Chapter IX


The ride home was, to put it bluntly, awkward.

Not that the car was uncomfortable. Apparently, being a government agent, Ms. Smith had all sorts of perks up to and including a very fancy ride, and the ability to just drive through the blockades that the police set up in the middle of town as a response to the 'gas explosion' that happened earlier.

Though it was a touch strange that their driver, dressed in a suit almost identical to Ms. Smith's, paled when he approached and only relaxed after a few quick, whispered words. The man still hadn't managed to speak to Issei and it was a bit weird.

'But, well, I did… kinda do a bit of damage.'

He winced at the reminder as they passed by a familiar street with a massive hole in the asphalt, which was now littered with broken glass and way more stone than what the buildings around it had.

'Maybe I went overboard a bit.'

Granted, at the time he didn't have much choice other than running or fighting but looking at the aftermath Issei couldn't help but grimace as construction equipment was used to lift and lug around the masses of white stone he'd used to trap the goddesses back then.

He knew that whatever he created stuck around.

Hell, he'd almost immediately began testing to make sure it did back when he figured out he had powers. His first conjurations, mostly rough stones of unshaped marble, were still sitting next to his bed with their dates of creation written on them in permanent marker.

Unfortunately there wasn't any time to plan or consider his options when the two, Stheno and Euryale, burst onto the scene. All he could do was try and lure them away while doing his best to stop them from turning more than the street into rubble.

Only now he realized he had already done it for them.

"You shouldn't feel that bad about it, you know?"

Issei looked at the agent in surprise and confusion.

"How can I not? I wrecked the place." Was she seeing the same thing he was? There was no way this wasn't a lot of damage. "Kuoh's my home and I don't… I don't want to just mess it up."

She shrugged.

"You would be surprised by how much damage Campione and Heretic Gods can cause when they fight. Ten years ago, a fight broke out in the middle of the ocean. It caused an earthquake that hit the Ryukyu Islands. Fortunately no one was hurt, but had the fight happened any closer there would be no way to tell how much worse the damage would have been."

An earthquake?! That was insane!

"H-How…"

"How is that possible? When you live long enough you learn that the world is much bigger than you first realized. I was just starting out as an agent back then, and while there weren't any casualties, it was only through luck. And I do mean pure luck - not one of our preparations would have been able to stop the chaos if it had been more powerful. So as tactless as it might sound coming from me… not all Heretic Gods are as… small time as the ones you fought."

Gods stronger than the trio?

That sounded terrifying.

Even if the other two weren't exactly as tough as Dusa-chan… that was because he had magic powers now. The fight itself had been a rush, and yet it left not only the street they were at wrecked, but probably demolished the old building at Kuoh as well.

The very antique, likely expensive building.

"Man, my parents are gonna be so mad when they find out."

Smith chuckled, making a turn down another street where a number of news outlet vans were parked, their crews hard at work as they tried to find the perfect angle to catch the ruined street.

Issei realized with disappointment that he would be missing the weather forecast today.

No weather lady, it seemed.

"Why is everyone here? Shouldn't they be at the school?" He figured that a building collapsing at one of the most popular schools in the country would be breaking news, and yet they were all parked here.

"Your fight at the school apparently took place inside of a special barrier. No one outside noticed a thing, which makes our jobs here much easier."

Barrier?

That was the first he heard of it.

"They can fix the school before classes tomorrow?" Because he was sure everyone would notice the ruined building the moment they went to school. So it was either try to hide it or warn students not to come to class on the second day of the school year.

Which would get everyone curious over what happened.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the damage. There are some locals who'll fix it up with their own magic over night, and the Committee will cover up the real reason. By the end of the week, everyone will just think this was a freak explosion. We might not even have to mention it to your parents if you don't want to."

That felt kinda cheap.

Now, don't get him wrong, not getting into trouble over being attacked in the middle of a date and having to defend himself was great, but at the same time Issei didn't want to pretend he didn't have anything to do with what happened today.

With what happened to them.

Still, he'd figure something out later.

"You said there were some local guys, right? How come I didn't see anyone try and help when the fight started?" Because he really could have gone without Euryale's spear going through his stomach, and as much as he appreciated Athena telling him stuff, the explanation she gave wasn't exactly detailed.

"I imagine they had their reasons. Not everyone has the power or the guts to walk up to a Heretic God and pick a fight with them. Only crazy people do that."

Issei scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Guess that makes me the crazy one, huh?"

"Campione are the exception, of course, those who manage to slay a god and plunder their abilities might as well be considered the natural enemies of gods like those. Though… I imagine you didn't think what you did was impossible at the time, right?"

Back at the ship?

Well, it's not like he had much time to think about things. He just had to come up with a plan to survive, a way that he could save the others that were hiding with him, and maybe try and stop Dusa before she escaped from the ship and into whatever country they landed on.

"Yeah, I was pretty much on auto-pilot for a good bit."

"Seems to be a common occurrence, as far as we can tell. Reports on the birth of god slayers are scarce and spotty at best."

Oh yeah, he forgot to ask!

"There are others like me? You mentioned a fight against a god before."

Smith winced, the first outwardly negative expression she'd shown him today. The kinda face one made when they bit into something only to realize it was either spoiled or not at all what they ordered.

"Counting you, there are now seven Campione. The closest one lives in mainland China, with another one across the sea in America."

And one of them was involved in causing an earthquake?

Sheesh.

That sounded… terrifying actually. Even if he'd fought Dusa and her sisters, Issei still couldn't think of them, couldn't imagine himself, strong enough to do something as ridiculous as that. Not that they weren't scary themselves… but the scale was just completely different.

'I thought it was a dating sim. But it seems more like a hack and slash.' And he'd been looking forward to starting his new life as a prospective Harem King too, but apparently japanese laws were still strictly against the practice of polygamy.

Really, Issei should have seen it coming.

'It's just not gonna be easy, huh?'

This whole godslayer business sounded so nice when Athena explained it to him, he figured that he would ask just to be on the safe side, and to warn them that he didn't want any 'inherited a mansion with a set of maids' subplots out of this. Though having a mansion would be nice, as a Harem King, Issei's honest wish was to fill that mansion himself.

With those who appreciated his own greatness!

That was how a Harem King should be.

"You are thinking about something lewd again, aren't you?"

Issei snapped back to reality, cheeks coloring as he was caught drooling over his fantasies once again by the agent. He really hoped she wasn't gonna tell her boss about this. Imagine turning into a rare godslayer and somehow still get saddled with the reputation of a pervert?

Middle school was bad enough.

"N-No I wasn't!"

Smith smiled at him, shooting Issei a look that said she wasn't buying it.

"Well look alive, boya. We arrived." True to form, Issei chose that exact moment to realize that this was indeed the street where he lived, and that was of course his house right over there, and of course, most worryingly, those happened to be his parents waiting outside, looking torn between worry, relief, annoyance, and confusion.

'Yeah, I didn't expect to get escorted home either.'

He could understand how they felt. And the night was about to get even weirder for them.

"I guess it's show time."

How did you tell someone their kid was some sort of magical super hero?


Meanwhile


Sitri Household


Life was stress.

It was stressful, painful, and exhausting.

Despite how pop culture liked to portray it, magic wasn't an effortless act through which mana was weaved and then shot at the target, capable of achieving any objective so long as the user was powerful enough. And despite how many Devils felt about it, their own magic wasn't nearly as effortless as some liked to pretend it was.

At least, technically so.

To an extent the Power of Imagination, a gift held by Devil's by their nature, could simply do just that. If you had an infinite battery, an infinite capacitor, and infinite output a Devil could, maybe, possibly, do literally anything with pure brute force. But any Devil that could do that wouldn't be a Devil any longer.

An Arch-Devil or Devil-God, things that even the original Satans only spoke of in whispers and existed as little more than folk tales thrust back into prominence by the Super Devils like Ajuka Beelzebub and Sirzechs Lucifer.

For a Devil, magic was the power of imagination, too.

But even imagination needed brainpower in order to work.

No matter how much power they had, their bodies, magical constructs even more than they were flesh and blood, would simply explode or their souls burn out long before that much raw power was unleashed.

Beings like the current Satans weren't dangerous purely because they were strong, but because they could control and guide that power. Ajuka, allegedly, only had about as much power as an elder High Class Devil… but was so precise, so lethal, so absolutely and perfectly in control of it, he was able to contend with even Sirzechs' true form. That was untrue, of course, Sona herself was aware of exactly how insanely, absurdly powerful that man was. But even then he simply couldn't measure up to his sworn brother and fellow ruler.

And no one really thought of Lucifer as a Devil anymore.

'No, that man is a monster… a kind one. That loves his family. But a monster in the shape of a Devil. And one time Rias mentioned that he wasn't actually… mortal anymore. But wouldn't say more.'

In the end, such concerns were beyond one like herself. And Sona knew that.

So putting together a building that had all but collapsed on itself, especially after having to clean up massive quantities of magical materials thrown about by a reckless Campione, was tiring.

"At the very least it was good practice, for both of us."

Eyes closed, towel secured around her chest, the Sitri heiress leaned back against the warm, smooth walls of the sauna. Sighing at her aching muscles when Rias sat down next to her.

"I still think it would have been best to put that off till tomorrow. It took several hours for me to figure out those restoration formulas and poor Tsubaki nearly collapsed."

Another sigh, this one of relaxation.

"And if we put it off till tomorrow, it would have been even worse. Now you get to spend the rest of the evening doting on your peerage."

Rias's snort was derisive and distinctly unladylike.

"Because you aren't going to spoil yours rotten the second I leave."

Sona wisely declined to confirm or deny the allegation.

Of course, unlike Rias who got to laze around in the mornings and had the afternoons to herself, Sona was the one in charge of the city while the sun was up. So this would be a short reprieve until she had to get up and start handling her own share of problems come sunrise.

"So, why did you want to meet in here? Not that I mind the chance to relax, but it's not like you to choose the spa when it's your turn to pick our tea place."

"Because." Sona let a little anger creep into her words. "I just spent two hours serving as a magical battery while you rifled through my notebooks."

"Heh." The redhead had the decency to blush. "Mine did get kind of blown up…?"

"They didn't exist in the first place."

"Mouuuu, Sona, don't pick on me right now. My brain hurts."

The heiress waved her friend off.

"I'll tutor you later. But this place also has some of the best anti-spying spells in the local cluster. All because our siblings were terrified we'd be peeped on. That it is able to resist anything short of a direct magical attack by an Arch-Angel at full power is simply convenient."

"Ah. So the Committee and Agent Amakasu. I'd say the damage is only… moderate."

Turning to face her friend, the water-witch needed a few seconds to follow Rias's train of thought and came up with nothing.

"And how do you figure that? From my perspective, it's a total disaster. We don't have confirmation of the Campione's identity or disposition, they are in the Committee's custody, which now has the advantage of first contact, and already likely have them well in hand. For now, at least, assuming it was a student. Few teenagers have the willpower or forethought to realize what being a Campione means."

That got a snicker.

"Sona, Sona, Sona. It seems I finally got one over you."

The Sona in question, who allegedly had just been overtaken, pinched her friend's cheek.

"Ow, ow, ow, I give, I give! Here!"

Fishing a small orb out of her cleavage, Rias produced a small, red sphere and channeled a bit of power into it.

"Oh. Very well done, little Gasper." Taking it in the heiress immediately recognized the young man the memory orb had captured. A familiar face framed by light hazel hair and eyes that while playful and eager in her portfolio in Gasper's recorded memory looked fierce and protective.

"Issei Hyoudou, huh?"

Rias turned to her in surprise.

"You recognize him?"

"I was scouting him for my peerage and was prepared to approach later this week. He showed promise."

Rubbing her cheek, Sona's friend, who might actually have used her brain for once, had probably given them a greater advantage than even she realized. And yes she was a bit snippish but the Sitri was entitled to that now and then. Especially when it had taken her hours to get spider silk out of her hair.

"I was looking him up, too, you know?"

A giggle.

"You were scouting to see if he had a sacred gear based on a hunch - I was the one who bothered making a profile."

Rias crossed her arms under her chest, making a statement and issuing a challenge.

"And based on what you told me about his perfectly healthy desires, I would have had the best chance at recruiting him~"

Eyes narrowed, Sona considered doing something silly.

Instead, she snapped her finger and doused her friend with a small dragon of ice cold water.

"Kyaaaah!"

Satisfied with her victory, and letting go of the issue with Athena, they had survived with nothing worse than damage to their egos, the heiress finally relaxed.

"I'll assign some of my peerage to double check and update all my records on him. My contact at the prefecture record's office should be able to get me everything from his birth certificate to unredacted medical records. Thankfully, corruption moves much more swiftly than bureaucracy."

Rias, with a new towel and a small glare, sat down.

"Hmph. I still say he was the one with a Sacred Gear."

"All you had was a hope and a dream, Rias. Actual analysis and recruitment work trumps the advice you got from a fortune teller in Kyoto. Don't go recruiting people based on hunches."

Really, friend or not, the redhead could stand to be more level headed.

"I'm telling you, it was good advice! Akeno told me it was a legitimate fortune reading!" Blushing, she continued. "Still, I am sorry about getting you into a fight with a Heretic God of all things. That wasn't my intention."

Sona smiled.

"You were worried about Gasper, rightfully so. , what do we actually do about the HCC? I have no desire to face them without a plan. Preferably one

that doesn't involve running to my sister or your brother with our tails between our legs."

"Well… can we reincarnate a Campione?"

Rias's suggestion was absurd, but, well, Sona did bite back her immediate, vehement rebuttal.

"Not us, no. But perhaps one of the Satans?" It wasn't… impossible. Nothing really was if you had enough power and gall. "Though I struggle to imagine what the consequences might be. Instinctively, I would suggest it would be like reincarnating a middling, pure Angel. So deeply unpleasant and potentially resulting in a violent psychosis, due to the conflict between the Faith-Magic-Energy inherent to Campione and a clash with Devil magic. Testing would be required to say more.""

And that wasn't considering the fact it might not even stick.

Campione were reputed for their ability to resist and outright reject spells, even if an evil piece capable of safely reincarnating one was developed… the chance that the process could be undone by them wasn't zero.

And if it wasn't Zero then it was 'likely'.

"But to think we got tripped up like this. And by civil servants no less?" No, Sona wasn't pouting. She most certainly wasn't upset at the fact she spent an entire hour exchanging pleasantries with an office drone who left before anything of use could be discussed.

"Well, we have another meeting in three days. Probably best we get ready for that." Rias stretched. "Now, I'll go figure out a letter to send to your sister and you can make one for Grayfia. Deal?"

"Deal."

Neither of them was looking forward to that conversation.


Hyoudou Household


"Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Hyoudou… he is a Wizard."

There was a tense pause as the agent's words hung in the air. Followed by the faint sound of Issei's palm meeting his face in embarrassment.

He really should have expected this.

The moment they got home, his parents had been… well… worried sick. They thanked the kind lady for bringing him back and asked if he was in any trouble. By that point Issei wondered how a guy who supposedly killed a god was meant to avoid getting grounded for staying out past curfew.

Fortunately, Smith was there to explain things to his parents.

Well, he said explain, but it was more like lying to them.

Because there was no way Issei was gonna tell them that he'd fought not one, but three goddesses and somehow lived to tell the tale. So instead he and the agent came up with a story that, while not quite all lies, wasn't exactly all truths either.

'But did she have to explain it like that?'

Going by the looks of confusion on their faces, they didn't seem to understand either.

"The reference didn't land? And here I thought everyone read that wizard book. Maybe a more local example then? How familiar are you two with figures like Abe no Seimei anyway? I'm honestly of the opinion that we're way past the time where magical folks should be messing around with politics, but try and tell a bunch of hardliners that."

Issei was gonna get a migraine.

'Actually, I think I already have one.' Going by the pounding on the side of his head.

Fortunately his parents looked just as offput as he was.

"I'm sorry? I think I must have heard you wrong. What do you mean by… wizard? Magic? Like in the performances you see at festivals?"

Poor Dad looked completely lost trying to make sense of it.

"If only it were that simple. Sorry to say that we are past historical fiction and all the way into urban fantasy, Mr. Hyoudou. I'm sure that you two are well aware of the strange incident of a month ago, the one in which the entire crew of a ship, both staff and cruisers, mysteriously lost consciousness."

"I thought that was…"

"A gas leak? Yes, it was a cover up. We could hardly explain to everyone on that ship that what happened was supernatural in nature and expect them not to say anything."

His mother turned to look at him with dawning realization.

'Crap'.

The families of the kids he looked after came up to them to thank him after the mess at the ship and at the time his parents hadn't thought much of it, figuring that he'd only fetched the other kids food or kept them distracted until everyone woke up, no one had actually taken them particularly seriously and Issei had downplayed their thanks in public, while privately encouraging them to not worry about it.

He knew what it was like to not be believed, after all.

Only now his parents realized there had been actual danger involved.

'Just not how much.' In the end, Issei at the very least wanted his parents to be aware that something did happen even if he asked Smith not to tell them about Dusa-chan, or how they'd been petrified along with almost everyone else.

They didn't need to know that.

It would only hurt them.

"And you are saying our son was involved with that?"

Agent Smith shook her head, placating the now defensive parents.

"Nothing of the sort. Rather, at the time our organization, the History Compilation Committee, had been investigating the cause behind the incident and concluded that the real culprit was someone else. A culprit he ended up facing again this afternoon."

"This afternoon, then the gas explosion was-"

"A criminal act targeting your son, no doubt. Fortunately we were on the culprit's tail and after a short skirmish, took them into custody."

In the end, that had been their cover story. About how Issei suddenly got magic powers at the ship, ruined a mysterious culprit's scheme and a month later came face to face with said culprit again.

In a way it was true, even if absurd.

The two incidents were connected. And both times he had to face the culprits. Hell, the only reason it happened was because Issei stopped Dusa-chan. So all the dominoes lined up.

It also just happened to be one massive lie.

"Y-You can't just expect us to take this at face value, ma'am."

His father looked shocked.

"Right! Even if you make such outlandish claims, you can't just expect us to believe it. Especially since you have our son with you and didn't even call us!"

His mother sounded upset.

The agent, however, was completely unphased, instead turning the buck over to him.

"That is what I figured. Obviously, it would be hard to believe something nonsensical like that, even if it's coming from an official. Which is why I believe in this case the best confirmation you can have is one straight from the source. Right, Issei?"

They had planned on a demonstration. Issei felt oddly intimidated, his parents looking at him expectantly as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to deny what Smith was saying, or reveal that it was all a prank he put together to mess with them.

He actually considered it for a second.

But at the end of the day, they needed to know about this. And he needed to make sure they were careful from now on.

"I'm sorry, Mom, Dad."

Holding his hands up he cupped them and breathed in. A rosebud began to appear in his hands. There were no sparkles, no crackling noise, no poof of smoke. Instead, the petals opened up and blossomed, the light showing the veins forming inside of it, as the ultimately fist sized stone flower appeared in his hands.

"Son." Issei's father was the first to recover. "That's beautiful." Gorou reached out and the young man handed the stone flower over. "But, well…"

His mother finished the thought.

"I think you might have gotten the shape from one of your games…"

Coughing, spluttering, defensive, Issei stood up.

"I didn't though! Mom, Dad, why would you say that!?"

Standing up, his father took the flower over to their kitchen while his mother bowed her head.

"My apologies, Agent Smith, I'm sure you understand that young men can be quite healthy, yes? Please don't hold that against him. Still, would you like tea or something else?"

"Coffee, please. It will be a long night at the office."

Issei simply slumped down in his chair, head in his hands.

"I wasn't trying to do something perverse."

Surprisingly, Smith, while Issei's parents were in the kitchen, having an aggressive, whispered conversation, gave him a small pat on the back.

"It's ok. I think they may have just been assuming the worst. Besides, it was something 'normal' for them to grab onto. We did tell them something pretty absurd, no?"

Nodding, the teenager agreed. At least in spirit.

"They probably thought I'd been arrested. So it's probably just that they're glad I'm not… in trouble."

"Well, I don't think they can complain too much, right? You did bring a woman home after all!"

Blushing, again, and remembering how he'd been woken up, Issei groaned into his arms and ignored the heat on his cheeks - while Smith simply tittered, thanking his parents for the cup of coffee and seaweed chips they'd brought her.

"So, Agent Smith, I don't want to sound foolish, but are there… pamphlets or something." Gorou Hyoudou began, clearly nervous, but focused on not showing it too badly. "Of course we'll fully cooperate, but I have no idea what that will entail."

"I'm glad you asked!" Opening up a coat pocket, the government operative withdrew a briefcase… from her coat… and then opened up said briefcase and withdrew several hundred pages of documents. "Why don't we get started?"

Miki Hyoudou, Issei's mother, rallied first.

"I'll make more tea… and order takeout."

Issei had left his parents along with Smith a little while ago.

There was nothing more he wanted to read or discuss or learn about.

And in fact the only thing he'd put his foot down about was not moving - he had earned his school of choice and he would go to Kuoh.

Surprisingly, it had been the agent who'd sided with him when he'd said that, while both parents had leapt at the idea that moving to Kyoto would be safer. It had taken twenty minutes of carefully non argumentative arguing to defuse that particular landmine.

But now, he was alone and in his room.

Yet….

"Hmm. It's not quite done, is it?"

Looking at the small diorama he had been working on in his spare time, the teenager knelt down and lowered himself to be level with it.

"Yes. I know what was missing, now."

White stone formed wordlessly on his hands, one large chunk and one smaller, it took a bit of concentration to make them malleable and a few minutes to get the overall shapes down, then it was the work of half an hour, painstakingly etching the details by finger, smoothing out the flaws and perfecting the poses.

He could have done it immediately if he wanted to.

Or rather, doing it the other way wouldn't have satisfied him.

Satisfied their memory.

While once there had been only one, now there were three. The smallest of the trio was the one he was most familiar with, the one he had the most practice reproducing. Scaled arms and legs, a small tail poking from behind and two small curled horns growing from the forehead.

The second was taller, but simpler, her body was concealed by a hoodie, too baggy to really tell any more details at first, but he made sure to make sure her eyes stood out just the like first.

The third one was the largest of the three and took the most work. Even if the shape was simple, Issei didn't have as much practice with non-human shapes, so it took a while to get all the details down from memory and to save up on space, he made sure to curl her around the first two almost protectively, lowering her face so the three appeared to be side by side.

The elder sister, Stheno.

The middle sister, Euryale.

The little sister, Medusa.

Before her face was set in a sad look of acceptance, the face he recalled seeing when they first met. But now it had been changed into a look of relief and, dare he say, happiness. His chest tightened at the improved statue. Even if he didn't know how to feel about them yet, Issei couldn't help but offer them a moment of silence.

"I guess they were always meant to be a trio, huh?"

Despite everything, he couldn't help but feel happy for them and hope that… wherever they were they were together.