AN: We're back after a little bit. Hope you enjoy the chapter. We have much more planned after this one! This story is just getting started!

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"So basically all the religions of the world are real, but also dragons," Issei summed up as he nervously walked through the dilapidated corridors of the old church.

"That's a rough way to say it, but it'll work for a quick understanding right now," Sai said, leading Issei through the rundown church. "The point that you need to understand is the part about sacred gears."

"What? Magical powers granted to humans by the God of the Bible?" Issei asked with a scoff. "What's there more to understand?" It was obvious to Sai that Issei's harsh tone was only a result of being thrust so quickly into the supernatural world.

Sai suppressed his wince at the mention of the being and explained, "Your friend has one called Twilight Healing and it's the reason she was abducted by the fallen. From the reports I've seen, the fallen here are attempting to extract the sacred gear from her."

Alarm bells sounded off in Issei's head at that statement. "And what'll that do to her? Kill her?" Issei didn't wait for Sai's nod. "That's unacceptable! We have to stop them!" His agitation was obvious as his breathing got more and more rough and his voice gained killing intent behind it.

Sai's feet stopped walking. "Calm down Issei. We're crashing their party ahead of their schedule so the extraction won't happen for some time. Asia will be saved. Trust me on this."

Issei's agitation grew. "How can I even trust you? You're a devil, right? I bet your name isn't even Sai!"

Sai knew that he had to be delicate here. Issei was already doing a lot to experience so much outside of what is the expected human experience. It's only natural that having your whole world changed from the inside out can cause some… anger. "You can trust me because of what I'm doing now, going out of my way to save your friend because one of my friends called me earlier and I could tell they were having a rough time!" Sai yelled, allowing an echo to ripple off the hallway.

Issei didn't know what to say. Sai, on the other hand, did.

Sai's voice rolled out in a firm, but comforting tone. "You're right that I haven't revealed everything to you just yet, but that's because I haven't gotten the chance to. Give me that chance and I won't let you down, Issei."

Issei looked up at the serious eyes of his friend. With a confusing, high panic, and frankly out of this world type situation happening, Issei could see that his hastiness in wanting things explained could be unreasonable. "I'll give you that chance," Issei said, "Now let's go and save Asia."

As Sai continued walking, a question came to Issei. "Is our cover blown now because of all the yelling?"

"Unlikely. I set up a small barrier to make sure we couldn't be overheard," Sai said, smirking.

"Good," Issei said, "Now let's hurry up."

"No need," Sai said as he prepared his fist full of that same black aura from earlier, "We're almost there and it looks like there's a nice welcome party for us."

"What? You can sense them or something? Crap. I'm not going to be much use then. I'm not a devil and it's not like I have a sacred gear or anything," Issei said, trying to figure out a way to take cover in the long corridor.

"About that..." Sai said, stretching his limbs out as he prepared for the incoming enemies, "You do have a sacred gear and from what I've sensed, it's one of the most powerful ones out there."

Issei perked up at that piece of information but was skeptical. "How powerful?"

Sai's eyes never strayed from ahead of him as he said, "Let's just say if you could call it out and have it under control with all that potential you have, I wouldn't have to lift a finger."

'In that case,' Issei thought, 'Maybe I can get in on the action.' Issei wanted to contribute to do something but until he was sure he could do something, he wasn't going to get in Sai's way.

Bullets ricocheting off of what seemed to be a barrier that Sai put up was all that Issei could hear. There was nowhere for Issei to hide so it was apparent that Sai had to protect him else he'd die.

Sai, with a flick of his wrist, put a standing array of magic in place, creating a barrier against the bullets for Issei to stay behind. With his other hand, he spread the black aura all throughout his body and then it compressed. With the ground collapsing under the strength of his feet, Sai jumped and swiftly punched the exorcist in the front, flinging him back, hitting the 2 exorcists behind him.

He didn't stop there though. Before the exorcists could gather themselves and charge at him with their light swords, Sai grabbed the exorcist he punched earlier. Using his body as a sling, Sai threw him at the rest of the exorcists before rising over them with a jump and with that black aura of his, stomping into the floor beneath him, shattering everything in his path. All the exorcists that had been there were all wiped out in an instant, as if they were just an afterthought.

Issei's mind was racing in all this. 'They're… dying right? Just like that. Sai is doing it to protect us, but imagine if they were doing it against me. Then I'd fall… just like them,' Issei thought. 'But… they took Asia. I don't know why I feel so committed to her safety even if I just met her, but I do. I desire to save her, no, I will save her! I will tear everyone apart to get to her! I will conquer it all!'

An eerie smirk made its way to Issei's face. Issei didn't notice it himself. Walking past the barrier Sai set up, he called out, "I see that you're done with them now. Let's get a move on. Asia is just up ahead."

Sai took notice of the manic smirk on his face and shook his head, saying, "How would you even know that? Also, you should be careful. There might be more of them up ahead."

Issei didn't stop walking ahead as he said, "There's only one more." A flicker of light drew Sai's attention. "For some reason, I feel as if I can handle it on my own." Turning around, Issei said, "Is that alright with you?"

Sai's expressions didn't change much as his eyes shifted from Issei's to his left arm. Another flash of red light sparked near that place. 'So, he's finally awakening it,' Sai thought. "I hope you know what you're doing," Sai said.

Issei resumed his walk forward. "Of course I do. I'm going to dominate the situation."

(-)

"What are those fucking idiots up to?" a man with short white hair uttered as he looked down the walkway from where the other stray exorcists ran off.

The man known as Freed Sellzen was not a very complicated man. All he wanted to do was to kill devils and their worshippers. Unfortunately, he was assigned to babysit a little banished nun.

"Uh Father? Do you know when we're going to evangelize today?" Asia asked in Italian.

Freed took a look at the girl. She was so very gullible. It was planned for her to be brought outside with him at certain times during the day to "evangelize" while he would search for devil worshippers. The girl was slated to be sacrificed in some way according to his higher ups, but Freed didn't care.

He just wanted something to sate his bloodlust.

Freed's senses suddenly went wild. Something was happening and Freed was just completely unaware of it. Seeing that there was nothing except Asia in this inner area of the church, it could only be deduced that whatever was coming was here for her.

Freed grabbed Asia roughly as he dropped his nice priest act and said, "C'mere bitch. It looks like your usefulness is coming into play."

Asia was quickly confused by the shift in personality. "Father? I don't understand. Why are you holding me like this?"

"Shut up bitch," Freed said roughly, bringing a light sword to her neck. "Someone is here for you and we can't have that now can we." The total lack of warmness in his voice frightened Asia, but the news of someone coming for her did bring someone to her mind.

'Could it be?' Asia thought.

Then, just as Freed has predicted, the doors to the inner chambers of the church burst open, creating a buildup of dust that obscured the intruder's appearance.

Freed wasn't afraid of using his hostage to his advantage though. "You better step the fuck back away from here if you want this little missy to stay alive!"

The figure did step back which made Freed's smirk deepen. "That's right. Be my little bitch!" However, this proved to be Freed's first mistake. Why?

Because immediately after thinking he had everything under control, the figure moved so fast that he couldn't react before he was thrown into the wall behind him.

"Asia, are you alright?" a voice called out to her. Asia had closed her eyes out of fear of the impact, but to her surprise, she was unharmed. Instead, she was in the arms of a familiar face.

"Issei?" Asia said, seeing her friend right in front of her. Asia didn't understand the words he had said, but she knew that he was here to save her.

Issei knew that the blow wouldn't have hurt that stray exorcist. In fact, it seemed that man was largely a cut above the rest of the exorcists that Sai had taken out. With a green light and a mysterious Boost that was coming from his arm, Issei pushed himself to set Asia down by the door, out of the way of the fight before returning to his original position.

"That was a shitty cheap shot you fucker," Freed said, getting back onto his feet before assessing Issei. "Ah, so you're a shitty devil worshiper. You have their scent all over you. All that devil magic swirling around you. And you even have a sacred gear. I guess I'll have to cut you up so that I can pry it from your cold dead body," Freed said, licking his lips.

"As if I'll give you that chance," Issei said, his bloodlust momentarily quelled. Quickly it seeped back in as he said, "I'll make you regret even suggesting you could!"

Freed reloaded his light gun in one hand as he held his light sword in the other. "Let's see if you'll chat your fucking face off when I put a bullet through it!" he said as he fired off his gun in quick succession.

Issei reacted instinctually, swaying in and out of gun fire and blocking what he couldn't dodge with his left hand, now covered in a crimson red gauntlet.

"Tsk," Freed clicked his tongue, "It looks like the shitty devil worshipper has a shitty devil with him."

"I needed someone to keep in line your cheating. You didn't think that I knew that you were trying to shoot at Asia also during that?" Issei yelled back, his hatred evident.

It was the appearance of Sai that stopped the bullets from hitting Asia who was in the line of fire.

"T-thank you," Asia said, stunned that she could've just died right there.

"You're welcome," Sai said in Italian, crossing his arms as he watched Issei confront the exorcist.

"Um, if you're Issei's friend, then shouldn't you help him?" Asia asked, worried about the current fight.

"I may be his friend but this is a fight that Issei wants to take on his own. He's here to save you despite his ignorance of the situation."

"Ignorance? Of what?"

"I'll explain later. After all, you're now in a similar situation. Let's just pray for Issei's success in battle," Sai said, a light smile on his face. There was a clear confidence in his voice that showed he believed in Issei's chance of victory. Asia quickly knelt down in prayer as she gave her worries to the being above.

It was in the middle of battle that Issei found himself obtaining two important pieces of information. 1. That armor on his left hand was very very durable and was likely his best weapon here. 2. His body was constantly changing in the heat of battle, both in speed and strength.

Given all this, one would expect Issei to simply abuse the armor on his left hand and walk up to the exorcist and choke him out, right? Well, it was a lot more complicated than that. Adrenaline was pumping through Issei's body but his thoughts remained calm. Issei's body was very weak… to the standard of standing up to someone like Sai, that is.

"Why won't you just fucking stand still!" Freed said as he swung his sword out in his front, abandoning gun fire at that moment.

Issei suddenly thought of a dumb idea. So of course, he had to do it.

Issei caught the Great Value lightsaber with his armored hand.

"The fuck?" Freed managed to utter before getting brutally punched with the other hand, knocking him away.

Issei dropped the sword from his hand, feeling the burn still from holding it. Thankfully, it seemed his hand was more than fine with the mysterious armor protecting it from any serious harm.

Having a sadistic thought come to his mind, Issei picked up the light sword in his other sword by the handle this time, approaching the crazed exorcist this time with his own weapon.

Trying to pick himself back up, Freed never stopped smiling as he taunted Issei. "Oh, the shitty devil worshipper isn't as weak as he looks. That's just great isn't it? I guess you think that I'm fucked right now." Freed said, bringing a hand to his inner coat.

Issei never stopped walking as Freed pulled out another light gun, now dual wielding guns. Another Boost and Issei felt the effects. With speed even greater than before, Issei ran up to Freed, seeing the shots slip right past him.

"You fuck-" Freed's words were interuped as he felt a great pain burst through him. His body was pierced right through with the light sword and his face was bleeding profusely from a leveled punch.

Freed never opened his mouth again and as he tried to shoot a final shot as the man before him, he found that he no longer had any strength to pull the trigger. With blood flowing into his eyes from his head and chest profusely bleeding, Freed knew that he wouldn't ever get to sate his blood lust ever again.

(-)

Issei rose from the body of the now dead exorcist, not knowing his name or past. It didn't matter, after all, he was threatening Asia and was clearly a murderer and a psychopath.

Rising to his feet, but finding that his strength was leaving him at that moment, Issei couldn't help his legs from collapsing underneath him. Thankfully, there was a man to help him with that problem, that being his friend.

"I guess it's time to give you some answers," Sai said, lifting Issei up with his shoulder. "But I think you should receive some healing right now. Your body isn't used to using this much energy. Asia, I believe you hold a power that could help Issei here?"

Amazingly to Issei, Asia understood Sai's Japanese and meaning behind it as she said, "A-ah, sì!" and brought her hands up to Issei's chest.

Issei was speechless to see her hands glowing a green light and with that, his body's strength was returning to him.

"Alright," Issei said, now not relying on Sai to stand up, "How was I able to do all that," Issei asked.

(-)

After relocating to a much more convenient location than a corpse-filled church, Sai had invited both Asia and Issei to his house to discuss the real specifics.

"Ah, before we begin," Sai said as he made a magic formula appear before Asia and a reclining Issei, both on the large couch.

Annoyance rolled off of Issei's voice. "What's this all about?"

"You'll see," Sai assured him. Nothing about it bothered Issei's instincts, so he let it be. Asia curiously looked at it, but had nothing to say regarding it, until it flashed and then disappeared.

"U-um? What exactly did that do?" Asia asked.

Issei cocked an eyebrow at that. "I can understand her. I guess that must be some really convenient devil stuff." Turning to Asia, Issei said, "It's nice to finally talk and understand you, Asia."

Asia's eyes lit up at that. "Issei-san?! We can talk to each other now! That's amazing! Thank you, Mr. Sai!" Asia said, bowing to the amused devil.

"It'll help keep the conversation going smoothly and it's less work on my end," Sai said, explaining the utility of the translation magic.

Issei lifted up his feet on the footrest and said, "As if you'd run from more work. Just tell us everything already? You sure said a lot to Asia earlier, so why don't you start with me?"

"Sure," Sai said, taking a bow as he said, "My name is Sairaorg Bael. I've been stationed here in Kuoh Town for various reasons, one of which being to take a break funnily enough."

"Take a break? From what?" Asia asked curiously.

With a wry smile, Sairaorg said, "Training. It was Rias' mother in fact that cut me off from training any more and so I was forced to strike a deal with her. That deal includes me going to Kuoh Town to relax. There's a bit of fine print to go along with it, but that's the broad strokes. Think of it like mandatory bed-rest, except instead of sleeping I can't train too much."

"Well that sure didn't stop you, "Issei snickered, "You may not have gotten a full devil workout from the amount of power I can now feel off of you, but you have been working out in your spare time. You showed me that you had a gym here in fact where I know you'd be using to push yourself."

"You're right," Sairaorg said, "This trip has required me to be a little… flexible, so to speak, on straining myself to get stronger. Whenever I was in the gym with you, I was training my control to grasp a better hold on my strength."

"That's so like you," Issei said with a smile. Knowing Sairaorg for as long as he did, it was simply funny to hear of someone trying to get Sai to stop training and then Sai immediately finding a way to train under supposed restraints in training. Those restraints being the human world. "So, why don't you cut to the chase on this arm of mine. What is it and why do I have it?"

Sairaorg got up from his seat and roamed through the kitchen as he said, "It's really quite simple, Ise. You hold in your left arm what's called a Sacred Gear, gifts of great strength from the God of the Bible," he said, twitching slightly at the end. "This Sacred Gear of yours happens to rank among the strongest, in fact."

"Really?" Issei questioned, looking at his left hand. The Sacred Gear wasn't there anymore as it had disappeared on the way back, but it certainly did interest Issei. "Well, which one did I get?"

After ruffling through his refrigerator, Sairaorge found a water bottle and took a sip. After a sound of refreshment, he said, "The Boosted Gear. A Sacred Gear that has a few… extra features so to speak."

Asia's eyes were practically shining at that news. "That sounds super strong. That explains how you're so amazing, Issei-san!" Asia said towards Issei, looking in awe of him.

"Just call me Ise or Issei. It's what my friends call me." Issei said with a smile towards Asia, managing to just barely hold back from reaching out and placing his hand on her head to ruffle her hair. "I am a little hurt that you'd suggest that I'm not awesome without this thing though," Issei said.

"Wah- That was not my intention when saying that!" Asia said, concerned that her compliment had been taken as an insult.

Amidst the furious apologizing that Asia was doing, Issei just laughed and said, "I was only teasing, no worries. Now tell me, Sairaorg, what kind of powers does this Boosted Gear have. I can sort of guess based off of what happened to me, but I'm sure there are things I'd be missing out on."

While Asia pouted at being teased, Sairaorg spoke clearly as he said, "It's said that the Boosted Gear holds the Red Dragon of Domination, Y Ddraig Goch. His power is said to be able to multiply instantly and then compound into a much more destructive force so as nothing could stand in his way."

Issei squinted one eye while raising the other. "So, you're saying my left arm holds that kind of power? That's awesome."

Sairaorg hummed in agreement. "You've been using the Boosted Gear unconsciously in your day to day life even before today. In the past, you have multiplied your power so as to be able to finish a rep," Sairaorg explained before a teasing grin came onto his face, "So basically, you were cheating your workout."

Issei looked like he had been physically hurt by that comment, falling off of the couch, onto his knees. "I didn't know that I was cutting corners like that. I guess I'll have to make up for it when I train next time," Issei said with a competitive grin.

Asia was a little lost in the conversation, looking back and forth to Sairaorg and Issei. "Um, so what did these 'Fallen Angels' want with me?"

"Oh, that's right," Sairaorg said, shifting his eyes to her, "I already told Issei about it, but I forgot to tell you. The reports say that you were ousted from the church for healing a devil. I assume that means you were already using your Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing."

"Y-yes. I was using it almost daily to serve anyone who needed help and the church would facilitate it. I was even designated a name for this gift," Asia said shyly.

"The Holy Priestess, right?" Sairaorg said. Upon Asia's nodding, he continued, "Your excommunication wasn't as clean as the church wanted it to be. In fact, the whole report was riddled with weird parts in it surrounding it. Like the reason why a devil could even approach you." Sairaorg was carefully watching her reaction to that news.

Asia could only let out a weak smile. "Being excommunicated certainly wasn't fun, but I think I've grown a lot from it. I don't regret healing the devil; God opens his arms for everyone."

Issei was only hearing some of this stuff for the first time. 'Asia was excommunicated for that? That seems really strange, but who knows with the Church. It does seem like Sairaorg has some suspicions of meddling. It might be something to look into further.' Issei sat up a little straighter. "I'd say you're an incredibly strong person Asia to have to deal with all that. You should be proud of yourself. It's not easy to lose everything you know." He said.

Asia put a finger to her mouth while she thought. "Hmm, maybe I lost everything, but I also gained a lot! I've never had a friend before!"

Her smile was almost overwhelming for Issei. Thankfully, he redirected her happiness. "A friend? C'mon, Asia. Believe in Sairaorg a little bit. Even if he is a devil, I'm sure he'd be your friend."

"R-really?" Asia said, turning her big shining green eyes toward a caught off guard Sairaorg.

"Of course I will. It'd be my pleasure," Sairaorg said with some small hesitation due to not expecting this development. He looked to his wrist and said, "Ah, but it's looking to be around that time, so you two should probably head on back to Issei's house. It's been a tough night for the both of you so get a good night's sleep."

"Hmm, I guess I can take Asia to my house. You shouldn't just take advantage of situations like that. What if my parents refuse?"

Sairaorg looked at Issei straight and gave a smile.

'Ah, he knows that my parents wouldn't refuse any girl I take home. I bet Asia being as cute as she is is also a plus,' Issei sweatdropped. "Alright, I guess Sairaorg is right. Let's get going."

"I-is it really alright?" Asia asked. "I don't want to cause any unneeded trouble for you."

"The only trouble here is "Mr. Sairaorg", don't worry," Issei said with a smirk. "I'll lead you to my house. Follow me."

"I'm hurt, Issei, really. Now get out of here," Sairaorg said.

"Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow." Issei said, holding hands with Asia to lead her out of the apartment.

(-)

"I'm home," Issei said, leisurely opening the front door and peeking his head towards the kitchen with Asia right behind him.

"Issei, it's awfully late. Can't you get here any ear- Oh my. Who's this?" Miki Hyoudou asked, putting her hand in front of her mouth in surprise.

"U-uh. I'm Argento Asia!" Asia said in accented Japanese. Issei had tried to teach her some basic phrases in Japanese. Despite the translation spell still in effect, Issei managed to get through a few phrases.

"Ah, a foreign beauty. What brings her here?" Gorou Hyoudou said, resting his head on Miki's shoulder while he looked on.

"She's a friend I made today. I happened to run into her and help her out with a problem she has. It seems she has no place to go, so I thought it'd be alright for her to crash here. It is alright with you two, right?" Issei asked. He didn't show it, but he was a little nervous about the response. His parents are definitely kind, but it was weird to just let some stranger in your house.

Miki and Gorou exchanged looks. Issei couldn't tell exactly what was involved, but it seemed like a lot was being communicated. After they both nodded towards each other, Gorou took Issei by his arm and dragged him away from Asia, who Miki was caring for.

"Ah, but she's not going to be able to understand yo-" Issei said before being cut off by his father.

"Your mother knows that. She's just going to be leading your friend to the spare room," Gorou said, "Also, how're you able to understand her? You haven't mentioned any foreign language studies to us?"

"A-ah, I've been doing some studying on the side for it. It just so happened to come in handy," Issei deflected. "Also, if mom is leading her to the spare room, that means you're allowing her here?"

"Oh really?" Gorou asked, doubtful. "It doesn't matter anyway. I just wanted to get some things out of the way. Your friend isn't in some trouble that the police can't deal with, right? It'd be nice if we could get in contact with them and have their help in this matter."

"Hmm, may-" Issei started to say before he got to thinking. 'How far does supernatural influence reach? I don't want to get too paranoid about these sorts of things but Sai didn't give me a lot of information on the subject. Would I be making more trouble for Asia in doing so? I really don't want to take that chance.'

Issei shook his head. "I don't think so. It wouldn't turn out well," Issei asserted.

"Damn it," Gorou whispered. Turning towards Issei, Gorou put an arm around Issei's shoulder, "Let's drop the matter then. We'll take care of her, but you'll be taking care of her the most, right?"

Issei deadpanned, "I don't think I appreciate where you're taking this discussion, old man."

"Oh come on! My son isn't a wimp when it comes to love! Back in my day, I moved on your mother quite boldly if I do say so myself," Gorou said, grinning as he reminisced. "Despite what you say, I can tell you're quite protective of her, so you'll be making moves on her just like your old man did!" Gorou noogied Issei with his free hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just trying to help out a friend," Issei said, shrugging his father off of him. "I'm going to make sure Asia is all settled. That's fine with you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just be sure to get to sleep at a good time. It's late enough," Gorou said, turning back in the direction of his room. "Ah, but don't forget to be the man I raised you to be," Gorou turned back suddenly to tease.

"Yeah, I'll do my best," Issei said, walking up the stairs to the spare room.

(-)

"You're looking all set for bed," Issei said, eyeing Asia who was in a nightgown and sitting up in bed.

"I-I was given some clothes and was tucked into bed," Asia said, looking down, embarrassed, "Even though I couldn't understand a word she was saying, she gently tended to me."

"Yeah. My mom's pretty awesome right?"

"Yeah!" Asia said cheerfully. With her cheerful smile though, it didn't take long before tears to fall from her eyes. "I-is this what it's like to have a mom, Issei-san? It feels so foreign to me, but it's really comfortable."

Issei's eyes melted a little at those words. It was hard to imagine what amount of loneliness Asia had growing up without parents. "Yeah. Parents in general are there to be there for you. Friends do the same. Hopefully, you'll be able to get used to the feeling," Issei's mouth morphed into a smirk, "And what did I tell you to call me?"

"Ah, my bad, Ise. It's just… it still doesn't feel real. I feel like if I go to sleep, I'm going to wake up from this dream and not have you in front of me." Asia said, her smile wavering. "Ise, thank you very much. You don't know how much your actions mean to me. My, it must be the lord's intervention. For me to have had such good luck to meet someone like you." Tears continued to flow from Asia's eyes as she said that.

The reality of the situation must've fallen on her pretty quickly after being left alone- even for as small of a time it was. Issei guessed only a few seconds since he had passed his mom's winking face on the way to the bedroom. "Asia, I'm not going anywhere, so you can rest easy. My parents and I will be here for you tomorrow. Also, you shouldn't waste all your heartfelt words right now. You'll have plenty of time to say them all in the future."

"Right," Asia said, her tears stopping with a content smile to frame her face. Her eyes drooped for a few seconds before dropping completely. She was sleeping soundly in seconds. 'She must've been exhausted after what she's been through today. I'm exhausted after what I've been through today,' Issei thought.

With that in mind, Issei exited the room silently before heading to my room. Shaking off his shirt, he collapsed onto his bed before drifting off into sleep.

(-)

As soon as Issei felt like he was ready to truly fall asleep, having spent a few minutes in his bed trying to calm his heart and mind, he felt himself falling, as if weightless. Far too soon, the world fell away from Issei. Where once he was reclined on his bed, his covers strewn haphazardly over his legs and chest, the young man found himself surrounded in a sea of black, as far as his eyes could see. There were no structures, no distance or depth to gauge how far the landscape had stretched, and most importantly, he was not alone. Issei stared, his mouth agape, at the fiendish vision before him. A scaly monstrosity housing two enormous emerald eyes stared back at him, smoke softly billowing out of nostrils the size of the brunet's head. The ridges above the creature's eyes were as thick as Issei's torso, and the curved, serpentine snout only scant feet away from him looked to be filled with teeth that could tear apart a dozen men with ease.

Issei prided himself on his tenacity and his bravery, but before this nightmare he was powerless. Wetting lips that felt all too dry in that moment, he managed to croak out, his voice barely above a rasp. "What… What the hell are you?"

The creature shifted, a sinuous movement of tails and limbs and claws and neck that seemed to Issei like the turning of gears of some eldritch time-telling device. The eyes of the monster stared directly at him, even as everything else in Issei's field of view twisted and turned, coiling and uncoiling almost hypnotically.

"So," The beast rumbled, its voice gravelly and almost impossibly deep. "You're my new host then? I've certainly seen worse."

Issei gulped, shifting his stance into something more defensive, guarded and low as he beheld the behemoth before him. "You're Ddraig Y Goch," he whispered, his hands held tightly against his frame as he took in the sight of the Dragon of Domination.

"A learned host, it seems!" Ddraig chuckled, though to Issei it sounded like a thousand thunderclaps all at once. When the teen said nothing in response, seemingly still untrusting, the great dragon huffed, a billow of steam that would have bowled Issei over had it been aimed at him.

"Not going to say anything, boy?" Ddraig asked, the ever-twisting mass of limbs and wings and tail seeming to wrap themselves around the tall young man. The ancient dragon simply huffed and rumbled a bit more, before retracting, its long neck pulling back as Ddraig adjusted his position. Coiling an impossibly long tail around Issei completely, Ddraig y Goch hefted the boy into the air with incredible ease, bringing him at least fifteen or twenty feet into the air and face-to-face with the Dragon yet again. Issei didn't dare to struggle against the grip, though even the terrified 16-year old could tell that he was simply being hoisted, not crushed. It would have been so easy for the massive creature to reduce him to pulp, an errant flexing of the tail being more than enough to crush him into nothingness. And yet, the grip was simply firm, keeping him from slipping. After a moment, Issei realized that this beast was actually keeping him safe, preventing him from falling while bringing him closer to speak to.

"What do you want me to say?" Issei asked, a few moments of uncomfortable shifting and twisting freeing up his arms from Ddraig's grasp.

The Dragon of Domination actually laughed at that, a great booming noise that flattened Issei's hair against his forehead with its mere air pressure. "Knowledgeable of the situation and full of bite! A welcome change of pace indeed!" Ddraig bellowed, lazily uncoiling his tail as he gently but firmly set Issei down.

The teen regained his bearings with a quiet grunt, taking up the same defensive position as before. "I don't know much," he admitted, clenching and unclenching his fists reflexively. "But I do know that you're stuck in the Boosted Gear, and that the Boosted Gear is part of me now. I know that you've been helping me when I'm stuck and need to push through in the past, and I know that you chose to help me tonight with the Church. Why? What do you get out of this?" His tone wasn't accusatory, but even a simpleton would have assumed some hidden intention or cause for the great dragon's actions.

Ddraig's chuckling stilled, his eyes taking on a rather dangerous glint, or at least even more dangerous than he already was. "I'll answer your question with a similar question, boy. What do you gain from possessing the Boosted Gear? What will you do with this power?" He asked, and Issei could tell that this was important, that somehow this would impact his future greatly.

"I don't know much about the Supernatural," Issei began. "In fact, I learned about all of this a few hours ago. Before that, I just wanted to get strong, do well in my job, and graduate high school so I can get into a good college." He sighed, relaxing just a bit for the first time since this wild ride had begun. The tall brunet ran a hand through his hair absently, rubbing at the shaggy mass of brown that came down to his shoulders. He should probably start tying it up, he mused.

"Now? I'm not so sure if that's even possible. A whole bunch of people that I see on a daily basis have been hiding some pretty crazy stuff from me this whole time, including my best friend. I'm sure that I'll figure out what my goals are in a more complete way eventually, but for now? I need to get strong, Ddraig y Goch. I need to get very strong, very fast. I need to get so strong that the people in your world can't harm the people in mine."

At this, Ddraig smiled. It was not a friendly smile, but one of pride, a smile that promised only hardship and struggle. "Well…" He rumbled out, his sinuous head drawing closer and closer to the boy until his massive snout was within arms reach. "You've come to the right place then, boy. I've seen you training with your Devil friend these last few months since I started to wake up. I'm going to make all of that hard work look like a joke by the time I'm done with you."

And with that, Issei felt himself fall once more, deep into slumber.