Chapter 11

(Flashback 3 yrs ago, Astaroth Domain)

On an elegant wooden bench in the middle of a lavish underworld garden, sat a young Dahlia Astaroth. She sat criss-cross with her eyes closed, meditating. She was dressed athletically, with her long emerald green hair tied up in a ponytail as she focused on aligning her mind and body.

Meanwhile, under the shade of a large tree just out of earshot of the mediating devil, a pair of devils were muttering to themselves. "So is he REALLY going to try again today?" a short, slim girl with pink hair tied up into pigtails and dressed elegantly asked with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm afraid so…" A young man with circular rimmed glasses and shoulder length black hair answered in a downer tone of voice. "If I'm correct I believe today will mark rejection number 37."

"Guess you gotta give it to him for persistence." The pink haired girl shrugged before the two of them turned silent in preparation for what was about to occur.

Almost on cue A younger Issei made his entrance into the garden with a bouquet of roses in his hands and a determined look in his eyes. He strutted proudly forward, his gaze fixated on his meditating master.

Sensing her pawns presence, a small smirk formed on Dahlia's face. "Yes, Issei. How can I help you?" She asked sarcastically with her eyes still closed, knowing full well what was coming.

"

"DAHLIA!" Issei exclaimed as he dropped to one knee in front of her. "I love you!" He confessed. "I've loved you since I was just a kid, I can't stop thinking about you. Please! Will you Marry Me?!" With that final question a red blush formed on the young devil's face and he shut his eyes and braced himself for an answer.

'Here we go again.' Dahlia thought as she rolled her eyes. "First of all Issei, you're STILL a kid." She retorted as she took the bouquet from the young man's hands and placed it on the bench behind her but not before taking a quick whiff. "And by now you should know what I'm going to say." She said as she put her fists up and took a combat stance. "Yes, I will marry you, if you can beat me."

Issei smiled as he back rolled away from his master to create distance between the two. "I'm going to hold you to that." Issei said confidently as he summoned his gauntlet over his arm. "Just so you know, I'm a lot stronger than I was last time."

"You better be, I'd feel insulted otherwise." Dahlia replied before taking a deep breath which prompted an intense green aura to surround her body. "Alright, Lets begin!" She declared and the two lunged towards one another.

(A few minutes later)

"Give up?" Dahlia asked, her glowing green foot pinning Issei down by his back.

"GAAHH! Hell no!" Issei roared back defiantly as he struggled to free himself. The green haired devil rolled her eyes once again before lifting her foot up barely before stomping it back down on the base of his spine, the force of this blow sent cracks through the ground. "AAAHHAAAH! OK! OK! I give…." Issei relented and his master removed her foot from his back.

"You know it's almost been a whole month since your last confession, I thought you'd finally given up this time." Dahlia taunted her beaten pawn.

"Never!" Issei cried out as he rolled over onto his back, still not ready to stand up on his own. "I'll never give up! Not until you say yes."

"I'll admit, you certainly are stronger than last time but if I've said it once and I'll say it a million times. I refuse to marry a man weaker than me, no exceptions. So if you're really that determined, you'll just have to keep getting stronger." She responded encouragingly as she extended her servant a hand up. "I look forward to seeing how strong you'll become by your next proposal." She then flashed the young Issei a gorgeous smile, one he'd never forget.

(End of flashback)

BEEBEEP! BEEBEEP! BEEBEEP! An alarm clock began buzzing, pulling Issei from his dreamworld back into reality where he found himself lying on a bath towel on top of a disgusting motel room bed. "Ughh…" Issei groaned as he rubbed his eyes before rolling over to silence the alarm clock which read "1:30 AM".

"Time to go to work…" Issei muttered as he leapt up from his bed and made his way to the door, throwing on a dark hooded sweatshirt as he did so before exiting the room.

'I've been in Kuoh for a little over a week now.' Issei began to narrate as he walked the city streets. 'During the day I try my best to hide myself from Rias and her friends, I don't have much demonic power as long as I don't use Ddraig I can almost blend into the background but I still stand out to the point where if they're looking for me they'll find me if I'm not careful. At night I can move around more freely because there's usually more supernatural activity at this time and that makes it easier to blend in.' Issei entered Kuoh's nightlife district, he pulled his hood up over his head to better hide his face from the glow of the neon lights as he passed by the many bars and restaurants serving the late night crowd, not to mention a few X-rated establishments.

'Problem is I don't exactly know what I'm looking for.' Issei's monologue continues. 'All I know is the White Dragon is supposed to show up in this town at some point, if he's not already. Ddraig says this generation's White Dragon emperor is awakened so I'm searching for a sacred gear user but the problem is that unless they are using their powers I won't be able to sense them so whoever I'm searching for could be hiding the same way I am. So right now I'm trying to track them down the old fashion way by gathering information.' Issei finished as he stood in front of his destination, he looked up at the neon sign displaying the silhouette of nude woman sitting with her leg up and next to the sign was the icon triple X's. 'It wasn't cheap but I got a tip saying there was someone who frequents this place that might be able to give me some info. I just gotta wait.' Issei propped himself up against the outside of the club and just stood there patiently.

A few customers came and went but Issei didn't budge, at least not until certain man came stumbling out of the club. He was a handsome man appear to be in his mid to late 20s with shoulder length, wavy black hair and a well kept goatee of the same color. "Hehe… Good night LADIES!" He bid farewell to his favorite establishment and began his drunken stumble home after giving him a half a minute head start, without another word Issei began his pursuit.

(Later)

Issei followed his target on foot for another half hour, until the two had left the city entirely and entered a more suburban area. The young devil had no intention of being subtle in his pursuit, not giving the dark haired man more than 20 meters of space, being obvious to the point where even in his drunken state the target took notice of this.

'Ok… I know my head is fucking spinning right now but this is freaky right.' The dark haired man thought as he took a quick glimpse behind him to see that Issei was in fact still following him. 'I mean come on. He's been tailing me for two miles, he's definitely onto me!'

The dark haired man quickened his pace and Issei did so in kind. 'Shit! Shit! Shit! He's onto me, my covers totally blown!' A panicked sweat formed on the stranger's brow. 'I'm a scout, not a soldier! I'm no good in a fight…. But this guy doesn't know that!' The man's expression changed for the better as an idea popped into his head.

Eventually the two came to crosswalk displaying a red crossing light and the two were forced to a stop. 'Okay! Okay! C'mon, you're a goddamn Fallen Angel for crying out loud, one of Azazel's most trusted scouts! This punk doesn't scare me!' The scout pumped himself up before turning to face Issei with his chest puffed out and his head held high. "That's it kid! I don't know who you think you're dealing with but!... huh?" Before he could finish his bluff the fallen angel was met with the emerald glow off Issei's glare.

A pair of green dots pierced through the shadow of Issei's hood and delivered a fear into the fallen angel's heart. "Wha-wha-wha-WHAAAAAAHHH!" The frightened man shrieked as he took off sprinting in the opposite direction, ignoring the traffic sign and leaving Issei standing alone.

'What the hell was that thing?!' The fallen angel thought in a panic as he continued his desperate sprint. 'Whatever it was I'm not sticking around to find out.' Feeling he'd created enough distance he turned into a suburban, dirt road alleyway walled off by two steel wire fences.

He then ran for cover behind a large community dumpster where he took a second to catch his breath. "Hah hah hah hah…. Screw this job…." He muttered between pants before a pair of black, bird wings sprouted from his back. "I'm going to tokyo for a week, maybe by then I'll come up with a way to convince Azazel to move me somewhere else."

With a powerful flap of his wings the fallen angel took to the air but he wouldn't get very far before he was stopped mid-air as he felt a vice grip on his ankle. "What? HAAAAAAAH!"

The fallen angel was quickly flung down to the ground by a fully armored Issei. BOOM! His impact with the dirt floor kicked up a cloud of dust. Issei quickly followed him back down and before the fallen angel had a chance to recover Issei grabbed him by his leg and swung him into the large metal dumpster, creating a man-sized dent in the steel structure.

"Where is he…" Issei growled as he grabbed hold of the fallen angel's collar and hoisted him into the air. "The White One! Where is he!"

"You… You're the! You're not supposed to be here? You're not the Longinus Azazel is looking for!" The fallen angel muttered back in confusion.

"Answer me!" Not wanting to waste time, issei kept up his intense, brutal interrogation. He viciously slammed his victim into the mangled dumpster once again hoping to knock a bit of clarity into him by doing so. "If you wanna live then you'll tell me everything you know about the vanishing dragon!"

"Vali! His name is Vali!" The fallen angel blurted back, finally giving Issei a desirable answer. "I don't know much about him other than he has some sort of a relationship with the Governor General Azazel, I don't know anything else about him I'm just a low ranking scout. Please don't kill meeee…." He begged.

"Where can I find him?" Issei continued to press the scout for answers. He kept up the persona of a powerful intimidator but on the inside Issei felt himself in a desperate situation. 'Just give me a damn answer! Every second I'm in this armor it's like I'm blaring an alarm directly to Rias, telling her where I am. So let's get this over with!' Issei thought as he raised his fist to the Fallen Angels face signaling he planned to strike.

"I don't know!" He cried as he covered his face with his hands. "I don't know where he is right now but he'll be here!" The fallen angel continued to regurgitate as much info as he needed to save his skin. "He and Azazel both are coming here for some big, secret event. I don't know what it is or when it's happening but it's going to be here. That's all I know! I swear! Please don't kill me!" He begged as he sobbed.

Issei pulled the fallen angel's face in close and Issei's eyes then flashed red for a split second as he read the black winged angel's mind 'He's not lying.' Issei confirmed as he let his persona fade. "I'm not gonna kill you." Issei assured him as he dropped him and dispelled his armor. "But don't leave town until I talk to you again, and just know if he doesn't show up, everything I was gonna do to him I'll do to you. Understand?" Issei shot the man with a serious glare prompting an intense nod from the fallen angel before scrambling to his feet and flew away.

'Well I managed to get confirmation on my original source but that's about it….' Issei monologues, his inner voice sounded a bit disappointed. 'I suppose knowing I haven't been wasting my time staying here is a good thing but I'm basically still in the dark.' Issei thought as he began trudging home. 'Still I'm stuck here for who knows how long.' Issei thought before speaking out loud. "And I'm not sure how much longer I can stay in hiding." Issei said as he noticed a number of demonic presences around him, letting them know he was onto them.

Issei then threw his hands up in the air so his arms would be free as a glowing blue rope wrapped itself around his torso. His eyes darting back and forth as he quickly identified where each devil was hiding but this would prove unnecessary as they didn't waste much time identifying themselves.

"Did you see that Sona? I totally got him and on my first try too." A man with short, messy blonde hair and gray eyes emerged from hiding along with four other devils. It was this particular Devil's rope that found itself wrapped around Issei's waist as it seemed to originate to a black, lizard shaped sacred gear attached to the devil's arm.

"Who are you? You're not with the Gremorys…" Issei pondered, complete disregarding the blonde devil as he was quick to deem him as unimportant. His eyes narrowed as he increased his focus, trying to determine who was in charge of this devil group. Of the four remaining candidates they were all female among them was a beautiful young girl with wavy white hair and blue eyes, an equally stunning girl with long brown hair that ends in two short braids and matching brown eyes and a girl short in stature and lacking curves with black hair styled in a short bob cut and violet eyes covered by a pair of glasses. Then Issei locked eyes with who he assumed to be in charge another beautiful girl with long straight black hair that extends all the way down to her knees, heterochromic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye and an aura of seriousness that matched with her stature and composure made her a notch more intimidating than the rest.

"I am Sona Sitri." A voice called out from behind Issei catching him off guard and spoiling his assumption. He turned to find it was the petite girl addressing him. "And you are Issei Hyoudou, the current Red Dragon Emperor, is that correct?"

"Sitri? Pardon me but I didn't realize there was a young one, I never paid too much attention to all that Devil Family crap growing up." Issei replied, ignoring her question. "But Sitri, that's a pretty big name, aren't you a little too close to the Gremorys? I know you high class devils get real touchy when it comes to all that Territory shit."

"The Kuoh territory we're in is shared between myself and Rias. I am in charge of maintaining things during the day and her at night but when she fails to take care of things on her time I'm forced to step in and make sure they get taken care of and that is how we find ourselves in this situation." Sona explained in a cold analytical tone. "Issei Hyoudou, you are a devil without a master here in my territory without permission, that makes you a stray devil. Regardless of who you are, what sacred gear you might possess. I don't tolerate stray devils lingering in my territory."

'Stray devil huh? It kinda stings when you put it like that but she's not technically wrong.' Issei smirked as he began to stare the unflinching Sona down. 'I'd really rather not kill these devils if I can avoid it but if push comes to shove I'm already here on a suicide mission so what do I really have. As long as I die a warrior's death it really doesn't matter to me how.'

"I do recognize the importance of the Red Dragon Emperor and the value you serve to the underworld so I'll give you one final chance to preserve your life. Join my peerage and I'll allow you to live in service of me, if you refuse you'll be eliminated here and now." The violet eyed devil proposed.

"Woah! Hold up Sona!" The blonde devil chirped up once more. "I don't know what a Red Dragon Emperor is but this loser can't possibly be someone THAT important. We don't need this guy, I say we toast him right now and get it over with."

"That's more like it." Issei commented. "A straightforward threat is way easier to deal with Rias weird seduction crap but I'm afraid I'm still gonna have to refuse. I should let you know that while I'm not afraid to die I promised someone very important to me I'd fight every battle to win so if you're here to kill me I'll have no choice but to match your intensity." He said in a tone that ensured Sona of his seriousness.

"I'm not here to kill any devils so do me a favor and figure it out real quick whether or not you're going to surrender cause I'm not going to pull any punches." With that final threat, Issei grabbed hold of the glowing blue rope with his right and gave it a strong yank with enough force to Pull the blonde devil off his feet towards Issei.

"Saji!" Sona called out as Issei pulled Saji forward before slamming his left fist, which was now covered by his sacred gear, into Saji's face. The blow immediately dropped the blonde devil to the ground in one hit, knocking him unconscious and drawing blood from his face.

After Saji lost consciousness his sacred gear disappeared and Issei was freed. "Reya! Take care of Saji! Momo! Tsubaki! Surround him!" Sona commanded and her servants did so the tall dark haired girl and the white haired girl along with Sona herself made a defensive perimeter around Issei and the brown haired girl quickly got Saji out of harm's way.

Issei smiled at this. 'Not a bad reaction. She seems to have this King thing down pat, more so than Rias anyway. Too bad she's out of her depth.' Issei's eyes began to glow green once again and a surge of red energy erupted from his body and that kicked up a towering whirlwind of dust that covered Issei's body.

"Ugh! Where'd he go!" The white haired girl called out as Issei seemed to have vanished following the dispersal of the whirlwind.

"Above us!" Sona called out, sensing Issei's aura going upward. "Tsubaki! Quick!"

Issei, now floating a few dozen feat above the ground in his Balance Breaker armor, opened his palm and let a small red energy ball form in it. "HAAH!" He roared as he slammed his fist into the energy ball shooting it down at the devils below him.

The tall, dark haired Tsubaki quickly stepped in forming a large glowing mirror which caught Issei's energy blast and repelled it back at him but not after the energy ball doubled its original size.

'Woah!' Issei thought as he was quick to swerve out of the way of the enhanced attack aimed at him. 'So her Mirror can repel my attacks and increase their strength, that can be a problem. No more ranged attacking Issei, time to get our hands dirty.' Issei decided as he nose dived towards his foes.

"RAAAHH!" Sona cried out, forming a blue magic circle which conjured forth a massive serpent made of water to intercept Issei.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!] Issei increased his own energy to the point where it formed a visible aura around him and with that aura he ripped through the liquid serpent with ease. After piercing the body of the sentient water, it was reduced to a scattering of water droplets.

Having dealt with the serpent, Issei landed on the ground in front of Sona and reeled back his fist. "Sona!" The white haired Momo called out as she leapt in front of Issei's attack, conjuring a magic barrier to protect herself but it would be of little use.

Issei shattered the shield with very little effort and slammed his fist into the white haired devils stomach knocking her backwards through the air and making her lose consciousness upon her landing.

"Momo!" Sona called out as her servant laid there limp on the battlefield.

"As King, this is all on you." Issei imposed some wisdom on his opponent. "When you pick a fight, having a good strategy IS important but it's also important to make sure you're bringing enough firepower to carry you through in case plans go south."

Sona, not having a verbal comeback prepared, conjured up another magic circle but Issei was close enough that he simply ripped right through it before she could cast her spell and he grabbed Sona by the throat and lifted her into the air. "The one who wields a piece of Vitra, the Dragon King, he is a pawn right?" Issei received no answer but he didn't need one to know he was right. "With Vitra's power he's probably worth a couple pieces right? If that's the case he's too valuable to be a shield so you need to make sure he's your strongest piece. A valuable pawn should be able to match up against any opponent, remember that while you're raising him."

While Issei was busy giving a one sided lecture, he didn't notice Tsubaki sneaking up behind and preparing an attack with her Naginata. SHLINK! The dark haired devil sliced into Issei's back, cutting through his armor and drawing blood.

"AAAHHH!" Issei roared as he dropped Sona and stumbled backwards.

"TAKE THIS!" Sona summoned another magic circle and let lose a massive high pressure water blast which knocked Issei backwards hard. Sending him through the metal fence behind him and into the forested park area behind him.

"I don't think that was enough to put an end to him." Tsubaki warned though her monotone voice didn't let slip any audible fear.

"No…" Sona muttered back, still recovering from before. "I fear we've only served to anger him."

BROOOOMMM! On cue, a pillar of crackling aura erupted from within the trees, knocking several of them over. Eventually, from hidden behind the trees and shrubs, Issei emerged with a flame-like red aura surrounding his body. His eyes and the many gems which adorned his body had changed from their emerald green color to a burning, violent red. "This is your VERY last chance." Issei growled, his voice shaking with anger. "Surrender now, cause I'm MAD!"

He roared as he blasted forward at an incredible speed, forcing Sona and Tsubaki to leap backwards to avoid his attack. Issei slammed his fist into the ground creating a powerful shock wave that destroyed the ground. "Gaaaahh!" Issei groaned as he struggled to keep focus to maintain his furious powerup.

"RAAAAHHH!" Issei roared as he waved his arm and launched forward three energy blasts which Tsubaki and Sona managed to dodge with ease but these energy blasts were merely a red herring as Issei used the distraction to launch his real attack.

He flew forward at Sona planning to end it all in one shot with his enhanced strength but being the dutiful servant she was, Tsubaki quickly intercepted and summoned her mirror to repel Issei's attack making the boy smile below his helmet.

"Too slow!" He called out as he used his increased speed to easily maneuver behind Tsubaki's mirror, moving faster than the eye could see and creating an open shot at the short haired devil king. 'Just remember, you wanted this fight!' Issei thought as he reeled his fist back.

Sona's eyes went wide as she realized she wouldn't be able to dodge Issei's attack but in the very split second before Issei could fully close the distance she was saved by an incredible stroke of luck. KRAAAKOOOOM!

A massive pillar of lightning came crashing down on the space between Issei and Sona, interrupting the Dragon emperor's attack. Following the lightning strike Rias and her peerage descended on the battlefield.

The arrival of Rias and her team disrupted Issei's focus and caused his power boost to fade before he was forced out of his armor following the loss of his energy and making him drop to a sitting position on the ground.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Rias let out an angry roar directed at both Issei and Sona.

"I was trying to take care of your mess." Sona explained as she leaned herself onto Tsubaki for support. "You've been letting this stray run free for over a week."

"My mess?" Rias raised an eyebrow at Sona before looking over the battle torn area of town they found themselves in. "Well maybe going forward, you'll let me deal with my problems myself." Rias snapped back. "I told you I would handle Issei."

"Hmph! Then handle it… You have until tomorrow morning." Sona declared with her standard serious tone before blue magic circles opened beneath her and all of her beaten service that teleported them all with me.

Following Sona's departure, Rias turned her attention to the now powerless Issei. Issei fearing what's to come figured it best to turn his head away to avoid eye contact but on the contrary to his expectations, a lecture never came prompting Issei to look up to determine what was going on and when he did so he was met by direct eye contact from Rias.

"You're coming with me. We need to talk." Rias declared in a matter of fact tone accompanied by a deadly serious glare as she extended a hand to Issei. Issei who found himself powerless to refuse and without an immediate escape plan he begrudgingly took her hand.

(Authors notes)

In this chapter we saw this Issei's version of Pailingual which he calls demon's eye. To activate this power he needs direct eye or physical contact with his target and must possess a higher power level in order to read that person's mind.

(end)