So there have been a couple reviews that the time is hard to follow, so I'll be using actual dates for big jumps from now on. Other than that, I don't have much to say other than one simple fact that I'd like to reiterate- this will not have the same backstory as the normal Kizumongatari. Like, I want to stress that right now so I don't have to sift through shitty reviews later. Anyway, that's all I've got. I probably should say more, but I don't really remember what I wanted to say. Oh well. Read and review!
Several hours before dawn, March 26th
"What the hell?"
Issei Hyoudou stood outside the entrance to a subway station. He'd just stepped in something wet, making him cringe and lift his foot to inspect it.
"...Is this blood...?"
It was truly night time now, with not even a crescent moon in the sky left to shed only illumination was a flickering street lamp nearby, which seemed liable to go out at any moment.
But even that was enough, because he couldn't have missed it if he'd tried.
Blood.
Blood stained the ground, smearing it's way down into the subway station.
As if someone had completely bled out on the ground, and then dragged themselves away in the seconds they had left.
…Or someone- or something had done it for them.
Issei glanced around, feeling a little self conscious of his position. The fact that he was alone now rang out loudly in his mind, and suddenly Tsubasa's words from earlier in the day echoed back to him.
"It's a vampire," she'd said.
Surely not, right?
There's no way.
Vampires don't exist.
But the fact of the matter was this; there was blood on the ground, and somebody was obviously very hurt.
And that was more than enough for Issei.
Steeling himself, he stepped onto the staircase leading down into the subway system. He tried his best to avoid the splotches of blood as he descended, but the smell made his senses spin, and the sheer amount made his heart pound like mad.
Vampire or not, somebody was in a bad way down there.
Unfortunately, he didn't trust his luck enough to hope the person responsible had come and gone.
Resolving himself to run away quickly if he found someone dangerous, he continued on.
It was chilly, enough so that every laboured puff of breath came out as sickly white fog.
He descended flight after flight of stairs, following the straight blood trail down them all.
The first room he came upon was the main hub of the subway station, empty at this time of night, with not a soul besides Issei there to see the macabre spectacle.
As he continued, the blood trail veered sharply to his right. He turned to look, and there on the wall was a massive amount of gore- like a human had exploded. Issei swallowed hard and walked on, sure that whoever had bled that much had to be dead.
But as sure as he was, he wasn't quite sure enough- someone could be dying, and he couldn't abide by that thought.
Issei's pace quickened.
He went down staircases and through hallways, over catwalks and under barriers- he passed an 'employees only' sign no less than twice, and still the blood led on.
"Something's wrong," he whispered to himself. "Something's so fucking wrong."
Someone who'd bled enough for ten people couldn't possibly be alive.
But what if they were?
He came upon a set of five downward escalators. He couldn't see what was at the bottom, but he could tell the trail continued down- so down he went.
His heart hammered in his chest as he slowly descended.
Surely this was close to the bottom? He'd been searching for quite a while now.
As the escalator brought him to its end, he once more began to follow the trail. It got much thicker now, and as he looked forward, he realized why.
"Oh shit..."
The blood trail ended abruptly.
Right on top of the end, lay a corpse.
It had once been a beautiful woman, but every single one of her limbs had been unceremoniously cut off, leaving her in a massive pool of her own blood. Her right arm was a stump, sliced just above the elbow, her left was cut at the shoulder with nothing remaining, and both legs were cut off just at the knee. The tattered red and black dress she wore did nothing to hide her wounds.
Issei struggled not to scream or vomit at the horrific sight, but despite himself, he continued forward.
"Thou…"
His heart jumped into his throat when the corpse spoke.
She was alive…?
Despite the catastrophic damage, she was alive?
"I will...let thee save me."
Issei's mind went into overdrive as she raised her head to face him.
Golden hair and eyes.
Pointed ears.
An intensity unlike anything he'd ever seen.
Even without her limbs, she was, without contest, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on.
"Can ye hear me? I'm saying I will allow thee to save me."
"You're alive...?"
Ignoring her, Issei stumbled forward, numb at the shock of what he was seeing. He slipped on the blood and fell to his knees beside her.
"Are y-you okay…? I'll call an ambulance-!"
"An ambulance? Don't do something so useless."
She looked him dead in the eyes, with a piercing gaze that turned his blood to ice.
"Just give me thy blood, instead."
His heart stopped.
What did she just say?
His mind slipped back to earlier that day.
"It's a vampire," Tsubasa had told him. "They say she's as beautiful as a goddess, with golden hair and eyes that'll stop your heart cold."
Issei nearly laughed.
She was right.
Tsubasa had been right.
"My name is Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heartunderblade, the Iron-Blooded Hot-Blooded Cold-Blooded vampire. I will devour thy flesh to make it my own, so hurry and offer me thy neck."
The way she said it really did make it sound like an honor, so much so that he almost nodded along.
Issei's mouth was unbelievably dry, and he found it difficult to talk.
"A vampire? Then you...shouldn't you be immortal?"
"I have lost too much blood. I can no longer regenerate, or shape-shift. At this rate, I will die here," she candidly declared. "A worthless human like thyself should consider it an honor to become my sustenance."
"Oh yeah, consider me honored," he said, swallowing hard. His humor landed flat, and failed to calm him. "So, you need...blood? From me? H-how much, exactly?"
He was barely able to get the words out- such was the overwhelming terror he'd found himself in.
"Thy entire body should serve as a sufficient stopgap."
"Oh, okay, just my whole body…"
Issei spoke like he was honestly considering it, but when the full impact of her words hit him, he nearly choked.
In a single instant, it all crashed down over him- the reality of the situation.
This was a dying vampire.
He would be eaten, consumed, devoured whole- just to extend her life.
Issei Hyoudou realized he was going to die.
"What's the matter?"
Struggling to remain calm, Issei looked back towards where he'd come from, as if weighing his options. The escalators were only running down, but if he tried- he could make it up them.
Noticing his pause, Kiss-Shot's voice became forceful and demanding, completely unlike her previously calm, matter-of-fact demeanor.
"Give me thy blood- hurry! Why art thou dozing off, ye dolt?!"
"I…"
"Hurry up, you damnable human!"
Kiss-Shot's shouting mounted in intensity, and that pushed Issei over the edge.
"I...should be able to escape…" Issei whispered shakily, as if assuring himself. "I can probably get away…"
After a moment of silence, he took a step backwards.
Then another.
And another.
Issei slowly backed away from the fallen vampire, willing himself to flee with every step.
Kiss-Shot's eyes went wide as she realized exactly what he was doing.
"Wait…!" she yelled in disbelief. "Surely ye jest...?"
Her face contorted in fear.
"Thou aren't… thou aren't going to save me…?"
Issei had almost made it to the escalators when she began to scream in terror.
"No, no, no!"
She wailed on and on, screaming and sobbing and flailing her bloody stump arm this way and that. Blood splattered everywhere, and tears ran freely down her face.
"I don't want to die! I don't want to die~!"
On his way out, Issei slipped in blood, and ended up sitting on his rear and facing her.
"Save me! Save me, please! I beg of thee…!"
In her frantic screeching, she managed to flail herself into an upright position- only to fall pathetically onto her face. She used her stump to drag herself towards where Issei sat mortified, unable to move.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
She dragged herself forward as she shrieked.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
An unnatural calm befell her face as she apologized, and tears of pure red blood began to fall from her golden eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
That broken whisper was thundering in his ears when Issei lost it.
With every ounce of courage he could muster, he picked himself off the ground and sprinted towards the escalators. Kiss-Shot's cries echoed behind him, but he didn't stop running.
He ran and ran, adrenaline fueling his overclocked limbs until finally he came to a breathless halt near where he'd originally entered the subway station.
Panting like a dog, he sat down on an empty bench and tried in vain to calm himself down.
…
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
...
...He could still hear her down there.
Bawling like a child.
A vampire's death rattle.
The woman was a vampire, yes, but...
She was so gorgeous.
Issei had never seen a being so beautiful in his entire life.
Even in her pitiful attempts to beg for her life, she was every bit as immaculate as the Virgin Mary.
"A...vampire," he whispered to himself, as if trying out the word.
She really was going to die down there.
Even a vampire, a being truly immortal- could die.
If he left her there, and let her be- she would cease to exist.
In the morning, the subway's cleaning crew would find a beautiful corpse.
Issei swallowed hard.
If he left her there- wouldn't it be the same as condemning her to death?
And wouldn't that be the same as killing her?
"She's...gonna die," Issei said out loud, like he was confirming it.
"She's really gonna die down there…all alone."
Golden hair and eyes.
Pointed ears.
An intensity unlike anything he'd ever seen.
And one more thing, that he'd failed to truly appreciate while in her presence- a bust that quite possibly surpassed any mortal woman.
It dawned on him, then.
If he let her die- that bust would die out with her.
Those magnificent boobs, unparalleled by any human alive- would cease to be.
"Oh my God…"
To Issei, it all became clear.
"Don't give up, idiot!"
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heartunderblade stared up in blatant disbelief at the human boy, who'd come charging back down the stairs like a madman.
"What…?"
"You can't die. If you die, something glorious will disappear from this world! I can't let that happen!"
Issei spoke with an awful lot of conviction, for someone with such a sad look on his face.
But of course he did.
He could talk about boobs all he wanted, but when it came down to it-
-he was just giving her his life so she could live on.
Regardless of whatever excuses he made for himself.
"Then...it's alright?" she asked, deathly quiet and hesitant, as if afraid she'd scare him away again. She was deadly calm, and bloody tears still graced her impeccable face, but still, still she looked like the terrified one.
"Of course not, dumbass. I wanna live too. But...go ahead. Drink your fill. It's all yours." With that, Issei Hyoudou offered his neck to Kiss-Shot, and put his head on her chest. While he indulged himself, he closed his eyes and spoke one last time.
"I promise I'll do better in the next life...I'll really get my harem, next time…"
They weren't much, as last words go, but they'd have to do.
Kiss-Shot looked down at him, not understanding at all. Was he really just giving her his life?
But she wouldn't argue.
"...Thank you," she said, softly.
And then, with no more fuss, she bit into his neck.
…
I have never, in my entire life, been saved by another being.
Not as Princess Rola.
Not as a fake god.
And certainly not as Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heartunderblade.
I have been offered many lives and taken many more, but never have I had one given up willingly solely for the sake of my own.
When the boy ran away, I did not blame him. Was he not following his instincts? Did not his basest, most human impulses, tell him "flee, lest ye die here?"
I had resigned myself to perish. After making such an awful spectacle of myself and driving him away like I have so many others, I accepted the fact I was going to die in such a dreary place.
And then I heard it.
A roar, not unlike that of a dragon.
I looked and behold- he was coming back.
I could hardly believe my eyes.
My first thought was that he was coming back to finish the job.
He was on the side of humanity, after all.
Wouldn't he be within bounds to slay me then, on behalf of his species?
Even encouraged to do so, I'd wager.
But then he surprised me.
This boy-
-this idiot human.
Issei Hyoudou.
He said something to me that I'll never forget, in this life or the next.
"There's so much worth living for!"
At the time, I only stared blankly. Little did I know what impact his bold declaration would have on me.
"Don't give up, idiot!"
It was unusual to be told off like that by a human, or by anyone- but I didn't argue. After all, I was at his mercy. He held me up off the ground by the waist, where I was at eye-level with him, and he spoke to me like I was his equal.
"What…?" I didn't understand.
Why would he come back down here?
"You can't die. If you die, something glorious will disappear from this world! I can't let that happen!"
Something...glorious?
Could he be talking about me?
But then, what could he do to save me?
If not his blood, then-
...
Oh.
He was talking about his blood.
"Then...it's alright?" I was so uncertain, so positive that I was being played the fool- that I could only ask a meager question. Surely, surely this boy wasn't going to offer me his neck. Me, the Apex Predator that had plagued his people for centuries.
It was inconceivable.
"Of course not, dumbass. I wanna live too. But...go ahead. Drink your fill. It's all yours."
He laid his head upon my breast, offering me his neck.
Offering me his life.
He had chosen to die for me.
Not to die in honor of me, not to die for my name, not to die for the idea of a beautiful princess- he chose to die for me.
To give up his own existence that mine may continue.
And I thought only knights in storybooks could be so bold.
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
"...Thank you."
I thanked him, and then I did what he said.
I drank it all.
Every last drop.
And as he lay bloodless and dead in my embrace, I began to think.
I have lived five-hundred and ninety-eight years upon this Earth, and in that time- this is the only one to have saved me.
In the many centuries since that dreaded witch turned my life into a nightmare, I have had thousands of lives sacrificed to me, and not a single time have I saved one in return.
Never been saved.
Never saved a life.
...
Not anymore.
I buried any ideas I had of eating his body.
This boy- my savior.
He would not die by my hand.
Late evening, April 30th
"So...what were we gonna talk about, again?"
"Your new duties as a devil, of course."
"Oh. Great."
Issei sat on a couch in the ORC clubroom- or rather, he sat atop the lap of a certain vampiress who was sitting on the couch.
Rias sat at her desk, and Akeno stood behind her. Koneko and Kiba were on the couch opposite Shinobu and Issei.
"But, before we get into that, I'd like to know a couple more things. The Fallen Angel who attacked you last night, he mentioned you having a sacred gear. Right?"
"Yeah, that's right. He said that's why Raynare killed me," Issei explained. He noticed Shinobu's grip got significantly tighter around him at the mention of his death, but he didn't think much of it.
"And did Raynare herself say anything about it?"
"Uh, no. She thanked me for the stupid scrunchie I bought her and then ripped me a new one."
Through their mental link, Issei could feel Shinobu's barely constrained anger. She was not over the incident, and even if he could make jokes about it she was nowhere near that point.
"Ah...sorry to bring it up, but I'm trying to put together whether or not their suspicions had merit. You see, it's entirely possible that they simply mistook your odd relationship with Miss Shinobu for the signs of a sacred gear, but it's also possible you do possess something like that."
"Sacred Gears are super rare. Most of the people I know who have one are historical figures," Akeno said, jumping in. "So if you do have one, you'll be kind of a big deal."
Shinobu briefly wondered just how much more of a big deal they could be, seeing as they were already two of the most powerful beings on the planet, but she supposed the redhead was the only one who'd truly bore witness to that fact.
"Well, uh, I hate to disappoint, but I don't think I have anything like that…"
"It's entirely normal to not realize you have one until you awaken it. I didn't know for a long time, myself."
Kiba had such a bright smile on his stupid face that Issei wanted to puke, but what the pretty boy was saying made him a little confused.
"Wait, you have one too? That sucks, I thought they were rare," Issei grumbled, his excitement squashed. He didn't really want anything the Crown Prince of Kuoh had.
"Oh, they are. But mine wasn't anything big enough to have me targeted by assassins, I assure you. It's called 'Sword Birth', and lets me create any type of sword."
Kiba accentuated his sentence by forming a dagger in his hands, as a bit of a show of power.
"Oh shit, that's actually kind of awesome!" Issei got way more excited at that, forgetting his animosity towards Kiba for a moment.
He seemingly also forgot that he could do the same thing, lost in his awe for the neat trick.
"Alright Issei, could you put up your left arm?" Rias asked, standing up. She walked around to the front of her desk and sat on top of it, waiting for Issei to comply.
"Okay, sure, but I'm really bad at catch…" Issei put up his left arm as instructed, not really sure what she was going to do.
Rias held up a finger, speaking like a teacher. "Close your eyes and focus on the part of your body you feel is the strongest, then focus hard on that strength."
"Wait so we're doing this now? There's a lot of pressure-"
"It'll get easier if you focus," Rias chastised in a stern voice.
"Right, focus!" Issei exclaimed, shutting his eyes. "Focus, focus, focus, focus-"
Issei focused as hard as he could on the "strongest" part of his body.
It was, of course, his left hand.
According to Rias, he should be able to feel something inside his strongest body part, which is probably why she had him hold it up.
After a moment of intense focus with nothing happening, he opened his eyes just a bit-
And realized he was able to see right under Rias' skirt!
His blood-red eyes sharpened, absorbing as much of the sight as they could. This was so different from the first time he'd gotten a panty shot! Tsubasa's had been tame, but Rias' was wearing a see-through thong!
"Cease."
A sharp flick to the head reminded him who's lap he was in.
"Ouch, what the hell?!"
"If ye 'focus' any harder, ye shall blast thy master to smithereens with thine evil eye."
"Oh, shit. Yeah, that wouldn't be very good would it..."
Issei rubbed his head, embarrassed, while Rias gave him an odd look.
"Evil eye?" she asked, not knowing what that was.
"Uh, yeah. We can sort of...blow stuff up. With our eyes. Evilly. Evil eye. Haha…" Issei laughed awkwardly, having given yet another subpar explanation.
"I see," Rias said, only a tad bit uncomfortable with the fact that her new servant could apparently blow her apart with a thought and he couldn't even control it properly.
And he might have a sacred gear?
Rias sighed.
"Sorry to disappoint, but are you sure it's not just Shinobu? I mean I'm not that cool-"
"A fallen angel saw you as threat enough to want to kill you, and even with your low level of vampirism you were mostly indetectable. I seriously doubt there was a mistake."
The more Rias thought about it, the less she suspected the Fallen simply caught onto Shinobu's presence. According to what she and Issei had said, they were both barely above the level of being human- not enough to catch the attention of anyone who wasn't standing nearby.
And certainly not enough to warrant an assassination.
"Yeah, well, she did kill me, and now I'm here. How does that work?!" His voice accusatory, Issei stood as he spoke.
"Like I said before, 'twas my decision. Sit, and spare her thy rage." Shinobu pulled Issei back onto her lap, much to his annoyance.
Moving on, Rias asked a question. "Do you remember getting one of these?"
She picked up a face-down slip of paper off her desk and flipped it around. It was a plain flyer, with magic symbols drawn in the middle and "have your wish granted!" printed in bold letters.
"Uh...kinda, yeah. I think someone handed me a flyer like that one while I was on that date."
"That's right. Just after your life ended, Miss Shinobu summoned me through this flyer."
"Summoned…?" Issei didn't really understand. She got summoned through a piece of paper?
"And so, that day, you were revived and reborn as an honored member of the House of Rias Gremory, daughter of the great and powerful Devil, the Marquis of Gremory!"
Rias' devilish wings popped out of her back, adding emphasis to her bold showboating.
Wait a minute, hadn't she done this exact routine a day ago?
"And that makes you my servant~," she added with a smile.
The rest of the peerage stood up, their own wings sprouting.
"Isn't this so exciting? You're really one of us now," Akeno said cheerily.
Issei's own wings popped out without his control, coming from the small of his back and spreading out from underneath Shinobu's arms.
"So much for pretending to be a human, I guess," Issei mumbled to himself. He'd had a long talk about Devils with Rias the previous day, but it was only really just settling in on him.
"Rias Gremory. I would speak with thee," Shinobu suddenly announced in a gravely serious voice.
There was a palpable shift in the tone of conversation. Rias unconsciously swallowed. It was like the entire atmosphere of the room had changed.
"Um, you guys can go get started on your work for the night. I'll stay here and get Issei going. Okay?" Rias dismissed the other members of the peerage, who said simple farewells to Issei and Shinobu before departing.
"Yes?" Rias asked one they were all gone, hoping she hadn't provoked a super predator. No one in the room save for her and Issei had seen this woman's power, and Rias was right to be afraid.
Shinobu laid her head on top of Issei's, pulling him tighter into her embrace.
"Remember only this. Before this boy is thy servant, he is mine. He and I will outlive all of thee, so if he wants to pretend to play slave for a century or two I will not object. I acknowledge thee purely because I owe thee for saving his life. But, make no mistake,"
Shinobu's eyes sharpened and the air in the room turned frigid. All of the candles went out, and the only light in the room was from the moon shining in through a window and illuminating her otherworldly features. The air itself seemed to grow heavy, weighing down on Rias' chest like it was trying to keep her from breathing.
Gone was Shinobu Oshino, relatively passive vassal of Issei Hyoudou.
In her place was Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heartunderblade, apex predator and legendary vampire.
"Any insult to him is an insult to me. Any order to him is not an order to me. The ones he gives me I will carry out without question, even if it is to destroy thy entire species- if ye try to order me, I shall tear out thy tongue. Have I made myself clear?"
She didn't really need an answer.
All the candles in the room re-lit themselves, and the atmosphere returned to how it'd been before.
Rias visibly exhaled, and a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.
"Hey, don't be a dick," Issei said, and reached up and over his shoulder to flick Kiss-Shot on the nose. He turned to Rias, who looked like all the blood had drained from her face. "Sorry about that, she gets kinda touchy."
"R-right," To Rias' credit, she did a stellar job of composing herself. "Well...here's how it works," she went on, the slight hint of fear and hesitation leaving her voice as she continued. "We devils grant power to humans for a price we both agree on, and then we seal the deal with a pact. It used to be that people would draw magic circles to summon us, but nowadays we do house calls and personal deliveries."
Just like that, she was back in her club-president persona.
She must seriously be something else, to converse that easily with such a deadly being in the room.
Shinobu snorted a laugh at what she'd said. A demon that makes house calls? Pathetic. She missed the good old days, when one would summon a demon with a circle of blood.
"So, for your first job as a new devil, I was planning on having you deliver these," Rias collected a stack of papers from inside a drawer in her desk, the same kind as the one she'd shown Issei moments ago.
"Alright, I can do that," Issei was quick to affirm, wanting to assert that he didn't share the same viewpoint as Shinobu.
"I'm glad to hear it."
Rias retrieved a white cloth bag from underneath her desk, setting it on top. Issei left Shinobu's lap, and started to shove all the papers in the bag.
"Normally we'd have a familiar do it, but I think it'll benefit you to learn what all goes into this job. Plus," Rias got right by his ear, whispering, "if you do a good job, you could even have some servants of your own someday."
Now that got Issei's attention.
Servants?
Like, people that had to follow his orders?
No matter what?
He was practically foaming at the mouth.
"I'm into that! I want some servants!"
"Like I said, that all depends on your efforts."
"Let's say my efforts are awesome. Does that mean my servants will have to do everything I tell them to?"
"That's right~."
"And they're mine, so I can do anything I want with them?"
"Mhmm."
"You see where I'm going with this, right?! It's gonna be sexy-time!"
From her place on the couch, Shinobu laughed. Her master was as one-track as ever, even in the presence of this girl he barely knew.
"Before I get you started on delivering those, though, I'd like to ask about your diet. We talked about it for a moment yesterday, if you recall."
"Yeah, I remember. What about it?"
Issei shrugged, not thinking much about it. He continued to shovel pamphlets into the sack she'd given him, his mind clearly still on servants.
"Well, I think it's pretty important. Are you going to need bodies to eat? I can accommodate that, but it'll take some time-"
"Whoa whoa whoa, stop! Are you serious?!" Issei exclaimed, shocked. "You'll just get me some bodies?"
"Hm? Yes, I will. I don't want you to starve," Rias said, a little confused.
"Uh...okay, let me think for a second," Issei facepalmed, realizing there was a pretty big disconnect in what he knew and what Rias assumed.
"By all means," Rias replied.
"So, uh, normally vampires like me and Shinobu can get by on one meal a month, but like...I've never eaten anybody. I don't really wanna eat anyone, either."
"Then, how...ah, I see. You mentioned you can lower your level of vampirism, is that it?"
Issei was impressed she'd caught on.
"Yeah. If I keep it low, I can eat normal food and Shinobu can drink my blood, but we won't be very strong. Earlier this morning we actually tried having it at around the level of a half-vampire so I could walk under the sun, but I dunno how that affects being hungry."
"You said you can't just drink blood at your current level, right?"
"Yeah. We spread vampirism at this level with a single bite, so we have to eat the whole body or they'll come back to life."
"Then, if you were a half vampire, could you get by on just blood like a dhampir does?"
There was silence for a solid few moments.
"I...uh…?"
Issei didn't really know what to say. He looked back to Shinobu, who herself had a curious expression.
"'Tis worth finding out, I suppose. Ne'er have I been a half-vampire," the vampiress said, shrugging. As aloof as she seemed, there was a hint of excitement in her eyes, like she was eager to know if Rias' proposed solution would work.
"Well, it's something to keep in mind. For now, let's just worry about getting you started on some devil work, okay? I'll give you a map, and you take those flyers to the spots on it. Alright?"
"I'm all over it!" Issei pumped his fist, excited.
"Great. Here's your map," Rias handed him a magic-eight-ball esque device with a screen on one side. "Let me show you how it works…"
"Hey, so…"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you go off on Rias like that?"
Issei and Shinobu were walking around residential Kuoh streets, working on posting flyers in different points around the city. They'd walked almost the entire way so far in silence, until Issei popped that question.
"I was merely setting expectations."
"You told her you'd rip her tongue out!"
"Now she knows to expect it."
Issei sighed, exasperated.
"Well, don't do it again, please? She did save my life, and all. Plus, this devil racket doesn't seem too bad. I don't wanna piss her off."
"If ye insist."
"Thanks."
There was a pause while Issei stapled a flyer to a streetlamp, then they continued.
"So, have you met any devils before?"
"Aye. Mephistopheles."
"Bless you."
"'Twasn't a sneeze, milord. Mephistopheles is an ancient devil, the one who tricked Faust into handing over his soul in exchange for quaint worldly pleasures."
"Faust…?" Issei vaguely knew the name, but he couldn't remember from where.
"Has thy school taught thee nothing? The legend of Faust and Mephistopheles is quite a well known one."
"Yeah, school nowadays doesn't really deal with legends."
"Pathetic. I shall educate thee in their stead, then."
"Oh boy…"
With someone like Shinobu, who had lived nearly six-hundred years but also had an awful memory, learning anything could be very hit-or-miss.
"Keep thy grievances to thyself. Call it the price of being ignorant," Shinobu said with a smirk.
One long, drawn out fairy tale/history lesson later
"We're back…" Issei groaned, closing the ORC door behind him and Shinobu. Rias was nowhere to be seen, Akeno was messing with something in a cabinet near the entrance, and Koneko was sitting by herself on one of the couches eating a blue popsicle.
There was something strange, though- in the corner of the room directly to the right of Rias' desk, there was a curtain drawn over an outcropping in the wall, and the silhouette of a person from the waist up could be seen behind it. Running water echoed throughout the clubroom, and Issei's mind short circuited.
"Is someone in a shower?" he asked, literally not believing his eyes.
"Yep," Koneko replied. Akeno laughed. Issei didn't even know what to think.
What kind of club room has a shower?
More than that, who showers when their club members are around?
There was a bit of an awkward silence then, until a few moments later when the shower abruptly stopped and Rias stepped out of the curtain clad in only a towel.
"Welcome back," she said innocently, as if she wasn't stark naked.
"Schmiggleworthersfurf," Issei intelligently replied as his vampiric healing worked to stop his brain from dripping out of his nose.
Shinobu pursed her lips, obviously not impressed.
What kind of harlot let herself be seen in such a state by someone she'd only just become acquainted with? Was the notion of being ladylike gone entirely from this era?
Not to mention, who did this brat think she was, to flaunt such an obviously inferior body in front of her master?
"I trust you finished your deliveries? Did anything interesting happen?" Rias asked, drying her hair with another towel handed to her by Akeno.
"Just a history lesson," Issei grumbled, trying to ignore Shinobu's grin. "And yeah, I finished them."
"Well, all's well that ends well; excellent work. I only have one more job for you tonight. Koneko is double booked with two summon requests. Take one, and get some practice."
Issei glanced at Koneko, who bowed her head to him.
"That'd be super rad," she said.
"Uh, sure, no problem." Issei bowed shortly in response, before turning back to Rias with a glint in his eyes. "So does this mean I'm legit? Am I making a pact?"
Akeno stood at the center of an elaborate magic circle, glowing bright red with runes rotating around the middle. Her hair and clothes seemed to move as if being blown by wind despite being in the middle of the ORC clubroom.
"Woah, what the hell?" Issei was stunned. He'd seen magic twice before, once with Shinobu (though calling it "magic" may be stretching a bit) and once with Akeno, but neither time had been nearly so flashy.
Naturally, Shinobu wasn't impressed.
"We call this a transportation circle. It'll take you to where your client is waiting. Hold out your left hand for me, if you would." Rias. now clothed, stood beside Issei a couple of feet from the magic circle. Shinobu was mere centimeters behind him, her concept of personal space practically nonexistent. Kiba, who'd just come back from his own pact, was now standing beside Koneko in front of the couches.
"Uh, sure. Is it gonna hurt?"
In response, she simply touched his left palm, and an intricate crimson magic circle appeared on it.
"This is called a seal. It marks and verifies you as a member of the Gremory house. When you get to the client's location, don't panic, and just do everything I told you. Think you can handle it?"
"Hell yeah, let's do it!" Issei pumped his fist, showing his resolve.
"Very cute. Alright, stand in the circle. Make me proud~," Rias cooed.
"Awesome, I do this and I'm one step closer to having my harem…!" Issei could hardly contain his excitement as he walked forwards, standing in the epicenter of the transportation circle. Shinobu stayed where she was, a smug grin on her face.
She had a distinct expression of "I know something you don't know", and it was about to become painfully obvious why.
Red motes of light began to gather on Issei, coalescing around him until he shone so bright it was hard to look at-
-and then they all disappeared at once, while the circle poofed away without so much as a flash.
Issei was left standing in the middle of the room with no magic circle, wondering what had happened.
"The fuck?"
"Whoopsie~," Akeno sang with an apologetic grin, her spell having utterly failed.
Kiba snorted a laugh, but did his best to quickly cover it up.
Rias facepalmed, but she had a smile underneath. "No, it's okay," she said, looking at Issei.
"What gives? What's okay?"
"Looks like you can't make the jump, but there's another way."
"This sucks balls, what kind of vampire rides a stupid bike?!"
"Kaka, 'tis certainly a first! Thou should've known their magic wouldn't work on thee, methinks."
"How the hell am I supposed to know that?"
"Their teleportation works on the principle of demonic energy, no? Well, suffice to say thou hast none."
"Being a vampire counts for jack shit, huh?"
"Vampires don't have any 'energy'. Our strength is in our bodies. Thy level as a mere reincarnated devil is too meger to have any sort of stored strength, either. I suspect in the future ye may find it easier to use such magiks, but for the moment thou art simply too weak."
Issei, atop a red bicycle, pedaled at a swift pace towards the house of his first client. Since his teleportation failed, Rias had given the bike to him as an alternative, along with a map so he didn't lose his way. Shinobu sat in the bike's forward basket, still at her full power but choosing to take the form of a little girl in a white and pink dress with a matching straw sunhat.
This was the same form she was in when Issei was killed, but this time she could shift into her true state with a simple thought, and was merely in it for the convenience of fitting beside her master on the bike.
And because, sometimes, she liked being small.
"Too weak, huh? Maybe I'll figure out how to use that secret gear or whatever and then we'll see who's too weak…"
"About that. Have ye chosen what to do about your current power level? Thou cannot stay a full vampire forever."
"Well...you don't really want me to go back, do you?"
"Thou noticed?"
"Yeah."
Shinobu sighed before continuing. "'Tis true. I'd prefer thee to stay, at the very least, a half-vampire. 'Tis a dangerous life thou hast found thyself thrust into, and watching thee die again is not a pain I could bear."
"But...would I have to eat anybody?"
"I know not. Thy health would certainly wane, were ye to sustain thyself on only human food- but the redhead devil made a very interesting point earlier."
"About drinking blood as a half-vampire?"
"Aye. 'Twould be most useful. Thou could stay as a half vampire, and ye would be functionally immortal without having to devour a soul."
"That does sound pretty great."
"Aye, save- there's no way to test it."
"What do you mean?"
"Hast thou not spared it a thought, milord? Say ye, as a half-vampire, were to bite thy master as a trial. What are the two things that could happen?"
"Uh, well...it either does nothing, or...oh. I get it now. Shit, that is kind of a big deal, huh…"
"Mmm. 'Twould resurrect thy master as our kin, which would hardly be ideal. One fledgling vampire is more than enough for me, kaka!"
"So what should I do?"
"I know not. Were ye to truly have some incredible latent ability, I would feel more comfortable remaining at a lower level of vampirism, but as it stands- I simply cannot watch ye die again. 'Twould drive me utterly insane."
Shinobu wasn't joking, or exaggerating. To have the only thing that had made her long life bearable suddenly ripped away- the amount of sheer agony she'd felt before his resurrection is entirely unimaginable to a normal human.
"Well, for what it's worth...I'll try not to die again. I promise."
"'Tis worth naught. Thou art as headstrong as ye are reckless."
"Yeah, well, you're as blunt as you are mean!"
"Kaka, I shan't deny it."
It was at this point Issei had reached the location Rias had given him. He pulled his bike to the side of the road, and inspected the area- it was a residential neighborhood without any outstanding features to distinguish it from any other. The house he was supposed to be at was on the second floor of an outdoor apartment complex, addressed to a "Morisawa."
"What're you gonna do?" Issei asked Shinobu as he walked up the stairs to the client's door.
"Watch thee fail from a comfortable distance. Best of luck," Shinobu said with a grin before sinking into his shadow.
"Damn cocky vampire," Issei grumbled, purposefully stepping on where she'd been before continuing to the door of his first-ever client.
He approached the door and then went to knock, but stopped.
What the hell was he supposed to say?
What did a devil normally say when they got summoned?
Would it even be applicable to a doordashing demon?
"This is so stupid…" he mumbled, then knocked.
"Mister Morisawa? Devil's knocking at your door~! Open up!"
The door cracked open a bit, revealing a skinny and sunken bespectacled face on the other side.
"Whaddaya want?"
"Hey, how's it going-" Issei started to say, before being quickly ignored while Morisawa closed the door.
"Get outta here," the man said, dismissing Issei entirely.
"No come back, I wasn't kidding! You summoned a devil and I'm here to hook you up!"
"Since when does a demon knock on the front door?"
"Uh, first time for everything-"
"Screw you, I'm not an idiot. I know how this works. Koneko comes through the flyer every time, she's the one I asked for. Get off my porch."
"Look dude, I dunno what happened! All I know is I couldn't do it and then they said I had to get here and put me on a fucking bike! A biiiike!"
Issei, now desperate, sank to his knees.
After a moment of definitely-not-crying, the door opened once more.
"Okay, fine," Morisawa said, mostly out of pity.
A couple minutes later, Issei was seated in front of Morisawa's table, a cup of green tea in front of him.
The entire room was something out of an otaku's handbook, with manga and dvd anime lining the shelves of several bookcases along with figures and posters everywhere. That said, it was both orderly and neat, for an otakus' room. Issei was sufficiently impressed.
"Hmph, alright, if you're gonna be the stand in you've gotta prove yourself. What cool devil tricks can you do?" Morisawa asked, sitting down in his swiveling desk chair and looking down at Issei.
"Well, uh, not much yet. But I can do some cool vampire tricks!" Issei said, defaulting to what he already knew.
[If you do anything stupid, it'll be thy master who pays,] Shinobu warned from inside his shadow.
"Vampire? Seriously? You're a real vampire?" Morisawa asked, his interest peaked.
"Damn right. Check these bad boys out," Issei gloated before showing off his inch-long fangs.
"Oh wow, you're totally right. Now that you mention it, your eyes are pretty red…alright then, what can you do?"
"Uh...turn my hands into swords? Turn into mist? Turn into...well, pretty much whatever I want, really. Super strength, super speed, regeneration, all the normal stuff, I guess."
Issei listed off superpowers like they were the most normal thing in the world.
"Alright, those are all pretty cool, but what can you do for me?" Morisawa asked, not very impressed.
"Oh, uh...I can make you something, I guess?"
"Oh? Make me something?"
"Yeah. I can create stuff."
"What are the limits?"
"Gotta be something simple, cus I'm not that good at it yet."
"Simple...alright, how about a set of replica dragon balls!" Morisawa exclaimed, both disbelieving and excited.
"Hah, is that it?! Seven dragonballs, coming up!"
Making no attempt to actually create them himself, Issei reached down to his shadow, which extended a tiny hand and gave him a lacquered cherry wood box with a shiny pearl inlay.
"What the hell is that?" Morisawa exclaimed, having seen the hand come up out of his shadow.
"Don't worry about it, it's my vampire's assistant. Anyway, here's your dragonballs!" Issei said, handing the ornate box to Morisawa. The nerd took it gingerly, holding it like it was a precious relic. He slowly opened the lid, and his jaw nearly dropped off his head.
"They're beautiful!" he shouted, stunned beyond belief. "Is this...amber? Holy shit kid, you're the real deal!"
"Hah! Make a pact with me, and there's more where that came from!"
"Deal!"
"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," Issei said with a smug grin, walking alongside his bike.
"Thou surely art a new level of pathetic, to be bragging about forming a pact when it was I who created the objects that man desired."
Shinobu sat once more in the basket, legs crossed.
"And for your help? Three donuts."
"Hmph. Dost thou truly think my aid is so cheap as to be bought by meager sweet treats?"
"Yes."
"Thou would be correct. Three donuts it shall be."
"I knew you'd see it my way."
Did you enjoy? I did. After this chapter, we'll be shifting more towards this version of canon and away from straight up normal DxD, starting with the revised version of the Fallen Angel arc with a noticeable absence- Raynare. Hope you're looking forward to it. Other than that, I've only got this link to my discord server for my stories:
discord .gg/taPjVJJ
That's all for now folks. See you next mission!