Chapter 20
Fifteen Minutes ago:
Without a sound, Issei appeared instantly in front of the abandoned Church's gates.
He didn't question why Asia had been taken here instead of out of town, or anywhere else for that matter.
He didn't question whether or not there would be traps in the Church.
He didn't care in the slightest if he would get in trouble for what he was doing.
All that was going through his mind and soul was rage, and the best, fastest, and most efficient way to address it.
He lifted his left hand up to touch the closed gate in front of him. Unlike before, it was closed, locked, and enchanted with dozens of barriers to-
"BOOST!"
The ruined scraps of metal fell apart harmlessly in front of him, unable to maintain its shape and the spells that had been supporting it.
He walked forward without so much as a glance at his work.
She was in here. The fact that he could tell meant that he had already subconsciously considered her his. She was dependent on him. She had trusted him. She was his responsibility. From a twisted perspective, one could say that she was his property in a way…
If there was one thing that Dragons loathed, it was when a thief stole from its hoard. A Dragon ALWAYS knew when one of its belongings was stolen, and where it was held.
The front doors to the Church fell down at his slightest touch. Unlike the main gates, these weren't supported by magic or proper foundation.
"Haaah? Well fuck me. You got here fast." Sitting on the stairs in front of the dusty podium, Freed looked up with mixed surprise and glee. Oddly enough, his body was completely fine despite the damage he had sustained barely an hour ago. "Those idiots said that you'd be busy for half the night keeping those other bitches alive. Shows what they know. Ah, at least they got that blonde cunt to heal me up before getting the job started."
Issei didn't say anything as he continued to walk forward as if he didn't even notice Freed's existence. His face was an unreadable mask, save for his possessed looking eyes.
"Oi oi, where did all that sass from before go uh? Demon lover? Where's your cross dressing horny slut slave?" Freed stood up and took out another gun and sword set, pointing the former at the intruder. "I thought we could continue our sweet talking from before. A little dirty talk. A little bending over. I'd make you recite hyms and call me Father while I shove my sword up your-"
Issei finished another step, his foot touched the old carpeted floor.
"BOOST!"
He was right in front of Freed, his left arm encased in a crimson gauntlet, was crossed over his chest, his hand clenched in a fist, and the coiled decoration around the Sacred Gear already pulled back.
"Wait, wha-?"
Freed's question was interrupted as Issei's fist backhanded his face.
The impact was strong for a human's, but not overwhelming. Freed's head had turned a bit, and his body had recoiled somewhat, but it was minor damage at best. He was still on his feet and would barely stumble from the blow. Nothing that he couldn't recover from in the next half-
"BOOST!"
WHAM!
Freed didn't know what had happened. His mind had blanked out from the deep shout that came from hell knows where. All that registered to him was a weird twisting feeling and the impact.
By the time his eyes started working again, he could tell that his body wasn't.
He couldn't move his arms and legs. He couldn't even breathe properly.
Judging from the looks of things, he wasn't even where he had been moments before. Instead he appeared to be embedded into the side walls of the room.
Several meters away from where he had been standing.
And two meters above the ground.
With his body pointing in a different direction than his head.
Scratch that, his torso looked like it had twisted around several times.
… Why didn't anyone ever tell him his ass was so big?
Freed opened his mouth, but even if his airway was open for his lungs to make noise, his diaphragm was incapable of any sort of activity.
Not that Issei had paid him any attention. As far as he was concerned, Freed was already just another pile of rotting meat.
The Sekiryutei's nose flared a couple of times, catching the scents of everyone and everything that had entered the room in the past week, and his gaze immediately turned to the oversized dias at the front of the room and the podium on top of it.
Once more, the Boosted Gear was rested on an obstacle in his way.
"BOOST!"
Said obstacle fell apart into dust right in front of him, revealing a hidden staircase underneath.
He didn't wait a second to walk down the passage, vanishing from Freed's fading view.
Not even twenty seconds later, he entered a large basement room. In it consisted of at least thirty excommunicated priests, all armed to the teeth. Behind them was another dias, this one set up to conduct a ritual.
In the middle of said ritual was a surprised and terrified Asia, crucified to an ominous looking black Christian cross, surrounded by three genuinely stunned Fallen Angels.
"He's here already?" Mittelt blinked owlishly. "What the hell was Freed doing up there? He was supposed to stall in case the brat came early."
"No. He wouldn't be here unless he wasn't distracted." Dohnaseek shot Kalawarner a near murderous glare. "I thought I told you to leave deep wounds on those two to distract the kid. Not kill them outright."
"I did!" The mature woman hissed. "Raynare might be a lost cause by the end of the night since she fought back, and I couldn't be too careful, but I made sure with the human woman!"
"… Oh Father above protect us…" Mittelt paled as she noticed something that shook her to her core. It wasn't often that Fallen prayed to God, but it was rarely a good sign when they did. "Look at his left arm. Please tell me I'm seeing things wrong."
"His left arm?" Kalawarner frowned as Issei reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at them. "… Wait. That's impossible. Is that…"
Issei took a small hop forward with one foot.
"BOOST!"
He was standing next to Asia while everyone's attention was where he had once been.
The prisoner was the first person to notice where he was. "I-Issei-san?"
"Dammi un momento." He spoke in butchered Italian much to her surprise, reaching up to the cross with his Sacred Gear.
"I-Italian?" Asia blinked in surprise, not expecting him to talk to her in her native tongue.
Dohnnaseek was the second to notice where he was now, his eyes wide open and his mouth dry as the Sahara. "… Sekiryuutei."
The title seemed to set a chain reaction of shivers and mutters of disbelief among the priests there.
"BOOST!" The coil around the gauntlet recoiled, discharging its effects into the cross, but surprisingly, it did not suffer the same effects as its previous targets.
Asia screamed in pain and her body started to glow.
Issei frowned. Damn it Azazel. The one time your toys didn't fuck up in one way or another.
"Ddraig. Twenty times the usual."
"Mmm."
The coil pulled back to his elbow.
"Sekiryuutei?" Mittelt took a step back, as did many other people in the room. "You can't mean THAT Sekiryuutei Dohnnasseek?! He's supposed to be dead! What the hell is he doing here in the middle of some random Devil's territory?! No, why is he still alive in the first place?!"
"BOOST!"
The coil recoiled, and this time the mystical artifact that Azazel had manufactured disintegrated, dropping Asia immediately and making her land over Issei's right shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The ordeal she had gone through had sapped her body of most of its strength, preventing her from being able to move much.
"I-Issei-san. Asami-san and Raynare-san…"
"Dormire." His right hand rested on her back, glowed white. Moments later, the kidnapped girl fell unconscious.
"They knew." Dohnnaseek swallowed, putting the pieces together in his mind rapidly and realizing just how badly they were all fucked. "Raynare. Lord Azazel. The Devils. Our employers. They knew he was here the entire time. They knew what would happen. That's why they didn't say anything."
"We were set up." Kalawarner shivered uncontrollably as Issei turned his attention to them.
For the briefest moments, they were not looking at a teen, but a colossal Crimson and Black monster that they had personally angered and insulted in the worst way possible. All three Fallen recognized the insane look in his eyes for what it was.
Issei had not come simply to rescue Asia.
He had not come to play the hero.
He had come to pass judgment on the guilty. His decision on what was going to happen next had already been made.
They were all going to die.
It wasn't a matter of measuring their strength up against Issei's. No, the bottom line was that the boy was without question going to go out of his way to ensure that everyone in that room outside of himself and Asia was going to be a corpse by the end of the night.
"We were set up. We were set up! We didn't know! We wouldn't have done it if we knew! We umgh?!"
Kalawarner's peas were interrupted as the teen seemingly teleported in front of her and grabbed her mouth with his left hand.
"BOOST!"
The unearthly sounds that came from her throat were only matched by the violent spasms and thrashing of her body. Her arms, legs, and wings writhed wildly in directions that should not have been possible for at least fifteen seconds, breaking and twisting themselves dozens of times over, before finally falling limp.
His grip loosened, followed by the sound of her body collapsing to the ground a second later. Her open mouth was full of foamed bile, blood, bodily fluids, and chunks of what could be guessed as internal organs, coughed up in her violent and futile reaction to whatever was done to her.
A shout of alarm came from the other side of the room. Dohnnassek glanced to see that the staircase was now lit aflame with a deep crimson ember. A burning and screaming priest thrashed on the ground in front of it.
"Sorry." Issei apologized in an emotionless tone to everyone in the room. The coil around his left arm cocked itself back. "I ran out of second chances half a decade ago."
There room was filled with an ominous silence, save for the crackling of fire.
Someone screamed and got ready to fight for their life.
His scream was followed by a chorus of desperate and futile battle cries.
It did not take long for those cries to become screams.
It took less time for those screams to become nothing at all.
o. o. o.
Issei stepped out of the Church with Asia on his shoulder. At worst, they had a minor scratch or two on them, if that.
Issei noticed that Freed's body was gone as he left the burning basement. Whether the mad priest had additional aid, or managed something by himself was something to ponder later. It was annoying and frustrating, but not a priority at the moment.
First was to get home. Then heal mom and the Cougar. And then… and then…
He paused on the way to the destroyed front gates. "If you're trying to hide from me, you failed. All of you."
A slow, mocking clapping was heard from the darkness before sixteen individual stepped out of it. A noble looking teen male with blonde hair and fifteen young women in priestess garbs.
They all looked quite confident as they approached him. At least, until he looked at them directly in the eyes.
"Diodora-sama…" The woman that appeared to be his Queen spoke up nervously, immediately realizing that their target was not weak by any stretch of the imagination. No, rather it was quite obvious that was more than willing to render them a meaty paste on the ground and then completely forget about them as he walked past their bodies. His very intent and stare was enough to freeze them in place and question their decision to confront the human.
If her King had heard her, he didn't act like it. "Well now. Isn't this a surprise? I came all this way to rescue a damsel in distress from some vermin crows, and here I see a crude lizard making off with my prize."
Issei maintained the stare off for a few more seconds before seemingly losing interest and continuing to walk off of the Church grounds as if the newcomer didn't exist.
He only stopped again after a bolt of demonic energy impaled the ground a few centimeters in front of him.
"You have something that belongs to me, beast." Diodora's smile turned more sinister. "I have gone through great lengths to ensure that Miss Argento is in my care, and I will not let her go because some backwoods barbarian has developed a sense of taste for the finer things that it should never dream of sampling. Holy Maidens only belong to the highest and most sophisticated of breeds, like myself. Ah, but your bottom feeder eyes probably can't even recognize greatness for what it is. My apologies. I am Diodora Astaroth. Perhaps you know of my brother? The Maou, Beelzebub?"
Issei's eyes narrowed.
"Ah. There it is. The recognition of your bet-"
"You were the Devil she healed." Issei cut him off instantly. While he was speaking, a cell appeared in his free hand, his thumb already going through the options to the desired function. "You planned to get her excommunicated from the Church. You brought her to Kuoh to use the others here as cover for your own movements. If she was found, you'd be able to follow her movements to pick her up later."
"Oho. So it does know how to speak." Diodora mocked sarcastically, not denying the accusation, but his slightly narrowed eyes indicated that he was slightly put off by Issei's accurate deduction. "And here I thoug-"
Unfortunately for Diodora, Issei wasn't one for humoring monologues when pissed. He had heard enough bullshit.
Without so much as a flinch or hint of what he was doing, he lifted his cell phone to eye level to show everyone the device, and pressed the play button.
"BOOST!"
"No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may be admitted into the community of the LORD."
The entire peerage didn't even have time to scream before their brains were assaulted by the enhanced holy sermon from Gabriel. All they could do was grab their heads while their bodies went into shock, and then collapse onto the ground seconds later.
If Devils EVER needed a reason to keep the Boosted Gear out of the other two faction's hands at any cost, this by far was the top reason.
Sixteen Devils. A full peerage. Downed effortlessly in a matter of seconds. By a phone recording of all things.
Even Azazel had been unnerved and taken a few steps away from Issei the first time he had shown how effective it had been.
The only one that hadn't been rendered comatose was Diodora himself, who was still rolling on the ground in pain, clutching his bleeding ears. "Y-You! What have you done?! How dare y-"
Issei wordlessly shut him up with a kick to the head aimed just right to give him a concussion.
Another blur of his thumb shut off the recording and dialed a specific number.
It rung twice before it was answered.
"It must be pretty bad if you are calling me, Issei. Normally you'd call Azazel if you had some sort of major emergency." Ajuka Beelzebub's calm voice answered from the other side.
"You have ten seconds to convince me not to make you an only child."
Three seconds passed, allowing his words to sink in.
"… I don't suppose that me currently wanting the honors is a good enough reason." The Maou's controlled voice was a unique mix of frustration, jovial casual conversation, pure annoyance, and sarcastic hope.
"Four seconds." Issei made sure that the sound of his Boosted Gear's priming was heard through the speaker.
"Fine. Stop. Please listen. It was my fault he was in Kuoh. Don't kill him yet."
Issei's temper spiked maliciously, so much so that Ajuka was temporarily frozen by the overwhelming wave of killing intent that seemed to pass through the phone. Enough so that a porcelain decoration on the Maou's desk shattered instantly. "I thought I told you no more games. Beelzebub. You lied again."
"And I intended to honor that wish Issei. I truly did." The Genius recovered quickly, knowing he was on paper thin ice the instant Issei used his official moniker instead of his nickname. "But even if I did nothing, Diodora would have gone after Miss Asia. Among other things."
The mention of Asia seemed to make the Sekiryuutei pause for a moment before his anger returned once more, like the tide. "They. Hurt. My. Mother."
Ajuka flinched, glad that no one was around to see him do so. If Azazel's warnings wasn't bad enough, his stupid brother's obsession had involved one of the few people that should not have been touched under any circumstances.
His mind momentarily paused as the fact, and the situation finally sunk in.
Asami had been hurt. What was one of the few genuine tethers Issei had to his sanity had been threatened.
If he had been pushed this far to begin with...
If anyone been at the scene, they would have borne witness to a young teen with the expression of a madman, his pupils dilated to the point that no one would question if the organs were damaged.
Most importantly of all though, would be the fact that he was holding and looking at his cell phone as if it, and it alone would dictate how the world would turn out in the next five minutes. The poison, and the cure.
Had Issei gone completely off the rails, they would not be having this conversation. Diodora along with his peerage would have been killed already, and the Devil world would be on his head within days.
Conscious or not, this call was a last, desperate attempt to try and find an alternative outlet to his rage before he completely succumbed to it and did something that could not be taken back.
Ajuka had to be careful, but he couldn't stall either. Trying to talk sense to a raging dragon was suicidal at worst and a marathon length tightrope sprint at best.
"We suspected Diodora was involved in some underground groups, dangerous ones that threaten international security, but never had any evidence. It would explain why he managed to have a peerage consisting of nothing but excommunicated nuns and holy women without using family resources. We managed to find out about his plans for Miss Argento. Not in time to stop it, but early enough to tweak it en route. I looked into the girl's profile and… I won't lie, I thought she would be good for you to be around, and vice versa. We had no idea about her being a Dragon Tamer until Asami told us though. That was a surprise for everyone. Regardless, a few words and coincidences here and there, and my brother had the "bright idea" of picking up his latest interest in Kuoh. You actually came across her earlier than anticipated. I had a whole list of steps planned to arrange your meeting."
Steps that involved people that were unfortunately butchered recently.
Issei's deep growl indicated he was not amused.
Ajuka spoke quickly. Time was of the essence, a race between his tongue and the nonexistent temper of an enraged Dragon. "If it didn't work out between you, it was likely she'd be incorporated into Rias' peerage for protection. Rest assured, she knows nothing about this. Or the others. Whatever reactions they've had towards these events were completely genuine. This was my doing and mine alone Issei. I will no doubt be in trouble with the others once they hear of this, and I will take my punishments without hesitation. After you found her, we were to launch an investigation into what happened. It's ongoing now. Between what I expected to find and what I already had, I would be able to, officially and conspicuously place my brother under investigation under my direct supervision without arousing suspicion."
The Maou sighed. "My mistake was underestimating my brother's obsession. After the alarms were raised, and Miss Argento was under indirect supervision of Rias and Sona, I assumed that all groups involved in her abduction would flee Kuoh. I didn't think my brother would be so foolish as to push things as far as he did. I, owe you an apology Issei. No, I already owe you far more than that. Far more than I am able to repay. It would be an insult to place myself further in debt to you, and I have more or less spat in your face while asking for a favor. Yet I have to humiliate myself by still asking for it regardless. I need my brother alive and capable. You deserve more than your pound of flesh. For now and back then, but I need him regardless."
Issei was quiet. Ominously quiet. It was obvious he was trying to keep his temper in check, but the Maou knew that the teen was not one to roll over and leave things be. If he wanted someone to hurt, he would make them hurt, one way or another.
"… Strip him."
"Come again?"
"Strip him of his rights to be a King. Strip him of his peerage. Strip him of any hope of regaining his collection under the harshest of penalties. And put him on show for the rest of your nobility to see and laugh at like the joke that he is. So every ear in all three factions knows what a failure he, your brother, is."
"Th-That's…" Ajuka blinked, not expecting this ultimatum. Leave it to Issei to come up with a punishment that in several ways was worse than death. At least for the current nobility youth. A Peerage was of the highest priority to the latest generation, save for maintaining their family's heritage and image. To be stripped of it and be publically shamed like that, by his own brother, a Maou no less…
It was a punishment that would indirectly hurt him as well. A reminder that Issei had not forgotten nor forgiven the past in the slightest.
Public humiliation of the highest order. Attack their weaknesses, destroy their strengths, and let the world know about it before they can react so they are too concerned with the fallout and survival to chase after you as you walk away as if it was just another uneventful day. It was a merciless approach to take care of enemies that Ghost had ingrained into Issei for as long as anyone had known the boy. A skill that had been sculpted into an art.
"Swear it, Maou. Swear it on both your names. On your power. This time, you carry the risk, and you will suffer the consequences if you cannot keep your word. Swear it or your next conversation with Sirzechs and Serafall will be why your brother's mutilated corpse is on their territory, and on every underworld tabloid by tomorrow fucking morning."
He wasn't joking. He wasn't stretching the truth or exaggerating fanatically like he normally was.
Issei would kill Diodora. He would mount the Devil's body in a way for everyone to see. He would rope Rias and Sona into it. He would cause tensions between the Maou. He would cause chaos.
He would… do all the things that so many people had accused him of in the past, and more.
Because tonight Issei had almost gone mad again due to his mistake.
Ajuka sighed. The repercussions of what Issei was asking for were near countless and without question deep. He had intended for all of this to be dealt with under the rug. His brother. Asia. The investigation…
No. It was fitting that his mistake would result in just the opposite. He had played too close to the Dragon's Den like a fool and had expected to not incur its wrath.
Just like last time.
He lifted a hand and reached up to his face. A moment later he pulled out his right eye. A fabrication of the original that he had lost when fighting a rampaging Issei five years ago. The color was different, a haunting blood red ring around the pupil, but that was because he made it that way. A subtle reminder to himself of his mistakes…
His natural eye in his skull stared at the unblinking orb he had manufactured.
He crushed the fake eyeball in disgust.
Clearly, the useless trinket had not served its purpose as intended. He had no use for defective products.
"Consider it done." The Maou spoke firmly. "On the name of Beelzebub. On the name of Ajuka Astaroth. On my very power, I will meet your demands, Sekiryuutei. No. I will provide you with the compensation you are long owed with interest."
"Fuck your useless interest. You know what I want. You know what you have done to me."
"And I have made my vow regardless. I will see it done, one way or another. I despised what we did then, and that sentiment has only grown stronger since. Make no false assumptions Issei Hyoudou. We have not forgotten what you are owed. Just as we have not forgiven the ones that played us all. Our war has not concluded yet." The Super Devil stated with finality, the power in his words traveled through the phone just as easily as Issei's had moments before. "Now please. My brother."
The silence was damning, and for a moment, the Super Devil genuinely believed he would be an only child once more.
"Teleport him yourself. You're not an Astaroth anymore, but you can force him back. I know how the 72 pillars' family spells work." Issei grunted.
The Maou physically stopped himself from sighing in relief. He couldn't risk screwing things up again. "I already tried. Judging from the interference, it's clear that you are on Holy territory. I can't bring him back until he's outside the barrier. One way or another."
Issei glanced at the Church in annoyance. There were signs of the fire under the building already building up steam…
"BOOST!"
In an instant, the flames raged to the sky explosively, sucking up all the oxygen in the immediate vicinity and almost causing a momentary vacuum in the process.
The Church, the anchor for the barrier, and the corpses within were obliterated without a second thought.
Had the culprit not put up a minor shield around himself, Asia might have suffered burns from the close proximity.
The same could not be said for the unconscious Devils around him.
"Ah. There we go." A series of golden magical circles spawned underneath Diodora and his Peerage. Seconds later, they were all gone.
"… My mother nearly died tonight. This is your last warning." Issei growled into the phone.
"You will see the results by morning at the latest." Ajuka replied with a sad smile that no one saw. "Go home and help her. And Issei, we really are trying to fix everything-"
The connection was cut off before the Devil could say anything more.
"… Liar. You know it's too late to say that."
o. o. o.
Keep him calm.
That was what Sirzechs and Serafall had constantly been emphasizing when they had been instructing the girls on how to deal with Issei.
Keep him calm.
After their first introductions, everyone had assumed that it was an impossible task. Issei seemed to get agitated and explode over the most mundane of topics, and then brush past the most serious of subjects as if they didn't exist.
Hell, he had chased after Raynare for hours shouting his head off and dual wielding massive dildos. At that point, pretty much every Devil in Kuoh had given up on taking the task too seriously.
Keep him calm.
Rias felt like smacking herself for her ignorance.
The entire time they had known him, for better or for worse, Issei had been calm. His rantings and ramblings had been his normal, to some extent. Hell, it was his way of distracting himself from the things that would have otherwise set him off in the first place.
She knew this. She had figured all this out weeks ago. But after handling him for all this time, she had completely forgotten just how messed up a sentient being's psyche could get.
"Rias." Akeno and Kiba appeared from the Gremory ritual circle in front of Issei's home.
"I know." She turned to the glowing red light and column of smoke in the distance, perfectly visible to her and the others due to Devils having natural night vision. "We can't wait anymore. Sona's group will stay here while we'll-?!"
Her words stopped.
Her breathing stopped.
It wouldn't be off to say that for a moment, even her heart stopped.
She didn't know how. All she knew was that in the span of an instant, all of the hairs on her body stood on end as something instantly passed her, and stopped just a few meters back. It happened so quickly that her instincts took control before her mind registered that something occurred in the first place.
Judging from the way everyone else seemed to freeze, she wasn't the only one that experienced it.
Turning around slowly, she saw someone that had not been there seconds ago.
Someone that was walking as if they didn't exist, and entered the Hyoudou house without a word.
With every step it took, the world parted.
With every breath it took, the earth trembled.
It would not sleep though. Not yet. There was still much to do...
Not that anyone else had uttered a sound either. Even after the door closed behind him.
"... That… was Hyoudou?" Kiba trembled, unable to trust his grasp on reality at the moment.
"Gasper-kun, I… I think you might have understated just how angry he was." Akeno tried to make light of the situation, but she clearly couldn't even convince herself at the moment.
"I think so too." Gasper didn't even try to defend himself. He was too busy trying to stand.
"You know how we were saying he's insane this entire time?" Koneko swallowed heavily. "Judging from his Ki, he's actually insane now."
"That was…" Rias was very tempted to compare the weight they all experienced to what her brother could emit. She refrained, only because she did not want to possibly make the situation worse than it already was. "... He had Asia with him."
"You're not seriously thinking of going in there, are you?" Kiba looked at his King as if she had grown a second head.
"Sona's already inside. If things truly were beyond help, it wouldn't be so quiet now." Rias sounded far more confident than she was. It wasn't too hard to pull off, being part of Devil aristocracy. "So long as we follow the rules, we should be good…"
She tried to sound confident at the end.
Hopefully, Issei would be too distracted by Asami and Raynare to not get too peeved by what she was about to do.
Ignoring the warnings of her Peerage, and her instincts, Rias walked up to Issei's home and knocked on the door. Knowing that that wouldn't be enough, she opened the entrance just slightly. "I-Issei? Can we come in? I'm sorry to barge in like this but…"
The cave shook as the owner's patience waned.
"I'm busy." Issei almost growled from the living room, just outside of her view.
Rias didn't even try to stop her body from shaking. "W-We just wanted to see if you needed help, Issei. We heard about Asami and Raynare. We care about them too…"
Well, it may have been a stretch to say that about Raynare, but Asami was definitely someone that had grown on them all.
Another metaphysical tremor rocked the building, but Issei didn't say anything.
Instead, Saji rushed into view, pale as could be, and hissed at her frantically. "Shut up shut up you can come in just for the love of our spines shut up and don't distract him!"
"What's going on?" Rias whispered.
"It looks like a medical show in there." The pawn grimaced. "He just showed up with the nun, woke her, told the President to be his translator, and then they started to work healing his mom. It's like he's completely shutting out everything right now, but I swear it looked like he was going to kill us all when you showed up."
"Sorry. Sorry." Not for the first time, Rias lamented that her headstrong nature might get her into more trouble than she could handle. "I was just worried… how are they though?"
"Hyoudou's terrifying. Everyone else is scared shitless or already unconscious. Save for the nun, Asia. But she's more or less been brought out of a coma, so she's still too out of it to be scared right now." Saji shook his head. "Everyone's helping Hyoudou take care of his mom and the Fallen. Supporting the magic or getting him whatever random medical magical trinket he's asking for."
"So they sent you to fill us in?" Akeno approached warily.
"And so you could tell me in kind." Saji frowned. "What the hell happened out there? Outside of the obvious?"
Rias shook her head. "Issei was doing contracts with Gasper when they were attacked by excommunicated priests. They were… they were there for Issei. Not Devils."
"For him? I thought they were after Asia?"
"They knew she was with him." Rias corrected before her mind connected a vital pair of dots. "They knew he was… they knew he was dangerous. More than Sona and I. They prepared for him specifically. Not us. That's why Asami and Raynare aren't dead. They were injured to stall him..."
Saji frowned. "If those guys were butchered, they clearly didn't prepare enough. That or their bosses didn't tell them enough on purpose."
"You think this was all done intentionally? Used the nun as a cover?" Kiba walked carefully into the building. "To drive him to the brink like this? But why? What purpose would it serve? If they wanted to push him over, they would have killed his mother, not injure her. It doesn't make sense."
"Unless, was it to send a message?" Akeno suggested.
"To who? Us? Issei? The Maou?" Rias shook her head.
Sona's other Pawn rushed up to them frantically. "Shh! Quiet! They're still healing in there!"
Realizing that they weren't out of the woods yet, the Gremory Peerage flinched as one before slowly making their way to the living room.
All the furniture had been moved to the side of the room, leaving the center open for everyone to stand without care. A colorless barrier occupied the bulk of the space, which was in turn filled by the patients, Issei, Asia, and Sona. The rest of the Sitri Peerage were busy doing something to the barrier from the outside.
Issei and Asia were hovered over Asami's still body, floating in midair next to Raynare's. Despite the grievous wounds both women had, their blood didn't seem to flow in the slightest, no doubt a product of the barrier.
Both of their hands were glowing with magical energy, but it took no time to see that there was a vast difference between the two. Issei's magic hovered a few centimeters over his skin, like thick gloves, while Asia's Sacred Gear practically generated a second barrier under her palms. There was no comparison between the two in terms of ability.
That being said…
"Here… here… here…"
Despite working on his mortally wounded mother, Issei's tone was cold and calculating as he instructed where Asia should focus her attention.
While the difference in their magic was obvious, the inverse could be said about their skill and experience.
Asia was no stranger to healing grievous wounds, but normally she could take the brute force approach to addressing them with her Sacred Gear. Unfortunately, due to her just being rescued and rendered unstable, she was not naturally as efficient as she normally was, crippling her performance. Even then, Asami's and Raynare's wounds were not light, and it would have been difficult for her to address both patients in time under normal circumstances.
Issei on the other hand, was comparable to a machine. Precise. Quick. Emotionless. His dilated eyes and honed magic near instantly prioritized what injuries required the most attention. He then would immediately set up the damaged flesh, muscles, and blood vessels in such a way so Asia would exert minimal strain when healing them. He cleaned out any excess blood and bodily fluids without so much as a blink, sometimes sticking his whole hand into his mother's chest cavity to do so.
It was a slow, meticulous approach that was probably overkill given Twilight Healing's potent abilities. But it was efficient, effective, and minimized the strain on Asia.
In a matter of ten minutes, Asami's once open stomach was intact once more, albeit red and raw. No torn organs. No internal bleeding. No infections. No torn internal membranes or prolapses.
They spent another fifteen minutes on the woman's head, just to make sure any possible brain damage was minimized if not completely addressed. It was clear that the woman had suffered a concussion of some sort, but ultimately, and thankfully, the damage was not as severe as it could have been.
Issei did not utter a single word or sound that was not related to the treatment. His voice carried not a hint of emotion or energy. Be it out of anger or fear or happiness or relief. Even when they were done with his mother, he did not show a single emotion, and turned his attention to the other injured party next to him.
Every few minutes, Asia looked like her mind was fading elsewhere. Each and every time though, Issei would rest a hand on her shoulder and medically invigorate her, just enough that she'd get a second wind. And a third. And a fourth...
It probably wasn't healthy for the girl, the procedure isn't that much different from doping, and she no doubt would be suffering a harsh backlash from it, but it was necessary. As tense as Asami's treatment was, Raynare's was worse.
The Fallen had a literal five centimeter wide hole going through her sternum and out her back, clipping her spine. Several of her organs were clearly torn apart or burnt in the process. How she was still alive was anyone's guess.
Issei started by rolling her floating body over so that they were looking at her back, and her damaged spine.
And without hesitating, he started giving out instructions once more.
Sona mentioned that Issei worked on Raynare earlier, and it must have been something effective, because the pair of medics spent far less time reconstructing the Fallen's spine than Rias assumed they would need. An additional ten minutes were spent on her nervous system, and then she was rolled over once more so they could address her organs.
Asia spoke up then, worried because she had trouble dealing with magical burn wounds.
Issei apparently didn't. Without bothering to explain, he cast a spell that somehow cleaned out all the charred flesh on the woman's insides without agitating the wounds.
At that point, he must have seen enough because he told Asia to go all out with her Sacred Gear and try and address everything like she normally would.
It went to show just how much she trusted him, as she didn't question his decision and went with it.
Surprisingly, this was the quickest part of the surgery. Raynare's chest closed within a couple of minutes, most of which Issei was monitoring directly with his own magic, taking in just how exactly the patient was being healed, cleaned, and restructured.
It was only when the Fallen was nearly done that he pulled his hands back. Asia wasn't done yet if her focused expression was any indication, but he apparently was.
By that point, everyone had been in the room for almost two hours. The operation had been going on for so long that no one had noticed that he was no longer emitting the overwhelming pressure of a mythological apex predator, their attentions instead had slowly shifted to the patients and their recovery. As a result, it was easy for him to edge away and out sight while the finishing touches were made to Raynare.
While everyone was distracted, the teen moved to the controls of the temporal stasis barrier on the side of the room and input some commands for a slow release so the patients wouldn't go into shock from the sudden change in their health. He had already set both women up with drips that supplied them with the extra blood, nutrients, fluids, and infusions they would need so their bodies would run properly.
Then, quietly, he grabbed a small towel to wipe off the blood that was on his hands, exited the living room, and walked up the stairs without a second glance or word to his guests.
o. o. o.
Asia was the first person to notice Issei was gone. Right after she had finished healing Raynare and nearly collapsed on her own feet had Sona caught her at the last moment.
"Whoa there. Are you all right?"
"Y-yes. I'm just, tired. Thank you. These wounds weren't easy to treat. I would have only been able to heal one of them if it wasn't for Issei-san." She paused and looked around. "Eh? Issei-san? Where did he go?"
"Hyoudou?" Sona's expression matched Asia's as she too examined her surroundings along with everyone else. "Where, did he go?"
"I think he went to his room." Koneko focused her senses to try and find him. "Bit of a dick move, leaving at the end like that."
While most of the Devils there nodded in agreement, Asia shook her head and tried to move. "N-No. That's bad. He shouldn't be alone right now."
"Shouldn't be alone?" Rias got a bad feeling. "What do you mean?"
Asia tried to move to the stairs. "I've seen that look in his eyes before. In other people that were hurt. He's not thinking right. He needs help. He needs someone to talk to, or else, or else..."
"Hoh? The Nun has good instincts. Or rather, is it more accurate to say she has experience dealing with the unfortunate?"
The inhuman voice that echoed through the building put everyone on guard.
"What the hell was that?" Saji shivered, looking around frantically.
"I would follow the girl's advice if I were you. If any are interested in interacting with Partner in person within the next few months at least."
"Partner, wait, are you by chance a familiar of Issei's?" Rias quickly connected the dots. "Or, are you an entity sealed in his Sacred Gear?"
The house shook. "Hmhmhm. I see that you share some of your brother's insight, Gremory. The latter, if you must know. Who I am, and what I possess, will remain on a need to know basis, however for now you have proven yourself enough to know I exist."
"What about Issei?" Rias got to the point. "Where did he go?"
"Partner… is in his room right now. Due to his current state, he cannot hear me, nor does he know of our conversation. Otherwise he would no doubt have put a stop to it. This dwelling is modified so I am allowed to observe and converse with its occupants while in other rooms if I desire. A convenient perk for times like this."
"He can't hear us?" Gasper frowned in confusion.
"No. Partner's condition has, deteriorated, for lack of a better term. Unless something is done soon, I doubt he will be willing to leave his chamber's confines for quite some time. I will not lie, his mental state was pushed precariously close to no return tonight. We cannot afford to simply let him recover on his own now."
"And how do you recommend we do that?" Sona frowned. "We know the rules of this house. If Hyoudou is in such a state, then even attempting to enter his room will be a guaranteed death sentence."
"And you would be right, if all of you were foolish to barge into Partner's den. He would likely kill you all before realizing something was amiss in the first place. His instincts have always been unusually strong, even compared to that of a true Dragon." The voice droned. "No. The only ones capable of being any use right now are the Nun and the Gremory. The former is a natural born Dragon Tamer. A being whose very existence is in tune with my kind. Our kind have often gone to great lengths to claim tamers as our own. Old stories of us kidnapping princesses of other species and holding them within our dens are often the product of such escapades. They are a prize beyond petty metals and stones. The peace they can bring to our minds and instincts is… euphoric, for lack of a better term."
"Huh. That does make sense in hindsight." Saji frowned in deep thought.
"Gremory on the other hand, has somehow managed to garner the slightest leeway with Partner. It is a respect, and well of mixed emotions, garnered for one that is stubborn enough to not leave him alone. None of the others in this building are capable of being any aid... save for, hmmm, no. It's still too early to explore and uncover that path and the wounds it hides."
"Me?" Rias echoed, surprised that Issei actually had developed a soft spot for her.
"Save for who? Who are you talking about?" Sona probed, more interested in who this third person could be.
"... Some secrets should remain buried for now, Sitri. In time they can be discussed, perhaps, but not now. This is for the sake of both parties. I advise you leave matters be." The voice ominously warned. "It would be prudent to see to Partner soon. He has not been rendered to this poor a state in some time."
Asia didn't seem to need any additional prompting, and staggered to the stairs as quickly as possible. Whether it was out of her innate ability to care for others, or because she was genuinely worried for Issei was anyone's guess, but she had made it halfway up before she was quickly followed by Rias and the others.
"Are you sure it's safe to do this?" Rias asked out loud. "My brother warned me countless times that trying to enter Issei's room without permission was one of the worst things we could do."
"I'm certain, so long as you take it slowly and the Nun enters first to lead you in. Partner… well, you will understand once you see him for yourself. Either way, once you enter the room I will not be able to converse with you without exposing myself. It is best if, how would you put it, Partner sees this progression as natural. Unmotivated by outside parties."
"Well that's not ominous or concerning." Akeno noted cheerfully. "Are you sure about this Rias?"
Looking at how Asia was almost at Issei's door despite being an injured human on the verge of collapsing, Rias couldn't help but puff out her cheeks like a child. "We're already here Akeno. Might as well see where this takes us. It would be ridiculous not to check up on how Issei's doing before we leave regardless."
"That and you want to see the dangerous boy whose heart you're worming into. Hm?" The priestess teased.
"I'm having better luck at it than you at least." Rias wasn't sure if she intended to say that out loud or not, but she couldn't deny that seeing her Queen freeze up like that was satisfying.
The bantering stopped the instant Asia opened Issei's bedroom door, and nearly everyone was froze in their places.
The best comparison that could be made was as if someone had opened the gate to a Tiger's den, with the beast still in it. An animalistic instinct told everyone there that not only was something dangerous was inside, and that it was agitated, but that area in particular was very much off limits. All without a word or sound uttered.
Asia took a fearless step inside almost instantly, leaning on the door for support.
And nothing happened.
The girl looked back at Rias, and it took a moment for the latter to realize that she was also supposed to enter that sacrosanct room.
Second, third, and fourth thoughts screamed in her mind, telling her not to go forward. Her heart pounded as she looked into the room that was realistically not threatening at all. She could see sex toys, papers, and posters of porn stars clearly from where she stood. Breasts, underwear, dresses, makeup, and all sorts of paraphernalia were visible. Not at all enough to distract her from the fear she felt, but enough to allow her to keep on moving forward.
It would be fine. It was just Issei. He wouldn't hurt her. Issei doesn't like hurting anyone.
She tried to reason with herself.
Issei's really kind deep down. He's all bark. He learned medicine. He prefers healing. He's more interested in porn than fighting. Or politics. Or people. He's just really strong. And loud. And tired. And, probably scared. And...
She didn't know when she made it, only that Asia had stopped her as soon as they reached the couch in the middle of the room.
The world seemed to freeze once more as her mind caught up with her eyes.
Issei was sitting on the couch with a laptop and some papers in front of him, and a pair of headphones covering his ears. His bloodshot eyes were honed in on the screen as if his life depended on it, and the pen in his hand was scribbling random gibberish on the medical form he held.
He clearly didn't notice them, and wasn't going to for quite some time.
… But…
The screen was off.
His headphones were unplugged.
The paper he was writing on was marred with random lines.
The pen in his hand was gripped so tightly that it was snapped in half and cutting into his skin.
Issei was beyond being simply stressed. He was in a state of complete psychosis. His mind had shut down to save himself, and to not hurt anyone. At best, he could only pretend to watch porn in a desperate attempt to regain some semblance of normalcy and stability to his soul.
Issei was strong… but he was also completely helpless. He didn't even trust himself.
The others outside couldn't see him from where they were, but they certainly didn't miss Rias' horrified expression.
"Rias? Rias what's wrong?" Sona whispered as loud as she was willing from where she was.
She ignored Sona, as did Asia, as they slowly moved towards him. Whether by instinct of simply experience, they seamlessly sat on the couch, Asia next to him, then Rias.
"Issei-san." The Nun whispered gently, reaching out and resting her small hands on his arm. "Issei-san, can you hear me?"
His whole body flinched upon contact, but didn't do more than that. "G-go away. Watching Porn. Have to finish. Can't stop. Report's due. Stupid stuff. Have to calm down. Not worth your time…"
Rias felt another chill go down her spine. Was Issei's obsession with Porn just a means for him to push everyone away from him? "Issei? Asami and Raynare are resting now. They're healed. You saved them. You saved Asia too."
"Can't. Watching porn. Safe here. Can't hurt here. Have to finish. Watching porn. Calm." It was like listening to a record player that was constantly skipping. He absolutely refused to tear his mind or bloodshot gaze away from the adult entertainment that didn't exist, clinging onto it desperately like a lifeline.
Rias was at a complete loss.
Asia on the other hand seemed to have something in mind.
She hugged him.
Everyone stilled. Even from the doorway, they were able to see some of what happened.
She had hugged Issei.
The unstable teen that was infamous for violently lashing out at anyone or anything that invaded his personal space without warning. The person that had assaulted three teachers on his first day of school for nudging his shoulder to wake him up. The joker that had wiped out at least twenty trained excommunicated exorcists of the Church with seemingly as much effort as an afterthought.
No one dared to breathe.
"...Go."
It was barely a whisper, but Rias managed to hear it.
"Please let go. I have to watch porn." Issei shivered, yet his eyes never moving away from the screen. "I have to… I have to…"
"Issei, you're tired." Asia managed to speak in broken Japanese despite burying half her face into his shoulder. "You want to sleep, don't you?"
"Tired… can't sleep. Haven't slept, in so long… have to watch porn…"
Whether it was due to Issei's mental exhaustion, Asia's sedative like effects on him, or both, it was abundantly clear that the unstable teen was losing consciousness. Even so, he didn't look at the intruders, as if he was terrified of what might happen if he did.
"Issei. It's fine if you take a nap now. No one will get mad if you do." Rias joined in. "Asia's here. Asami and Ranare are healed. No one is in danger anymore."
"There's always… danger…" His eyes were more closed than open now. Energy was leaving his body in droves, to the point that even Asia could tip him over. "Anyone, near me… always gets hurt… always runs… always tired… always me… never stops... need to… calm down… screwed up…"
"Shhh. Shhh. It's ok Issei." Asia cradled his sagging frame like he was a child. "Sleep. You're tired. Sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up."
"It doesn't stop… it doesn't stop…" Issei's body collapsed in slow motion, first over Asia's lap, then towards Rias where she guided his head onto her thighs, splaying him over both girls.
Whether it was intentional or by instinct, Issei immediately latched onto Rias' waist and clung tightly to her as if holding on to dear life. She doubted that he even knew that she was in his room to begin with.
He didn't cry though. He had been too tired to cry for five years.
No one knew if he fell asleep before or after Rias and Asia did. All anyone knew was that the two girls stayed on the couch with him the rest of the night while Sona and the others took turns overseeing Issei's home and try to manage the aftermath of the night's rampage.
o. o. o.
In one of the most expensive hotel suites in Kuoh, a beautiful woman with white hair was masturbating furiously.
Her right hand was clawing her moderate, but perfectly shaped breasts furiously to the point that she would have left deep gouges in them had she been human.
Her left hand was four fingers deep in her folds, pumping in and out up to her knuckles while glistening with her own juices.
Her face was alight with a look of joy and rapture.
"He's here. He's still alive."
Those two facts sent her over the edge time and again over the past hour, and would continue for several more before the night would end.
There was no mistaking the Presence that spiked on the other side of the city. That power was unique to each user. Even if Issei had holed himself up for five years, he was still by far the strongest user among the handful that existed in this universe... outside of that monster in his right arm at least.
It was nowhere near what he had unleashed in the underworld last time. Nowhere near enough to floor an entire city's populace just from the mere exposure to his might and power.
Nowhere near enough to knock her unconscious like it did back then, after she whispered the secret into his ear that pushed him over the edge into true madness, and show the might that he had cultivated into a flawless gem, yet never used to the world.
It was a memory that filled her with more excitement and regret than anything else.
How foolish had she been back then? To mar such a priceless treasure? To completely overlook the true prize for some shallow accolades and resources? Acknowledgement from an old greedy fool that sought to use her as she used him?
She had nearly lost any chance of being truly happy, and untouchable.
Nearly, but not yet. She still had time.
Issei, still had time.
It had been a risk, to push forward with the plan to kidnap the Nun.
Oh she knew that there was a good chance that Issei had been in Kuoh, but not once had she been able to personally investigate the city or claim it as her own to be certain. The security around the territory was another clue that she was on the right track, but still nothing conclusive. She had been close a few years ago, but the Maou had cut her off with the introduction of those blissfully ignorant girls.
It had only been because she had been keeping an eye on the territory through all sorts of resources that she found out about Diodora's ridiculous idea of picking up that Priestess there. It was through those same channels that she found out that the girl had been conveniently picked up and was now protected by some odd and scary human kid…
How could she not take advantage of such a lavish opportunity?
Kokabiel had required a bit of an extra push to go through with it all. A violent relic he might be, but he wasn't the sort that would needlessly sacrifice his underlings and potentially expose his resources in the Mirren without a good reason, and placating that idiot Diodora hardly counted.
Destabilizing the Devil hierarchy, potentially sewing discord among the nobles, and rocking the tentative balance between Devils and the Church though did sweeten the deal to his ears.
Regardless of the outcome of the ensuing chaos, the political madness that would surround that pigheaded boy's fate in the near future may serve as a pleasing distraction to entertain herself with. For the short term.
Not that it could ever sway her eyes from her true prize.
Her only prize.
"Ahhh. Issei." Her body lurched as she climaxed once more, unleashing her juices in a burst that reached the other side of her bed. "Soon Issei. Soon I'll make things right. I'll make you mine, like you should have been."
Now, all she needed was to get rid of a few obstacles.
o. o. o.
Seven years ago:
"And that's all you need to know when dealing with guys that can literally bend reality with their bare hands." Ghost smiled and stood proudly as Issei laid out spread eagle on the floor in front of him, completely exhausted.
"Why? Did you bother to teach me? How to deal with guys? That are rare as hell?" The boy gasped out in broken sentences. Each breath he took caused him nothing but pain.
"Future potential plot relevance that I have no reason knowing about at this time." Ghost smiled without shame. "Not that this info would work if you ever had to deal with my brother Waltz. That guy's the kind of monster when pissed that most people would just say "fuck it" and then hopefully kill themselves fast enough and in such spectacular fashion that he wouldn't be able to revive and kill on his own terms."
"I thought you said that people said the same thing about you."
"Psh. Yeah. But unlike Waltz, I don't need my bare hands to snag someone's recently departed soul."
"Didn't you say he's supposed to be the nice and normal one in your family?"
"He is. And like everyone else in my family, he's a horrible unstoppable cataclysm of multiversal destruction when actually pissed. His literal bare hands were constantly in our top five most dangerous things in our possession for over a millennia. Would have been two if my other brother Scab didn't have a breakdown and go through a bad mad scientist phase one year… those poor magical girls…"
Issei dropped his head to the ground. "I think I'm done for the day."
"They didn't stand a chance. I can never look at confetti and glitter the same way again… they had to rewrite entire an entire section of the multiversal war crimes convention over the course of three hundred years to cover what happened in that mess. And you have to REALLY fuck up to get any official changes made on that thing."
"Why are you doing this?" The boy groaned helplessly.
"It's an elder's responsibility to bestow entertaining and mind scarring life lessons to their younger charges."
"No, yes, but no. I mean, why have you been so focused on teaching me how to fight recently?" Issei looked at his second tenant. "I don't want to fight. I want a harem. I get that I have to be strong because I'm the Sekiryuutei and have to protect those I care about, but even I can tell that I'm overkill now. I'm training to be a doctor, not some overlord. I don't want people to be afraid of me... I have trouble enough talking to others as it is."
Ghost surprisingly didn't say anything for a while before he let out a tired sigh. "Ah. That."
"I asked something I shouldn't have?"
"No, it's, more like you asked a question that you're not going to like the answer to. An answer that's not likely going to sink in until you experience it firsthand." The normal eccentricity was gone from the immortal's voice, leaving something… tired.
"Is this going to be like when you told me you have a perpetual assassin bloodfeud slash hate boner with Santa?" Issei hadn't forgiven Ghost for more or less ruining Christmas for him forever.
"Fucking Nick just won't… ah, no. This is different. This is actually relevant to your situation."
"So you admit that most of the things you put me through is solely for your own amusement."
"And Ddraig's."
"Don't you dare associate me with your madness!" The dragon shouted from across the mindscape.
"Fine. Only my amusement. Cause I'm an asshole. Which is kind of the lesson I'm about to teach you."
"We already know you're an asshole."
"Not that." The blind man moved in a way that screamed that he was rolling his eyes behind his glasses. "People."
"People?"
"Humans. Dragons. Devils. Angels. Gods. Whatever. If it's sentient, it's bound to be stupid in one way or another. Never under any circumstances underestimate a person's capability to be selfish, ignorant, or just plain retarded in a way that will bring misfortune to you and everyone around you. The stronger, more influential, and more intelligent they are, the bigger their fuck ups will ruin your life. Especially if you catch their attention."
It went without saying that Issei had already caught their attention.
"… Aren't you overstating things? I mean, we already know Zaz and Donatello and Zechs and a lot of other important people that like me. Wouldn't the idea of angering them be enough?"
Ghost let out another tired sigh. "You'd think that, but… kid, you know how I keep on bragging about how I'm some overpowered hot shit monster that no one wants to piss off?"
"Yeah? Kinda hard not to miss it by this point."
"It's not hot air. The vast majority of the hierarchy up there is legitimately scared shitless of me. Not because I am simply strong, or because I have friends, but because I GAVE them a reason to BE afraid of me, and that only came about because they first gave ME a legitimate reason to wipe them from pre-conception."
Issei didn't know what exactly to say to that.
"Ophis' "Grandma"? My boss? She's literally in a classification of her own. Nobody fucks with her. No God, multiversal foundational entity, none of them. Period. Literally untouchable. They're dumb, but they aren't dumb enough to even consider getting on her bad side. It's safer to be a blade of grass on the side of the road than something that's caught her attention. As one of her attendants, I'm about as entitled as you can possibly get by mere association, and trust me, I have accolades of my own that carry weight. And despite all that fluff and political shielding…"
"What happened?"
"My second wife." The immortal smiled dryly. He had mentioned he had been married five times in the past, but rarely brought up details unless it was to scar Issei with details of an immortal's married sex life. "Well, my first wife laid down the groundwork, technically, that twisted bitch… but… bottom line was that some Gods and other major entities got it in their heads that my family and I were overstepping our bounds. Wanted to teach us a "lesson". Remind us of our place, of the hierarchy. Keep in mind that we're talking about actual Gods here. Rape? Murder? Psh. You won't last long if you're squeamish from such petty and base misfortunes like that. Simply killing a mortal isn't that big of a deal. Not exactly hard to resurrect a person if you're a Multiversal superpower. Revival. Reversal of causality. Temporal extraction. Life and soul infusions. Reincarnation. Bringing back the dead and healing physical wounds is child's play once you travel around a bit. No, if you wanted something to really stick, you'd have to go the extra mile to do it."
"What did they do?"
"Well. Like I said, they're Gods, so they had a pretty wide range of bullshit options they could have gone with. Forced reincarnation. Immortality on a planet with no sentient life. Soul splintering. But… instead they settled on something that really couldn't be taken back. Something that no amount of timespace or soul bullshit finesse could fix. It was actually impressive, that they put so much effort just to piss me off, really."
Ghost tried to sound cheerful and whimsical like he usually did, but there was no way he could mask the underlying ocean of pure murder that supported his every word. It was as though every syllable carried with it a savage beast that was just waiting to lash out at whatever unfortunate fool that happened to show weakness at that moment.
"They rewrote her past. Our past."
Issei blinked. "They, what?"
"They turned my wife into a lie. Replaced the truth. Retconned an entire character." Ghost's smile was dry and bitter. "Every smile. Every happy moment we had. Even our children. They replaced the woman I had fallen in love with with a counterpart whose sole purpose was to spy and loathe me. Every misfortune I experienced after meeting her was in some way her machination. She had a miscarriage early in our relationship, which was revealed later to be her own doing. The only reason why our other kids didn't suffer the same fate was because she didn't have the heart do it again to herself, no matter how much she loathed me. My truth had literally become nothing more than a toy to play me with. They didn't simply murder her, or replace her. They made it so she didn't exist in the first place, so that there was no chance of her possibly existing in the first place. Like I said before, Gods, real Gods, have more options available than you can imagine."
The boy swallowed heavily.
"I wiped out a lot of people after I found out, in spectacular fashion I might add. Not killed kid, wiped out. Poof. No traces left for anyone to revive. Gods. Humans. Multiverses. There is literally not a number that exists is able to quantify the damage caused. I told you before. I am The End. That title didn't come from some idiot that thought it sounded cool in his head. It's a legitimate position. A role that must be played and obeyed with the highest form of absolution. All those convoluted eldritch horrors and final bosses you see in fantasy books and video games would shit themselves inside out if they saw me in my full glory. I damn near wiped out the whole system in my rampage. It was only after… well, sacrifices were made to rein me in. Things that couldn't be taken back."
Issei looked at Ghost as if seeing the man for the first time.
"… You really loved her, didn't you?"
"I loved all of them. Enough to literally burn the universe to ashes countless times over personally, regardless of how many innocents got in the way. I don't know if it was dumb luck or a fast one pulled on me by that bitch Fate… again, but I see a lot of myself in you. Enough that I want to make sure you don't get fucked over like I did."
"I'm guessing that's why you don't want people to know who you are then. So the Gods here won't freak out and do something that might hurt me?"
"And then some. If you thought the minor fuckups they try to clean up in ancient mythos is bad, you don't want to see what happens when they have full blown panic attacks and try to cover their asses. Trust me, it's not pretty."
"Didn't half of the Greek Mythos normally start with a God having sex with someone or something that they shouldn't have?"
"You remember that story when good old Yahweh literally flooded the planet and killed pretty much every land based creature on it? Fun fact, they weren't the only ones he killed with that stunt, nor were they his main target."
"Ok. Ok. I get it. Please stop." It always turned out like this. Just when Ghost seemed like he was being genuinely serious, he goes on a factual tangent that makes everyone regret listening to him.
"Heh. Sure. Fine. Suit yourself." The immortal smirked, amused by the boy's reaction.
"You're telling me that everything you're putting me through is so I'm less likely to screw things up?"
"That, and it's fun to mess with young and impressionable minds."
Great. Serious Ghost was already giving way to the normal asshole. "The more I think about it, the more the idea of you reproducing in any way fills me with a horror that's normally designated for dealing with eldritch abominations."
"Oi oi. I'm not that bad." Yet. "Look. Obviously you're overloaded. I'll leave you alone for now. Relax. Get some rest. Molest that Nee-san or that Kuro-chan of yours a bit. Like you said, you're ten. You have time to get things sorted out. No one's after you, and few are able to do anything about it even if they were."
The boy gave him an annoyed glare before letting out a long groan. He had been given a lot to think about. It wasn't going to be easy getting to sleep tonight. "Fine. Whatever. It'll be nice to actually sleep for once. Kuro-chan's visiting tonight too, so we can finally catch up…"
Issei's image faded away from the mindscape…
… Just as Ddraig's came into sight.
"I doubt that was all you wished to tell him." The crimson monster looked down on the insane God. "Power, vigilance, and connections are good, but they are not enough to stay one's enemies from your kin."
"I was gonna go on a tangent about how being a good teacher and making sure that your close ones are a bitch to target on their own is ultimately the best way to cover your bases, but I guess I went a bit too heavy on my backstory." Ghost shrugged nonchalantly, and turned to walk away in a seemingly random direction. "Eh. Whatever. I'll get to it eventually."
"I noticed you never specified whatever happened to your mate once you found out what happened."
"I already said what happened. They turned her into a lie. The only thing that was left was a mad puppet in her image. The woman I had married and entrusted my heart to no longer existed. So I did what was only natural. I torched the useless doll, along with her makers."
It was the way he said it that sent silent chills down Ddraig's spine. Even if it was a fake, the replacement for his mate had without question spent years with him, building a history and memories with him. Even if she loathed it, and the context was different, the events, the memories, the happiness he felt… she had been the one he had built it all up with.
To calmly and casually claim that he murdered her with his own two hands as if it had nothing to do with him...
This individual was one that was perfectly accustomed with murdering. The guilty. The innocent. Strangers… and friends.
It was a necessity at times. The world was not kind. Ddraig was more familiar with the darker side of reality. But, only the worst of mad beasts reveled in actual pointless slaughter, or felt nothing when faced with the corpse of a loved one.
"I assume you are putting in an effort to ensure that Partner will not undergo a similar experience."
"Of course not. Believe it or not, I'm not a total asshole." Ghost waved lazily to Ddraig as he departed. "I actually like the kid. He's fun to watch. If anything that fucked up happened to him, well… let's say that I'd take it as a personal insult."
"Humph. A God's blessing if I've ever heard one."
"Careful. I allow Issei some leeway every now and then, but I don't recall granting you any boons."
"A curse by any other name is still a curse."
"Fuck you too ya overused purse."
The two monsters vanished from the world that never was. Both left to dwell on events recent and long passed.
Half an hour later, Issei was calmly sleeping on Kuroka's lap, fondling her thighs unconsciously in a futile attempt to reach her ass, much to her amusement.
During that summer, he and Jasmine would make a breakthrough with their research that would eventually determine not only their futures, but the potential fate of Devil kind.
A month after that, during the start of the new college year, he would meet the one that would eventually ruin it all for everyone.