The Lone Vigilante Issei – High School DxD

Hey everyone, it's me Hide Shinyama.

It has been less than two weeks since the last chapter. I haven't been able to finish a chapter in this short a timespan since the earliest chapters of the story. Then again, I have had a week's worth of annual leave, which gives me plenty of time to write.

As I promised in the last chapter, this chapter is going to deal with the epilogue of the Stray Devil Arc. It will be relatively short, but the next chapter will (hopefully) be released more quickly.

I originally wanted to throw in the epilogue and the fun filler content into the same chapter. But because of issues of length, I decided to separate the two of them and make this one about the epilogue. Sorry to disappoint you…

And also: For those who can't seem to wait for me to get to the canon timeline, please be patient. I will get there soon, but much will be happening until then. And if I don't continue this story, then either I am incapacitated or dead.

Anyway… please enjoy… with…

Chapter 28 – Aftermath of the Strays

17th September, Monday, 6:35 pm – Johoku Chuo Park, Nerima

Although it had been cloudy and windy earlier that day, right at that moment the wind had subsided and the evening sun could be seen, giving the people in Japan a wonderful view of the sky. The trees and the grass of the park basked in the evening sunlight, swaying peacefully in the gentle breeze.

How coincidental then, that the wind and gray ominous clouds had disappeared about the same time Issei, Matsuda, Motohama, Ddraig and Ryuga had defeated and killed the three Stray Devils. As their corpses lay there bloodied, mutilated, frozen, sliced up – you name it – our heroes were currently sitting on a bench in the park and were explaining to the persistent Ryuga what had happened. They told them about how supernatural beings existed and about Sacred Gears like Issei's Boosted Gear. Ryuga also learned how because of Issei, Matsuda and Motohama got dragged into this fight against nefarious supernatural beings. Issei, Matsuda and Motohama ended their explanation by telling him about Stray Devils and everything they knew about those particular Stray Devils lying dead before them.

The three of them did make sure not to tell Ryuga about how they were escaped felons or how they changed their names. They did not want Ryuga to call the cops on them or tell it to someone else.

At the end of their explanation, Ryuga was massaging his temples.

He had to say. That was a lot to take in. And he thought he had seen everything…

"That's quite the story, guys…" Ryuga remarked.

"You can say that again… cough…" Issei nodded, while leaning against one of the armrests of the bench (he was still injured after all, but was still able to walk and sit). Truly, few people could claim to encounter supernatural beings or monsters and live to tell the tale.

"So… are you the only one who has this… Sacred Gear thingy…? What about you two?" Ryuga looked at Matsuda and Motohama.

Motohama and Matsuda looked at each other. Matsuda handed over Motohama's seax back to him and nodded, as if to say that it was OK to tell Ryuga.

Motohama took the seax and lifted it up.

"This is my Nordic short sword. Apparently, it can deflect magical attacks or something… and cut things up, like swords do, I guess. I haven't been able to use it today…" Motohama admitted sheepishly, before quickly showing his black glue gloves. "Oh! But I do have these! I can create glue cubes that can trap my opponents in it. They really come in handy!" he said with pride.

"That's nice… So… you've got two Sacred Gears?" Ryuga concluded, half-asking.

Motohama and Matsuda were taken aback by Ryuga's remark and looked at each other again.

"Say, are these things even Sacred Gears?" Motohama asked Matsuda, while gesturing at his gloves and seax.

Matsuda shook his head. "As far as I know, they aren't. They're just magical items, I guess…" Matsuda responded, not too sure about his answer. He turned back to Ryuga. "Well, my gift is the Chopping Board Type 2, a magically shrinking and growing helicopter. But… unfortunately… she got destroyed…" he finished his sentence with a look of sadness on his face.

A tense silence reigned between the four boys for a few seconds, before Ryuga dared to raise the question.

"How did she get destroyed?" Ryuga asked cautiously.

Matsuda sighed, before answering. "She got shot down by one of the Stray Devils here… May she rest in peace… it was nice knowing you, even if it was just for a few days…"

Matsuda closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of his chest in prayer, wishing Phoebe's soul to rest in the afterlife…

{Captain} a familiar monotonous robotic female voice came from Matsuda's watch, startling everyone present.

"What the- Who was that!?" Ryuga looked around in alarm and fury. He thought it was another enemy like the Stray Devils.

Issei and Motohama on the other hand, knew this voice.

""PHOEBE!?"" the two of them cried out in surprise. Issei had to cough multiple times for exerting himself.

{Correct. It is me} Phoebe responded as monotonously as ever.

Matsuda trembled in shock, as he stared at his wristwatch. "Is… Is that really you…?" he asked hopefully.

{Indeed. I have to note that just because the Chopping Board Type 2 has been destroyed, doesn't mean that I have died. For one, an A. I. such as myself cannot die. Additionally, as long as my system has not been destroyed, I will continue to function and repair the Chopping Board Type 2. This will take about 24 hours by the way} Phoebe explained Matsuda.

Matsuda's mouth stood agape for a while. Then his eyes teared up and he had to wipe them away.

"Thank goodness… I thought I lost you…" Matsuda said, while choking up.

Issei and Motohama smiled warmly, as Matsuda rested his head on his wristwatch. "All's well that ends well…" Issei remarked.

They all basked at this touching scene for a while, before Motohama turned to Ryuga once more.

"I'm confused about something. How did you find out where we were? In fact, why were you following us to begin with?" Motohama asked.

Ryuga leaned back on the bench he was sitting, his arms behind him, as he tried to formulate an answer.

"It's kinda hard to say," Ryuga answered with a shrug. "I guess it was your weird interest in my story that made me suspicious… It could have also been how eager you were to deal with these devils that came off to me like you were detectives or crime fighters or something like that… Whatever the case, I knew something was up. So, I tried to follow you after school, but you were gone before I could even do so. At first, I gave up and went to train in the streets, then I came across Kasumi Tengu who wasn't looking so good. In fact, she looked like she had been through hell!"

"Wait, wait…" Matsuda held his hands up to make Ryuga pause. "Who is Kasumi Tengu?"

"She is the older sister of Nakane Tengu, you know Sanma's fiancée?" Ryuga spat out the name of his rival disdainfully.

Everybody nodded and gestured him to continue.

"So anyway, Kasumi came running towards me, all messy, covered in leaves and frightened. I went up to her, asked her what was wrong. You know what she told me?" Ryuga asked rhetorically. "She told me that while she was out shopping, she was knocked out by someone from behind. After she woke up, she found herself in this park with this mean talking wolf terrorizing her until 'three heroes' came to rescue her with some strange weapons. It was then that I realized that she had seen at least one of the same creatures I had seen earlier. And as for those 'three heroes', well, I had a sneaking suspicion you three were involved, so I came running as fast as I could. The rest you know."

Matsuda, Issei and Motohama nodded with interest. So, the young woman they rescued from near death was the one who told Ryuga where they were… that explains a lot…

"But seriously, for all these 'Sacred Gears' you sure got your butts whipped easily," Ryuga made a snide remark.

"Excuse me!? Cough… cough…" Issei coughed after raising his voice in outrage.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Motohama demanded offended.

"Yeah, explain," Matsuda demanded indignantly.

"What I mean is that you guys don't have any martial arts training. For non-martial artists you may be decent, but look. From what I have seen, none of you have gone through any toughness training or else you could defeat those Stray Devils just with physical strength alone. Instead, you, Matsuda," Ryuga pointed at Matsuda. "You got knocked out unconscious. Motohama was about to be turned into dinner by one of them. And Issei… well, he obviously defeated his opponent on his own thanks to his… uh… Sacred Gear… yeah, that was it… pretty handy, but clearly with a lot of room for potential. I mean, if you can kill gods with it, surely killing some devils should be nothing to you. Am I right?"

The three boys gritted their teeth angrily. Not only did Ryuga's words cause them a lot of humiliation, but they also rung completely true.

Ddraig promised them that the enemies they would come across would become stronger and stronger. And seeing how the three of them almost died today, that realization hit them deep. Had it not been for Ryuga, they wouldn't even be alive.

What's more, Ryuga could back up his words with his deeds. He did take out the Stray Devil leader with his bandana – his friggin' bandana – in one throw! That wasn't something just anybody could do and unlike Issei, Ryuga could never kill a god.

Still, Motohama could not help but throw back some retorts at him.

"That coming from the guy that got traumatized by them and had to come to us for therapy!" Motohama sneered.

Ryuga seethed in response. "You take that back…" he growled.

"Yeah! Come to think of it, Motohama is right. If they were soooooo easy to beat, how come you had to run and hide from them the day before?" Matsuda pointed out with a smirk on his face.

Ryuga was taken aback by Matsuda's reasoning and tried his best to come up with an answer.

"There were… reasons… I… uh… just wasn't feeling so well, that's all…" Ryuga managed to say, which did not come off as very convincing.

"Oh yeah? And what reasons were those?" Matsuda challenged him.

"None of your business!" Ryuga shouted and clenched his fists, getting ready to brain them in. Matsuda and Motohama were getting ready to fight, as well, but Issei's coughing broke that mood.

"Cough… cough…" Issei interrupted. "As much as I'd like to see you three fight, I don't think fighting with your injuries is a good idea… cough… hack… And besides, I want to go home and take a rest. So, if you guys don't mind…"

Matsuda and Motohama broke their gaze away from Ryuga and turned their attention to Issei.

"Sure, no problem, man…" Motohama nodded. He had almost forgotten about their injuries and was feeling the fatigue come back to him.

"Here, let me help," Matsuda said to Issei, as he and Motohama approached Issei.

They lifted Issei up and supported Issei's arms under their shoulders and headed home.

Ryuga said nothing. He just sat there, as they made their way home, limping as they went.

It had been a long and brutal day for them, full of drama, deduction, death and destruction. They just wanted to forget about everything and go to sleep.

However, there were some questions on their mind that Issei could not shake off. How could they become stronger? If they came across enemies with similar strength to that of the Stray Devils from earlier, they would get killed. Ryuga's words echoed in their mind. He was on to something when he talked about improving physical strength. Maybe Ddraig had a few pointers. Who knows? Maybe they should ask Ryuga about it tomorrow at school.

But there was another thing that bothered Issei. Just how did those Stray Devils even come into their world in the first place? As far as Ddraig told him, Devils lived in the Underworld, so how could they come into this world?

And more importantly, who were their masters and why weren't they doing something about them? He remembered the recording of the first Stray Devil they had killed yesterday. She mumbled something about a mistress mistreating her in favor of Sacred gear users. He could sort of understand running away from that sort of thing and becoming a Stray. It was slavery after all. The Devils and their Evil Pieces system…

But whatever the answer to all of Issei's erstwhile questions may be, the two biggest questions are:

How many of these Stray Devils were running about in this world?

And… were their masters going to come after them next?

17th September, Monday, 7:12 pm – Occult Research Club room, Kuoh Academy, Kuoh

Currently, Rias Gremory was calmly sipping from a cup. In it was oolong tea that Akeno made for her. Being well-versed in making tea for tea ceremonies, Akeno never failed to disappoint Rias.

However, even that did not comfort Rias in her disappointment.

She, Sona and their peerages had gone out of her way yesterday to find the perverted trio and come back empty-handed. It was bad enough that she, Akeno, Yuuto and Koneko could not find them the first time. But failing to find them a second time felt even worse!

How could they just disappear? And where was the wreckage of the black helicopter. It wasn't like they could just fix it up and get it going again.

Regardless, of how they got away, she was once again at a dead end. What was she going to do? It would only be a matter of time until her wedding day with Raiser Phoenix came along. And there was no way that she would allow it to happen?

Rias put her teacup down on the table and buried her hear in her knees. What was she going to do?

Maybe she should try looking for another Sacred Gear user, for Issei Hyoudou is currently not an option.

Just then, a knock on her door was heard. Rias turned to the door.

"Come in," she said and the door opened.

In came Sona Sitri with a stern face as usual.

"Rias?" Sona addressed her friend.

"Sona, what is it?" Rias asked tiredly.

"I just received a report that stray devils have been sighted in Tokyo. There have been 45 victims killed so far…" Sona explained, but Rias was not in the mood.

"Not now, Sona. Besides, Tokyo isn't exactly in our jurisdiction," Rias stated.

Sona could not help but feel empathy, even if face did not show it. "Rias, is this about you not finding the perverted trio and the Red Dragon Emperor?"

"I… Well… sigh… yes…" Rias admitted with a sigh, while leaning on the sofa's armrest. "I just don't know what to do…"

"Rias. Whether you like it or not. Our duty is our duty. If we are told to hunt down stray devils, we do it – that includes Tokyo. If there was a devil governor there or someone from the supernatural world watching over that place, it would be a different thing," Sona told Rias.

"Except that there is none. Nobody has been able to claim that place as their own because of how big and uncontrollable it is," Rias added.

"Exactly," Sona made her point. "So, let us…"

She was suddenly interrupted by a sigil appearing in the room. Out of it came a tall man with long red hair similar to Rias and a short young woman with twin-tails and a magic girl costume. Both of them widened their eyes upon realizing who they were.

"Nii-san!" "Onee-sama!" they both exclaimed in surprise.

Indeed. But not only were they the older brother and sister of Rias and Sona respectively. They were also Maous. Their names were Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan, some of the most powerful people in the Underworld.

"Sona-chan!" the twin-tailed woman squealed in delight and hugged Sona tightly.

"Onee-sama! What are you doing here?" Sona demanded, as she struggled to get her older sister off her back.

"And what are you doing here, Nii-san?" Rias asked her older brother.

"We took the rest of the day off," Sirzechs answered with a gallant smile and chuckle.

"Yes! Because we love you so much! Ehehehehe…" Sona said, while rubbing her forehead against Sona's cheek – to the latter's chagrin.

"But we also came to tell you something else," Sirzechs said, his face turning more serious.

"Something else?" Rias raised her eyebrow.

"Onee-sama! Let go off me!" Sona yelled, as she finally freed herself from Serafall's grip.

"Boohoo… Sona-chan doesn't want to cuddle with me…" Serafall said with mock tears.

"Umm… Serafall, if you don't mind…" Sirzechs said to his colleague, suggesting she calm down.

Serafall got the message and calmed herself down. She took her seat next to Sona on one of the sofas, while Sirzechs remained standing and cleared his throat.

"Now… what was I going to say? Oh, yes! I'm sure the two of you are informed about the report about the stray devils appearing in Tokyo. Am I right?" Sirzechs asked Rias and Sona.

The two of them nodded and Sirzechs continued. "According to reports from our agents, the ward in Tokyo where they are reported to have been roaming is no longer neutral territory."

Rias and Sona raised their eyebrows with interest. "Why is that, Lord Lucifer?" Sona asked politely.

"It is because that area has been claimed and controlled by a certain faction," Sirzechs answered.

"A faction did!?" Rias cried out incredulously. "Tell me, Onii-sama! Who?"

"And which ward?" Sona added.

Sirzechs took a deep breath, before answering.

"It isn't just one ward, it is several areas, in fact. They are…"

17th September, Monday, 7:18 pm – Johoku Chuo Park, Nerima

"Look at this destruction, guys…" one of the police officers at the scene said amazed.

He had been to the park multiple times, but this is the first time he had seen the park so… chaotic.

There dirt furrows everywhere, trees sliced up and even the remains of blood, bones and flesh.

"Judging by the scene, it is clear that there must have been some kind of fight going on," one of his colleagues pointed out. "And the losers... were those… wolves… winged creatures? I don't know…?" he said and gestured at the corpses of the dead stray devils.

"But guys," a third colleague spoke up. "What's even weirder is that this headless female human with wings…" he pointed at Ako's ice-encased headless body. "…even exists. The wings were real and the ice is also real. In fact, evidence suggests, it wasn't even an hour since she was frozen and killed. Meaning…"

"…that something truly bizarre is going on…" the first police man concluded. The other police officers nodded with him.

"Say, do you think that the freezing of the Arakawa river has something to do with it?" said a fourth colleague.

"What makes you think that?" the third police man asked.

"I mean, in both cases we see thick ice being formed in temperatures on which water shouldn't even be freezing. I'm guessing that whoever froze over that river and froze this woman must have been the same person," the fourth police officer reasoned.

"Or at the very least, if there had been two different people for each of the cases involved, then they must have some kind of connection with each other…" the second police officer concluded.

"Hey, speaking of connections…" a fifth colleague spoke up. "…wasn't it a wolf who was the killer of the most recent murder case last night?"

"Now that I think about it, you're be right…" the first police officer said. "…it may be that the dead wolf here was the killer…"

"But who are those women with wings? Were they enemies of the wolf or allies?" the fourth colleague asked everyone.

"Beats me," the third one shrugged with his shoulders.

"Whatever the case, I think we should wait for Inspector Kogoro to arrive," the second officer said.

Just then, the inspector arrived and the men saluted him.

"Sir, we've finished securing the evidence and have come out to the following conclusions," the first officer said to the inspector.

"And what have you found out?" the inspector named Kogoro asked.

The men presented what they had found out and their theories on what had happened.

After hearing their explanations, the inspector made the following remark.

"You know, speaking of coinciding supernatural occurrences, I think I should make a phone call to Inspector Kuraido in Kuoh."

"How so, sir?" the representative of all the police officers present asked.

"Because he is the one investigating the mysterious black helicopter that flew towards Tokyo a few days ago," Inspector Kogoro answered, as he took a cigar to his mouth and a lighter from his pocket to smoke. "Call it a hunch, but I have the feeling that even that is connected to what has transpired here."

Inspector Kogoro puffed a smoke from his mouth, which went into the wonderful evening sky and dissipated.

17th September, Monday, 7:52 pm – the Perverted Quartet's apartment block, Nerima

It was a long painful walk for the three boys because of their injuries – especially for Issei. Something that was not helped by the reprimands of a certain dragon.

[I'm telling you boys that letting him into this is insane] Ddraig argued.

"Ryuga had already seen so much. What did it even matter if we told him about the supernatural or not?" Matsuda responded, while still supporting the injured Issei with his shoulder.

[It matters because… because…] Ddraig tried to argue, but could not come up with a response.

"Is it about this thing about not allowing people to know about the supernatural? If so, then I have to ask why the heck we should be keeping secret about all this when people's lives are in danger from that world?" Matsuda challenged Ddraig.

"Come to think of it, it is a common cliché found in anime, manga and other forms of media. You know, where everybody for some reason just has to keep the supernatural a secret just for the sake of keeping it secret? Why is that so?" Motohama wondered.

Before the conversation could continue, the landlord Hide came in. "Why hello there, boys. How are- ? Whoa! What happened to you!?" Hide asked in shock and pointed at the injured boys, especially Issei.

"We… cough… cough…" Issei tried to speak, but couldn't because of his injuries.

"We… uh…" Matsuda tried to make an excuse.

"Well…" Motohama tried to do the same thing.

However, it was Ddraig that beat them to it.

[We fought those stray devils that had been on our tails and killed them. It wasn't an easy fight, those three here fought as well as they could, but couldn't overcome the enemy had it not been for one of their classmates who just happened to be nearby] Ddraig answered truthfully.

The trio's faces showed shock at Ddraig's bluntness. Hide's shocked expression, on the other hand, relaxed and breathed in relief.

"I see… Well, you best get some rest then. I'll tend to your injuries. Do you mind if I come in?" Hide asked.

The three boys still showed shock, before Matsuda slapped his forehead.

"I always forget that you know about the supernatural! I don't know why?" Matsuda said in realization.

"You know, that sort of answers my own answer, come to think of it… Not speaking about supernatural occurrences is a natural instinct…" Motohama concluded.

"Cough… cough… No problem, Hide-san. Please, come in… cough… cough…" Issei answered the landlord.

They went inside the apartment. While Hide had the boys sit down and tend to their wounds, the boys and Ddraig continued their conversation.

[I'll tell you what. From now on, you tell anyone about me or the supernatural, you inform me first] Ddraig said to the three boys.

Matsuda rolled his eyes. "Whatever… as long as it makes you happy…" he replied disinterested.

Nobody said a word after that.

Issei, who was lying on the couch, was coughing and hacking. Hide was quick to fetch him some water, which Issei drank carefully because of the pain.

[Partner, once you have recovered, I will definitely put you through my training regime. Something that I should have put you through much earlier, had it not been for certain interruptions] Ddraig said, referring to their previous adventures.

Issei groaned, but reluctantly admitted inwardly that Ddraig was right.

He needed to get stronger – a lot stronger – or else he would be dead for real.

Issei feared the agony he would be going through shortly after recovery. Could he even catch a break?

"So, boys… how was your first day at school today?" Hide asked them, while checking Matsuda's body for injuries.

Matsuda and Motohama shrugged.

"It was fine, I guess…" Motohama replied.

"It had some… weird, but interesting people in it. But nothing too bad…" Matsuda added, though he could not help but frown at the thought of that jerk Sanma and how he had beaten them up.

"That's nice… any homework today?" Hide asked this time.

This caused all the boys to freeze.

"Umm… boys?" Hide asked worried.

After that, a loud scream of a certain trio of boys could be heard through the building.

The reason? They had completely forgotten about today's homework.

17th September, Monday, 8:00 pm – somewhere on the rooftops of Nerima

The sun was disappearing to the west and night was falling. Traffic was also slowing and people were getting ready to retire for the day. Others would start working at this time around, some of them being the shady denizens that exist in Tokyo.

One such person was currently on the roof a high-rise apartment block in Nerima.

"It's a sunset… And also, the end of the old day…" a mysteriously cloaked man wearing a fedora said, while gazing at the sunset.

"It's always been that way since the earth began…" he remarked, as he turned around and looked to the east towards the ocean and its distant horizon.

"But with the old day ending…" he continued, as he went towards the edge of the building.

"…starts a new day. A new era!" the man jumped off the building and plummeted towards the earth and then…

[FWOOSH!]

…he suddenly spread black wings from his back and flew. The upward draft carried his body up.

In the distance he saw others just like him, ten in number and flew towards them. They greeted each other with a nod and flew down towards the city.

"Now begins an era of opportunity and prosperity for the Grigori," said one of the winged men.

"Yes, it does. It wasn't easy to convince the Shinto Factions, but it will be well worth the results," said another one.

"Tokyo is a world city after all. Why wouldn't it be?" another one asked rhetorically.

"Unfortunately, we only got two areas that are part of Tokyo, while the rest belong to Saitama Prefecture," argued another.

"But it's a start," said the one with the fedora. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting them to be this generous. But then again, I guess they can be persuaded by the promise of Grigori technology and research, along with services to hunt Stray Devils down for them."

"So, what do we do now?" asked a blonde woman in the group.

"We scout the places allotted to us. Then, we'll meet up again and discuss the next steps," said the one in the fedora.

"Understood. Where do you want us to go?" she asked.

"Susa, you go to look at Wako with Shealtiel. Reuben will go with Elijah and scout out Asaka. Simeon and Levi will check out Itabashi. Sumire and Zaavan will explore Niiza. Zaccai and Laadan will fly to Kiyose. I will go and see if our allies the Stray Priests have arrived," the leader said.

Just before he was about to depart, two of the remaining winged men sought his attention.

"And what shall we do?" one of the two remaining men asked.

The fedora-wearing man frowned, but then realized that he forgot an area – something those two could easily scout.

"Yuuda and Yuki will search out Nerima. Now, if there are no further questions, then let us head out," the leader announced.

""Yes, Dohnaseek!"" Yuuda and Yuki responded and headed out with the rest.

The leader, known as Dohnaseek, headed out as well. And thus, the sky was empty of the Fallen Angels, devoid of any evidence that they were there in the first place. The only evidence there was, were the descending black feathers of the Fallen Angels.

And that was the epilogue of the Stray Devil Arc.

I have to say that for how short it was, I did reveal quite a lot on where the next arc was going next.

Yes, the next arc will involve Fallen Angels and Stray Priests. But before I get there, I am planning to release the filler chapter first.

The police will also get more involved in the future. But in what way? You'll have to wait and see.

And as for the devils, Rias and Sona may have lost track of Issei and the others, but since I will be getting into the main story line sooner or later, they will meet. I promise you that.

But in the meantime, what did you think of this chapter. Did you like it. Or were you disappointed because I couldn't release the filler.

Please read and review. I would like to hear from you.

And as always, I hope to see you next time.

Until then.

Hide Shinyama