Chapter 3: Wolf's Den (Fin)

After dinner and hanging out with their parents to finish up their study, we see Kiryu using teleportation magic to teleport Issei and himself closer to the location of this Gate that their system's message informed them. Both of them were dressed in casual clothes but different. Kiryu had a black hoodie jacket with a purple shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. Issei had a grey jacket with a red shirt, dark blue jeans, and white running shoes.

"This is interesting," Issei commented, seeing this gate patrol was in a forest area of a park and well hidden and the said patrol color was a calm blue.

"Indeed...and it's a dungeon-type gate with number of floors to discovered but our quest is mainly to a defeat a boss in Wolf's Den area of this gate," Kiryu informed, cupping his chin in thought and reading the map from the system screen that appeared for them to see what this gate was all about.

The system's screen map showed that some areas in this gate were blacked and only had an arrow pointing at the Wolf's Den area in the north of the gate.

"Is that a complet map?" Issei asked.

"Yes and no. Like most RPG games, you have to discover those blacked areas, but luckily, the map shows where to go to Wolf's Den, at least," Kiryu replied.

"Like Skyrim?" Issei questioned.

"More like Dark Souls, but yeah, like Skyrim a bit." Kiryu nodded his head before bringing out his inventory to see what items he could use for this dungeon and check those items he got from those random loot boxes.

Kiryu summoned his Sacred Gear - Absorption Line, which appeared on his right arm as a small black bracer in the form of a small yet cute black chameleon-like lizard with violet eyes and dark purple outlines around it. He then checked his inventory selection to see the number of items that could be handy in the dungeon, from healing potions, rope, extra clothing options, other stuff, and...oh, a new item to his surprise.

The brown-haired teen pushed that item and revealed in dark purple yet blue energy to appear in his hands, being a black dagger with a white edge and a hilt made out of bones. He whistled in impress of such a good looking dagger and begin to read what weapon he got from one of those random loot chest.

Kasaka's Venom Fang

Inform: An item made from Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka's fangs and still has the venom from the very snake itself.

Item Class: C-Rank

Effect: +25 Attack, Paralyze, and Bleed

"Kasaka, impressive. Very impressive," Kiryu smirked on seeing such a fine beauty in the dagger blade he had in his right hand and spun the blade in his hand to get a feeling for it before switching for his left hand to grip the dagger's hilt.

"Whoa, that's kind of bad ass blade there bro," Issei remarked.

"Indeed. Hmm, check your inventory as well, Issei. You might have some interesting items, too," Kiryu informed, something that Issei quickly brought out and saw the items he has.

"Potions, rope, a few extra clothing, a few weapons...ohhh," Issei said before becoming surprised on what he found and pushed the item to appeared outwards in red energy into his hands along his Boosted Gear onto his left arm.

Blades of Chaos

Inform: Divine yet cursed twin blades gifted with primal fire from a Goddess of War.

Item Class: C-Rank

Effect: +20 Attack, Flame, and Bleed

"Wow," Issei said, impressed with the Blades of Chaos and seeing how the chains were wrapped around his arms to even around his Sacred Gear.

"Indeed. God of War, huh?" Kiryu remarked with a smirk.

"Yeah, surprise though but still looks bad ass," Issei smirked as he stealth his back which had an cross holders appeared on his back.

"Agree. Remember how we got God of War Chains of Olympus, GOD 1, and Ghost of Sparta, to which mom almost freak out?" Kiryu asked, recalling a good memory and how the pair used to play God of War games.

"Oh yeah, she almost did. I'm surprised she allowed us to get the second & third game. I do wonder if they would make another game after what happened to Kratos in the third game," Issei commented in reply.

"It's possible, and I hope it's a good vibe. Alright then, you ready?" Kiryu said before asking, getting focus on this quest and their first ever Gate.

"I'm ready," Issei nodded his head.

The twin brothers were able to calm themselves before walking through the blue Gate portal before them, expecting like some sorts of dungeon but became surprised on finding this peaceful setting around this ruin temple area on a hill side, forest surrounding it the area down below of the temple, and it was daytime to their surprise.

"Wow," Kiryu and Issei could only say in awe of what this Gate was showing them.

"I expect to be darker," Issei admitted.

"Same, but it's different. Well, let's not waste time then, let's handle our little quest towards Wolf's Den," Kiryu said, bringing out the map and saw they won't far away from the location they need to go, just needed to head north.

Kiryu and Issei adventure down the steps from the temple, entering the forest to see what else they could see as they go towards Wolf's Den. They encounter several creatures, to their surprise, that typical dungeons show, such as lesser orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, moutain trolls, skeleton warriors, and wild bears. They were D or high C creatures but were dangerous for the pair, and they fought against them. Kiryu would use the Absorption Line to drain energy for himself before using Kasaka to crave and open a path, showing his deadly speed, which strikes just as fast as a snake against his enemies. Issei used Boosted Gear to boost his strength and speed before using Blades of Chaos to burn through his enemies into nothing but ashes before him and show destruction in his wake.

They were surprised by how much they had gotten more potent from the past week of doing daily workouts, learning, using magic (mainly Kiryu), and so on. They were gaining good experience points and leveling up ever so slightly. Before the pair could do anything, an alarm went off, and a screen appeared on their system.

Warning: S-Class Creature nearby!

Tips: Run or Hide!

That warning surprised the pair until Kiryu's eyes widened in shock when seeing the said S-Class Creature very close by, resulting in him grabbing his brother, who yelped out in surprise, and the pair ducking into the bushes.

"What the?" Issei tried to say but was cut off.

"Shhh!" Kiryu quieted his brother and pointed ahead of them from the bushes to where the creature was located.

The said S-Class Creature reminded the twin brothers of a wendigo beast of nature and was grey from branches, fur, sharp grey claws with one arm bigger than the other due to the branches, dark horns that form into a demonic mouth with razor sharp teeth, and deep red eyes.

Cleric Beast of the Forest

Type: Wendigo

Rank: S-Class

Optional Quest: Yes or no?

Note: If you say no, Cleric Beast of the Forest would still be here in this part of the Gate dungeon until being defeated when you are ready.

It didn't take long for Kiryu and Issei to agree with a quiet no and shake of their heads to leave the forest area then very stealthily. Optional quests are optional, and they could fight the Cleric Beast later when they are a bit stronger. Facing an S-Class this early would be a bad idea, and best to avoid that kind of danger until both are ready for that. And the pair were already on a quest towards Wolf's Den.

Small Time Skip (Wolf's Den)

On the trip north to Wolf's Den, we see that Kiryu and Issei have left the nice, calm forest for this dark mountain setting, and the sky is cloudy. The pair hears growls and howls as they enter the den of wolves who are coming for them. A fog covered most of the air, and yet something was watching the pair through the fog. The pair soon saw a wolf coming foward but wasn't alone as many red eyes behind the said wolf revealed to be a full pack of wolves.

That got the brothers worried and much more when one wolf, who was the leader of the pack due to his size, was bigger and something was on its jaw. The lower jaw had this metal full of sharper fangs that connected to its fangs, and red eyes burning with power & hunger.

The wolf growled at the pair and snapped its jaws, which caused a loud echo of metal hitting each other to be heard in the area. And other wolves were indeed smaller, close to the size of normal wolves. The red furred one was ten times the size of a normal wolf and came foward out of the fog to show its full might & power towards the prey.

Steel Fang - Raikan (Leader of Steel Fanged Lycans)

Type: Canine

Rank: B Rank

(AN: Before going further into the story. Yes, I know Raikan is D Rank, but I want it to be a bit stronger than cannon, and other Lycans are D Rank for the heads up. Okay, we got it? Cool back to the story.)

Raikan unleashed a powerful howl, causing a burst of wind to spread outwards around the area and blow away the fog to show the pack fully, surrounding the brothers. One of the wolves jumped at the pair, lunging at them and causing the pair to move out of the way before gripping their weapons in their hands to be ready for a battle. The next wolf tried to swing its paws with its razor-sharp claws at them but missed, and the next wolf tried to take a bite out of them. This caused a powerful red swing from Issei's Blades of Chaos to strike outwards, resulting in that wolf to back away in quick response.

Kiryu waited for the two wolves to come to him, resulting in using his speed and attacked first by striking with Kasaka onto them. That caused the two wolves to be paralyzed in their place and bleed greatly from their wounds from the poison-fanged blade. Then, the blonde-haired teen struck again with a powerful stab at the sides, close to the heart, onto the wolves and double backed to avoid another wolf from attacking him.

Kiryu unleashed Absorption Line outwards, being a light purple energy line, and soon struck the wolf that tried to attack him before draining its energy. He then used his strength to pull the drained wolf towards his brother, allowing Issei to swing his blades of Blades of Chaos into the wolf to burn it into ashes before them.

[Boost, Boost, Boost]

Issei boosted himself and swung his blades upwards, unleashing a stream of fire outwards and causing the wolves to back off while some got burned to howl in pain. Then something got Kiryu's attention as he saw Raikan in the background just watching the fight and also saw more Lycans were coming into the area.

"I see now. Most bosses in dungeons would attack or remain in the background to allow others to attack them. And it would keep spawning more of them if the said boss remains. It seems Raikan is the leader of his pack but also summoning more wolves into Wolf's Den with every howl and commanding them to attack on different patterns," Kiryu thought with a frown and saw the pack behavior that Raikan & Lycans were a bit common but different.

"Issei...we have to end this quick or else Raikan will pick our bones," Kiryu stated with his eyes narrowed and kept track on Steel Fang Raikan who was growling at the pair yet not making any move towards them.

"Easier said than done. There's a lot of wolves, and they keep coming." Issei breathed a bit, feeling some of his strength lesser due to using Boosted Gear, but kept his grip on his blades' hilts firm.

"True, but you noicted how Raikan is not doing anything but growling or howling from time to time?" Kiryu asked while the flames surrounding them kept the wolves back for the time being.

Issei raised an eyebrow on that and looked at the big wolf to see his brother was telling the truth on that. Raikan was indeed growling at them but wasn't trying to attack them and was mainly sending commands to summon more wolves out of hiding to attack when the fire died down.

"Yeah...what do we do?" Issei asked, very curious.

"We get closer and end this quest before Raikan summons more wolves to overwhelm us," Kiryu replied, spinning Kasaka in his hand a few times.

"Why can't anyone just be whelmed?" Issei questioned, getting a sigh from his brother.

"I have no idea, Issei. I would paralyze most of the wolves and open a path towards Raikan...follow my lead once the fire goes down," Kiryu informed as he saw something the main boss was going to do.

Before Issei could say or ask, Raikan unleashed a powerful howl and burst of wind that blew out of the flames which more wolves begin to close in, but instead of surprise, Kiryu smirked and sprinted with great speed foward before unleashing purple or blue energy lines to blade swings made of energy from Kasaka outwards towards the wolves. This left a great number of the wolves paralyzed and bleedy greatly from the effects of Kasaka, giving the younger brother a great opening to strike.

Issei gripped his blades in position before putting more power into Boosted Gear and had flames burning bright into his blades.

[Boost]

With a good boost, Issei swung the Blades of Chaos outwards and had the chains launching themselves into the wolves to finish the rest. A good number of the wolves were cut in half to burn down or turn into ashes too the blazing flame coming from the very blades of chaos and war. His sprint of energy was pure red and soon caught up with his brother towards where the main wolf was located.

Raikan snarled at the pair before launching foward and swung its right paw at Kiryu, who dodged the attack before unleashing quick strikes with Kasaka to cause a few bleeds but not enough to slow its movements. He doubled back before attacking two other wolves before they could jump on him.

Issei placed both blades together and unleashed a stream of fire outwards towards Raikan, causing a loud howling of pain before becoming roared and soon jumped towards the teen. This caused him to stop, and barely dodged a very enraged wolf that showed more metal on its body. Most of the fur was burn off, and almost the skull of the wolf was being shown.

"Mental? Some kind of body armor," Issei thought in mid surprise when seeing most of the metal was red hot but some good amount of bleedy on Raikan that was caused by Kiryu and himself.

Kiryu soon got himself back in the fight and jumped onto Raikan's back, causing the wolf to howl, and rushed from side to side to shake off the teen. He kept on before bringing Kasaka downwards, stabbing right at the neck of the wolf, causing a massive howling in pain, and a great opening was right now.

"Do it!" Kiryu shouted before bringing his fanged blade outwards and stabbing the wolf again, causing great paralysis and leaving a big opening for Issei to strike.

Issei launched his Blades of Chaos outwards and stabbed the sides of Raikan before unleashing a blaze effect, causing a great burning and bleedy to cause the wolf more pain. Together with their strength, both brothers pulled onto the chains and soon launched the wolf into a stone wall before causing large amounts of rocks to fall onto the wolf to eventually kill it. Raikan's death caused all of the wolves to either disappear or run for their lives into the fog as their pack leader was dead.

Kiryu launched the Absorption Line outwards to take the last wolf before it could escape and absorbed all of energy before killing the wolf with Kasaka stabbed into the side close to the heart.

"Huh, I don't think that was needed," Issei remarked, a bit unsure about that last kill.

"Maybe, but we could get good rewards. See?" Kiryu pointed out, showing on his screen that leveling was indeed true and rewards were coming in.

Issei opened his screen up and showed the system he was indeed leveling up from completing the Wolf's Den quest with his brother. He was impressed by that and saw good amount of experience points were coming in which he wonders about putting more into ingellence & speed than just strength to catch up.

Then, all of a sudden, a message came up and showed their status rank before showing that their class/job was unlocked for them. That surprised the brothers and more what was shown to them.

Kiryu's Class: Shadow Monarch, Dragon Monarch/Dragonborn

Issei's Class: Destruction Monarch, Dragon Monarch/Dragonborn

"Oh? That's new...Shadow Monarch," Kiryu said in a bit surprise and never heard that kind of title before which out of curiosity he pushed the status of Shadow Monarch to see what it does.

Issei blinked in surprise and had never heard of a Monarch class before in the games he had played or Kiryu knew to heart. He begins to push the status of Destruction Monarch and begins to read while not knowing his brother is getting a new message.

(Dragonic Abilities, Greece Elemental Power, & Destruction Magic Unlocked)

Issei was surprised by those and kept reading to what those types of magic could do due to how his brother would read any new information any RPG games give out. And comes very hardy so that got the younger brother to ready more.

"Huh?" Kiryu was confused as the message appeared and was aimed at the dead body of Raikan. After reading what Shadow Monarch does and what he could do, after opponents are killed by him or a member of his guild or around him.

(Shadow Mainpulation & Shadow Extraction Unlocked)

Kiryu then, all of a sudden, could hear the cries of loneliness and pain coming from the remains of wolves and Raikan, to his surprise. He was very curious about this Shadow Monarch's abilities he has and what Shadow Extraction to manipulation do.

(Message: Say a command word to revive those slain by you.)

"A command word, huh?" Kiryu wondered in thought, cupping his chin and thought about it but to his surprise, only one word came to him.

"Arise." And with that, a massive purple yet shadow aura surrounded Kiryu, causing Issei to be snapped out of his train of thoughts and froze when seeing that aura again but this time could feel his unease feeling and how the air went cold around his body to shake a bit.

There's more than that. The once-dead body of Steel Fang Raikan rose from the dead but was very different. Gone was the dark red fur and metal but replaced with fur as black as night, shadow moving onto its very body, and no red eyes but dark purple. And Lycans were in the same but had blue eyes instead of purple and were normal-sized wolf like before.

"What the hell?" Issei asked in pure surprise.

"Hehe, impressive. A form of necromancy but different and more tied with shadow manipulation. Shadow Monarch, huh? I like it, and it seems those revived become part of my Shadow Army," Kiryu said with a smirk in impress on such ability and read but a message came up.

(Message: Please give a name to Shadow Soldier.)

"A name, huh?" Kiryu questioned with an eyebrow raised and recalled the name of the wolf was Steel Fang Raikan which was a good name.

"Raikan...Raikan The Shadow Fang," Kiryu said, getting Raikan to howl in response and, like the name, it seems to then get the status information.

Raikan - Shadow Fang

Rank: Commander

"Okay then...that's something," Issei said, being good choice for words on the whole thing he just saw before him and wonder what else could his brother bring back into his Shadow Army.

Good questions for another time, it seemed, and the brothers have finished their quest, now to leave.

Time Skip - Hyoudou Household

And more surprise came for the brothers as they unlocked their dragonic partners from their respectful Sacred Gears. Both dragons, Ddragi & Vritra, were impressed by their current host to even this system to be an interesting thin,g and both never heard of it before. Now we see Kiryu taking a quick shower to wash up and get ready for bed while starting up a private conversation with his parnter via thoughts.

"This is very interesting. You know most of my hosts are female, and even when I get a male host, they don't last long. I am surprised to find out that my host is a bit stronger than most and such a handsome one for a parnter like you~," Vritra said, which was clear was a smirk and sounded female, a dragoness.

"Mhmm-hmm yeah. I didn't expect for a girl dragon to be sealed inside the Absorption Line," Kiryu admitted while getting himself ready to turn in for the night after what felt like five to six hours in the Gate to Wolf's Den area but was just two hours.

"Expect the unexpected is the supernatural theme, my handsome parnter," Vritra remarked.

"True...(yawn) well I'm going to turn in and hopeful no more surprise tomorrow. Just a normal day as a student and a Devil it seems," Kiryu remarked with a yawn escaping his lips and lay down in bed to call it a night.

"You rest up, my handsome parnter. I'm looking foward to working with you and what else could come out of his new relationship." Vritra smirked on her end before returning to the mindscape and resting up on her end after a long time since a host woke her up with just one of her Sacred Gears she was sealed into too.

Kiryu smiled a bit in his sleep and rested up before letting out a soft breath out of his mouth, sleeping fully into the dream realm, but unknown to him. Someone was watching him from his window, and it was hard to make out due to how dark it was outside, but a pair of feathered wings were shown before they left. This is very concerning, and it won't be the last time of unknown spy would watch the Prison Dragon King/New Shadow Monarch.

Pairings:
Kiryu x Sona x Harem TBA
Issei x Asia x Harem TBA
Gasper x Bennia
Rest TBA