Issei dodged.

And then twisted his skeletal body to avoid a shearing blow that would have knocked him on his butt, or run him through if he still had a fleshy body.

Then he made a grand dive for cover, avoiding a beam that would have brained him had he stood still.

There was something liberating in being able to actually react to whatever attacks that came his way, even if the 'blows' were not strictly speaking aimed at him. Nor were they actual attacks anyway.

Instead he was dodging shards of masonry, beams of wood, and chunks of ice that were flying all over the place as the hallway in which he and Entoma had stood just… evaporated.

A furious roar came from a flame-clad creature that had burst through the floor. Issei swore he had seen something akin to the demon-looking creature in a manga somewhere, and while he thought the storm in the Fifth Floor intensified until air was cold enough to slice apart flesh even without the aid of the hailstorm of razor-sharp ice.

Issei looked over the pile of rubble behind where he was hiding, and saw that Cocytus's normally-blue eyes had turned completely red and were shining brightly with ominous glow, and the insect-like warrior had his weapons drawn while there were multiple sorts of visual effects all around him, like if he had used some sort of skills in an RPG. Or rather, all of them, at the same time.

Issei then looked to the other side to see that Demiurge's smirk had widened to such a degree that it was borderline splitting his face in two, while his hands had turned into gigantic steel-like claws and his interlocking steel-plated tail was wagging around in excitement, and his entire face had turned into something utterly inhuman- He had red-ish frog-like eyes on the sides of his head, while his head looked like a unholy combination of frog and a chicken fetus.

Issei then looked behind himself to notice that there was a dark warrior clad in plate armor that stood some ten feet or so away from him. The dark warrior's armor seemed to fit quite snugly around her curves for some reason, and she was breathing extremely heavily while holding a green-glowing bardiche with both her hands. 'I'm guessing that's Albedo?'

"So… Ahem." Issei looked between the Guardians for a while, even though neither was close enough to hear his voice that came out more as a whimper than a speech. "What's going on?"

"E-e-e-eh… I… W-was I too late…" Entoma looked quite scared as she dove for cover beside Issei. "I-Issei-sama? D-did you forget again? D-didt the thief manage to strike again?"

"The thief? What thief?"

Entoma's distress seemed to reach a peak and the girl slumped on her back against the masonry while her limbs curled against her chest, as if she was a dying fly. "I… I failed… L-lord Issei was attacked again… And he lost his memories again…"

'Eh? W-what? Is she referring to how I forgot Albedo's cell number?!' Issei stared at Entoma for a while as the three Guardians were seemingly seeking for some unknown enemy around the blown-out part of the Frozen Prison.

Issei glanced around and noted that the roof of the building was on fire, and the side of the haunted manor had been blown out alongside Issei, Entoma and quite bit of rubble as a huge fire-clad bodybuilder-like demon had burst out of it, seemingly under Demiurge's command as the business-suit clad demon had followed right behind it.

"So, um… I don't think that was the case. I don't think I was attacked… Well, that isn't technically true as I was attacked when I woke up here, but I wasn't under attack just now." Issei realized that Entoma's babbling referred to the moment Issei had been isekai'd into the body he was currently inhabiting. 'Er, they said something about my memories being stolen or some such, even though that's not really the case- Sheesh, I need to clear up that misunderstanding or things like these will repeat every time I forget something…'

Entoma, however, looked quite dead so Issei knelt down beside her and poked her cheek a bit. "Hey, don't die."

"E-e-e-eh?" Entoma seemed to chitter a bit as the frost that had started to creep over her seemed to cause her to rime up again. "I-I-Issei-s-s-sama?"

"I didn't lose my memories. I just forgot something. That happens all the time, so don't worry about it- Although I'm kinda glad that you were worried for my sake." Issei channeled the best 'concerned dad' impression he could make, as he really didn't want to enrage the maid by being too harsh or, on the other side of the spectrum, give her a wrong idea- Even though Issei loved breasts, he had seen already what would happen if he used too direct wording in his current situation and Entoma got the wrong idea. 'Albedo-oneesama was scary enough… Not to mention Solution-san… Entoma-chan would probably turn into something equally scary if she thought I was interested in her in a perverted way… Haa, this place is truly hell… I can't even afford to let myself peep at my heart's leisure, I'd totally get killed if someone finds out and gets the wrong idea… Although the reaction differs somewhat from what I'm used to. Not the result but the way we get there.'

Entoma tilted her head as if she didn't understand what she was hearing, all the while Issei was lost in thought. "Eh?"

"Yeah, so don't worry about it. Er, actually, could you tell Albedo-san to calm down… She's giving me a worrisome glare…" Issei glanced at the direction of the dark-armored warrior who was panting heavily while gripping her bardiche, seemingly ready to charge Issei at any second yet far away enough that Issei was not in range of her bardiche. Not to mention, it looked like Albedo was a moment away from snapping again as her wings were fluttering and there was a single red-glowing dot visible through the slit of her helmet.

"E-eh… Y-yes, Issei-sama!" Entoma sprang up and ran at Albedo with speed so high that Issei could barely even spot her, and Issei used the chance to move towards Demiurge and Cocytus, figuring that he'd have greater chance of telling the guys to calm down as opposed to what would happen if he approached Albedo.

"Guys, calm down. Everything's alright. We're not under attack:" Issei called for the two of the Floor Guardians, who turned in unison towards Issei… And Issei froze still on the spot. 'Hieeeeee?! Scaryyy! Cocytus-san looks like he's totally snapped! He's really mad! A-and Demiurge-san! That smile is seriously creepy! I feel as if my soul is about to leave my body! Am I going to die here?! No! I refuse to die! I refuse to die as long as I haven't at least fondled Rias-buchou's breasts!'

Issei found his willpower with the last thought in his mind, and met the glare of the two Guardians head-on, even if only because he was in actuality too scared to look away… And it seemed that Cocytus snapped from his rage in turn while Demiurge's lethal smirk slowly waned to 'normal' levels.

"I… I. beg. for. your. forgiveness. my. lord.' Cocytus bowed a bit. "I. swore. I. would. not. let. even. a. fly. to. disturb. you. yet. the. enemy-"

"No, no, it's nothing like that. I think." Issei waved his hand a bit for Cocytus to calm down. "I just forgot something minor, and things escalated unnecessarily for a bit."

Cocytus's rage and shame was clearly replaced by confusion, which was further compounded by Demiurge's confusion… Except that Demiurge's confusion turned to a cunning, contemplative look a split second later.

"I see… Indeed, how cunning…" Demiurge seemed to be talking to himself. "My lord, are you saying that there are indeed no enemies present at the moment?"

"Well… I can't tell for certain but I don't think so?" Issei didn't want to use certainties, considering how extremely the people in Nazarick tended to react to his words. 'Sheesh, it's almost as if they have zero social skills to pick up ques, or they are taking everything really literally… Well, it's not like I can throw stones in that regard, but at least I was in a high school and interacted with people, so… Wait, wait, is this actually a NEET dungeon for NEETs?'

Demiurge seemed to realize something and nodded slowly while stroking his chin in contemplation, and his glasses had turned opaque as if something was clicking together in

Issei shook his head as if to shake the stray thoughts out as he had been contemplating if he had actually been a NEET in life as well, albeit in spirit as he was in education and had been receiving somewhat-ok grades, and came to the conclusion that he wasn't one. And he realized that the Guardians were still staring at him. "Sorry, I was thinking about irrelevant stuff. Anyway, if we get back on track… Albedo-san?"

"Haa… Haa…" A thick gout of frozen-white steam came from under the helmet of the addressed armored warrior, and the woman's black wings twitched quite violently. Not to mention that there was a quite ominous stream of spit running down from underneath her helmet, making Issei think that Albedo must have been literally foaming from the mouth.

"Um… So, could I ask that Albedo-san's prison-time is absolved? She didn't mean anything too bad when she lost control, so I feel as if putting her in prison is too harsh a punishment…" Issei remembered vaguely why he had come to the frozen 'floor' in the first place, and latched onto it as his nonexistent heart was pounding in his chest. Or at least, he figured that if he still was a 'human' or 'devil' he'd feel that way.

"Of course, my lord." Nigredo crawled from through the snow and plopped back on view, making Issei realize that that the woman had crawled through the currently-still-on-fire Frozen Prison's broken exterior to join the group outside. "The word of the Supreme Being is law. Although, I would personally recommend against releasing Albedo so early."

"I see… Albedo-san, what is your opinion on the matter?" Issei turned towards the dark warrior who was breathing quite heavily. "U-um, if you don't mind telling me…"

"Haa… haaa… hrgh… hhaaa… Haa…. haa… Issei-sama…" Albedo doubled over while gripping her bardiche. "You love me, youloveyouloveyouloveyouloveIloveyouIloveyou…"

"Um… I think it might be best if Albedo-san had some time to calm down, after all." Issei practically felt as Albedo's self-control was slipping, and he had already seen with Solution to where exactly that would lead. And he realized that he had been spared from a very messy fate when the Pleiades had stopped Albedo from making him learn that lesson with her as opposed to Solution.

"Of course, my lord." Nigredo looked at Albedo a bit warily… Before she produced a large wooden oar that had Japanese writing on it. "Hiii- Iai!"

Issei sweated a bit as Nigredo snuck behind Albedo and hit her in the back of her head with a oar that spelled 'Horny Jail', causing the armored woman to let a small 'eep' and fall on her face in the snow.

Nigredo reached down and lugged the unconscious dark-armored warrior-woman on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, curtsied slightly towards Issei, and wobbled back to the burning building.

"Um, should we do something about that fire?" Issei pointed at the manor, causing Cocytus to blink a few times while Demiurge adjusted his glasses, and the devil clicked his fingers once.

The fires went out instantly.

"Good, good… Ahem, Cocytus-sensei, can I help in rebuilding the exterior of the manor? I think I caused a misunderstanding that made you two break the walls…" Issei sweatdropped internally as Demiurge sent Cocytus an odd glance upon hearing the 'senpai' word. "Moreover, I have an announcement to make, er, after some time, since Albedo-san needs to calm down a bit… Um, right. Before that, I feel like visiting the arena from before- Entoma-san? Could you show me to the teleportation gate?"

"Yes!" Entoma seemed to shake off her stupor after receiving an order.

'...Sheesh… It was night back when I met the Guardians in that arena, but I saw a bunch of greenery and night sky… I need some quiet and solace to calm down if I can't indulge myself in ogling at breasts in case I trigger something dangerous…' Issei was crying blood internally while he did his best to appear stoic externally as he turned his cape in dramatic fashion and walked off beside Entoma, like he had seen the villains do in corny 'horror movies' he had watched with Motohama and Matsuda prior to his whole 'devilfication' thing, and before the subsequent 'isekai' into whatever the Tomb was.

Cocytus blinked a few times while breathing heavily and clicking his mandibles, and Demiurge adjusted his glasses while chuckling ominously.

Issei tried to pretend he didn't notice either of them as his mind was stretching dangerously close to breaking point and he didn't want to risk flying off the rocker in front of either of the dangerous people.

.

.

"Hm. did. you. make. sense. of. that?" Cocytus turned to Demiurge after their master had walked off after Entoma.

"I could not even dream of understanding the millionth of the Supreme Being's ultimate plan, but I believe I received some clandestine hints- But before that, could you explain why Lord Issei calls you… 'senpai'?" Demiurge turned to look at Cocutys.

"I. was. asked. by. lord. Issei. if. I. could. teach. him. in. the. arts. of. the. warrior."

"Hm… And how is that going?"

"Lord. Issei. shows. great. promise. and. is. aware. of. advanced. warrior. techniques. However. I. thought. Lord. Issei. was. a. Necromancer?" Cocytus clicked his mandibles a few times. "I. am. confused. Please. help. me. understand, Demiurge. san."

"Hmm… I could tell you what I have gathered so far, but it is not my place to do so- After all, our lord has decreed that he has something to announce to us at a later date… In other words, this is not yet the time for me to reveal everything." Demiurge smirked a bit while adjusting his glasses, and the smirk widened a bit as Cocytus let a small clicker-clatter of despair from his mandibles. "Do not think too harshly of me. I am merely playing to the tune of the Supreme Being's silent melody."

"Of. course. I. would. never. think. harshly. of. you. over. such. a. thing. Demiurge. san. However, I. despair. at. my. own. lacking. wit..."

"Think nothing of it. Even I struggle to properly translate our lord's messages- And indeed, I must confess that it is I who is ashamed. After all, by accusing Albedo back at the Arena, I played to the enemy's tune and fell to a trap. But our lord set us straight, and forgave me. So do not think yourself incompetent- Our enemy is cunning, and our lord fights him in kind. Have faith in him."

"My. faith. has. never. shaken. from. the. Supreme. Being."

"In that case, let us do our part and dance as puppets on the Supreme Being's strings, to the tune of unheard melody and against an unknown yet ever-nonpresent foe." Demiurge finished with a cryptic statement while smirking, causing Cocytys to sigh.

.

.

"Haa~" Issei felt a bit happy as he looked at the greenery of the Sixth Floor, which had been accessed through the teleportation gates as Entoma said that she wasn't sure how to enter the Sixth Floor through Fifth Floor safely, as apparently the entrance of Sixth Floor had been trapped somehow.

The skeletal no-longer-devil had heard something about parasites and ovipositors and all sorts of insects from Entoma, and decided that teleporting was definitely a better way of getting there.

Issei had been flanked by two humanoid creatures as soon as he stepped out of the teleportation gate and took a few steps while looking at the sky which had a beautiful red hue of a rising sun.

'Haa… It's pretty… Eh?' Issei looked to the side to see that Aura and Mare had almost literally appeared out of thin air, and both were seemingly staring at him. "Greetings, um… Aura-chan, Mare-kun."

It felt a bit weird for Issei to switch the pronouns of the two, but he managed to pull it off with a straight face even though he couldn't really bring himself to believe that Mare was actually a boy- In fact, if Issei was in any less calm state of mind he would have likely tried to flip Mare's skirt to make sure, but as it was, he was fairly sure he'd find some eldritch horror staring right back at him if he tried.

"Greetings, Lord Issei. Can we be of assistance?" Aura performed a calm bow like how Issei had seen Sebas bow, while Mare performed a curtsy after shaking a bit on the spot. "A-awawa- c-can I… um… h-help, l-lord Isse-e-i?"

Issei sighed, causing the two to freeze up a bit. "No, think nothing of that sigh just now. Sheesh, you two can relax. I'm not a scary person, you know?"

.

.

Aura felt sweat running down the back of her neck as she stared at Lord Issei who was blasting out a aura of dread, despair and stress that almost literally caused all 'animal' inhabitants of the Sixth Floor to flee from the vicinity of the Teleportation Gate in abject horror.

Meanwhile Mare was clearly a 'boo'-sound away from either running off in terror and hiding under a bush or toppling over to a fetal position as the absolute fear-and-terror aura that Lord Issei cast all around him was causing extra effect on the boy's already compromised calm.

Not to mention, Aura herself managed to control her own emotions only through activating several of her charms on herself. It looked as if Entoma was unaffected by the effects, though, as her race gave her quite potent resistances to negative effects even if she was not immune to any of them- Yet, the fact the maid was chomping on cockroaches at quite high rate of speed told Aura that Entoma was likely feeling quite stressed out as she was clearly stress-eating.

"...I'm not a scary person, you know?" Lord Issei finished his speech, and the aura of dread that radiated out of him intensified even further, causing Aura's eyebrow to twitch against her will.

"Y-yeah,sure, suuure… Whatever you say, boss…" Aura felt her tongue slipping as she was concentrating on not showing the seeping feelings of fear and despair on her face, even if they were affecting her spirit in quite a negative way.

Lord Issei was clearly disappointed with Aura's lacking self-control as he sighed after Aura's response, and reached up with his hand…

Aura froze still while her eyes closed against her will and her face tightened in preparation for punishment-

"E-eeeeeh?!" A scream rang in the clearing in the forest and Aura snapped her eyes open while twisting her head to the side at such speed that she could practically hear her neck let out a pop, and saw-

Mare was on the ground in a fetal position, and was twitching and shivering from head to toe while he was in an otherwise catatonic state.

Lord Issei was utterly still while he had lifted his hand and placed it where Mare's head used to be. "U-um, I thought to pat her, ahem, his head… S-sorry, I guess that was out of line…"

"R-right…" Aura felt quite terrified of the Supreme Being's power, that he could imbue such terror to others with mere touch- Which in retrospect shouldn't have surprised Aura all that much, as by being an Undead Lord Issei would have had access to multiple aura abilities involving negative emotions, negative energy and dread. However, she was fairly sure none of them should have been able to affect Guardians so drastically, unless the aura of fear had grown in potency by quite a bit. 'C-could it be that Lord Issei's control over his Fear auras have grown stronger, and his abilities more potent? He is a Supreme Being after all…'

More than that, however, what puzzled Aura was Lord Issei's decision to use the auras against the two of them- Before she realized that by being the 'least' resistant to Fear auras and such out of all Guardians by being Dark Elves, she and Mare would be prime subjects for testing the effect of the aura since other Guardians were either highly resistant to such abilities or could ignore it outright, like Shalltear, Cocytus or Demiurge.

"Ahem! I think I got it! Right! Please experiment on us to your heart's content, boss!" Aura steeled herself and stared at Lord Issei, who… opened his mouth and closed it, as if he wasn't sure what Aura was saying.

"Um, that… was not my intention. Er, let's go to a clearing or something to get Mare-kun some fresh air and light…" Lord Issei seemed to be a bit uncertain as he reached down to swoop Mare to his arms and lift him up.

Aura tilted her head to the side, now utterly confused. 'Eh? That wasn't it? What?'

Nonetheless, Aura snapped out of her stupor after a brief moment and turned to lead the small group away from the teleporter and to a clearing by the lakeside that led to a waterfall, which in turn gave a view of the Arena in the distance.

"Ah, good… Mare-kun, are you feeling better?" Lord Issei put Mare down near the lake's shore, and the boy flopped over like a corpse. "Er, I don't think that's good…"

"M-Mare-kun is just feeling a bit shy, eheheh…" Aura sweated a bit while kicking Mare's shin covertly. "Wakeupyousleepyheadbrothercomeondon'tembarassusinfrontofLordIssei"

Mare snapped awake with a jolt and curled up to hold his shin. "Owiee… I had a nightmare, it's scary… Lord Momonga was there and he was super-scary and disappointed, and then he wanted to eat me…"

"Um…" Aura paled to the complexity of a sheet of paper while glancing at Lord Issei who was behind Mare.

"...Hm?" Lord Issei seemed to 'blink' as the red dots on his empty eye-sockets flickered. "Momonga tried to eat you? Why?"

"E-eh, I don't know, I must have failed hi-iiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee?!" Mare's sleepy babbling turned to shrill scream as he realized what he was saying and to whom. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Please don't eat me!"

Mare had curled up to a fetal position on the ground and had curled his hand against his chest like a wounded animal, all the while Aura was sweating rivers while looking at her brother and trying to think of a way to unscrew Mare from the situation he had gotten himself into due to not activating his anti-[Fear] abilities like Aura.

She glanced at Lord Issei… and blinked.

Indeed, Lord Issei had curled up into a fetal position in front of Mare, in much the same way as the cross-dressing boy.

Entoma had stopped munching on her cockroach and was looking quite surprised, and while she couldn't exactly sweat due to her insect nature, Aura could have sworn that the maid would have been soaking wet if she could have.

"I can't do this anymore… I want to go home…" Lord Issei was whimpering in front of Mare.

"Pwease don't eat me… It's scary… I'm scared… I'm sowwy…" Mare whimpered in abject terror.

"Everything's scary… Even breasts are scary… Even boobs want to eat me, everyone wants to eat me…" Lord Issei whimpered in turn, causing Mare to shake quite hard.

"I… I wanna… I wanna sleep… I wanna curl up in a blankie and eat fruits…" Mare whimpered, although for some reason it looked like the abject terror in Lord Issei's words was causing some sort of effect on the boy.

Aura was staring at the situation, utterly unsure of what to do.

"It was cold… And the traps, they were so terrifying… If I had flesh I would have died for sure, I'd have been eaten… But I wasn't, because I was skeleton, but because of that I can't feel anything nice… It's all terror… sob… sob…" Lord Issei was shaking on the ground, his black robes still billowing in an ethereal breeze even though he was lying on his side while in a fetal position.

Aura glanced from side to side, desperate for someone, anyone to be present and tell her what was going on, what she was supposed to do. 'I-I don't get it, this doesn't make sense, Lord Issei, the Supreme Being… W-what is going on?!'

Yet, in her own confusion, Aura didn't see Mare's sobbing slowly dying out. "Ah… I-it's… um…"

It seemed that Lord Issei's despair was only growing, as were his uncontrollable sobs which seemed quite authentic even if a skeleton couldn't cry… And Mare seemed to gather his courage.

Mare slowly un-curled from a ball and crawled up to his hands and knees, took a look at Lord Issei who was sobbing quietly while still curled in a ball… And crawled slowly towards him.

Aura looked at Mare, looked at Entoma, and then to Lord Issei, and adjusted her collar a bit awkwardly. 'Erm… Um… D-do I get antidepressants? Would antidepressants even work for a skeleton? I-is Lord Issei actually in despair? T-that acting seems super-authentic… W-why is he in such despair?'

However, while Aura was lost in panicked, awkward and uncertain thoughts, Mare had reached Lord Issei… And curled up in front of him, closer this time. "I-I- It's alright, Lord Issei, um… T-there, there…"

Mare had reached out and, after shaking and dreading a bit… Reached to pat Lord Issei's head. "T-there, there… It's g-going to be all-right… U-um, A-Aura-chan used to do this to me… A-and tell tales of Bukubukuchagama-sama… D-do you remember Bukubukuchagama-sama?"

"I… I can't remember…" Lord Issei sobbed. "I… I don't know who that is…"

'Ah- ah?!' Aura shook on the spot, and tears started to run uncontrollably down her cheeks as everything seemed to snap together at the same time. 'I… I… I was an idiot, I didn't think… Lord Momonga lost his memories, and can't even call himself Lord Momonga because he needs to distract whoever is the enemy that attacked him in order to lure them out… He's lost everything… Everything but us, and, and… he can't even remember us… But… Can he recall flashes of the past? Those words about terror and skeleton-eating boobs… That has to be a memory of some sort of heroic raid against the other Supreme Beings… what terrifying weapons they used against Lord Momonga and the others…'

However, Aura realized that something might have struck a harmony in her lord, a rogue memory perhaps, that made him remember some things, recall hardships and challenges that he spoke of… And he might have also remembered small tidbits of the other Supreme Beings.

His friends, who left him just as they left their creations in Nazarick.

All of a sudden the despair Lord Issei was in made sense to Aura, and she kicked herself mentally for not realizing it sooner.

"U-um, would you like it if I told you a story that Bukubukuchagama-sama told Aura and me?" Mare stammered a bit awkwardly.

"Sob… sob… S-sure… Just… please don't… turn into a monster…" Lord Issei seemed to gather a modicum of self-control and wobbled up to a sitting position while hugging his legs against his chest..

"U-um, this was back when Ainz Ooal Gown had all of its members… L-lord Momonga led a raiding party, and Bukubukuchagama-sama was the main 'tank' , and…" Mare stammered a bit as he drew himself up to a sitting position in much the similar way as Lord Issei, and began telling a tale of a particularly vicious 'raid' against hostile Supreme Beings who had started an attack against Ainz Ooal Gown, and which had resulted in a grievous loss of a mine of some sort and which Bukubukuchagama had told the two dark elf twins as a warning story to what happened to ones who became too careless and used too much of their powers, or money, revealing them to others and making themselves vulnerable.

"Bukubukuchagama… She seemed like a good person…" Lord Issei spoke with longing in his voice as if he remembered someone like Bukubukuchagama, yet under a different name or persona, making Aura's heart break a bit from the feeling that was threatening to overcome it. It was a feeling of abject misery that bled over from Lord Issei- A realization of the horrible situation Lord Issei was in, the abject loneliness he felt much like how the Guardians felt lonely without their creators, and which was now clear to Aura.

She wanted to help, more than she had wanted anything else in her life, with perhaps the exception of the return of Bukubukuchagama- But even then it was a close call.

Aura sat on Lord Issei's other side as Mare was finishing up his story to Lord Issei whose shaking had started to slow down. 'It's working? U-um, I wonder… Should I tell a tale of someone other than Bukubukuchagama? If he longs to remember his lost friends, the Supreme Beings… Um… I think I overheard Blue Planet-sama talking to Bukubukuchagama-sama, perhaps that would be good…'

"Ahem… And when the Sixth Floor was being remade, I overheard a conversation between Blue Planet-sama and our creator, and it went something like this- 'Blue Planet-san? I must agree with you- The sky of the Sixth Floor turned out magnificient. I swear I can see stars even during the day. It's a perfect recreation of sky back then, before the smog and fire…'"

"...Yeah, it's quite a magnificent sight… I agree with Blue Planet-san… He seems like a good person… I think I knew someone like that… He… haa…" Lord Issei had gone quiet and spoke with gentle words as he stared at the horizon while his shaking died down and his posture relaxed. "Dad… I miss you…"

Aura blinked a bit, as while she was aware of the concept of 'moms and dads', she wasn't aware that Lord Issei had one… Before she realized that the relationship between the Supreme Beings might not fit the conventional mold, and that most of the Supreme Beings had been quite close to each other, and she shut her mind up before she could start to paint an awkward family tree.

The sky lit up with the rising sun which gave a golden and bright green hue to the tops of the trees of the forest, and made the marble of the Arena gleam like white honey in the distance as Lord Issei and the two Guardians, as well as a Pleiades maid, looked over the rising dawn.

"...I'm glad. That I met you two, that is." Lord Issei spoke after a long while. "I feel calm here. But… I think I must go. There's something I need to do, something I need to say…"

"A-are you g-going s-somewhere, Lord Issei?" Mare stammered a bit while his face started to turn pale.

"Hm? Ah… W-well…" Lord Issei seemed to be hesitating, making Aura pale as well as she realized that Lord Issei was clearly fading, if not in physical sense then in spiritual one- And that made both of the twins panic in an instant, deadly worried that the Last Supreme Being would leave at dawn, like the others.

"You can't! Please don't leave us! W-we… w-we don't want to be alone…" Aura begged while clinging to Lord Issei's arm. "We don't want to be abandoned… We can be of service to you, so please command us! Anything!"

"I-it's… it's alright, I… um… I was not going to leave…" Lord Issei seemed to be quite troubled as he spoke… And then sighed quite hard, and closed his eyes.

Aura shook in fear, feeling as if something monumental was happening inside Lord Issei's head.

"...It's alright. I won't leave you two." Lord Issei seemed to find a conclusion to his thoughts after a moment. "You can count on that."

"Ah… T-thank you, boss!" Aura jumped on her feet. "I swear you won't regret your decision, boss! Just say the word and everything will be as you want!"

"It's alright, I… I'd like it if you took it easy." Lord Issei waved for Aura to calm down… And then turned towards Mare. "Hm, um, Mare-kun? Can I ask something?"

"A-a-a-anything, m-my lord…" Mare stammered a bit while looking determined. "J-just say w-what you w-want and I'll… um… t-try to do what you w-want…"

"...Right, can you not turn into a horrible monster after I ask something of you?" Lord Issei looked quite inquisitive and he leaned closer to Mare while stroking his chin in deep contemplation.

"E-eeek! Y-yes! I- Iwon'tturnintoa-a-a-amonsterpleasedon'teatme- Yes! I-I can do that!" Mare's resolve shook quite a bit but he managed to stay still and nod resolutely after stammering in panic for a second or two.

"I- I see." Lord Issei stammered in turn, then coughed to his fist to calm himself, and gave Mare a hard stare, causing the dark elf to freeze up. "In that case… Are you really, actually a boy? I find it really hard to believe that someone as cute as you are actually a boy."

Aura froze still.

Mare froze equally still.

Then Mare began to vibrate quite violently due to embarrassment while he blushed all the way to his eyebrows. "I-I-I-I-I-I-I a-aa-a-a… cough, I-I am a b-b-b-boy, f-for real… U-um…"

Mare seemed to gather his courage. "C-can I a-a-ask a q-question in t-turn? P-please?"

"U-umu, yes, sure, go ahead." Issei seemed surprised but waved for Mare to go ahead.

"I-is Lord Issei i-interested in me?" Mare blushed down to his neck and up to his hairline.

Lord Issei's mouth opened wide in shock while Aura blushed as well.

.

.

'E-eh? Um, I… Well, I'm not into boys, but… if I tell Mare 'no' is he going to be angry and break his promise and try to eat me?! And if I tell yes is he going to pull a Albedo and try to do xxx to me?! I don't want to experience BL in that way! Skeletons have way too many holes for that sort of thing! D-damn, what do I say…' Issei was shaking internally while he felt quite calm externally, as a moment of abject crying in face of existential threats had calmed his emotional state quite a bit, and Aura's and Mare's wild stories had helped him distract himself from his current situation.

Nonetheless… Issei had made a choice.

It looked like the despair shown by the dark elf twins was genuine, and even though Issei was fairly sure he wasn't who they thought he was… He'd do what he could to alleviate their pain. After all, they had helped him get over a moment of weakness, so it made sense for him to reply in kind. Even if he realized that the likely fact why Aura, Mare and the others confided in Issei so was most likely not because he was Issei, but rather, because they thought him to be the 'Momonga' character even if they called him by the other name.

So to ensure that he would not give the people that seemed to think of Issei as Momonga false hope, to make them realize that he was Issei, and not Momonga, Issei knew he needed to make that one thing clear.

"Aura, Mare. Can I ask you to go and ask for the other Guardians to meet me at the, um, Ninth- No, Tenth Floor, at that big room with a throne, in roughly two hours?" Issei steeled himself, even if a big part of him screamed that what he was going to do was a bad idea- He had seen already what sort of stuff passed for 'normal' in Nazarick, so by revealing that he was, in fact, Issei and not Momonga might land him in really hot water. 'I had planned on having some sort of talk about personal boundaries first, as hypocritical as it was for me to talk about that, but... This is far more important.'

But, seeing Aura's and Mare's tear-streaked, lonely and panicked expressions, Issei knew that he couldn't live a lie like that.

"Entoma-san? Can you lead me to the Tenth Floor? I need to… um, prepare."

"Y-yes, my lord!" Entoma seemed to snap out of her stupor and turned to lead Issei away while Aura and Mare cheered right up upon receiving orders and sprinted off.

Yet, Issei felt as if he was walking towards a guillotine. 'If I'm dead… If I've failed Rias-buchou, failed Akeno-san, failed Yuuto-kun, Asia-chan, Koneko-chan… If my un-life here was to be a giant, deprived and wretched lie, or a torturous death… I'd rather die with the truth.'

And so, Issei walked forwards, closed his eyes and nodded in determination.

And then he walked off a cliff, seeing that he was walking forwards with his eyes closed. 'Eh?'

"I-Issei-samaaaaaa!" Entoma's voice faded with distance as Issei realized that the cliffside-view and path leading to the Teleportation Gate had turned into a cliffside free-fall.

There was a wet 'thud' sound.

'...I figured I'd spend the two hours contemplating what I'd say, what I'd do, and perhaps fantasize about Rias-buchous and Akeno-oneesama's breasts for one last time, but it seems that I'll be using those two hours to clean myself up…' Issei sighed in depression as he realized that he had landed in some sort of murky and foul globby mud-pit, and had sunk all the way to his knees into it… Face-first.

'Please, let my suffering end…'