Chapter 3: A Day In Life Of The Dragons

-Kuoh-

It's a normal day in Kuoh academy. Spring had just arrived and the new school year is starting. The sun is shining down on the peaceful town where students are either running very excitedly or groaning because they didn't get enough vacation. It's all in all an ordinary day in Kuoh… unless someone is magically sensitive and squint their eyes enough then they would see something that is not part of daily life in Kuoh.

If one is sensitive to magic an pay close attention, they could see a pair of oddly dressed females sitting on top of the roofs while observing Kuoh academy with a binocular. Well, the black haired goth loli is while the blue haired woman is just there to make sure that the loli didn't do anything that would cause trouble.

"…Tia, I should've enrolled myself in the school with them."

"No Ophis, don't. That's NOT a good idea."

Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon, is pouting at Tiamat's answer. The reason why the leader and second-in-command of the Dragon faction are sitting on a rooftop while watching Kuoh academy is because they had sent kids they consider as their child into that den of devils. Because they are worried (mostly Ophis) they decided to observe the kids on their first day of school. Tiamat had said that with the four of them together anything short of a Maou or the Seraphs wouldn't be much of a problem to the young dragons but Ophis is surprisingly a worrywart and insist that they should keep watch over them, at least on the first day.

And so here they are, two mighty dragons reduced to being concerned parents (mostly Ophis) while their kids started their first day of school. Ophis is still complaining about letting the kids go to school and was even disappointed at herself for not thinking about entering Kuoh to watch over them. With her current form she could pass off for a middle school student. It might even be interesting to experience school life. Unfortunately, what's done is done and she still has things to do, things like travelling around the world to find more dragons to join them. In particular, Ophis want to find Crom Cruach.

Crom Cruach, one of the Evil Dragons and undoubtedly the strongest of them. By now he's rumored to be comparable to the Heavenly Dragons in their prime and possibly surpassed them. He had never been killed before and spent his time increasing his power. Ophis will need him in her quest to defeat Great Red. It helps that Crom Cruach is one of the more reasonable Evil Dragon. He'll at least listen to her. The problem now is how to find that dragon.

"So they're now having, what's it called, the entrance ceremony?"

"Yes. It's the main event of the day where new students are welcomed and introduced to the school. Now, let's get back to Dragon's Hive. We have things to do!"

"Uuu, what's the point if you won't let me name our first ever modern city? I'll just sit there doing nothing anyway!"

"Then help with the construction. And of course I won't let you name our first city. There's no way anyone want to live in a place named Ophisburg!"

The scene where Tiamat try to drag Ophis away continue for another ten minutes as the diminutive dragon god refuse to move from her spot on the roof. It took slapping her head with a harisen for Ophis to finally relent and allow herself to be dragged away back to Dragon's Hive.

"Damn Tiamat, can't I worry about my little drakes? Hmph, whenever she talks it's all about work, work and work. That or something I did. Come on, I'm not that bad, aren't I? It's not my fault that I have no idea how the world works."

Ophis is currently grumbling while walking around the streets of Rome. She had just gotten away from Tiamat under the pretense of looking for more dragons but in reality she just want to escape Tiamat… and maybe get an authentic gelato or two while she's at it. At least now she knew how to use money. Really, human society is troublesome. But they have their own fun, like online games, anime, and manga.

Yes, human culture is incredible, and anime and manga are the height of human culture! After all, it did caught the attention of someone like her, the infinite dragon god! Hell, even one of the Underworld's maou loves magical girls! Ophis even met the Leviathan maou in the last winter comifes!

Ahh but she's not here to think about any comifes or cosplay events. Though she did had fun going as Rory Mercury last time. She's even wearing her Rory Mercury goth loli costume as her default clothing in the past three years.

"Hawaau!"

A sudden voice of a girl broke Ophis out of his thought. At the same time as the voice there is also a sound of something dropping on the ground. When Ophis turned around, there is a Sister who is on the floor, her arms spread wide open and her face on the ground. That certainly is a clumsy way of falling down.

Normally Ophis wouldn't bother with something so trivial like a clumsy person tripping but for some reason there is something in her that makes her want to help the sister. So she did, more out of curiosity and wanting to know why she's feeling like this when seeing the sister.

"Are you okay?"

Ophis approach the Sister and give her a hand so she can stand up.

"Auu. Why do I keep on tripping over… Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you very much."

Judging from her voice, the girl is young and around her young dragons' age. The sister has long blonde hair and an innocent look. More importantly, she's a midget. She's about as tall as Ophis herself.

"You are a nun."

Ophis said more for confirmation rather than a question.

"Yes, I am. Uhh, thank you for helping me."

"It's nothing."

Ophis observe the nun some more. She's pure, very pure. Ophis can tell from the warm feeling she gets from her. Not only that but she possess a sacred gear. Ophis had not memorized the name of all sacred gears. Usually she only care about dragon-type sacred gears but Tiamat had insists that she learn more which she did because she need to. The sacred gear in this nun's possession is a rare one. If Ophis recall correctly, the rings she wore is Twilight Healing.

'This girl… she's very pure and she has an affinity for dragons. Interesting. She could become a dragon tamer or if I turn her into a dragon she could be a formidable one… no, if she's as pure as I think she's likely not a fighter material.'

Ophis concluded in her mind. Meanwhile, the nun look at her curiously since Ophis had been staring at her for a good minute without saying anything.

"Umm, miss? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I am. Anyway, my name is… Alice. What's yours?"

Ophis introduce herself with a fake name. The girl is clearly involved in the supernatural side of the world if she is a nun and possess a sacred gear. It's better to not use her real name or she might run away in fear. That had happened more frequently than she care to handle. Coincidentally, Alice is the name she uses during cosplay competitions and the first time Ophis entered one she dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

"I'm Asia Argento."

"Asia… It's a pleasure to meet you, Asia."

Ophis decided to hang out with Asia for the rest of the day. She has nothing else to do anyway. Besides, hanging out with Asia sounds much more appealing than dealing with whatever it is Tiamat has prepared for her back in Dragon's Hive. And eating gelato together with someone is much better than eating alone.

While Ophis is having her own fun in Italy, Issei and Vali each fell onto their respective beds when they got back to their new home. Unlike the girls who are excited, the two Heavenly Dragons prefer to spend their time training. Listening to the school principal droning for who knows how long certainly didn't help the two male dragons' mental health.

"Vali, remind me why we agreed to do this."

"Tia insisted. And let's be honest, there's no way we'll say no to the girls."

"Ahh, true enough."

The two of them are lying face down on their respective beds. The boys gets one room and the girls gets one room. Fortunately, Tiamat was the one who handled the construction of their new house or it would've been a disaster because if it's not Tiamat then it is Ophis. The house was just finished yesterday and they didn't get to explore. Apparently although it's only a basic two storey house, Tiamat had made a basement much larger than the house itself. Unfortunately, they're not in the mood for exploration.

"So we have to bear with this for two years?"

"You're wrong Ise. I'm sure the girls will also want to enter college."

"Ohh right… we're not cut out for this."

"I want to go back to the hive."

The two boys sighed.

"Ohh come on you two, let's go explore the town! We didn't have time for it before."

Irina said from the door. The two male dragons didn't even bother to get up from their bed and simply reply to her with a simple grunt. Irina pouted but the duo had sworn that they will not move from their bed until tomorrow.

"I guess it'll just be the two of us."

Salako sighed. This clearly shows who was raised by whom. She's more thankful that she and Irina was raised by Tiamat or they will end up like these two.

"Have fun. We want to enjoy this day to the fullest… on our bed."

"We're still coming to term with our new reality."

The two girls sighed again. Well let them do what they want. Tomorrow they'll drag them around kicking and screaming if they have to… which had happened when those two spent two whole days fighting each other that Irina and Salako had to drag them away and get them to stop by demanding that they take them flying somewhere.

"We're leaving then. We'll be back before dinner."

Salako said. The two Heavenly Dragons wave goodbye to the girls and they left.

Salako and Irina spent the rest of the days memorizing the roads and shops. They want to make sure they know what is where so they won't get lost. Tiamat after all drilled into their head the importance of knowing things and living like a normal person, if only to cover for the other two young dragons raised by Ophis.

They past through the residential district and the market. They also passed through a park and the mall. The two young dragons also dropped by a coffee shop for a quick snack and a good coffee. They also bought some CD and some other necessities that haven't already been provided by Tiamat.

Of course, the last stop before they go home is the market. They bought meat, lots and lots of meat of any kind. Normally eating so much meat would be bad for health but dragon physiology is different from a human after all. Dragons are carnivores after all, especially their species, although there are some herbivores among their race. After they're done buying their dinner the two young dragons walk back home.

"Kuoh is really nice. Me and Ise used to live here but it has changed."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I barely recognize some of the places here."

The teens chuckled. But Salako suddenly stopped when her nose smelled something.

"Irina, did you smell that?"

"Smell?"

Irina also sniffed the air. Like Salako said, there is something smelly in the air although it's faint. Salako has sharper senses though so she could smell it better. The two of them followed the scent and Irina almost puked when she finally got a good smell. She recognize the smell even if she hoped she hadn't.

"The smell of blood and rotting flesh."

Salako recognized it too. The two of them frowned. The smell led them to an abandoned building on the outer part of the town. Once they entered the building, the smell became much clearer. Fortunately they know how to filter their sense of smell using magic in their human form. It wouldn't be a problem in their dragon form but smelling such foul stench in their human form is enough to make them puke even if they're used to it.

"I can smell something disgusting. But I can also smell something delicious. Is it sweet? Or is it sour?"

A low voice came from below the ground. Irina's eyes narrowed. With her dragon eyes she could see better in the dark and she saw something moving in the shadows. By now Salako must've seen it because she has the most trained senses of the four of them.

"Ketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketa…"

The abnormal laughter echoes around them. Now Irina is sure and she can't help but feel disgusted. The smell of blood and rotting flesh, that abnormal laughter, and now… a woman with the lower body of a beast appeared from the shadows. Irina growled and the growl didn't sound like a human. It is the sound of a dragon growling.

It's a grotesque being with an unnatural form having a woman's upper body and the lower body of a monster. It's holding something that looks like a spear in both of its hands. There's no more doubt, this thing is a stray devil. Irina particularly hates them not only because they're grotesque but also because what they did.

"How disgusting."

"This smell, you're not humans or devils. What are you?"

"We are dragons."

Salako declared. The monster suddenly smiled in glee.

"Dragons? I've never tasted dragon flesh before! If I kill you then I will become more powerful, kehehe!"

The stray devil moved. But before it could reach Salako, more than half of its body was ripped to shreds. The last thing it ever saw was the cold eyes of Shidou Irina. It never saw Salamandinay disappear and reappear behind it.

"Disgusting creatures like you should perish."

Salamandinay coldly say as Irina finished it off with a blast of draconic energy similar to the Sekiryuutei's signature dragon shot. The stray devil was obliterated in a mere second just when a new group arrived.

"W-what happened here!"

Rias Gremory definitely did not expect her job to be done by someone else and she's especially not prepared to have to sets of draconic eyes turning towards her.

And here is another chapter. So here we have Asia's appearance but it's not Issei or anyone else who found her first but it's Ophis! Yeah, the Asia arc will now feature Ophis! I thought for a bit but having Issei rescue Asia again and again sounds boring so this time I have Ophis put into the equation so let's see how that one will go. Also the dragons finally got in contact with the Gremory peerage for the first time... not surprising that it's on their first day. Dragons attract trouble like moth to flame after all. So far nothing overly interesting happens but then again this is just the beginning. Anyway for those who ask about it, Vali and Issei (or anyone in the Dragon faction for that matter) will NEVER become devils. What's the point of making them dragons and focusing the story on dragons if they're gonna be devils anyway?

antifanboy: Ophis won't be paired with anyone in this story so yeah her development will be different from usual and she will get more screen time too along with some other dragons. As for the power level, the canon power level might be irrelevant because of what I have in mind.

Blue Eyes Pendulum Dragon: The four's development will certainly be interesting. As for Ophis, yeah, she will have cute moments like those. She'll need those fluffy cute moments with what I have in store for her.

Dragon Rider 66: Well enough about Rizevim. He won't survive very long in this story anyway with Ophis and her enemies (which will be on the same power level as her) around to make things hell. Anyway, I'll think about putting those flashbacks. As for the devils, very close but not quite there.

ArchangelRazjel: More Ophis moments will come. Don't worry, this story put more focus on Ophis than usual... or so I plan.

fangs of death: Yeah, and Irina and Sala as sisters with Tiamat as mother. It's funny to see the result of Tiamat and Ophis' different parenting.

daizuke: Uhh, what? I don't get most of it but I do get the gist about pairing Rias with Issei which I will have to say that is will not happen here... or at the very least she'll be a very minor part of his harem if she makes it.