Chapter 3: Waking The Fallen
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Never piss off a dragon.
This saying is universally echoed throughout most of the supernatural world after what happened in the Great War.
However, some people never learn.
Ddraig was pissed off. Like, Doom Slayer and Kratos levels of pissed off.
How could the devils so mercilessly murder his hatchling?
He didn't care for their reasons, he just wants blood.
As for what to do with his girlfriend, he'd leave that decision to his host. He couldn't deny that he was upset though. All Issei wanted was someone outside his family to care for him.
["Wake up, partner!"]
Issei stirred in his mindscape. "Ddraig?"
["Do you remember?"]
"Yeah. Everything is coming back to me. The World of Souls prior to my life, your training, the date with Yuuma, and my murder."
Ddraig then told him everything he knows about the Three Factions, the Great War, and especially about the devils' legal slavery system disguised as chess symbols called Evil Pieces.
["What will you do now?"]
"I want revenge, but the one who did it works for the sister of one of the Maou. I'll pretend to be a good and faithful servant, but very soon, I'll break free."
["Normally, a servant of a devil can never truly be free unless by the permission of one of the Maou or by promotion to high class, but the magic I taught you will be useful. Just be careful not to lethally attack your master while you're under her command."]
"Duly noted. By the way, why did it take me dying for you to wake up?"
["If I hibernate, a strong, emotional stimulus is necessary."]
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He woke up in his bed, feeling pissed off but using his training to hide his intentions and his true emotions.
The Gremory heiress was spooning him from behind while naked to heal him.
Not that he needs it. He has already unlocked his potential to the utmost degree that Ddraig imagined, but he'll continue to get exponentially stronger. He already has his Balance Breaker and Scale Mail, but around Rias' peerage, he'll pretend to be weaker than he really is.
Rias yawned and stretched. "Good morning, Issei."
"W-Why are you in my bed?" His voice comes out as nervous. He may hate this redhead deep down, but her massive breasts are still distracting. Stupid slut. Can't she put on some clothes? At least Raynare was still wearing hers when she transformed.
"Healing you, of course."
She went through the process of explaining that she's a devil as well as trying to flirt with him, only for him to give her no reaction.
He got up, got dressed, and left the house, leaving a pouting devil princess.
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Instead of attending classes, he went over to the ORC clubroom where he sensed stronger supernatural signatures.
There, he found Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou.
"Ara ara. Hello, Issei."
"Senpai."
"Why did you kill me?"
"Ara ara. Straight to the chase, I see."
"Cut the crap!"
Akeno's playful demeanor fell. "Very well. My master, Rias, your new king, is in an arranged marriage. At least three of us here are willing to do whatever it takes to help her, but I don't know about Yuuto-kun."
"Even Kiba..." Yet another name added to his list of potential enemies, although the way she phrased it made it sound like the blond actually has morals unlike the rest of them.
Then again, she could be saying that just to make Issei let his guard down around the blond, because when it comes down to it, Kiba has probably known Rias far longer than he has known Issei, and he'll always side with the redhead.
Therefore, he cannot be trusted.
"What will you do now, Issei? Will you obey, or will I have to electrocute you into submission?" She licked her lips as lightning danced in her palms.
Koneko stopped eating her sweets as she looked at him, only further adding to the tension.
"... I will help Rias get out of her marriage. After that, we are done."
That answer seemed to satisfy her.
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For the first time in his goody two-shoes life, Issei ditched school.
["Where are you going?"]
"The mountains, Ddraig. I sometimes would go camping out there with pops and grandpops. There's a place out there with several massive boulders out there made of iron ore."
["Wait, are you about to do what I think you are?"]
"Indeed. It's time I make myself a weapon."
Traversing out to the mountains, Issei activated his Balance Breaker and built himself a work station.
Flying out to sea, he filled a big bucket with lots of water and purified it using magic before heading back.
Then, he smelted several iron rocks by breathing fire, turned them into molten steel, used his armored hand as a hammer to bang the hardening weapons into shape, and put them into the now boiling hot bucket.
After hundreds of failed attempts where he'd test the weapons only for them to break easily, he finally made one that is both durable and practical in combat.
The sword in his hands looks like an exact replica of Isildur's and Aragorn's weapon, Andúril, in The Lord of the Rings, something that looks so ordinary but has an epic backstory.
"Heh. This thing will start out shitty but will be like one of those video game weapons that has legendary potential."
["Not if you use it correctly. What will you call it? You have to give it a name."]
"Early Retirement."
["... You're serious?"]
"I'm not one for fancy names. I mean, I could've given it something punny like Slice of Life, Piece of My Mind, or something, but fuck that."
Ddraig cackles in amusement.
Issei puts Early Retirement into his pocket dimension, but not before putting special draconic magic into its properties that will make the sword more powerful with every person or animal he kills.
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On his way back home, he stops at a park where he sees a blonde nun healing an injured young boy.
The nun spots him and, as if drawn to him, she approaches and says, "Excuse me sir, I'm new in town. Can you please point me to where the church is?"
"Sure thing. I'm Issei Hyoudou."
"Asia Argento."
As they walk, she reluctantly explains her backstory, how she was used by the church but branded a witch for having such a power, how she never had any friends, how her own parents didn't want her. Issei couldn't help but sympathize.
"Ah! I shouldn't be telling you all this. You probably wouldn't want to hear it."
"Don't be. I'm very sorry you had to go through all that. Sometimes it is for the best to say whatever is on our minds."
Asia smiles. "I guess there's just something about you that makes it easy to talk."
"Really? I'm glad."
Arriving at the stairs leading to the church, Issei felt a little light-headed. 'Must be the effect a holy site has on devils.'
The sound of a pair of wings flapping alerted them to the arrival of a gatekeeper.
"Issei?"
It was Raynare. She was surprised to see him so soon after his death but not shocked.
"Your real name? Not that Yuuma Amano bullshit," He demanded coldly.
"R-Raynare."
"Raynare..." He growled. He was angry at her, but not angry enough to hurt her unless she tried something again. "I'm here to drop Asia off."
"Mister Issei?" Asia looks at him in worry.
"Asia, the truth is that I am a devil. I wanted to tell you before you hear from someone else."
She was shocked but nodded. "I see. You're still my friend, right?"
"Of course!" He grinned before scowling at his girlfriend, if he could still call her that.
"Raynare, the next time I come here, I will bring the devils that reincarnated me into one of them against my will, and when I do, I will kill every last one of your friends and coworkers here except you. I have many questions that you WILL answer, do you understand me?"
He flairs his aura threateningly.
"Y-Yes, I understand..."
"Mister Issei..."
"I'm sorry, Asia."
"Issei," Raynare raises her voice, as if she needs to get something off her chest. "In two days, there will be a ritual that the others here will perform to attempt to take Asia's sacred gear."
"It will kill her," He concluded, shocking the blonde. "You're telling me this why?"
"I don't want you to blame me for it. You already have enough to be angry at me for."
He sighs and teleports away, making his girlfriend let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
"... I'm going to die?" Asia asks softly.
"No, you will not. Issei has gotten very powerful, it seems. He'll save you," Raynare reassures her as she leads the innocent girl inside.
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"So that's how it is," Issei finishes informing the ORC of the plans of the rogue fallen angels at the church and his wish to attack them.
"Are you crazy?! Attacking them could reignite the Great War! I will not allow it!" Rias screams.
He sighs. "One of them already attacked me, you insensitive daft cunt." The peerage bristles at his insult. "Besides, I was not asking for your permission, I was informing you of what will happen. I'm going there, and you will either stay here or you will help, but you will not stand in my way."
Quickly, he got up and left. 'All is going according to my plan.'
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For Asia, she could only feel dwindling hope and increasing dread.
However, that soon diminished on the night of the ritual when she heard screams and explosions.
Upstairs, Issei was wreaking havoc on the exorcists.
The rogue exorcists would shoot guns carrying explosive rounds, only for them to miss as their target seemingly phases out of existence before taking their lives. Every time he'd kill with Early Retirement, the weapon slowly began feeling less and less heavy and more in tune with his emotions, as if it has a soul of its own.
The peerage soon arrived. Rias and Akeno engaged with two fallen outside while Koneko and Kiba dueled an insane man named Freed Sellzen.
As all this was going on, three people downstairs were sweating nervously in Raynare, Asia, and Dohnaseek.
Dohnaseek scowled. "Tch! Raynare, cover me while I begin the ritual."
Before he could begin, she stabbed him in the back with a light spear right as Issei came bursting in.
"FUCK! I WANTED A STRONG OPPONENT! DAMN YOU, RAYNARE!"
"... I'm sorry?" She apologizes in a confused manner.
The rest of the devils came bursting in as Issei freed Asia.
Rias and co circled Raynare like predators eyeing their prey.
"Fallen angel Raynare, you've toyed with my servant's emotions long enough!"
"How did you know my name? Only Issei and Asia are supposed to know!"
"Issei isn't exactly quiet when he shouts."
Rias intimidated Raynare with her Power of Destruction.
"Issei..." Raynare shivered in fear. "ISSEI! HELP!"
He walked in between them and faced Rias.
"Issei, what are you doing? Get out of the way so I can take care of this fallen filth."
"No."
"I'm ordering you to-"
"I said no!" He shouted, startling her. "I have some questions that need answering. The day I woke up after you resurrected me, I saw something in the clubroom, a picture of Yuuma and I on our date together. I also thought back to how quickly you and Akeno showed up when Raynare tried to kill me. Tell me, Rias, did you know about what the fallen angels were doing in this town?"
"Uh, yeah?" She replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
His hair covers his eyes. "And you did nothing to stop them from trying to kill me?"
"Why would I? You're far too useful for your own good."
Before she could blink, Issei socked her in the stomach hard, making her fly across the room and crash into a wall, coughing in pain.
Kiba was the first to react as he attempted to retaliate, raising his sword into the air, but before he could activate Sword Birth, a powerful Dragon Shot hit him right in the face and blew him to smithereens, killing him instantly.
This frightened Koneko and Akeno so much that their fear made them use their last resort: Senjutsu and Holy Lightning.
Koneko dashed forward with the power of her people in hand, but the Red Dragon Emperor's malicious aura made her collapse and scream at the affliction as it picked at her skin and burnt her like a thousand fire ants eating her alive.
While she burns to death, Akeno launches her attack, resulting in a big explosion, forcing Raynare to cover her face, small debris flying everywhere.
For a moment, the Priestess of Thunder thinks she got him, but she let her guard down too soon.
Through the smoke, Issei launched himself towards the Queen and stabbed her in the exact same spot of her body that she stabbed him, taking in a sick sense of pleasure upon seeing her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates as she vomits blood and collapses when he retracts the blade, slowly bleeding out.
Then, as the life force of Koneko and Akeno slowly fade, he turns towards his first victim, the red-haired king.
"You bitch... You orchestrated my death!"
Rias, who was frozen in pain and terror upon seeing her peerage get destroyed so easily, could only beg for her life. "Wait! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!"
"You're sorry? You're only sorry that you got caught and now have to face the consequences!"
Raynare winces, feeling that his words were aimed at her too, and despite the fact the Gremory was about to kill her, she couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the princess.
Before he punishes Rias, Issei uses the purely draconic magic he has to safely eject his Evil Pieces to ensure he doesn't die for hurting his now former master, and he threw the pawns in her face.
Issei slashed at Rias' body, making her scream in agony. Every cut was non-lethal meant to torture her, his sword imbued with malicious draconic intent that made it even more painful.
["Good. She's too weak to contact her brother for help."]
"Y-You said you'd get me out of my arranged marriage!" Rias sobs.
"I just did. You never specified by which manner you wanted to exit the life your parents set up for you, so I chose for you."
"What... What are you going to do to me?" She whimpered.
"I'll break you mentally. Your betrothed won't want a person that is incapable of doing anything. All you'll be good for is being his fuck toy, and even then, he still wouldn't want you."
He places his hands on the sides of her head and channels memory-altering magic so that she forgets everything except that her servants are dead, making her gasp as her eyes become about as clear as ejaculate.
Rias Gremory's peerage are dead, and she, the king and the lone survivor, will never be the same.
Opening a magic circle and teleporting them away, leaving Raynare and himself at the church, he turns and sets his eyes on his fallen girlfriend, who gulps nervously.
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Sirzechs Lucifer was busy with paperwork when a magic circle appeared before him and out fell four things onto his desk that shocked him.
It was the burnt remains of Koneko alongside several smaller items on top of her: a broken sword hilt belonging to Kiba, a fallen angel feather he knew was once Akeno, and lastly, a charcoal piece of a devil's wings.
Rias' wings.
He screamed in agony and fury.
His wife and Queen, Grayfia, came rushing in to see what's wrong, only to be shocked herself.
Briefly thinking that Rias is dead, they're interrupted by another magic circle opening followed by the person in question herself.
"Rias!" He immediately dashes towards her, both relieved that she's alive from whatever attacked them as well as enraged when he finds her wounded.
His little sister curls into a miserable ball, her eyes wide with fear, mumbling to herself on loop, "Kiba... Koneko... Akeno... Kiba... Koneko... Akeno..."
"Rias, snap out of it!"
"Kiba... Koneko... Akeno... Kiba... Koneko... Akeno..."
Sirzechs and Grayfia exchange angry looks of understanding.
He swore that whoever hurt her would pay with their life.
To Be Continued
Chapter length- 2,800+ words
At first, I wrote it so that Issei kills Rias, but I figured she'd get off easy if I did that, so I rewrote it so that she survives but is mentally broken like this.