Screams of agony echoed throughout the village. The devouring flames concealed by its blackened fumes tainted the crimson sky.
The once prosperous village on the verge of becoming a town by the state of Japan burnt to the ground. Its residents lay dead. Nothing but shard corpses remained. No men, women, or children were spared from the carnage.
The cause of it all was a black knight with oriented silver thorn accents decorating his jet-black armor.
The face cover of the helmet is shaped with a metallic face, with a long curved downward horn. His visor eye socket glowed with a deep red. Sword in hand, the black knight wielded a no-guard long thick straight jet-black long blade ōdachi, decorated with silver streaks.
He raised his blade, pressed close to his face, pointing to his opponent, red and black flames ablaze the long blade.
Black and red flames oozed out from the gaps of his armor, the long blade ignited by the strange flame. His back sprouted twelve black-red flaming wings. The eye gaps of his visor burst into an ordinary color fire, sparks of ember leaking out from the corner of the gaps.
Standing in opposition to the black knight was a beautiful angelic woman in her early thirties. With a well-formed figure, a bulging bust, fair white light tan skin, long flowing blonde hair that reached her ankles, and beautiful sapphire blue eyes.
In furry, her twelve golden angelic wings illuminated the blackened fumes of the crumbling town. An enraged blinding golden light consumed her blue eyes and pupils. Her skin glowed to a golden hue, healing the gaping gashes that decorated her body.
She wore a golden corset armor orientated with four silver feather accents in a diamond pattern below her lower torso, defining her slim waist and pressing close her plump gleaming breast. A golden amor dore a golden skirt that barely covers her upper thigh, over the skirt is a white long-tail tunic with golden stripes at lower stripe edges. Golden greaves with silver accents covered her lower thighs and golden gauntlets with silver accents reached towards her lower shoulders with the matching style. Added to the accessory following the same gold and silver accents design, was her 'M' curve tiara that protected her forehead and a golden chain collar attached to two small gold armor plates, barely covering her front neck and cleavage.
She pointed her rapier, La Pucelle towards the black knight. The blade of her rapier burst into a holy golden fire.
On her other hand, a spear-point silver flagpole bannered a majestic white swallowtail flag with golden braids that flew by the breezes of the hot wind. Above and below the flag edges were six Fleurs-De-Lis, a symbol of the catholic saints of France. At the center is a golden emblem, infamous to both the Devil Faction and the Grigori. Luminosité Eternelle, the holy battle flag that inspired her men during the Hundred Years' War and soon after her Angels during the Great War.
She is not a heroic descendant like some heroes or false heroes of this day and age using the name of their ancestors.
She is Jeanne d'Arc the patron saint of New Orleans, savior of France of the Hundred Years' War, and not completely human.
"MONSTER!" Jeanne cried out, lunging towards the knight with a piercing strike from her rapier leaving trails of golden fire and tears in her wake.
The knight countered with an upward swing of his sword.
Jeanne took one leap backward, in an anguished scream launching toward the knight again.
The knight struck a mid-way angle of Jeanne's torso. She flipped her flagpole in a reverse grip, the white flag blocking her midsection, it's golden light, protecting her from the black-red flame of his sword.
The knight causally spun his body with a hard right-angle stroke, Jeanne blocked the strike by the base of her rapier, causing a loud humming boom of their swords, that discarded the nearby flames and blackened fumes nearby launching Jeanne at the other side of the village mid-air.
The knight soared towards the skies at Jeanne, who regained her balance in a mid-air flip launching herself at the knight with a piercing strike from her rapier bypassing the knight's head. Keeping the momentum, she swung her flagpole at a right upward angle at the knight's torso.
The knight tossed his sword in his right hand, blocking his midsection from Jeanne's pole with a reverse grip of his long blade.
Jeanne grunted her teeth, doing a rising moon kick at the knight's jaw causing a sonic boom of the sheer impact launching the knight upward at the crimson sky.
Golden flames of her rapier wrapped around the edges, the base of her sword forming a firm golden molten hue. Jeanne shot upwards with a golden trail of light from her wings.
Bursts of the knight's flaming wing stopped his ascension as his black-red flame similarly hardened to his sword, red static electricity humming at the edges of the long blade.
Jeanne touched the molten golden blade of her sword with her index finger. Thousands of golden flaming bare angels mirroring Jeanne's appearance sprout from her sword launching themselves towards the knight with their flaming sword in hand.
The knight soared towards the hordes of angelic warriors, their blinding speed circling the knight in a sphere-like motion. Once in close, they launched at the knight at a piercing position.
In a dash, the knight broke his entrapment in a blinding black-red streak of his blade killing a large portion of Jeanne's flaming angels. The surviving Angels faltered, falling to the scorching ground, as the knight launched himself toward Jeanne, gripping his long sword far towards his back.
Eight giant black-red serpent flame dragons sprouted from his ōdachi blade, they slithered towards the sky at Jeanne as her remaining angels got up again and attacked the black knight.
The first dragon charged with his head at Jeanne, as she took a massive leap atop his horn scalp, with a mighty right swing of her rapier severed its head.
Two other dragons slither around her, an ember of black-red flames sprouting from their mouths.
Jeanne soared upward to the sky, escaping the two dragons' hold. The two followed her upward, slithering each other's bodies, and together burst into a large trail of black-red fire heading towards Jeanne.
Launching herself downward, with the tip of her rapier a burst of golden fire rammed the two-dragon fire, consuming the two dragons.
Jeanne flew to another dragon with a hard right kick to his cheek, sending him crashing to the ground and piercing the one beside her at the tip of her flagpole causing a large gaping gap that toured his torso to thunder.
She soars towards the dragon she previously kicked, piercing its forehead with the tip of her flap pole bursting its scalp into a black-red flame explosion.
Another dragon slithers right behind Jeanne, its rapid speed and massive weight destroy the nearby buildings of the village leaving a worm trail mark on the scorching ground. The dragon fires one of its black-red flames at her. She flies around the fire in a golden spiral towards the dragon with a right swinging strike from her rapier, severing its head.
The two remaining dragons slither around each other at an increasing speed forming a downward black-red flaming spiral.
Jeanne remained calm, her sight focused. Standing perfectly still as she twirls her flag with a golden illuminated light, planting firmly her pole in the ground.
"Luminosité Eternelle!" She shouted as the black-red spiral burst into an explosion from the impact, destroying half of the burnt-down village with a black-red explosion, shattering the crimson sky like a glass curtain by sheer force, revealing the starry night sky.
She frowns, her head hung down water leaks at the tear ducts of Jeanne's golden eyes. It didn't matter to her, everyone in the village was already dead by the first wave of the black knight assault. Even her dearest son and beloved husband weren't spared from the carnage by the monster that she brought to the world.
The knight pierces the last of Jeanne's flaming angels at her torso and effortlessly lifts her with the tip of his sword. The flaming angel grips the black knight's blade, preventing it from going deeper than it already is. She squirms, the kicks of her slender legs begin to slow down, and the flapping of its flaming wings stops, as she disintegrates in sparks of golden amber.
The knight flew above her as he gestured to her to attack with his index and middle finger.
Jeanne complied as the two clashed, moving so quickly leaving only trails of gold and red-black flames. Pounding against one another living sparks and the humming of their swords across the village.
Jeanne breathed heavily, her fatigue beginning to decrease with each blow.
During the Great War, they were evenly matched. But years of hiding and motherhood took hold during the ceasefire. Besides that, her calm demeanor under the pressure of battle was gone, fueled by raw angst from the death of the people who once again put their faith in her.
Only to fail them in return.
And with the death of her family before her eyes.
Jeanne held her flap pole in a reverse grip, the tip of her spear an inch closer to the knight's helmet, only to be blocked by a downward strike of his blade.
Locking the two warriors as Jeanne refused to give up her hold.
Her teeth clenched, and for a brief second her golden glowing eyes almost burst into flames similar to her nemesis. She attempted to pierce his scalp with her rapier only for the knight to move his head slightly, grabbing her wrist.
"WHY?!" Jeanne cried out, the two being face to face. "I was the one that killed her, why do they have to suffer!?"
But just before the knight could answer, the two heard a hard cough from the fumes of the destroyed village.
A twelve-year-old boy with messy neck-length black hair, white light tan skin, and a single remaining sapphire blue eye. His hand pressed on the wound where his other eye used to be.
"Mom?" her son cried out weakly stumbling on the destroyed roof.
Jeanne beamed tears of relief from her glowing eyes.
It was a miracle.
Her son was alive.
"Gabriel…" Jeanne whispered.
Her joy was short-lived and quickly turned into terror.
The knight's sight fixed on Gabriel. In a fret, Jeanne broke their lock by kicking the knight at both blunt ends of her greaves at his midsection. Freeing herself as her nemesis was sent soaring at a high-speed Mach cone at the other side of the village through blazing six flour hospital building as it fell on top of him.
She soared downward towards her son, clenching him close to her chest. Jeanne gasps in horror, her eyes widening in fret as Gabriel moves his hand from the gaping red gash. His hand limps to the ground, his body feeling cold.
Her son was dying.
She wraps her son by the middle pair of her golden wings, pressing him close to her chest, her golden light slowly healing the gaping wound of his eye. His fleeting life started to rekindle as his body began to feel warmer.
Just before Jeanne could fly off, she heard the loud humming echo of the knight's blade as he walks towards the mother and son at a slow pace.
The knight's voice echoes through his helmet, hiding its features.
"To arms, Arc."
I want to thank Shadowwriter01 for being my beta reader for my story.
If you are an Issei fan, but you want Rias and the Devil Faction to be called out for their crap. I recommend reading his stories. The different versions of Issei's went through one hell of development and the OC antagonists are amazing, Faust and Lamia being one of my favorites.
From stating the obvious from the title, this is a Stray Devil story. Focusing on the formation of the Stray Faction and the upcoming rebellion against the Devil Faction. Making the Devil Faction the primary antagonists in this story and would not be treated in a good light. Just to clarify not every Devil is going to be an antagonist, nor are there going to be allies. Think of it like Code Geass, while Britannia is a Social Darwinist dictatorship gleefully invading other countries. They're still good people within their empire and some in the military... They still fucking suck and I consider Code Geass a gray-and-black morality, rather than pure gray morality.
The story would most likely have a gray and black morality, the Stray being gray and the Devils being black.
As for how Stray could start a rebellion without turning into a mutated monster that makes you lose your sanity from the Evil Piece system, causing the said individual into a psychotic monster… well you have to read the story to find out.
Just in case I forgot, this is not a story for Rias fanboys. My apologies, but I'm not the biggest fan of her, especially how she handles things in the first arc and never gets called out for her actions. Also, don't get me started about the sheer arrogance and stupidity of her actions at the Excalibur Arc. If you disagree with me, feel free to send a review to disagree with my points or PM me. That being said, I want to avoid bashing as much as I possibly can, but I want Rias to face the consequences of her actions. She will have a minor role or less to do after the first arc is over and she will be redeemed in the far future.
Just to clarify, just because the Devil Faction is the main antagonist does not mean the Heaven faction and the Grigori would paint as saints given their morally questionable actions. It doesn't mean they would be an antagonist force… will not all the time and they will deal with reformations in the future.
The story would handle the inner workings of the politics of the supernatural world, using the information from the Light novels, including the Slash/Dog series.
I'm also doing multiple single pairings instead of harems. I know this is ironic since this DxD we are talking about, but you can only read so many harem stories until you get sick of it. I also prefer single pairings that develop relationships or have already established relationships. To me, just more rewarding and has a nice pace rather than having a group of girls or guys falling for a single character. Also, it's an easy way for me to get a point of the inner workings of the different factions, without using the main character all the time.
Speaking of which, does anyone know where I could find and single a pairing of an OC x Irina story? Or a Xenovia x OC story or a Kiba x Xenovia story or perhaps a Shirou Emiya story with her as a single pairing?