Hey again, dxd fanon! Miss me? Well, I guess not. But At least I wrote the new chapter, and now I have a total idea what I'll make out of this fic! I won't be a comedy anymore for now. But I'll introduce the new concept in this chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Again, dxd does not belongs to me!

"W-What...?!"

*TOSS!*

*ZING!*

*PICK!*

"Nice toss."

"Nice catch." And after shared formalities, the air of hostility returned. It was just a sporty shot, I threw a Kunai in his direction out of sportsmanship, and like I was expecting from someone related to a Gremory, he effortlessly caught it with his fingers. "Don't mention my abilities, I AM a ninja, after all. But mr. Nero, I think you're being pretty rude saying those things. I have you know that we have the legacy of the Hero of the Underworld, Hyoodou Issei, right here. Not to mention... I'm a pretty good ninja. I can kill you from where you stand."

"Oh, really?" Gremory was too shocked to move, and Nero-san was still smiling. To prove that I'm just as much of a threat, I reached my hand to inside my clothes to pick one, two, three throwing knives, just to gasp in surprise when I found nothing of them. I turned to Nero-san again, and seeing my reaction, he chuckled and extended both of his hands to us, opening his hands to let several ninja weapons with my name labeled on them to fall to the ground. "I wonder if you can do that without those."

*FLASH!*

"What the...!" He flash-stepped out of our sight, and then reappeared behind all of us.

"The truth is, I've already fought with ninjas before. Not very tough, but they can be sneaky when they want. I salute you for being such a good girl." Still with that same innocent smile, he flash-stepped to behind us in a blink of an eye. We turned around and backed out of him. "Wanna hear my story? I was a knight from an Christian order back in Europe, more specifically in a small town in Italy. I hated demons and stuff, I guess it was because of my up-bring, church and some stuff. I grew up wanting to purge every single devil from our world."

"Charming." I Said, doing my own flash-step and preparing a high-kick on him. However, he simply dodged it and slide-kick my supporting leg, making me kiss the ground. He jumped away soon after.

"I was considered the best of my group. And because of this, they sent me to a place where a devil was terrorizing a small community." He continued. A firefly-like sparkle landed on his shoulder, and he quickly dispensed it as it exploded soon after. Others sparkles of light followed soon after. I took a look around, and they were coming from Tasha. So, she's a fire Mage, huh. "Alas, that devil was Nemesis, and despite her sweet personality and impossible beauty, I tried to slay her anyway."

"Bad knight. You should ask her out on a date before stabbing her with your sword." Tasha said, as Nero dodged and avoided every single one of her mini-bombs. He jumped up high and landed on a tree, now flash-stepping from tree to tree and using them as shields to explode the bombs instead. Soon, they were out, and before Tasha could spell more of them, he flash-stepped in front of her and tackled her to a tree.

"Well, it was almost that. We fought and fought, but none of us could win, actually. We were both too strong for ourselves. The next day, we did it again, and again none of us won the battle. We continued like this for quite some time." we continued, and like he had eyes on the back of his neck, he dodged a vicious attack from the fox, who was now using her nine tails as extra limbs to attack him. Even with that, he could still dodge and defend himself without much effort. " I guess it was during our hundredth match I develop feelings for her. I guess you can say cross-fire can light the bonds of our hearts. The next time, she ambushed me from behind and said the truth and then... The rest is history."

"Fascinating. I should try this with my own darling sometime." The fox said, now blowing fox fire out of her mouth. He knight couldn't dodge that, and ended up with his arm burned a little. However, when foxy left her guard down, Nero-san penetrated her defenses and uppercut her, lifting her from the ground. After that, he picked some of her tails and entangled her with them, kicking her out of the distance.

"Things happened, I discovered that the community there was actually the base of a shady fallen angel order, I grew delusionaled by the church and then Nemesis accepted me into her peerage as her knight. Things happened, and end. Not quite a good story, But I guess it is okay." He smiled as we gathered around him one more time. However, instead he turned to dragon, who was in a rather standard battle pose, his Boosted Gear drawn in one hand. I was expecting him to be trembling, but instead, he was actually really calm, if not a little unstable. "What about you? What's your story, dragon?"

"Four bully sisters, an idiot father and a crazy redhead on my tail because of my arm." He deadpanned. I really wanted to root for him, but for some reason their auras were contrasting: dragon was exhaling a dark, eerie aura of emptiness, while Nero-san had a pretty normal one with playfulness and easiness. He didn't wanted to harm us. For some reason, he really didn't. "I have to say, a tragic story for a guy who just wanted to be left alone!"

"Huh. Not bad, but bad background don't make the protagonist. Besides..."

*FLASH!*

"... No matter how strong you think you are, you WILL get Worf'd one day."

"What...?!"

*SNAP!*

It was just a small flick. Just a small snap of his fingers, yet, I could feel the Earth trembling, the sky shattering, the ocean wavering. The soundwave were so strong that I could see it the air around Nero-san's finger rippling, like a three-dimensional water puddle after a small pebble. Dragon, however, got it worse: all of his skin of the left side of his head, the side next to Nero-san's assaulting hand, paled in an instant, and in another one, his eyes became dull and red veins became alarmingly noticeable. The Boosted Gear deactivated in thin air, and Dragon fell on his knees.

"Relax, this won't kill him or blast his eardrums. I just harmonized it enough for his brain to shake up and shut itself down. He's unconscious, to say the least." The knight said, looking down his little victim, who was trembling, but didn't move at all. The next moment, Nero-san just kicked Ichijou in the head, making him fly to the Gremory house, coming down smashing a wall, and being pinned there by the scrums. "Also, he can't feel pain. It'll be a bit troublesome to deal with the bruises, though."

"You...!" I turned to a side, I saw a strange golden aura taking shape like a fox next to foxy. Tasha's still down in the trees, and Gremory is too shocked to do anything. Foxy, however, is very, very livid. "You'll pay for making Modern art out of my wife!"

"Wow, wow, miss! Those things are too adult for you to do yet." Nero-san returned to his innocent self, only to receive a flying kick from the fox right in the face. For a second, he smiled, but then foxy's foot was cover by a red aura, and before I knew it, Nero-san went flying away some meters away, eating dirt as soon as he landed. "Puah! What the hell?!"

"Not so tough now, huh? C'mon! Let me show you what happens when your opponent is a demon fox!" Foxy said, charging at him while her fists were on fire and her nine tails were wiggling all. Is she using her fox flames together with senjutsu? Seems like it! She jumped high in the air, and then was ready to stomp her enemy with everything she have!

"Oh, no! If only a Deus Ex Machina could happen to save me now..." Nero-san said, changing his expression to his usual calm one, as he continued to stay down on the ground, apparently helpless against Foxy's assault. Before she could go any further, I tossed a ninja star to a tree and used the string attached to it to slingshot her out of his reach. Nero-san grinned looking at me, and mutely said 'clever girl' under his breath.

"What the...! What did you did that, Seaweed? I was gonna win that one!" The ninetails fox roared at me, while I dusted the dirt in my uniform.

"Don't you find it odd that Nero-san, the guy who just kicked our asses in seconds, would be in that state of broken gazelle for this long?" I retorted. She crossed her arms in frustration.

"I hit him with fox fire and a bit of senjutsu!" She said back, pointing at him. "It should be enough to knock out even a high-class devil, even a king. To think that a knight would-...!"

"Would what, little lady?" Before foxy could even finish her sentence, that lad flash-stepped in front of us, smiling like always, to close in so little time. Without losing at second, we backed up and drawn our own weapons, but he did not seem too scared or concerned about it. "Wow, wow, easy there. What's with those weapons? Do you two want the story to end? I mean, you can't kill the protagonist, right?"

"Huh? Kill... The protagonist?" I asked in confusion, as foxy tilted her little head a little, probably just as lost as me. Nero-san just laughed a little, and from his pocket, he picked a small green ethereal orb. For the first time, my dear, busty sexy King stepped up and joined us in the situation in question.

"Nero-nii-sama! This is... This is...!" She gasped, in a mix of concern and surprise. Nero-san only smiled once more.

"Yes. Your precious Ichijou-kun's Protagonist essence. Without this, he's only an background extra, a supporting character at best." Okay, this is confusing. What the hell does he means with 'protagonist essence'? Is that some kind of superpower? A power-up from the Boosted Gear? I turned my attention to Gremory.

"Hey, Gremory, what does he mean with that?" I asked her. She was too shocked to turn to me, but she finally spoke after a minute or two.

"Nero-nii-sama stole Ichijou-kun's... Character." She said. I frowned a little because of this half-assed explanation, but after a quick breath, she resumed. "Nii-sama has a sacred Gear from the time he was human called 'Role-playing Game', and he can steal the 'identity', the 'essence' of others with it. In other words..."

"Your queen no longer has the traits of a protagonist, nor can use other typical gimmicks or abilities of such." Nero-san finished it for her, as he toyed with Dragon's green globe of meta-powers. Does this means Ichijou can't rely on Deus Ex Machina or coincidence anymore? "In other words, he won't gain a new ability on the nick of the time, or be saved by newcomers, or any other coincidence, lucky-shots, sudden awakenings or unlock of new potential typical of protagonists. Another thing: if he dies, he can't resurrect. Game over."

I gulped. This means... Dragon became just a red shirt? A mook? A stormtrooper? He can die at any time now! Protagonists never die during the story! Only at the end or at the beginning, like YuYu-Hakusho or Bleach! Damn it. I looked at the fallen ex-protagonist, and he's now struggling to stand up.

"Wow. You are strong, moving like that after that attack. But, I must say, you do have potential to be the protagonist, from what I can see." Nero-san said mockingly, looking at the small green orb as images appeared from it. "Let me see... Family hates you, born with the power, forgotten childhood friends, hates one family member. Not bad, nothing special, but nor too ordinary. You have potential to be a protagonist, although not an ordinary one with tragic past, hidden lineage or those typical things. Better than that scum called hyoodou Issei, though."

"...?!"

*CRACK!*

"What... What did you say?" Suddenly, the atmosphere drastically changed, the air became heavier, and if the intensity of Ichijou's aura could be measured, we'd all be by the center of the Earth right now. He calmly lifted from the ground, and stood up by his two feet, as the massive amount of energy began to double the gravity around him. "What did you say... About senpai?!"

[BOOST!]

"Oh, did I poked a open wound or something? Well, it's not like I'm wrong or anything." He said, still with that call voice of his. For a second, he turned around and flashed us a quick Wink, as he returned to Ichijou a flash later. Oh! He wants to test Ichijou's current state... Or something. "Well, yeah. I mean, Issei-sama was a great devil and all, but without the Boosted Gear, what he would be? A nobody. An idiotic pervert without any redeeming qualities!"

"Stop it..." Ichijou said, as we could see his green orbs shining under the shadow casted on them by his bangs. Nero-san reached his hand by his back and gave us a thumbs up.

[BOOST!]

"I mean, do you really think a good-for-nothing pervert like him would change if a pretty girl suddenly asked him on a date? Yeah, right, he would probably take photos of her without knowing to jerk off to them all night. Worse, he would probably glue her face to a dakimakura and hump it like a filthy dog he was!"

[BOOST!]

"Stop it!" The ground around Dragon suddenly weighted too much, and he opened a crater right there, cracking the soil around it and Oozing a green aura of pure rage. His Boosted Gear was also out of control, shining it's jewels on almost blinding levels.

"Oh, please. Still thinking that your Hero wasn't anything but a molester-in-training? That the previous user of that gauntlet In your arm was a cute, if not perverted loner, that just needed a right start? I bet you can smell the stink of his sperm printed on the Boosted Gear! Say, do you unconsciously move your hand in a jerking off motion for no apparent reason?" Okay, this is going too far. I don't like Issei-dono that much, but even I am offended by Nero-san's harsh words on him. Looking by my side, Berolina was on the brink of tears, while Foxy was quietly reciting a calming mantra to keep control. Ichijou, on the other hand, was oozing hatred, and shaking in rage, in total contrast to Nero-san's composite position and smile. When I thought thinks couldn't get any worse, Nero-san pulled the final straw. "But again, no wonder he's DEAD. He probably raped all the girls in the underworld and took on Trihexa just to avoid some lawsuit!"

*CRACK!*

I heard it... I could hear it... Ichijou just snapped. For a second, the world, the sounds, the movement stopped, and then, he snapped...

He snapped...

[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST...!]

"SHUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP...!" The earth trembled, the air became heavier, the sky turned black and the only thing I could see was a pillar of green light engulfing our Queen and shining golden lines appearing around the Boosted Gear, as it morphed even more, now extending it's reach past his wrist, reaching his elbow in Crimson scales and golden spikes and with the jewels around it shining ever more.

[DRAGON BOOSTER! SECOND LIBERATION!]

"Huh... Nemesis was right, Sacred Gears does respond to the user's emotions. However, as always, the key-feeling is hate." Nero-san said, as he Looked at New form of Ichijou's Boosted Gear, a red gauntlet reaching his elbow, covered by Crimson scales, Emerald jewels and golden spikes, dragon claws as fingers and golden linings shining at us. That was... The true form of the legendary Longinus Boosted Gear! "Now that's... That's something I want to avoid."

"In your dreams, asshole! You'll pay for saying shit about senpai! I'll kill you!" And in a blink of an eye, Ichijou disappeared from our sight. Only to reappear right in front of Nero-san, a fist ready to be buried into his face!

"Tch! Too fast! If only I was strong enough...!" Nero-san, gasping in surprise as he tried to cover his face with his hands. Too late, Ichijou was about to punch him into nonexistence!

"Die, you asshol-...!"

*KICK!*

"Gwaaah...?!"

"Oh, wait! You're just a mook. And mooks can't ever kill one of the main villains. Phew, that was close!"

Unbelievable. In just one second... In just one second, when Dragon was about to punch Nero-san, the knight just kneeled him right in the ribs, so hard it buried within his abdomen! Ichijou fell backwards, and started to cry in pain, holding his destroyed ribcage, as he spat blood all the place. That kick probably made his ribs break and pierce his lungs.

"If I hadn't stole your Protagonist essence, trust me, I would be the one rolling on the ground now." Nero-san said, as we could only stare at him. Foxy suddenly fell on her knees, devastated, while Gremory froze, all the colors vanishing from her face. I frowned, staring at that smiled that was starting to piss me off. "Sure, you reached a new level with your sacred Gear, but even with this, you're just a mook now, a red shirt. You can only serve as a stepping stone to the main characters."

"Y-You asshole...!" Now, dragon was trying to put himself on his knees, a hand holding his ribs as he spat more and more blood and bile.

"Me? An asshole? That's rude. Besides, you already were born with enough potential to be a protagonist. Not all people, no matter how hard they train, can reach that. The moment the sacred Gear choose you as its new host, your MC status became your birthright. Meanwhile, imagine the poor other mooks in the underworld, dreaming in becoming a satan or at least a respectably-ranked devil, only to fall for the shadow of protagonists like you! I mean, imagine how's the life of any other mook in this world, training everyday only to be surpassed by a virgin within just, what, a month, a week? Imagine the hardships a simple nameless devil have to go through just to be respected by its peers, only to be overshadowed by you just because you unlocked your 'true potential' or whatnot. How is it feel to be a simple nameless extra? Do you feel the pain? Can you feel the grief? The pathetic feeling of being defeated by the main villain, while the protagonist, doing exactly the same thing, destroyed him in just a second flat? Hurts, doesn't it? Sure, people are born with different privileges and problems, but all of your problems can be solved just by your existence, while the problems of others, non-protagonists, are caused by their existence alone. Now, tell me, does it hurt?"

After that one, Ichijou gasped in horror. I just scrolled down to avoid that wall of text like everybody else. After that, Dragon was immobile, giving enough chance for the Knight to grab him by the head and lifted him above the ground.

"Tragic past, mixed lineage, special ancestry, hidden powers, super intelligence, exclusive abilities for their race, lost inherit crown, connection with higher beings. Those are the common traits of a protagonist here. Some that you lack. Some that Issei-sama lacked. And even so, both of you have the protagonist essence. Now, imagine the melancholy of those whom have these, yet, can never be protagonists." He said, still smiling. Suddenly, I saw a trait of a tear running down Ichijou's cheek. He's breaking down. "You'll either be a legend or dies as one. Them? They'll die offscreen without even being mentioned in the credits. So, how does it feel knowing that your own existence is an unfair and sick joke? That you'll be overshadowing the glory of other hardworking Devils just because you breath, you walk, you exist?"

"..." He did not said anything, but from here, I could see that Ichijou was broken. The Boosted Gear disappeared in thin air, and his struggled ended in a second. Nero-san's smile grew even wilder, as he summoned a magic rune of transportation in front of the dragon in his grip.

"But don't worry. Since I stole your Protagonist Essence with my 'Role Playing Game', you no longer possesses such trait. However, you need to train yourself, and since you're an extra, yours will be offscreen, so good luck!" And the circle engulfed Ichijou, as he disappeared without leaving a trace. So strong... If he steals my identity as a Sub-heroine, I won't be able to teach Ichijou by being the 'cool-sis type'. Maybe that's the reason why none of the other girls are attacking either: if foxy have her Heroine essence stolen, she'll no longer be able to romantically bond with him, same goes with the Gremory route. We could only stare at him, as he took his sweet time to look back soon after.

"W-Why...?" I heard a trembling, shaken voice by my side. It was Gremory, crying true rivers as she pointed a finger to the knight in front of us. "Why, Nero-nii-sama?! Why would you steal Ichijou-kun's protagonist essence?! Did sis asked you to do it?!"

"Huh? Oh, no. It did that on my own. Y'know... I did that because I wanted him to grow even more, even with his second liberation." He said in a nonchalant way, putting his hands on his pockets and brighting his shitty smile again. What the hell?!

"Nii-sama! What the hell do you mean by-...!"

"For him to become stronger!" He shouted, the sudden lifting in his voice makes us shut our mouths. He gasped for some air, took a deep breath and resumed. "Say, how many times did you all see these scenario: the protagonist suddenly awake a new, undiscovered power, and BAM! He uses it to every single battle later on, only to be hacked by a new character, and then train again to acquire a new technique to defeat that villain, and then use that same technique again and again, only to again be hacked by a new villain, and repeat the process again and again and again?"

"I see." I snapped my fingers in realization. "You stole his protagonist essence to avoid him to grow accommodated with any new power he might acquire. Since none of his powers to-be will be enough for him to defeat a villain, he can only reach his full potential as a side/extra character, that only serves as a victim."

"Exactly." He smiled again. Huh, for some reason, that grin is a little more tolerable, now. "Mooks were made to be mocked and easily defeated by the enemies and be left hanging how the opposite team is stronger. His lack of protagonist essence, while keeping him from defeating me, will make him grow stronger with training and avoid any kind of plot block, typical of shounen. He'll be training with Aria at Mount Issei for now. He'll be fine."

"Wait! Are you saying that you... Helped Ichijou-kun?" Gremory asked, now cleaning her face and whipping her tears away.

"Yeah, kinda. He has no plot protection or lucky shots by his side. If he dies, is his end. However, as long as he stay away from any dangerous battle, he won't die. After all, mooks don't die unless is against a hero or his allies." And he smiled again. Huh, this nii-san is cool. Gremory was left speechless, while Foxy was nodding in response, a little lost, but understanding little by little. Before any of us could protest, he just turned around and opened a magic rune himself and waved goodbye. "But you all should be concerned about yourselves. After all, the rating game's still on. Train a lot, and maybe you guys can defeat us."

We all nodded in understand, as he was engulfed by the rune and disappeared in thin air. Huh... So this means that Ichijou-kun can reach his full potential now. Protagonists usually end up with a new ability only, and only at the nick of the time, Issei-dono being one of the worst offenders of this trope. Still, Ichijou can be victim of other character arch-types, and this might be harmful for him. Still, he can't win any major fights because of his now Mook status. Does this means Nero-san will return his Protagonist Essence? Why he would do that? Ugh, meta-concepts are so annoying...

"Hey, gals? What did I lose?" Emerging from the bushes, our dear lewd witch appeared, coming closer and waving a hello. "Huh? Where's dragon? Does he need his time to solve his Burst?"

"I dunno if this was a dirty joke or not, but he's gone for now." I bluntly said, as she gasped a little, and turned her yes to the duo next to us, that was now talking.

"Eh, Yuri-action is fine, too." She said. I shrugged and laughed at her joke. Even without dragon, I guess we can make it through our training, and with Aria-san training him, no doubts he'll become stronger. I waved to Tasha, and so we walked to the foxy-Gremory duo, ready for our own week of training.

After all, in harem stories, the heroines can take care of themselves with no problems...

In the next chapter... We'll return to our ordinary lives!

So... Yeah, I've already decided what I want to do with this fic: I want to make a meta-fic out of this story! I mean, it will be so exciting seeing how much I can chew up the typical harem/fantasy/dxd universe/lore and turn it into a massive ball of meta-concepts and explanations. I mean, I can't be the only one to think that, right? Anyway, thank you for enduring the wall of text, and see you next chapter! Stay golden!