When the next day arrived, Issei decided that he needs more serious training. So he asked Ddraig for advice.
"Hey Ddraig, how can I make my training better for myself? I feel like my current training isn't enough anymore" Asked Issei.
"Well, I think you should go to the underworld, to the dragon mountains, where Tannin is training hatchlings and young drakes, I think he can train you once more without any problems" Answered Ddraig.
"Yeah, I think it's a good idea, It has been a while since I talked or trained with Tannin" Replied Issei.
"Plus, now that I'm mostly a dragon I can try dragon apples" Said excited issei.
"Partner, those apples will taste heavenly, you won't be able to resist once you try one" Said Ddraig chuckling.
"Well, before we go, I better inform Valerica of my plans" Said Issei before leaving his room to find Valerica.
After a couple of minutes, he found her training in the underground training room.
"Hey, Val, what ya doing? Greeted Issei from behind.
This startled Valerica a bit but composed herself almost instantly.
"You shouldn't come up from behind like that, you scared me" Pouted Valerica.
"Alright alright" Replied Issei smirking.
"Anyway, what do you want?" Asked Valerica.
"I'm leaving for a month, I'm visiting Tannin, and I'll be training with him, now that I have a dragon's body normal exercises won't do much for me, so who's better to train a dragon than a dragon?" Said Issei.
"Alright, just stay out of the trouble" Replied Valerica.
"Sure, whatever you say my empress" Said Issei as he kissed her on the lips before going back to his room.
There he packed some clothes and put them into his pocket dimension. Now that he's mostly a dragon, he can use the pocket dimension easily with his magic.
With that, he jumped out of the window and used his wings to fly towards the dragon mountains.
Lately, he's been enjoying his freedom and flying freely, maybe because dragons love freedom and flying.
After a couple of hours of flying, he reached the dragon mountains.
But before he could enter he was stopped by three dragons, they were guards of the territory.
"Halt, identify yourself and state your business" Ordered the first guard.
"I'm the Red Dragon Emperor, I came to visit Tannin" Replied Issei.
"Red dragon? but you smell like a dragon, isn't he a devil? Show us the gear as proof" Said the second guard.
Issei summoned boosted gear as ordered.
"Here, happy now?" Said Issei while smirking.
"Yes, please come with us, we will lead you to Tannin immediately Emperor" Said the third guard.
"No need, I'll do it myself, you just guard this place" Said Issei as he flew away into the territory.
Upon entering he saw a bunch of dragons flying around some sleeping in the caves, and hatchlings or training or playing with each other.
After five minutes he reached Tannin and saw him training a group of hatchlings.
Issei didn't want to interrupt so he sat on the hillside waiting for the training to end.
After an hour of waiting, he saw hatchlings leave Tannin alone, so Issei thought their training was over before flying over to Tannin.
"Hey old man, long time no see" Said issei grinning.
"Issei, Ddraig, what a surprise, what are you doing here?" Asked Tannin happily.
"I came to ask you a favour" Said Issei.
" Yeah? what is it?" Asked Tannin curiously.
"I want you to train me" Said Issei.
" What do you mean? like last time with a woman's body?" Asked Tannin.
"No no no, I'm sorry about last time, I'm not that way anymore, what I mean is that you train me as a dragon, I'm not a devil anymore, I'm mostly a dragon now so I need serious training" Replied Issei.
"Yeah, you don't smell like a devil and your presence is different I won't even start about your appearance, how did you become a dragon?" Asked Tannin.
"Well, after I got dragon fall's curse, my pawn pieces got corrupted and I had to purge them, but If I'd do that I would die, so Ddraig and Albion had to turn me into a dragon by taking my heart" Said Issei.
Tannin was shocked, what happened to the boy to get such a terrible curse.
"Alright, but you have to explain to me what happened to you..." Said Tannin with a serious voice.
-Time skip-
"That spoiled little brat, I didn't expect her to go low like this" Growled Tannin.
" Yeah, I didn't expect that either..." Whispered Issei.
[DIVIDE] Roared Ddraig.
"How come you can use Albion's power?" Asked Tannin.
"In a peace treaty day, when Valerica betrayed us, I took Albion's gem and absorbed her Divide powers, of course, it was really painful and took some of my life force" Said Issei.
"Okay, but why are you using it right now?" Asked Tannin.
"Ddraig divides my negative emotions so I wouldn't activate the Juggernaut drive again, I already did it twice and it consumed almost all of my life force already, If that happens again I will die and people around me will die too" Said Issei calmly.
"But I don't understand one thing. How did you get cured of the dragon fall's curse? the only way is to mate with another female" Said Tannin.
"Well... this will be amusing for ya... I mated with Valerica the White Dragon Empress" Replied Issei with a serious gaze.
Tannin's jaw dropped.
Never was he speechless like this in his long life! Hearing that two heavenly rivals mated! Too many surprises for one day.
"I think we should go to sleep now, there are enough surprises for me today" Said Tannin with a sigh.
"Sure thing old man" Said Issei as both of them flew away.
Tannin showed where Issei will be staying and of course, it was a cave, but Issei did not complain about it.
The next morning when he woke up he felt really great, even though he slept on the ground In a cave.
Getting out of the cave he was met by Tannin in his human form waiting for him with strange fruit.
"Catch!" Said Tannin as he threw that fruit.
Issei caught the fruit and asked Tannin while inspecting the strange fruit.
"Hey old man, what is this?" it smells great" Said Issei.
"That is a dragon apple, c'mon try it" Answered Tannin.
With one bite Issei immediately ate the whole apple in seconds while drooling for more.
"Woah! these are good! I want more already" Said Issei.
"Told you partner, once you try it you can't stop" Said Ddraig while chuckling.
"Ddraig is right but before you eat more, how about a spar?" Asked Tannin excited.
Issei being a dragon couldn't resist fighting, he had become a battle maniac like Valerica.
"Sure old man, bring it" Said Issei confident with a big smirk.
Both of them unfolded their wings and flew to some open space for the spar.
Upon reaching it, they landed on opposite sides facing each other with battle-hungry grins.
Tannin immediately created a barrier around them to avoid unnecessary destruction.
"Balance breaker"
[Welsh Dragon Balance breaker] Roared Ddraig.
[Boost X10]
With that, they charged at each other with powerful punches and kicks. Issei already boosted past his previous limit, and with that, he decided to use a dragon shot.
[Dragon shot]
Tannin wanted to take it head-on but saw that it was way too powerful, he didn't want any unnecessary damage this early in the battle. So he sidestepped and the large beam hit the top of the mountain completely destroying at least thirty meters of the top.
Tannin was shocked by the power Issei had and he wasn't even at his limit yet, Tannin saw just how much stronger he got. Just where did he get all this power, wondered Tannin. But right now that didn't matter, he was enjoying this spar.
Issei booted even more, still far from his limit.
Tannin then used his famous blaze meteor flames.
Issei immediately boosted his armor durability and flared a huge amount of aura, even the ground started cracking to prevent the flames from doing any damage to him.
When the smoke cleared, Issei stood in the crater with cracked armor but Ddraig repaired it fast enogh. Seeing this Tannin got even more excited.
Tannin was already using eighty percent of his full power.
"You got stronger from the last time I trained you. You just kept running away from me then, but now you are making me use almost all of my power, impressive" Praised Tannin.
"Well, I've been working hard lately" Replied Issei as he uppercut Tannin sending him flying a few meters back.
Tannin lost his guard and issei used this opportunity to use another dragon shot but ten times stronger.
He quickly charged a small energy ball in his left arm while [Boost] Echoed throughout the battleground.
Issei launched the dragon shot at Tannin and he had no time to react and got hit by the beam dead on.
When the smoke and dust cleared, Issei saw Tannin in the crater bleeding a little with a smile on his face but that was not the limit of Tanin just yet, he was one of the dragon kings after all.
Suddenly Issei's head was grabbed by Tannin and stabbed in the back by Tannin's extending horns.
Before Issei could do anything to counter Tannin axe-kicked Issei in the back of his head and sent his face to kiss the ground.
"And that's where you lack experience young drake" Said Tannin proudly.
"Damn old man, you pack a punch" Said Issei as he slowly got up before wiping the blood from his face.
With that, they patched up and left the place to make some arrangements for the training.
"So what do you want to train exactly?" Asked Tannin.
"I want to learn to use flames, fire breath, train my body, and get stronger. Last night Ddraig said if I will be able to use fire he would try to teach me how to use his powerful flames Blazing inferno scorching flames. Tho we don't know if I will be able to learn it, but it's worth a try" Said Issei.
Tannin thought for a moment and agreed. He arranged his schedule.
First, they will try to awaken his fire affinity, then try to use fire breath, at the end of the day, they would spar full power. While sleeping Issei will be training with Ddraig and learn how to use his flames.With this schedule, Issei agreed and they started right away.
"To awaken your flames you have to feel it, you have to want it, you have to control it, you have to dominate it. So sit down and meditate until you can feel your fire coming" Instructed Tannin.
Issei did what he was told to do, it took him four hours to awaken his flames, but he did it nonetheless.
He practiced using his flames with his hands to get a hold of it. Later he tried using fire breath but it didn't work, probably because it was too early for that, he had to master the control over the flames first.
Then at the end of the day, he fought with Tannin, ending in Tannin's victory because Tannin used all of his power.
At the end of the spar, they went to sleep. But Issei trained with Ddraig inside the gear..
-Line Break-
Issei already spent half a month training and right now he was training with a dragon named Bova. He was the youngest son of Tannin.
The fight ended with a win for Issei.
"You did good Bova, thank you for the spar" Said Issei sweating.
"No, I should be the one thanking you red dragon. It's an honour to fight with you again. But one day I'll beat you" Said Bova laying on the ground in a crater.
"Sure Bova, but for the last time call me Issei" Replied to him Issei.
"I see you two are done already" Said Tannin while approaching them with some dragon apples.
When Bova met Issei he immediately challenged him to a fight. This was going on every day and Bova always loses but definitely improves.
"Yeah old man, ready for your beat down too?" Asked a smirking Issei.
Tannin laughed at that.
Issei almost reached Tannin's level in the first half of the month, his control over his flames improved greatly, and he can use fire breath already. He's an incredibly fast learner.
In the gear, Ddraig teaches him how to use his flames.
It's really hard for Issei but he managed to make small flames of Blazing inferno scorching flames much to his joy, right now it's useless, but it's a good start.
His body improved, his muscles are more defined, he's able to resist strong flames and heat, Tannin's flames do less and less damage to Issei as he grows stronger by the day.
His magic reserves grew bigger too, but there was a small problem, a lot of young and older female dragons developed a crush on Issei and usually stalked him when he was training, some watched him sleep so he started to cast barriers before going to sleep.
"Sure, after a small break, here, take these, I brought some apples"
Issei has been enjoying dragon apples ever since he got here. He ate only dragon apples day in and day out.
After the break, they had their fight and went to sleep after.
-Inside the gear-
"Partner, concentrate, don't lose your focus and you'll be able to improve the control over the flames" Said Ddraig.
This was one of the many sessions of teeing to learn Ddraig's signature flames.
In the first hours nothing happened, but suddenly he summoned Ddraig's flames, and much stronger than the last time, about fifteen times stronger than the last time.
Seeing this Ddraig started to laugh proudly.
Issei was able to summon Ddraig's flames now, but they were still too weak for now, so he has to do a lot of practice. Compared to Ddraig's flames when he was in his prime, Issei's flames are nothing right now, yet at least.
The morning arrived and Issei immediately went to Tannin to tell him about his accomplishment.
"Morning Tannin, I have some great news" Said Issei excited.
" Yeah? what is it?" Asked Tannin curiously.
"I can finally summon Ddraig's flames. They are still weak compared to when he was at his prime, but it's a really good start" Said Issei proudly.
"That's great young drake, keep pushing forward and you surely will become a powerful dragon" Said Tannin proudly.
"By the way, today I won't be able to train with you because I was called to a meeting with faction leaders" Said Tannin.
"Alright, but don't tell them that I'm here, they are still searching for me as Valerica told me. I'll reveal myself in time" Said Issei.
Tannin only nodded and flew away.
-Meanwhile-
"I'll show the world true chaos as I release the monster from its cage" SaId a man with a cold voice.
"My lord the preparations will be done in a couple of months. While we are waiting for the preparations to be done we should gather more men for the future chaos because we are lacking" Said another man.
"Sure, do that, for now, we'll let them enjoy their happy lives while they still can hm hm hm hm" Replied the mysterious man with a dark chuckle.
-Dragon mountains-
On this day Issei trained mostly alone, or played with hatchlings, they love to play with Issei when he has spare time but that just made it harder for him to deal with the females.
At the end of the day, he fought with Bova as usual and the day ended without anything interesting.
When the next day arrived Tannin returned and told Issei that the meeting was about his disappearance and Valerica successfully joining the alliance and becoming spies with her team in the chaos brigade.
That was great news for Issei.
-Last day of training-
Issei improved greatly, he finally reached Tannin's level, mastered his flames, and he can use Ddraig's flames effectively but still far from mastering.
"Before you leave take some dragon apples, we know you love them, I haven't seen a dragon loving these apples so much" Said Tannin while chuckling and handing over the apples.
"Thank you Tannin, for everything you have done for me. I'll make sure to repay you someday" Said Issei as he put the apples into his pocket dimension.
"No need, it was fun having you here anyways. So make sure to visit" Said Tannin smirking.
"Sure old man. You know I had this cool idea, what if we both create a dragon faction?" Said Issei.
Tannin's eyes widened at the suggestion.
"To create a faction we need more land and many more things, it'd take a lot of preparation and time" Said Tannin seriously.
"Well, I think I can arrange that. So what do you say? creating the mighty dragon faction with me eh? old man" Said Issei.
"Well, I'm in if you think this will work out" Said Tannin.
Some dragons overheard what the Red Dragon Emperor suggested, and the news spread like wildfire amongst the dragons.
They were happy having the Red Dragon Emperor with them and doing something big and serious like that for the whole dragon race was great news.
"Well I'm off then old man" Said Issei.
"Safe trip to you Issei, Ddraig" Said Tannin.
Even if Issei can use magic circles, he just prefers flying so he just spread his wings and took off.
(To be continued)