Be sure to read the note at the end of the chapter. It goes through a few more peerage and plot specifics, which you won't want to miss.
Enjoy the chapter.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.
Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the High School DxD anime/manga/light novel. All I own are my original characters and plot twists.
'Talking'
"Thinking"
'Ddraig talking and Sacred Gear sounds'
"Ddraig thinking"
*expression*
Flashback
Chapter 3 – Fools
Issei Leviathan appeared in the exact same place he remembered the original Leviathan housing should have been. With Katerea being brushed aside for the new Leviathan, Serafall, it was logical that she would move. To Leviathan, this meant that Serafall must have taken over the old dwelling of Leviathan. For this reason, Leviathan was quite confused, when he exited his magic circle and found the entire place, to be devoid of all devil signatures.
"Just what happened in the time I was gone?" Questioned Leviathan in thought, as he made his way through the fairly well-maintained streets.
'A lot, actually.' Commented Ddraig.
Leviathan frowned at this, not liking the idea that he had missed a great deal.
'But honestly, for fallen angels to take over my old domain… I'm a little disgusted.' Muttered Leviathan.
Just before Leviathan could take another step; a glowing blue light spear impaled the ground in front of him.
'Halt devil! This is the domain of the fallen angels. If you come any closer, we will recognise you as an enemy and attack accordingly.' Spoke a black-haired fallen angel, with brown eyes. He wore black dress pants and an open black vest, revealing most of his tanned upper body.
'I see… now, when you say we, do you perhaps speak of an army of sorts?' Asked Leviathan curiously.
At that moment, two dozen fallen angels appeared, forming a semi-circle in front of Leviathan, with the original fallen angel in the middle, furthest away from Leviathan.
'Yes.' Said the fallen angel menacingly.
Deep guffaws escaped Leviathan's body, as he laughed in amusement at the fallen angels.
"Hyoudou, wake up!" Ordered Leviathan mentally.
'Huh, oh, what is it?' Asked Issei sleepily, from within their shared mindscape.
"Now is an excellent time to see how strong you are. None of these fallen angels should be too much of a challenge for you, if you could survive the first session of the wild water training. Add in your Sacred Gear and you should have little trouble with them." Explained Leviathan.
'Er, are you sure?' Asked Issei nervously.
"Just think of this as practice for your future harem. You want to be able to protect them, don't you?" Questioned Leviathan rhetorically.
'Of course! All right then, if it is for my harem, I'll do it!' Exclaimed Issei.
"There we go. There is the drive you will need to get stronger, now, show me what you can do." Encouraged Leviathan, before handing control back to Issei.
Meanwhile, the fallen angels had been staring at Issei oddly, as he conversed within his mind. One minute he was laughing, the next he froze completely for five seconds, before his entire demeanour changed. Whereas before he had appeared arrogant and assured, now he appeared anxious and excited.
'Let's do this, Boosted Gear!' Shouted Issei, as the familiar red and green gauntlet, appeared on his left arm.
'Boosted Gear? The Red Dragon?' Questioned the lead fallen angel, in confusion.
'Now, get ready to be crushed!' Shouted Issei, before his gauntlet let out a loud confirmation of a boost.
'Quickly, stop him!' Shouted the fallen angel, as four of his comrades rushed Issei.
Issei tensed in anticipation, before leaning his body back to dodge a light spear. In an instant, they were upon him and two of them lashed out with spears, aimed at his midsection, from both sides. Issei ungracefully dropped to the ground and quickly rolled towards one of them and sprung up with a right uppercut, which lifted the angel off his feet. Issei then quickly followed up with a left jab, to the angel's midsection, cracking his sternum and sending him crashing into a building, unconscious.
"What the hell, when did my punches get that strong?" Asked Issei in shock, while jumping back to avoid a slash from a light spear.
'I don't think you understand the power it takes, to survive wild water training. Add to the fact that I've merged with you and all your base stats have improved a fair bit, plus the Boosted Gear, which doubles your strength… well, you saw for yourself how much of a difference it can make… after all, multiple small increases in power, can quickly lead to a rather sizeable boost overall.' Explained Leviathan calmly, even as Issei narrowly avoided a light spear, thrown directly at his face.
'Boost!' Echoed the gauntlet, bringing with it an extra boost of energy, for Issei.
Issei charged another fallen angel and quickly slid under his legs, just like he had slid under a tree branch, to avoid a particularly close stream of water form Umimaru previously. Issei rolled over and quickly grabbed the fallen angel by his ankles and used his core to push himself up, slamming the fallen angel into the ground in the process. Lunging forward, Issei buried his elbow into the spine of the fallen angel, crippling him.
The other two rushed at Issei in a frenzy, working in tandem to force Issei back. One rapidly thrusted his spear towards Issei's midsection, while the other continuously slashed at Issei's limbs. Issei picked his moment carefully and after a particularly poor slash, grabbed the arm of the fallen angel and moved him into the path of an incoming stab, leaving him to be impaled in the midsection. The fallen angel, who had just unwittingly stabbed his comrade, froze for an instant, but that was all Issei needed, as he slammed both of their heads together, breaking their noses and causing the one who had been impaled, to pass out. The final angel grasped his nose weakly, before Issei slammed his knee into his solar plexus, causing his mouth to open in a silent scream, as Issei swung a double axe handle into the back of his neck, knocking him out.
Issei panted slightly, trying to regain his breathing, only to find the remaining twenty one angels, surrounding him in a tightly knit circle.
'Well, isn't this the predicament. I suppose you have two options now, Balance Breaker, or use my power.' Said Leviathan thoughtfully, unperturbed by the situation.
"How are you... so calm?" Asked Issei in surprise.
'Oh please, if they actually come close to killing you, I'll step in and demolish them, but this is training for you to grow stronger.' Scoffed Leviathan.
"Ddraig, Balance Breaker?" Asked Issei tiredly.
'Not quite there yet.' Said Ddraig flatly.
"Fine, let's give this a try." Thought Issei, as the angels simultaneously thrust their spears at him.
'Burst!' Shouted Issei loudly, expecting the fallen angels to explode.
Instead, the fallen angels simultaneously retched on Issei, while soiling themselves, before coughing out blood and collapsing.
'That… was… disgusting!' Shouted Issei, wiping the grime off his face.
'Hmm, well, you do have potential… although you need to target which fluids you target, or things like that will happen. Gastric juices, sweat, urine, blood… all of those are fluids and if you can't isolate which fluid you want to control, things like this will invariably happen.' Explained Leviathan.
Issei focused for a moment before the filth coating him sprung off his form, covering the downed fallen angels.
"Why are we here?" Thought Issei in annoyance.
'Just follow my directions, we may just be leaving here with a new recruit.' Said Leviathan calmly, causing Issei to quirk an eyebrow.
-line break-
Issei had followed Leviathan's instructions and soon found himself at a rather strange looking building. It had a dome shaped roof and was made of white clay-like material.
"So, why did you want me to come to a weird block of cheese?" Asked Issei in confusion.
'Just go inside.' Muttered Leviathan in annoyance.
Issei shrugged, before making his way forward, only to find two fallen angels in front of him.
'Stop right there! Who are you and what are you doing here?' Asked the fallen angel.
Unfortunately for the angels, Leviathan, and Ddraig… the fallen angels were girls.
Issei had started to drool, as he noticed their chests straining against the tight, black corset-like clothing they were wearing. Before anyone could react, Issei had lunged at the two and placed his seal on them.
'Dress…Break!' Shouted Issei in glee, as their clothes exploded, leaving their large chests to bounce free.
'You suck!' Growled the same fallen angel, covering herself.
'Oppai… I haven't seen Oppai for a full day now.' Mumbled Issei happily.
'What the hell are you doing?' Shouted Leviathan.
"I need my fix damn it! I was waking up to bare boobs every day. I'm going through oppai withdrawal here!" Shouted Issei mentally.
'Well, you wanted drive, this is where he gets his from.' Sighed Ddraig.
'Just… just get inside, I'll place the harem as a higher priority for the future.' Grumbled Leviathan.
"You got it." Agreed Issei happily, leaving the bare fallen angels behind, who both made no move to stop him.
Entering the building, Issei was surprised at how futuristic it looked. The entire place was painted a metallic silver and there was fancy looking technical equipment all over the place. From that point on, Leviathan guided Issei through the facility, leading him to a strange door made out of black steel.
"Is there any reason this whole place was empty?" Asked Issei curiously.
'Well, are you telling me you can't feel the fifty or so fallen angels behind this door? You better get your Boosted Gear ready.' Answered Leviathan.
Issei nodded, as his Sacred Gear appeared and nudged the door slightly. Surprisingly, it opened up rather easily, allowing Issei to see inside. The room looked a lot like a colosseum, only the centre was taken up by a large cube, which appeared to be made out of plastic. Surrounding the cube was three levels of plush chairs, arranged around the cube in an orderly manner, all of them filled with fallen angels. Issei counted forty-eight total, twelve sitting in each zone around the cube. Inside the cube, however, were two more fallen angels. It was what was between them, however, which garnered Issei's attention.
'That is what we are here for: her.' Confirmed Leviathan, as Issei gazed at the woman.
Issei was abruptly brought out of his thoughts though, when he heard her cry out in pain. Her legs were chained to the ground and her arms were held over her head by two strong wires, which came down from the ceiling of the cube. One of the fallen angels had just plunged a black rod into the woman's right forearm, which suddenly glowed black and dark blue. A strange purple glow then enshrouded the woman, before being drawn towards the rod.
"T-this… like Asia… that time…" Thought Issei, before feeling the Boosted Gear boost.
Issei's body was frozen for a full minute as he boosted six times, watching the spectacle in front of him. Suddenly, something snapped inside Issei, and he let loose a roar. The fallen angels were all startled by the sound, even the one currently holding the rod, which was piercing the woman.
Issei charged and slammed his gauntleted fist into the cube, shattering it. As it turns out, it may have looked like plastic, but it was closer in composition to glass, which sent shrapnel flying in all directions. Many of the fallen angels died in the initial attack while the rest were badly wounded, by the thick, rigid material, which quickly buried itself into their limbs and torsos.
The two fallen angels surrounding the woman were unharmed, but Issei quickly rectified that, slamming his left fist, gauntlet and all, into the face of the unarmed fallen angel, breaking his nose and launching him into the seats. As his back slammed into one of the chairs, it quickly folded around the chair, causing him to release a strangled cry, before slumping to the ground.
The last remaining and as of yet, unharmed fallen angel, who was also the one currently holding the rod, was frozen for a minute, as brown, sometimes green eyes, stared down at him. Issei's mind was churning with emotion right now, not able to think straight. He was only focusing on instinct now. The instinct that enhanced his disdain for fallen angels and wanted him to tear the person in front of him to bits.
The fallen angel dropped the rod and prepared to form a light spear, only for Issei to slam his right fist into his gut. Issei then quickly followed up with a left uppercut, before gathering what magic power he had at his disposal, forming a red ball of energy.
'Dragon Shot!' Shouted Issei, as he punched the sphere of magic, which quickly expanded and annihilated the fallen angel from existence.
Issei was breathing heavily after his attack, his shoulders moving with each breath, as his chest expanded and contracted rapidly.
'Who are you?' Questioned a voice to Issei's right.
The voice caused Issei to snap out of his thoughts and turn to face the woman. She had long, scarlet hair and brown eyes. Her figure was something which would have made Issei turn into a drooling mess, if this had been any other occasion, but seeing the multitude of puncture wounds along her body, caused Issei to refrain from his actions. She wore a torn white robe, decorated with crosses in blue, on both sides. The sleeves were torn off completely, revealing her skin to be rather pale. Her feet were bare, and the robe was cut off at her knees, revealing a few puncture wounds on her legs, but they appeared old, in comparison to the fresh ones along her arms.
'I'm Issei Hyoudou, who are you?' Asked Issei.
'What are you doing here?' Asked the girl, ignoring Issei's question.
'I'm not sure myself, someone just told me to come here.' Confessed Issei.
The girl looked at Issei in confusion. Issei stared back, before noticing her bonds and decided to do something about it. As Ascalon burst from Issei's Sacred Gear, the girl's eyes widened in shock.
'A Holy Sword! Are you with the church?' Asked the girl quickly.
'Uh, no, Michael gave me this sword, but I'm actually a devil.' Said Issei, before cutting the ropes binding the girl, causing her to slump forward onto him, her legs not prepared to take the weight of her body.
'What? An angel gave a devil a sword?' Gasped the girl in disbelief, as Issei severed the bonds, holding her legs in place.
'It is a long story, but there is peace now, between the angels, devils and fallen angels.' Said Issei calmly.
'Come on, I'll get you out of here, you need to get medical treatment.' Said Issei, shifting the girl in his arms, so she was on his back, her arms draped over his neck, while he held her by her thighs.
As Issei walked through the facility, there was only silence. Exiting the facility only yielded more silence, as the two female fallen angels who had been guarding the place, had left after Issei had stripped them.
When the two had finally passed the fallen angels, which Issei had defeated upon arriving to the area, the girl breathed a sigh of relief.
'Erza… Scarlet.' Said the girl weakly.
'What?' Asked Issei in confusion.
'My… name.' Said the girl, before finally allowing herself to get some much-needed rest.
'Erza Scarlet huh…' Muttered Issei thoughtfully.
'I'm honestly surprised you haven't reacted at all to having a woman pressing into your back.' Commented Ddraig thoughtfully.
"Hey, she's injured, I'll react after she gets healed." Thought Issei in perverted glee, feeling her large chest pressing against his back.
'Lust… why did it have to be lust. Envy I can deal with, but lust is just not my thing.' Sighed Leviathan.
'Hmph, you better get used to it then. Before he was your reincarnation, Issei was the very personification of lust.' Said Ddraig in amusement.
"Hey… Leviathan… can she be part of the harem… pretty please?" Pleaded Issei.
'You just met the woman.' Stated Leviathan in shock.
"But she is such a woman." Drooled Issei in thought.
Ddraig laughed to himself, as Leviathan slammed his head onto the floor of their shared mindscape.
'Welcome to my world.' Commented Ddraig in amusement.
-line break-
Azazel hummed to himself thoughtfully. A rogue group of fallen angels, who had been doing unapproved experiments behind his back, had all just been wiped out, if the two women in front of him were to be believed. That, by itself, didn't really have much of an impact on Azazel. Fallen angels had a habit of going rogue on him and with the new, but very fragile peace, which had been formed recently, Azazel expected it to continue. No, what really grabbed Azazel's attention, was the fact that Issei had been the one to do so. That single fact stuck out, like the lone nail in a plank of wood to Azazel. After getting every detail from the two women, he had discovered something rather interesting. Issei had used a move, not from the old set of skills that the original Leviathan possessed… no, Issei had used one of his most iconic moves. Dress Break.
'I see, is there anything else you would like to add, you will be punished, but any extra information will help lessen it.' Said Azazel calmly.
'Well… we may have held captive a former prospective member for the Holy Sword Project.' Said one of the fallen angels.
'Prospective?' Queried Azazel curiously.
'Yes… they had no affinity for Holy Swords, but… they held an affinity for other types of swords.' Added the other fallen angel.
'Demonic Swords.' Said Azazel simply, getting a nod from the two.
'I see. Please go to the second floor, Baraqiel will be ready to administer your punishment. Luckily though, the information you provided means you will only be mildly punished.' Said Azazel, getting two relived sighs.
'Thank you.' Said the two before leaving.
"So, the original Leviathan are you… to think, your bluff fooled us all. I suppose the real Issei is in there somewhere after all." Thought Azazel in amusement.
-line break-
Erza Scarlet awoke to find herself propped up against a tree, wearing what appeared to be a blazer, perhaps part of a school uniform.
'Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I didn't exactly have any spare clothes on me.' Said Issei, getting Erza's attention.
The boy was now lacking his blazer, the same one currently draped around Erza's shoulders. He was clad in a tattered, short-sleeved, white dress shirt, which had clearly seen better days, a red shirt under that, black pants, which were frayed around the ankles, along with white and blue sneakers.
'It's fine, I'm accustomed to much worse after all.' Said Erza calmly.
'I see.' Said Issei, causing silence to descend upon the pair.
Erza took the time to examine herself and found her wounds had been washed and dressed roughly. Looking at the material around her arms, she noticed it was of the same design as Issei's dress shirt, meaning he must have torn it up to make his hasty bandages.
'Thank you for looking after me.' Said Erza, bowing her head slightly.
'It's nothing. I couldn't exactly leave you there and I have my own issues with fallen angels anyway.' Said Issei calmly.
'I see.' Said Erza, causing a new silence to pervade the area.
'I don't suppose you could tell me why you were being held captive back there… I don't mean to pry or anything…' Started Issei, before trailing off at the end.
There was an extended pause, lasting almost a minute. Issei took this to mean she didn't want to talk about it and made to blow out the small fire he had made between the two, so they could go to sleep. As he stood up and prepared to kick sand over the flame, Erza spoke.
'What do you know of the Holy Sword Project?' Asked Erza, causing Issei to freeze.
'Uh, quite a bit actually, one of my friends was a survivor of it, the only one I think.' Said Issei thoughtfully, before sitting back down on his log.
'Well, I was once a candidate for it.' Said Erza disdainfully.
'Do you mean you survived it as well?' Asked Issei curiously.
'No. When they examined me, they detected no aptitude for Holy Swords… but… they found something else.' Continued Erza, pausing briefly, as she collected her thoughts.
Issei sat there quietly, watching the redhead's eyes dart upwards in thought.
'I had no aptitude for Holy Swords… but I did possess an aptitude for Demonic Swords. Looking back on it, that was the first sign of something suspicious. If this was really something to do with the church, they should have wanted nothing to do with demonic swords. I was ten at the time though and didn't think anything of it. I was naïve… foolish even, but I trusted them.' Recollected Erza, before pausing once again.
'Well, you were a kid, it makes sense that you'd trust them… even now… I'm probably too trusting myself and it has got me into trouble before.' Said Issei, recollecting on his tryst with Raynare.
'I suppose that makes us both fools then… in any case, they took me to a different facility, one without the Holy Sword Project, and that is where my journey deviated from this friend of yours.' Spoke Erza, getting Issei to refocus on her.
'They took me to what I later learnt, was a church taken over by fallen angels. The occasional broken statue was probably my second clue that something was amiss. The church may have its flaws, but it was by no means sloppy when it came to preserving artefacts and statues. Eventually, they started to run tests on me. Routine tests they said, analysing my blood, my capacity for magic, my aura, a whole host of things that I lost track of them.' Said Erza, trailing off in thought again.
Erza shook her head momentarily, before resuming her tale.
'Over time, they realised that I possessed a very potent affinity for all swords, just not Holy Swords. They started by testing my skills with elemental swords and I was very adept at them. They then moved on to other swords. Energy swords, strength boosting swords, all manner of swords, before they finally found a Demonic Sword to test me with. That was probably the third clue that something was wrong, why would the church condone the use of Demonic Swords? Once they gave me the sword, it resonated with me deeply. Its power was immense. Upon touching it, a few of the fallen angels around me were vaporised. This caused them to become more cautious and that was when I was moved to that facility. Every day, they would stab me with that same accursed rod, trying to extract my affinity for their own use, but it never worked. The first few times they tried it, more fallen angels died, that's what led to them forming that cube, to contain the energy. They also refined their extraction tool, using it as a power holder, instead of a direct conduit for the energy. They were never successful though. I don't remember when they told me, but when they wanted to try and break my spirit, to see if that would improve the extraction… they told me God was dead. It didn't really have the impact on me that they wanted, as after years of torture, I had already accepted that God would not save me, so I wasn't shocked by the news, I just accepted it. They didn't like this fact and finally revealed they were fallen angels to me, explaining how the church had abandoned me and that I was all alone… but I didn't care, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing me give up.' Finished Erza, a deep fire burning in her eyes.
Issei didn't know how to respond that that at all. A few months ago, he was a simple pervert, with aspirations of a harem. A little while after that, he had been thrust into the supernatural world, learning everything he did on the go. A few days ago, his body had been taken over and he had a new addition to his mind, in the form of the original Leviathan… but his life was easy compared to Erza's.
'Hmm, she is quite something. An affinity for swords of almost all kind, unwavering will and already at ease with the loss of God, along with anger at the fallen angels… she would make a good recruit.' Said Leviathan.
"Is that fair though… after everything she's been through; it is fair to put her back into things like this? Doesn't she deserve a break?" Questioned Issei.
'Why not ask her and see what she wants?' Suggested Leviathan.
'Um, Erza… do you have any plans for what you would like to do from this point on?' Asked Issei, getting the brown eyed girl to look at him.
'Not really. I didn't have aspirations at the beginning of the project, and I don't have any now… I'm just glad to be free.' Confessed Erza.
'W-would you like to stick with me? I mean, I know we just met and all… but after all that, I want you to be able to have some balance in your life. I have to admit though, if you stick with me, there will probably be a bit of fighting… possibly a lot. I kind of have a habit of getting into trouble.' Said Issei nervously.
'Do you have a dream?' Asked Erza.
'Of course! I'm going to be the Harem King!' Proclaimed Issei, getting Leviathan to slap his forehead and grumble at his new vessel's stupidity.
'What's a harem?' Asked Erza.
'Uh, er… I suppose they wouldn't have explained something like that in the church. Well, a harem is when a guy has a lot of girls he likes, together with him. The harem also does stuff together, like… live together and sleep together.' Said Issei nervously.
'So, it is something like having multiple wives?' Asked Erza searchingly.
'…Sure.' Said Issei, after a moment of thought.
'Hmm, that sounds interesting. Can I join? I know I probably look like a mess, but I'm sure I'd be a good addition. At the very least, I can simply protect you, as you gather your harem.' Said Erza seriously, getting Issei, Ddraig and Leviathan to all freeze.
'I can't believe it.' Muttered Ddraig.
'I've been alive for centuries and never seen anything like this.' Added Leviathan.
"I'm the luckiest man alive!" Shouted Issei in his mind.
'Er, do you really want to?' Asked Issei skittishly, completing different to his thoughts.
'Well, you did save me… and while I may not like what was done to me, I can't deny I did grow strong from it… and I always did want a family. I don't see why not.' Said Erza.
'In that case, I guess I'd be a fool to refuse.' Said Issei, with a grin.
'Well, they do say fools tend to flock together.' Said Erza, with a smile.
Well, that's all folks, but a little bit of extra stuff now at the end.
Here is the peerage so far.
King: Issei.
Queen: Rossweisse.
Bishops: Cobra and Kinana.
Rook: Orochimaru.
Second Rook: Decided. (from R+V, which makes it exceedingly obvious, if you've read/watched R+V)
Knight: Erza (I'm reconsidering her taking two pieces. I may or may not have her take two, but just in case, some suggestions for a possible second knight would be appreciated.)
Pawns: Undecided. (Although I have received some good suggestions. There is probably about one or two more spots available).
Also, did you liked the way I tried to weave Erza into DxD lore? I'll be doing something similar for all of them, like I did for Orochimaru, Kinana and Cobra as well, but I'd love to hear your opinions.
Now, the one question I have for all of you is this: do you want some of the characters from other media, to be paired with Issei?
Please let me know your opinions and thanks for reading.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.