"Man, what a waste of a night."

No kidding. She was awfully tight-lipped. Though we would've gotten more answers if you didn't keep getting disturbed by her flirting from time to time.

"I don't wanna talk about it, man…"

Classes had just about ended for noontime that day. The bell rang, signaling the start of the lunch period as students flooded into the hallways. Usually, Issei's friends, Matsuda and Motohama would be with him and drag him into another peeking session, but they weren't there that day for whatever reason.

"The most I managed to squeeze out of her was that there was a faction of people like her," he said. "'Fallen angels', she called them. That's something, at least. Do you reckon that there are more of them hidden around the school? She didn't explicitly say it, but if she was here undercover, then there should definitely be more of them, right?"

I wouldn't be surprised if there were.

"Swell, now I'll be looking over my shoulder all the time while I'm at school," he hissed. "And it would be extremely unideal for me to get into a fight here of all places. Literally everything except maybe Wingbeat and Beak, I think, causes massive amounts of collateral damage…"

If they cared about staying hidden as much as you did, then they'd probably have tried to kill you earlier. Even the Yuuma girl dragged you into a situation where it was just you and her in that park before trying to take your life. I suggest keeping to crowded places.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Issei said, getting up from his seat in the now empty classroom. The hallways were mostly emptied out by now. So much for keeping to crowded places…

Just as he did, the door to the classroom suddenly opened. Issei suddenly tensed, taking an involuntary step back…

Right before a familiar middle-aged man stepped into the room. He had short, scruffy black hair with golden bangs and a short, black goatee. He was dressed in a fairly sharp suit.

That was his chemistry professor, a friendly, if stern, man. Issei immediately relaxed upon seeing him.

"Ah, hello Issei!" the man greeted with a friendly smile.

"Hello, professor," Issei greeted back with a respectful bow.

"What are you still doing here?" the man asked, seating himself on the chair behind the desk at the front of the classroom. He began opening the cabinets, as if looking for something. "You're usually off peeking into the girls' locker rooms or something by now."

Well, not today, it seems," Issei said. "And I was just about ready to nap 'til you came in. We perverts like peace and quiet every now and then, y'know."

Issei decided to settle with that answer, as "talking with the imaginary(?) voice in my head" didn't exactly sound like the kind of answer a sane person would give.

"Woulda surprised me considering how much of a commotion the three of you tend to kick up every other day," the man said with a snicker. "Where're you headed off to now?"

"I was planning on napping more, but I don't want to be in your way so I'll find somewhere else," Issei said. "See ya later, professor. Hope you find what you're looking for."

"See ya around, Issei."

The boy shuffled towards the doorway. Just as he was about to leave the classroom, however…

"Oh, by the way, I swear I heard a bit of a second voice before I came in here. Were you talking to anyone, Issei?"

The boy suddenly froze up. However, he forced himself out of his hesitation as soon as he could.

"Um, no professor, I was asleep," he said. He thanked himself for rehearsing that excuse to near perfection.

"Oh, yeah, you did mention that," the man said, rubbing his chin. "Guess I must be hearing things. Must be my age catching up to me."

"Professor, you barely look forty."

"D'aww, thanks for your kind words. Get going now."

With one last wave, Issei left the classroom. He speedwalked down the hallway.

No way, that was just a coincidence right?

I'm literally in your head, Issei. He'd need to have some serious psychic powers or something to hear me.

Yeah, there's no possible way…

The rest of the day passed on as it usually did, though still with no Matsuda or Motohama. He had heard from some of their close (if few) friends that they both, strangely enough, came down with some "mysterious sickness" that caused their noses to bleed excessively and had to be sent home.

Issei didn't think much of it. This was by far the first time this had happened. In fact, that was already way more than it should have been for normal teenagers.

I love those guys to bits but they really need to practice some restraint.

No kidding.


After school, he attended his usual after school activities. That being his usual practice session with the kendo club. Of course, his intentions were partly pervy as the club was almost entirely composed of girls, but he did want to genuinely improve his combat skill, even if it was just for sport. It proved reliable should he have to fight an Abnormality. Plus, the club members, at least the ones who had been in the club for a while, tolerated him as he wasn't too invasive of their privacy despite the reputation he had gotten hanging around Matsuda and Motohama.

That lasted long into the afternoon. Soon, it was just him and the club captains.

"You've gotten a lot faster since last week, Hyoudou-san," Katase said as she huffed, blocking another overhead strike.

"Really?" Issei asked. He quickly withdrew his shinai to block a quick strike to his side. Must be the Wolf. I guess I need to start holding back…

"Yeah, well…"

Katase shifted slightly, putting her right foot forward, a tell-tale sign of a left-sided attack. Issei immediately moved his guard to his left side, only for Katase to abruptly jab it right at his unguarded center.

Utilizing his far superior reflexes, Issei swerved his body to the side and jabbed his shinai at her chest, making one of her breasts bounce slightly.

"Point."

Katase just sighed then grumbled slightly. A pretty cute noise, Issei thought. She relaxed from her stance.

"I'd normally smack the hell out of you for that, but it's getting late and I'm tired," she said. "But yeah, you've definitely gotten a lot faster. I would've definitely gotten you with that last week."

Issei just nodded. She was right, had Issei not inherited reflexes from the Wolf, he definitely wouldn't have moved fast enough to dodge that jab. It was a good trap, using what she knew he thought he knew of her to bait him into a faulty guard.

My battle IQ still isn't very good, he thought. I'm relying too much on my instincts.

You'll get there eventually. Your stamina is improving at a pretty good rate, though.

He waved Katase and Murayama before leaving.

It was dark out, being very late into the afternoon. He took his time on the way home though, granting his weary muscles some rest. His parents wouldn't be too worried should he stay out too long, used to how he usually got home at strange times late into the night.

Geez, they really didn't hold back, huh.

I feel like they're extra harsh on you for…rather obvious reasons.

Come on now, this is discrimination. I'm sure all boys my age peep in on girls every now and then.

If that were true, then there wouldn't be popular guys like that Kiba guy around.

Well-

He suddenly stopped at an intersection in the neighborhood he was in. He turned around to the familiar sound of footsteps approaching him from behind.

Walking into the bright rays of one of the streetlights was a familiar face. A girl, seemingly Issei's age, with smooth, long black hair and red eyes dressed in a white blouse and a modest black skirt. Most noticeable were her two large, black-feathered wings and a glowing red spear of light in her right hand.

Issei raised an eyebrow.

"Yuuma-chan," was all he said in a form of greeting.

She didn't respond. She just stared at him for a moment, a dead serious look on her face.

Seriously? And I was even nice enough to let her go last time.

Or maybe because you'd get on your hands and knees for any girl that even pretends to return your affections. And because you wanted answers from her.

Still, she definitely owes me more than another attempt on my life.

There was a near-imperceptible whoosh from behind him. Issei immediately slung himself to the side just as a glowing spear of light flew right past the side of his head.

"Ohoooo, you actually managed to dodge that."

Issei turned around to the source of the new voice.

Approaching him from the other side of the intersection was a middle-aged man with short black hair and piercing blue eyes hidden under the shadow of his fedora. He was wearing a white dress shirt under a pale gray trench coat, black dress pants, and a pair of black gloves around each hand.

In the air around behind him were two other individuals, both female. One was a short, seemingly young girl with blonde hair tied into twin pigtails and dressed in a…gothic maid kind of outfit? The other was an older, more mature woman with long, blue hair and a voluptuous frame, dressed in a maroon button-up shirt and miniskirt.

Like Yuuma, they all had a pair of large, black-feathered wings protruding from his back. In the man's hand was a blue glowing spear while in the little girl's was a pink spear. In the older woman's, a golden yellow one.

More fallen angels?

"Seriously, Raynare-chan," the little girl said. "You really thought it appropriate to call us to help you…with a human?"

"You really think I'd do so if I couldn't handle it on my own?" Yuuma hissed back

The other fallen angel just sneered at her, but he didn't make any more comment. He hefted his spear over his shoulder.

Issei turned to Yuuma.

Or…Raynare, rather. That must be her real name.

"Y'know, I'm not sure if you picked up on this the last time we fought, but I could've completely annihilated you," he said. "Do you really think you can make up for the power gap by bringing three friends along?"

The man behind him laughed.

"He sounds quite cocky for a lowly human!" he exclaimed as he sneered at the boy.

Raynare's expression, however, didn't change.

"Sorry Issei, but you really do have to die," she said. "Not just for humiliating me last time. You ought to blame God for planting that sacred tool within you."

Issei crossed his arms.

"Sacred tool? What are you talking about?" he asked. Then he shook his head. "Well, guess I'll never learn.?"

His whole body began to shimmer as his school uniform and pants were replaced with another suit. A familiar charred and burning suit and pants with a charred and burning stick in his hand.

Yuuma's expression got even grimmer at that. Her other companions, however, didn't share the sentiment.

"Oooh, looks like the human knows some magic after all?" the man said, though the sneer was audible in his question.

"This doesn't look like anything we've seen before," the adult woman said. "I advise that we at least warrant a bit of caution until we find out about the nature of it."

"It's just a human child, why so cautious?" the younger girl said. "Just smear him off the face of the planet."

"Hey, there must be a reason why Raynare didn't manage to succeed last time, right?"

As they bantered, as if they had all the time in the world, Issei simply maintained his stare with Yuuma, or Raynare, rather.

"If you leave, I won't chase after any of you," he said. The flame on the tip of his stick began to glow brighter. A statement, yes, but more of an offer than a declaration.

Raynare's eyes squinted slightly. She didn't respond. Rather, she lifted her spear…

"Well, it was worth a try."

The spear flew.

At the same time, Issei swung his own weapon, unleashing a large slash of flames.


"Not sure what y'all were expecting. I did mention before that you aren't so strong as to give me any trouble even with your friends."

Issei looked down to the fallen angel at his feet.

At his feet was Donasheek, the middle-aged fallen angel in a less-than-well state. That being, utterly bloodied, his whole torso charred completely black, both of his arms, one of his legs, and one of his wings sliced off, the limbs lying in a puddle of blood around him. He was still alive, though barely, breathing hard and looking up at the boy with wide eyes. The fear in them was palpable enough to wade through.

Not far from him, Kalawarmer and Mitlet were completely mutilated, as in literally sliced into a dozen pieces at the very least. Even their heads weren't spared, agape jaws and wide eyes separate from each other. Feathers and wings were scattered all over the road amongst all the flesh and blood.

It was a gruesome scene, gruesome enough to mess up the mind of anyone who looked upon it. Yet Issei seemed completely unfazed. Raynare had no idea how an average teenager could seem so…stoic amongst all the bloodshed, but she had the slight suspicion that he wasn't exactly right in the head at the moment.

Issei himself was clad in a suit of armor that a samurai would wear, though without the helmet. In his right hand was a long-bladed katana, its sharp edge once scorned by Raynare's companions now stained with their blood. Despite its average appearance, however, the blade was surrounded in a thin red aura that drifted in the wind like a flame. That same red aura also surrounded Issei's body, a representation of his ferocity.

Raynare just watched from afar, frozen with shock and horror. She was in considerably better shape than the other fallen angels, though that wasn't really saying much. Like Donasheek, she was missing an arm and a wing, though she was still standing on two legs. She also sported burns along her arms and a deep gash wound through her abdomen, just mere centimeters from her stomach. She was also breathing hard, looking at Issei with the same palpable fear Donasheek was.

It wasn't even close. Issei really was holding back the time he fought her, because even with the help of three other fallen angels, they couldn't even touch him.

Close-quarters didn't work, which was evident enough from the one time they tried. His blade just simply became faster and stronger the longer he fought until he was too fast or sharp for them to reasonably deal with. When they tried shooting him down with spears from the air or ground, he used that large fire attack to force them back onto the ground while effortlessly dodging or blocking their attacks. It was slow, but it was also large enough to still present a huge problem. They really did have no viable options against him.

Despite the scorching heat from the flames all around them, she couldn't help but shiver at the uncharacteristically cold look in the normally-ditzy boy's eyes. Donasheek's eyes flitted over to him. He gently kicked the side of his head.

"Hm, you're still alive. How unfortunate, that must be very painful. Well, I guess you only have your own unusual vitality to blame for that. The other two were also like this as well until I cut off their heads. Well, you're in luck that I'm not one to hold grudges."

Then with that, there was a whoosh and a slish as Issei swung his katana right through the fallen angel's neck, easily slicing right through it.

Donasheek the fallen angel breathed a quick few more breaths, his dying breaths. Then he breathed no longer, his head rolling along the road.

And with that, he turned his dull eyes to her.

The shivers worsened.

He walked away from Donasheek's mutilated body and in her direction, his sword held out to his side.

Raynare's fight or flight instinct immediately began screaming at her to begin running. However, despite that, she couldn't get her legs to move. It was a feeling she was almost intimately familiar with: true fear. It didn't help that she knew that she couldn't run even if she tried.

Eventually, Issei stopped in front of her, far enough that she wouldn't be able to catch him by surprise, but well within the range of his katana's blade.

He and Raynare stood there like that for a very long, tense minute, each one staring at the other. The fallen angel tried to register the look in his eyes, but there was nothing visible in them. A complete contrast to the usual brightness of an innocent teenage boy.

Finally, he sighed. Then, he did something unexpected.

Issei suddenly lowered his katana as he turned around and…began walking away.

An offer more than anything.

Raynare released the large breath that she didn't even know she had been holding. Seeing an opportunity, she took a slow, silent step backwards. He was letting her go again. She would be a fool not to take this opportunity.

"Well, I have to move on eventually. It was fun, Yuuma-chan. And thank you for reciprocating my feelings, even if it was fake all along."

The next thing she knew, she saw a thin, dark gray blur. Very thin, thin as a sheet of paper. It appeared for even less than the blink of an eye. Issei's katana, once at his side, was now crossed over his shoulder.

"Goodbye."

The next thing she knew, she suddenly lost all feeling in her body.

Then her vision fell sideways.


Issei sighed as his EGO disappeared into a shower of golden sparks. The flames all around him all began to rapidly shrink before disappearing completely in correspondence. Soon, it was just him in the empty, charred intersection.

how are you doing?

"Fine…for the most part," Issei said. He turned away from the mutilated bodies he had caused with his own hands. "I believe that's my first time killing someone. Or multiple someones, rather. It…doesn't feel very good."

If it makes you feel better, it was in self-defense.

"I know. But still…"

It was silent for a moment as Issei stared at his right hand. Despite how clean it was, the bloodstains were clear to his eyes.

"Maybe I'll be able to sleep it off," he said.

Life for a Daredevil, a Teth-level samurai armor and katana pair EGO that belonged to the Crumbling Armor Abnormality. The longer the user wore it, the sharper and faster his skill with the katana.

But in exchange, his own empathy would be sapped away, his own emotions blunted. He didn't like using it because even after he does away with the EGO, the emptiness would be stuck with him.

He didn't like using it, but it was the perfect counterbalance to his other Teth-level EGO, the Fourth Match Flame. While the Fourth Match Flame had a large attack range and spread, it was also slow and not viable in close-range fights for more than one or two swings. On the other hand, Life for a Daredevil was a purely close-range weapon, but wasn't too good at long-range fighting.

Issei turned away from his hand.

"Hm, it may be a bit late to notice this, but strange how there's…nobody whatsoever here," he said. "Some fallen angel magic or something?"

Most likely. It would be strange not to seal off the area one way or another and risk people catching them murdering a young teenage boy.

"Well, fortunately it also helps prevent anyone coming upon me slaugh."

"Yes, saves you quite a lot of trouble, doesn't it?"

Issei jumped at the new voice that had chimed in behind him. His whole body shimmered as his burning, charred suit returned over his form as he whirled around to the source of the voice, his burning stick back in hand.

Standing there, just outside the gorey scene, was a very, very familiar, pretty girl with long red hair and sapphire blue eyes. Despite Issei's own threatening stance, she just casually stood there, a faux-innocent smile on her face.

Issei's eyes widened.

What the-...when did she get there?

"You're…"

"Nice to finally get to meet with you, Hyoudou-san," greeted famed Rias Gremory of Kuoh Academy. "Shall we talk? There is much I would like to discuss with you."