Chapter 19: Montague! Maybe! I don't know! Wait… Sex Montague! That's totally a thing! That may or may not happen!

I don't own Highschool DxD, any of its characters, or any references in this story. If I did, horrible things would happen. Neither do I own any other anime that I reference. I do own all OC's and new abilities in the story as well as every ounce of pure awesome spawned by this.

Fair warning folks, the first bulk of this chapter's pretty heavy.

o. o. o.

Six years ago:

Issei woke up screaming. And not in the usual semi-comedic way that everyone was used to.

"Hm? Partner? What's wrong?" Ddraig was the first to react before anyone came in the door. "Did Ghost overdo his training again?"

"It's Thursday Ddraig. He gets to sleep normally tonight." Ghost yawned. As overenthusiastic as he technically was while educating the boy in his subconscious at times, even he knew how important a full night of genuine rest could be. Especially for a developing mind like Issei's. "Nightmare kid?"

Issei didn't say anything, instead settling for hugging his knees to his chest and trying to shut out the world.

That was not normal. Nor a good sign.

"Kid?" Ghost's tone grew slightly more concerned. Child or not, Issei was not one that would withdraw into himself without a damn good reason. "Hey Ddraig, you catch what he saw while sleeping?"

"No. I've made it a habit to keep away after his dreams after one almost, ugh, turned me into a female human."

That, had been a close one. That boy's imagination and conviction to his fantasies was truly a terrifying thing to behold.

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. "Issei? We heard a scream. Is everything all right? You didn't experiment with your testicles without supervision and screw up again, did you?" Azazel's voice came from the other side.

Issei, didn't react. He just continued to shiver in a cold sweat, staring off at nothing in particular.

"Hm." Normally Ghost was against making things worse whenever someone was having a truly severe mental breakdown, but he needed some extra hands to work with that weren't stuck in the kid's soul. "Something's up with him. He saw something in his dreams, and he's more or less nonresponsive. Try coming into the room."

"And that will help how?" Azazel's skepticism was warranted. It was Issei's room after all.

"If he reacts, it might be enough to snap him out of his funk. If it doesn't, then at least we have someone here that can actually help physically."

There was a sigh on the other side of the door. Moments later, with some genuine audible hesitancy, it opened to an almost naked Azazel, followed by Vali and a currently visiting Kuroka.

Issei twitched violently, making everyone freeze for a few seconds, but otherwise didn't respond.

"What got into him?" Vali looked at his friend bewildered. Issei had episodes before but this one was clearly more severe than normal.

"Nightmare of some kind. Not of the usual stupid variant either. He'd have reacted to us by now." Ddraig hummed, concerned. "There's clearly a disturbance in his psyche. Something's twisted him up severely."

"His psyche? We should have noticed if there was something that strong influenced him…" Ghost hummed. "Kuroka-chan, can you support him for a bit? I'm going to jump in a bit deeper than normal and see what's going-"

"…ma." Issei whimpered, catching them all off guard.

"He speaks!" Ghost cheered, immediately back to his usual immature self. "Can you say that a bit louder kid? Kuroka-chan's here. If you're good, she'll let you touch her oppai~."

The Nekoshou held back a pout. Ghost wasn't wrong technically, but she was annoyed that he spoke for her on the matter

"G-Grandma…" Issei whimpered throwing everyone for a loop.

"Grandma?" Vali echoed, confused. "I don't get it."

"I don't either." Azazel pondered. "From what I recall, all of Issei's grandparents are dead."

"I-I s-saw G-Grandma." Issei shivered uncontrollably. "A-And she saw me."

"Grandma… wait. Ah shit." Ghost swore.

"Something ring a bell?" Azazel asked.

"Kid. By Grandma, do you mean big, white, scaly with a faint pinkish rainbow sheen? Pink eyes that replace the horizon? Bigger ego than me? That Grandma?"

Issei didn't reply. He only shivered harder.

"Pink white and rainbow?" Vali snorted. "That doesn't sound too scary."

"Yeah well, you've never seen a true eldritch horror before." Ghost grimaced. "I was afraid something like this might happen eventually. Kid accidentally dreamed about my boss through me, and she noticed him. Classic case of peering into the abyss bull. Problem is that he's nowhere near conditioned for that level of exposure."

"He contacted an Outer God?" Azazel paled. The gods that dwelled on this plane of existence were annoying enough at times, but even they avoided the powerhouses on the outside whenever possible.

On a side note, the fact that Ghost technically counted as one himself was nearly perpetually ignored.

"He contacted THE Outer God as far as you're concerned, and even that's a vast understatement. She's more or less a sentient Omniverse, if you can wrap your heads around that. The fact that his mind is intact despite her noticing him directly can be considered a miracle in itself."

Ghost spat irritably. "Son of a bitch. Ok. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to make a quick trip to the head dragon lady herself to iron this mess out. And before you ask, no I'm not technically leaving the kid's body so he won't die from the trip. Just going to use a causality trick to get around that problem for a while. Kuroka, you and Jasmine… wait," There was a brief pause as everyone looked around. "The fuck is Jas?"

"She should still be here." Vali frowned. Jasmine was usually one of the first on the scene whenever Issei had an episode. The apartment they were in was a sizeable one, capable of housing a family or more of people if needed. Normally it was just Issei, Azazel, Vali and Jasmine staying inside, but it wasn't uncommon for guests to stay over on occasion. "She didn't go to the lab tonight. Last time I saw her was during mail call this afternoon."

"N-Nee-san?" Issei looked around as if he was a lost child looking for his missing favorite stuffed toy.

"Do you think something is wrong, nya?" Kuroka looked slightly worried.

"We'll find out soon enough." Azazel turned for her room. "Issei. Something might have happened to Jasmine. She might need your help."

Surprisingly, the boy didn't immediately burst into flaming action hell bent on purging whoever was stupid enough to hurt Jasmine. He did however, stagger unsteadily to his feet and stumble his way with a fair bit of unhinged anger like a particularly motivated zombie.

Kuroka instantly grabbed onto Issei from behind and pressed her chest into his back to calm him down some. The action worked to a degree, but instantly caused the Nekoshou to flinch and almost retreated a second later. "Nya?! Oh my. Ghost was nyat stretching the truth. Issei's ki is all over the place. It actually shocked me."

"That bad?" Vali blinked. "Damn. That grandma really must be something crazy…"

"Don't even think about it."Albion chided firmly. "If even a fraction of what my instincts tell me of our Great Grandmother is true, then you'd wipe out our entire reality as a consequence for your thirst for battle. Dragons are a prideful race, but even we know a lost battle when we see one. If just looking at her drove your rival to this state, imagine what it would do to you."

"To put it another way, she's one of those monsters that can wipe out your existence by accident simply because she noticed you existed in the first place." Ddraig expanded.

"Tch. Fine." Vali huffed.

"If you're that eager to have your ass kicked pointlessly, I'll introduce you to a chicken that'll do the job just fine later. You'll love him. He's a real "in your face" type. For now though, I'll have to leave you guys for a bit. Ddraig, you keep the kid's mind intact from the inside. Everyone with tits, smother him. Everyone without tits, don't get in the way with the people with tits." Ghost instructed with a firm tone that caught most by surprise. It wasn't often that he actually took charge of anything that wasn't Issei's training.

"Are you sure this boss of yours will listen to you?" Azazel probed. "You've complained about her enough to make us think otherwise, and from what I understand Eldritch entities aren't exactly the most negotiable or coherent of beings."

"She'll listen. Outside of her direct family, I'm the only being that's ever managed to put her existence in genuine danger in a straight fight."

The Fallen's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Despite the grandeur of that claim, you don't seem to be proud of that accomplishment."

Indeed, Ghost's tone had been remarkably neutral during the previous statement.

The room was ominously quiet for several seconds.

"… Let's just say that it wasn't a particularly fun day for anyone."

Before anyone could reply to that disturbingly ominous statement, the slight pressure that indicated Ghost's presence faded away. It didn't take much for them to figure out that he had already left.

Azazel scratched his chin skeptically. "Well that was rather unsettling. Regardless, I suppose he's left us to our own devices now. First thing's first, Issei and Jasmine."

"N-Nee-san." Issei mumbled absently as he stumbled out of the room and moved straight to Jasmine's, barely paying attention to the others there.

"Wow, he's really out of it this time. I know we joked about it, but I think there's seriously something wrong with him." Vali grimaced.

"Recent unexpected exposure to an Outer God aside, we've suspected as much for a while already." Azazel admitted. Dragon or not, Issei was a unique case that would catch anyone's attention sooner or later. But so long as he wasn't a danger to himself or anyone else (that was important), it was always put off as a secondary issue.

While they were bantering, Issei opened the door to Jasmine's room and walked in. "Nee-san?"

Surprising enough, Jasmine was actually still inside and awake. She was sitting on her bed with an opened letter in her hand, dressed in sweat pants and a tank top.

What was out of the norm though was her disheveled state of her hair and the running smear of makeup down her cheeks indicating that she had been crying.

Jasmine never cried.

"Issei?" She croaked awkwardly. It was as if her voice was simultaneously worn and abused, yet still in immaculate shape. No doubt her Sacred Gear had prevented her throat from falling apart in her distress. "Sorry, but, I'm not in the mood for people right now…"

The boy didn't seem to hear her as he stumbled faster towards her, half tackling and half collapsing into her lap to wrap his arms around her waist in a death grip.

"Wh-what the?! Issei! I told you I'm not in the mood right now!" She growled with more force.

"Jas." Kuroka stepped in with concern. "He actually nyeeds you this time. He saw something through Ghost that he shouldn't have. Bad enough that even Ghost took it seriously. I couldn't calm him down myself."

"…Mm'sry." Issei whimpered into her stomach, shivering enough for everyone to see.

Jasmine clearly looked like she wanted to be anywhere else for a moment, but gave up just as quickly. What was surprising was the helpless expression she had doing so. "Fine. Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do…"

"Jasmine, I know I'm prying but what's wrong?" Azazel asked, clearly concerned. "Something's clearly happened."

"How kind of you to notice."

"You're normally quiet when you have some time to yourself. You're not however the type that makes a habit of crying or locking yourself in for half a day with a letter in hand." The Fallen nodded his head to the missive she was still holding.

The teen opened her mouth to rebuke him harshly, but paused as she noticed the worried looks she was getting, even from Kuroka. She wanted to yell at them. She wanted to be alone. But even if she could kick them out, she couldn't get rid of Issei. Not now. And they'd find out eventually regardless.

She let out a bitter mix of laughter, reluctance, anger, and resignation as she shook her head and leaned back on her bed to stare up at the ceiling. Her hands snaking around Issei to hug him close for her own personal comfort.

"… I just got a letter. My dad he, he killed himself last week."

The room was dead quiet.

"He, uh. He tried to reenlist for another tour and got denied. Too old for general duties, no real specialties. Not leader material. Not organized enough for management. And he never was one to rub shoulders. Not with the higher ranks that gave a damn at least. But military life was all he really knew, and I guess it was too much for him. Rejection letter in one hand. Nine millimeter in the other."

She was clearly trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, but even Hellen Keller could tell that she wasn't taking it well.

"We didn't get along that well to begin with. He wasn't abusive, but it was like I was a chore more than his daughter. And things got worse when we learned that mom died. He wouldn't let me go to the funeral back then. I ran away from home a bit after that. Even so, when I got accepted here I sent him messages to tell him where I was. What I was doing. Told him I was going legit. Going to be a successful member of society just like he kept on bitching to me about when I was a brat. Strike it rich. Have a house. Never have to answer to anyone. Be my own boss so I could order him around for once 'cause I did own the place. He sent a couple back, but they were always halfhearted. Just like when we were together. I thought that he… I didn't think that he would… that him being gone would…"

Jasmine couldn't string together her words right as tears started to fall down her cheeks and she hunched over to hug Issei tighter, who in turn held her more in kind.

"We should leave." Azazel advised Kuroka and Vali, already slowly walking backwards out the room. "We'll come back later to check up on you two."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Vali all but whispered. "Neither of them are…"

"Sometimes that's exactly why they should be left be." Kuroka chided softly, urging him out firmly. "We'll have our turn eventually. Just not now."

The boy looked like he wanted to say something more, but a last glance at Jasmine and Issei hugging one another killed his motivation to do so.

Soon enough, it was just Jasmine and Issei on the former's bed quietly comforting one another.

"Never thought I'd be saying this to a ten year old kid, but you're all I have left now Issei." Jasmine mumbled into the top of his head. "How pathetic am I?"

"I shouldn't be. You deserve more." Issei replied, his mind and body were exhausted but his confidence still enabled his words to come out calm and firm, if a bit weak.

"You're too good to me. Really." She let out a bitter laugh and hugged him even tighter. "… Issei? Be honest. Why did you so convinced that I was worth going after even when I turned you down?"

There was a long pause before he answered. Long enough that for a moment Jasmine suspected that the boy had lost himself in the comfort of their hold for a moment. "… Dunno. Could just, tell, you were worth it. That you were special, and you needed someone. That you'd be happy if I was around."

"That's some impressive gut feeling you have." She didn't even try to deny it. "I miss him Issei. I didn't even know I did until I read the letter. I didn't know that he was even that bad…"

"It's not your fault. It's not his. It's not anyone's. Nobody has to be at fault." The boy reasoned, burying his head deeper into Jasmine's cleavage, having shifting his skull up there sometime over the past few minutes. It wasn't for perverted comfort or thrill, but out of necessity. His mind kept on flashing with images that confused and horrified him. Jasmine's comfort, her love, as depressed as it was right now, was the only thing that kept him thinking rationally right now.

"I should have been there."

"No. You've always been right where you've needed to be. You tried to talk to him, even when you didn't have to. It's not your fault." Issei chided. "I'll call mom and dad later. They can help. You're their family too."

"You, really see me as family?"

"Don't ask stupid questions Nee-san."

"… Sorry."

The two rested in her bed in silence, drawing comfort and stability from one another.

"Issei?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for caring about me."

"Mmm."

"I love you."

"I love you too Nee-san."

It was the first time Jasmine had ever said those words to him. They both know she would never utter them half-heartedly to anyone.

Just as the boy was relaxing, a flash of pink literally seared the inside of his mind, making him shiver and tighten his hold on her.

"Issei? What happened?"

"I accidentally saw Grandma through Ghost. Scary."

"Grand… you mean that super Dragon God that Ophis goes on about?"

"Really scary."

"Wasn't it just a dream?"

"Gods can talk to people through dreams. Nothing says they can't notice when people start it from their side by accident." He reasoned.

"… Can't argue with that." She held him tighter. "So she's too much woman for even you huh? Like Tiamat?"

"No. Tia wants me because we match well. I'm her ideal mate. Grandma wants me because of pride."

"Pride?"

"I looked at her. Not at the image she makes to talk to people normally." He shivered more. "No one's supposed to do that without her permission. It's not right. I'm just me. I don't have the right. The Authority. The…"

"Shh. Shh. It's ok. It's ok." She comforted Issei as he began to shake almost uncontrollably.

She didn't understand a fraction of the "God" related stuff that Ghost taught Issei, but she knew enough to know that breaking taboos tended to result in people being driven insane.

Or reality twisting on itself.

Or the world ending in some capacity.

It was usually at least one of those three things.

"I'm guessing Ghost is trying to fix things now? Is that why he hasn't said anything yet?"

"Mmm."

"Well at least he's being productive and quiet for a change." She sighed. As the seconds and minutes drew out, she felt the exhaustion she had been fighting all day in her grief finally start to catch up to her. "Hey Issei, do you want me to sing you to sleep?"

"No. Can't sleep. Not yet." His denial surprised her. Issei rarely ever turned down an offer from her to take a nap.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll see Grandma again if I sleep now. I can feel it." He shivered in fear again.

"You're not going to tell me next that she wants to jump you like Tia does, are you?" Jasmine half joked, half prayed.

"N-no. She just wants to kill me." Issei clarified, also horrified at the mere idea of that monster wanting to jump his bones.

Technically, she wanted to "correct his existence", but it more or less meant the same thing.

"Well that's a relief." Even Jas couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious. Still it didn't stop her from gently stroking Issei's head to calm him down. "Shh. It's fine. I'm here Issei. I'm here."

"Mm'srry." He mumbled. "I should be helping you right now."

"It's fine. You're helping just by being here."

"… Really?"

Jasmine didn't know why, but that single worded question felt heavier than it had any right to be. There was just so much hope, gratification, and pure unadulterated relief in it that she had to take a moment to make sure that she had heard it right.

"Yeah."

Much to her surprise, he didn't say anything. Instead, all the energy in his body just seemed to ebb away, and he started to cry into her chest.

It wasn't long until she started to cry too.

An hour later, Ophis barged into the room asking to talk to Grandma.

o. o. o.

Present Day:

Issei knew it was too good to last, but he had hoped that his relative peace would have at least lasted for a week.

"So, to recap, you lot need borderline miracle anime level training for an unofficial Rating Game in three weeks, for political bullshit reasons. Is that about right?" He aimed his question was aimed at Rias as he sat in her office.

"Essentially. And if I lose, I… will have to leave Kuoh." Rias elaborated. She tried to put up a strong front, but her insecurities were clearly leaking through.

The fact that she was asking for Issei's help so quickly after learning of her situation was a clear indication of how confident she was in succeeding in her trials. A fact that was not lost on either of them.

Issei took in a slow and deep breath, closed his eyes, and released it.

He did it several times, tapping his fingers on his legs at irregular intervals. It was clear he was thinking hard on the matter while calming himself down.

"… I had a feeling you were hoping to use me for something down the line. Was this it?" He probed.

"Yes." Rias admitted. Had he been looking, he would have seen her avert her gaze from him while answering.

"But something happened. I'm guessing the time moved up unexpectedly? You know me well enough to know that I wouldn't take this well."

"I, we thought we had until the fall season before we reached this point. Even my brother was surprised by the development. The training that Sona and I had you set up for us earlier was supposed to be a slow buildup for this."

Issei suddenly took in a deep breath, as if hearing something that triggered his short temper before forcefully calming himself down. "If you're up against an Ultimate Class, I'm telling you right now you're shit out of luck. I'd need at least half a year and some Deus ex Machina bullshit character development from each of your peerage members for you to have a chance."

Rias' lips quirked momentarily in some minor amusement. "No. Just a rather powerful Upper Class Devil with a difficult skillset and a moderately experienced Peerage, albeit a full one. That said, I'd like to think that my Peerage's quality is a bit above the norm across the board."

"Quantity is a quality itself, Weeb. Don't start going into denial already." He chided coldly while opening his eyes to look at her.

She was scared.

That had been the first thing he had noticed the moment he saw her that afternoon, and it had not changed in the slightest throughout their conversation. In fact, Rias' entire peerage had been on edge that day. Enough to clearly forget the events of last week for the most part.

… He didn't like it.

A distinctively animalistic growl was barely held back in his throat.

His instincts were screaming at him that there was more to this mess than even Rias knew. And considering what he had experienced and could use as reference, he could already formulate a good number of ideas as to what it could be. And none of them appealed to him in the slightest.

His hands slowly tightened into fists. He was being forced to move against his will again. To take a side in a fight that he wanted no part of.

And what was most infuriating of all was the very real possibility that once again…

"Issei?"

Her question seemed to lance through his building rage, and enabled him to calm down.

No. No there was no point in getting angry at the Weeb. She didn't do anything wrong. If anything it was likely Zechs' fault for allowing things to fester and devolve to this point. Again.

A pity. For the most powerful Maou on record, he was rather underwhelming and pathetic when put under even a little bit of pressure from the right direction.

The irony was not lost on Issei. He could relate.

Shaking his head, Issei got up and grabbed his bag. "I need a bit to think things through. I'll call you later tonight."

Rias looked slightly disappointed, but held it well. "That's understandable. I did spring this up on you on short notice."

"Mmm." Reaching for the door handle, he paused as a stray concern caught his attention. An irrelevant and dangerous one, but it was still something that would nag at him relentlessly until he asked it. "Hey Weeb?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know who I am?"

The room was deadly quiet as his words sunk into virtually everything in the room.

"… I have an idea. But in all honesty, I'd rather if you just stayed being Issei Hyoudou. No offense, but you're a big enough headache as is."

She couldn't see it clearly, but she could have sworn that the perpetually scowling teen's slumped figure had relaxed ever so slightly from her response.

"Yeah." Issei nodded just before leaving the room, as if talking to himself more than her. "Yeah, that's probably for the best."

Not even ten minutes later, Akeno entered the office with a concerned expression. "I didn't hear any yelling, and I'm unsure if that's a good or bad thing."

"Neither am I." Rias gave her a sardonic smile. "He needs to think about it. He'll tell me later tonight."

"It's rare for him to not have an immediate answer." Akeno noted. "Another ill-fitting omen."

"We've been getting a fair number of those recently. Though it didn't take long for Issei to come to his own conclusions on the matter. Ones that he kept to himself for once."

"You didn't tell him too much, did you?" As much as she wanted to maximize Rias' odds of her fight against Riser, she also didn't want to risk angering Issei's caretakers, who in some ways were even more dangerous than the unstable teen himself.

"No. Just the bare minimum. He doesn't even know I'm engaged, let alone trying to get out of it." Rias leaned back in her seat and looked at the ceiling. "However, what little I did reveal was still enough to supposedly figure something out that displeased him. Whether it is actually relevant to my situation or not is anyone's guess."

"I think I can say for all of us that we're better off not making any assumptions when he's involved." The Fallen giggled, approaching her King from behind and reaching forward to embrace her. "However, I don't need to make a guess to know how stressed you are."

"I doubt anyone does." She sighed in content as Akeno's hands began to wander over her front, teasingly brushing against her breasts as they pulled back before resting with more force on her shoulders. "Ah. Right there."

"Of course." The Onee-san complied, kneading Rias' tense shoulders with sensual vigor.

It was going to be one of those nights, and she didn't mind it one bit.

o. o. o.

Issei walked into his home and immediately knew it was going to be one of those nights.

There in the middle of the living room was the peculiar sight of Asia, Raynare, Jasmine and Vali…

… With the latter three looking like they had just smelled something really nasty and the former looking around really confused.

"The fuck happened this time?" Issei asked point blank.

"She asked me if "I was ok" about yesterday when bitch complex here turned me into your personal fuck toy." Raynare answered, maintaining her annoyed expression.

"Uuuuugh." Issei groaned, immediately donning the same exact expression as the other non-church goers in the room. "Not THIS conversation again."

"You have no right to complain. You've been shut in for half a decade. You haven't needed to explain shit to anyone." Jasmine jabbed. As someone that spent more time with Fallen than actual humans, she was often stuck giving this lecture more times than she would normally ever tolerate.

"You joking? I made a fucking website that I send links to at least five times a week on forums whenever some "non-human rights activist" retard starts bitching about how Fallen and other humanoid species are "mistreated into abuse among their kind" and "misunderstood" and "taken advantage of". They "only need time" and "someone to talk to" to "integrate into society peacefully". Fucking hypocritical community college liberal arts majors never do their own research and spew the first thing that comes into their head. They can't even use their half assed educations right in the first place. Screw thinking objectively. Those idiots can't even spell objectively without using spellcheck."

"Wait. YOU made that website?" Vali blinked. "I've heard that half of the cross faction businesses these days force their employees to go there and review it as part of their orientation training for dealing with Fallen coworkers to minimize in office incidents."

"Wait. No kidding? I was wondering my viewer count and sponsor income from that site got so high so quickly a couple of years ago."

"Let's just get this over with already so that the sheep doesn't do something stupid with her half assed assumptions later." Raynare groaned. "Fuck I hate explaining this to humans. It takes forever when we could be doing more important things. Or anything else that actually relevant."

"What's going on?" Asia began to panic in Italian. "What did I do? Why are you all angry?"

"We're not angry." Vali explained, being one of the only two that could understand her and purposefully ignoring Issei about to go on another aimless rant and making violent gestures. "It's just that, when you are intimately familiar with Fallen nature and culture, it gets a bit annoying trying to explain its nuances to people over and over again."

And over. And over. And over. And over.

"Fallen nature and culture?" Asia echoed, not getting what he was referring to.

"Hold on. I got this." Raynare sighed, stepping forward. "You. Sheep person. I am not a human. Do you understand that?"

"Huh? What do you mean? Of course I know-?!" Asia's answer was interrupted as Raynare grabbed her face.

"Noooooo." Raynare spoke slowly as if speaking to a particularly slow child and leaned forward so their noses almost touched. "No. You don't. Because if you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation, and you wouldn't have asked that question."

The Fallen's voice got slightly quieter. "Just because I look, talk, and eat like one of you monkeys does NOT mean I, or my kin, are like you. That we have the same values as you. That we have the same instincts as you. The fact that the majority of you idiots make the same ridiculous assumptions every SINGLE time you see or talk to us is half the reason why we want to gut you fools the moment you open your hypocritical mouths…"

The girl was weak. Open. Vulnerable. Her soft neck was right in front of her. All it would take was one quick jerk and-

"Oi oi. Tone down the murder boner a bit, will you?" Jasmine gripped Raynare's outstretched hand and pushed her back, allowing Asia some breathing room. "She's not like one of those insufferable opinionated idiots that starts lecturing on what is and isn't right the moment they see something out of the norm. Just give her context, all right?"

Vali shook his head and stepped in. "Look. You know how Fallen Angels are all about Sin, right?"

"R-Right." Asia coughed, still spooked from her rough treatment.

"Well it goes deeper than that. Much deeper." He explained. "Fallen need to Sin in some form. It's instinct to them. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Sin. It's what they do, like how parents love their kids. There's no point in questioning it. Doing so will only piss them off or make them look down on you for asking something that seems so obvious from their perspective. Always has been. Always will be. Are you following me so far?"

Asia tentatively nodded, sneaking glances at Raynare as she did so.

Vali continued. "The thing you really need to understand starts with the fact that Fallen have specific… tastes, in Sin. It varies from person to person, sometimes pretty badly, but it usually gravitates to one or two of the standard Seven that everyone knows about. And like I said, they more or less have to express it all their lives. So, eventually, it makes sense that Fallen as a whole would be attracted to activities that could easily be used to knock off as many of the Seven Sins as possible in a single go. Make it a part of their culture. It makes day to day life easier to manage and organize that way…"

Asia's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean…"

"Bondage Discipline Masochism Sadism. BDSM." Vali nodded. He waited for a moment and was pleasantly surprised that nun wasn't confused or oblivious to what the term meant. He blamed Issei. If it was sex related, it was usually his fault. "Done right, a pair of Fallen that know what they're doing can knock off all Seven Sins in the span of a coffee break and still have time to top off their mug for a second batch of brew."

Raynare snorted but kept quiet otherwise. It went deeper than that. Fallen culture in general was essentially a loosely organized Kraterocrasy and Meritocracy, a society ruled by the powerful and useful. From birth, most Fallen strove to be either strong or valuable to those that were strong and valuable.

And at the pinnacle of that pyramid was Azazel. There was a reason why so many Fallen, including Raynare herself, would bend over and spread their ass cheeks to take him dry in a heartbeat in order to gain his favor.

In a way, it said a good deal about Raynare. She only really had her sights on Azazel. The very top. She wouldn't settle for anything less. She saw him less as a love interest and more of an idolized goal.

Hell, the only real reason why Issei had been hesitant earlier to stick Raynare to their little long term jizz powerup deal was because it was only a little bit more forceful than what he was used to. Not to what Raynare was used to.

Issei personally suspected that the urge to be strong and useful was a leftover fault ingrained into them from God's System and being "abandoned" by their spiritual father figure.

He had once suggested the idea to Azazel, and soon afterwards made a mental note to never bring his hypothesis up ever again. EVER.

It was that form of power structure and authority that kept the entire species in line. Their natures, their desires, their needs were too extreme for something as fragile and pathetic as a Democracy. That social structure only worked reliably when the individuals involved were weak across the board (or at least on a roughly even playing field), desperate to work together in large enough numbers, and there was little need to rely on the powerful in the first place for survival.

Saying that a person that was capable of easily wasting entire countries had the same voting power as some meaningless mook that worked guard duty at some random post? That was insulting and stupid to the point that even the mook would find the idea to be a bad joke and laugh from the bottom of their heart at the idea of it happening.

Only the strongest of the Fallen could consistently keep themselves in line AND keep the rest mostly in check. It was that very trait that endeared the leaders of the Fallen to the rest of their kin, with a few exceptions. It made them an ideal to reach up to. To emulate. To work and strive to match.

Simple. To the point. And it got shit done.

So, like a pack of wolves faced with their Alpha, they submitted willingly and eagerly. They had few issues with this setup despite its crude nature, and they had no desire to change it anytime soon.

At the end of the day, it kept them in line, and it worked.

That said, that wasn't to say that there weren't different brands of Fallen.

Culturally and behaviorally, there were two main different types that made up the masses. Those that lived and stayed with other Fallen exclusively, and those that lived in more mixed communities.

The former tended to be more unstable and fell into anarchic habits whenever someone distinctively stronger wasn't around to put them in line. These were the ones that more often than not were seen covered head to toe with leather and belts and looked like they belonged more in a sex club than a battlefield.

Leather didn't just make up just their war attire. It was their day clothes as well.

The latter on the other hand tended to hide their more impulsive habits and had an easier time adapting and faking their image to trick others for their own benefits. They weren't "better behaved" per say, just more subtle on average.

Raynare initially grew up in a Fallen enclave, however due to her independence she found herself on the outside socializing and mingling with other species rather easily. It was this habit of hers that enabled her to land her espionage job later down the line.

Either way, Fallen in general tended to have very little patience with those that couldn't wrap their heads around their kinds' cultures and needs, which in turn leads to some xenophobic habits. Not that they had an easy time getting along with others to begin with.

That said, they still respected those that knew how to play the game.

It was a peculiar case of Nature Vs. Nurture. Nature without question took priority in what governed a Fallen's instincts, but Nurture defined how they expressed and honed it. Both were predominant factors and both could not be disregarded if one wanted a remotely functioning relationship with any member of the species.

"So, when I saw you yesterday in Issei's room…" Asia nervously looked at Raynare.

She grimaced and looked away. "What you saw was the result of us seeing who the bigger bitch was. And because of a cheap fluke I lost."

"Keep telling yourself that, pet." Jasmine smirked, cocking her hips to the side and lifting her fingers to her lips in an exceptionally sensual fashion that was not missed by anyone. She may not be a Fallen, but she had spent more than enough time with them to more or less talk the talk and play whatever game they could spring up on her. Unspoken subtle ways that the kind said "no I'm not in the mood", "yes, I need a good plowing" and "bitch I don't care how tough you think you are, by the end of the night one of us is going to fuck the other like a cheap disposable toy".

Jasmine was rarely on the wrong end of that last one. It would take at least a Six Winged Fallen to give her a challenge and get her on her knees these days. If they were lucky.

"But you looked like you wanted to get out." Asia kept on pushing.

Raynare rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because I hate being the sub. Just like I hate it when I stub my toe or some asshole steals twenty thousand yen from my wallet. They're all borderline equal in my eyes."

"Like you have money." Issei snorted.

"Just like when some introverted jackass doesn't shut up." Raynare momentarily tried to murder Issei with her eyes before calming down. "My point is that many things you humans make such a big deal about don't matter nearly as much to Fallen if at all, or to other species for that matter. Just because we look like you monkeys does not mean we think or are like you. So stop getting angry on our behalf on every tiny thing you see us do that you don't like, because if you do one of us is going to stab you in the back just to shut you up."

"But, but how will I know what really bothers you then?" Asia asked confused, with wide innocent puppy dog eyes.

"Oh sweet merciful Jesus she's doing the adorable thing again." Jasmine swooned.

"I don't see it." Vali bluntly stated in contrast.

"She will teach you." Issei spoke up in broken Italian, surprising everyone.

"Eh?! You, you DO speak Italian!" Asia gaped. She had her suspicions after he had rescued her from the church, but ever since then he had either avoided her or used someone else as a translator.

"I speak like the town drunk." He admitted bluntly while ignoring the knowing looks that Vali and Jasmine were giving him. He turned to Raynare. "Cougar, teach her so she'll at least be less insufferable. We can't babysit her all the time to make sure she doesn't say something stupid."

"Why don't you do it?" She really didn't want to teach Fallen Culture 101 now, or ever for that matter.

"Because my Italian is shit and I need to talk to these two about something in private." He nodded to his oldest companions.

To their credit, both Vali and Jasmine looked just as confused as Raynare by the demand.

"You do realize you're giving me free reign over what to teach this impressionable blonde waif, completely unsupervised, right?" She went on. The Fallen wasn't oblivious. She was fully aware of how horrible a person she was and what she could do with this opportunity.

"And I'll be sure to blame you for everything she does later, but I do need to have this talk." Issei brushed her off and walked to the kitchen, following him skeptically.

"Well… all right then." Left alone in the living room, the Fallen Angel and impressionable nun glanced at one another, unsure of what to make of the situation.

"So. I guess the first thing to go over is how to know when someone wants to screw your brains out before anything is said, and subsequently how to tell them to screw off without getting arrested or charged with battery."

Asia gaped.

"You're right. You're too pathetic to beat a dick off, let alone actually floor someone. I'll have to come up with something else for you."

It was an informative night.

o. o. o.

"Leaving those two alone is a horrible idea and you know it." Jasmine stated bluntly.

"I'll live." Issei sat down with a tired huff. With a casual wave of his hand, he isolated the kitchen with a privacy spell ingrained in the house so that their conversation was private.

"What's crawled up your butt?" Vali crossed his arms.

"You tell me." Their host leveled a glare with them. "When were you going to let me know that the Weeb was stuck in a political spot?"

Jasmine frowned. "She asked you for help already? I know I scared the girl, but there was no need for her to rush to prove that she only wants some help training. She has months before-"

"Three weeks." Issei cut her off.

Her words got stuck in her throat as she and Vali did a double take. "Weeks? Not months?"

"Apparently something has prompted the other party to push things harder than expected." Issei's glare narrowed dangerously. "It's barely been a week, Nee-san, and yet for some reason I can't help but suspect a familiar Snowball has been rolling behind my back."

The kitchen was ominously quiet.

It had been a while since he had uttered that particular nickname.

Seemingly innocent and fun to play with, but if you set it up just right and push it down a hill, or a mountain…

"Issei. I-"

"She knows I'm here. Doesn't she?"

His accusation was cold and emotionless. "Rapid fire emergencies from various indirect angles. Changing the pacing and scheduling of events at the last moment to cause panic and divert attention. Hitting people in ways that directly affect their personal lives. This has her fingerprints all over it. It's just like, it's just like back then."

"Tch. Of course it'd be like that." Vali's fists tightened to the point that he looked like he was going to hit something. There was no point in trying to hide it any longer. They'd only make things worse if they did. "We suspected that she might have figured out you were alive for a few months, but you know how she works. It's hard to be certain of anything she does or doesn't know until she makes move herself."

"We didn't want to tell you. For obvious reasons. And we were trying to fix it, fix everything, before things got to this point. Us, Azazel, even the Maou and Michael. You shouldn't have to, need to do anything anymore. We all know you've gone through enough as it is." Jasmine spoke softly, noting how his body was shaking slightly. Truth be told, he was reacting to this far better than she feared he would. He was still lucid and coherent of the world around him.

"I shouldn't," He shook his head, tired. "She's trying to lure me out. The shit show last week was verification that I really was here. This… this is to distract me. Gauge how attached I am to the Weeb while getting rid of her in the process. If I am close to the Weeb, she knows I'll stay to help. If I try to run, she'll be able to tell and track me. Snowball isn't distracted or restrained by politics and half her domain being on fire this time. We won't be able to set up a place that can hide me this well again unless we do something crazy that will just make things worse."

Jas and Vali glanced at one another concerned. They didn't want to admit it, but Issei was right. Their former friend was formidable on a good day and a nightmare at her worst. Planning ahead for various scenarios and contingencies was something she was terrifyingly proficient in. More so when she had the time and resources to spare.

And she had an ungodly amount of resources now.

"You can still run to Dragon Territory." Jasmine suggested. "Ophis can't support you directly, but you know that the majority of the rest would bend over backwards to back you up-"

"And let them see me like this?" He snorted. "A good quarter of them would turn on me for being a disappointment, and at least a third would go on a rampage and cause more problems for everyone. You barely managed to convince them to stay their flames for the past five years as it is Nee-san. Don't waste your efforts now."

Vali frowned. "You're actually thinking of helping Gremory."

Issei didn't say anything, but his determination to avoid eye contact said enough.

"Issei, you've done enough. You don't have to do anyone any favors." Jasmine knelt down to him. "If you do help her, if you stay here, there's a good chance you might not get another opportunity to escape whatever nightmare she's got setting up. Is that what you want? You've barely managed to recover from last time. You won't be able to handle getting put through all that again. You'll break, and we won't be able to put you back together again."

"… Someone's going to get hurt because of me again."

Jasmine and Vali froze as his words hit them harder and in a way that no punch could.

Of course. Of course it would boil down to that. After everything that Issei was put through last time, why wouldn't he be affected by one of his greatest traumas all over again.

"Son of a festering shrew. She's using the Maou's plan against us." Vali hissed, making a brief violent gesture in frustration. Sirzech's plan to use Rias and her Peerage to get closer to Issei and heal his trauma had worked, at least to some minor extent. And thus it had backfired. There was no way the Sekiryuutei would leave them now. He was against his nature, even if it was a poor decision.

"That CUNT." Jasmine snarled slamming a fist on the table, barely holding back a tirade of her own. To be playing with Issei's heart and self-guilt so easily again after all this time was unforgiveable.

"Sorry." Issei shrunk slightly, clearly feeling guilt about the position he was putting everyone in.

"No. Don't apologize for being a good person Issei." Jasmine managed to calm herself down and hugged him, more for herself than him this time. "You were right. Even if you tried to move, you'd probably wind up in a worse spot at best and a trap at worst. Helping Gremory win, if she does, would be the best thing that could happen in the short term."

"We can't keep going on like this." Vali's tone was dark and ominous.

"Vali…"

"Defensive. Reactionary. We've done nothing but take hits and try and put out fires and look where it's gotten us?" He went on firmly. "You know it. I know it. The Maou and everyone else involved know it, but we kept on playing it safe because we didn't want to make things worse. Well guess what? Hate to remind you, but no matter what we did, it always got fucking worse."

Issei frowned. "We've had this conversation before Ass-man."

Vali held his ground. "And the board's changed Tits for Brains. We have options now."

"Vali!" Jasmine hissed. "I told you we aren't ready to pull off even half of our plans yet!"

"And we won't be if things keep going the way they are!" The Hakuryuutei snapped back. "If we keep on playing to Carnelian's pace it's just going to be the same nightmare all over again!"

The room went silent. Not only because Vali had a point, but because he had used her name.

Carnelian. Carnelian Bael.

Issei's reaction was to be expected. He flinched and went rigid. Just thinking about her unnerved him now, but hearing her name just added to his instinctive kneejerk reaction to run.

Surprisingly though, his momentary paralysis lasted only for a few seconds before he relaxed again with a cold shiver.

"Issei. Are you…" Jasmine began to ask before she was cut off.

"He's right."

Vali lifted an eyebrow skeptically.

"If we keep going like this, we… I'm screwed." Issei breathed out unstably. "Playing by the books or a schedule doesn't work. It never worked. Not against someone that specializes in it with enough resources to change what the books say at a moment's notice."

Jasmine looked at the two Dragon Emperors, switching her attention between them several times before sighing in defeat. "Fine. Fine. You're both right on that part. We can't sit with our thumbs up our asses and play nice anymore. But that doesn't change the fact that we're not ready to move ourselves just yet."

"So you weren't bouncing hypotheticals off of me all this time." Issei gave her a dry stare, recalling the emails and conversations they occasionally had over the years when they could afford the privacy.

"Oh trust me. Those were not hypotheticals. Those were part of my fucking Christmas list."

"Including that bit about the Tower of London?" Aka. One of the most infamous torture chambers in the world that may or may not still be in use depending on who you asked.

"Boy I have some of my wettest dreams in that place."

"Jas, you're underselling how much we have established." Vali got them back on track. "If we wanted to, we could put the bitch in a hell of a spot that even she wouldn't be able to get out of easily or quickly. The problem is that if we want to put her down for good without getting caught in the crossfire or setting off a war of some level, we need to essentially fire off all of our plans at once in conjunction with the Maou and Azazel. A single direct blow or bad event isn't going to do shit to disrupt her powerbase with the setup she has now."

Issei nodded in comprehension, but something stuck out in his mind. "You're probably right. I know you guys were up to something. I have an idea or two of what you have, but did any of your plans to take into account the possibility of me getting found out this early?"

The kitchen was silent as Vali and Jasmine contemplated his very concerning question.

"Shit." Jasmine clicked her teeth, saying all that needed to be said.

"So you agree then." Vali crossed his arms. "I told Azazel that we were taking too much time."

"It's the only move we can make at this point that won't leave us completely wide open. No, this might be the opening we need to efficiently stall her. Snowball's great at micromanaging, but she's terrible at focusing on multiple surprise large projects at once. She makes too many plans that are time sensitive and require meticulous care. If we hit her hard in one spot, she'll be too busy putting out fires to properly organize what she's doing now." Issei sighed.

"So we need a scandal that will hit her fast and hard, but doesn't need to last long." Jasmine nodded. "We got a few things that can do that."

Issei nodded. "Good. That can help for now, but in the long run…"

"Let us worry about that. You," Jasmine trailed off before dropping her shoulders in defeat. "You just focus on getting Gremory up to par. Okay? You have your work cut out for you."

He immediately latched onto that warning with concern. "Their opponent is that bad?"

"A full peerage with nearly a dozen Rating Games of battle experience, though fortunately only the Queen the only one that is anything special. No Sacred Gears from what I've heard either. The King though is on the higher end of the Upper rank Devils with an annoying elemental healing factor. He can hit pretty hard if he wants. Generally speaking, he carries the rest of them when things usually get rough." Vali just as quickly summed up the situation before Jasmine could make things worse. The LAST thing they needed right now was for Issei to find out that Riser was Rias' opponent.

Issei rested his head on the dinner table and sighed slowly. "Tier of regeneration?"

"Full body elemental conversion." Vali summed it up accurately.

"Fun. A challenge." He sarcastically cursed.

"Do you think they can pull it off?" Jasmine asked. "You know them better than we do."

"In a fair fight? With only three weeks of training? Fuck no. It would be a slaughter."

"Bullshit tactics it is then." Vali smirked, already eager to see how many people were going to suffer and be disappointed in the upcoming Rating Game.

"Bullshit tactics it is. Weeb's reputation is going to go down the hole for this, but it's her only out if she wants to win." Issei agreed. "Not even going to try and hide it. If Snowball knows I'm here there's no point in trying to pretend otherwise."

"If that's the way things are going we might as well start moving on our end as well." Jasmine threw her hands up in forfeiture. "Doubt Azazel and the others would be on board though."

"The others. The others." Issei frowned while tapping a finger thoughtfully on the table. Ever since their conversation had taken this distasteful direction he had had a nagging feeling in the back of his head. The sort of feeling one got when they were forgetting something important that changed the way everything should be looked at. "The others…"

Azazel. Michael. The Maou. Tiamat. Baraquiel. And…

And then something clicked, the nagging feeling exploded into an epiphany, and he lost all color in his face.

"Guys? Who's been keeping an eye on Auntie O for the past week?"

It was one of Vali's and Jasmine's unofficial duties over the past few years. After the incident, Ophis had been rather proactive in developing that underground organization of hers into a power that was genuinely worth worrying on its own. She had yet to do anything rash with it yet, but that was more due to Jasmine and Vali's efforts to curb her actions as her unofficial aides than it was due to her usual lackluster enthusiasm.

That said, the various factions of the Khaos Brigade had been rather motivated to take action as of late…

"What about her?" Vali didn't like the sound of that tone. Good things rarely happened when Issei had an epiphany with it.

Come to think of it, Kuroka was still probably in the area, Bikou was on a solo mission, and Arthur and LeFay were still being won over from the Hero division of the Khaos Brigade. So, no, there really wasn't anyone trustworthy looking after Ophis right now.

"Everyone's attention will be, no, it's only been on me and in the underworld. You know how Snowball likes to work from different angles when things are crazy."

"Wait, you think she's going to try a make a move on Auntie?" Jasmine was getting a falling feeling in her stomach. "But Ophis hates her."

And wasn't that saying something considering the fact that Ophis rarely displayed or expressed emotions at all. To this day the only individual that they could confidently say she despised more than Carnelian was Great Red himself.

"Since when does Snowball directly put herself in dangerous positions?" Issei was growing more and more panicked. "You know she has plants in that stupid Crazy Army or whatever the hell it's called. She could just have whoever her bitch-of-the-day is throw in an idea to Auntie and let shit go from there while everyone's too busy trying to babysit me and the Weeb!"

"We haven't made contact with her since we got here. We couldn't even if we wanted to. Any magical form of communication crossing Kuoh's borders has been highly monitored." Even Vali was beginning to cold sweat as the implications started to grow more and more realistic.

They had been staying with Issei for nearly a week by now.

A lot could happen in a week. They knew from personal experience.

"Son of a bitch we just got played again." Jasmine's horror filled statement summed up what they all realized.

"FUCK!" Issei swore, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "Screw moving soon. You need to move NOW. Get to Auntie as soon as you can and stop whatever might be happening from happening. If anyone there gets pissed that you're holding them back, enact whatever plans you do have early to keep them happy. The Faction leaders can fuck themselves if they complain about the fallout."

"If this goes sideways we might have to go to extremes with the Factions." Vali warned.

"Which is better than Auntie playing to Snowball's tune?" Issei was so panicked he was hyperventilating now, his eyes frantically looking around. The kitchen was feeling smaller than it should be. The world began to spin around him.

"Shh. Shhh." Jasmine immediately latched onto the now violently shaking teen and held him tightly. "It's ok. We'll get to Auntie and work from there, but you have to calm down Issei. If you go crazy now it won't matter what we say to her."

"I can run ahead." Vali materialized Divine Dividing on his back. "Issei still needs you. I can hold them off for you to get to HQ yourself."

"No. If things are that bad, then only person that can convince Ophis to stop is me. You know that." Jasmine shot down his suggestion and took out her cell phone with her free hand. "I'll call Azazel to let him know we need to use an untraced teleport spell and that things will get messy."

The Faction Leaders all knew about the Khaos Brigade and that it posed a threat. They also knew that Vali and Jasmine were part of it to some degree in order to keep Ophis in check. But that was all they knew. If they risked trying to learn more or push the pair to do more than that, they risked ruining the status quo they had managed to establish and maintain by the skin of their teeth.

There were only so many fires that could be put out at once. Figuratively and literally.

"Issei? Issei! Stay with us. We can't have you freaking out now." Vali snapped, shaking his friend's shoulder despite the risk of a violent reaction.

Fortunately, Jasmine's embrace managed to calm him down enough to prevent the worst from happening. Instead of rampant hysterics, he was back down to being covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. "I… sorry. Sorry. I just…"

"We know." Vali looked up to Jasmine. "Go outside and set us up. I got him."

"Right." She looked at Issei apologetically before moving out the door that led to the back yard.

"Fuck." Vali spat before checking on his friend. "You good?"

"Never. But I'll manage. Somehow." The Sekiryuutei relented.

Vali clicked his tongue in annoyance, but held his temper. "Look." He momentarily looked like he was about to change his mind about something but shook his head and charged forward with a stern resolve. "Look. I know it's been hard. For all of us, but for you above all else. I know that. Everyone knows that, but I need you to be calm for what I'm going to ask, okay?"

Issei blinked in confusion. "What are you getting at?"

"Issei, I'm serious. I need you to clench up for this one. I'm going to ask something hard that I need to know. I didn't plan on doing it like this, but we don't know when the next opportunity will be. Things are picking up again. We… we need to be sure that what's going to come from our actions is worth it. That, and we probably won't be able to visit again like this for a while."

He didn't know what was going on, but Issei was sure he wasn't going to like it. By that same measure, Vali wouldn't be going out of his way to do something so risky unless he thought it was important. His friend was rarely ever this cautious when talking to him.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Out.

In.

Issei opened his eyes and forced himself to be calm. His face as impassive as it could be given the situation.

"What is it?"

Vali licked his lips and sat down at the table, meeting his best friend eye to eye.

"On the day of the trial closing. I, we were all there. You were found guilty. You and Jas lost everything. Your very purpose had been ground into paste in front of a crowd of brainless strangers that threw every insult at you as if you were everything wrong with the world. But, that's not where you snapped."

Issei's fists tightened into fists, but otherwise remained stoic.

"I saw it." Vali continued. "I don't know how the hell it happened, but I saw Carnelian had managed to get you away from the others outside of the court building. Not for long, but enough to say something to you. Say something to break you."

He was shaking violently now, but still managed to not say or do anything else otherwise. Not that anyone could blame him.

"I need to know what happened Issei." Vali's tone was sympathetic, but cold and calm. "I saw it. I saw you, fall apart in front of me. And I couldn't do a fucking thing about it. And it fucks with me. Nowhere near as bad as it does you, but not knowing why…"

Vali shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I won't tell anyone. Not even Jas. You have my word. But odds are the world is going to turn sideways soon. I have to know what triggered all this and made you, what you are now. What sort of person she really is."

Issei didn't say anything. He merely clenched his eyes almost as tight as his fists as if trying to shut out the world. Just the mere memory was clearly enough to cause the Sekiryuutei a great deal of pain. For a moment Vali almost suspected that Jasmine would come back before he would say anything.

"You swear, you won't tell anyone?" His voice cracked, brittle and weak.

"Not a damn soul."

"Albion?"

"I would be damned all over again if I could not keep quiet on a matter that even Ddraig has managed to keep to himself." A noble, if not wary voice echoed through the room.

"You will wish otherwise once you hear it Albion. Of that I assure you." Ddraig growled irritably. Clearly this secret was so vile that even bringing it up now got on his nerves.

"Well?" Vali pressed, but not too hard. "What happened?"

Issei looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment, but after a few more deep breaths, he gave up and sagged defeated in his chair.

"… It wasn't an accident."

Vali blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? I'm pretty sure all of us know she fucked you over on purpose by now."

"Not that." Issei croaked, bringing a hand to his face to cover his eyes. It was only then that Vali realized that his friend was tearing up. "After."

"After?" It took him a moment to piece together what his friend was talking about. Carnelian was someone that gave the impression that she was on top of everything she was involved in. A meticulous micromanaging genius that many at the time would claim was on par with Issei himself. The sort of monster that could run three different unrelated companies at the same time and grow them into world powers, as opposed to Issei who just bum rushed into whatever he felt like at the time and somehow managed to get it all done with an almost zealot like competency and vigor. She played the events five years ago just as efficiently once one had the right perspective of things. So much so that it was hard to imagine anything happening at that time that could have been… an… accident…

… Save one.

"No." Vali's eyes dilated in horror. He had a poor enough opinion of the woman for what she did already, but even he didn't think she would have gone to that length. "No, no no no no she didn't. That's a level of twisted that even she wouldn't go to. There's no way that's right. That, she did THAT to herself on purpose? When she was that obsessed with you, and after that long?"

Issei shakily nodded his head. "She, she said that she had no choice. If I, since I didn't go with what she wanted, she had to… that it was really my fault that-"

NOT A SINGLE ADDITIONAL WORD WAS TO BE UTTERED WITHIN THE DIVIDED WORLD'S DOMAIN.

Every single window, piece of glass, and object that could be shattered within a square block of the Hyoudou household cracked.

No. Not cracked. Split perfectly and seamlessly in half.

There was a lot of business for the local window shops and television suppliers the next week.

Vali didn't say anything as he sat across from Issei, eyes glowing a cold malicious silver blue and fists clenched tight enough to draw blood. He didn't do anything. He didn't trust himself to not do something he would regret in the immediate future.

"… I stand corrected. I see what you meant earlier, Ddraig." Albion's emotionless tone did nothing to hide the pure murder it carried.

"It, has been a difficult five years." Ddraig just as maliciously replied.

"She has to die." Vali finally found his voice again. He wasn't even talking to anyone at this point. Rather, it was almost as if he had come to an epiphany. "Someone like that, even if I don't give a shit about the Factions, she can't be allowed to be in a position of power. Ever. Justice can go fuck itself. We made a mistake playing the long game."

It was then that Jasmine burst into the kitchen again, clearly alarmed. "Issei?! Vali?! The hell just happened?!"

"You promised." Issei croaked, still with one hand over his eyes.

Vali grit his teeth, clearly wanting to go against his word for once, but stuck to it. Besides, he doubted he'd be able to keep his temper if he even tried to recite even a single word of what he just learned.

"Later." He managed to rasp out.

"What?! Vali you just-"

"Later." He snapped before managing to reel himself back. "… Please."

Jas clearly wanted to argue otherwise, but knew better than to push it. "Fine." She gave Issei a full body hug, making sure that his head was nestled between her breasts. "Azazel got us permission to go through the barriers around Kuoh undetected. If things are that bad, I don't know when we are going to be able to come back. If not, well, think of the bright side. If the cunt really knows you're here, I can visit you more often."

"Mmmm." Issei more murgled than replied into her flesh, allowing his body to relax as much as it could given the circumstances.

As much as she wanted to continue the skinship, time wasn't on their side. Pulling him out of his "happy place", Jasmine looked at him in the eyes.

"Issei. Listen to me. We have to go now. Azazel will send someone to pick our stuff up later and look after Asami. You just focus on making Gremory's group competent. We will let you know what's going on with Auntie as soon as we can, but odds are we won't be able to return soon. Best case is we're panicking for nothing, but if not… I need you to be good and keep yourself together. Can you do that?"

Issei swallowed heavily and nodded, not trusting himself to say anything just yet.

"Good. And one more thing. This is important, so you listen to me." She cupped his cheeks and leaned forward to the point that their noses almost touched. "While I'm gone, make sure to fuck the Fallen."

"… Eh?"

Even Vali did a doubletake.

Jasmine's grip on the Sekiryuutei's skull only grew more severe, and her expression grew so ominous it was almost comical. "Issei, Kuroka's going to be busy, I have enough trouble getting here as it is, and your balls pump out enough testosterone to match an entire college football team on a good day. If I find out you literally cucked yourself to death, I swear I will preserve your body and become a Devil myself just so I can resurrect you and beat you to death myself while grinding my heels on each of your fucking testicles until they're either swollen to the size of grapefruits or reduced to baseball stadium hotdog meat, no matter how long it takes. Do I make myself clear?"

"Mmmm!" Issei nodded frantically, shivering for a completely different reason than before.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Fuck the Cougar." He squeaked.

"I'm sorry what? All I could hear was a pussy cuck fuck-bitch whimpering."

"Fuck the Cougar! I'll fuck the Cougar!" He said louder, and more frantically.

"The fuck you just say?!" Said Cougar roared from the other side of the house. Apparently some of the privacy barriers gave out when Vali momentarily lost his temper.

"He's gonna stop being a wuss and fuck you while I'm gone!" Jasmine clarified while still holding onto Issei's skull.

"Maybe when his balls finally drop at the dawn of the next century!"

"Issei. Fuck her with everything you have." Jasmine turned her attention back to her prisoner. "And for clarification, I mean with all the toys you've been making in your room. That feathered little bitch is the type of idiot that won't listen to anyone unless you put her in her place at least once a week. Hard. If what you said about her is true, and you truly intend to keep her around for the long run, then you'll need to do at least that much to keep her behaved and on your side. Overwhelm her with the two things she wants most. Power and attention. So fuck her. Drown her with both until she can't make a coherent thought without something reminding her of you. You're not going to be able to do anything with her until that happens and you damn well know it. Make. Her. YOURS."

Issei paled. It was obvious to anyone that there was more to what she was saying than simply trying to make Raynare a mere sex conquest. "M-mine? But…"

Jasmine smiled with a good deal of emotional exhaustion. It was not one of pity, yet it was still one filled with sadness and understanding. "You are broken. I know. But don't you dare tell me that you've managed to stay alive, rebuild yourself, regain as much as you have just for something as pointless as revenge. You're better than that Issei. Stronger than that. You were never one for something that petty. You always had more important things to do. To build. To protect. You still do."

To the side, Vali looked like he wanted to jump in. Something she had said clearly rubbed him the wrong way, but he kept quiet. It wasn't the time or the place to spawn reckless arguments.

Before Issei could make his own retort, his mouth was sealed with hers. He fought it for at most half a second before succumbing to her embrace once more. The peace and serenity she brought to his mind was unlike anything he could obtain or achieve now, and he didn't want it to end.

And then she broke it once more with a look of genuine regret. "… Issei. We wanted to make sure that this was all resolved without your help, but if the world was perfect we wouldn't be in our fucked up situation in the first place. We need you to work with us on this. Do you understand? We need you to dredge up that insane talent you have for bringing out the best in everyone and everything you come across. We need the Strongest Sekiryuutei to start building the fires of the future once more. Can you do that? If not for you, then for everyone that deserves a shot of getting better from last time?"

Issei shivered, as if at war with himself. He was terrified of moving on. It had been like that for years and it was no different now. He loved Jasmine with all his heart, but his insecurities and scars ran so deep that it seemed to paralyze him to his very soul.

"I'll, try." He managed to rasp out, unsure if he was telling the truth. "But, I'm tired Nee-san. I'm tired of people getting hurt because of me. I… I can't even hide and pretend to be dead without screwing up someone's life."

Jasmine gave him a full body hug and embraced him tightly. Issei really was too good of a person to be treated like this. Too good of a person to be left with people that didn't or couldn't support him in the way he desperately needed to be. But they didn't have any option for now.

Maybe, if events turned out well with the Gremory and the nun, things could change. But they had to get through the next few weeks first. Issei did always show his best parts when he was focused on helping people directly. Hopefully he'd be able to surprise everyone again.

"Let us handle the fighting and protecting for now. You just focus on making everyone here better at doing it. Does that sound fair?" Jasmine pulled back, kissing him on the cheek and smiling gently for good measure.

That seemed to do the trick as he managed to nod with more confidence this time. "Yeah. I think I can do that much."

"Good." Her smile grew. "And while you're at it, you can brush up on your technique. I was almost disappointed by your performance last night. You've really let yourself get sloppy."

And like that, Issei's innocent and genuinely insecurity was immediately overwritten by abject horror and self-disgust. "What?!"

"You do realize you just compared his sexual ability to his borderline preteen self-right?" Vali muttered quietly.

"What did I do wrong?! I thought I was still up to par! Kuro! Don't tell me you lied about this too!?"

"I was only talking about the kissing and his groping technique. Besides, it worked, didn't it?" She whispered back, enjoying Issei showing some of the chaotic perverted spark he was infamous for once again. As annoying as it was, she vastly preferred this Issei to his severely traumatized version. "Issei, we got to go now. Okay?"

"Of course you want to go. I'm nothing but a sub-par disappointment." Issei wept comically.

Vali rolled his eyes and smacked his friend upside the head. "You've always been a disappointment you jackass. And we're the idiots that find you amusing enough to keep coming back for you. It's like going back to a bad porno that sticks with you for some reason."

"Ah. That makes sense. I'm a bad porno. It's all coming together now." Issei droned off into his own world, laughing unstably as he did so.

"Well at least this depressed version of him is tolerable." Vali shook his head. "Oi dumbass. At least point me to the brownies. If Auntie finds out we saw you and didn't bring back some of her usual tribute, she'll have all our asses."

"Kitchen freezer. Second shelf in the back right." Issei whimpered while examining his hands as they groped the air, trying to figure out what his supposed mistakes were.

"Oi. The hell's going on in… here?" It was at that moment that Raynare walked into the kitchen to see Vali grabbing a bag of brownies out of the freezer while Issei was absently groping at the air like he was in a drug induced haze. "Mind telling me how strong that stuff is? I need a way to get a hit after dealing with him on a bad day and my alcohol tolerance has reached the point where it's not financially viable to drink my troubles away anymore."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. The more things change, the more they stay the same. "I'll set you up later. Issei's good at fixing problems. I'm the one you go to forget them."

o. o. o.

Fifteen minutes later, Jasmine and Vali were on the other side of the world in a pocket space set up in an unmarked cave that was accessible to the surface world and the underworld. It was where Ophis was staying, and one of the many hideouts of the Khaos Brigade.

"So mind telling me what that was all about earlier?" Jasmine asked in a low tone so she wasn't overheard. "You rarely ever lose your temper anymore."

"That's understating it. I honestly doubt I've ever been this absolutely pissed in my life." Vali scowled, his eyes momentarily shining in the dark. "He finally told me. And it was worse than we thought."

"Wait. He told you what that bitch said to set him off?" Jasmine blinked. "We've been trying to get that out of him since he first woke up from that shit show. What did he say?"

He shook his head. "I promised not to tell anyone, not even you. And for good reason. I can barely keep myself calm even thinking about it now. What he hid from everyone… if it ever got out, even you wouldn't be able to keep the Dragons from going off on Devil kind in its entirety."

The woman glanced at him. "That bad?"

"And if you ever found out about it, you'd be inclined to spread it out just to spite the world for letting it get that far to begin with." She wouldn't in the end. Not for any moral reason or because she was a good person, but because she knew that Issei would blame himself for the consequences of her actions if she did, and she wouldn't let that happen.

"Apparently yes."

He gave her a glare. "We made a mistake. No. We made a load of mistakes. We shouldn't have separated you from Issei, even if he grew too over dependent on you. And we shouldn't have played the long game with Carn. She needs to be taken out of the picture. Not brought to justice. Politics isn't enough of an excuse to shield anymore."

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Outside of having a potential Mutually Assured Destruction option, and prompting us to kill her more than we already want to, does it change anything for us?"

Vali paused to ponder the question for a moment. "I think pushing Issei to make stronger intimate relationships with new people from scratch is a fantastically bad idea. It would have been better if you and Kuroka warmed him up and helped him recover more. At least to the point that he would tell you two what he told me, and then work from there. As it is, I'm pretty sure he's going to keep that wall up around his heart longer than we'd like."

That said, from what little he could gather, Asia and Rias have surprisingly made progress in proving his assumptions wrong, but they were the exceptions. One was a Dragon Tamer like Jasmine, and the other was just stubborn and experienced with trauma victims. Only time would tell if they could actually help put Issei back together though.

"Great." Jasmine scratched her head with some frustration.

She was about to say something else when she was shoved hard by a Devil from the Old Satan Faction.

"Oi. Watch it meatbag." Snarled the horned monster that looked more like a stereotypical tail and pitchfork monster than some ancient Noble.

"Fuck off grunt." She waved him off dismissively. "I think there's some noble asses to kiss somewhere in the latrines. You look like the cleanup duty type."

"The hell did you say?" Turning around the Devil began to conjure up magical energy for a spell…

"URK?!"

Only for Jasmine to appear right in front of him and latch onto his throat with a single hand, lifting up the being that was literally twice her size easily off the ground.

"I said~, you need to go get your jollies off in the bathroom~. Remember~ fuck slut~?" She purred dangerously while several other members watched but didn't say anything. Most of the older members knew of Jasmine and what she was willing to do to those that angered her. In some ways, it was better to take her punishments over Vali's. In others, it was far worse.

'Y-yes!" Gasping for air, the Devil couldn't help but squirm under the woman's unnatural strength.

And then he collapsed as she let him go.

"Good. Then run along now. Some of us have important things to do." Jasmine smiled sweetly before returning to one of the main hallways in the cavern.

It almost looked like the Devil was about to do something particularly stupid before he was stopped by one of his comrades and dissuaded silently.

"Does Issei know what you've done to your body?" Vali frowned. He wasn't the only one that had trained and developed his powers over the past five years, but at least his growth was natural. Jasmine on the other hand…

"I'd be more surprised if he didn't notice anything at all. He's known my body better than anyone for years." She waved him off. "I didn't let him do a full physical so he doesn't know everything, but he knows that I've done something to myself."

"You know he'll blame himself for the extremes you've taken."

"Moderate extremes." She corrected factually. "I could have done far worse to myself if I wanted, and you know it. He'll be concerned when he learns of what I did, but he isn't stupid. He knows that some risks need to be taken in my situation if I want to survive."

She would not be caught off guard again. She would not be too late or too weak to make a difference when it counted. If she hadn't been so comfortable letting everyone else take charge of her security before, she could have mitigated the worst of the damages before they got out of hand.

Not again. Never again. Her pride and her heart would not allow it.

"Just so long as you don't make things worse. We're on a thin enough rope as it is." They reached to Ophis' main chambers.

Most people needed to knock before entering. They didn't.

Inside could be considered an elaborate large high ceiling condo. Bit and baubles and decorations littered the main entrance and living area. All of which were valuable and powerful, but otherwise useless. Their purpose was merely to underscore the owner's affluence and power.

Off to one of the side rooms hidden behind a sliding door however, was something more akin to a play room than a noble's apartment. A television. Snacks. Some paperwork. And Ophis resting on a bean bag as if she was any other preteen half awake and disinterested with the world.

"Jasmine. Vali. You're back early." Infinite and Nothing noted without turning to look at them.

The pair didn't need to verify the fact that she had asked them an unspoken question.

"Carnelian's making moves. Fast ones. She's up to something, and she's being unusually aggressive about it." Vali answered, ignoring the brief pulse of irritation their boss emitted. "We think she might have done something here while we were gone. Used Issei to distract us."

"I know that most of the Brigade's Factions act independently, even from you, but has anyone requested any major actions while we were gone? Anything that would draw attention to us?" Jasmine crossed her arms.

"No. I've been left alone for the most part. Nothing but the usual reports." She still didn't turn to look at them, but the action was unnecessary. "There's still a bit of focus on trying to keep our resources in the Grigori hidden after Kokabiel was ousted. He wasn't one of us, but we did share connections and resources."

"Azazel is still looking for him. He is one of the original Fallen. I'm not surprised he knows how to go dark." Vali shook his head. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Are you sure nothing out of the normal has happened?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. I have been left alone for the past week while you met with Issei. The only reports I have been given are the usual status updates on what the major Factions are doing and the occasional jailbreak for members that were caught that we can't risk being in the enemy's hands. Minor events the lot of them. Nothing out of the ordinary in the slightest."

Vali and Jasmine looked at the other warily. There was something they were missing but they couldn't put their fingers on it.

They were beginning to sweat now. The pressure was starting to grow unbearable and it was starting to get hard to breathe…

Oh. Right.

"I brought the brownies." Vali held up the plastic zip bag filled with homemade delights.

The pressure vanished instantly.

"Gimmie." Ophis demanded like a child, now somehow sitting on Vali's shoulders as if she had been there the entire time.

He wasted no time spoiling the Dragon God. "Issei says hi. And he misses you."

Surprisingly, the words caused the normally impassive deity to pause for a few seconds before resuming her quest to piss off every diabetic on the planet in spirit. "… Is he well?"

"He's better." Jasmine relented. "He still doesn't smile, but he's acting more like he used to, which is good. He still relapses at the drop of a hat though."

"Hmm." She allowed the briefest moments of dissatisfaction to mar her face before chomping onto her newly acquired treat. "He won't be rid of his scars until that woman is dealt with. There isn't much time left."

Vali and Jas froze as an ominous chill went down their spines. "Wait. Not much time? I thought we had at least a few more years before the deadline."

"The threads of fate are rarely absolute. The tides of causality can change unexpectedly, even for the divine." Ophis muttered with a full mouth.

"There is at most a year until Grandpa wakes up once again. I suggest you make the most of it."

o. o. o.

That afternoon found her in her office, as usual.

Binders and books littered her walls, filled with all sorts of sensitive information and academia that she would need to refer to at a given moment. She had a computer of course, but she found digital information storage to be far less secure and reliable than the older and more tangible methods.

That, and the bookshelves gave off a better image to her more antiquated, shallow, and superfluous guests.

Piles of folders and papers stacked on her large and elaborate wooden desk. Requests on the left. Filled out documents on the right. And a bucket full of ashes where the useless papers that wasted her time usually ended up.

It was a dull and arduous existence. She spent more time working on other people's problems and projects than her own more often than not. An ironic twist of fate, seeing as she had done horrible and vile things to get to her position in a vain attempt to free herself from those responsibilities and live as she saw fit.

Her blink was the only physical reaction she had to the magic circle that appeared next to her head. A common communication spell.

"Yes?"

"The Bitch and the White Dragon Emperor returned ahead of schedule." A dry voice reported with some annoyance. "Went straight to report to the Oroboros."

A small smile graced her lips. "Thank you. That will be all."

Dismissing the circle, she glanced over at her clock. It was a little past eight in Japan.

Just under seventeen hours since Riser returned from informing dear Rias about her situation.

"Not even a day, and you already read me this well. Only you Issei." No. Given the time, it is likely that Rias had only informed him of the situation after school the following day. Meaning he had come to the correct conclusion after a mere few hours at the most.

She felt her body shiver in joy and anticipation. Even after all this time, Issei still understood her like no one else could. Not her family. Not her friends. Current or former.

Only Issei.

She paused as she realized that one of her hands had strayed to between her legs.

She muttered a soft curse under her breath and reluctantly went back to work. It wouldn't do to get distracted now. She had essentially pulled the trigger on a new series of events, and it would only get more intense from here.

Timing. It was all about proper timing and management. If she screwed up now…

No. She couldn't afford to let that happen. There was still much to do, people to lead, and events to organize.

Still, it was good that she wasn't the sort of fool that assumed that no one would ever figure out her plans in time. It would have been a bit of a headache if she didn't schedule the operation to happen the same time Rias was meeting with Riser. That would have been embarrassing.

Soon enough, the only sound in her office again were the sounds of shifting paper, pen scratching, keyboard typing, and mouse clicking.

And nothing else.

o. o. o.

Ajuka Beelzebub stood in front of the smoldering remains of what had once been a high security facility meant to hold high danger and profile individuals.

Such as his brother, for example.

"I take it Diodora is not counted among the deceased." He evenly inquired the guard that was standing at his side.

"I'm afraid not." The Devil grimaced, holding up a report. "His cell was empty when we found it. Doors ripped clean off. No sign of struggle or anything. Though I should add his cell wasn't the only one left in that state."

"Fortunately we did not have many prisoners at this site in the first place." The Maou stated factually. "The fact that it was discovered at all is concerning none the less."

The facility was one of several unregistered sites. Meant to keep prisoners isolated for the publics' and their own protection. There were not many detainees that required such treatment.

"That it is sir." The man nodded in agreement before resuming his report. "The intruders didn't grant much mercy to the security. Nearly all the guards were wiped out. Rather brutally in some cases."

"Someone clearly intended to make a statement." The Maou hummed. "Any other notable deaths?"

There was an awkward silence, disturbed by the men and women rushing past them to put out the fires and move debris.

"The, the bulk of the damage to the building structure, including the fires, started with the medical bay and long term healing facility. High quality explosives and spells."

Ajuka's face remained completely emotionless. "I see. So my brother's former peerage…"

"Dead, counted and ID'd sir."

"May I see them?"

"Sir?"

"The bodies. May I?"

"Of course."

Ajuka didn't say anything as he was led to the field morgue. He didn't bat an eyelash as he examined the fresh corpses of the former maidens. Save for one Bishop from Eastern Europe, which he lingered on for just a few seconds longer than before.

He didn't need to say anything. This attack wasn't a rescue operation. It was a hit job.

He remained on site for hours, aiding the effort in putting out the flames, tending to the injured, and cleaning up the debris. It would have been a good photo op and press for him if the facility wasn't technically a black site and not supposed to exist in the first place.

It wasn't until much late into the night when the bulk of the recovery effort was on break or done with their tasks that the Maou slunk off out of site and into the facility's corpse once more.

Blackened pillars. Ruined equipment. Tarnished offices and documentation. All evidence of a waste of effort and security.

And then he found himself in the bathroom closest to the cafeteria. Slightly less marred than the rest of the facility but still showing the signs of abuse.

Third sink from the far wall. Turn the hot water all the way and the cold half. Add a little magic power and…

The teleportation seal beneath him activated, and the Maou vanished from view. Seconds later, the sink knobs spun back to the off position.

Ajuka found himself inside a clean, fresh and unmarred facility. The Black Site's black site. Known only to a select few under his direct employ and unable to speak a word of it to anyone that wasn't magically cleared to do so.

More importantly, it was the location of over a dozen young women in various states of distress and mental recovery. His sudden unannounced appearance probably didn't help matters.

"Congratulations are in order." His eyes fell upon a very alive and confused Amalia. "I do believe you have almost doubled the list of individuals that have I have spoken to that have been officially declared dead twice over."

This was not the first time he had faked someone's death. It would not be the last. However he was going to be certain that the results of his efforts this time would be worth it.

Peace had dulled his mind. Peace had stayed his claws. Peace had made him sloppy.

His mistake with his brother had been the last straw.

It was time he reminded everyone, and himself, why he stopped fighting dirty in the first place.

It was time for War.

o. o. o.

The following day found Issei and Raynare with Rias and her Peerage in the middle of the mountains near Kuoh city. Far enough that nobody would detect their training but close enough that they could make it back within an hour in case of an emergency.

Everyone was gathered in front of the luxurious cabin in the woods, having put their equipment and supplies away over the previous hour. Normally Rias would be the one leading things, but since Issei was put in charge of their training, he had center stage.

Unfortunately, since nobody had bothered to interact with him for the minutes leading up to the current moment, he had allowed his mind and focus to wander again. Which is why he was completely ignoring everyone and groping the air in front of him with a dazed look on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Koneko asked warily.

"Simulation breast fondling training." Issei continued to grope the imaginary breasts in front of him seriously. "I need to refine my technique."

"He's been doing it constantly since yesterday." Raynare sighed, ashamed to look at anyone in the eye.

"Well this is clearly pointless." Kiba dismissed the purpose of being there instantly and started to walk away.

The moment everyone was looking at the swordsman departing, Issei's hand flickered, materializing a tennis ball from his pocket space and chucked it straight at the back of his head with a hint of intent.

Kiba felt that intent and detected a projectile coming right at him. He spun around, manifesting a sword in hand.

"Ball!"

His swing sliced through nothing, as the green orb was frozen just outside of his strike range.

The majority of Rias' peerage and Raynare blinked at the peculiar turn of events before slowly turning to the one responsible for it.

Gasper was staring unblinkingly at the frozen ball, his Sacred Gear clearly active.

Not even three weeks ago, the effeminate boy had had trouble just turning his powers on and off. And now he was able to immediately and accurately focus them on a rapidly moving object with a simple command.

Issei nodded. "Better."

He then chucked a second tennis ball at Gasper, beaning him on the side of the head.

"Ow!"

The moment the young half vampire recoiled from the blow, the first ball immediately resumed its breakneck flight towards Kiba's own skull and nailed the distracted swordsman square in the face.

"Son of a-?!"

"Heh." Raynare smirked as she watched the two male members of Rias' peerage nurse their light injuries while the women glared at Issei. "Nice."

"You're scrubs." Issei was casually tossing up a third ball up and down without a care in the world. "You're lack experience. Numbers. Power. And time. And yet you still have it in your skulls that you can win against someone that has all of those against you with just a few weeks of training and hard work like this is some knockoff cartoon."

He clenched his hand so tight that the ball popped in his grip.

"Don't be fucking ridiculous."

His cold stare killed any argument they might have had to his statement.

"You lot have some potential, but there's a limit to what you can achieve without screwing yourselves over more than you already are. Fighting? Combat? Power? If you actually think that you can win by going in dry with a big dick and some half assed tricks and tactics sprinkled on top, I might as well drop your asses here and now."

"Well then what do you expect us to do?" Koneko frowned. "Be as annoying as you?"

"Yes." He replied completely serious.

There was a long pause, as though the Devils and Fallen were waiting for a punchline, but none came.

"Oh shit. He's actually serious." Raynare eyed him somewhat warily.

"You didn't think you could win this by being cute and clever, did you?" Issei snorted. "If you truly want to get out of the shitty situation you're in, then you're going to prove that you're willing to do anything to achieve it. Make no mistake, your reputation will go down the shithole after this, but this will give you the edge you need to win against most peerages that aren't prepared to jump down the rabbit hole to deal with you. If that's too much, then don't bother me while I'm here and blame yourselves for not giving me more to work with."

More than a few of them clearly looked like they had some unkind things to say about that, but they couldn't. Not when Issei was right on all counts.

"So what are we going to do?" Rias asked hesitantly.

"The same thing I'm doing with the Cougar."

The Fallen looked at him skeptically. "You're going to make them all suck you off every day for a dragon boost?"

The clearing was awkwardly quiet as all wide eyes turned on Issei.

"… I knew it." Akeno half whispered half squee'd.

The accused closed his eyes. Breathed in deeply.

WHACK!

"Son of a Puritan Bitch!"

And smacked Raynare upside the head hard.

"I forgot. You're an idiot. Thank you for reminding me." He deadpanned before resuming his lessons. "No. Relax you scrubs. You're not going to blow me."

Issei made it a point to completely ignore the disappointed look that flashed across Akeno's face.

He pointed to Gasper and Kiba. "I'm not gay. Or Bi."

Then to Koneko. "I'm not a pedophile."

"And I'm not into sloppy seconds." Koneko just as evenly retorted.

"Like you get any to begin with." Raynare hissed, still crouched over and nursing the goose egg throbbing on her skull.

Then to Akeno. "Only the desperate, insane, or stubborn would ever willingly go for a Yandere."

"I still don't see what your excuse is." Akeno far too sweetly riposted.

And then finally to Rias. "And getting sexually active with someone you aren't close to while one party is heavily depending on the other in a long term emotionally compromising situation does absolutely nothing but lay down the bedrock for a cataclysmic disaster that no one ever wants to deal with."

The Gremory pouted and crossed her arms under her chest. It was hard to tell if she was frustrated by the topic in general or that Issei had a good reason for her not to participate herself. "You have a point, but seriously Issei? Blowjobs for a power boost?"

He waved her off. "It wasn't my idea. You know how stupid Dragonic energy can be with long term exposure and ingestion. Besides, you only have three weeks. You'd have to be practically gargling my jizz constantly the entire time we are here in order to get any worthwhile results for the rating game. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like punishing my testicles to that extent."

Even Akeno grimaced at that image. She had a kinky and dirty mind, but even she had limits.

Rias sighed. "Fine. You've made your point. Your penis isn't related to our training. But that does beg the question as to what you intend to do with us in the first place."

Issei nodded, before something changed. None of the Devils could figure out what it was exactly, however Raynare picked it up instantly.

"Eh? The heck?" She looked around confused before singling out Issei. "Oi dumbass. The heck did you just do? Why do you suddenly look like a complete pushover?"

Not stopping there, the Fallen stood up and began to move as if testing out her muscles. "Whatever it is, can you do it more often? It feels good. Like I've been spending weeks being smothered by something… wait."

Slowly, she turned to him with an unreadable expression. "You're the reason why I've been literally feeling like shit since I got here, aren't you?"

"Yup." He didn't deny it in the slightest. "Think weighted training clothes, except instead of physical clothes its pressure on your very existence. It's a good way to stimulate development. Although it can only do so much by itself. A pity. If you had bothered to keep yourself in even basic combat shape over the past few months, you might have even gotten an extra pair of wings by now."

Raynare immediately inhaled to curse him out in rage, paused as she digested his words, and then…

"Oh wow. She's real mad this time." Gasper blinked as Raynare unleashed what felt like a never ending deluge of slander and bolts of corrupted light at the nearby forest without any signs of restraint.

"That was quite cruel of you." Akeno giggled, not pitying Raynare's situation in the slightest.

"I think she is actually stronger than before." Kiba noted that the Fallen's attacks seemed to shine with a higher quality and quantity than what he witnessed before. Then again, that might simply be attributed to her just putting more effort into destroying anything and everything available in her frustration.

"You've been putting pressure on her this entire time?" Rias asked, both impressed and curious.

"Yup. Little bit of Presence manipulation." He shrugged. "Normally it's pretty hard to keep it up for long periods of time, even for veterans. But, well… let's just say that the rules for some powers can be tweaked if you yourself are tweaked."

He didn't have to say more than that to get the idea across. Nor did anyone need to ask more about the topic to know any more than they wanted.

"So you're basically going to do the same thing to us then." Rias quickly changed gears. "I hope it won't make us as irritable as your companion there."

"Unless you lot are as embarrassing to work with as she is, no." He shrugged. "Think of it like being stuck with a rotor set on its lowest setting. It'll annoy and distract you a little, but it won't be enough to even edge you on a good day."

And there they were, back on sex metaphors. Oh well. When in Rome.

"And if we wanted to make things more, intense?"

Issei sighed, as if expecting her question but hoping that she wouldn't.

The world around them shuddered.

On the mountain that the group were training on, birds and wild animals immediately went rigid with fear before bolting away as quickly as possible. There was an apex predator in the vicinity and they wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

Rias' confidence was no longer there as she focused more on not trembling before the sight of what appeared to her to be a very different Issei Hyoudou. He wasn't his usual human self, nor was he a titanic crimson dragon sleeping in a cave.

Instead the best way to describe it was if he was something from a different reality. If the world was drawn and animated in one style and studio, Issei was the product of another one. A studio with more resources and a significantly higher budget. Something that simultaneously was and yet was not of this world.

"Damn it! Already?!" In the background, the Peerage could vaguely hear Raynare curse as the pressure was once more applied to her.

His indifferent expression was the same as always and yet it seemed to be far more than before. It was enough that Rias had to take a step back instinctively.

If Issei had noticed her reaction, he didn't comment on it. "This is roughly what the Cougar has been going through these days, and so it's what you lot will start off on. Judging from your reaction, I think it would be best if you waited at least a couple of weeks before asking for anything with more girth."

She could only nod. He wasn't overwhelming her so much as keeping her off her game, and no one could really blame her. This new development was without question different than what she had anticipated.

"Now that we got that settled…" Issei rounded onto the rest of the Devil Peerage…

… With a flashlight in one hand and a coiled length of metallic chord in the other.

"Let us proceed on making all of you insufferable."

Issei wasn't smiling. But no one doubted for a second that he was enjoying this.

As Rias began to regret her life choices, she desperately decided to look on the bright side.

At least she'd be able to take out her frustrations out on Riser and his peerage at the end of all this.

o. o. o.

Omake: How Asia manages to stay away from creeps.

It was a normal day in the underworld.

The birds were singing.

The sun was shining.

Markets were open.

A few fights and bodies littered the streets.

All perfectly normal.

"Whaaaa. It's so pretty here." Asia smiled as she walked with Rias' peerage plus Raynare.

"Hmhm. It is." Rias basked in the praise. "The Gremory territory is renowned for being among the most welcoming of the Devil territories."

"Keep it in your pants Princess." Raynare yawned, not at all impressed with her surroundings.

"Shouldn't you be in a certain someone's right now?" Akeno just as easily pressed.

"You'd think that, but the nut kicked me out earlier. Said something about being backlogged and needed the time to himself.

o. o. o.

At Issei's home.

Issei's eyes were blood red and his hands were a blur as he was frantically typing up documents on his laptop.

He was surrounded by three computer monitors, all running different porn movies at twice the speed.

"Can't rage. Deadlines due. Must Porn."

He looked at the time and instantly increased the speed on his videos and his chaotic typing.

"Porn Faster. PORN FASTER!"

o. o. o.

"Odds are, I think we're all safer if we don't think or ask questions about it."

Absolutely no one argued against that.

"Well, Issei or not, I think this is a wonderful time to get out and relax a bit." Rias laughed nervously. "This is your first time in the underworld, right Asia?"

She waited for a reply, but didn't get one immediately.

"Asia?"

"She's over there." Raynare pointed to where the nun had been distracted by some trinkets at a nearby stall.

Before anyone could go get her though, a young handsome Devil walked up to her confidently and tried to talk her up if his expression was anything to go by.

"She really is like a puppy. You can't take your eyes off of her." Akeno laughed. "I'll go get her."

"No. Wait. I want to see something." Raynare held her back with a hungry look in her eyes.

"See what?" Gasper asked.

"Watch…" Raynare slowly walked behind the Devil so that Asia could see her, and made a quick seemingly nonsensical gesture.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime and talk." The Devil asked, clearly failing at trying to be subtle.

"Really?" Asia's eyes glimmered in joy. "Oh that sounds wonderful! I can't wait to talk to someone here all about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"

One moment, the entire street went dead quiet.

The next was occupied by a chorus of screams and frantic running.

The third left Asia, Rias' group, and a hysterically laughing Raynare alone in the middle of the street.

"Wow. It really worked." Asia looked around surprised.

"You taught her to defend herself from being hit on, by imitating Jehovah's Witness." Rias accused the still hysterical Fallen with a rampantly twitching smile.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Evil. That bitch is pure evil." Koneko stated while hiding behind Akeno.

"Well, it did work. And she can pull off the act well enough." Akeno tried to look on the bright side and fooled no one.

"I don't think she was pretending." Kiba deadpanned.

"We were supposed to go clothes shopping!" Rias wailed noting all the stalls and stores were now abandoned or locked tight. "We can't do that if she scares all the shops closed!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Apparently, Raynare didn't care.

They eventually did manage to get their shopping done, but the group had to go to the other side of town.

It would have gotten done faster, but Asia kept on scaring away the locals.

o. o. o.

A/N:

Pat_eon: Third Fang

Thanks Jay for Betaing. Sorry again to hear about your dog. Between you and Wayfarer, I'm starting to think I'm just bad luck this time of year for my Beta's…

Oh. Speaking of Wayfarer, if anyone didn't see the update, he's doing much better now. It was nowhere near as bad as I initially thought, but still pretty bad. Think Three Alarm Fire vs a Five Alarm. He thanks everyone for the good feels and the support though. You guys rock.

Regardless I'm going to stick to GAIWP for one more chapter before going back to FFD.

So we're finally getting to the good stuff. I'm skipping the training and going STRAIGHT to the rating game next chapter, so expect some good old Third Fang level action and bullshit to entertain you. It's gonna be fuuuuuuun.

That said, this chapter was a bit longer than I anticipated. But it had to be if we wanted to get to the good stuff next chapter, so I had to rush a few things. Actually skipped one bit that I wanted to do that I'll have to get back to later.

And since yes, I know I drag my feet at times, that includes Carnelian's identity. Yes she's an OC. Yes she will show up soon. Yes, she is a psycho.

Anyways, if you want an easy and rough anime comparison to get an idea of what she looks like… think of a smaller/averaged proportioned Alice Nakiri with MUCH deeper red eyes… a healthier skin complexion… her shoulder length pure white hair pulled back like Mana Nakiri's… and two strands of hair that are also brushed back but stick out more, making them resemble flattened back rabbit ears.

So yeah, Issei calls her Snowball because she initially resembled a pet rabbit to him, but it also aptly describes how dangerous she can be once she gets going.

And of course, she has a none too pretty past, like most notable protagonists and antagonists in most stories like this, but that's par the course for stories like this. Nothing extreme this time, so don't bother frothing at the mouth children, again, but it still isn't pleasant.

Then again, it is nowhere near as terrible and terrifying as Asia's Jehovah's Witness impression. I've been holding onto that one for fuck knows how long. Not sure if anyone else ever had the idea to do that, but if they did, sorry. I came up with doing it in this fic myself. Props to them if they did come up with it first though.

I'm going to make that a thing. So help me people. I made the LOG a thing. I accidentally made Incarnations a thing. And I have decided that Asia being a Jehovah's Witness as a gag with be the thing I will spread in the DXD fandom. I dare anyone to tell me that it wouldn't be worth it. Because it would. And it would be glorious.

Ah speaking of things, I've decided to spread my "thing" and start posting FFD on Royal Road to expand my reader base. I'm doing it piece by piece there, and doing some minor revisions before posting, so the story itself should be a bit cleaner and polished than on ffn, but nothing major. If you guys could though, can you just pop over to Royal Road, look up FFD there, and give it a review and up the count and values? For higher visibility and all that. Thanks.

… That said, I have been told that some prick on Webnovel stole the entirety of GAIWP and several other fics and is passing off as his own. Guy goes by Zero_Hand.

My friends, your orders are simple. Rip and Tear.

Anyways… I think that's about it for now. Pokemon Snap is still a thing. FGO just came out with the Fourth Lostbelt. I'm planning the next family vacation soon. My second Vaccine shot more or less floored me for the entirety of Memorial Day weekend. Waiting for Disgaea 6 official release. Finally finished with my current project at work and moving onto the next one. And, yeah, I'm still a bit of a jackass. So, things are good there.

Just so long as the market doesn't screw me over.

Oh, and I'll try to keep my angry ranting toned down a bit. That last A/N… Yeah. Not going to take back what I said, because some shit needs to be said like some people need a foot up their ass and a gag shoved down their throat, but my execution when it comes to expressing details and similar topics has always required… work. Yeah, let's go with that.

That and I've always had zero patience for people that don't bother trying to find or figure out all the details and context to events and issues first before exploding onto the scene with their own "opinions" and "solutions" as if they're the next messiah or gold standard of what's right and just in the world. I can't stand people like that. That's why I'm an engineer. You can't bullshit physics and facts into working for you with petty excuses, what-about-isms, and half assed logic. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, then something is clearly wrong so quit your bitching, look at the problem and see what's off.

Anyways, that's my far more tame rant of the day.

Working on the next chapter now. Should be an interesting read for everyone.

SO REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! PORN FASTER! AND REVIEW AGAIN!