Chapter II

'It's gotten quiet out there.'

Issei leaned against the wall, breathing slowly as he tried to still his heart. Not like it was helping a whole lot, what with all the running he had to do with those angry snakes chasing after them. Whoever thought snakes made for good pets had no idea how scary it was to get chased by one.

Getting chased by dozens of the damn things all but made him swear he would never get close to reptiles ever again!

The pain in his foot wasn't getting any better, either.

If anything, the wet feeling started feeling like it was stinging, raw against the inside of his shoe. Issei was probably gonna have to throw it away when he got back home. After all, if people asked why his shoes were bloody, would they believe him if he said he'd kicked a snake to save a bunch of kids?

It would certainly make him popular with cute girls though!

'That's if I make it out of this.'

And wasn't that the question of the hour.

He did everything he could to set up this plan, wracking his brain for every single memory he had of playing Doki Doki Monster Paradise 5. From all the endings to the combat system to the secret exclusive H-Scenes that he got from buying the deluxe copy.

He wasn't sure if the last part would help, but it certainly motivated him.

Because he was going to make it out of this.

He had to.

Someone had to stop Dusa-chan, someone had to save everyone who got turned into statues. And Issei couldn't wait for someone else to come do it. Not when there might not be anyone at all. As soon as the ship reached whatever destination they were headed to, the monster lady would disappear in the crowd and nobody would ever know she caused this.

Who would even believe him if he told them?

He couldn't even believe this was happening until after he woke up the second day, thinking it had been a terrible nightmare only to see everyone was still stuck as statues.

"Is this even real?"

The thoughts were unbidden, but present nonetheless.

"I'm not exactly the most heroic guy." At least not in the game protagonist kinda way.

Sitting down in a first class plush leather chair, Issei took the chance to prop his foot up on a stool and replace the stuffing in his sock. Wincing the whole while.

"Honestly, this is pretty much just some chuuni isekai stuff, right? A random loser gets to save people from a scary monster. It makes more sense this is just my brain putting together a nice daydream while I die from slipping down some stairs."

Morbidity wasn't something he was prone to, but the teenager was struggling to just… grasp what was going on.

"Obviously Dusa-Chan isn't really from Doki Doki, right?" Saying it outloud made it seem even more absurd. "Monsters aren't really real. And monsters from H-games just sound dumb." Grunting, fishing out a fifteen hundred yen bottle of water - and wasn't that an insane thing - he took a swig and two aspirin when he was sure it wasn't more acetaminophen. "She's here."

That was the truth.

Plain and simple.

He was hurting, other people seemed to be scared, and that one weird European who was obsessed with brains in jars aside, the teenager just couldn't conceive of any explanation that justified the world as he knew it was.

"You know what. Screw it. It doesn't matter."

Eyeing a bottle of champagne, before ignoring it entirely, the young man decided the situation was simple.

"If its a fever dream, then it doesn't matter, so I might as well do what's right. If this is all real, then doing the right thing really counts. Either way… there's nothing to do but try."

Part of him was aware, in a somewhat detached way, that he was scared.

No. Terrified.

Every part of Issei was trembling, most of him wanted to go back to the statues of Mom and Dad and beg them to move again.

Deep, deep down, a part of him just wanted everyone to laugh and start moving and say it was a joke. He wouldn't even be upset.

But he wasn't young enough to spend long actually considering that.

"After all, just like Starry Eyes, Starry Knight, Great Detective Sherry Holmes said, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"

He still wanted to cry. But he'd leave that for after.

For now, he had a guest at the door.

Knock Knock!

"Who is it?" He tried to sing out, chest tightening at the chorus of hisses coming from the outside, followed by the rattle of something glass like.

"Not going to lie and pretend you aren't home?"

Dusa-chan… he wasn't gonna come up with another name for her now of all times, giggled from the other side.

"You already know I'm here anyway. What's the point?" He leaned back, careful not to jostle the frame resting behind him.

It had taken quite a lot of effort to hang it there.

"Well, aren't you coming out then?" There was a hissing giggle from the other side of the door.

Issei shook his head.

"Nah, you can come in." He wasn't that dumb.

There was a brief sigh from the other side. Clearly him not playing along with her game was ruining whatever enjoyment she was getting out of cornering him. Which was kinda the point. Even if he was driven to a corner, Issei wasn't about to just open that door and get turned into a garden gnome.

"Ever the gentleman, aren't you? Well, don't mind if I come in then."

There was an audible crack as the door knob turned against its will, metal creasing, bending, and then snapping as the lock was pulled apart with freakish strength. Issei cringed at the noise, watching with bated breath as his last line of defense was torn off of its hinges to reveal the dark hallway outside.

It had completely slipped his mind that it was already this late.

Running around the bowels of the ship didn't do a whole lot for his time awareness, and leaving everything in pitch black darkness seemed to favor her more than it did him anyway.

"You know I don't need to see you to find you, right?"

Really, she was gloating now?

"Took you a while the first go around though. Besides. Power's going on and off. No telling if you're losing your touch or not."

A scoff answered his bravado, though the posturing made him feel a little better.

And let Issei live a little longer.

"You aren't the first to run from me. And I had fun. But you're being rude."

There was the sound of a hand fumbling along the wall of the room and, inevitably, she found the lightswitch. Just like Issei grabbed a hold of the frame behind him.

And when she flicked that switch, cracking plastic in the process, he yanked the picture down and revealed his ultimate weapon.

Light, electric, white, generated by a pair of rather harsh LED bulbs filled the room, bouncing off every single reflective surface he had managed to scavenge in the entire time he'd been here.

Mirrors.

Flat screen TVs.

Broken panes of glass.

The suite was filled, every surface covered, and dozens more reflective surfaces hung from the ceiling in the form of clear glass bottles. A veritable prison of mirrors, just like the one used in the game to beat Dusa-chan, who couldn't use her powers in front of a mirror. And since this one kept breaking every single one she found it had to be the same way, right?

Issei, however, wasn't ready for what he saw, either.

Dusa, now that she wasn't pretending to be human, was still pretty. Her skin was white, like unpainted marble, with long rows of blue scales covering her shoulders and arms. Issei didn't dare look at her face, though he glanced at her head instinctively, and saw the short bob of blue hair and pointed, scaled ears, too.

She wasn't merely an inhumanly beautiful human.

She was more.

More than a monster from a game.

More than just some monster chasing people in the darkness.

Because there was shock and vulnerability and weakness in how she stood. Dusa-chan, the horrific thing that had murdered his parents, tried to murder Issei, and seemed to be just as struck in pure surprise at what was before her as he was.

As if she'd never seen herself.

"Beautiful…."

The word hung in the air.

Though he just mumbled it in shock. The silence in the room made it echo in his own ears. Because there was no way that he could ignore something this obvious. Even after everything that happened the past few days… Issei couldn't lie to himself.

She was so pretty it almost stopped his heart.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

"Beautiful…?" She echoed as if her ears couldn't make sense of the word.

"Beautiful?!" the monster spat taking a threatening step closer.

"What is beautiful about this… half baked form?! I'm not monster, nor human, nor goddess! What is so beautiful in not knowing where you come from?"

By her side, a familiar hammer formed in a cloud of sparkling dust. In her other hand, a small and thin blade appeared much the same way as if to match it.

What was that called again?

A chisel?

"Did you humans think I was beautiful when I rose from the sea as a wicked monster? Did you humans find me beautiful when I was turned into a simple mortal woman? Did you find me beautiful when Poseidon discarded me to suffer at Athena's hand?! Did you think I was beautiful when I devoured my friends and worshippers?!" Her face twisted and contorted, rage and anguish pouring out in equal measure. And both drowned in a smothering of spite.

"You humans could never decide who I was! Goddess! Monster! Human! Now? Now I can't be anything! I'm stuck like this because of you!"

Issei couldn't make sense of what she was saying.

Nor did he have the time to do it as Dusa-chan swung her massive hammer weightlessly, smashing the mirror right behind him… as well as the wall behind that. The impact rattled his body even as he fell to the ground and covered his head.

There was no time to think, he simply scrambled to the side as a sudden breeze blew in through the gaping hole.

The beautiful monster, however, took aim with the chisel and screamed, sending it flying into a TV and shattering it. However, the weapon didn't penetrate, it bounced! Ricocheting into mirror after bottle after tv, every impact sent more and more shards of glass flying.

And yet she could not destroy them all.

On the ground, in the shape of great shards of jagged glass, her broken reflection mocked her.

Hanging limply from frayed strings and belts, her image mocked her.

The monster's face stared out from the scuffed, cracked, scored plastic pieces she crushed underfoot with each step.

And so she screamed.

Holding her hands up to the sky, the immortal thing let out a wail of anguish and confusion and with that wail came a torrent of stone.

Spiraling out from her, the teenager blinked once and lines of grey stone covered everything in the room… save for him. And for her.

That realization saved him.

When he leapt up, panicking, knowing he had failed, the Japanese boy shifted his torso just enough. So when the jagged, branching stone thorns impaled him, he merely felt a freezing-burning force punch through a leg and an arm. Lashing out like the vines of a rosebush, the stone pierced through the side of the ship, others digging deep grooves into the room, leaving hundreds of deep cuts that seemingly reached through the walls, allowing the scent of the sea through.

When he fell to the ground, the stone retracting, he hit with an already wet thump.

Lungs unable to take in air, Issei did not scream. The pain was already gone - merely some vast other, looming over him from beyond a wall of black and white static that shut out an impossibly vast, crushing wave. What little understanding he had of the agony was that he was already feeling cold.

Still, with one arm little more than a flopping broken thing, the other could reach out.

The chisel was right there before.

Not even an inch from his hand.

He had to push with his good leg, feeling glass and debris dig into him, cut fresh scoring lines across his stomach.

His fingers brushed the smooth, warm wood of the handle as the harsh cries of angry seagulls reached him; disturbed by the attack which had torn a hole clean through the top of the ship, they squawked their displeasure.

"Enough."

Issei stood, knowing his actions had been heard and that there was precious little time left. No time to pray, or think of his parents, or the children, or anyone else. Merely the fraction of a second needed to hope against hope that there was something he might still manage to do.

So he attacked.

Or, rather, tried to.

His left leg was nearly useless, but with one arm and one leg he managed to rise to a knee, bone caught in muscle enough to let his bad leg hold up the good one. Throwing the desperation and strength of a dead man into it, Issei lunged and made his single strike.

And the monster turned on the spot, hearing the motion, already reacting to it.

There was a wet squick and he fell backwards from the impact, but the angle was right. Perfect, even, and the look of shock replaced the earlier look of pain as Dusa slowly moved to grab ahold of that warm, smooth wooden hilt sticking from her side.

For a moment, the world stopped, freezing in place.

…

A single moment dragging itself as a thick red stain erupted from the side of her abdomen.

Before they crashed back into reality.

Issei's leg gave away, his body hitting the torn up carpet with a wet thud. It would have probably hurt a lot more if he wasn't already so busted. Lungs burning with pain with each labored breath, eyes stinging with blood, sweat, and tears as the one lightbulb that somehow avoided being smashed into pieces flickered above him with cool white light.

It wasn't even his kill, not really. Her actions had certainly driven the blade further than his strength ever could.

Not like that mattered much, the room was already getting darker.

'This is it, huh?'

No 'do you wanna retry' window. No way to go back to the start. He should have known this was too terrifying to be just a game.

'I wonder if the others made it?' Without him around, they would probably have to look after each other. But without the snake lady chasing them, that should be easy. They just had to last until someone found the boat.

Issei looked to the side, his actions slow and the air seemingly thick.

The scary lady who'd been chasing him all over the ship was lying right by him. Not as busted as he was. Really, he was lucky she reacted that badly and did half the work for him on that stab. Even now she looked barely hurt, aside from the trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth and her closed eyes.

"Did you mean it?"

He would have jerked away if he could.

"Still… alive?"

"I am dying, not dead. Killing someone isn't so clean and easy. Well… this way it isn't. You could have just looked at me." He could hear her rolling her eyes at him.

"No thanks."

Issei's breathing was slow and belabored. His head was fuzzy and he was so, so, so tired.

"Don't feel like… working in gardening… for the rest of my life."

This time she rasped out a giggle. Really, if she weren't that scary, he would have found that almost cute.

"Shame that, you would have made for a nice statue." There was a wet sucked and a small thumb as the chisel was pulled free, Dusa letting it fall to the ground with a soft thump.

Was she… flirting with him? Now? Of all times?

"I thought you would be angrier."

"No, not angry. Just.. surprised. Disappointed, certainly. No point in complaining about it now. Despite everything… I guess it wasn't meant to be. A hero slays the monster in the end."

He frowned, squinting at the darkening light above… maybe it was all the blood he was leaking.

"Again with the monster stuff, huh?"

He just couldn't see it.

Besides him, he felt her shift.

"You said I was beautiful earlier. Can you really say that after everything that happened? Everything I've done? How can I not be a monster?"

The floor felt cold against Issei's back. Everything felt cold, really. But he did his best to answer her. Thinking back to everything. The game of cat and mouse. The teasing and chasing. The games and the anger right at the end when she, whoever Dusa-chan was, couldn't take the compliment.

Craning his neck to the side, he took a good long look at her.

No matter how much he recalled everything that happened the past few days… he just couldn't do it.

Couldn't say it.

Maybe she really was a monster despite everything… but what his gut was telling him was…

"I meant it… you know? You're really pretty. Just… maybe… next time… you should have tried talking first."

There was another giggle. This one clear like tinkling bells. Soft, strong fingers wrapped around his. A grip firm, but tender.

"What a strange human you are… ah, I don't know your name."

Maybe it was how blurry his vision was, but in those final moments, his vision going dark, he took comfort in how she smiled at him.

"Issei."

"One day, maybe,if we ever meet again Issei, I would like to try talking with you."

And there was no more.

48 Hours Later

Rias didn't think of herself as a complicated person.

She enjoyed many simple pleasures.

A simple life in a country where she could stand on her own two feet without the shadow of the Gremory name looming over her. The few expectations she did have to deal with were tied to her own need to excel and to how others had come to see her as a figure to look up to.

She enjoyed that.

She enjoyed the peace that routine brought her.

School, club activities, her own personal hobbies. Those were irreplaceable pleasures she wouldn't have experienced had she decided to stay at home.

She would have remained Rias Gremory.

Never just 'Rias'.

To finally have the chance to cut loose and build something for herself, whether it be just a reputation, rapport with her classmates, or a human education in a school of merit, those were things she wanted to do the right way, something to look back on and realize she achieved them on her own.

Anything that disrupted this precious reprieve from her dull everyday life in the Underworld was something that greatly annoyed Rias.

For example, surprise visits from one of the most powerful men in the Underworld.

Was it any surprise she was ticked off?

"You can't give me the cold shoulder forever, you know?"

Rias didn't say anything, maintaining her most unamused stare.

"I'm not gonna turn to stone if you glare at me."

She tried again, just to be sure.

Unfortunately, she lacked that power. And it's not like it would have worked even if she did. There was simply too much distance between herself and her older brother, the man who rose to the position of Satan.

It didn't hurt to try, however.

"President, you'll get wrinkles if you keep this up."

Rias scoffed, shooting the dark haired girl beside her an annoyed look of her own. Who merely responded with a dainty smile, completely unaffected by the red head's rotten mood.

Rias dared to say she was enjoying it.

"Yes, well, how else am I supposed to react to a sudden visit in the middle of my vacation? I just came back from home." Her parents would have never allowed her to spend as much time in the human world as they did without concessions. And she often spent part of, if not her entire vacations back in the Underworld.

To come back to Japan, only to have her brother drop in on her unannounced?

That was a bit beyond the pale.

Her big brother, for his part, didn't seem the least bit affected by her displeasure. In fact, he probably was enjoying it in some way, though, thankfully, different to how Akeno did. Although Rias could tell that there was something wrong with the usually unflappable Satan.

He wasn't as relaxed as usual.

If anything, he looked like he was expecting someone to show up, checking his watch every few minutes, leg bumping against the coffee table, stolen glances sent to the maid who dutifully stood beside the door.

She was doing a much better job looking like everything was okay.

'Which means this isn't a house call.' Rias sighed.

As annoyed as she was, even she knew when to take things seriously.

"Well, why the visit then?" She might as well bite the bullet. But she swore if this was about the Phenex trying to push the date of her wedding ahead one more time, she was going to find a way to turn herself into a toad in protest. Good luck explaining why their son had to marry a toad!

"Can't I take time out from my busy schedule just to see you?" He smiled wryly, leaning forward so his chin rested on the palm of his hand.

Rias sighed.

Dealing with her brother could be a chore at times.

"You could, but we just saw each other less than a week ago. Is something the matter?"

The way his left eyebrow twitched gave away the game.

He really was worried about something. And, even more than that, she noticed. So, smiling at her, Lucifer gave up on pretending.

"You're really perceptive for a girl your age. Have I ever said that?" The older devil leaned back, shoulders sagging in relief. Was he… trying to pretend everything was normal?

"I lose track of the many compliments you shower me with, brother."

And it was true. There probably wasn't a single positive thing to be said about someone that Sirzechs hadn't said about her before, in front of others or not. Usually while pinching her cheeks when she was younger.

He better not be thinking of doing that here and now.

Her pride wouldn't be able to take it.

"Well, I'll answer your question with another. Do you remember when we were discussing the details for your stay on Earth? Why we went through the hoops of negotiating with the Bael Clan to allow you to take Kuoh over?"

Rias tried to recall.

Back then she wasn't terribly interested in the political maneuvering and concessions being asked for, or, rather, demanded. In her mind, just about any city in just about any part of the country would have sufficed so long as she got her wish to stay in Japan.

She didn't care about anything else.

"If I recall… there were safety concerns?" She finished the last part questioningly.

Sirzechs smiled thinly.

"Yes, you could say that. When we made arrangements to have you stay here, we made sure to position you in territory that wasn't under the direct influence of human organizations. With the Yokai Faction acting as landlords, we wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any chances that one of those human tyrants would see you or Sona as targets."

Rias pursued her lips.

Human Tyrants.

Otherwise known as Godslayers in japan… but abbroad they were referred to by another name.

"Campione?"

Sirzechs nodded.

"You could call them the natural enemies… or perhaps apex predators of the human world. Unlike those of us who originate from other planes of existence, a Campione is an originally human existence that claims dominion over this world. Do you recall why?"

The younger devil recalled what she knew.

Campione, the god slayers. Beings who through chance, luck, or a combination of factors, achieved an impossible victory over a god and usurped their powers for themselves. The natural enemies of the Heretic Gods. As there were few who had any interest in the human world nowadays beyond private business, it wasn't wrong to consider them the tyrants who ruled the human world from behind the scenes.

As a member of the Gremory family, she was made quite aware of the danger they could pose. Especially if she were away from her proper territory, in a land where her family couldn't immediately come to her aid.

But really, why was this coming up now of all times?

"You think one of these Campione is headed here?" It was the reasonable assumption to make. If he were talking to her about them now.

"We believe they already are."

Rias went silent for a second as her mind caught up to what her brother said.

That… wasn't what she expected.

"Will that be a problem?"

"At present we are unsure. The appearance of a Heretic God is an omen for the arrival of a Campione. Whether the one we discovered was slain by one of the six we know of, or gave birth to a 7th… we cannot know until they show themselves." The one who answered was Grayfia, her sister-in-law speaking for the first time since arriving.

Her brother sighed.

"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?"

The maid stared at him impassively.

"You would have sugar coated it. This is a serious concern, and we are here to warn you that until we know more about the situation it would be better to keep a low profile."

A low profile?

That was… doable.

Rias didn't have to like it though.

When she came back from visiting home earlier, it was with the expectation that she would have some time left to enjoy herself before classes started again. A month just wasn't enough for her to do all the things she wanted, especially once Sona got back.

And now she had to bury her head in the sand until this supposed Campione wasn't around anymore?

"And are you sure whoever this is… is still around?"

Sirzechs sighed, pinching his brow.

"Really, if they were nearby it wouldn't be that much of a problem. A Campione's presence is, frankly, striking. Anyone would know immediately who they were once they got close enough. Those of non-human origin, even more so."

So they wouldn't be sure who this person was until they were close?

"There is a chance that they have already left, but just to be sure, I'd say you should keep away from the public until school is back."

Rias wanted to argue.

Really, weren't they blowing this out of proportion?

Despite being an island country, there were a lot of people and a lot of places in Japan that could be of more interest than her town. If these godslayers were out and about causing mischief, surely they would have heard something about it by now, right?

It wasn't like any of these human tyrants had any reason to come to Kuoh.

Right?