The following is a non-profit, fan-based AU story. [High School DxD] is owned by Ishibumi Ichiei, Miyama-Zero, Fujimi Shobo, TNK and Funimation. Please support the official release yadda-yadda, you know all this already. I'm just covering myself here.
"_" = Speaking.
( _ ) = Translation/Other Meaning
[ _ ] = Personal Title.
{ _ } = Item/Ability/Sacred Gear.
["_"] = Speaking via Alternate Means.
["_"] = Speaking through Sacred Gears.
[{"_"}] = Sacred Gear Command.
It was AM 5762 when I, Hyoudou Issei, first met Ravel Phenex. To the human world it was about late 2001 C.E., and in Japan, the 13th year of the Heisei period. I was only ten years old at the time, and I was alone.
The whole day was a blur to me, and I cannot even remember exactly what I had seen that day. I remember a poisonous fog rolling into our house and the life being choked out of me as ever cell in my lungs was bleeding and dripping with figmental fluids that weighed heavily down upon me. The song of a steel blade as it struck across the open air in that high vibrating tone it always has, and then the collapsing of carbon figures upon a wooden floor, the sound of which was rippled in gushing blood and puddles spreading before dripping in slow rhythmic patterns.
I don't remember the faces, or the voices, or even the names being called. But I know who was there; myself, the only survivor of a nocturnal attack in my home, after a crazed man with a sword broke in and killed both of my parents. The attack wasn't right away nor was it an attack that was made on a whim. It was premeditated from what few things relapse through my brain on that night:
There was a doorbell ringing and the door being opened, so at least I can remember that my parents must have known the person, or at least trusted him enough to allow him into our home without much hesitation.
An escalation of voices later, and the voices seemed to grow quieter and hollower, and that was when the toxic smoke started seeping into my bedroom as I pressed my ear against the floor hoping to know what was happening without alerting my parents I was awake past my time.
I know without a doubt that if I had been sleeping, I would have died in my sleep whilst unconsciously inhaling the mist riddled and laced with deceptively sweetened death.
Between those days, sometime I wished I had.
I remember choking and coughing as I tried to leave the house. Perhaps I was calling out to my parents as I stumbled my way through the fog and filthy air. I think I may have tumbled down the stairs after I was nearly a third of the way down, and then crawled my way to the open front door as seeing a shadow move through it. Perhaps I was seeing things, and that shadow was a lamppost that had been made to run across the open door by a passing car's headlights, I cannot be absolutely sure what I was seeing in the dark.
As soon as I broke through the open air, dripping in whatever liquids had been splashes across the halls after I crawled through them, I remember the darkness creating and clawing into my vision and then there was nothing. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. I was one with nothing.
I felt I was sinking, and then I was ascending. And then, I was numb all over as two consecutive horns continued roaring one after the other. I felt the foulness being sucked out of me and then the still calm resting and refilling the empty space that had been unoccupied.
*Beep*~*Beep*~*Beep*~
It wouldn't be any longer than a few days. Two? Three? Five? For the sake of memory I cannot recall everything perfectly as my consciousness continued to slip in and out, day in and day out; one day would be morning, and then I would awake to see the sunrise two days later.
Whatever that poisonous cloud that had skulked its way into my home was, it was barely within the doctors and nurses power to fumigate and remove every trace of it from my body. At one of those conscious days, they had told me of my parent's demise and what would have been settled for my future.
I would have cried, but I was too out of it and far too numb to feel the pain coursing through my body to shed any tears.
Not that my heart suffered naught in the cold depth beneath the tubes and inoculations layering across my porcelain frame.
Every one of those night. I dreamt of the same dream. Of the foulest of fogs, a singing sword, a hurtling of blood-curdling, the swimming stokes across red wood, and then the night coming to claim what was left.
And sometimes, in my dreams. I could hear a voice calling out, reaching out to me.
Rise
Arise
Raise
Raze
Lies
Still to this day, I cannot remember which of these words it was. It wasn't spoken in Japanese, but rather in English, but the feeling I got from hearing that word made me feel strong inside. Whether it inspired more, or if the words filled me to the brim with rage, I fought to live on.
As I re-awoke one of those short hospital days, the first thing that was ringing through my mind was that word that resounded in my dreams. What actions I took, I cannot fully recall to be exact. I know that I got out of my bed, and that by the end I was standing outside on the balcony overlooking the streets. Night had begun to roll in and I was still dragging all the equipment attached and pinned into me. Gripping tightly on the stand where whichever painkillers they had hooked me on continued dripping into the tube feeding into my left hand.
Clenching that hand alone was enough to feel the needle was in there.
As my body, my nutrient deprived body that was more bone than skin, struggled to stand, and my sight was still wavering between nearsight and blindness, I felt something burning inside of me. That burn continued radiating inside my stomach until I was throwing up from standing vertical for so long. I lost most of my vision, ranging from as little as only five metres ahead of me, but the unnaturally purple colour that had erupted out of me sizzled and corroded the concrete structure slowly like it was eating it.
Rise
It was then the voice continued to echo to me, but this time, it was almost like I could hear it being spoken right next to me. I felt another burning sensation rippling from my lungs and from my gut, and then it happened again.
The toxic sludge continued to projectile itself from my gullet, passed my teeth and onto the floor, and I spat away every trace that rolled off my tongue until the taste of it was depleted. But it didn't last long enough for me to savour a sweet moment, as the next volley hurled itself out again.
Arise
I was getting weaker by the moment and I could feel like my life was slipping through my fingers like a piece of fine thread unweaving itself in the wind. I needed to remove the sludge that had invaded my internal organs, and I needed to do so before I was too weak to stay conscious let alone alive. I had an idea. I was going to push the rest of it out with my hand. I was too young and too sick to really be thinking all that logically, but something was waking up in my left hand and it told me to push all my force from it into my abdomens.
Raise
I don't remember if I pulled the needle out, or if it had fallen out when the red light absorbed my hand for the first time, but either way, I manifested my Sacred Gear for the first time on that day. I cannot believe that I did not question why it was there. But, I felt like it was natural, and that it had always been there, like it was never apart from me to begin with.
Of course, being as inexperienced as I was, the Sacred Gear was smaller than its regular look, and it less encased my arm and more appropriately only shielded the back of my hand and my wrist. It didn't matter then. It doesn't even matter as of right now. What mattered and what only mattered at that time was surviving and I was willing to take whatever was given to me.
Raze
As the red gauntlet pressed against my chest, I crushed my eyelids together with whatever strength I had left in my body. 'I want to live' I told myself 'I want to fight'. I put every ounce of thought into strength, and with that strength, I willed it to go into that gauntlet that encased my left hand, and I ordered it to end this suffering. I was to live today or die today. I forced the gauntlet to listen to my request, and then it started flashing. A cry and a flash. That was all there was.
["{Boost!}"]
And as the light suddenly ceded, I felt a sudden contraction in my chest as all the muscles squeezed and tightened around my lungs and my breath halted also. Then, I felt the very essence of my life being constricted in a death hold as every single force in my body was pushing the last of the toxins from my body. Like sandpaper through my throat, it scraped and clawed as it all came flowing out of me. Without my breathing, I was losing consciousness faster than this tide was spewing. I dug in my own talons and forced myself to stay awake all the while I was losing every ounce of strength quickly.
Lies
At that, the last of it was removed from my system, and now my body was too weak to stay awake as I rolled my eyes into the back of my head and fell over backwards between the indoors and outdoors. I think I came down dragging everything on wheels around me into the floor as well, and I remember hearing various devices smashing and crashing as they came into collision with the cold slated floors.
I remained in that hospital for three months, eighteen days, and four hours.
I successfully removed the poison from my systems on the second day of the third month.
After the nineteenth day, I was officially dismissed from the emergency services and placed in the government's care. My parents were not rich, I can easily remember that. I had been fortunate enough to have never been in need of anything important, and I always had a party on my birthdays when I still lived with them. But they had no attorney, nor was there any other relatives of ours still living for me to stay.
I was alone in this world for the first and only time in my entire existence.
With no real assets, except for the house I had lived in since I was born, I was left with nothing and was forced to live in an orphanage. As expected, I was dumped off the first instance I was no longer required to be kept under watch and medical care. I was given only three things before I was left behind; a number for a room in some unknown location, a key belonging to what was once my home, and a second key to a storage unit where the remainder of my families memorabilia was being kept in safety until I reached a viable age of consent. I didn't know if they meant I had to be thirteen or twenty, but at the age I was, I was not allowed to touch it.
Not yet.
I'm not going to say that from what I remember of my two month stay at the orphanage that I hated it. No, I definitely didn't hate it. But I didn't enjoy my stay. I was sharing a room with three other boys I have recollection of, except they were all older than me. They didn't beat me or taunt me, or anything nasty as you would expect. No. It was more like they continued on like I had never changed and that my presence had always been there to begin with.
I felt like almost less than nothing.
I ate the same meals with as many as twenty to thirty people in those two months. I walked to and from school with them. Not my school. Kuoh had long been deserted of my presence. I don't even know where it was I was even dropped off at or what the name of my new school was. I was just there and not here where I should have been to start with. But I continued at this routine day in and day out for five days every week, and on weekends, there were chores to be done. On Sunday afternoons, there was only free time.
Like my parents and all the adults in my early life, I do not remember. If I was to try and describe what any of these other children or the carers looked like, there is no possible way I could tell you by memory. I never felt like I was there. I wasn't my home, no matter how hard they tried to make me see that. I was never going to be at home. This was not home. Not my home.
I do remember one thing in particular though. I remember been awoken on a Wednesday night by a call to nature. After having transcended through the corridors in the darkness and returned back to my own room without so much of a change in my routinely pace, I slumped back down onto my covers and just lay there for a while before rolling back over into my bed covers and resting my head in hopes I could at least fall back to sleep as quickly as I had been awakened.
I heard the older boys talking. It may have been late into the night-time, in fact it was in the morning hours if I am remembering correctly. I heard them speaking amongst themselves, but a lot of the words were too hushed and complicated for my ten year old brain to process this later at night. I even doubt that my seventeen year old self would have been all that able to hear what they were twittering to themselves. I just remember hearing one word, and that one word that would carry me from this place in good time: Akuma.
Akuma (悪魔) literally means evil spirit, but in modern Japanese, the word is used in equivalence with the Western idea of demons or devils.
That one word. The first time I heard it, it meant nothing. But now, I am what I am because of that one word spoken out in the dark of the night from the lips of three older boys in that orphanage.
Of course, during my time at the orphanage, I hadn't let the memory of the glowing green jewel on a red gauntlet escape my thoughts. In fact, it was the one thing that kept me awake in the day and alert in the night. That ruby stained metal that had appeared on my left hand and saved my life. How could I ever forget something so life changing as that?
Every day, after I had finished school, and every Sunday afternoon when I was permitted my free time, I would walk to an enclave of abandoned buildings, where even the light of the sun had forgotten to reach, and I would try and try again to bring it out. I punched the stone. I punched the air. I even one time tried unleashing it by gripping a metal pipe, but only ended up cutting my palm on the shape edges.
It never appeared.
At least, not for the first four weeks I tried.
I cannot recall every detail I did that one day, but I remember that it ended when I punched my hand through the sun. I reached out and grabbed it as close as I could reach for it, and after I had closed my hand over and pulled it back down to me, the gauntlet came back.
A red ring of hope seeped across my left arm and there as clear as day, studded in full shining scarlet and endowed with a large rounded emerald green orb, and finalised with a decoration of golden yellow. It had finally returned, and all my despair vanished like blowing dust over paper.
I promise not to bore you any further with talk of several weeks of repeating everything like a clockwork marionette. But I will say that I continued this practice for the remainder of the last month I would spend in the human world for a long time. I am glad that I did. If this simplest of actions had failed me when it mattered the most, I know that there is the greatest of certainties that my life would never had reached this crucial point if I couldn't use my Sacred Gear when I most needed it.
I will never forget that day.
That was the day I first met Ravel Phenex.
It was one of those Sunday afternoons I was previously referring to when I was doing my weekly training exercises in the abandoned buildings and ruins of what was once quite a large neighbourhood that had been left for the crows after an earthquake decimated the entire square in one night, or so I had heard.
It was never any real training, or anything that would work up a sweat that was worth the energy I was expending. I was not building up muscles or keeping my form in perfect shape. My training was to better unlock and hopefully use my Sacred Gear.
I actually had no idea what it was that would keep appearing over my hand. It always had that familiar touch to it, and holding it and feeling it all over made it feel like a natural part of my arm by sensory recognition alone. I had taken to referring to it as my "Buushuta", since that was the word that always emerged when it appeared.
Anyways.
As the sun swiftly fell beneath the horizon, and I had only just taken notice that the moon was visible in the sky. I rushed through the rubble as soon as my senses realised I had missed out on dinner. It wasn't that dinner was any good or anything special to me, but any young man who has been playing under the sun all afternoon till dusk gets hungry. The worst part was that since the night had awoken, I had already missed out on dinner, and the orphanage had a no "snacking between, before or after meals" policy, which meant I would be sleeping empty tonight if I had ever gotten back to my bed that night.
Out of the desert that was the uninhabited lands and back towards civilisation, I free-ran over every familiar obstacle I had taken to overcome between my journeys to and from that place, hoping to at least return in time before I got scolded for staying out beyond the designated time I was allotted this one day a week.
The day only worsened when the rain came falling down. It was like the water formed a wall that I had just ran into, because the moment it came down, I was soaked. I remember that feeling of heaviness that came with the storm. My summer clothes were drenched, and any bare skin went bright pick in the cold downpour.
In the darkness and bitter cold, I was forced to take shelter under one of the bridges, where the road drove over the footpath. It was colder in the tunnel, I remember it well. As the water continued hammering on both sides of the bridge, and the light continued to fade. It was an old path and the lights only turned on at designated times rather than by light source. I could hear nothing but the rain and the wind that rustled through to open path, which made the cold clinging to my skin freeze.
There was nothing in this night. Naught but rain. Rain, and tears.
It was only when the light came on and my hearing adjusted to the new echoes in the tunnel. I could still hear the rain, but another sound was also present in the tunnel with me. It first started as the wind, wailing and howling, but it was soft like snow and gentle as if the voice it originated from had lost its volume in the cold.
There in the new illumination, was a small girl with blonde hair styled into two ringlets, in a dress that covered her whole body save her head, hands and feet which remained safe in small leather shoes that remained hidden in the shroud created by the rest of her clothing.
A very occidental styled dress draped in pink and was also decorated and ornate with feathers of reds and yellows and oranges and golds. To a boy as dirt poor as I, she looked like a princess from a fairy-tale story. I think I remember comparing her appearance to an antique doll that was owned by a girl in my classroom that had brought it in for show-and-tell only once with special permission from her grandmother. She was definitely the most beautiful being I had ever seen in my life
When she turned her head and saw me, I looked at her and all I was feeling was concern; her red glazed eyes and tear stained cheeks. I saw small traces of dirt having dusted themselves across the front of her dress and over her knee socks beneath. She wasn't wet, thank the Maou, but it was still a cold night, and very dark indeed.
Cupping her hands together, she looked up at me with wide pleading eyes.
"Woxy ty ygpizosit. Hasyzfy ty eijoly? Yra hylkekes."
While the Devils are well known for being able to communicate in any language they wish, the same with every other supernatural race, they have their own language that they speak amongst themselves. While the Angels use Hebrew, and the Olympians use Greek, and the etc, etc. The Devils of the Underworld are the only known supernatural species to use a language unique to themselves that hasn't evolved alongside modern humanity since its very name is Deftodiz, which translates as means: [Language of the Forbidden], or more bluntly: [Foul Tongue].
For a devil as young as my Lady Ravel at this point at the age of nine, she was only able to speak Deftodiz fluently, and every other language still had their grammatical problems, which even at that was more than commendable, it was not something even a language prodigy could do at the same age.
At this point in her life, she was already learning to speak Latin and Greek (which by all her accounts was nearly as fluent as she could speak Deftodiz), and then to top it off, as all young High-class Devils, there was the top ten human languages in the world, with English at number three, and Japanese only coming in at number nine.
While I would later learn the Deftodiz language before I could even use the translation system equipped into my future evil pieces, for the sake of conveying that I had no knowledge of what she was saying, I will write both what I was hearing, and what I now know she was really saying using brackets.
So in this instance, the first words I heard from her were:
("Excuse me. Can you help me? I'm lost.")
Of course at the time, I had no idea what she was saying to me. And what was even worse was that I thought she was in serious danger, but had no way of communicating with her. Her language was foreign and she herself was not Japanese, which gave me no sense of hope that I may be able to do anything for her.
". . . Hello? Do you know what I'm saying?"
As I started speaking with her, her quivering started slowing and her breathing began to relax a little. She started wiping away her remaining tears, before she replied to me.
"You speeking Jabaneez?"
For the sake of conveying how unfortunately crude her grammar skills and some pronunciations were at the time, I have decided it would be best to present it in the form of spelling and structuring errors instead. While it was never quite as bad as I am now showing it to be, I think that you understand the general difficulties we had in talking to each other and how much I had to work to understand what she was trying to convey to me, while she struggled to communicate with me as well.
"I'm Issei. Hyoudou Issei"
She stared for a moment, then she started pondering to herself. I first thought she couldn't understand what I was saying, which I understood since even in Japan, Issei is very rarely used, so she may have been trying to work out what 'Issei' meant. I was also mentally cursing to myself, when I realised that using my usual way of speaking was going to be too complicated for someone like her who was trying to understand what I was saying word for word.
If I were to give an example, it would be like "I'm" and "I am" are the same, but are different because of hyphenating. Japanese has grammar like "Watashi" and "Watashi wa yo" which have the exact same meanings, but the addition of words or lack of them convey different ways of speaking and can be confusing for communication.
When she finally replied, it was one of the cutest responses I will ever memorise in my life.
"Hyoudou, oa Issei?"
At first I was the one confused. But after thinking it through and remembering she was foreign, I realised she was confused since I had introduced myself by my first name initially, but then I presented my family name before my given name when I proclaimed it again, where people from the West general wrote names with their given names preceding their family names. It took a while before that revelation occurred to me though, and was dragging out this long pause for too long.
"Issei. Just use 'Issei'."
"Is-sei. I . . . Issei. Issei."
I smiled as she repeated my name over again. I couldn't see how old she was, but I could make the definitive guess she was younger than me based on height alone. Also, her way of speaking was trying to be formal, but it retained the cuteness you hear from kohais (underclassmen) when they speak amongst themselves.
"Yes. You got it. Now, what's your name?"
"My naym . . . Ravel Phenex. Please, chust Ravel."
Having finally learnt her name, I thought it was unusual. I was definitely not one to be judging, but I had expected a name that would have been easier to say, like "Jane" or "Natasha". Hear "Ravel", I attempted to say it, but it took me a while to work out the individual katakana I would need to write it out.
"Rei . . . bue . . . ru . . ., Reiberu. Ravel, hmm? Ok then, Ravel-chan."
The moment I added the honorific to her name, she got angry with me. It wasn't so much as she was pulling a tantrum, but the atmosphere was getting very uneasy. It felt as if existence itself was starting to get warped as her dissatisfaction unleashed itself to the environment as well.
"Ravel. Chust Ravel!"
"B-but, um, y-y-you see Ravel-sa-."
For someone who had been brought up to use honorifics when speaking to people, to suddenly drop them was like saying that we were in an intimate relationship. My attempts to make her understand what she was asking me to do was quickly shot down just as quickly as I had brought them up.
"No jan, no zan, just Ravel."
*FLASH*CRASH*
"Eeeeep!"
At the sound of the thunder, which had followed a little too uncomfortably close with the lightning, Ravel immediately jumped into my arms. I could feel her little body quiver in my chest as her face pressed against my wet shirt and started sticking against my chest. Initially I felt cold again, but having her this close, I started feeling the heat that was rolling off of her. It was homely and welcoming, like an open fire in the living room on a winter night that radiated all through the house.
*achoo*
Having forgotten how drenched I was from trying to evade the rain, the chills now became conscious and as a result I feared I would catch a cold and fall ill. The worst case scenario would be to catch hypothermia, but would have been too over dramatic whilst I was holding onto the next best thing after a hot water-bottle. Still, it didn't solve the problem with my wet clothes.
"You a wet?"
"Yeah, Ravel-c, Ravel. I was running in the rain before I found you here."
I nearly bit my tongue trying to force myself to skip the honourfics, but I was even a bit more flustered having to explain that I had gotten myself completely soaked while she had been completely dry up until she latched herself onto me. I remember feeling very hot at the moment, and thinking back towards that night, I am considering casting doubt that the heat was produced by Lady Ravel alone.
Instead of being concerned with herself getting soaked in the water that continuously, she placed both her hands forward towards me whilst on her knees and closed her eyes.
I had no idea what she was up to, but then I saw a bright amber light begin to emerge below our feet as a large and decorative circle with a faux image of a bird revolving in the centre. I felt like all the light was begin drawn into it, until all of it suddenly expanded all at once and the ground began to secrete the last thing I had expected to be experiencing this dark and stormy night; air.
Hot air is what appeared. It was strong I can remember, I felt like my whole body had been placed under a blow-dryer after having washed my hands. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't feel the extreme heat, but my attention was not so much focused on the sudden rush of blazing wind that had erupted beneath my feet. No, my focus was on the little girl standing in front of me who managed to summon a tropical gust without so much as breaking a sweat or destroying the concrete I was sitting on in order to produce it.
"Mahou?"
As the bright sun-like circle died down and vanished without leaving so much of a trace, Ravel lowered her arms and then exhaled like she had been holding a lot of her energy back with that one spell.
"? Mahou?"
Quizzing me over my choice of words, I switched up my usual speaking with a few English words I was aware of hoping she might recognise a few of them.
"Um, Majikku. You used Magic."
"Uh-huh. I can yuse magic."
Nodding to my explanation, I was quite shocked that it really was what I had perceived. To think that real magic existed was extraordinary. Not that it was the first time I bore witness, since at the time I was under the assumption that my "Buushuta" could be a magic item. Which, now in hindsight, I can confirm it to be very much so. Getting a little excited now that I was with another magic user, I was getting a little too overexcited over what I thought was a huge coincidence
"Are you a magician?"
"N-Nou. I'm devil."
"Devil? Debiru? . . . ? Akuma?- Akuma!"
At the sound of that word, my body went whiter than snow. I froze and then I jumped back. I felt every hair on my body stand on their ends as the stories of the Akuma came rolling and reeling through my senses.
I started crawling backwards away from her as sweat started pouring nervously down my face. The word 'Akuma' repeating itself as I shut my eyes as tight as I could hold them and tried to imagine I was somewhere else.
"Issei? Watt is wrong?"
I opened my eyes. The sound of her sweet honey voice was enough to make me realise my own idiocy. Instead of fear that over took me, just looking back at her small and harmless form was enough to make me realise how stupidly I had reacted. She wasn't evil. She was just a little girl regardless of what species she was, and as her senpai (senior), I should have been looking out for her, not fearing her for what she was not clearly capable of doing towards me.
"Nothing, Ravel. I was just . . . surprised was all. I've never seen a devil before."
"Never?"
"Never."
I regained my composure quickly and remembered that she had gotten rid of all the rain from my clothing, so I thanked her properly for her unequivalable kindness she had shown me. It would have been exceptionally rude for me to leave the situation as it was, especially when the grade of magic she used would have exhausted an average devil at her age of the majoirty of their magic reserves. I may not have been that big to constitute for size, but the grade of magic that would remove the clinging water from my clothes without ripping the fabric, or even burning it from exposure was worth a very decently difficult grade indeed.
Mayhaps her families latent abilities revolving around flame and regeneration may have had a large part in her fluency in this spell.
"Oh, um, Thank you, for drying me."
"No problem."
As she sat by my side, with her arms tucked around her legs as they pushed against the front of her dress like a blanket coveted across a pair of chair legs, I became curious about what kind of devil she was. Based on what I had learned from popular media, I wanted to know if she possessed any inhuman features on her body. The rudeness of my ignorance to common courtesy is quite an embarrassment for the me of today with seven years worth of foresight to regret upon the way i handled my actions in the past.
". . . Do you have a tail?"
She shook he head. "Nou."
"Horns?"
"Na-uh."
"How about wings?"
Her head peaked up, but then her body sort of shrank as well as if to hide it.
"Yes."
"You have wings!" I cried in shock.
"I sed yes!"
"S-s-s-orry."
After that loud outburst, we remained quiet for a while. I am clueless what she was thinking at the time, but with the rain continuing to tumble down, I attempted to regain her conversational trust by reintroducing the topic again.
"Can . . . um. Can I see them, Ravel?"
"Wot?"
"Your wings. Am I allowed?"
"Y-yes. Yoo can see them."
I didn't notice at the time, but Ravel started acting very shyly about her un-human like appendages when I started bringing them up, and now that I had asked to see them, I should have paid attention to how embarrassed she was acting, as if I had asked to see her bare skin. I feel like slapping myself for being so dense in those days, but am constantly haunted with the notion that I will always remember these never changing scenes, nor could I interfere with what had already proceeded back then.
She turned around, with her back now facing me. For a brief moment, I was worried that I was asking her to undress in front of me which would have made me seem like a lecherous child to be demanding this sort of action from the daughter of an obvious apparently noble bred family. But to my relief, there was no such necessary removal required for her to display her wings in all their majesty.
Unlike the usual bat like and skeletal thin wings that is common amongst devils of all kinds regardless of class, pure-blood or reincarnated, the House of Phenex was a rare exception in which their wings were definitely bird like and were a full blaze of controlled flames that fluttered in the wind like soft fluffy features that one would see on baby chicks.
I was completely enamoured by the image of flames licking from the back of her shoulders and they spread out and flapped with no unnatural movements. Even the heat was real, as I felt it on my face, but dared not to touch. The fire that burnt brightly was desirable, and made me realise just how drawn to the light a moth can be since it lives its entire life in the darkness of the night skies.
"Pretty."
"P-Pretty?"
The first words that escaped my mouth after being blessed with such a sight. I couldn't help but express just how gorgeous those wings were and how it only made her appear more beautiful with the light of those fires complementing her features. Even today, I think that the unique properties of her wings make them even more beautiful that even the polychrome of a rainbow, or even the scattering of blossoms in the spring wind are but empty expressions used by people who have never seen true elegant splendour.
If early Japanese artists had even caught a short glimpse of something so gracefully alluring, they would have added them to their collection of setsugetsuka paintings with the addition of summer in the form of wings such as hers, to form . . . "Setsugetsukayoku" (雪月花翼).
"Yeah, it's like you're a tenshi. A flame-winged tenshi."
"Tenji?"
"Tenshi. Um, it's like an . . . uh. Ein-je-ru. Angel. Yes, like an angel."
"NoOo!"
At the sudden explanation that Tenshi (天使) was the Japanese word for angel, she completely freaked out. I was clueless to the ideas of the Abrahamic faiths and had no idea of how significant the feud between the angels and devils were until I had Ravel explain how large her utter disgust and biologically implanted hatred towards the angels was. Her eyes went so large and then shrank till they were gone before she voiced her disgust at my comparison. I could even sense the rise in her body temperature that what water vapor was caught in the air started steaming just blowing in her direction or above.
Either way I tried to calm her down, I was immediately shot down until I admitted defeat that the word 'angel' was a major taboo amongst her kind. I am so very sorry for my disillusions, my lady.
"What? What?"
"Angels are bad!"
"Bad? Bu-."
"Angels are bad! Hunt us devils, bodh them and the Foarlen. Always hunting uz. Devils not bad! Angels are bad!
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're right. Angels are bad. I'm sorry."
It took longer than previous attempt to calm her down. Her anger was real and not even the thunder outside was fazing her. She was so strong-willed even in those days, and had no problems expressing her opinions when they mattered of great importance to her.
The very notion that I had compared her to an angel, which while by human standards was a good thing, meaning that I thought she was inhumanly pure and . . . as what you could expect when associating someone with an angel. But to a devil, it was very much like an insult to her very being and the equivalence to being told she was mindless and obedient with no sense of morals nor with personality.
Or as she so poetically described it, when I asked her years later. I don't think it can be something easily forgiven. I would always be apologising for that mistake, even when she later learned that I had attempted to compliment her with something that was considered of high standards in human customs.
I had no idea how to get her to talk again, and after the whole 'angel' comparisons, I was worried I may have lost her trust completely and that we would both sit here in absolute silence for the rest of the night, with that rain continuing to penetrate the land, whilst we sat here under the gaze of the lamppost that kept us in the light in this darkest of nights.
It was actually by my nervous tapping against my left arm that the idea had suddenly sprung to my mind.
"I can do magic too."
She turned her head in disbelief. "Really?"
I nervously rubbed the back of my head and scratched my teeth, but not at the same time. I don't actually remember which I was doing first and what I was doing the later, but both of them register as familiar with this particular scene.
"Well, sort of. I don't know if it's magic, but I can make a gauntlet appear over my left hand whenever I want."
"You can? Are yoo a magician?"
"No. I've never thought of myself as a magician, and this is the only thing I can do."
I stood up and made my way to the centre of the light that spread out in an uneven circle on the concrete floor, imagining that I was a Ranger from a certain Sentai show, or a Masked Rider about to transform and defeat all the evils that threatened the world.
I raised my left arm in front of me.
"Watch this; Go Buushuta!"
["{Boost!}"]
After several strong punches and movements that did battle against the open air, my arm was reabsorbed in blood thirsty red light, and it appeared.
I had expected Ravel to be amazed by my unique ability, but she was caught in a state of absolute surprise that she wasn't even speaking. Her expression was caught between joy and disbelief. She continued to stare at it until her mouth started flapping as her words refused to come to life in her throat. And then she what had caught her in such a state of suspension.
"Offezople! Sacred Gear!"
"What? Sei-ku-re . . . wait, what?"
"Sacred Gear! Artefacts of the Kamisama! (God), all really rare. You are luckee. Yoo are unique."
"Artefact of God?"
"Yes. Sacred Gears are rare. Onlee so few of them. All are veree powerful. But onlee thirteen can kill Gods. The [Longinus]."
"Ron-jai-nu-su?"
"God killing Sacred Gears. So strong, they can kill Gods and Satans alike."
The ability to kill God. This thing? No, I was getting a head of myself at the time. I had no clue what my Scared Gear even was, let alone had the right to suddenly declare that mine happened to be one of the thirteen Longinus, that even the gods feared. Imagine my surprise when I was told that this little plate of metal on my lower left arm that only protected the back of my hand and wrist would later be recognised as in infamous weapon that had the potential to eliminate the most powerful beings in the world.
"Ravel Hiyddo."
("Lady Ravel.")
A voice in the dark shouted out. I heard the words, but understood them not. But for Ravel, it was not just the words she understood, but also as to whom these words had belonged to.
"Zemele zyfealzalal!"
("Big sister Zemele!")
As she cried out into the dark, in a mixture of surprise and personal relief. She knew the stranger in the dark, and the stranger was looking for her.
Out from the shadows emerged a woman who looked to be in her earliest of twenties, but as I would later find out was among the many of devil society who were older than their appearances seemed to project. I guess you could say this was literal representation of looking how you feel on the inside.
This women in particular wasn't just some common servant from her family's household, nor was she a devil of low social stature. This woman's name was Zemele of the House of Murmur. She still is the Bishop of Ravel's second eldest brother, Rayzem, and also as I later found out, was also his wife which came as a real shock to me when I later found out that fact.
As she was not Ravel's sister by birth, It was no shock that she and Ravel looked very different in terms of looks; whereas Ravel and all her family where golden haired and blue eyed, Zemele had deep purple hair and pinkish red eyes. She wasn't also dressed like a noblewoman, but neither did she look like a maid or any form of servant from what I could gather, having been draped in more eloquent clothes that seemed more appropriate for a priest or a sorceress, while simultaneously, my vision occasionally blurred a bit and I could have sworn she sometimes looked like she was wearing more casual clothes, but it appeared that the glamour was interfering with my sight too much for the ten year old me at the time to think I was seeing the truth.
When she caught sight of Ravel, she instantly placed both her hands over her heart and sighed in pleasant relief with both eyes shut as she did this.
"Viek lydyjeit, yra sofkyt efjyfes sy. Fyfe typit ok Botedeolyz Feneks. Zaddepeso tosyl hoslez sie."
("What a relief, I have finally found you. Please come back with me to the Phenex Household. Your mother and father are worried about you.")
Recognising that unknown language again as being the same that Ravel had first uttered, and from Ravel's more positive attitude, I felt a wave of my own relief washing over me, as this unknown person approaching us was
While her eyes appeared to have very deep concern towards Lady Ravel, at the same time she only looked at me, and I saw nearly every emotion switch off like they had never been there. This sudden alteration between person to robot-like freaked me out a little, and being as young as I was, I hid that fact very terribly from both of the devils in front of me.
Despite my unseemly reaction to her presence, she made a small courteous bow in my direction and spoke her compliments towards me.
"Rloseoz sexe piloy Ravel Hiyddo."
"Um?"
"She sed 'thank yoo for looking after mee'." Ravel interjected, before she too followed in her sister-in-laws example and gave thanks in the exact same manner. "Thank you az well. I wood have bin scared this hole time, if yoo were not there."
I got really embarrassed by this sudden barrage of gratitude that was aimed in my direction. I got that hot feeling again, but it wasn't just in my face, but it seemed to have started spreading into my chest as well. I had no idea what it meant to have these kind of feelings at that time, but it felt very nice, whilst simultaneously sharing a feeling of shyness that came over me in shifting waves which made my body feel all mixed and mashed in the confusion.
I finally got my words across, but I admit that there had been so much stuttering at the time, that I have opted to remove it to make the passage readable.
"No problem, Ravel. Thank you as well."
*GURGLE*
Now instead of happiness and embarrassment, I was just plain and simply embarrassed after the sound of my stomach rumbling from the complete devoid of food. Covering my belling with both hands, bright red in my displeasure, I made my folly of an attempt to create an apology for this predicament.
"My apologies. I haven't eaten all day, . . . and the orphanage is probably already closed."
Orphanage. It was a word not uncommon, but it was the only one that suddenly mattered to Ravel. Once she had managed to wrack her limited knowledge of my native tongue into her mind and translate it so she could understand what I had just named, her expression dropped into a combination of concern and confusion.
"Orphanage? Not home?"
The sudden mention of home made me feel sad, and the depression was like a plague as the sudden downcast in my fascial and bodily expressions rubbed instantly off onto Ravel without my knowledge. That too shall be a memory I will hang onto, in order to remind myself what damage a fallen expression can cause to the people surrounding who happen to witness it.
"Yeah, I have no home."
My reply was short and it was sad. I remember the heartache I felt having to say those words out loud, and then all at once it was like I was reliving all those cruel and painful events all at once; from black smoke and songs of swords to coughing pure venom and falling into a routinely half-dead life. I should really have watched what I was saying. I feel almost stubborn now to have to remember how selfishly I had spoken, until I recall that every word I had spoken that day was only a small piece of what lead to my salvation.
There had been a long silence between those words and what had happened, but Ravel's head had been working at a more efficient rate that I could have every hoped to achieve for many years to come. I wasn't watching what she was doing, nor would I have been able to guess what she was planning on achieving after the conclusion of my previous sentence, but I will forever be grateful that she spoke up when she did.
"Yghypsoly o tefisez. Torfit ahiz yzs odeviek hletit."
("Wait for a minute. There is something important I need to do first.")
Having spoken up to Zemele, before looking back at me, I had no clue as to what I was going to be offered but the little devil princess standing before me. When she stepped right up close to me, within so close a distance that she could have tipped her head forward and touch my chest. Looking upwards into me, she was almost hesitant to speak what she had on her mind, but then she smacked her cheeks with her hands and just came out and said it without holding anything back from her mind.
"Wood you like too come home with me, Issei?"
"Home? You mean like for dinner?"
She shook her head almost violently, like the sudden confidence in her words might lose their meaning if she didn't burn the same amount of energy she was using with her actions as she did to express her words.
"No. I mean like forefer."
"Forever? Forever-forever?"
"Vorever-Forefer-Foreva."
It was at this point that the person who had come to collect her thought it was best to talk to her about this proposition she was inviting me to partake in. Instead of saying a word, she grabbed Ravel's hand and almost forcefully pulled her away far enough from me where she could talk to Ravel with some sense of privacy, but still kept me within sights reach in case she had quarrels regarding leaving me alone.
Or at least that's how Ravel described it when I asked why she had to be taken from being so close to me when I wasn't able to understand what either of them were saying when they talked in privacy.
"Hdopyly paresoly viek zohez lydeviez etorefyt siot watefyt o sy viadexys hloypafyt efjyfylez. Ze o sy kydepeoz, hlasefiz ok huswafyz oysosyt hloyzsadoxal okjyfsit siit."
("Please think about what image you are setting for the rest of your family by bringing in any random human you happen to find. If it's a pet that you wanted, then wait till you're old enough for a familiar.")
"Fada kydepeez huswafepiz jyd. Fada otepa; vieo faf zit zepis vie tewe zittit ryfiz keoxade. Of ty kylekys Japonika hlahley hazzit kepyly. Ef hlealkefyz yzzy iada.
("I don't want a pet, or a familiar. I want a friend; one that doesn't like me because I'm a high-class devil. Or makes fun of me because I can't speak Japanese properly. I want him to be in my peerage.")
"Ravel Hiyddo, faf hasyzs yzzy ef viadexys hlealkefyz zepis okk. Sythylofkit zexe viaviy sode wafaly, ahalsys viak boxidazo Ifeiz Offezople."
("Lady Ravel, you cannot just add any random being into your peerage. For him to even qualify for such an honour, he would need to require one of the legendary Sacred Gears.")
"Zyk faf jeke tytysehzit! Ys o lixlit poyzsiz ys hasyzs japoly ef zefezslo zio, zepis torepoy!"
("But he does, I have seen it for myself! He has a red gauntlet that he can summon like magic on his left hand!")
I had not been able to follow the conversation on bit due to my lack of knowledge of Deftodiz, which left me largely in the dark during their furious exchange. I saw how each conversation was a duel of expression, starting from Zemele acting like an aloof servant, followed by Ravel's indisputable anger that struck with fury after every syllable in her words, which Zemele countered with familial concern when she got on one knee and had both her hands on her shoulders, and lastly when Ravel shot back with fierce determination like she had suddenly struck gold and got almost excited as if her hopes had suddenly been raised from the shadows of a deep hole she was struggling to escape from.
One of those words Ravel said appeared to roll off Zemele's lips, but I couldn't hear it very well as she whispered back. After that, her neutral gaze fell on towards me as her left hand dropped from Ravel's shoulder and signaled towards where I was standing idly by in neglection.
"Excuse me, young man. But would you be so kind to allow me to see this gauntlet on your left arm?"
Her perfect Japanese caught me off guard at that moment. I was also disillusioned by the heated conversation that I was almost lost in my own thoughts as my eyes wandered daydreamingly between the two of them. To be suddenly acknowledged like that, and what more the fact she was speaking so politely towards me was a really great shock to my ten year old self.
I of course complied with her request with full cooperation.
"Um, yes. Of course . . ."
I raised up my left arm like I had done for Ravel not long before she had arrived. Without making my now embarrassing summoning declaration, I brought it out for her to observe.
["{Boost!}"]
Taking hold of my gauntlet, she placed a hand over the jewel with her right hand, while holding from underneath with her left hand. I remember the uneasy feeling I got from my left hand, as it began to shake on its own. It was visible to the eye, but as it was attached to me, the vibrations that originated from the gauntlet were making my arm rattle inside of it, all the while Lady Zemele was analysing and scanning the properties of my Sacred Gear, with both her eyes closed and her finger tips glowing as she projected her mind's vision through the armament granted to be by God.
I don't know exactly what happened, and neither did Ddraig since he had yet to awaken then, but her eyes shot open almost immediately and her breathing came out shaky like she had come face to face with a monster. As I stared into her cherry coloured eyes innocently concerned with her, she suddenly shot back to her senses and looked back into mine.
"May I ask your name, young man?"
"It's Hyoudou Issei, . . . "
I hesitated again, I almost wanted to address her with some form of formal honorific, but I couldn't decide which would have been more appropriate; 'kaasama' (which she may have taken offence to because she really didn't look like she was that old to be considered middle-aged) or 'oneesama' (which I was concerned she would confuse between me stating her as a younger woman or as my older sister without intentions due to my own lack of previous knowledge in how well versed she was in Japanese).
I was lucky though, and I got away with never having to mention it again. Her more solemn and detached expression towards me melted away, and I felt more relaxed as she took a little bow and followed up quickly to ease me further when made a small considerate smile towards me.
"Thank you, Hyoudou-san. I am Zemele Phenex, the wife of Lady Ravel's niisama (older brother), Lord Rayzem."
I exhaled a little too loudly in relief I'm ashamed to admit, but that didn't at all matter at this moment when Zemele then turned and spoke with Ravel.
"Ys efjyfso yzs Katefiz ys Katefo Feneks zsoset lybylly siit. Vioyza ygzhypsofkoy patholotil hoida ofsy esyl yzs."
("I shall report your findings to Lord and Lady Phenex immediately. Please wait for a moment before we prepare to make the trip home.")
Having had no clue what she had told her before leaving our presence, I was taken by total surprise when I saw Ravel's face light up, cheeks fully red with happiness, which she followed up with by leaping back into me and grabbing hold of both my hand and shaking them in any direction she could. The blissful smile on that face is another memory I continue to treasure to this day. I remember every detail of her happiness, and photographed every unorthodox action that was not for a proper lady to do in such situation but she nonetheless gleefully performed regardless with such childish lack of care in the world, because it would become a day I would always be glad to look back upon.
"Year, wee did it, Issei!"
"Ravel?"
Looking up briefly at me with large open eyes, she still had her face frozen with the largest smile I had ever seen on anyone to date.
"What Big Sister Zemele says, it means that yoo can come home with uz. Isn't that greyt! Weel be togeva forafer!"
And that was that; after suffering through life as a human since the death of my parents, I was suddenly going to be whisked off to a castle in a faraway place. Even when I had hit my lowest countless times in this short life of mine at this point, seeing that innocent and instantly carefree smile on her rounded symmetric face washed all those plugged up memories into nothing more than paintings on a canvas yet to be filled.
Had it not been for Ravel Phenex, I may never have found my place in this world. I heard a call reaching out to me, and it started on this day. The day I met a nine year old devil princess with ringlets in her hair.
What is there in death
that creates such temptation
to sow such sorrow?
Misery and null.
Hope is but an abandoned;
lost, scared and alone.
Nigh. Because of you
I live. No one but you, whom
I owe it all to.
Omake II: Languages
Alek: Welcome back again.
Issei: (ticked off) Are you just going to keep us here or what?
Alek: I thought it would be better since I wouldn't ruin another opportunity for you again.
Issei: (not satisfied) By keeping me trapped here you mean.
Alek: Yes, pretty much.
Issei: (sighing) I guess it can't be helped. Oh, and might I add some criticism of my own?
Alek: (looking at the viewers) Sure thing. I am open to criticism and any sort of mistakes I make pointed out so i can correct them and what not. Hit me, Issei.
Issei: (angry) You Killed MY Parents!
Alek: Yes.
Issei: (stunned) What? No reaction? What about you wanting to do something original. Killing off my parents as characters is not f**king origin- Did you just 'bleep' me?
Alek: Accident. (skipping over that incident) Well then, tell me one important role your parents took between volumes 1-20?
Issei: . . . Um. Uh. . . Y-, no. Um. Parent's Day! (shrinks from no reactions from Alek), um . . . Renova- (stops when he shrinks again), . . . oh, what-, no. No.
Alek: I rest my case. And also, How else were you going to be Ravel's Pawn if we were still following the canon timeline? You didn't even meet Ravel until you were already in high school, so how else was I suppose to instrument a meeting between you two in which you were able
Issei: (whited out after realising he has no clue) . . .
Ravel: How about you get killed by a Fallen Angel and I revive you.
Alek: (blank) No one ever told you did they?
Ravel: (confused) What do you-, wait! That's how you were revived in the canon?
Issei: (nodding) Yep. It actually plays a big role in my development in volume 10, so it wasn't for nothing. Actually, how does killing my parent's off further my development?
Alek: Wait and see. Right, back to what we came here to do.
Ravel: So what do you want to talk about with us this time?
Alek: Well, first I want to get through the questions in the reviews first. (To the readers) Oh, and by the way; thank you to all of you who decided to review, favourite and/or follow this story. I really appreciate the enthusiasm. Ok then, first question. Ravel, if you would do the honours.
Ravel: (shrugs) Might as well, there is little else happening right now. (Picks up the review from User:Dragon_Rider_66, then clears her throat whilst skipping to the questions). ". . . does that mean Ravel has other pieces or no? And why do I get a strange feeling that Issei's armor's going to get some orange into its color-scheme in the future?" (thinks the question over) Hmm, those are some valuable questions to consider. Well, Author-san?
Alek: Right, to the first question; Chapter V is when you want to look out for since I don't want to spoil anything yet. But, yes I do have plans for Ravel to have an entire peerage.
Ravel: (shocked) R-really?
Alek: Yes. See, when I was planning this story-
Issei: (interupting) You planned this?
Alek: (slightly ticked) . . . Yes. I planned this story out and as I progressed, I started adding characters and then I thought it would be good to add them to the peerage, and then it sort of goes like that. While I cannot say too much about it, I will say that many characters will be developed before I add them, mostly OC's, but I can say that one or two will appear within the timeline between when this chapter takes place and when the prologue starts from, so they will appear in this arc. But I won't say who. It's a surprise.
Ravel: (curious) Out of curiosity, how far have you planned out.
Alek: (nonchalant) Oh, I've already caught up to the main novel in terms of timescale and events. Around- No, too much of a spoiler already, I won't say more.
Issei: (accepting) Ok, and what about my armour. '66' mentioned that also, something about the colour change. Does that have something to do with the title?
Alek: Well, you recall your most powerful power-up via evil pieces, correct Issei?
Issei: (smug) How can I not, my {Cardinal Crimson Promotion} is among one of my crowning achievements. The first [Sekiryuutei] in history to create a strength that outclassed the {Juggernaut Drive}, even Ddraig was impressed with the growth I displayed. Heck, I managed to defeat Sairaorg with that very armour on the first day I ever used it. (straight talking) Yes, why?
Alek: Well, why is it Crimson and not Red?
Issei: (eyeing him) Where are you going with this? Crimson is Rias' colour, so of course I would choose that colour.
Alek: And that is your answer.
Issei: (confused) Wait! That doesn't answer anything. You didn't say 'yes' or 'no' if it existed.
Alek: (blank expression) . . . 'Yes' (fake cough) in Arc III.
Issei: Arc what?
Alek: Moving on! Next question is from User:Ashzaroth, who asks "do you plan on continuing this story, or is this merely a one shot like all of your others?". (realises someone actually looked over his userpage and feels embarassed) . . . Um. Y~Yes.
Ravel: (rolls her eyes) He's not kidding when he talks about your reputation with stories.
Alek: Sorry, I just got bored with them, and then I ran out of any motivation to continue writing. (laughs internally) I have a whole folder in my memory stick full of unfinished chapter twos. It's pretty sad.
Issei: (reading the question over) Um, do either of you know what a "Coudersport".
Ravel: (analysing) It might be a typo, like he could have been writing 'could', like " . . . Image at the end could be done without . . . ", but I have no idea how the rest of the word would have worked with the sentence.
Alek: I haven't a clue. (to Ash) If you are reading this, please tell what you meant by 'Coudersport'.
Issei: (reads something interesting in the review) W-w-w-wait! He also asks something about us not doing this omake segment anymore since it ruined the mood in his opinion. (eyes shine) That means we can get out of this place, and go back to my little pieces of heaven on earth. So, Author-san, are we making this official?
Alek: (pauses) . . . No. Last question by User:The_Fool. Issei, you take this.
Issei: (disappointed) . . . Ok then. (clears throat) ". . . Have you thought about creating Ravel's own peerage and basically replace the role of the ORC with her peerage?". Haven't you already cleared this?
Alek: First part yes, but the second part has gone unanswered: Replacing the ORC members as main characters is something that would naturally progress as Ravel gets more members of course, plus since Issei isn't directly affiliated with Rias except that she is the owner of Kuoh for the Devil Faction, so none of her peerage would be living with him for instance.
Issei: (disappointed) While I understand the logic, I can't believe that I lose out on my harem because of a simply technicality as not being together anymore.
Alek: Well, it's not like your perverted in this fanfiction. Thank God, I have no idea how I would satisfy readers when I never had any practice. But, that doesn't mean you don't have other perks. (whispering) Plus, I never said there wouldn't be a harem.
Issei: (thought he heard something) Huh?
Alek: (realised he may have heard) I, uh,I-I-I wanted to have Ravel better explain Deftodiz a bit better to the readers, s-since many of them are probably trying to read it, and even fewer actually trying to use it a real language. It takes a devil to explain the devil's language.
Ravel (proudly accepting) Hmm, well that's to be expected. Why ask a novice when you can ask the master.
Issei: Are you implying you're a master of the language.
Ravel: It is my mother tongue after all.
Issei: But Ishibumi never wrote about us having a separate language, and I sure as hell never needed to use it.
Ravel: (tutting) Honestly Ise-senpai, does Rias-sama never teach you anything about how magic works at all? Even now when you are a High-class devil, you still have so much you are clueless about. Luckily I am here to help Ise-senpai whenever he needs it.
Issei: (anime tearing) I am so lucky to have Ravel-chan as my manager.
Alek: (fake coughing) Ravel.
Ravel: (comes to the realisation) Oh! Right! Hai, Alek-dono; Deftodiz is a constructed language that is actually a lot simpler than you would expect. While none of its words have any real connections to real world languages, it uses what is known as the 'rhefugian cipher'.
Issei: (confused) . . . Rhefugian? What on earth is that? Plus what is a cipher, and what does that even mean when you put it together.
Ravel: Rhefugi is the internet based demon language. And a cipher is a method in which writing is disguised while retaining a recognisable form of reading to those who know the code. By this input method, English words could be turned from A B C's into O X P's and etc. etc.
Issei: Oh, I see; so the words in Deftodiz are just the Rhefugian transliteration of English words. Simple.
Ravel: Actually, that's a no.
Issei: Uh?
Ravel: Remember, English in its current form has gone through a massive transition from its origins to what it is today, and even today its split between "Traditional British English" and "Simplified American English". Modern English from both sects are a formulae made from the result of refining Middle English using Greek and Latin, which in itself was a combination of Old English, Old Norse and Norman French with several words being loaned from other languages. Since the devils have been around before even the concept of English was around, there was no way to just use English. Plus the readers would have picked up on this earlier when they notice the similarities between words from Deftodiz and English being shown side-by-side.
Issei: (curious) Huh. I never thought about that. So which language is used then?
Ravel: Latin.
Issei: (disappointed) Wait, what?
Ravel: What is it, Ise-senpai?
Issei: I'm not saying that using Latin isn't good, I'm just saying that Latin is a dead language, and the only ones who speak it on a regular basis are the Catholic sects of Christianity, but not even they have a fixed pronounciation.
Ravel: And that's why it works.
Issei: (lost for thought) . . . I'm gonna need you to explain that to me. I can't seem to wrap my head around it.
Ravel: Of, course. I will do anything to make Ise-senpai's life easier.
Issei: (whispers to the author) I think she may be getting a little too OOC.
Alek: (whispering back) I know, but who cares. You're talking to a fan from the real world. How much more OOC can you get?
Ravel: (talking while oblivious) While what Ise-senpai said is correct that Latin is still used by the Catholic Church, it is because it is a holy language that makes it perfect; since Catholicism would have been the dominant religion in Europe for a long while, basing the devil language on a large corruption of it makes it the ideal tongue for the race they so despise. To utter the twisted inversion of Christ's church's word is to invoke the dark powers of the Underworld itself. Something like that I guess.
Issei: Well that makes sense.
Alek: Now, how about we actually explain how to read Deftodiz.
Ravel: Hai; with the exception of C and Q, Deftodiz has all the same letters as English does, but we do have different pronunciations of these letters.
Issei: Oh. I never would have guessed by just looking at them. I really should have been paying attention when I was learning the alphabet for my Middle-class promotion exams.
Ravel: (confused) Um, Ise-senpai. We have an Abjad, not an Alphabet.
Issei: (surprised) What?
Ravel: Abjad: a writing system without any letter forms for any vowel sounds. It's the same as in Hebrew or Arabic. We did originate from the Levant like the Angels, remember.
Issei: Levant?
Ravel: (sighing) The western side of the Middle East, where Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon are located. The Eastern Half is called Mesopotamia, with Iraq and Kuwait being the only countries in the region. The Babylonian and Sumerian mythos' originated there, whereas the Phoenician, Canaanite, Hittite, and eventually Abrahamic, that is to say the Jewish Religion originated from.
Issei: Doesn't Christianity count, since it also originated in the Levant.
Ravel: Not necessarily; Christianity didn't exist until it was brought to Europe, and likewise originated as a religion rather than a cult when brought into Rome and Constantinople in the late Roman period. Islam also follows this rule, having been first worshiped in Arabia in the Early Medieval period, but retains a lot of connections to its Jewish origin like Christianity does.
Issei: But, then why have we only seen Christian characters representing the Angel's faction. Wouldn't it make more sense to include a greater variety of characters from the larger range of religious backgrounds rather than isolate them into a single section?
Alek: I'll answer that one.
Issei: So you only involve yourself if it suits you.
Alek: . . . Shuddup. According to the 2012 religious census, by estimation alone there were around 2.2 billion Christians, which made it the widest accepted religion in the world at the time. Islam came in second at around 1.6 billion, while Judaism came in at a more minuscule 14 million.
Ravel: Since Ishibumi was writing in 2008, this is the best accurate answer available. While it is not confirmed, it is widely believed that the number of Muslims is increasing while the number of Christians is declining.
Issei: Huh? Why is that? Angels exist, God existed. How can they suddenly be on the decline.
Ravel: It is actually thanks to the increase in Atheism that is the cause of Christian decline. Because Christianity is the religion of the maj-
Alek: (panicky) Whoah! Do not go there!
Ravel & Issei: (in synch) Why?
Alek: (calming down) We're overstepping out bounds here. I feel like we are starting to tread on unstable territory by involving ourselves in real world problems.
Issei: (sudden shock) Yikes!
Alek: (calming down) You're safe now. All that hatred will be on me. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore.
Issei: (caught off guard) . . . To hear that I, the Sekiryuutei of this generation being told he's going to be protected. I feel like I'm being stripped of my masculinity here. You're the worst. Worse than Kiba-fukukaichou. (shivers) I still don't get that Bishounen or his sexuality. I hope Tosca-chan or Shinra-senpai can finally sort this crisis for me.
Ravel: Anyways, we've gone way off topic here so I'll resume it. (clears her throat) Dedftodiz has the same vocabulary range as Japanese does, so the main vowels a, e, i, o, and u only have one sound. We also do not use diphthongs, so letter combinations do not exist, even with vowels and are all spoken separately. Although, if a consonant is connected to a preceding vowel, but not to a succeeding one, then we pronounce that as you would in English.
Issei: Then, wouldn't your name be written as "Reivel" or "Reyvel", or something like that? It's confusing enough to say that it works this way, but then even Phenex is confusing, since it should be "Fenix". I don't see how that is possible with all these rules in place to keep it readable.
Ravel: (calmly ticked off) Your name in romanji has two 'S's in it, do you really want to go their?
Issei: (apologetic) S-sorry.
Ravel: Well, unlike your name which uses two consonants to signify gemination, my name is borrowed from the English word "Raven", so it can't be helped that it is slept different to how it sounds. Plus my surname is traditional and borrowed from the Greek translation so we retained the spelling out of respect.
Issei: Oh, ok then. (overconfident) I think I'm getting that hang of this language business. I could probably tackle this later today!
Alek: Next week, we'll tackle the harder stuff to grasp. Semi-vowels, Constructed words and Loaned words.
Issei: (confidence shaken) Huh? Wait! Wha-
Alek: Bye-bye!
Thank you for reading, and review at your nearest convenience.
Special thanks to 'Guest' (1), 'redclaw39', 'giacomoX', 'Muzaka', 'Dragon Rider 66', 'RedSS', 'KaimenRiderAshita', 'JackGehrman', 'Guest' (2), 'The Fool', 'Blue Eyes Pendulum Dragon', 'Epyon Legium', 'Ashzaroth', 'NarutoSpardaUzumaki', and 'dillmccathron' for their reviews, I really do appreciate it.
I am just going to say not to expect long chapters like this all the time. I am not one to disappoint people (liar liar), so I will just disappoint you now for future reference. Oh, and also to Ashzaroth, the rest of you questions will be fulfilled in due time (I have already taken into account certain precautions going into the story and how everything will play out, so be patient for at least a few months or so).
Well, until next time everyone. Bye!