Izuku… wasn't really expecting to open his eyes again.

Being killed tended to make one believe that.

His first thought was that he was in heaven - or at least some variation of the afterlife, but when he looked around all he saw was his bedroom in his shitty apartment.

That was how he knew he was in Hell. Because the worst possible punishment Izuku could have possibly deserved was to live an eternity of the life he already found himself in.

Oh well. At least he helped someone before he died. He hoped Asia had a nice life; she seemed like the type of person who deserved better than to be sacrificed to some sort of demon like Raynare wanted.

Izuku briefly wondered if anyone would remember him - but a quick reminder of exactly who he was put an end to that train of thought relatively quickly. Maybe his mom would, but she'd probably just be grateful she didn't have to put up with the worst son she could have ever gotten anymore.

He stretched slightly, wincing at the way his bones cracked and popped. Was it just him, or was his blanket heavier than usual? It felt like the thing clung to him like glue, but for some reason he was even colder than usual (he didn't pay for heating). That didn't seem like the kind of thing Hell would have specified for him.

…In fact, it didn't even feel like his blanket. It was like his body was being straddled by a pair of pillows - if those pillows had limbs and were trying to cuddle him.

Izuku looked down at his blanket–

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

He screamed like he'd never screamed before.

Why?

Because there was a woman in his bed.

And she was naked.

And he was naked.

And he recognized her, too.

Gremory frowned in her sleep, fidgeting slightly and rubbing her body against Izuku's.

He screamed again. This time, he actually woke her up.

"Is it morning already?" She grumbled, burying her face into his chest, "Five more minutes."

"What are you doing in my bed?!" Izuku shrieked, horrified beyond measure at the fact that not only was there a beautiful girl in his bed but also he was supposed to be dead and they were naked and oh my God–"

"Gah!" He cried in pain as what felt like a needle of hot lead was injected directly into his brain, his mumble-spree briefly interrupted.

That got Gremory's attention. Her eyes snapped open at his cry of pain, alert and ready to go out of nowhere. "Are you okay?"

Izuku grimaced. "I– I think so…" he said slowly, "All I did was say the word– hey, w-wait! Don't t-try to change the subject! W-What are you doing here?! What am I doing here?! I died! Why are you naked?!"

Gremory giggled softly at his reaction. "All in due time," she cooed, "Don't worry your pretty little head about any of that yet. How are you feeling, Izuku? Can I call you Izuku?"

And then she reached up and stretched her arms out, giving Izuku a full view of her naked body as she did so.

All of it.

If her goal was to make Izuku pass out, she did a damn good job.

–

Izuku had no clue what was going on.

There was a lot of stuff going on, too.

And he hated it.

The first thing that came to mind was the fact that when he came to, Gremory was just… gone. Like she hadn't even been there in the first place. He briefly wondered if it was a dream, if everything that had happened in the last two days had been a dream, but quickly discarded that thought when he checked the date on his phone. It definitely happened, which meant Izuku really did get killed.

And that revelation, combined with the fact that he was still somehow breathing, sent him into a panic spiral that only ended once he remembered Gremory woke up in his bed - and that opened a whole new can of worms that he had no idea how to handle.

Regardless, it seemed like he was still alive - or in a Hell that was almost a carbon copy of his normal life (excluding what he woke up to), so Izuku got dressed and prepared himself for another day of school…

Only to step outside and nearly scream in shock as the sun hit him. It was like he was suddenly being burned by a massive laser in the sky. Every second he spent in the light felt like it was physically draining him, and each step suddenly felt fifty pounds heavier. He never had issues with the sun before, so what was that? It wasn't like he developed a dependency on sunscreen overnight, was it?

No. That thought was as ridiculous as it was stupid. Something else was going on.

Something that he was deliberately being kept in the dark about.

That didn't mean he didn't stick to every single shadow he could on his way to Kuoh Academy, though - he wasn't very keen on being cooked alive (or dead, or whatever he was) anytime soon.

School was different, too - literally nobody was talking about Amano– or Raynare, whichever one she was. Usually his classmates would cling to any gossip or rumor regarding Izuku for at least a few days, so for the news of his rejection of the girl (whatever the fuck she was, she was definitely still female, by all means) to disappear overnight tipped Izuku off to another strange happening. It was like nobody but himself had any memory of her anymore - people who had previously claimed to be her best friends, or to have known her for years, suddenly talked like she never even existed.

All of this culminated in Izuku feeling like a hot mess - in the worst kind of way. Every other second he found himself looking over his shoulder in horror, expecting another winged-person with a staff of light to be charging straight at him, but all his actions did were garner even more strange looks than usual.

And whispers. Izuku had long since found out that people loved to talk down on him behind his back.

Even the sound of doors closing just a little too loud around him was enough to make him jump in fright. If someone was willing to abduct him and use him as a sacrifice once, would they do it again? What if everyone in this town was willing to try, now that Raynare had done so? If he died now, would he go to super-Hell? What if–"

"Midoriya-kun!"

Izuku gasped, completely and utterly mortified as a certain blonde upperclassman walked up to him in the hallway and threw an arm around his shoulders. "How are you feeling, dude?"

Whatever reaction Kiba expected, it certainly wasn't the one Izuku gave him. He practically flung himself into the wall to get away from the feeling of being touched again. Rationally, he knew there was only person in the world who called him 'Midoriya-kun', but that didn't matter when the only thing he could think of was the way Raynare's hands wrapped around his face in that grimy alley right before she smashed his head into the pavement–

A hand landed on each of his shoulders. "Midoriya-kun, relax!" Kiba urged, shaking him slightly, "Calm down! Breathe."

He recoiled at the contact, breathing becoming rapid and shallow until he was practically having a panic attack in the middle of the hallway. Kiba held his frightened gaze evenly and coolly, waiting patiently for Izuku to stop his little freakout.

It took him a while.

When Izuku finally did come to his senses, the first thing he noticed was that just about everybody was staring at him, most with a mix of unease and thinly veiled disgust. He was basically curled up into a ball on the floor, with the only thing keeping him from completely hiding away from the outside world being Kiba - who was still gripping his shoulders tightly.

The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

He was mortified. People already thought he was a freak, what would this do to his image? Would they think that he was some sort of lunatic, on top of being a Quirkless loser?

Izuku shuddered softly. He couldn't take it anymore. He pushed Kiba off of him (who was too surprised by the action to resist), leapt to his feet, and took off down the hall with no particular destination in mind - but he didn't care.

He just needed to get away.

–

The first empty classroom he found wound up being his destination. It had no people, and that meant it was good enough for him.

He found himself curled up in the corner of the dark room (and if the fact that the lights were off but he could see in the dark with no issue made his mental state that much worse then oh well), arms wrapped around his knees as he shook like the final leaf on a tree at the end of autumn, clinging desperately for life as the world slowly froze around him.

What was happening to him?

The door flew open. Izuku didn't even blink as Kiba rushed inside. "There you are!" He looked down at his fragile form hesitantly, quickly closing the door behind him. "Are you alright, Midoriya-kun?"

No. Of course not. How could he be alright when in the last twenty-four hours he had been kidnapped, nearly sacrificed, killed, woken up with a naked girl in his bed that he'd never spoken more than two sentences to, and was now going insane?

Izuku nearly screamed. Maybe this really was Hell.

"W-What's happening to me?" He found himself asking, completely unaware of the way Kiba tensed or sent a worried look towards his phone. "Am I d-dead? Am I not? Why does s-sunlight hurt me? What's going on?!"

He became more and more panicked with each subsequent question. His hands reached up to his hair, becoming entangled in the dark emerald curls, and Izuku was just about ready to start ripping them out.

Kiba raised his hands placatingly. "Look, Midoriya-kun, I can explain, but you just need to calm down a little bit–"

"PLEASE!" Izuku begged, tears streaking down his face, "Just tell me! How can I be calm when I had a hole in my chest last night, and then I woke up this morning like nothing even happened?!"

Kiba grimaced. "You're right. I'm sorry… this is probably a lot for you."

Izuku let out a wet sob that probably would have passed for a laugh if the tone was lighter. "You think?"

The blonde had a somewhat guilty look on his face as he approached the fallen boy for a second time today. "Look," he began awkwardly, "I'm probably not the best to explain this… I figured the President would at least have told you something this morning…"

He shuddered at the reminder of what happened when he woke up.

It seemed like Gremory really was in his bed this morning.

"So?" Izuku pressed desperately. "Am I dead? Is this Hell? Am I going to spend the rest of time in punishment?!"

Kiba waved his hands frantically. "No! You're not dead! At least, not anymore– I mean–"

He gave up. "Look," the blonde sighed, extending a hand down towards Izuku, "I really am not the best person to explain this. Just… come with me, please, and I'll bring you to meet the others. The President can probably answer all of your questions."

Izuku looked at his hand with nothing but distrust in his eyes. How could he trust Kiba– hell, how could he trust anything anymore? Why wouldn't anybody just give him a straight answer?!

Still… This was probably his one (and only) chance to figure out what had happened to him. If Kiba was promising answers, Izuku simply couldn't refuse.

"A-Alright," he relented, reaching out to accept the older boy's hand, "L-Let's go meet the… the o-others."

Whatever that meant.

–

Of all the places Kiba could have brought Izuku, he should have expected the room of the Occult Research Club to be higher on the list. After all, that was the one place where Kiba could always be found - and where he was always trying to bring Izuku to.

He could have done without the comments from Kiba's fangirls, however.

"Oh no! Kiba-chan is walking with that freak Midoriya!"

"Kiba-chan, don't walk with him! You'll be contaminated by his Quirklessness!"

"I won't have you pairing up with that sleazy Midoriya, Kiba-chan!"

Each and every word was yet another dagger into his brittle heart. Maybe Kiba was just parading him around like a circus freak, and had no intentions whatsoever of giving Izuku any answers.

He eyed the hallway behind them. Maybe it wasn't too late to make a run for it?

Kiba seemed to sense his unease. "Don't mind them," he whispered sneakily to Izuku, "They're harmless."

Easy for Kiba to say. He wasn't the one they were calling a freak.

The blonde led Izuku halfway across the campus, towards one of the older, seemingly abandoned buildings on the outskirts of the fields used by the sports teams and gym classes. The small manor (because Izuku couldn't think of a better name for the building) was overrun by vegetation, but Kiba paid no attention to that as he led Izuku into the building and up the creaky wooden stairs - before finally coming to a stop at the end of the hallway and gesturing towards the door in front of them.

The room was weird. It was finely furbished, as though it was in constant use, which was a stark contrast to the rest of the manor. Candles lit up the area instead of the fluorescent lights of the academy's main buildings, and the dark oak desks, green couches, and paintings that littered the room all felt very old. Even the drapes looked like they were from four-hundred years ago.

The only occupant of the room (aside from Izuku and Kiba, that was) was a short and petite girl with pale, shoulder-length hair - the same girl from last night. Now that he had a closer, clearer look at her, he could see that she also had a little cat-themed hairpin.

Izuku's breath hitched. "Isn't that–"

"That's Toujou Koneko, a first-year here," Kiba explained, catching her attention now that she was mentioned by name. "Koneko, this is Midoriya Izuku."

Izuku gulped. The look she was giving him didn't seem very friendly. "H-Hello…"

Her eyes met his for an instant, but she didn't bother replying. Instead, she went right back to the piece of chocolate she had been eating before they walked in like he didn't even exist.

Oh well. That was preferable to her calling him a loser to his face, at any rate.

He hesitated at the sound of running water, turning his head to see–

"T-There's a shower in here?" Izuku asked in disbelief, the image so absurd and so out of place in this dimly lit room it almost made him laugh.

Kiba nodded as he took a seat beside Toujou. "What can I say?" He said, "The President likes to be clean."

Toujou gave him a weird look at the question. "Why do you care?" She asked sternly, "Are you some kind of pervert?"

Izuku paled at the question. "W-What?! O-Of course n-not!"

She didn't look like she believed him.

"Oh… Oh, my~…"

Izuku blinked at the sound of another voice in the room, turning towards the window to see yet another girl from yesterday. This time it was the one with violet hair and maroon eyes - didn't Gremory call her Akeno?

She giggled at the nervousness that was clear as day on his face, quickly moving into his personal space like it was nobody's business but her own. "You're the new club member, right?" Akeno asked, a gentle smile on her face, "Pleased to meet you. Apologies for scaring you off yesterday; sometimes I forget my Quirk is on."

She then bowed to him, making Izuku wildly uncomfortable. "I am the vice-president, Himejima Akeno," she greeted, "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"M-M-Midoriya Izuku," he replied shakily, eyes quickly darting between Himejima and Kiba, "B-But I never agreed to join any c-club or anything–"

"Yes, you have." Gremory's voice cut through the air like a hot knife through butter as she finished drying her hair, though she was thankfully fully dressed. "Thanks for waiting, everyone, but I haven't washed up since I stayed over at his place."

She gestured to Izuku, and he immediately felt all his confusion and terror and awkwardness come surging back. "W-Why were you in my apartment this morning?!" He accused, pointing a finger at her for good measure, "And my b-bed?! And why were we n-naked?!"

Gremory ignored his questions. "Are you feeling well?" She asked, "Your body seemed fully healed this morning, but you suffered two fatal blows. You're much stronger than you look - most people would take several nights to fully recover from the damage you accrued."

Her question made Izuku take a metaphorical step back. "Y-Yes?" He replied unsteadily, looking at the red-haired girl in confusion, "B-But fully healed? H-How could I have healed from that? I–"

"It's simple!" Gremory said happily, "I used magic. I couldn't have my newest servant up and die on me so soon, could I? That's why I was in your bed; the best healing magic I know requires as much skin-on-skin contact as possible for as long as possible, so we needed to sleep together."

She said it so matter-of-factly that Izuku felt like he had no room to argue the absurdity of her claims.

But he did anyway.

"M-Magic?" Izuku repeated, looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "Skin contact? Servant? What are you talking about?! A-And even if magic really did exist, no magic or Quirk could bring someone back from t-the d-d-dead–"

"President," Kiba interrupted, "He has no idea about, well, any of this. You might need to take it from the top."

Gremory nodded. "Very well…"

Before she could elaborate, a swift knock on the door grabbed her attention.

"E-Excuse me…" Yet another voice Izuku recognized called, "I-Is this the, um, Occult Research Club?"

"Ah, just in time, Asia!" Gremory called, "Please, come in!"

The cute blonde from last night looked just how Izuku remembered her - albeit she was no longer wearing a dirty white tunic. She looked tense, though her gaze softened immensely when she saw Izuku.

"You're okay!" She breathed out in relief, clasping her hands together happily, "I'm so relieved!"

Asia scampered up to him, quickly grasping one of his frail, bony hands in her own soft pair. "Thank you!" She praised, head bowed, "Thank you so much for protecting me! I know you gave me your name last night, but maybe now is a better time for introductions? My name is Asia Argento!"

She looked eagerly at Izuku, who was somewhere between shell-shocked and traumatized. "D-Does this mean I didn't die?" He asked, the question falling on no one in particular.

Things got quiet after that. Toujou was the only one who bothered to respond.

"Nope," she shook her head, "You definitely died yesterday. Humans don't just get to live through getting torn apart like you did."

Izuku gulped. He didn't like the way she said humans, as if there were beings out there that weren't.

"Okay!" Gremory clapped her hands together. "Now that we're all here, I think it is a fitting time to begin. Please, Izuku, Asia, take a seat!"

She gestured to the two couches that faced towards the small ornate table in the middle of the room, only a few feet away from each other. Himejima took a seat on the empty one, with Argento quickly falling beside her, and Izuku realized there wasn't really much room for him on either couch now.

Gremory seemed to notice the conundrum. "Yuuto, Koneko, scooch over," she ordered, "Izuku can sit with you two."

They nodded as one, each sliding over enough and making enough space for Izuku to sit comfortably at Kiba's side.

"T-Thanks," he mumbled.

His platitudes were waved off. "Izuku, Asia," she began, "We welcome you into the Occult Research Club."

Izuku's protests died on his lips before he could speak - Gremory shut him up with the single look she sent his way. "But the Occult Research Club is just an assumed front. Sort of a hobby of mine."

Wait, what?

At his confused look, Gremory crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "I'll get right to the point, Midoriya - we are devils. Every single one of us in this room is a devil."

That…

Was not what Izuku expected to hear.

"D-Devils?!" He felt his blood run cold. Isn't that what Raynare called them last night? "L-Like– like Satan?"

Gremory chuckled at his words. "Not quite," she gently corrected, "There isn't just one devil - at least, not anymore. All of us here are devils…"

Oh.

Oh no.

"Including you - at least, after last night."

Izuku had never felt so small. "W-What?" He squeaked out.

Gremory nodded. "You heard me correctly. You are a devil now, just like us. That woman yesterday, the one who killed you - Raynare? She was a fallen angel. They are angels in the service of God, who, as a result of possessing corrupt emotions, have descended into the underworld. They are attempting to wipe us devils out, while they manipulate humans. Since the distant past, they have fought for supremacy of the underworld– what you in the human realm call Hell. There are also other angels besides the fallen ones who come down on orders from God to defeat us devils. In other words, there's a three-way standoff. Have you understood everything up to now?"

He nodded hesitantly, and out of the corner of his eye noticed Argento staring silently at her lap, eyes hard. "B-But what does t-t-that have to do with me?"

"Amano Yuuma."

Izuku flinched at the name. He wasn't the only one - Argento did too, and her reaction was just as bad as his.

"That was what Raynare's alias was, was it not? She even asked you out."

He was horrified. "H-How do you know about that?" Izuku grit out.

She hummed. "Yuuto?"

Kiba nodded as his name was called, pulling out a small photograph from his uniform jacket and sliding it over to Izuku. He eventually accepted it, eyes going wide in shock as he realized that it was a picture of Amano asking him out on the bridge.

"What– h-how did you– why–" Izuku was at a complete loss. "I-Is this some k-kind of s-s-sick joke?!"

Gremory shook her head. "No. She really did exist. That's a fact. It seems like with her death last night, all memory of her from the student body vanished. That's even more proof of her status as a fallen angel - not that I needed it. Yesterday confirmed all of my suspicions."

Izuku gulped. "C-Can we go back to the part where you s-said I was a d-d-devil?" He whimpered, "P-Please?"

He felt so naked. Like each and every person in here was dressing him down, waiting for him to crack like a crazy person. Wasn't that what he was, though?

"We're getting there," Gremory hummed, "She asked you out with the intent to kill you - to ascertain whether or not there was something dangerous within you. However, it seems like with your rejection of her, for whatever reason that may have been, you temporarily escaped such a fate. Raynare wasn't about to let you go, though - I'm sure I don't have to explain what happened to you last night again."

The memory of being gored through the chest and subsequently eviscerated flashed through his mind. Yeah, no thanks.

"B-But if that's true," Izuku pleaded, "And what T-Toujou-san said was true, too, then how am I here? I died. I can't come back from that!"

Gremory shook her head once again. "Not as a human, no," she agreed, "But you are not human anymore. Can't you feel it? The aversion to light, the ability to see in the dark, the pain this morning when you said the word God? You're not a human anymore - you're a devil."

Izuku shook in his seat. He was very close to losing his shit. "H-How?" He asked, voice barely audible. He sounded very pathetic.

Nobody brought up the fact that the temperature had dropped several degrees immediately.

"You have been reborn as a member of the house of Rias Gremory," she elaborated, with Izuku watching in abject horror as wings sprouted out of her back, "Daughter of the Marquis of Gremory, one of the highest-ranking devils…"

"...As my devil servant. I am now your master."

Then everybody around him sprouted wings as well - exactly like Gremory's - and he started to panic…

A feeling that was cut short when devil wings of his own erupted out of his back, pushing him off the couch and straight into the floor with a dull thud.

"Midoriya-kun!" Kiba shouted, already reaching down to pick him up, "Are you okay?"

He was not okay.

Because apparently he was a devil now.

What, was being a freak as a human not enough? He had to be a devil now, too?

Izuku didn't bother vocalizing his answer. He just nodded silently as he tried (and failed, thanks to the wings sticking out of his back) to sit back down onto the couch.

So he just nodded. "Y-You…" He looked towards Gremory. "You said I was your… your devil s-servant?"

Gremory nodded. "In exchange for bringing you back to life, and transforming you into a devil, you are now bound to me as my servant - either until one of our deaths, or until you become powerful enough to gain your own peerage."

She pulled out a chess board from one of the drawers behind her, silently placing it on the table between the six of them. "Devils have the power to reincarnate humans and other beings into other devils," she explained, "Using what we call Evil Pieces - they're like the pieces on a chess board. For example, Yuuto here is my Knight, Koneko is my Rook, Asia is now my bishop, and Akeno is my Queen."

With each piece named, she ran her fingers along the aforementioned chess piece. Then she locked eyes with Izuku. "And you, Izuku Midoriya, are now my Pawn."

He didn't know a lot about chess, but he knew that that was the weakest piece. "I'm a p-p-pawn?"

Rias nodded. Izuku had never felt as shitty as he did at that moment.

"But why?" Izuku whispered, "Why did R-Raynare want to kill me? What did I do to her? What ritual? And why did you turn me into a devil?"

Why couldn't he just get a straight answer?!

Toujou blinked. "Is it getting foggy in here?"

"Because of your power," Gremory explained, "You used it last night, didn't you? To free yourself from your chains. Once Raynare had you in her clutches, she must have found the same thing that we did inside of you. It must have been fortunate timing that she captured you when she did - otherwise, she likely would have simply killed you and been done with it, but instead she waited to bring you to her church to perform the same ritual she was planning to do to Asia here. She must have figured that your power was important enough to try and take for herself."

He blinked, remembering the way his chains had somehow burst into ash seemingly at random. "T-That wasn't me!" Izuku protested desperately, "I don't even have a Quirk! I–"

"I'm not talking about Quirks," Gremory interjected, "I'm talking about your Sacred Gear."

His heart stopped. "My what?"

"It's a non-standard power that dwells within specific people," Akeno elaborated, "I suppose you could compare them to Quirks, though they are much rarer and generally far more powerful. It is said that many historic figures have possessed this power, even before the Dawn of Quirks. Hercules is a prime example, though there are plenty of others."

Gremory nodded. "Occasionally, there are even those who have enough power that they become a threat to devils or fallen angels."

Asia blinked in confusion as a soft breeze blew by them, ruffling her hair slightly. "Did anyone else feel that?"

She was promptly ignored. "Izuku," Gremory ordered, "Please hold your left hand up."

He felt himself doing so before he could even blink. "H-Huh?"

"Close your eyes," she continued, "Think of something you feel to be the strongest."

Again, it was like his body didn't even care to wait for his input. His eyes shut not through his own volition, and he was immediately struck by a vision of All Might. "W-What?"

"Focus," Gremory instructed, "To summon your Sacred Gear, much less for the first time, you need to focus completely on the task at hand."

"But I don't have a Sacred Gear!" He shouted in protest, even as his mind was struck with visions of All Might telling him he couldn't be a Hero. "I don't have any power! I don't know why that fallen angel wanted me but I don't have whatever she was looking for!"
"No, you most certainly do." Gremory shook her head. "There's no denying it - I, and most others in this room, can feel it within you. Raynare knew too, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered with setting up a second ritual last night between you and Asia. Nothing would have happened to you on that cross if you didn't have a Sacred Gear. The fact is, that fallen angel was fearful, and she wanted to take your power - or, at the very least, kill you. Which she did."

Izuku was silent for a long while after her explanation.

"S-So," he finally mumbled, "I– I got k-killed because of a p-power I didn't even know I had… and then– and then you t-turned me into a d-d-devil afterwards because of that same power?"

She nodded. "More or less, yes." Gremory spared Kiba a glance. "Had you come to any of our prior meetings, I would have simply invited you to join, but you never accepted any of Kiba's multiple extended invitations, and I figured you would rather live as a devil instead of dying in the basement of a rotting, abandoned church."

Kiba sighed. "Yeah, sorry Midoriya-kun," he apologized, "But we really don't want to have too many people knowing about devils, so I tried to be discreet. President's orders and all that!"

They were wrong.

Izuku didn't want to be a devil.

He didn't want to be… to be… to be a slave.

"I– I see…" he whispered, eyes glassy as he stared down at his shaking hands, "S-So you went to that place to rescue Argento-san, a-and I just happened to be there?"

Even as he said the words aloud they didn't make sense to him. Hadn't Argento herself asked him if he knew them last night?

"No," Gremory said slowly, "We were there for you. I'd ordered Kiba to watch over you, and perhaps eventually convince you to visit us - perhaps you could call him your 'guardian devil' - but I digress. He discovered you as you were being abducted and informed me; and with my knowledge of an increased amount of activity by fallen angels in my territory, it was easy to put two and two together. We went there to rescue you and slay those who would dare to encroach upon my territory - Asia being there was a fortunate coincidence for all of us."

Oh. Izuku understood now.

She just wanted him for his power - a power that he didn't know he had until five minutes ago, and was still unconvinced even existed. After all, wouldn't he have found it at some point during the last ten years, back when he would have happily given up an arm and a leg to be able to be a Hero?

And Kiba was only acting nice to him because Gremory wanted him to get Izuku to become her servant willingly. At least he was right about one thing - nobody was ever nice to him for no reason. They always wanted something. He didn't get to have friends.

It was like the universe was laughing at him.

"Okay…" he muttered, looking at Gremory in trepidation, "D-Does this mean I have t-to do whatever you tell me to now? S-Since y-you said you were my… m-master…?"

The word slave went unsaid, but it was all Izuku could think about. He didn't want to be a slave. He didn't want someone calling themselves his master. Just saying the word left a foul taste in his mouth.

He felt sick. Izuku didn't want this. He didn't want any of this.

Gremory nodded, and Izuku felt like he was going to throw up. "That is correct," she confirmed, "But I will generally not force you to do things you don't want to do. The Gremory clan is widely regarded for treating our servants like family, Izuku, and you and Asia here are now a part of that family."

For some strange reason, her words didn't have the effect she likely desired. If anything, they just made Izuku feel even worse about everything he'd just been told.

He wasn't part of her 'family'. He never would be. And how could he trust her word when she apparently turned him into a devil? A monster? A freak worse than what he already was? His will didn't matter anymore. He was her slave, and her words did nothing to dissuade that notion.

All in the name of some stupid Gear. He knew how the world felt about him already; no amount of empty platitudes would change the fact that he was a Quirkless reject with no friends and no future.

The only things that were different now was that he wasn't even human anymore, and that Gremory could say she owned him.

Izuku wished he had stayed dead. This was infinitely worse than whatever would have awaited him in Hell.

He must have been the least intimidating devil in history. With his thin, malnourished frame, scared eyes and shaking knees, he looked more likely to fall apart beneath a stiff breeze than to be beholden to any sort of power.

What a joke.

Gremory seemed to notice that he was moments away from completely falling apart. "Would you like to step outside for a moment to collect your thoughts?"

Izuku froze. This… this was a test, wasn't it? She was dismissing him, he could tell that much, and she was trying to figure out whether or not he understood her orders.

He jerked his head up and down in what was quite possibly the ugliest nod in history. "O-Okay," he muttered, "I–I'll go outside, a-and, um, wait…"

The walk to the door felt like it lasted an eternity - something that was only exacerbated by the fact that he couldn't figure out how to get through with his… his wings constantly hitting the door. His owner snapped her fingers and Izuku felt the leathery appendages sink into his back, and he wasted zero time in running out of the building like a bat - no, like a devil out of Hell.

Because that was exactly what he was now. And no matter how hard he tried, or what about him changed, all he'd ever be good for was running away.

…Well, maybe that wasn't quite right anymore. He seemed to have found a second use for himself last night.

…

Back in the Occult Research Club, Rias felt her smile dim. "I think that went well," she tried.

Koneko shook her head slowly. "He looked horrible. He seems really unhappy."

"Nah, he seemed pretty accepting of everything!" Akeno said cheerily, "Did you hear how understanding he was in his questions? I think that was a very good talk!"

Asia stared silently at the door Izuku had just run out of. Koneko was right - he had looked really sad. "Can I go talk to him?" She tried, "Maybe… Maybe I could help?"

Rias shrugged. "Be my guest."

–

Try as he might, Izuku couldn't hold back the flood of tears as he sat outside the building Gremory seemed to have claimed for her own. She probably wouldn't be happy if she found her new servant-slave bawling his eyes out after learning what he had become, but that just meant Izuku had to pull himself together before she came outside to find him.

Easier said than done. Especially because the previously beautiful day, where there was hardly a cloud in the sky, had suddenly transformed into a light drizzle. It was almost like the weather had changed to suit his mood - but that was ridiculous.

Besides, if that were true, he'd be sitting in the middle of a torrential downpour. No matter how bad he looked on the outside, he felt infinitely worse on the inside as he struggled to come to terms with his fate.

He didn't have a lot of happy thoughts swirling around his mind at the moment. He collapsed into the muddy earth, falling to his knees into the swirl of muck and grime as despair wracked his frail frame.

"Izuku?"

He winced. They were coming to get him already? Maybe he could hide the fact that he was a teary-eyed mess with the rain - that'd be nice.

Argento approached him from behind. "Are you okay?" She asked softly, taking a spot beside him in the mud without a second thought. He felt kind of guilt about the way the bottom of her skirt immediately became caked in filth.

"I'm f-f-fine," he mumbled, feeling very much the opposite of okay, "D-Did G-Gremory-san want me to come b-back already?"

Argento shook her head slowly. "No," she replied hesitantly, "I, um, just wished to speak with you again…"

Izuku froze. "O-Oh."

"I wished to thank you again for…" Argento trailed off uncertainly. "For saving my life. You didn't know anything about me beyond my name, and you still chose to stand in front of me and take Raynare's attack. I don't know if I can ever repay you, but…"

He shook his head quickly. "Y-You don't owe me a-anything, Argento-san," he stammered, ignoring the way she looked at him in surprise, "I-I mean, I m-m-made my choice. I probably would have d-died anyway, and that sort of thing is all that I'm good for…"

"W-What?" Argento whispered. "I don't understand."

A humorless laugh made its way out of Izuku, miserable and self-deprecating. "I'm Quirkless," he explained silently, once again ignoring her reaction (she gasped, for anyone wondering), "I'm weak. P-Powerless. And now… I'm a p-pawn. A s-servant. A slave. There probably isn't much use for me outside of cannon fodder, hah…"

His eyes were hard as he stared down at his hands. Why did he have to be so worthless?

Argento took his hands in her own for the second time that day. "You heard Rias earlier," she tried, "She said she wouldn't force you to do things, didn't she? A-And, um, I know that this is just how it is in Japan, b-but you don't have to address me by my last name. If you would like to call me Asia, that is more than fine with myself. I mean, Rias said we're family, right?"

Izuku flinched at the contact. "Y-You don't have to p-p-pretend to like me, you know."

"Huh?" Argento's eyes went wide at the accusation. "I don't–"

He pulled his hands away from her, laughing slightly to hide the pain in his heart. "I-I'm the weakest one here, aren't I?" Izuku questioned, sniffling slightly, "The pawn? The bottom of the barrel? The most worthless? I know my p-place. I've been Quirkless my whole life. I-If Gremory-san is worried about me r-running away or something, and asked you to be nice to me just so I don't, you can tell her she doesn't have to… I mean, it's not like that sort of thing would have worked on me anyways, hah, I know better nowadays. People don't just like me for no reason. You don't have to act like you do."

Argento stared at him in shock. Maybe she was just happy she wouldn't have to pretend to enjoy being around him. Maybe she was surprised that he figured her out so easily. Maybe she was merely upset that he pushed her away before she got the chance to hurt him - the look she had on her face did seem kind of upset.

He didn't like that look. It didn't seem right on her face, but what standing did he have to complain about, well, anything anymore? He was a piece of property.

"I-I'm going to go back to everyone else now" he mumbled, standing up as quickly as he could, "Um, s-sorry for wasting your time."

Izuku turned and slowly walked back towards the manor once more, not even bothering to try and wipe at his tears. If anything, they were coming down worse now. But he didn't care. Nothing mattered to him anymore.

Nothing was allowed to matter to him anymore.

—

A/N: I was looking forward to this chapter for quite some time. I hope it came out well!
Most DXD stories have Izuku very accepting of his fate, if not outright happy at the thought of becoming a devil - at least, within the first chapter of him learning of what happened.

This is not one of those fics. We're in for real angst hours now; just look at how he pushed away someone trying to be his friend! Rough times ahead, and they won't get better for a while.

Hope you enjoyed! Special thanks to my beta reader Lugia for reading this instead of sleeping! Let me know what you thought! See you next time!