Disclaimer: I do not speak Japanese, possess a Sacred Gear, own Highschool DxD, nor make profit from any fan-written work based upon or derived from it.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Incantation"
('Albion, mental')
(Albion Speaking)
A companion fic to my main story, Holy Inferno Dragon.
While I'm writing this to avoid major spoilers for what will come in my main story, this does contain spoilers from the later volumes of the light novels, though interpreted differently to suit my own purposes. Just a heads up, this does take place in the future (before DxD EX series), so it will contain concepts yet to be addressed in HIDragon.
Future Taking Flight: Safe Return
As he passed far beyond Japan, Issei made sure to fly high and beyond ranges of detection, of both mortal and mystical means. The decade since the Khaos Brigade's reformation into the Qlippoth hadn't done the Biblical factions and their allies any favors, strong as they had become their enemies grew in number or appeared in greater strengths at a commensurate level.
This assignment in particular was one that had significant potential for disaster. Damn that Rizevim, death wasn't kind enough for the spawn of Lucifer.
Using the stolen Sephiroth Graal as his chosen tool, Rizevim Lucifer had mass produced clones of notable Evil Dragons both enduring and long-deceased. Grave-robbing would be one word for the methods used to acquire bones and scales needed, though Rizevim had once admitted in their confrontations that he referred to his methods as paleontology. Issei was simply relieved that no copies of his father had yet been revealed, but he was nervous that he one day would have to relive such a reunion.
The second issue that came with such research was artificial methods of becoming a 'False' Dragon. In other words, aura enhancement on a massive scale. Not like the intense training or meditation that could possibly lead to such refinement by natural means over the course of millennia. A system that sacrificed memory, limbs, strength, and spirit to somehow accelerate one's existence to cross the gap between Dragons and everyone else. Even if only one could make it to the strength of a low-level Dragon, Rizevim was known to sacrifice tens of thousands for the success.
Needless to say, the hordes of 'True' Dragons took issue with this. The world had finally seen the united Dragon Hordes that Albion had promised so long ago. If there was one upside to their enemies being clones or fakes, it was that the process diminished the copies somehow. Though Evil dragons were naturally stronger than their unaffected brethren, the playing field was about equal against their lacking counterparts.
And that was why Grayfia forwarded him assignments where the stray devil in question had high potential for surviving the enhancement process. Eliminating them before they could undergo the process was preferred, even if they lived through it to become the sub-par dragons their demonic origins were something his Holy attribute granted him a natural advantage over.
Casually breaking Mach 20, Issei would reach Eastern Europe in less than half an hour. True, he'd get there faster by using Shift, the final name of the teleporting technique he had developed so long ago. But his passion for flying was unrestrainable. A grin broke out under his faceplate, Kuroka and Rias had fought over the name for weeks.
For her part, Rias credited it as a breakthrough in dimensional manipulation and translocation, citing how it needed a long and sophisticated designation by referencing texts from research even Rossweisse, Ravel, and Akeno didn't know existed.
On the other hand, Kuroka claimed right-by-mentorship as the original skill had come from his effort and her teaching on Senjutsu and spacial dynamics.
They agreed to settle the matter in a game of cards. Of course, Kuroka skirted the rules of fair play and made sure to serve the lightweight Rias some different brands of sake she had collected. Then, Koneko got involved to keep her sister from cheating outright. Somehow the other girls joined in and it became a game of strip poker. And he somehow was the one who lost all his clothes first, everyone else tying for second. And he hadn't even been playing.
The next morning, a slightly hungover but thoroughly satisfied Rias ceded rights to naming the ability to Kuroka, who named the ability Shift. Given many of his techniques were one-word designees, it fit. Divide, Reflect, Reduce, Restore, and now Shift. And Half-Dimension, if one argued for hyphenation.
That last technique was what he used now, generous application and trial and error had taught him to use it in order to condense the space he moved through in order to stop almost instantly regardless of velocity, without the need to maneuver drastically or perform the famous but impractical superhero landing.
Stopping dead over Budapest, he took but a moment to pull out his phone to take a picture. A longstanding ritual, he'd take a picture here and one of his wives would print out and stick it to the giant map in the pseudo-classroom across from the nursery. It was perhaps the only way it kept Ex and Kurenai engrossed in study as they tried to learn about the places their father had been to or fought at.
Sealing it away, he refocused on his mission. Taking a deep breath, he filtered through the sights, sounds, and smells of a bustling capital. He'd thankfully adjusted since his teenage years, he wasn't so easily overwhelmed when he opened himself up to so much stimuli. And… there!
Still armored, Issei simply dropped and used his wings only to steer, letting gravity force him to terminal velocity. He braced his legs, sparks of Holy Flame wrapping his greaves and soles of his boots.
There was a crunch as he tore through a building's roof then a roar of pain as he landed upon a mangy-feathered, winged back. Guess this was one of those days.
An hour later, Issei dispelled his bloody armor and left to find a pub. Really, he didn't need poorly brewed alcohol to dull his clarity, he wanted it specifically to temporarily mute his sense of smell and taste. A False Dragon whose element encompassed both rot and decay? Perhaps after cleansing his palate, he'd end up flying below sea level through the Indian Ocean just to try and feel clean.
Sixty minutes exactly after that, he flash-dried the remaining seawater from his person as he landed on his own front doorstep. Thankfully the smell and feel of cheap liquor and fermented roadkill had vanished via his aggressive bath. Silently unlocking the door, he stepped through and locked it behind him.
Before he went upstairs to the master bedroom, he noticed there was a light in one of the sitting rooms. Curious, he moved to investigate.
Sitting in one of the tall recliners was his third child, Airi. While Issei took it with good humor that most his children better resembled their mothers over him, Airi, Kurobara, and Shirayuki might as well have been clones of their respective mothers. In this case, Airi was the spitting image of Asia, sans stature and figure.
She was reading with a flashlight; a downside to their youth, his children wouldn't develop perfect night vision for a few years at best. Though he was impressed; Airi might only be a few months younger than Ex, but she currently surpassed Kurenai with her hunger for knowledge.
Issei fully admitted that his children had inherited both looks and smarts from their mothers, he could hold his own in games of riddles and logic but book smarts weren't his forte beyond some engineering and medical skills. So it pleased him to no end that the book she was reading was a rather thick novel. No pictures. Impressive, he wasn't doing that at four years old.
"Airi, what are you doing up?"
The blonde pixie jumped up and ran to hug him around his legs. "You're home!" She whispered quietly. She truly was Asia's daughter; she'd inherited politeness as well in regards to the others' rest.
"And you're up too late," he picked her up with one arm while saving her place with a bookmark. "Why exactly?"
The girl frowned and rested her head on his shoulder as she hugged him. "I couldn't sleep. Wanted to know what happened next. My mind wouldn't stay quiet."
Now that was something that was entirely his fault; overthinking and intense contemplation never seemed to affect any of his wives in such a manner.
"Family curse," he kissed the top of her head as he silently walked the halls to the room she shared with her sisters. "You and me both, we think too hard and worry over things we don't need to."
"Mhmm," was the sleepy reply. Hyper-thinker she was at times, she was still a sleepy four year old. One that had a predilection for reading as much as possible, an interest he encouraged wholeheartedly even as she asked him for clarification or definitions of words she didn't know.
"Daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"Would you read to me?"
Rias was right; he couldn't say no to his kids.
"Only to the end of the chapter. We mustn't wake your sisters now."
Teasing the door open, Issei peaked inside before stepping in. Much like the boys' room, the girls' beds were once lined up in what was an orderly line. Now, the beds were pushed closer together.
Kurobara and Shirayuki, both born on the same day. Their tiny beds were perfectly aligned to form a bigger bed, one that they shared. Their cat ears twitching as they dreamt. Even in their sleep, both two-year-olds had their tails wrapped together. Inseparable as twins those two.
Helmwige's bed was in the middle, the three year-old surrounding her bed with scale models of famous monsters of Norse and Japanese legend. The army of mythical creatures paled in comparison to the stuffed toy of Midgardsormr, one of the Dragon Kings, which was wrapped around all four bedposts and whose head she hugged close like a teddy bear. Fortunately none of her siblings were irrationally or somewhat hypocritically afraid of snakes.
On the other side was Robertina's and Airi's beds. Both girls had sheet canopies that made their beds seem like some sort of tent. Princessy and whatnot, but when both girls had pointed it out in a magazine, begging for the accessory Issei hadn't hesitated to hang them from the ceiling personally. The beds were close together, but far apart enough for him to sit down on the floor to read as he tucked her in bed.
Pulling the comforter to her chin, Airi settled in as her father continued on the page she left off. He kept his voice low and quiet, though whispered animatedly as the scenes and characters played out in their quests for love and strength. He barely finished the chapter, the girl having fallen asleep while holding her stuffed version of Fafnir.
Smiling, he gently kissed the foreheads of each of his daughters, holding back chuckles as a few squirmed in their sleep. Zeoticus and Baraqiel had once explained he wouldn't understand the joy of watching his children sleep until he had some of his own. And how right they were, this peaceful scene was one he'd fight tooth and nail to preserve.
Slipping through the connecting nursery, he nodded at the drowsy Rassei, who blinked back at him before turning his neck away with a chuff smelling of ozone. Leaving the trusted caretaker be in his aerie above the common area, he entered through the other door connecting the boys' room to the play room.
Like the girls, the boys had their beds lined up once upon a time. To their parents' amusement and chagrin, the four beds were now stacked on top of each other, ramshackle bunk beds held in place by string, duct tape, superglue, limited-edition hardcover manga and potentially priceless magical dictionaries, scavenged rebar and cement, and enough magic to make undoing the creation not worth its while. Supplies raided from arts and crafts, as well as the library, though even Issei was perplexed as to how they had procured the sturdier components. He privately suspected Millicas might have had a hand in that, enjoying his doting uncle/cousin privileges a bit much.
Kurenai and Ex had the top two bunks, respectively. The silver-haired Zen, the only child to have his father's hair rather than his mother's blue, and baby Shin took the lower two. Different bedspreads though. Black and purple, black and red, blue and silver, and white and gold respectively. Issei shook his head; he longed for the day that the boys' territorialism separated them into different rooms. Only then could he burn the bunks down.
He repeated the same good nights, though with his eldest two he tussled their hair rather than kiss goodnight. They were just getting to that age where they didn't care for overly affectionate displays. Zen was dead to the world when he slept and couldn't care less.
Finally, baby Shin in the lowest bunk that was more of a cradle, magically charmed so that he wouldn't disturb his older brothers with cries or smell. Irina had been overjoyed when she learned she was pregnant, the odds of having children in their unique relationship were worse than Rias' or Ravel's. For an Angel to conceive, and with a Devil no less was tremendous news. But against all odds, Shin had come into the world.
Issei made sure to remove the boy's thumb from his mouth, only to sigh and repeat it when the babe continued to suck his thumb even in his sleep. Giving up, he kissed the infant's head as well. "Goodnight, my little Nephilim."
Having tucked his children in, Issei then crept out and back to his own room. Well, his was the operative word.
Nine figures already lay in his bed, a mess of supple feminine form and multi-colored waves of hair. Issei visibly relaxed before stripping to shorts and climbing in among them. Taking his usual place in the center, the women around him instinctively held on to whatever part of his body was available. Only when they were all situated did Issei let himself drift off.
He was home, safe and sound as promised.
As promised, a semi-monthly update while HIDragon is still being worked on. Good news though, SeerKing and LordxSesshomaru have both graciously been helping me with the more ecchi themes, so look forward to that update before the month is over.
Points to those who figure out which anime have taken up my time in recent months. Some hints more obvious than others.
