Heyo! I'm back, and you all know what that means...
REVIEW RESPONSE CORNER!
The Wolf Paladin says: "Things are going to be awkward for Issei if he ends up meeting the other Dragon kings Because last time I checked Migardsomr was a Dragon king known as the Sleeping dragon so was he the Dragon king or one of its clones ? The first case would be pretty bullshit since Balance breaker Issei isn't strong enouth to beat a Dragon king so base Issei wouldn't stand a chance and at best it would only wound him. The second case makes more sense and would avoid some problems in the future."
A: It wasn't the dragon king Midgardsomr. It's a bit of the second case, but not exactly. I'll explain it better in the chapter itself. That's as much as I can say without giving spoilers!
Anonreader47 says: "I feel like issei is developing a subspecies of boosted gear that emphasizes on domination with the whole using outside power rather than multiplying his own"
A: I didn't think of it in that perspective, but to be fair, even if that were to be the case, it'd be more of a 'cooperation' subspecies. After all, domination means that the power was either forcibly taken, or given hesitantly or begrudgingly. Freely given/lent power, especially that which is used to fullfil a common goal, doesn't really scream out 'domination' to me.
The Composcreator says: "All I really think is that issei should have had a harder time in this fight against Aquila."
A: The reason why Issei didn't have a harder time is because that wasn't a fight. Aquila against Midgarsomr, that was a real fight. Aquila vs Issei is pretty much the equivalent of a championship-winning MMA fighter fighting a 12 year old yellow-belt karate practicioner. You take a few blows to bolster their confidence, and all while fooling around wasting time in the ring.
Sephchipmunk says: "Shame about euryale i would've liked a moron in the harem"
A: Well, the story is just starting, so nothing says that the harem won't be getting a moron on it. On the other hand, Issei pretty much fullfils the moron role pretty well, so... Who knows where the future takes us?
Fenrir44 says: "The fuck did i just read it was quite strange and really the world serpent you know you just whacked the dxd canon by doing that him do you"
A: As said before, that wasn't THE Midgardsomr. And, to be fair, the DxD canon got whacked the instant Issei decided to actually be proactive in his Harem efforts, instead of getting it handed to him by Lady Luck on a silver platter.
DarkElucidator says: "Please tell me he actually gets to mix fucking elements as part of his power"
A: Perhaps. Read on and find out *Wink-wink*
Exis21 says: "Just discovered this and I've got to say, I really like what you did with Issei. Keeping him in character while also making him enjoyable to read is something not alot of DxD writers are able to do. I also like how you expanded the world of DxD. Not many people would venture outside of the pre-established cannon settings and explore the more obscure parts of the world like you have. In regards to the recent chapter I do have a single question that crossed my mind when reading this chapter. How far did you read into the light novels? Or rather...did you read the light novels at all? I ask this simply because with cannon lore already established as it is, many light novel readers (myself being one of them) get turned off of a story when said firmly established lore is messed with. For example, in cannon Midgardsormir is still sleeping at the bottom of the ocean by this time in cannon and the only time we see is in the form of clones used by other people. Now aside from that this chapter really felt like it dragged on for longer then it needed to and felt like very little was actually accomplished in terms of story progress and honestly felt like a filler episode. Another problem I had was that Issei way WAAAY more powerful than he had any right to be in this chapter, especially when compared to his cannon self. I mean really? Going toe-to-toe with what is AT LEAST an Ultimate class being (if Aquila is this Mingardsormirs equal and if you may want to explain his appearance as being just another clone that got loose some time ago) and then firing an attack as powerful as he did and not dying or being seriously crippled for life? I get that protagonists have plot armor but even that was stretching my suspension of disbelief. With all that being said I do look forward to the next chapter and what you plan on next. And I hope we see Issei still being Issei while developing as a person."
A: Oh wow, that's a lot of text. It's a bit scary seeing so much text when you have to respond to it, but it also makes me really happy that there are readers who like the story enough to put in this kind of effort. Reader feedback is a helluva drug. With that being said, there are two points to be adressed here.
First, how far I read into the light novels. The answer is that I haven't read the light novels at all. I watched some of the anime (First season), read quite a few fanfics, and peruse the Wiki, since the lore of DxD is really engaging. That being said, I don't intend to screw with the lore that much. This Midgardsomr's appearance will be adressed and explained in this chapter. I still intend to make the first few arcs occur generally as they would in canon, but with different outcomes. After all, Issei is changing and that causes other changes in the world regarding places and people he's interacted with already, but he has had zero contact with the Kuoh crew, or with Kokabiel's little outfit.
The second part is Issei's strength, and let me make this clear: Issei isn't really "strong", speaking in general terms. The only reasons as to why he's alive so far are his tenacity, his luck, and his shrewd mind. Sure, he has some strong attacks, and he can enhance himself to a certain degree, but he's still just a run-of-the-mill, regular human. No prior training, no distinguished bloodline from a god, or hero, or whatever else, nothing. He's gotten involved with two extremely life threatening situations, and he survived both by a hair's breadth.
As said before, his going "toe to toe" with Aquila was just a really strong person obliging a total newby in all matters combat. The attack he fired really screwed him up good, the only reason he survived was because of Aquila's intervention, and even then it left consequences that will be made known later on. That's all I can say on the subject for now.
Marawin says: "Thanks for the chapter, it's a really awsome story so far. But I don't really understand what quila did at the end, was it like a contract, contact thing or did she just give Issei some power? Apart from that I really like the flow of the story and the inclusion of some other myths and legends really makes this enjoyable."
A: What Quila did will be explained and adressed later on in the story. That's all I can really say at the moment, sorry.
TheB says: "Now now Issei, don't act as if that rant about breasts were just a distraction, it was 100% truth, with the distraction as an added bonus. :D Ddraig's comments make for excellent comedy, lol. I had actually expected for 'transfer' to shine, giving Aquila the power boost, not the other way around. This won't be the last time we see Aquila, I take it?"
A: Transfer didn't feature yet because Issei doesn't have any practice with the Boosted Gear, so he's no even aware of most of it's capabilities. And no, this won't be the last time we see Aquila. She'll show up later on, don't worry about it.
Another Guest1029 says: "Well, that was awesome! And I really appreciate someone who makes an Issei who wants to be strong, but also doesn't make him some OOC, edgy bitch because they're too stupid to know the show is about boobs. I don't understand the non-perverted Issei thing at all, it's like some angry prude thinking it's a good idea to rewrite porn with wholesome thoughts or something. Anyway, I had some questions. First off, when you write that Issei calls upon his draconic energy, do you mean that he's using BOOSTS but you're just not writing the word? I just want to be sure he's not pulling off some kind of magical cold-fusion here and pulling energy out of nowhere. Speaking of fusion, is that all tantric energy can do? I know you've got a power creep in mind but I think it would be kind of cheap if Issei could just straight up use tantric energy like it was magic straight from the start, or else why creep at all? I mean, given that it's TANTRIC energy, it wouldn't surprise me much if you could pull it out of an ass, but... ehhh, I think I'm just rambling at this point. I'm sure you get what I mean, and if not just PM me or something. Can't wait for your next chapter, see ya then."
A: To the first question, you're partially correct in your assumption. I don't have the patience or willingness to have the word BOOST written over and over again every two or three sentences, preferring to save actual boosting for when it'd be most poignant and impactful, the other half is something that will be learnt of later on in the story that will bridge this information gap. As for Tantric Energy, it has it's set of properties and intrincacies that we'll be learning more of. It's already been established that Issei produces a lot of it, and it's already made a difference in a life or death situation, but I don't intend to make it continuously acting like a 'Get out of jail free' card for Issei. If he wants some Tantric goodness, he'll have to work for it. And he most definitely will, no matter what this chapter makes it feel like.
Fangs of death says: "Love how you developed Issei's ability since beside dress break, fire ability and hearing thoughts from boobs, The rest of his abilities were from the boosted gear. Compression and the shotgun technique are pretty cool. Hope to see the thunder dragons roar again( you made me think of fairy tail anime with that.) SO will Issei, be able to use thunder with fire now since he can mix them? And the chapter was great, can't wait to see how Lilith will act when she learn what Issei just went through. Love how Ddraig act when he learned of Ise's situation."
A: Well, technically speaking, his abilities are still from the boosted gear, just... utilized differently. More creative users warrant more versatile skillsets. In the anime we see people shape and throw around magic in all different sort of ways, so compressing, dividing and expanding (Not in the way Vali/Albion does, but your own power, at an internal level) should be pretty basic things that anyone could achieve. The thunder dragon's roar may or may not make future appearances, no promise. As for elemental mixing... We'll see.
Xerzo LotCN says: "so i realized this is set before kouh which is at least a year and a half before canon so he has time to build a extra harem and get stronger before he deals with canon, so ocs or mytho bases for the extra harem will we get extra girls that aren't in the canon harem either ones that want to and arent (cause rias lols) or that aren't interested canon but will be for this (cause im assuming we are getting canon girls no point not to) really hope so large harems are the best same with lemons, speaking of harems not even canon yet and he already has 2 girls sweet, isnt time barrier convenient he was gone at least 5 days and it only been 15 mins if he can gey in one if those to train he will be set to make the most of his break pre school, oh noo he killed a dragon king which was peaceful canon why was it evil here noo TT-TT tannins gonna be pissed norse gonna be pissed lokis gonna be pissed (well it is his son but he did betray him idk), speaking of dragons ddraig was gonna mention tiamat will she be a waifu? Did his shots get inspired from yu yu hakasho it seems like it compress is spirit gun and shotgun is the same will dragon shot be a canon or something? why just thunder dragon if it was lightning and fire it should be both also why roar if it was a spear; also will you intro Dragonslayer magic lols it be cool; does he now have minor access to ddraig fire and the lightning he was gifted; interesting he can use his own sex energy neat weird but neat"
A: Holy crap that's a lot. Let's see... ' will we get extra girls that aren't in the canon harem' yes. Lilith and Aquila are pretty much evidences 1 and 2, and there will be more, both from the series itself, and OC, to join in later on.
'isnt time barrier convenient he was gone at least 5 days and it only been 15 mins if he can gey in one if those to train he will be set to make the most of his break pre school'
Yes, time barrier would be convenient, but that isn't really my focus. That temporal... dissonance, let's say, was a result of the nature of the Twilight Forest, and is something that's very difficult to achieve artificially, so it's outside the means of pretty much every faction, and could probably only be achieved with cooperation between them, which means that it most probably will not happen. Plus, I don't want his strength to come solely from time shenanigans, I'm instituting a few different mechanics to allow Issei's power creep to really shine in a few chapters time.
'oh noo he killed a dragon king which was peaceful canon why was it evil here noo TT-TT tannins gonna be pissed norse gonna be pissed lokis gonna be pissed (well it is his son but he did betray him idk)'
Read the chapter please. Don't wanna spoil stuff.
'speaking of dragons ddraig was gonna mention tiamat will she be a waifu?'
Maybe.
'did his shots get inspired from yu yu hakasho it seems like it compress is spirit gun and shotgun is the same will dragon shot be a canon or something?'
Not exactly. I make the attacks with story function and coolness as the two primary factors both in mechanics and name, and if they end up being similar to/paying homage to some of the classics... Hey, they're the classics for a reason! This really happens a lot in this type of media, certain types of attacks are created/popularized by a certain anime/manga/game, and when other shows try to give their own twists, or versions of said attacks, they end up reminding the consumers of the OG one and get compared to it. As a general rule I try to keep my 'special moves' as original as I can, however in certain cases I will take inspiration from other works, and I will admit it with absolute pride. Case in point:
'why just thunder dragon if it was lightning and fire it should be both also why roar if it was a spear
also will you intro Dragonslayer magic lols it be cool'
The move's name was totally a fairy tail refference, one that I felt would fit into the context in which the move was used, and help people visualize the attack itself if they knew whatever it was a refference to. To anyone who didn't, it was just a cool super attack name.
I called it the thunder dragon roar because I partitioned it, The thunder part came from the Aquila Victis, who is definitely not a dragon, and the actual 'dragon' part came from Ddraig's 'Dragon Fire'. Roar because 1- dragons roar, 2- thunder could definitely be said to 'roar', metaphorically speaking, and 3- the attack itself would create sound comparable to the roar of a mighty beast. Will I introduce dragonslayer magic? Not sure. The world of DxD already has a few elements of magic focused specifically on dragon killing, such as the Ascalon, and the properties of Samael's blood, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to have people gifted with magic tailored just for that purpose. On the other hand, while I enjoy refferences to other works, straight up copying elements from them makes me feel lazy, as if I didn't have the creativity to make up stuff on my own, so dragonslayer magic is a definity maybe, and even if it does come into play, I'll try to do it as originally as possible, separate from fairy tail's.
'does he now have minor access to ddraig fire and the lightning he was gifted'
Read on and find out.
That's it of the Review response corner for now! As you are aware, I only respond to reviews that are clearly questions, or which can be interpreted or construed as questions. I don't respond to statements, opinions or criticisms if they're not made with the an inquisitive intent. If you'd like to feature in the next response section, all you have to do is leave a question in the reviews, and I'll answer however possible.
With that being said, Enjoy !
~oOo~
"NOT THE PROBE!"
Jumping awake in bed, Issei took deep breaths in his attempt to purge his mind from the dream-turned-nightmare he just had, one involving very sexy, green-skinned, scantily clad alien girls with no sense of human modesty and propriety... And a disturbingly large collection of extremely painful-looking probes.
Getting his breathing back into control, Issei's brain went back to the last thing he remembered before waking up.
"THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!"
'Huh, I did manage to survive it...'
'But not wholy uninjured.'
"Ddraig? What do you mean?"
'...It was a good plan, the one you had. Focus the entirety of the power in the Boosted Gear, that way your body only had to deal with some recoil from the attack. However... It wasn't without it's flaw.'
"...Wh-what went wrong?"
'...Look down at your left hand.'
Issei raised his arm, expecting to see his arm with some sort of injury or scar...
He didn't expect to see the Boosted Gear where his hand should have been. A heavy weight settling on his stomach, Issei spoke up.
"Ddraig, why is the Boosted Gear still active? Last time I passed out with it active, it was deactivated when I woke up."
'...'
"Ddraig, talk to me."
'Issei...'
"Just tell me already!"
'Your arm is mangled beyond recovery.'
The brunette blinked owlishly at that, his face unchanged as his brain struggled to cope with that information, while Ddraig continued.
'As I said before, your plan went mostly without a hitch in that your body did not turn into dust from the overflow of power itself, neither from the recoil of actually firing the attack, only almost dying instead. However, your arm is connected to the boosted gear. Having so much power streaming exclusively through the boosted gear, while not putting the same stress directly on your arm, caused it to absorb quite a bit of the recoil. Your real arm is currently in a stasis, occupyin the metaphysical "space" that the Boosted Gear usually occupies within your soul whenever not active. It's... Not a pretty thing.'
"..."
'Allowing your regular arm to come back, aside from causing you a grievous amount of pain, would also, most likely, cause the boosted gear's state to change to reflect it, making it unusable in combat.'
"So... I'm stuck with the Boosted Gear active... For the rest of my life?"
'Yes.'
"That means... That I won't be able to hide that I'm a possessor of a Longinus. That I can't go unnoticed by the supernatural world. My proximity would endager Mom, and Dad, and Motohama and Matsuda, and the rest of Kuoh. I... It means I can't go back home."
'...'
A despondent feeling clutched at Issei's heart, his eyes dulling while his shoulders slumped under the weight of that conclusion. Slowly, ever so slowly, a red haze started rolling into his toughts, swallowing the sadness and sorrow, and with Issei not wanting to feel those things, the haze found it's path unimpeded.
A green nimbus of energy sprang around Issei's body, scorching the sheets and matress under him while the red plating of the Boosted Gear slowly crawled up the remainder of his arm.
'...So you get done in this early by your own sacred gear, and twice over even... The emotional pain resultant on having and using it in the first place, and the forbidden power that it brings... Juggernaut Drive...'
The plating rose up, slowly swallowing the still unnoticed Thunderbird tattoo on his bicep, the amount of power being exerted by Issei increasing even more.
Then, noticed by neither young man nor dragon, a yellow glow started emanating from said tattoo, while a familiar voice came to the forefront of Issei's mind.
' "I do not intend to taste defeat today, Hyoudou Issei, as I still have something to protect. While the Roman empire may be no longer, the spirit of Rome still persists, living on within my heart, and it burns strong with the desire to destroy that abomination!" '
'...That's right.'
The Red Haze stopped in it's tracks, it's willful takeover of Issei's mind forcibly halted by the host itself.
'I chose to fight. I chose to help Aquila defeat Midgardsomr, knowing of the possible consequences.'
His willpower flared alongside the, previously, steadily decreasing embers of determination within his spirit, his eyes gaining a new strength as he willingly shed his despair and sadness.
'I was willing to face death before, this... This is nothing in comparison! I may feel pain, and I may miss them... But I won't give up. I'll... I'll learn! I'll research! I'll get strong enough to defeat my enemies! And then... I'll be able to meet them again!'
A small surge of electricity passed through his body, a tiny arc of lightning passing unnoticed from two different strands of hair, pushing the sacred gear's encroaching armor back into the gauntlet, while Issei forcibly purged himself of the Haze.
With his footing found, so to speak, Issei managed to calm back down, the green aura steadily dissipating from around him, even as the unnoticed mark died down in glow as well.
He finally took the time to look around himself, noticing the fact that he was within a luxuriously decorated room, sitting on what used to be a stupidly comfortable, stupidly big bed, gold and white marble pretty much everywhere he looked around the room.
Tossing himself off of the bed, Issei hissed in pain as his body made it's opinion known on the power surge from Issei's little brooding session, that being that it was a very stupid thing to do, before noticing a set of male clothes, in his size, sitting on a dresser.
He looked down at himself, noticing that the shirt he was wearing was the one he had been wearing back during the whole Midgardsomr debacle, the left arm a darkly charred mess, with the rest not looking much better, being mostly tattered shreds.
His pants were dirty, and, generally speaking, Issei stank. Cringing at his own smell, Issei perked up when he noticed a door with a plaque reading 'Bathroom'.
Undressing to the best of his possibilities with a sharp and cumbersome gauntlet in place of a left hand, Issei strolled into the bathroom to do everything he needed to feel human again, with just a few issues - 'How the hell do I wash my ass with a hand like this?' - before haltingly drying and dressing himself with a single usable hand.
He had had a white long-sleeved shirt laid out for him, alongside a pair of dark-brown dress pants, short grey socks and black hard-soled dress shoes, polished to a shine, with a pair of tighty-whitey briefs, the type he stopped using when he was about 7.
Shrugging at that, he did his best to fit into the clothes, ending up having to ultimately rip the left sleeve off of the shirt to fit his sacred gear through. Not being the kind of person who wears mismatched clothing, Issei ended up ripping the white sleeve off as well, leaving him with a makeshift white vest instead of a shirt.
After struggling with tying his shoelaces with a single hand, a final problem emerged.
"What do I do with the Boosted Gear? I can't just have it out in the open for everybody to see..."
That problem was solved by shredding his previous clothes into strips, shoving them in the bathroom sink with a mix of the cleaning products that he found under said sink in order to get rid of the previous dirt and horrid smell, twisting them dry and then shoving them under the hand dryer to finish the job.
Once he felt they were dry enough, Issei wrapped these bandages around his sacred gear in a sort of makeshift cast, tucking the ends tightly into the bandages before moving the arm around to ensure that they wouldn't just unravel at some innoportune moment.
Feeling quite content with his work, Issei finally made his way out of the room he was in, finding himself in a hallway that, in all possible way, screamed 'MONEY!'.
Various statues, most of them provocative nudes and tentacle creatures one would find in his preferred sort of animated films adorned the various hallways, most of them bearing accents in gold or platinum.
Paintings reminiscent, quality-wise, of ones one would find in a museum lined the walls, the subject matter being mostly the female body and various sexual acts that brought wonder and amazement to one's mind, and the frames being mostly golden, with carvings of scantily-clad, provocatively-posed women, and various phallic-looking objects.
The brunette swallowed nervously at that, loosening his collar - and swearing he saw some steam emerging from within - as he kept moving through the various corridors. He made his way through halls, dining rooms, ludicrous amounts of staircases and more than a handful of bathrooms, all decadently decorated, while the sounds of moans and gasps seemed to emerge from the walls of the place itself, causing him to have to slouch in his walking.
He eventually found a grandiose pair of doors reminiscent of the ones that lead to Stheno's throne room in placement, causing Issei to put up his guard before he opened the doors.
Stepping into the throne room, Issei was met with a formidable-looking woman, her hair a deep shade of pink that bordered on purple, her eyes a deep violet and bordered by smoky-grey eyeshadow. She was adorned in a black, skin-tight satin dress reaching her ankles, a slit to one of the sides allowing her leg some movement. Her dress had a plunging neckline, showing nearly-indecent amounts of cleavage (and what a cleavage it was, those babies had to be at least E-cups, if not more!), a pair of black, elbow-length opera gloves adorned her arms, and her hair was was coiffed into an elegant bun.
She also had a massive, golden, jewel-encrusted crown on top of her head, and a scepter with a top in the shape of a single golden breast, with a ruby for a nipple.
Issei's tongue all but attached itself to the roof of his mouth due to a single fact.
This woman was sex given legs.
Her posture, the way she sat, the naturally seductive look in her eyes, an air of dominance that he felt would not be limited to serious matters and would extend to more... libidinous ones as well... all of those things had Issei slouching further, his brain repeatedly trying - and failing - to reboot.
"So... You are the man Lilith told me about... Hyoudou Issei, was it?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am!"
The serious tone had him almost straightening and firing off a salute, only the knowledge of Issei Jr.'s state preventing him from doing so in fear of offending the woman in front of him.
The queen seemed to give him an appraising look, before speaking up.
"As you must have surmised, you are currently within the royal castle of Luxuria, the Queendom of all Succubi. My name is Laveria Morrigan Lilim, Queen of Luxuria, current Matriarch of the Lilim line, successor of queen Liliana Lilim, my, dearly departed, mother."
Issei nodded his understanding at that, prompting the queen to speak further.
"...You seem... Uninteresting, so far. I see in you none of the qualities that Lilith must have seen, in order to break one of the Royal mandates as she has."
"W-what do you mean?"
"Oh, you didn't know? It's forbidden for a Succubus to bring an outsider into our land without permission from the Royal Family. Punishments for such violation are... Not at all pleasant."
Issei's eyes sharpened at that, his excitment subsiding as did a certain haze that he had not even felt establish over his mind, allowing his posture to straighten out. His voice was serious as he spoke.
"What do you mean?"
"The punishment for bringing in an outsider without permission from the Royal Family... Is death."
"What."
Ignoring the demanding tone is Issei's voice, Laveria spoke with faux sadness.
"Oh yes, capital punishment. A harsh, but just punishment. After all, she did expose the location of our land to an outsider whose intentions are unknown. For all I know, you might be planning to exterminate, or enslave, my people."
"What? You can't kill Lilith! She was just trying to help me overcome a serious problem!"
"And what would that problem be?"
Issei looked down at his bandaged arm, the thought of keeping silent flitting past his mind for all of a microsecond, before loyalty to his friend drop-kicked it into orbit. He flexed his left fist, causing it's wrappings to all but burst, spreading bits and pieces of fabric around the floor of the throne room. Holding his arm out in a manner that allowed the queen to see the green gem at the back.
The queen, surprised by the display, whispered in a low tone.
"Boosted Gear..."
"That's right. I awakened my sacred gear shortly after meeting Lilith, and she made me aware of the danger that my life, and that of everyone close to me, was in. That the Boosted Gear would attract attention from the supernatural world, and that it was unavoidable. She offered to arrange a place where I could privately train with my Boosted Gear in order to both delay the supernatural world discovering me as much as possible, and to make me strong enough to defend myself when it inevitably did."
"Huh... A young man fighting to protect his family... I believe you."
Issei's face shifted slightly as he was filled with hope...
"However, that doesn't change the fact that she broke the rules."
Only to fall completely. Uncaring about his mood shifts, Queen Laveria continued.
"Normally you'd have to be executed as well, but since you harbor no ill intentions against Luxuria and it's people, and because you were unconscious during the voyage, thus are unaware of how to even reach our Queendom, I will allow you to leave with your life, after having your memory wiped of everything related to Succubi. Lilith, however, still goes under the blade."
"Over my dead body."
The queen blinked owlishly at the threatening tone, her focus centering completely on Issei, and she had to admit that the murderous look in his eyes sent chills down her spine. However, concealing this, she spoke up.
"I'm sorry, what was it you said?"
"I said that the only way you would kill Lilith would be over my dead body, and I'm not going down easy."
"Over your dead body, you say... That could be easily arranged."
With those words a massive weight settled on Issei's shoulders, reminiscent of the sheer malice exerted by Sthenogardsomr, except for the fact that instead of being released omnidirectionally, with no definite target, this one was focused completely on him, causing his shoulders to hunch, his knees to bend and a darkness to creep into the corners of his vision.
His breath came out in wheezes, and he felt as if a hand gifted with exceptionally sharp claws started squeezing his heart, making him feel faint.
However...
"Y-You think... I'm gonna let... SOME SHITTY KILLING INTENT LIKE THIS STOP ME!?"
[BOOST!]
A familiar green aura of energy emerged from Issei's body, slowly but steadily lessening the amount of pressure he felt being exerted over his body, allowing him to return to a regular standing position. Small sparks of electricity jumped and arced along the edges of his gauntlet, filling the air with an ominous hum, as Issei spoke.
"I won't let you kill Lilith!"
[BOOST!]
"I'll save her life! Free her!"
[BOOST!]
"And if it costs me my life... SO BE IT!"
[BOOST!]
The pressure released by Issei himself was, by this point, enough to crack the floor under him. His irises had gained an emerald-green sheen, with small veins of yellow arrayed around the outter rim, while his hair swayed and waved under a non-existant wind. The queen, ignoring Issei's glare, leaned backwards into her seat, a smirk of amusement coming over her face as she spoke.
"It seems my future son-in-law is more impressive than I expected."
"MOTHER!"
Issei's face whipped harshly to the source of the shout, his gaze ending up on a heavily-blushing Lilith, before turning back to the smug-looking queen, before going back to Lilith, again and again. Not noticing Issei's brainfreeze in her own mental state, Lilith stomped angrily - petulantly - towards the throne, while speaking in a half-angry, half-annoyed state.
"You went too far, mother! I agreed with your silly idea of a test just to quell your concerns over Issei, but you never said anything about threatening his life, or releasing your power in his presence! You could have broken his mind through sheer lust!"
Laveria, still smirking, waved her hand dismissively even as she spoke.
"Scowl and complain at me all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you absolutely enjoyed hearing that he'd willingly lose his life to save yours."
A rush of blood caused the entirety of Lilith's head to pretty much glow with heat, a cloud of steam coming out of her ears even as she pouted at mother.
Finally restarting his brain, Issei turned towards Lilith, before asking in an uncertain tone.
"Lilith... What the hell is going on here?"
The purplette winced at that, before speaking up.
"You see, I kind of didn't tell my mother that I was bringing you over, so she never had the time to evaluate you at one of Luxuria's immigration posts to know whether you were trustworthy or not, but with you being in the state you were I thought that it was best to bring you in and take care of your injuries - which you will be explaining to me how you got - instead of forcing you to wait there. I told mother some of your situation and the fact that I wished to help you, but she wanted to ensure that you weren't a risk to Luxuria, and that you were worth disponibilizing our resources to."
She turned to glare at her mother, who seemed to completely ignore said glare and focused on Issei, before continuing.
"I never knew she'd go this far. I thought she'd ask you a few questions while using her Allure to ensure that you told the truth or something, I didn't think she'd be as extreme as to unleash her aura unto someone who's mostly a regular human!"
"So... You're not getting executed?"
"No, Issei. I'm sorry that you had to-"
She was interrupted by Issei pulling her into a tight hug, his tone honest and heartfelt as he spoke.
"Thank god. After everything I've gone through already... I don't think I'd manage without you around."
Laveria's smug smirk evolved into a full-blown shit-eating grin even while Lilith spluttered embarrassedly, her face as red as a tomato. This changed when the green aura around Issei vanished and the boy slumped almost bonelessly onto the Succubus princess.
~Later~
"...So my real hand is crippled, and I can't deactivate the Boosted Gear, which is why I had to rip the sleeves off of my shirt, and why I was walking around with my hand covered in makeshift bandages smelling of bleach and fabric softener."
Lilith looked simultaneously shocked and stricken at everything Issei had to go through on his own, while Laveria seemed to be more doubtful than anything else, something which she made known.
"You managed to defeat Midgardsomr, after he gained a power boost? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit. Even with some sort of suicide technique, someone with the maximum power output that you have wouldn't be able to scratch one of the Five Dragon Kings.
'He didn't.'
The three looked down at the red gauntlet on Issei's left arm, watching the green jewel light up as the voice of Ddraig, the Red Heavenly Dragon, made itself heard.
"But... You and Aquila kept saying that it was Midgarsomr, as did Stheno! Was it Midgardsomr, or not?"
'It was Midgardsomr, but at the same time, it wasn't.'
The three waited as Ddraig seemingly searched for the best way to explain things.
'The Invading Snake... It's a result of Sympathetic Magic. A very powerful person or group of people probably managed to get hold of something linked to Midgardsomr, the real one, and used a magical ritual to transpose some of his properties onto a being of similar nature as him, either a serpentine dragon, or a draconic serpent.'
While Lilith and Laveria seemed to have fully understood what he meant, Issei visibly didn't, and he made it known.
"Umm... I'm kind of new to this whole magic thing, in case you didn't notice, so could you please explain it in a way that I can understand?"
Ddraig sighed at his host's ignorance, while Laveria took up the explanation.
"Sympathetic magic, Issei, is a branch of magic focused on rituals centered around influencing an event or person through an object, symbol or action that relates to the outcome you want to achieve. Let's say you want to make it so that some girl flashes her breasts at you. By using something related to that girl, like a strand of hair, you could influence her into doing so through sympathetic magic. If you used something even more closely related to the result that you want, like a bra or a pair of panties of hers, you make the ritual you used to influence her even stronger, and more effective."
"Oh!"
A lightbulb seemed to light up on top of Issei's head at that, causing Ddraig to sigh mournfully at his host's single-minded focus, before he continued his explanation.
'As I was saying, by using something very closely linked to Midgardsomr, you could create some sort of mimic of him, which is, most likely, the origin of the Invading Snake. It took up the name Midgardsomr for the sheer fact that it was the living being most closely resembling the real thing, and that it was active even while the real Midgardsomr is having his nap... Freaking Lazy Bastard...'
Laveria spoke up at that.
"So you were being truthful when you said you fought against the Aquila Victis and managed to impress her... And you were capable of using an attack powerful enough to completely annihilate the Invading Snake..."
Turning towards Lilith, Laveria grinned even as she gave the girl a thumbs up, before speaking.
"I completely approve, my daughter!"
Blushing profusely, Lilith spoke up in a whining tone.
"Mother, it's not like that!"
"Oh-ho~"
Trepidation flourished in Lilith's heart at the gleam she saw in her mother's eye, before said woman spoke up.
"If it isn't like that, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if your dear old mother made a move, hmm?"
"WHAT!? NO! YOU CAN'T! YOU'RE TOO OLD FOR HIM!"
Lilith only noticed her mistake after she had already finished speaking, her words causing her mother's teasing look to shift to one of personal affront at the implication that she'd be unable to snag Issei due to her age, before changing to a look of determination to do just that.
Lilith felt like crying.
"What're you two talking about?"
Issei, bless his soul, was completely oblivious to the two females' subject matter - himself - his confused head tilt causing the instincts of both Succubi to try to rear their heads.
Lilith shrugged them off first, speaking up in a flustered tone.
"N-nevermind that! We have other things to take care of right no- Hey wait, is that a tattoo on your arm?"
Issei blinked in confusion at the non-sequitur, while Laveria spoke up, her own brief internal battle overcome.
"I was curious about that one too. It lit up when he started channeling power back during his test. Now that I think about it, his hair was sparking slightly, as well as the Boosted Gear."
"Do you think it has something to do with the Aquila Victis, mother?"
"Could be, I can't really say for sure. I will, however, be looking in the royal library for information on it, which brings us very neatly to the next point of the discussion. Issei will need private lessons in magic control. Urgently."
"Why's that?"
Laveria snorted at the question from the ignorant young man, before speaking up.
"I'm sure Lilith has told you already that you release a lot of Tantric Energy, hasn't she?"
At Issei's nod, the Lilim Matriarch continued.
"That was an absolutely gross understatement. The moment my daughter got close to our kingdom, every single succubus within a certain range of our outter walls could feel you. Bringing you to the castle was a chore in and of itself, preventing pretty much my entire population from trying to feed on your unconscious self."
A blush came over Issei's face as he heard that, images of a naked Lilith in his mind as he thought of the women of Luxuria 'feeding' on him. However, Laveria continued.
"The only reason your Tantric Energy isn't blanketing the entirety of Luxuria is because of the castle's wards, but that didn't help much with the efficiency of the castle itself. Ever since you were brought in, my maids, servants and attendants have been in a near-constant sapphic orgy of epic proportions, hoping dearly to get a shot at you."
"..."
"..."
"MY BODY IS READY!"
Lilith had to fight hard to keep Issei from ripping his clothes to shreds and sprinting out of the throne room, all under the amused gaze of Laveria, while Ddraig internally cried.
~2 days later~
If Issei were told to describe his magic lessons with a single word, said word would be... Boring.
Absurdly so.
When someone hears 'Magic Lessons', they think about learning how to say a bunch of words that allow them to throw around fireballs, thunderbolts, and just generally make reality their bitch.
"Tantric Energy is unlike mana in the fact that while mana, for the most part, acts like a magical blank slate upon which to imprint your will, Tantric Energy possesses a set of properties specific to itself..."
They don't expect to be stuck inside a classroom, a myriad of books shoved under their nose while listening to hours upon hours of information deluges.
Hey, at least he could claim that his teacher was hot!
"Mr. Hyoudou, please concentrate on your lesson. Lady Laveria has assigned me the task of helping you bring your Tantric Energy under control as soon as possible, and I do not intend to disappoint her."
Letting out a loud sigh, Issei spoke up.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to be a bother to you, miss Bernice, but... It's just so boring!"
Miss Bernice Alohen, blonde hair in a bun with loose strands falling over, blue eyes, red, juicy lips, wearing a white button-down shirt, a form-fitting black skirt stopping mid-thigh and a pair of black stiletto heels, was the royal family's instructor, and she could truly empathize with the young man sat in front of her. After years of teaching the various children of the royal family in the basics of magic, she knew that children were, generally speaking, too energetic to sit still and read, especially such a virile-smelling young man, releasing such delightful Tantric Energies~...
An idea came into her mind, causing her to grin inwardly. Sighing out in fake exhasperation, she breathed in deeply as if fortifying herself, before speaking up.
"Very well then, Mr. Hyoudou. It seems we'll have to do things the hard way."
She sashayed towards the young man, her fingers undoing the top few buttons of her shirt to reveal a sizeable amount of cleavage, even as her skirt started slowly riding up her thighs, revealing more of her tanned flesh and causing Issei to gulp, beads of sweat rolling down his neck and forehead even as his lower friend came to full wakefulness. Taking a steadying breath, Issei couldn't have prevented the crack in his voice as he spoke.
"The Hard way?"
Arriving to her sole student's desk, Bernice shifted to the side before seating herself on top of it, her skirt riding even higher and revealing more of her flesh, before she leaned downwards in front of Issei, putting his line of sight strictly on level with her cleavage as she spoke.
"Yes, Mr. Hyoudou, the hard way. I wish for you to focus completely on learning, but I understand how the mind of a young man such as yourself works, so... I will make a deal with you. I will test you in your magical knowledge, a week from now. If you manage to get a grade above 90%, I will give you a marvelous prize."
The way she said marvelous had Issei sweating even more profusely.
"However, you failing would leave me... displeased. And I'm sure you want to please me, don't you, Issei?"
"Yes, I do! So very much!"
She smiled at that declaration, before wrapping her arms around Issei's head and hugging him into her open cleavage.
"Oh, Issei, you are a delightful student!"
The brunette could barely keep himself from crying tears of joy, his perverted spirit feeding off of the plentiful amount of blessed Oppai in direct contact with him.
It was in this day that Issei decided to tough out his magical studies, no matter how difficult they are.
~4 days later~
"Issei, are you awa..."
Lilith had to stop whatever it was she intended to say at the sight that met her eyes. Issei was sitting in front of his work desk, a myriad of books open in different chapters, the young man seemingly skipping from book to book as he took refferences, before writing furiously on a small notebook.
She walked into his room in silence, watching Issei work like a man possessed, before looking over his shoulder to see whatever it was that he was writing...
Only to be met with a myriad of poorly-made drawings of stick figures in different poses, with sound effects in speech bubbles around them, with the occasional 'fluidity', 'intent' and 'potency' thrown into the mix.
She couldn't really stop herself from speaking.
"What are you doing?"
The brunette jumped in place, his instinct to aim his Boosted Gear at the source of the sound kicking in, before he noticed the fact that his left arm was bandaged up to the elbow to keep his sacred gear a secret from the castle staff (Which he still saw very little of, despite hearing the giggles, sighs and moans echoing around the castle). He relaxed at seeing Lilith's particular shade of purple hair, letting out a breath of relief, before speaking up.
"By Oppai's blessed sanc-titty, you scared the crap out of me!"
The purplette smile sheepishly at that.
"Err, Sorry... Anyways, what was that you were writing?"
"Oh, that? Well, I don't completely get the complicated stuff in these books, so I'm trying to see if I get the gist of stuff, and then noting it down in a way that I understand, and that I can actually remember when I study."
"But... drawings, really?"
Shrugging shamelessly, Issei pointed at his bandaged hand with his pen.
"I've been using this thing freestyle, in life or death situations. I didn't have the time to think things through, I just followed my gut and did what I thought I could. I'm trying to give the words in the book the same 'don't think, just do' feel, y'know?"
"I...See..."
She didn't, really, but she didn't let that stop the conversation.
"So, how good have you gotten at manipulating your Tantric Energy so far?"
Issei started tapping at his lip with the pen as he thought it through, before shrugging and speaking up.
"No idea. Haven't tried applying any of the things I've read about yet."
Lilith had to facepalm at that, speaking in an exhasperated tone.
"You do know that the primary purpose of your Magic lessons are to rein in your energy, right?"
Shrugging at that, Issei stood up and grabbed his notebook.
"No time like the present to try, huh?"
Lilith shrugged, seating herself on Issei's (replaced) bed, while the brunette closed his eyes and then took a few deep breaths, centering himself.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Soon enough Issei felt the world around him vanish almost completely, sound, touch, scent, all of it gone, replaced for a silent void.
~oOo~
In this void he noticed a person-shaped figure of light, which he moved towards.
Arriving at this figure, he noticed that while the figure itself shone a bright, white shade, with slightly grayed edges, it was surrounded by a thin green outline starting on the left hand, which seemed to be made of this green, but mixed with a bright red, which felt like fire. However, he noticed a bright yellow light higher up, at his bicep, and this one smelt like the air after a lightning storm, and felt like it emitted a small vibration, akin to the way a massage chair does.
However, these weren't what he was looking for.
He tried focusing specifically on a different power, one he knew intimately, despite the fact that he didn't know that he did. It was a power familiar to him, one that he felt in the Haze that came over his mind when he first met Lilith, and around her mother, and around Bernice...
He knew what the power was, he felt as if he could almost taste it, but, in that state of consciousness, the name evaded his mind, and the power itself did the same as a consequence.
He thought back to when he felt this power more clearly, but from within, not from outside, and his mind stumbled upon a memory from a few days ago...
'THUNDER DRAGON'S ROAR!'
Yes, that was it! He felt that power from the inside, but how...?
Running off of instinct, Issei grabbed some of the yellow light, just a tiny bit, and a similar amount of the red/green one, and he tried pushing them together. He watched as they rebelled, trying to push eachother away, each trying to spread freely, however he did not allow them to. He forced them together as he twirled them, forming a sort of vertical double-helix, however the two still tried to go out of control.
However, that changed suddenly. In-between the two spiraling stripes of power, hundreds, dozens, thousands, millions of thin, purple bars spawned, bridging the two together, connecting them to the deepest level.
'This is it! This is the missing light!'
Allowing the colored helix to sort itself out, Issei grabbed tightly onto one of the purple bars, and he stared at it. A purple light started emerging from the bar, threatening to blind him, however Issei did not dare look away, because he felt that if he did, he would never be allowed to lay his gaze upon it again.
So he looked, and he stared, and he refused to look away even as the light got more intense, he refused to blink even as his eyes wattered up, he refused to do so even as the light seared itself into his retinas, and grew, and grew, until it started engulfing everything else.
He felt this purple energy expanding, starting on the left side of his chest, over his heart, before spreading throughout his body. He felt it suffusing the entirety of his torso, and his right arm, and legs, and they felt amazing. He then felt purple light cover his head, and while it felt like liquid engulfing him, he could still breathe. He could breathe even better now than he did before!
Then, the light started flowing down his left arm, and he felt more than he saw the yellow light bond even more deeply with the white body of light under the influence of the purple light, a foreign feeling of cautious curiosity and confusion flowing into his mind, however he ignored these for now, focusing more on watching the purple light go down the rest of his arm, he watched as the red/green fire focused on the back of the left hand started swallowing some of the purple light, causing the raging flame to slowly reduce in size and intensity, ending as a simmering ember of indigo light, providing a soothing warmth and light in the cold, but ready to rise and rage as needed, and swallow whoever disrespects the might of one of the four primary elements of nature.
As soon as the purple light finished touching the left hand, Issei saw the purple light start spreading outwards from the figure of light he now knew represented his own soul, a nimbus of power - Tantric Energy, as he recently found out/always knew - manifesting itself and soothing the aches and pains that he had built up during the day.
~oOo~
Opening his eyes, Issei noticed the fact that his room had more people than it had before.
Like, a lot more people, as in 'the entirety of the castle's inhabitants' more.
All of them were fixatedly staring at Issei, their eyes glowing a brilliant violet, their wings, tails and horns on display, and their own auras of Tantric Energy surrounding them.
Taking hold of the power as if it were something he had been doing his entire life, Issei reeled the Tantric Energy he had been freely emanating back in, reducing it to a very thin aura, acting more like a second skin than anything else.
The various Succubi in the room started snapping out of their trance, all of them looking at Issei as if he were the second coming, awed at the incredible display of raw Tantric Power that didn't seem to even faze the young man. This awe was very soon overriden by an almost-unquenchable thirst that almost all of them acted upon, shedding - and in some cases actually shredding - their clothes and attaching themselves to the women closest to them, bodies touching, squeezing and writhing, moans, gasps and sighs filling the room like a symphony of pleasure, and Ode to lust.
A purple glow vanished from Issei's own irises, allowing them to return to their natural brown, before he spoke up.
"I know what I must do now."
The brunette, his face completely serious, reached for the hem of his shirt with his right hand, before he started lifting, causing the women around him to increase the pace of their actions, excitment building at the possibility of him joining in.
"Oh no you don't!"
Issei felt a pair of fingers twisting his ear hard, before dragging him out of the room. Looking at the owner of the fingers, Issei could only whine out.
"Lilith~, let me join the orgy~"
"Like hell I will! I have a claim on your virginity, and like hell I'll let you lose it in there!"
"I wanna join! I wanna join! I wanna join!"
The door closed behind the whining Issei and the embarrassed Lilith, causing Laveria to chuckle in amusement, before licking her lips. Before long she had shed her clothes and joined the writhing mass of bodies, causing the amount and volume of moans to increase exponentially.
Issei cried himself to sleep that night.
~CHAPTER, END!~
So, tell me, was the chapter worth the wait? Did I clear your doubts? Is the story worth returning to in future chapters? You can tell me all that and more in the reviews, and, if you want to, in PM's!
FrancoGamerxz, out!