "source" had been dealt with.

'Easier said than done.'

Shaking the thought off, Issei looked at the Message below his Character Sheet.

[Issei Hyoudou may select (1) new Trait.

Issei Hyoudou may select (1) Ability.]

"Traits."

[Choose one of the following Traits:

- Mana Battery

- Magic Affinity

- Weapon Affinity

- Combat Affinity

- Sub-Species Sacred Gear

- Silver Tongue

- Dragon's Luck

- Draconic Wisdom]

Wow, that was... a larger range of options than he'd been expecting. And almost all of them were Traits he could understand the function of at a glance.

The others, however;

[Draconic Wisdom: Increases Resistance to mental influences and disorders. Allows clear thinking and mental organization even in the midst of battle.]

It was a valuable Trait, that much he could say for sure. Wisdom and Intelligence weren't really his forte, and the ability to resist stuff like Hypnotism was always a plus.

But he couldn't pick that now. At the moment, his primary requirement was power instead of utility. He needed a Trait that could help him defeat his enemies, primarily that bitch who would kill him before the day ended.

Fortunately, the last Trait fit the bill.

[Sub-Species Sacred Gear: Evolves the Sacred Gear based on the desires of the user, modifying form and function. Additional Abilities may be granted. Changes may apply to both Base State and (REDACTED).]

That was huge. He dimly remembered Rias saying something about Sacred Gears being connected to desire, but the word "Sub-Species" had never come up in that conversation.

Was it something just made up by the Game?

Regardless, this specific Trait might just be the thing to give him the edge he desperately needed. He had no other means of attack apart from the power of his Sacred Gear, so making it stronger was only ever going to be in his benefit. Additionally, based on the way the Description was worded, his Sacred Gear might actually change physically.

Maybe it would become a gun instead of a gauntlet. There was something just incredibly cathartic about the thought of just shooting Raynare out of the sky with a revolver like in some twisted Wild West flick.

"Sub-Species Sacred Gear." he called out, allotting the point and purchasing the Trait.

[Issei Hyoudou has gained the Trait "Sub-Species Sacred Gear".]

He waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. Maybe he needed to finish spending his Ability Point for the changes to take effect?

"Abilities."

[Choose one of the following Abilities:

- Dodge (0/5)

- Link (0/5)

- Overpower (0/5)

- Restore (0/5)

- Unique: Boost (1/5)]

The boy didn't need to think for long on this one. There was only one Ability he could reasonably choose at that point, considering he needed it to counter his Demoralized Trait. As an added bonus, it was also tied to his now strengthened Sacred Gear.

"Boost."

[Congratulations! Boosted Gear has been Unlocked! Sacred Gear Holder has been changed to Red Dragon Emperor!]

[Issei Hyoudou has Received a new Ability:

- Unique: Warp Fang 1/5]

[Issei Hyoudou has Unlocked the following Ability:

- Unique: Transfer 0/1]

Well, that was... something.

He might have been more impressed if he actually knew what a "Boosted Gear" even was, or what it had to do with Dragons. Come to think of it, was this the reason why two of the Traits he could select were Dragon-related?

Dismissing the Character Sheet, which now reflected the changes he made, Issei looked down at his hands. He wanted to immediately see what had changed with his Sacred Gear, but the boy knew better than to activate it in his house.

It wasn't exactly quiet, and the last thing Issei wanted to spend his morning doing was explaining to his parents that he, rather literally, had God-given superpowers.

With that in mind, he threw on his clothes and headed downstairs. He had some rather extensive testing to do.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Issei walked out of the house with a muttered farewell to his parents. However, contrary to what he should've been doing, at the end of the street, instead of taking a left (which would've put him on the path to Kuoh Academy), he headed further into town.

He'd stopped going to school a short time after the first twenty Lives. There was only so many times you could hear the same classes over and over again before it became maddening. Besides, since he'd die at the end of the day and thus get sent back to the beginning, there was no one to complain about his absence. Basically, he could skip school with zero consequences. Kuoh was unusually lax about that kind of thing, which wasn't surprising considering he hadn't gotten expelled after all the times he'd peeped on the Kendo Club and they hadn't gotten expelled for beating him within an inch of his life afterwards.

Instead, he spent the time he normally would have been wasting away at a desk fantasizing about naked bodies either going through with one of his schemes to survive Raynare or coming up with new ones.

This time, however, he was going to try out the new Ace up his sleeve. Of course, he couldn't do it just anywhere for the same reason he hadn't activated his Sacred Gear in his house; other people might see him, and he knew from past experiences just how much of a headache that could be.

Fortunately, Issei also knew Kuoh Town like the back of his hand, and thus had an idea of where exactly where he could go. The fact that it was his designated "thinking spot" was only an added bonus.

It was an abandoned factory on the edge of town. Admittedly a little out of the way, about a half hour jog from his house, but possessed the attractive quality of not being near any residential or shopping areas.

If he knew his history properly, it was once a meat-packing plant before the company that owned the factory went bankrupt and the place was abandoned with its facilities still intact. For some reason, the land around the plant as well as the factory itself had never been purchased afterwards, and thus it just sat there, untouched for years.

When he was younger, it was one of the locations that kids would always challenge others to visit in order to prove their bravery. Issei dimly remembered having gone once himself with an orange-haired boy who'd been his childhood friend before moving away. While the interior of the factory was a worthy set piece for a horror movie, once you got the power running it wasn't so bad.

He'd rediscovered it after scouring Kuoh Town for a hiding spot during one of his Lives. Of course, Raynare had somehow found him like she always did, but it was a good haunt; no one to disturb him, and surprisingly homely after you got used to the rather creepy machinery.

Issei hopped the torn fence with minimal effort, landing easily on his feet and scurrying towards the dilapidated entrance.

Only after sealing the door behind him and turning the factory's power back on (why was it still connected to the power grid?) did he let out a deep breath.

"...Here goes."

He closed his eyes, focusing on his desire to become stronger. As he needed to re-unlock his Sacred Gear each time around, the teen had mastered the process to the point where he could do it in the span of a second.

{Dragon Booster!}

The announcement was accompanied by a flash of red light which lit up the factory's interior, blinding him. Blinking the spots out of his eyes with a small grunt of discomfort, Issei turned his gaze downwards, only to gape in disbelief.

The bulky bracer that had once been his Twice Critical was long gone.

Now, his Sacred Gear took the form of a pair of matching vambraces, composed of red armor, that extended down his forearms and ended in what could only be described as clawed gloves. The design was significantly less blocky and more lithe than it used to be and was probably a quarter of its former weight, with the area around his wrists being lightly armored as well as flexible in order to provide him free range of motion.

A green jewel was present on the glove-like portion, taking up nearly the entirety of the space on the back of his hands. The armor on the vambrace was ridged and rough like the scales of a dragon, with two golden spikes jutting out near the base.

In short, it looked freaking awesome.

{Not bad at all, Partner. You must be the first person to unlock a Sub-Species of the Boosted Gear in its base state. No small achievement, even if it was thanks to that strange power of yours.}

Issei jerked back, momentarily stunned by the fact that his Sacred Gear was speaking to him. What in the-

{I do believe introductions are in order; I am Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor and the Heavenly Dragon sealed within the Sacred Gear you possess, the Boosted Gear.}

The jewels on the back of his hands glowed lightly as the Gear-, no Ddraig, spoke.

There was a lot he wanted to say, but after being alone for years chronologically with almost no need for speaking, he could only force out a single sentence in a rough, broken voice damaged by disuse.

"Thought... this was... a Twice Critical?"

{No, that Devil merely mistook me for one. The former Gear you possessed was just the Boosted Gear's dormant state, which was why I couldn't speak to you up to this point. The restrictions placed on me by that so-called "Paradox System" didn't help at all, either.}

...He needed to sit down. It wasn't that the revelation was too much to handle, but rather, it gave Issei too much to think about. There was a lot to unpack already based on what little Ddraig had said to him.

"You... remember?" he forced out. "She only told me... the first time around."

The apparent dragon was silent for a few seconds.

{Yes, I do. Perhaps because I'm bound to the Boosted Gear, which is in turn bound to your soul, my memories were not wiped upon a "Reset", as you call it. Though I could not speak to you, I was watching the entire time. That feeling of powerlessness... was something I haven't experienced since that God sealed me in here. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through something like that.}

Ddraig's tone was filled with a semblance of shameful regret, the kind one felt after not helping a friend in need.

It was enough to touch Issei's broken heart.

"Thank... you..." he rasped, a single tear nearly escaping his eye.

'For caring. For remembering.'

What had finally broken the formerly cheerful pervert hadn't fully been the sense of his own powerlessness or the constant Resets, but also the loneliness, which hurt more than anything else. He had struggled with that feeling since he was a child and his only friend had moved away. It was what had driven him so strongly into his "goal" of becoming a Harem King, because in his mind, having a Harem meant that he would never be alone again.

Deep in his mind, that was why he'd been ecstatic when Rias had revived him into her Peerage. It wasn't only that her and Akeno were insanely beautiful women with boobs to die for, but rather the fact that he was now part of a group that Issei honestly felt he could connect with.

Kiba was a bishonen bastard, no two ways around it, but he was a good guy at heart and didn't look down on him despite being better in every way. Koneko was a little more mean, but she was so cute that Issei honestly hadn't felt bothered by it, especially because she proved that she had his back when he needed it. Akeno was the definition of an Onee-sama character, and he was all for that. Rias had not only a perfect figure, but was kind enough to revive him when she found him on death's door, before she knew he even had a Sacred Gear.

'I won't be lonely anymore.'

That was the thought which was embedded in his subconscious, even as he leered at his King and imagined what her naked breasts would look like.

Too bad that didn't last. The Game had essentially kicked him out of that Peerage he was just starting to form a genuine bond with, and left him with no means of getting back in.

And it didn't stop at that. Due to the fact that no one could remember anything, either about the previous Lives or the Game, Issei slowly realized that his bonds with even the people he knew well were slipping.

He'd stopped talking to his parents a long time ago, and the boy wasn't even sure how long it had been since he had even thought of his two buddies, Matsuda and Motohama. How could he, when they said the same things over and over again as if running on a script?

It was almost like... they were NPCs in a videogame. Sure, if he went out of his way he could get them to say something new, but otherwise their actions and words were fixed. Matsuda and Motohama would always talk about the same Dating Sim release, his father would always complain about how he'd heard through a friend that taxes were being increased, and his mother would always talk about how he needed to take care of himself better, telling him of the time she supposedly fought off two lions on the way to her school because she didn't want to miss an exam.

Just like with the lectures of his teachers, he'd been unable to bear it for long before he actively went out of his way to avoid them.

Brutal perversion; that was the only term that could be used to describe the now-twisted psyche of Issei Hyoudou. A boy who sought companionship but could no longer connect to people on a fundamental level.

But how could he?

The people around him seemed to be more machine than man, blissfully ignorant to the fact that they were living the same day over and over again while he seemed to be the only one exempt from that mercy. Nobody knew what was going on. Nobody could even begin to at least partially understand what he was going through.

At least, until now.

{You give me too much credit, Partner. I could neither provide you with my power nor my knowledge in your time of need.}

As it turned out, companionship could be found in the oddest of places, such as within his own Sacred Gear. He dimly remembered someone mentioning in passing that Sacred Gears sometimes had Spirits sealed within them, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time.

To be fair, at that point in time he barely thought much of anything other than the bodies of women.

"It's... the thought... that counts..." rasped Issei. The corner of his lip twitched upwards minutely in what might have been the barest hint of a smile.

Perhaps it was a stroke of luck after what could only be described as the worst misfortune on the planet, but Issei was glad that the first person he met (who happened be in the same boat as him) turned out to be an ally instead of an enemy like the Fallen Angels or that psycho Exorcist. He might've just broken down if that had come to pass.

The boy shook his head, flushing the dark thought from his mind. He couldn't go down that road. Things were bad enough already without mentally simulating what-if scenarios.

No, he needed to take the initiative. For the first time in years, he wasn't alone. He had someone associated with the supernatural on his side, one who not only was willing to talk to him but likely had a plethora of information he could use, starting with...

"What is... Boosted Gear?"

{Oh, I'm glad you asked. Allow me to finally pull my own weight and tell you just exactly what you're now capable of, Partner.}

As Issei listened to the dragon talk, the other corner of his lip also began to twitch upwards, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, a spark of hope blossomed in his chest.

Hours later, when he left the abandoned factory and began to make his way back towards Kuoh proper, the teen walked with a sense of grim determination, the kind he wasn't aware he was still capable of.

'I'll save you, Asia. Just wait for me. I'll destroy anyone who tries to hurt you, no matter who it is.'

But first...

In order to protect the one who didn't deserve the unfortunate Fate she'd been handed...

Issei had a date to get to.

Raynare honestly wasn't sure why she was wasting her time like this.

Maybe it was because she hadn't expected Issei Hyoudou to be so absolutely pathetic. It was true that she only knew about him based on the file she'd been provided, since the Fallen Angel couldn't be bothered to actually waste her time spying on a lowly Human, but she'd expected better.

She'd only asked him out on a date because she wanted to get a kick out of leading the hopeless horndog on before killing him, but now she was wondering why she had even bothered.

It wouldn't have taken much effort to just lure him away from the school where the Devils resided, spear him and leave him to die.

But no, she got a little too greedy, and her desire for entertainment had overridden her common sense. She'd expected him to grovel and do whatever she asked on their little "Date", all that Humans were even good for, but the utter imbecile hadn't even bought his wallet, forcing her to discretely summon her own when he wasn't looking lest she be forced into an annoying altercation due to not paying the bills at the café.

Raynare had wanted to murder him right there, but the abundance of witnesses was too big of a deterrent, even if they could wipe memories. So she'd been grudgingly forced to continue the date, wasting time till dark so she could lure him to an isolated area to finish him off.

Now that night had fallen and she had steered him towards the fountain in the middle of the Plaza Park, the sadistic woman was all too glad to finish the job.

'Good riddance.'

She had been forced to not only cover the whole cost of everything they'd done, but Issei had made almost zero conversation with her the entire time, speaking simple words at most when prompted; it was almost as if she was the one who asked him out, and he'd only shown up for the sake of being polite.

It was an insult Raynare was all too ready to force him to pay for. In blood.

Perhaps if she had bothered to dedicate any thought to why her mark had undergone a drastic personality shift seemingly overnight, things might have played out differently; but since she couldn't be bothered to think about someone she considered beneath her, her Fate was set in stone.

"Will you die for me?"

It was a line she'd used countless times before, her signature dialogue when she went in for the kill. Issei wasn't the first potential Sacred Gear Holder she'd disposed of, after all. It was her specialty in Grigori, a duty trusted to her by her beloved Azazel. She would seduce potential Sacred Gear users, manipulate them into a sense of safety, and kill them while savoring their despair.

She'd uttered those words so many times that she could already envision the sequence of events that were to follow. First, the insect before her would be thrown for a loop at her sudden shift in personality, having never expected innocent little Yuuma Amano to have been a wolf in sheep's clothing. Then the shock would turn to fear as her wings extended and she proved just how superior she was to the measly human. The fear would become despair when she impaled them with her Light Spears, despair that grew all the stronger as their lifeblood drained out of their mangled bodies. Then she would laugh as the life left their eyes, savoring every last moment of it. That was the way it always happened, and that was the way it always would be.

"No... I don't think I will."

Which was why when things immediately went off script, she was the one to be taken by surprise.

{Boost!}

In a flash of red light, what could only be the boy's Sacred Gear materialized over both his arms as his presence, both physical and magical, doubled.

Stunned as she was by the sudden hostility radiating and sense of danger from someone she had pegged as inconsequential, Raynare's mind went blank for several seconds.

It was only when something red flashed past her, cutting a gash across her cheek, did she realize the incredulous fact that her life was in danger.

At the sensation of pain and the feeling of her own blood rolling down her cheek, rage overtook the sadist's entire being.

"Don't get cocky, you insect!" she roared, taking to the skies as her wings extended from her back.

The Fallen Angel was so blinded by fury that she didn't even bother taunting her enemy further like she usually did, instead opting to create a Light Spear in each hand and throw them towards the boy on the ground.

Both of them missed their mark, one being dodged completely and the other being deflected to the side by a knife that had somehow appeared in the human's right hand.

Not one to give in so easily, Raynare prepared to fire another volley of Light Spears but was forced to abort when the few seconds she was taking to aim more carefully worked against her. The Sacred Gear wielder flipped the knife in his hand and threw it, causing her to swerve to the side to avoid getting hit.

As the projectile sailed past her, Raynare triumphantly raised a newly formed Spear, emboldened by the fact that her opponent seemed to have run out of knives while she was airborne and thus now firmly had the upper hand.

Predictably, the Fallen Angel opened her mouth once more, her nature compelling her to gloat before she attacked her perceived prey, but was cut off by the gems on the Sacred Gear glowing a faint green.

{Warp!}

She blinked, and he was gone.

"Wha-?"

{Boost!}

The call of the Sacred Gear sounded out from behind her, and Raynare hurriedly turned in midair, only for her eyes to widen at the sight of the fang-like knife inches away from her face.

There was no chance of escape. The momentum of the blow combined with the 4X strength enhancement of what the foolish woman had finally realized was the fucking Boosted Gear caused the knife's blade to tear through the flesh of her throat like butter and come out the other side.

A lethal wound. One there was no chance of recovery from. It had happened so suddenly that her brain hadn't even caught up to the fact that the arteries in her neck had been shredded like tissue paper.

Large violet eyes stared uncomprehendingly at frigid brown orbs before the light left them completely.

'How could I... have been... killed... by a Human?'

She must have said that last part out loud, because even as they fell through the air, she heard the softly spoken words of the one who had bested her.

"Call it... Karma."

And then the Fallen Angel named Raynare knew no more.

{Warp!}

Issei immediately teleported away from Raynare's falling body just moments before they hit the ground, rolling across the pavement roughly for a few meters as his momentum transferred over.

He didn't sustain any scratches or injuries though, mainly because he was still 4X Boosted. The boy kicked himself up from his lying position, dusting himself off and making sure he had sustained no injuries that he hadn't noticed.

Then his eyes turned to his fallen enemy. He approached her prone body cautiously, a Fang Dagger held in his gloved hand. While stab wounds to the throat were usually fatal, Issei knew precious little about the Supernatural World and thus had no idea what Fallen Angels were capable of.

For all he knew, they had some sort of secret kamikaze attack that triggered when they were on death's door.

{A Grunt like her? Doubt it. Perhaps you could expect something like that from the likes of Kokabiel or Azazel, but this Raynare is just canon fodder. That Devil who originally reincarnated you probably could have obliterated her with a single attack.}

Issei walked over to the body, and found that Ddraig was right. His dagger was still lodged in her throat, and the girl who had once referred to herself as Yuuma was clearly dead.

Conflicting emotions warred within him as he looked into her wide, lifeless eyes. He thought he would be overcome by euphoria now that he had finally killed her, yet things weren't that simple.

It wasn't a question of morality; he may have been rather on the dull side when it came to intelligence, but even he knew that Raynare wasn't a good person who had fallen into darkness. Mannerisms like hers don't just spontaneously appear, after all. She'd likely always been this way, and he was willing to bet he wasn't the first Sacred Gear user to fall prey to her.

Her death at his hands was completely justified, no matter how you looked at it.

There was no pleasure for the kill itself either, none of the vindictive satisfaction that he'd expected at having gotten back at the person who had been partially responsible for turning his life into a living Hell and killing him hundreds of times. He'd been struck by her Light Spears so many times that he barely felt pain anymore, as the experience of having his flesh penetrated and auto-cauterized over and over again built up a mental resistance to it.

Of course, he did feel some measure of happiness; happiness that he had finally gotten past the first hurdle on his quest to save Asia, but that was supplanted by the worry and apprehension that arose from a single thought.

'How many people are going to be like her in the future? People who just won't leave me alone and come after the people I care about? People that can't be reasoned with, only defeated or killed?'

Issei buried his face in his hands, the mental exhaustion he'd been carrying for years coming to the surface as he let out a sigh.

He was a Gamer now, or at least the real-life equivalent of one. He already knew the answer to his own question.

After all, if life now operated by the rules of a Game, that meant that he would have an entire Rogue's Gallery worth of enemies waiting in the wings. No Game was complete without challenges, after all, and Raynare was just the first.

{Even if you weren't bound by this "Paradox System", things wouldn't have been different. Power attracts power; that is the natural law of this World, and you have one of the most famous Longinus Sacred Gears. Raynare had targeted you even before all this, and you became a Devil in the Peerage of the current Lucifer's sister until you Reset. A normal life was never in the cards for you Partner, loathe as I am to admit it.}

The boy could only nod in response to the Dragon's words. There was no falsehood there, and it only confirmed a realization he'd come to several Lives back; a quiet, normal life... might just be beyond his capability to retain.

Predictably, he hadn't known its value until he'd actually lost it.

His future would be filled with violence and strife. Issei was absolutely certain of that fact, yet...

{We'll make it through, Partner. No matter how long it takes.}

After a long time, he felt the uplifting sensation of hope. He had a trustworthy friend, and a path forward; two things he had lacked until now.

The flame of determination, which had been reduced to mere embers by years of failure, slowly began to regain a fragment of their former glory.

Although...

{So what are we going to do about the body?}

Issei blinked, turning to look at the cooling corpse on the pavement just meters away.

"...Oh."

...some things just never changed.

And that's a wrap!

So now, as I promised, it's time to explain a few things.

1) Issei is not the same person you were expecting, being completely different compared to his canon self. To that I'll say; yeah, that's the point. To put it simply, if the original Issei Hyoudou was Shirou Emiya, this version is his Archer counterpart. A person who has quite literally walked through hell. Of course, since the original Issei Hyoudou was closer to Archer, this version's character is closer to Shirou's HF persona. While some people may call this OOC, and they wouldn't be wrong, I feel like this was a logical progression of his character considering what he's gone through.

2) Issei's speech is broken and dull as a result of the psychological damage that he has suffered. This is based on a true category of diseases known as psychogenic speech disorders, where a person's mental state causes them to suffer lapses in speech and have difficulties speaking. Even his one-liners against Raynare weren't said to look cool, but rather were honest words.

3) "He's a Gamer, how could he lose so many times and be so weak against the first enemy in the franchise?" I'm sure that's the question many of you have, especially considering how DxD Gamer fics tend to be power fantasies. The answer to that is simple; one, the Paradox System isn't the type that grants power for free or can be easily exploited like normal ones, and two, Issei Hyoudou at that point in time is extremely incapable. Some people say that he's worthless without the Boosted Gear, and from a combat perspective, they're right. He's a Human with a Sacred Gear that only had the functionality of a Twice Critical. It took Issei multiple Boosts as a Devil to curb stomp Raynare in canon; here, he is still a Human and he can only Boost once. Later after getting the Demoralized Trait, things became even worse for him as his Base Stats were halved. There was no logical way Issei could defeat Raynare in a fair fight. Any other option was lost because of his own lack of talents, which is outright stated in the story and is canonically true. Also, this is the Issei who fought Raynare in the Church and died, meaning he has almost no knowledge of the Magical World and doesn't even know Sona's a Devil.

4) As you can see, the System affects the Real World in several places just as the Real World affects the System. Raynare always finding Issei is a direct result of the System forcing them to fight since that's the first part of the Tutorial Level, as well as the barrier that prevents him from leaving Kuoh Town (which is basically the story's equivalent of Paimon telling you to explore the area ahead of you later).

5) "Why didn't Issei just ask Rias for protection even if he couldn't join her Peerage?" There are two reasons behind that, one of which will be explained in the next chapter if the story continues. The other is simply that he didn't think he could actually do that and thus never tried. People by nature are fallible, and Issei was never the brightest.

6) "If Issei is so weak as you said, how did he beat Raynare so easily afterward?" This is also going to be expanded on in the next chapter, but from what you've seen in the fight, Issei not only took Raynare by surprise but also had an ability she had no knowledge of, one that he abused to his advantage. The final blow he struck against her not only carried the Boosted power he had, but also the momentum of his fall and a bladed weapon as the vector. She had no chance of surviving that.

7) "If Issei just has infinite Respawns, then how is this story going to have any tension?" That's a valid question; at least, it would be if popular franchises like Re: Zero and Edge of Tomorrow weren't a thing. You'll soon fine that the ability to respawn doesn't immediately fix all problems, especially for someone like Issei who isn't the brightest and has trouble seeing the ramifications of his actions.

8) Speaking of Sub-Species, this was one of the most fun parts of the story for me. It might seem odd that a System that kept Issei locked on the first level for so long would give him a Sub-Species so easily, but it's really not that hard to believe. Just because he has a Sub-Species, that doesn't make him invincible. He won against Raynare not because he had his Sub-Species ability, but also because he had Ddraig's advice, the element of surprise, and the ability to Boost twice. I also made this decision because without the Evil Pieces, a lot of Issei's future abilities with the Boosted Gear such as Illegal Move Traina and Crimson Cardinal Promotion become invalid, meaning he has to make his own techniques later. I also haven't read a single story where Issei has a Sub-Species Boosted Gear in its base state especially, so I decided to make my own. Of course, I took inspiration for this Sub-Species from somewhere else, and I'm sure you guys can figure out what his Sub-Species is based on. I'd like to see you call it out in your Reviews if you can. It'll become obvious why I gave him this powerset pretty soon. Know that it'll be fairly balanced, and its weaknesses will be expanded on in Chapter 2.

9) The Abandoned Factory Issei was hanging out in is the same one the Hero Faction uses later to launch attacks against them in Season 4-ish.

10) In case I wasn't clear, "Paradox System" is the name of Issei's Gamer Power. I just named it on a whim, so don't try to superanalyze it.

11) The Boosted Gear being a Twice Critical in its unawakened form is something I took from the anime-exclusive content, because it fit the System well.

12) Personally, I feel like people won't like this story very much considering that it's very far off the mark of an ordinary DxD Gamer fic (read: power fantasy), but that's okay. This is meant to be a deeper, more nuanced story.

And that's all that I wanted to say. I'm sure I missed something that will get me ragged in the Reviews, but oh well.

One final thing; the theme of this story is "rebuilding oneself and finding purpose", obviously referring to Issei. He's been broken down to little more than a machine that goes forward with a singular goal; and his tale in this story is about him trying to piece together the shattered fragments of his psyche and find a goal for himself in a World that seems unwilling to leave him alone.

I'll see y'all soon. I have a couple of One-Shots and Prototype ideas lined up after I update Grand Eroge, so look forward to that. If you guys want me to continue this story and not just leave it as a One-Shot in its own right, please let me know in the Reviews. Like I said; if you want to listen, then I have a story to tell.

Spatialphoenix here, burning to ashes.

P.S. - Please Support me on the place of Patrons if you can. I'd really appreciate it. On that note, special thanks to Austin S., Nico M., Chris D., ReedRacer, Dakota A., Q-dog-97, captain GIGN and Superpengy for doing so.