- So you're the current bearer of my mechanism-... Wait, you're not the bearer of my mechanism!
In the endless white space stood two men-a giant dragon with scarlet scales like blood, and a tall man in a snow-white loose outfit.
The monster was frightening in its size, its gigantic emerald eyes staring at the smiling man with disbelief and apprehension, its powerful wings fluttering menacingly upward, as did the lizard's long tail, and the golden spikes that dotted the dragon's backbone shone a couple of tones stronger.
The man, for his part, was a kind of zone of tranquility in a strange infinite world. He smiled at the corners of his lips as he gazed at the huge dragon, his brown hair slicked back, fluttering in the nonexistent wind, as did the white haori thrown over his shoulders.
- Hello, Draig-kun, it's good to see you again. - The man spoke calmly, stirring the monster's already agitated mind. - A comrade of ours asked me to say hello.
- Who... who are you?" the dragon's face frowned, becoming even more frightening. - Or what are you?
- Draig-kun, I have a proposal and a favor to ask of you. - The man continued, ignoring the beast's words. - Will you listen to me?
- Who... how did you end up here? Why should I listen to you, creature?!
The dragon hated riddles and mysteries, though he himself was the epitome of the term. His whole being screamed that the man standing before him was very dangerous and should not be listened to, on the contrary, he should be destroyed, but Draig was in no hurry to take hasty action.
The man dropped two very important phrases. The first was that they knew each other. In the dragon's mind, a number of intelligences that had the ability to probe into the inner world of other beings immediately flashed through his mind, and the words about his acquaintance saying "hello" narrowed that already small circle down to five or six creatures.
- Don't you see how I was able to get into your host's inner world? Worried about the boy? - The man covered his eyes and rested one hand on the band of his blade. - You have changed during your confinement. Do you really like your present position, imprisoned forever in the machinery?
- It makes no difference! - The dragon snapped, unable to shake the annoying bug off his body. He was worried that a drastic action toward this... monster, disguised as a human, might disembowel both it and its host. - Did you come here to solve riddles or what?!
- Sorry, Draig-kun, I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. If you'll excuse me, I'll get right to the point.
- Grrr! - That condescending look infuriated the ancient dragon, as did the calm speech of the "human."
- Sekiryutei-kun, would you like to... - the man paused for a moment, waiting for Draig's attention. - I'll release you from your prison?
- You...
In the dragon's mind, the realization of who this man could be slowly surfaced. But it was absolutely impossible. Stupid, unrealistic, and a host of other terms with which to describe the man's offer. Only a few beings could have freed Ddraig, and all of them were dead. Moreover, what is the price of this offer? Would it not prove monstrous?
During his time of imprisonment, Ddraig grew to love his prison. He loved the place, loved watching his hosts. At first, the ancient dragon's pride could not come to terms with his ridiculous position, but time is soothing.
Centuries changed with centuries, Draig not immediately, but he began to help such weak carriers of his mechanism, among them were both terrifying members of his species and saints, whom such an ancient dragon was as proud as his own children.
He loved to watch the small caterpillar eventually spread its wings and become a beautiful butterfly. The dragon liked to follow the ordinary lives of weak creatures, their relationships with other sentient beings, he liked to communicate and mentor his host, acting as a teacher or a powerful partner.
Draig had everything he could wish for. A friend, a partner, tranquility, fun, and, of course, battles. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of battles. He fought alongside his host, fueled his partner with dragon fury, and was by his side until he died.
And everything began anew.
Perhaps Dreig had become accustomed to his position as a tool and weapon, though not exactly a regular one. The ancient creature's boredom used to be dispelled by endless battles with his arch-rival, Albion, but in time he realized that his position was not so bad, and that watching his hosts was no less interesting than fighting.
Moreover, he kept fighting with Albion anyway, for their positions were identical.
Though from time to time Dreig got the urge to leave the prison and frolic free, destroy a couple or three enemies and spread his wings in the endless skies, he knew that boredom would come again.
What a problem, right? His Age was long gone, there were only a handful of dragons left, and even if by some unthinkable means he managed to leave his prison, everyone would come after him. And Draig didn't know if he would have the strength of his past to stand up to them all. After all, his release from such a prison could be very, very expensive... He remembered well who had imprisoned him here. Yes, he remembered very well, and he saw him.
- I refuse. - the dragon growled, white teeth grinning. - Whoever you are, I don't want freedom at an incomprehensible price. I'm content as I am!
- I knew you'd say that, Dreig-kun. - Aizen opened his eyes and turned his back on the monster, beginning to walk slowly away. - Since you turned down the offer, hear my request: soon your host will be turned into a Demon. Only time will tell if he chooses this or not, but... - The man paused, peering halfway into the dragon's squinting eyes. - I would not have him lose his humanity. To let his weak soul become wormy... Pull the change over, limit it. Let the body change, but not completely. Weave a little dragon power into it, stabilizing the human and demonic. But leave the soul the same.
- How is it possible... - The dragon whispered, eyes wide with shock. - You're dead!
- Goodbye, Dreig-kun. - With those words the man simply disappeared, leaving the ancient dragon alone with his raging thoughts.
He had much to contemplate, as well as a very strange request. Only one creature could ask such a thing.
Only one...
- Times change. - The dragon growled slowly, staring into the endless white of its host's inner world. - Gra-ha-ha, this is going to be fun!
-= A short while later. Issei Hyodo's room. =-
Issei slowly got out of bed, wrinkling his aching temples. His mouth was treacherously dry, for a sip of water the boy was willing to give anything...
The inflamed mind noted a glass vase with a bouquet of yellow flowers. There was water in it. The body acted automatically, without thinking.
Issei jumped up abruptly to the vase, pulled the flowers out of it, tossing the bouquet his mother had bought aside, and greedily sucked on the water.
After a minute, as the boy opened his eyes with pleasure, he noted an extremely strange...
- A metal glove?
A rather massive scarlet glove covered his arm up to his elbow, and in the center of the back of the palm was a strange emerald crystal shining with a soft golden light. The predatory shape of the glove beckoned the eye, several rather sharp looking golden spikes emanated from the wrist, and...
Issei didn't feel it at all. It was as if it was part of his skin or body, not a strange foreign glove.
The guy tried to remember who and when had put the thing on him, or when Issei had managed to find and put it on himself. A memory flashed through the guy's mind of Mori's face... There had been some sort of conversation, it seemed, but Issei had no way to grasp the thought, and his temples ached again.
The guy was still holding the vase in his glove, the emerald crystal itself glowed a few tones brighter, and with surprise, Issei unconsciously added strength to his hand.
- [HARVEST!]" the crystal murmured, flashing its light and scaring the hell out of the pervert.
With a loud crackle the vase in Issei's hand exploded, showering the room with gleaming powder that had once been solid glass.
- What the fuck?!
The next moment the guy was in a snow-white space that had no end and no edge.
- You having all the fun, bro? - Someone's mocking voice boomed from all around.
- Who?! - Issei jumped on the spot, began to look around frantically, then turned around a hundred and eighty degrees and opened his mouth wide with unbelievable surprise. - Lizard!
- You're a lizard, partner, and I'm the Red Dragon Emperor! Draig! Remember your partner's name!
The monster's body seemed to be covered in magma, from the long, thick horn sticking out of the monster's muzzle, most reminiscent of... The monster began to emit almost imperceptible steam, and its emerald eyes slowly turned purple.
- At last I managed to introduce myself! I've been trying to talk to you since you were born. Since your birth. - Draig clarified, amused in his mind by the very amused look on the boy's face. How many carriers don't change, and every time such "theatrics" continue to amuse Ddraig just as much. - And so that day came.
Fear clouded Issei's thoughts, for the monster standing in front of him might well want to eat such a young pervert. And he still hadn't met anyone, he hadn't even squeezed a real boob!
- Eat? Eat you? Have you seen yourself in the mirror? - The dragon was amused by the thoughts of his new partner. - I have nothing else to do. Relax, no one's going to eat you, I just wanted to meet my partner, because from now on we have a thorny path to walk side by side.
- Partner? - Issei stared at the still gleaming gauntlet, which vaguely resembled the scales of a dragon. He seemed to feel a connection between the gauntlet and this monster standing before him. What the hell...? - You and I are partners? You're a dragon... Wait, I still don't understand anything! Where I am, what happened to my family, what the hell is this glove...
- You already know everything. - Dreig said slowly, with a twinkle in his eye. - Let's talk again sometime, partner... okay?
In the next second, Issei was back in "his world", the glove on his left hand was gone, but he could feel that it was still there. Just a wish and it would answer his call... a very strange sensation.
At first the boy thought that everything that had just happened had just been dreamed up in his sleepy mind, but those were just excuses, especially since he could clearly hear snarling laughter in his mind, and the glass that had turned to dust, completely dotting the floor, told him that he had actually destroyed the vase in some unthinkable way. With one hand. Into powder.
- Issei, have you lost your mind?! - The painfully familiar voice of the local tyrant sounded from the entrance to the room. - Why did you break the vase and scatter my flowers?!
- M-mam?! - Issei swallowed and began to quickly think of excuses, but nothing good came to his fevered intellect. - Um... I'm going to be a dragon warrior, wo!
The next moment a brown slipper flew into the guy's forehead:
- I'll give you a "dragon warrior," clean up after yourself right now!
- H-okay, Mom!
Watching from his host's inner world, Ddraig grinned widely, his voice full of bass. He remembered that "man's" words and had had time to consider his rather strange request.
To allow the body to change. Not much, but to allow and leave the soul human... that being was sure that Issei would become a demon, and the Dragon sensed a rather suspicious spell design on his partner. A very familiar beacon mark from demon magic.
Stabilize his soul and body with a dragon's start... for the sake of keeping a guy human? Crazy, but it could be done.
But is it worth it? What happens if he doesn't follow "the human's request"? Then death would await his new partner, and a dragon wouldn't want to wait an unknown number of years for his next host to awaken. And it's possible that the host would never awaken him.
And the dragon would call out to him indefinitely, until the host died. Was it worth the request?
The dragon still had time to think, but now he wanted to know what the modern world and its host were all about.
After all, it was so entertaining...
-= Neo Mori's Laboratory. Same time. =-
A brown-haired boy was lying on a bloody operating table. Beside him lay a replaced heart, from which a black fluid was trickling, and a bloody liver lay a little further away.
Once again he had to use too much force, and it had its consequences. But there was no other way-plans always require sacrifice. And not necessarily his own.
Neo slowly rose from the table and spat aside the viscous saliva tinged with blood and medicine.
The weak human body brought disgust, but it seemed that the boy was slowly beginning to understand what the secret of humans was. Perhaps the secret was their weakness? That they are so weak and imperfect.
Maybe that was why they were capable of destroying the indestructible and doing the unthinkable?
Even now, Mori was doing the impossible. Influenced powerful beings that could kill a boy with a single sneeze, circumvented the inhibitions of local magic, and more.
But was it because he was human? Or was it because the "impossible" was facilitated by an ancient mind with the wisdom of another world?
Or did it all overlap together?
Is it because Neo understands that he's always walking on the edge and can fall into the abyss at any moment, that the guy does such crazy and unbelievable things?
- Hmm... it's quite possible. - Neo nodded gravely, fixing his bloodshot glasses. - Well, Issei-kun, I think I'm beginning to understand the man better. Understanding you. Now we just have to wait for your actions. I'm not going to keep track of them, everything will be in your hands... only sometimes I will help you to make the right decisions. What will you achieve? Will you be able to go beyond your desires? Will I see the result, or will you fall before my expectations?
Neo fixed his hair and inhaled deeply, glancing at the blond girl floating in the transparent capsule, created at the intersection of three such similar and, at the same time, dissimilar beings.
Angel, Demon, and Fallen. Three parts of the same whole, but with such different souls. Black, gray, and white.
It was not yet time for this figure to appear, but soon... soon it could be activated. In a few months or a year, depending on Issei-kun's actions.
Such a simple yet, at the same time, so difficult to read guy.
Neo found it interesting to read him, like an open book, except that all the pages within it were jumbled randomly. Who knew what this guy would do in the next second? Sane people with sick minds have always been hard to control, but that was the beauty of it.
What could a man with one of the most powerful holy mechanisms in this reality achieve? What could Issei-kun achieve, driven by his ridiculous desires?
Neo's lips contorted into a small, anticipatory smile, and he slowly headed out of the lab, determined to clean up next time.
Right now, the guy's aching body wanted only two things - to sit down and drink some tea. He needed to let his tense body rest... and then he could continue his games.
With a cup of tea, the boy always got a much-needed pause - games can be very tiring. Even players need pauses.
Even Gods.
After all, Eisen was already a God, if only to one person. But perhaps that's the whole point.
So is the black irony.