Hey there! I see you've decided to return to this story, which means that I'm probably doing something right. That's good.
I've decided to open a response section, for reviews that show some level of inquisitiveness or questions, so... Here goes the Review corner:
Fenrir44 says: "Issei my man i hope you have a fine here in the netherlands Joking aside this is a really intresting idea and if issei is a ero VN harem protagonist here will his dear sweet mother fall into his arms as well as that is a big fetish"
A: I don't intend to make that happen. Mama Hyoudou and Papa Hyoudou are forever shipped. Other MILF's, however, may be fair game.
Tribus says: "Heeey! This is pretty interesting! The title seems to be inspired from "So What, If I'm A Spider?" If I'm right tell me because I realized this really quickly. Issei seems to be what I like to call "reasonably tenacious." Same weird goal, but doesn't seem to willow in self-defeat at the fact that his personality won't cut it. I have high expectations, bud!"
A: Thanks for the kind words and expectations! However, the title has nothing to do with "So What, If I'm A spider?" . I don't even know what that title refers to. It's just a coincidence.
Cygfried says: "Now this one is interesting, actually smart issei, no bullshit "keikaku dori" but actually, "the power of knowledge and rational thinking" now i can get behind that! And also the lovable pervert that we love, even better...you got me...also is the succubus morrigan by chance? Or an oc?"
A: I'm glad that my depiction of Issei comes off as interesting and smart, with no unreasonable 'All according to plan' vibes since it's not part of his character traits. About the succubus, is it Morrigan or an OC? Well... we'll be finding that out soon, aren't we?
This marks the end of the review corner for this chapter. Now, onto the story!
~oOo~
The sound of heavy stomps rushing up the stairs broke Issei's concentration from the book he was perusing.
He was still surprised, however, when his mother slammed his door open, her chest heaving at the exertion of climbing up the stairs.
"It's here! It's here, Issei!"
"What's here?"
"Your test results! They came in by mail today!"
His focus shifted completely onto the white envelope in his mothers grasp, any thoughts of learning the various ways to express a desire to find a strip club in dutch shelved for his desire to know whether he managed to get into paradise or not.
While he expects to have succeeded based on his good performance, nervousness is a natural thing to occur in the face of life-changing moments.
Steeling his nerves and swallowing any trepidation, Issei took the letter from his mother's hands, slowly turning it over to check all of it's details.
'It's actually sealed with wax...'
Sliding his finger under the envelope's tab, Issei broke the seal and retrieved the letter within. Seeing the massive amount of text in the letter itself, Issei chose to just skim it and get to the important parts, reading out loud for his mother's beneffit.
"Dear Mr. Hyoudou, yadda yadda yadda, this very prestigious academy, blah blah blah... Thousands of applicants such as yourself have taken the admittance test with the expectation of joining our prestigious school, and failed..."
Mrs. Hyoudou gasped in surprise and sadness at that, before Issei continued.
"...Fortunately enough, this is not your case. You have managed to pass with a final result of a 98% average throughout the various subjects, leaving you with the highest result out of all participants! We are happy to tell you that you are accepted into our academy, and are expected to give a speech a speech during your first day as the freshman representative, so you are to arrive at least an hour earlier than the rest of the students..."
"YES! YES! OH ISSEI, MAMA IS SO PROUD OF YOU, AND PAPA WILL BE AS WELL WHEN HE HEARS OF THIS!"
Mrs. Hyoudou followed that exclamation up by doing a little happy jig where she stood, while Issei allowed his mind to wander and imagine the various things he'd see, feel and experience in paradise.
~oOo~
"Kyah! Hah! Ahn~!"
Checking his phone's screen for the caller's identity, Issei smirked when he saw that it was a conference call with Motohama and Matsuda.
"Hey guys, Issei speak-"
"WE GOT IN, MAN! ME AND MOTOHAMA GOT IN!"
Issei had to pull the phone away from his ear due to Matsuda's volume, pulling it back in when he noticed the shouting stop, and just in time to hear Motohama's question.
"What about you? Did you get your test results already?"
"Yeah, I made it in as well, just as promised! Highest grades even! They want me to give a speech during orientation day or whatever, but that's not the most important thing! My parents promised me a trip if I made it into Kuoh, and I get to choose the destination!"
"And" Matsuda started "How's that more important than our journey into every healthy young man's dream?"
Issei's smirk could almost literally be felt through his tone of voice.
"I chose Amsterdam. You know, the city with an open, dedicated red light district, where prostitution is legal?"
"..."
"..."
"WE'RE SO JEALOUS!" was the simultaneous shout from both of his friends, while Issei rubbed his ear hard to get rid of the ringing. Hearing his friends quieting down, Issei spoke up.
"It was good talking to you guys, but I need to hone my language skills. See ya!"
~2 weeks later~
Issei, suitcase in one and and map in another, could only just contain his excitment. He had finally reached Amsterdam, one of the equivalents of a holy land for those of ero beliefs. To simply step onto Amsterdam was akin to performing pilgrimage, and Issei was going to show just how happy he was with this trip very soon.
~Later~
'Do I look good, or what?'
Issei watched himself in his hotel room mirror, taking stock of his own appearance.
Red button up shirt, black jacket, a pair of jeans and grey tennis shoes, his hair slicked back with the exception of a single stubborn bang that kept falling back over his forehead no matter what he tried, a healthy dose of dehodorant and a splash of cologne.
Add to that a healthily filled wallet, a copy of his documents and his phone, and Issei was ready for a wild night!
Intent on saving money on cab fare, Issei decided to walk to his objective instead, following a his phone's GPS data instead to find his way to the red light district. Even though it was already getting dark Issei still felt safe, since Amsterdam had a reputation for being a generally peaceful city.
In fact, he felt so safe that when he saw an alternate path in his phone's map that would lead him to the promised neverland sooner, he decided to take it.
Despite the fact that it went through a pretty shady alley, and lead to a dilapidated section of the city that he wasn't aware even existed.
While initially secure in his choice, doubts started surfacing as he noticed just how worn out the buildings around him were, and how empty and dead the streets felt.
Checking on his wallet in his back pocket and gulping, Issei made sure to let his eyes seek out every shadow, nook, cranny and crevice for suspicious activity, so he knew when to run like a bat out of hell.
"LOW BATTERY! PLEASE RECHARGE! SHUTTING DOWN!"
And just like that, Issei's only guiding light died out.
Looking behind him, he saw what seemed to be a maze of alleys and side-streets.
'So the only way is forward...'
He kept going onwards, trying to ignore that way his stomach tried to turn itself inside out, his ears wide open to pick up any possible sound...
"Hey there, Handsome~"
Issei couldn't suppress the chill that ran down his spine as he heard a dusky, slightly-raspy and most definitely female voice... Purr, for a lack of better definition. His head turned woodenly towards the source of the voice, and what he saw had him ready to salivate.
The delightfuly sinful voice came from a girl that seemed to be around his age, 5'1" in height, 111 pounds, purple, butt-length straight hair with parted bangs in front, a blue tube top hugging her prodigious chest which could be nothing less than a DD, paired with a dark purple miniskirt that left most of her thighs in display, and a small fur jacket covering her upper back and shoulders. Her feet were clad in a pair of heels, and she looked like sex incarnate.
"Wh-wha-"
She didn't allow a word to leave Issei's mouth, her finger covering his lips for an instant before she started walking around Issei and looking him up and down, allowing him to smell the sweet, heady scent of her perfume, causing him to get lightheaded to the utmost extreme, borderline euphoric.
And then, she spoke.
"My my my, you look good enough to eat~"
Those specific words caused Issei to stiffen up (In more ways than one), but before he could try to say a thing, he found himself being dragged by the collar into a dark alley.
"Come and show me how much of a man you are, hun... Mama's been hungry for it for a long time~"
The girl slammed him into the stone wall harder than Issei believed someone her weight should have the strength to and crouched, her gaze locked onto his crotch with a scary intensity, but before she could even reach his belt buckle, someone spoke up.
"Hey there doll, you wanna ditch that punk over there and get a taste of a real man?"
The deep, gravely voice, akin to two rocks being ground into one another prompted both the bewildered Issei and the irritated looking girl to look towards it's source, only to see a 7'6", 661 lbs monster of a man, seemingly more muscle than person, blocking the alleyway entrance.
The sight was enough to cause Issei's... appendage... to deflate, and for the haze his mind was in to clear completely, while the girl crouching in front of him at crotch-height clicked her tongue in annoyance, before speaking up.
"Go away, I'm busy."
The purpling of the man's face, associated to the throbbing veins all over his bald head and neck, and his clenching fists caused Issei to try to shuffle away from the whole situation, only to find himself stuck in place by the girl's abnormally powerful grip.
Before the man could say or do anything, the girl turned towards him and met his gaze, her eyes lighting up imperceptibly as she spoke in the seductive tone she used earlier on Issei.
"Please, go away~"
The man's features slackened before he nodded jerkily and mutely, then took a couple of steps backwards, allowing the woman to shift her gaze to Issei again and speak up.
"Now, where were-"
She found herself pleasantly surprised as her naive target pulled her to her feet, flipped their positions so that she was with her back to the wall and then squeezed her with his own body in what was an extremely daring move, only for the pleasant feeling to pass as she saw a trashcan flying past where she was previously fast enough to kill a person. She looked back to the source of said trashcan, seeing the same muscular man at the alley's opening with twisted, twitching features as if he having an internal struggle.
The man took a shaky step forward, but before he could do anything else, Issei started running from him, his hand having caught the surprised girl's and dragging her along for the ride. Issei would have commented on how easily the girl ran full-speed in high heels had he noticed it, but he was currently more focused in not dying.
There was a fork in the road ahead of them and Issei didn't hesitate, speeding down the left one full tilt. A second one came up a few minutes later, and this time he took a right, followed by a junction, which he kep ran through straight ahead.
By the time he stopped, short of breath and red in the face, they had made it to an old, abandoned building. Issei turned towards the girl, intent on asking her about what had just happened, only for the wall behind them to explode violently, causing the two to be thrown in opposite directions.
"Don't you dare FuCkInG IGNORE ME!"
Shaking off his daze and letting the ringing in his ears die out, Issei looked back up to the source of the voice, only to see the wall of meat that they had been accosted by change. His skin started to slowly turn blue from the feet up, with the throbbing veins hardening as well. By the time the process stopped the man looked like a victim of hypothermia, with lapis lazuli for veins.
"YOU SHOULD BE FUCKING GLAD SOMEONE LIKE ME CHOSE TO GIVE YOUR ILK ANY SORT OF ATTENTION!"
The girl managed to recompose herself earlier than Issei and get back to her feet, cracking her neck even as she clicked her tongue.
"Tch. Fucking asshole, ruining my dinner."
Then, right in front of Issei, a pair of membranous, bat-like wings, purple and pink in coloration, sprouted from her back, alongside a sinuous, barb-tipped tail. She clenched her hands, causing her fingernails to extend to the size of daggers, gleaming with sharpness.
Issei's already gaping mouth could only open wider as the girl seemingly vanished from where she stood, turning into a blur of color, before reappearing in front of the man, slashing at his face with vicious abandon.
Her danger senses shouting at her, she flared her wings and threw herself backwards, barely avoiding a backhanded smack from the man who was still changing. She landed across from him, watching as his height grew to about 8 feet, his weight growing proportionally. His hands were each as big as a traschan cover, his arms as thick as large tree trunks.
He looked like a blue steroid abomination, with muscles on top of his muscles.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS, LASS? WE MEN OF THE JORGENSEN CLAN ARE THE MOST POWERFUL IN THE NETHERLANDS! NO MERE COCKSLUT CAN PIERCE THROUGH MY SKIN!"
Having said that, the man curled his hand, as if grasping an invisible weapon, only for water droplets to coalesce into his hand, crafting a solid ice club which he hefted onto his shoulder, a nasty smirk pasted on his face all the while.
The succubus, deciding to avoid a fight she felt unable to win, attempted to fly away, only a blast of sharpened ice crystals to tear through her wing membranes, getting a scream of pain from her, before she grunted as the fall knocked the air out of her lungs.
Blood splatters covered her torso, clothes, as well as some of the floor below her, with more joining the fray as her wings twitched involuntarily.
The blue giant slowly made his way towards the girl, his club dragging on the asphalt behind him, stopping only when he was looming over her, with her at his feet. He raised his club, a twisted smirk on his face as he spoke.
"Any last words?"
"I-"
The club started dropping even before she had said a single word, and she watched as death came closer and closer...
BOOM!
...Only to feel herself being tackled out of the club's way, which sounded like a pretty good thing as that swing pretty much exploded the concrete that it landed on, making a small crater. She'd more than likely be mush right now, if it weren't for the mostly hapless brunette that seemed to be glaring at the giant with an unexpecetd level of intensity after witnessing what he had been capable of.
The giant, noticing the lack of a familiar cracking and squishing of flesh, blood and sinew, cast his eyes around the area, snarling as he noticed that the human from before involved himself into something that he had nothing to do with. Glaring balefully at Issei, the man spoke up.
"I am only going to say this once. Move, and you get to live, Human."
Ignoring the way that human was said as if it were a dirty word, Issei met the giant's gaze with an intense one of his own.
"I refuse."
"Hah... You humans really are ignorant of your place in the world..."
The giant slammed the club on the concrete to his side, causing another small crater, before pointing one of his arm-thick fingers towards the girl behind Issei.
"You think you're protecting some helpless girl from a 'big, bad monster', don't you? Newsflash, you're WRONG! That isn't some random, helpless girl, that is a Succubus, the type of creature that lie, cheat, trick and deceive men at their whims, bringing them under their control with hypnosis, and feeding on their life force! What's most important is that even beings like those, children of Lilith meant only as cocksleeves and slutty slaves, are exponentially stronger than weak humans such as yourself! If I easily took her down, then what chance do you have to beat me?"
Seeing Issei's continuously defying gaze, the giant sighed, before speaking again.
"...Man, I'm wasting my time here, trying to talk some sense into you, huh? You're probably acting under her thrall, so dosed up that you can't even notice just how dangerous a situation you currently are in-"
"You're wrong."
"Hah?"
Issei straightened up, his voice strong as he spoke.
"I'm not under anyone's thrall, and I know just how dangerous the situation is for me. I watched the two of you fight. I'm nowhere near strong enough to do a thing to any of you."
"See, then just step aside, and-"
"HOWEVER! I don't care about anything like that! I chose to stand here on my own, to protect her, and going back on my choice now... It isn't in me to do so!"
"You think you can gain her favor for trying to defend her, kid? Hah! Even if you managed to somehow save her, she was more than likely to trick you into laying with her, drain you of your life essence and move on to the next sap! That's just how Succubi are, voracious, deceitful, slutty bitches!"
The sun finished setting, causing the street lights around them to turn on, bathing the area in an orange glow. Despite that, Issei's eyes were hidden in shadows as he had bent his head downwards as he kept speaking.
"Favor? Trick? Life essence? Succubus?... I'm not sure I understood most of what you said, because I'm really out of my depth right now... But what I do know, is that YOU are the bad guy here! You're trying to hurt someone who did nothing bad to you! THAT, is why I'm standing here in front of you!"
Unnoticed by either Issei, or the giant, but noticed by the Succubus, was that as the brunette spoke, a green glow started building up around his left hand, tiny particles of light coalescing towards the back of his fist. Unknowing of this, Issei continued.
"I'm the type of guy who likes helping others! And that's why I won't back down! I won't give up! I will take you down, I will save the girl behind me... And I'll live on, and accomplish my dream!... I, WILL GET MY HAREM!"
The fires of determination blazing within his eyes, Issei brought his clenched left hand over his heart as he gave that final, heartfelt declaration, only to be surprised as he felt a pulse of warmth on his left arm, before an explosion occured.
Powerful winds reached the three present individuals, ruffling their clothes and temporarily defeaning them, while green light filled their vision, causing the giant to look away, while Issei could only gape silently at what happened.
After all, it's not everyday that your hand turns into a red gauntlet, a myriad of spiked sections throughout it, and a bright green gem on the back, while a massive surge of energy ripped through your body, taking away your fatigue, soothing away any aches, and making you feel as if you could take on an entire army!
"This... What is this?"
"A sacred gear user? Now isn't that more interesting!"
Issei, still distracted with the gauntlet, did not notice as the ice giant turned a scowl his way, before going towards him, moving faster than anyone his size had a right to.
"Watch out!"
Hearing the girl's warning, Issei looked back up, only to be faced with the ice club on a horizontal route to take off his head. Normally he would've been unable to even see the club, but a further pulse of warm - almost uncomfortably so - energy rushing through his body gave him the ability to dodge out of the way of the blow at the last second by leaning backwards, feeling the club just barely skimming his hair, before he threw himself backwards in response to a fist sent with the intent to cave in his chest, reducing the damage from pulverization to only bruising and cracking of his ribs and sternum, which were aggravated as he bounced to a rolling stop on the concrete.
The giant cracked his knuckles, expecting the human to have died and ready to destroy the slut that refused him for a human, only for motion at the corner of his eyes to prompt him to look towards where the human had stopped, watching as he slowly, painfully pushed himself back to his feet.
~oOo~
Issei's mind was absolutely reeling. His first day in Amsterdam had bombarded him with so many different types of surprises, starting with him almost getting a blowjob in an alley, to discovering that impossible things like Succubi and giants existed, to the discovery of his own super power.
Despite this, he managed to narrow his thoughts down to a single purpose: Surviving this encounter.
'I can't beat him as I am... Which means that I need more power!'
His gauntlet responded to that thought, the gem glowing further and causing an aura, a nimbus of green-colored energy, to emerge around him. However, said aura was accompanied by a generalized sense of agony throughout his body. Aside from the injuries that he already sustained getting worsened by the stress that the previous amount of power was forcing onto his body, this increased power output caused him to feel as if he were burning up from the inside-out. However...
'Not... Enough... More... Power!'
Even more of the strange energy flooded Issei's body, and this time he didn't manage to suppress a shout of agony as what felt like liquid magma rushed through his veins, flooding his muscles, bones, organs, marrow and every single one of his cells.
'I need more power, but my body can't keep up!'
The giant and the succubus both watched in surprise as the human started putting out power at the level expected from a high-class individual, way beyond what any normal human, unaligned with one of the various factions or pantheons should be able to. However, they could see the damage that it was having on him.
Patches of his skin were turning red and raw, and steam rose from him as if his blood itself was boiling. He was destroying himself to be able to put out this much power, but the fact that his sacred gear even allowed him to was impressive in and of itself.
'Well then... If my body can't contain all the power I need...'
The watched as he, painstakingly slowly, raised his red-gauntleted hand towards the giant, before curling all of his fingers except for the index inwards, pointing it directly at the blue beast.
'I'll just need to collect it... Outside of my body...'
He grit his teeth as the power previously tearing his body apart started rushing towards his left hand, causing him to feel the true depth of damage his body had accrued, yet he did not allow himself to fall over as he so dearly wished he could. He kept pushing the power outwards, causing a tiny pinprick of energy to emerge at the tip of his finger, as big as a grain of sand.
As more and more energy was pushed towards the same point, it started growing, the green energy getting as big as a marble, before growing further to the size of a grown man's fist, arcs of energy escaping it occasionally. However...
'Not... Good... Enough...'
Issei felt as if the amount of energy built up was not enough to destroy his enemy, for that was his final goal. Not knock unconscious, or defeat, but to Destroy him. However, he knew that attempting to summon more power would definitely kill him, so...
'Compress...'
The fist-sized ball of energy started compressing, the power pulsing occasionally as if trying to return to it's full size, however Issei's will was stronger.
'Tighter...'
The power compressed to the size of a donut hole, so dense that the air around it started heating up, giving it a flaming halo.
'TIGHTER!'
The energy shrunk down to half the size of a marble, and before anything else could be said...
'FIRE!'
It was all over in a second. The crack of something breaking the sound barrier, the widening of eyes of the blue giant, a flash of green light, and then there was suddenly a hole the size of a human head on the left side of the giant's chest, right over where the heart should be in a person.
The giant stood for another second, before falling over forward, dead.
Turning his gaze towards the Succubus, Issei managed a weak smile, before he fell over, unconscious, his left hand returning to normal.
~CHAPTER END~
Oh, snap! Who expected something like this to happen to Issei on his very first day in Amsterdam? What will happen to our hero in consecutive chapters? What's this whole deal around a single succubus? Find out in the next chapter!
Please remember to leave a review with your thoughts about the story/chapter, and, if you want to, send me a PM and I'll do my best to answer to it.
Bye!