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Game of DxD: Redux.

Chapter 7 – Business is Booming.


"Don't you think that's enough, Vali?"

"Shmhmph, mhphu!"

"I suggest you surrender, Vali. Not even I could touch him with Caliburn powering me up."

"FGHM MM! FIR N' SHMRPH!"

Issei, meanwhile, was gulping a can of Pepsi he had stored in his Inventory long ago, while he muffled Vali Lucifer with a piece of cloth.

A while ago, Vali had challenged Issei to a match of authority and power. Whoever won would be leading the Vali Team, that was the condition set by the silver-haired Devil. Vali was confident in his ability and overall power. After all, he had been training since he was a child. Not only that, but according to Albion, Vali was currently – and maybe forever – the strongest wielder of Divine Dividing.

However, he soon discovered how utterly ridiculous the gap between Issei and him was.

The Red Dragon Emperor had proceeded to wipe the floor with him. He went easy on him at first, telling him that if he managed to touch him once, the brunette would instantly give up. Vali reluctantly agreed; he was annoyed that Issei didn't take him seriously.

He couldn't touch him, not even once. The boy moved so fast, in Vali's eyes he was nothing but a blur. This made things even worse as Vali couldn't touch him, which meant he couldn't utilise Divine Dividing's full potential.

Hours passed by, but even then, Issei was still dodging all of Vali's attacks easily. At some point, Vali started enjoying this, believing that this counted as great training, but soon he declared tired of this 'game' and started chanting to use the Juggernaut Drive.

Ddraig warned Issei about the dangers of such a technique, which caused the boy to quickly summon magical ropes to bind the silver-haired boy. Shortly after, Issei launched several spells that caused nausea, confusion, weakening effects and sluggishness.

Needless to say, the result was Vali suffering a humiliating defeat.

Back to the present, Issei threw away his Pepsi can and promptly stood up, then he dusted himself off.

He turned to face Ophis, who had watched the interaction silently.

"Ophis, I'll ask one more time, is this everyone in your team?"

"Ah, if I may, I can explain the situation better to you," the blond swordsman suddenly interjected, raising his hand.

Issei nodded, signalling for Arthur to continue.

Arthur stepped closer from where he was standing, near Ophis, Kuroka and Bikou, "The four of us, excluding Ophis and another member you can meet later, make up the Vali Team. The Vali Team is part of a larger group called the Khaos Brigade. You can say that it is the name of an alliance, more than the name of a single group that controls the other smaller teams. Other than us, the Vali Team, there are two groups, which are the Old Satan Faction and the Hero Faction. The Old Satan Faction consists of the true descendants of the past Satans, who lead an army of Devils. Then comes the Hero Faction, the strongest among the three groups. The Hero Faction is a group of people who are descendants of Heroes from myths, legends and tales related to the Supernatural world… but not only that, the leaders all wield Longinus-Class Sacred Gears, save for a few who use High-Class Sacred Gears."

From there, Bikou continued, "Each group has a goal of their own. The Old Satan Faction wants to overthrow the current Satans because they're immature little kids who didn't get to sit on the throne, the Hero Faction wants to prove to the Supernatural that humanity is by no means weak."

Bikou saw the gleam that appeared in Issei's at the mention of the Hero Faction's goal, but what he said next replaced that look with confusion and annoyance.

"However, they're convinced that slaughtering any Supernatural entities that do not support them is the correct way of doing it. As for us, Kuroka just wants to live a normal life with her sister, Arthur's aiming to rule Excalibur and by extension Britain, as is his right as the descendant of King Uther Pendragon, Vali wants to beat Great Red, and I just want to have some good fights here and there, y'know?"

Issei hummed absent-mindedly, diving into his thoughts.

'Thus far, it seems like Vali's Team is the only group that didn't commit crimes, but still… their alliance with the other two Factions can alone be considered treason, not to mention working under Ophis… but Ophis isn't an enemy, she's a goddamn overpowered toddler…'

He blinked, 'Wait? Treason? They aren't under the control of any Factions though, right? Or are they naturally labelled as working under whatever Faction their species is of?'

Issei looked to Arthur, "How many crimes have your team committed up until now, and what are they?"

The boy shook his head in response, "None, other than allying with the Khaos Brigade."

Issei sighed in relief and nodded to himself, "Then, you must pay attention to what I'm going to say right now. From here on, you will listen to my dream, my goal."

Bikou suddenly spoke up.

"Do you think you can release Vali?"


After Issei released the silver-haired boy and laid out his ideas and plans for the future, the group reacted with surprise and interest, apart from Ophis, who cutely nodded with every detail Issei said.

"How're you going to initiate all of this though?" Bikou asked, chewing on some popcorn Issei provided.

Issei sighed. "By coming into contact with any leader of one of the Three Factions, though preferably the Angels. They'd be willing to listen the most… I hope so, at least."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Issei smirked. "Did you not notice the presence of Fallen Angels in the old Church nearby?"

Bikou nodded. "Obviously, I'm hella skilled in Senjutsu."

Issei snapped his fingers. "I'll either bribe them to arrange a meeting with their leader and me, or I simply threaten them."

Vali raised an eyebrow at Issei's plan, "Well, you don't need to do all that, I can just get you in touch with Azazel right away. I got his number."

The brunette blinked and looked at Vali in a confused way, "Why am I hearing this now?"

He simply shrugged. "Because I felt like it."

Ignoring the strong urge to deck the older teen, Issei nodded. "Fine, you do that. Meanwhile, everyone else gets to training."

All the members blinked.

Issei snapped his fingers and the others felt a whirr of magical energy as two clones of Issei suddenly appeared beside him in a puff of smoke.

"Those are hyper-realistic dummies that have capabilities similar to mine. They'll be able to train you in all your areas, whether it be magical or physical. As for the Senjutsu users…" He snapped his fingers once more and suddenly grass, plants and trees erupted from the floor. Flora grew and all sorts of flowers appeared, all in a 50-mile radius. "Nature for you to practice and refill your reserves when you need to. I'm not all that knowledgeable about Senjutsu and Ki, so tell me if you need changes to the training area. Now then, Ophis."

The Dragon God turned to Issei. "Yes?"

"You'll be coming with me for a change of attire. I can't have you walking around town like that."

She nodded and walked over to stand beside him.

Issei nodded and looked back to the group, "Vali, you'll be coming with me to arrange the meeting, as for everyone else, I'll check up on you after 30 minutes."

Vali hummed and paced to Issei's side.

"Both of you, grab onto me. I.D. – Escape."


–:Hyoudou Issei's P.O.V:–

When I found myself in my bedroom, I retracted my hand from Vali and Ophis's grips.

"Follow me," I instructed, leading them to the living room. I needed to discuss several things with Vali, like how he had Azazel's number and the strong and weak points of his little team.

Upon arriving at the living room, I sat on the couch and grabbed Ophis to sit next to me, whilst Vali chose to stand.

"So, you have Azazel's number?"

"Yes."

"Well, how do you have it? I imagine the leader of a powerful Faction wouldn't give his contact number away so easily." I pointed out, summoning a chocolate bar from my Inventory. Just as I was about to bite into it, I noticed Ophis's gaze from the corner of my eyes.

I handed her a piece of it with a sigh.

Vali started, ignoring the display, "Azazel took me under his wing since I was a little kid. He is the reason I am still alive today."

I hummed and decided not to pry further into that aspect, so I opted to change the subject. "I also want to know what each member of your team specialises in; their strong points, weaknesses and how well all of you fight in formations. But before that, ring up Azazel's phone number. I want to meet up with him right now."

Vali nodded and grabbed his phone from his pockets, quickly ringing Azazel's phone and putting it on speaker.

"Vali, what's up? You got any reports from me?"

"I'm currently standing in front of the Red Dragon Emperor and he wants to meet you in person."

There was no response for a moment.

"Be there in a sec, hold up." The line closed after that.

Beside Vali, a green magic circle appeared on the floor, glowing as an older man materialized from it. He looked very handsome, with violet eyes and black hair, apart from his bangs, which had golden strands, along with a clean and sharp goatee. His eyes landed on me with amusement and curiosity dancing around those eyes.

"You're this generation's Sekiryuutei, eh? Not bad, I can sense that you're strong enough to threaten a few gods," Azazel said, apparently analysing and inspecting me.

I summoned a chair from my Inventory and motioned for him to sit.

Hoping that my Silver Tongue skill would be high enough to tip the scales for this conversation, I started, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Azazel. I'm Hyoudou Issei. If you'd like, we can move this discussion somewhere more comfortable to you."

I didn't bother with honorifics when it came to speaking with Supernatural creatures who did not originate from Japan. They were used more to being called by their first name.

Azazel waved his hand, "Nah, I'm fine with this, I'm not the type to go outta my way extravagant meetings and all that. So, what did you want to talk to me about? I'm a bit tight on time, so I'd like it if you speed it up a bit."

I nodded in understanding and took a deep breath, "Frankly, I want to form a business contract with you." Reaching into my Inventory, I pulled out a couple papers and a pen.

"I want to build a hospital in the Grigori. All the capital and construction costs will be handled by me, as well the wages and salaries of all the doctors and nurses. Not only that, but all medical supplies will be paid for by me in cash. Last but not least, the Grigori will receive 35% of the earnings."

Azazel took the contract papers and read them as I talked about the conditions and benefits of the contract. After carefully reading the first page of the contract, he finally spoke. "And what do you want in return? Everything here is just you giving me a hospital for free. I'm not saying it's a bad deal for me, but this is a horrible deal for you."

'Bingo'.

I smirked and leaned back into the couch, "In return, Azazel, I want access to your libraries and research experiments logs. This alone seems too much of a hefty price, but of course, you can limit me to what I can see and read. Any books you don't want me taking, I'll leave. That's all I want; I'm even willing to turn this into a magical contract."

A magical contract differed from the average contract paper. As its name suggested, this contract utilised magic to bind both parties to the conditions they agreed to, and in case they were to violate any of the terms agreed upon, they would be inflicted with a curse.

How bad the curse was would depend on the importance of the contract and how many terms were breached.

Azazel closed his eyes and thought on it. A couple of moments later, he nodded. "Alright, kid. I'd prefer if this were a magical contract if it's all the same to you. Further discussion can happen at a later date, for now, let's sign and seal this bitch."

I smiled and grabbed the contract papers, casting the binding spells for the contract. We both signed the papers, agreeing to the business contract.

"I'm off, Sekiryuutei. Don't bully Vali too much."

I only chuckled with laughter, much to the white haired boy's chagrin.

With that, Azazel took off using a transportation circle similar to the one he used to get here.

After that was over, I glanced over to Vali. The guy was strong, fast and smart, well balanced in many aspects; I was sure that his Devil blood had to do with his abnormally large magic reserves as well.

Even then, Vali preferred to fight up-close, so even though he was well-versed in magic, he didn't rely on it often, and thus the Half-Devil missed out on many opportunities to get more powerful.

"Vali, I'll send you to my sub-dimension again. Ask one of my clones to teach you some magic tactics; although you have large magic reserves, you rarely use any magic. Those will help you out," I reasoned, but Vali didn't seem to like the idea.

Instead, he scoffed.

"I don't like tricks. I will defeat my enemies with my power – my strength... but I can't deny that magic does have its uses. Even then, I don't want to rely too much on it. I will, however, learn a few buffs. That is all."

I rolled my eyes, but nodded; that should be enough for now. It wasn't like the guy lacked finesse, so he could probably hold out on his own.

After depositing him in my empty dungeon, I sighed and looked at Ophis.

I didn't know why such a powerful and ancient being would pick this form, much less this choice of outfit. Ophis's clothes revealed almost everything, except for her nether regions, which were covered by little Xs of tape.

If I am seen with a little girl dressed so inappropriately, I would immediately be questioned by multiple police officers. "Stay here and don't do anything. Even if someone knocks on the door, do not open it. Okay?" I ordered her.

Ophis stared long and hard at me, eventually tilting her head. "Knock?"

I sighed hopelessly and summoned another clone of myself. "Watch over her, I can't leave a little girl with the power to demolish this entire country all alone."

My clone nodded as he sat on the couch.

I had some other business to attend to.


I decided to first call my mom and tell her that everything is fine. After assuring her many times that I am all good, I finally hung up the line.

I am currently walking to the old church, where I sensed the multiple Fallen Angel magical signatures. They were all two-winged, so I didn't bother bringing Vali or his team along.

Those Fallen Angels were like little pebbles compared to a mountain.

Soon, I arrived at the front doors. The church looked dusty and tarnished from the outside, but the grass surrounding it was still lush and colourful.

It reminded me of a certain boy.

'I wonder where Rin is right now, I miss that guy.'

Dismissing those thoughts, I refocused myself on the task at hand. I can sense the Fallen Angels along with approximately 80 humans inside.

They were probably rogue exorcists who joined this little group of Fallen Angels for quick cash. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Two Fallen Angels were hovering in the air behind me, both holding light spears which they aimed directly at me. One was a man whose attire consisted of a pale grey trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora.

The other was a woman. She was tall and buxom, with brown eyes and long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye. Her attire consisted of a maroon trench coat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. Her top was left open at her chest, giving a wide view of her cleavage, along with a gold necklace.

"Are you part of the group of the possibly-rogue Fallen Angels here, or were you sent as agents to investigate this situation? If it's the latter, I want to speak with whoever your leader is to confirm if you have permission to set up a gathering at my and Rias Gremory's territory." I started, opting to try out the more diplomatic path rather than destruction.

They very well could've been on a mission with Rias's knowledge. If that was the case, then initiating a battle without any provocation would be bad for me.

The man clicked his tongue and suddenly unleashed a barrage of blue light spears, all aiming towards me, the woman following suit.

'Oh well, we could fight too.'

Unfortunately for them, I was no ordinary human.

The moment those light spears shot out, I activated my Water Barrier spell. A blue magic circle, the size of my palm, ejected cool water. That water spun, floated around and circled back around my hand until it became a small sphere that quickly flattened to be a shield in the form of a thin oval.

The barrier looked weak, quite truthfully. When you see a body of water used as protection, the texture and softness of the calm water fools many into assuming that it has no capabilities of protecting the caster. After using it for two months continuously, however, it became a sturdy shield.

Water Barrier – Active – Lvl. MAX

Creates a water barrier that can handle anything below mid-tier spells and attacks. Even then, it can withstand multiple mid-tier spells.
•15 MP per spell blocked.

Although it had levelled up to the max, it was still one of the most basic and common spells I had; it could only go so far.

Even so, it did not even waver as the volley of spears struck it and shattered uselessly against it.

The male Fallen seemed to understand that bombarding me was useless as long as I could just block them. Instead, he changed his tactics and summoned two light shortswords before charging at me, the flapping of his wings causing a shift of air breezed through my hair a bit.

Meanwhile, the female seemed satisfied with a supporting role, as she stayed up high, summoning more spears but keeping them on standby.

All their efforts were for nought as I flicked my wrist, casting another magic spell. The Fallen Angels were startled by two red magic circles appearing in front of them, shooting out several tendrils of flames, wrapping around their abdomens. Their light weapons dispersed into thin air as they lost focus. Their clothes started sizzling and burning away, and soon enough, the flame tentacles came in contact with their skins. Said skin was rapidly being burned from the intense heat of the magic spells. The duo screamed as they felt their skin frizzle and burn, but I was unaffected by their shouts.

Quickly acting, I stretched my left hand and a white magic circle emerged. From it, several sound waves seemed to shoot out, which targeted the Fallens' heads. Not too long, those two fell asleep and stopped shouting.

Even though they were under my mercy, it did not mean that I must torture them.

The doors of the church burst open and a tide of exorcists poured out. Some pointed their light guns at me, while others drew their lightsabers and some chanting, a magnitude of magic circles forming with different colours and runes on them.

I didn't waste any time activating the same magic spell that the Fallen Angels experienced. Massive amounts of sound waves shot and spread out, dropping every man and woman where they stood.

They may be brainwashed or under control, but now was not the time to investigate that theory. I had to deal with the matter at hand first.

I advanced, unbothered by the number of sleeping bodies surrounding me.

"Stop."

Stop I did. Just inside the church, two more female Fallen were pointing their spears at me. One was a young woman with violet eyes and silky black hair, with a slender, yet curvy and busty body. Her attire consisted of black straps resembling leather around and under her breasts, a thong-like piece held around her hips by three thin strips, gloves that ran up her arms with small lengths of chains hanging from them, a set of small shoulder pads with three large spikes sprouting from the right shoulder, and black, thigh-high, high heeled boots.

The other one wore a Gothic Lolita outfit, which consisted of a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front, and a green jewel embedded on the collar, white thigh-high socks, and black shoes. She also wore a large black bow on top of her hair.

"I am Raynare, and this is Mittlet. You have two options; surrender or die. I am several levels stronger than those two outside, so choose wisely."

I raised an eyebrow at her remark. Did she think that she had a chance of taking me down just because she was a bit stronger than the other two?

"I'd like some details, please. There is a party of rogue Fallen Angels and exorcists gathering in my territory. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't just wipe you out."

Before they could answer, another voice sounded across the church, one that I was familiar with. "Because they're my responsibility." Azazel appeared from behind me, patting me on the shoulder. "Thanks for not killing those two idiots outside."

I nodded, glad that I did the right thing by deciding to just knock them unconscious.

"L-Lord Azazel?! A-Ah… this is, u-uh–" Raynare wanted to say something, probably explain the situation to her leader, but the ancient Fallen Angel just shook his head, and she shut her mouth.

"Don't worry, the four of you won't be in much trouble. You were under false orders, so it's not your fault that you did all this."

Before their conversation could continue further, I stepped in. "Can I leave it to you to handle this mess?"

Azazel glanced at me and nodded, "Yeah, I'll be done in a couple of minutes. I'll clean up the place and send an apology to that Gremory chick. You can go home, kid."

Before I decided to leave the scene, a thought occurred to me. "Say, Azazel, how difficult would it be to do background checks on all those Stray Exorcists outside?"

The man in question scratched his goatee and pondered on it for a moment before answering, "It shouldn't be too troublesome, the Grigori's forte is intelligence gathering. It may take up to a week or so."

I can wait out a week, my plans won't work instantaneously, I only started with the first step.

"Could you do a background check up on all of them? Hand whoever is free of criminal charges to me. In return, you can order me to aid you in a battle once."

Those exorcists outside were weak as hell, no doubt about it, but if I could train them? I would be getting my first squadron.

Azazel grinned and extended his hand, "Sure thing, having this generation's Sekiryuutei fight for me doesn't sound like a bad idea."

I shook his hand firmly in return, "Deal."

Breaking off the handshake, my gaze lingered on Raynare for a couple of seconds before I finally turned around to leave after waving Azazel off.

'Those tits are fucking huge.'


How?

How could this girl be so pure, innocent and cute?

Even her panties were plain white!

"T-Thank you for the meal, Signore Issei."

I am currently sitting in a restaurant, watching this blonde, green-eyed Italian girl eat a burger.

For the first time in her life.

I encountered her when I was going back home. Asia Argento had tripped, causing her long travelling nun's habit to miraculously lift, exposing her panties.

From there, it spiralled down to me offering her a classic burger meal. I didn't do it simply because she was cute (that may have played a part), but for two other reasons:

One, she had a Sacred Gear, a healing one at that. I discovered it when she healed a little boy who'd fallen. She was ecstatic to hear that I had a Sacred Gear of my own.

Two, she was a Dragon Tamer. Those were incredibly rare to find, and me being part-Dragon, I was naturally attracted to her.

Thus, I decided to take her under my wing. Not only that but Asia was actually supposed to be received at the old church.

I suspected that this had to do with the whole rogue Fallen Angel fiasco; therefore, protecting her until I got a stronger grip on what's going on is a wise choice.

When I asked her how she wouldn't know what a burger is, I discovered the story of Asia Argento – the nun abandoned by her home, the girl deceived and misled by her elders at the church.

"Asia, I can't let you go to that church."

The girl cutely stared at me, tilting her head in confusion as her silky blonde hair swayed slightly.

"Why is that, Issei?"

I sighed, preparing myself for possible tears. "That church is nothing but rubble right now. It's been abandoned for several years, no one lives inside it, and even then, Fallen Angels were occupying it."

After my reply, Asia's expression adopted a more saddened and gloomy tone, slightly frowning.

"Oh…"

'God fucking damn it, my heart is not ready!'

"That's why you can stay at my house for now. I'll try to find a solution to this mess later, okay?"

The ex-nun looked surprised at my offer, but soon she gave a gentle smile worth a million dollars and tore a little bit, "Thank you, Signore Issei."


The Asia thing was hurriedly placed in here. Since the Raynare fiasco was taken care of before Issei met up with Asia, there was no real point to commit an entire chapter just for the meeting of those two.

Anyway, time for the reviews!

Marvelio said: What does SNS mean ?

Response: SNS is his Sense stat; it indicates how sharp his senses are.

Guest said: Man I hope NSG doesn't fuck too much with your fic. His fic with the same idea ended up being utter trash after all.

Response: How dare you?

NS: That sounds more like a problem of your taste than my writing ability.

Wrong said: Just cuz u intreprit ddraigs power one way doesnt mean its right. It quite literally doubles his power so 1 boost is 2 times the power 2 boosts is 4 times the power and so on so on. I mean it was like that earlier on till ichi royally screwed up the power scaling and nerfed both ddraigs and albions power. But that is indeed how his power works early on. Jus thoight id let ya know

Response: Several mistakes here and there make it a bit difficult to understand your point, but I think I get what you mean. Ichi did, in fact, fuck up the power scaling.

Dat-boi-waddup said: Fanon Pervert Draig detected

Response: 😈

Dat-boi-waddup said: Please don't let this be a swordsman Issei Fic cuz for once I want him to use his canon fighting style which is hand to hand.

Response: Don't worry, many types of fighting styles will be there.

GoldStar77 said: Are you planning on adding ophis to the harem? She is kind of a rare pairing in most DxD fanfics. The ones where i had seen with her in a harem didn't even reach the point of forming a love relationship with her. It's interesting to imagine what kind of romantic bond that can be form with her due to here state of mind being "empty" in a sense.

Response: It's a nice suggestion, I'll think about it. Thanks though.

Temsen said: Issei went from small fish to supposedly being able to hold out against a Satan.

Response: I'm pretty sure you've seen how OP gamer systems are in multiple novels and fanfics, especially ones revolving around High School DxD. It's not unbelievable to have Issei OP so quickly, but he's still not a glaring threat to the top 10.

yet.

Thank you for the support, everyone. I'll continue to provide you with chapters in the future.

Smoothed out and beta'd by NorthSouthGorem, you can find his on and AO3.