And now, let's continued with Ichijou's meta-adventures. How he will behave himself now that he is no longer the protagonist. That chapter was fun to write, not to mention this whole meta idea is giving me new inspiration to write. Ahahahahah, I'm such a weirdo, but anyway, good read! Stay golden!

DxD does not belong to me, thank you.

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~~x~~

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*ZING!*

"Ghah!"

*Tchibum!*

...

...

*BLUB! BLUB! BLUB! BLUB!*

"GASP! Afff...! Aff...! I need... Air... I need... Air..." I screamed as I emerged from some mysterious waters and grasped the first few blows of air down my system, calming me down enough to start breathing normally.

Then it hit me: didn't that asshole nii-san put a mark on me? I dunno, but for some reason, my ribs are in their place, and I can breath normally now, not that fuck-fest of blood and internal cuts. But even with that I can feel that kick, breaking my bones and ripping my lungs apart. But for now, I'm okay. The white vapor cleaning my lungs, the warm water relaxing the muscles of my legs. I see, somehow, I'm at some hot springs...

And just not any kind of hot springs. This place has a really freaky sky in a Emerald tone, and from here I can see a show of lights in a distance, like a city shaped like a pentagram-l. Not to mention I was now on one of the highest grounds of several with hot water ponds. Such peaceful place, I kinda like it... But the matter at hand still stands.

So, what do we have now? That asshole Nii-san said that he stole my 'Protagonist Essence', whatever that means... No, this is important because he stole my right to have fate on my side. Let's see, what kind of tropes does a protagonist have?

I- Has a badass power, or at least something that differs them from their peers, which I have;

- Can be resurrected, which happened to me;

- Develop a new power at the nick of the time, which happened to me;

- Is saved by the cavalier just in time, which happened to me;

- Defeat the big boss and gets the girl(normally, but not always), which is yet to happen;

- Is surrounded by beautiful, horny girls, which I am... Kinda...

...

...

Holy shit, I'm just a amalgamation of harem protagonist tropes! This... Is expected, actually, after all, the reason why those are increasing lately is because the current otaku community is primely interested in those, and since the longevity of a series is based on these fanbases, creators have no choice but to try to rely on fanservice and overuse tropes for their series to survive. If I were in a novel, this would be my character: the protagonist. But since that asshole nii-san stole that from me, I can be considered only an extra, a supporting character at least.

Come to think of it, this is the first time ever that I'm completely alone. Ever since I was born, I was surrounded by toys, my sisters, my parents(mum, at least) and Julia-chan and Nina-chan. Now, I sleep with a naked redhead, I eat lunch with Kamiyama, I walk home with Gremory's peerage, I practice with Belle, I prepare food with Akabane, I fight with my sisters and my mum, I play video-games with everyone... But this is the first time I'm complete and utterly alone. For some reason, this makes me uneasy, yet, somehow, comfortable. I wonder if I'm growing used to my lifestyle so much that such scenario is alien to me...

"Being utterly alone..." I mumbled, as I sat on the water and let the water cover the area below my neck. This feels a lot better, but I can't lose my grip with reality here. My head is very light to hot water, so I mustn't lose myself in. "Being alone... This is actually..."

"Way better than you expected, right bro?"

A second voice enters the scenario right behind me, and I instinctively sprinted forward and turned around to see who it was. For my surprise, there she was, Aria-san, with her arms crossed and smiling smugly, wearing only a towel and a wooden bucket on her feet.

"A-Aria... -san..." I said, hiding my mouth as I spoke her name and turning my gaze to a rock, as I could hear her laugh. This is embarrassing. Does these demons have no shame whatsoever? Aria-san jumped from her rock and landed on the waters, splashing some water on me. "Could you... Please wear some clothes?"

"Why? We're at the hot springs! This is the place where your nude should be fully expose to connect your soul and spirit with the nature surrounding us!" She bombastically said, now reaching her hands to the small fold on her towel that was holding everything up. Oh, please, don't tell me she'll... "Feel the nature entering your body! Feel the spirits splashing you with life and energy! Feel everything with your naked glory!"

"Aria-san, you don't mean-...!"

*FLAP!*

"Gaaaah!" And the last thing I saw was a white towel flying in the air, and nothing else after, as I covered my eyes with my hands. A nude Gremory is fine now, but a nude chick I don't even know that much?! This is just overkill!

"Ahahahahah... Just kidding. Here at Mount Issei, I can't go all nude out of respect and pride." She said that in a calmer tone. Mount... Issei? As in Senpai? Is This the name of this place? I wonder why. Not to mention, that name sure is somehow nostalgic. Back at the topic, she seems calm enough, and I think she wouldn't toy with my heart like that. She already messed me up good the other day. So I opened a small gap in between my fingers and, yes, she wasn't naked at all...

... She was just wearing a teeny-weeny black bikini...

...

...

I lost again.

*FOOOOOSH...!*

"Well, that's a first." She deadpanned, as I suffered a major nosebleed. Goddamn the Frenchman who invented swimsuits! I turned around and blocked the bloody flow that was coming out of my nostrils. Passing by, there it was her fallen towel, floating on the hot waters. I picked up and tossed to my back. "Huh...?"

"A-Aria-san... Please put some cover?" I said, trying to sound as gentlemanly and composed as possible. She didn't buy it, as she said...

"Why? I'm not naked. I'm just wearing this bikini. Kinda revealing, but I guess I can pass." She said in a innocent, at least less teasing, tone, probably confused with my request. A few minutes later, however, her teasing tone returned with her conclusion. "Ohohohoh~, I get it. Ichijou-ototou likes swimsuits~. Tiny, colorful, fuzzy, revealing, cute swimsuits~."

"Shut up." I tried to sound imposing and powerful, but like always, it ended up sounding weak and pathetic. Great, just great...

"Can't say it is not appealing. I mean, colorful, cute, sexy or just plain provocative, there are all kinds of swimsuits. Not to mention that women are putting those with full consent to look good during beach time or hot springs. I can already say that you're a gentleman. After all, you can't be a pervert if they are willingly showing it to you." She said in that shit-eating tone, making me even redder and more embarrassed. Damnit, now she'll tease me all the way with swimsuits and bikinis. However, when the tease ended, her tone became a lot darker. "That aside, I don't think you should turn your back to me."

"...?"

"After all... I am the one whom murdered all of your family."

"..."

"...?"

...

...

"No reaction? Huh, Nero DID steal your protagonist essence." She said back to her cheerful, yet deadpan tone, as I turned around to face a towel-covered Aria-san. She was right: despite the annoying tone and her shocking revelation, I... Didn't feel a thing. I love my family, I really do, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to go on an uncontrollable rampage, like a protagonist would in such dark situation. Instead, I just stood there, rationally thinking about it. I mean, she just met me, there's no reason for her to kill all of my family. Besides, how many Tsukino's are around the whole Japan, and even out of it? She also wouldn't bring me here just to tell me that. In short, she has no reason to destroy my family. Hell, I bet she doesn't even know I have four sisters and a father abroad. "Gramps would've lost his shit by now."

"Sorry, but I guess you're right. I can't feel a thing. And after some deep thought, I can say that you couldn't have killed my family at all." I said with my usual annoyed tone. She looked at me for a few seconds, and laughed. "That was pretty dark, though. Why would you say that, Aria-san?"

"Well, for starters, to see if you're really free from the Protagonist Essence." She said again, sitting on the rocks with only her feet on the water now. She splashed some water on her skin, and messed her hair a little. This thing again, this Protagonist Essence stuff...

"Say, Aria-san, what exactly is this Protagonist Essence? That asshole Nii-san said it was what makes me a 'main character', but aside from that, I can't hold onto anything." I said, as I removed my shirt to avoid getting a cold. Brrr~, even like that, I'm still cold, so I sat down on the rock floor and let the water cover my body. Aria-san put her finger on her chin for a second, and smiled again.

"Oh, by 'asshole nii-san', I think you mean Nero Gladius, my and Nemesis's boyfriend." She said in an upbeat tone, probably not finding any problem with that. No joke, harems are a thing with Devils, and that guy so happens to be in the middle of her and Nemesis-san. Lucky bastard, that's what he is... Right?

"..."

"Well, first impressions aside, what Nero did to you was steal the causalities that would make you a main character. Not just that, he also removed from you any kind of gimmick, privilege or lucky-shot a main character, a protagonist, would have." She explained with her finger up, while I brainstormed a little more to understand all of this. "In short, you won't bump into your love interest while going to school, you won't receive a new power or unlock a new form in dire times, you won't be heard by a rich guy while talking about your new project that needs money, you won't be saved by your friends or allies if you ever find yourself cornered, and if you ever die... You won't be resurrected. Game over."

"..." I gulped with that last one. So that's how it is. I don't have those gimmicks anymore. I was relying on those alone since the beginning, after all, Gremory said senpai used to do just that: rely on his Sacred Gear, lucky shots and awakening of new powers and abilities. And now, without those, I'm powerless, defenseless, normal. Not that I wasn't all that before, but now, I'm on my worst, since even luck and the universe itself is against me. "So, he basically stripped me from the only thing that can save me?"

"Yeah, more or less. On the other side, he also took from you the element that was holding you back." She said, while I tilted my head to a side. "Without your protagonist Essence, you also won't be awakening new abilities at the heat of a battle, meaning you just need to train to obtain those; you won't defeat the main villain with just one super-ability, meaning you have to learn new ones from the root and master them to have the slightest chance; you won't resurrect if you're ever killed, meaning you have to improve your surviving skills to never die to begin with; and like you just saw, going berserk won't work a thing for you, meaning you can and have to control your anger to avoid suicidal rampages."

"..." This is just too much of thinking. Where the hell she think she is, some kind of shounen light novel? Not that it wouldn't be that out of place, after all, my new life as a devil has been a cliche after another for a shounen hero. Resurrection? Chosen one? New abilities at the nick of time? All overused. Doesn't mean they are bad tropes, though. But now, I'm an extra, a supporting character. This means I can die even off-screen. But it also means that I won't need to be beaten to a pulp of blood to unlock a new power. Mooks don't need those, they train and train to reach their full potential and die just like that. Unless they have a special ability only accessible during low health, like suicide attacks or boost in str, def, int. Wait, now I'm thinking with Video-game logic. This can't be right... But again, a peerage is essentially a RPG party. Ugh, so much thinking would create a wall of text that would pretty much scare readers away if this was a novel. "So... This means that I can unlock my 'true potential' without having to resort to desperate struggles and will of steel?"

"Yeah, kinda. You have green light for that. Now, imagine how strong you can become by fusing your break-less growing with the power of your sacred gear? Imagine you, a mook, with the power to kill a God?" Yeah, that would be nice. No plot-break, not holding-back-potential for the sake of the narrative, no power-lock. I would be like giving an one-hit-kill weapon to a mook. Now I can see how much this will help! I need to kiss that asshole nii-san one of these days... After beating him to a pulp of his own blood and bile, of course. "The question is: are you ready to become a captain in Bleach? A Kage in Naruto? That kind of character that is awesome even without those emotional boosts?"

"Well, I WILL be fighting with you. So how can I say 'no', right? I just hope I don't die in the process."

"..."

"...?"

*PIIINCH~!*

"Owowowow! Aweewa-shan, whaw awe you dowin?" I said with my cheeks stretched as humanly(?) possible, while the nee-san in front of me was pinching them with a frown and a smile.

"Smile! Say 'of course, nee-sama'! Scream 'do I?! Let's do this'! Shout 'I'm ready as all hell'! Anything. Those are exclusive of protagonists sometimes, but show some emotion, for God's sake!" She said, toying with my cheeks to the point she's almost ripping them out of me. She stopped when she saw me struggling, and let me go with another smile. "You're such an oddball, bro. I wonder what would gramps think of you if he ever knew about you being his legacy..."

"Gramps? Legacy? Are you relatives with senp-...?"

"Good luck, bro."

*FLICK!*

"Eh...?" And again I wasn't where I was in a blink of an eye ago. Aria-san flicked me right in forehead, and with the sheer force of that alone, I was launched backwards, until a cliff leading to another section of the hot springs. Before I could even scream, WASH!, there I was again in the hot waters, almost drowning in shallow level.

After seconds of struggling, I finally snapped back to reality, finding a floor to support myself and take my head out of the waters. Finally out, I took my time to regain my breath and control my cardio back to normal. But it was too late when I noticed a strange shadow casted upon me. I lifted my head, and behind me, standing up with it's arms crossed and wearing only a fundoshi...

There was a three-meter bipedal green dragon, looking at me with those big golden eyes, a long grey beard hanging from its lower jaw and blowing fireballs out of it's nose.

"Ah~... Huh~... Hello...?" I asked, as I stood up and tried not to scream or laugh at the situation in hand. A dragon in a tong, what the hell. But calm down, Ichijou. Maybe it is a friendly one? No need to panic until you are absolutely sure that it won't harm you. Think of something, start a conversation. "So... Dragon-dono, what's your favorite Weekly Shounen Jump manga?"

"..."

"...?" Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Is that the way to start a conversation?! Religion and politics would be more likely than that! I'm so screwed! I closed my eyes, and readied myself for the upcoming clash. However, after a few seconds, I heard the dragon sigh, and out of his flaming nostrils, he replied.

"It is Shokugeki No Soma, Ddraig..."

"Ah! That stupid cooking manga?"

"..."

"..."

Ssssssssshit...

"DIE!"

"GWAAAAAAAAH...!" Damn you, shounen-fan! I just pissed off a dragon fan of stripping cooks! And the moment I Turned around, it roared like a beast it was and spat a massive fireball in my direction! I dodged for a thin nail, but the impact and the explosion were enough to push me away to another section of the springs. Again, I landed on hard hot water, but even under it I could hear hard, furious steps coming in my direction. As fast I as could, I stood up and ran out of desperation. Strangely enough, that dragon don't have any wings, as he just jumped to pond to pond to reach me, like some kind of fish-King. And in a matter of seconds, he reached me, his enormous jaw ready to take a bite out of me!

"Damn it! [DRAGON BOOSTER]!" I called, as my newly evolved Boosted Gear appeared in my hand and announced [BOOST!]. Instead of a bite, that dragon came down slamming his massive body against me. The impact didn't hurt that much since I used my Boosted Gear as a shield, but the impact alone made me fly away to another pool of hot water.

I tried to emerge from that too, but as soon as I did, that green giant gecko slapped me away with his tail and made me met acquaintance with the nearby rock wall. I left my mark there and slid down to the floor. Even that, his rampage continued, as he spat more and more explosive fireballs at me! I sprinted as fast as I could from them, and for most of it, I did it, I dodged all of them, but the massive explosive shock again blew me away, and I ended up kissing the floor, the hard, rocky, sandy floor. I think I'm bleeding now. Shit...

[BOOST!]

The dragon, seeing I wasn't moving anymore, took a deep breath and spat yet another great sphere of pure heat and flames. Oh, crap! I can't die! I don't have my protagonist essence anymore! I won't resurrect after a fatal blow, I won't receive any extra power on the nick of time, I won't be saved by the chevalier! I am on my own now! I am completely alon-... Screw this emoness! Let's blow shit up!

[EXPLOSION!]

*PUNCH!**BOOOOOM!*

"Halt! Time up! Time up! You won! Sorry, Shokugeki No Soma is awesome! Kinda, please don't kill me." I said, holding both my hands up into the air and screaming surrender from the hole I opened myself with a solid punch on the ground. The Dragon jumped to land in front of me, and sighed flames, crossing his arms again.

"Yeah. And respect my choices in mangas, Ddraig..." The dragon said in a male, roguish voice. Did he just called me Ddraig? Isn't that the name of the dragon residing in my sacred Gear? Is he speaking with him? I looked at my Sacred Gear, waiting for some answer or reaction from it, but nothing. Huh? Is he really speaking to me?

"Err... Are you... Talking to me?" I pointed to myself, and the dragon grunted, visibly irritated, as he frowned the scales around his eyes.

"Of course! Is there any other dragon around? Age sure is reaching you, despite being a dragon, huh?" He said, laughing like a smartass old man after. I grit my teeth in annoyance, but for some reason, he does see me as Ddraig. I wonder why. "But, hey now, you're much shorter last Time I saw you. Being inside a Sacred Gear must've messed up with you good, for you to be all folded up there. Hahaha!"

"Tch!"

"And you two are already off to a good start!" Aria-san landed right next to me; as the Dragon laughed off. She reached for my neck and half-hugged me. "Ichijou, bro, this is Hwan Jin-Yong, he's a dragon we found around Korea some time ago. He apparently met Gramps and Ddraig sometime in the past, too. Nemesis made him her Rook. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Huh?! Really?" I'm speechless. Nemesis-san's Rook is... That massive dragon? While I'm a queen, and barely escaped alive from him. Not only this shows the extension of her power, it also makes me wonder about Aria-san's own. Not to mention... She keep calling senpai her Gramps... Don't tell me...

"Huh, of course we would get along despite his rudeness, Argento. After all, we already exchanged some punches out of sportsmanship in the past." The dragon said, chuckling. "You should've know that by now, after all, you're one of the DxD Children..."

... Aria Argento, the grand-granddaughter of Hyoodou Issei.

...

...

*PINCH!*

"Huh...?!" It hurts. I'm pinching my cheek as hard as I can; and it hurts like hell! The two of them looked at me, confused and concerned, as I tried to maintain my forced smile. "Bro, what are you doing?!"

"So... I'll be fighting with Senpai's granddaughter and a goddamn dragon... I really want to cry... I am really scared now... I can't even imagine the punchdown I'll give Gremory the next time we meet, but... I can't do it!" I said, as tears came down my eyes, together with sweat and nervousness. Soon after, however, all of this ended, and now, I was in peace, the only thing now is my forced smile. "And do you know why? Because I'm just an extra."

"..."

"Extras don't have important conflicts, extra don't have moments to show their emotions; extras can't do anything besides smile and look pretty within the crowd!" And finally, I did it: the other edge of my mouth lifted, and now, I was smiling. I was smiling. "No matter what happens, an Extra should always smile, and laugh at their problems, since the protagonist is a lot more important! No matter what... An Extra ALWAYS SMILE!"

"Huhuhuh~... So, that's your resolve. Can't say that I like it, but for an extra, that's a great one. Very well, me and Yong will train you here at Mount Issei, just like your predecessor did, centuries ago!" Aria-san said, pinching her own cheek to smile like me. She turned her attention to Yong. "What about it, Yong? You're in?"

"Hahahahahah!" The dragon, on the other hand, laughed it off, and nodded at me. "A dragon like me, training one of the Heavenly Dragons. Ridiculous, but it'll be a true honor to me to train Ddraig for him to reach his former glory. Yes! We can finish our business right after!"

"So, is decided!" Aria-san said. "We'll train you for you to become not a protagonist, not a supporting character, but a mook! Yes, the ultimate Mook that laughs all the time!"

After all, no matter what, extras are always smiling, always happy, no matter what!

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TO BE CONTINUED...

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~~x~~

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Like I said, being all meta and go decon-recon is quite the challenge, but is cool not the less. I hope you guys liked it. This the the most important for now. :3. Anyway, next chapter, the continuation of the training. Thanks again for reading it. Good luck!