1 Revival

Issei Hyoudou was dead

... he knew he was... yes, at some level at least he was aware of this.

He had been murdered... by his own girlfriend - on a date, their first date of all things - right when it was coming to it´s end.

Walking through the park at evening, hand in hand with her, with an actual girl yes, and then suddenly... she turned around and killed him.

Not only that, she had suddenly somehow... transformed. Black wings grew out of her back, she seemed to become a bit taller, her clothes changed... no, he thought, they vanished and were replaced with a strange but very sexy leather outfit.

Well... a small consolation was at least that he was able to see her naked for a few moments in the second while she did transform, Issei said to himself.

He remembered the words, the person who had killed him had said this to him:

"Will you die for me?"

"It was kind of fun... like playing house with a little child."

The mocking words were still halling through his head.

Well, it could have been worse, a very small sarcastic part of him thought. At least she had fun. Who cared about why?

How she had casually - and coldly - commented to him why she did it, in words he did not even come close to understand.

"Blame God for putting this Sacred Gear inside you," she had said.

What the hell did that even mean? he thought... Sacred Gear, what the hell was that?

He had died. Or did he? he asked himself.

xxx

Issei was dead ...

When he was looking around right now though, he wasn´t even so sure about that last part anymore. He was standing inside a completely empty white room.

What was strange however was that he couldn´t actually make out any real walls. The room just seemed to continue until he couldn´t even make out it´s end anymore.

What in the world was this crazy place?

He had been dying. He was quite sure about that. But somehow he was still... alive? he asked himself.

The last he remembered was bleeding out back there in the park, right next to the fountain...

... and now he was here. Wherever that was.

He looked down on himself. The wound was no longer there, he realized. His body was healed. He was pretty well sure however that he had a bleeding wound in his chest just a few moments ago.

...and well, he still had a body. This alone would be strange if he were some kind of ghost, right?

Was this Heaven? he asked himself for a short moment.

But then he should be surprised to be even here, another sarcastic part of him thought. After all he had been a notorious pervert.

He did die, didn´t he?

"I see you have arrived," a voice greeted him. "And no, this is not Heaven. But yes, technically, you died."

As Issei turned around he saw the figure of a young man - maybe 25 or 30 years old by his looks - with dark brown hair who was about one head taller than him. He was wearing something that looked like a quite ordinary styled grey suit.

At least that was what he looked like at the first glance.

But something told Isse that this was anything but a normal person. He didn´t really understood it himself, but somehow his senses were screaming at him that this guy was all but normal.

It told him to either run away or bow down to him.

And there was something else... How in the world did this guy know what he had just been thinking?

"Who are you? How did you know...?" he attempted to ask him the question... but once again the stranger was one step ahead of him.

"Who I am?" he replied. "I actually have many names. You can just call me... Darien. That is at least the name I am going by currently," he stated.

"What is important for you is, I am the one who has brought you here. And... to the question how did I know what you were thinking?...Yes Issei Hyoudou, I have indeed been reading your mind," the man said to him smiling friendly.

"What?" he just thought.

Okay, after girlfriends who suddenly grew wings, stab you to death and then fly away... maybe this should not be surprising him that much.

Despite the insane things the man had just told him he wasn't in any way a threat at all. In fact his expression was actually... comforting?

Maybe that was it, he had just lost his mind. Yes... things like Yuuma growing wings and killing him, finding himself in a completely white room with a man who claims that he can read your thoughts. That couldn´t be true, could it? In reality he was probably locked up somewhere and in a straight jacket, surrounded by doctors who were trying to find out what was wrong with him, he thought.

"No, Issei Hyoudou, you have not gone crazy," the man told him, once again repeating what he was thinking. "All of this here is actually quite real. Your just no longer in your regular world."

"Ah ha ha ha," Issei suddenly started to laugh, sounding however quite forced. "This is a dream, right? I am dreaming. Or is all this here some kind of special effect? Are you from one of these TV-shows?"

"I see... you are confused," he said casually. "That is more than understandable in your situation. First of let me assure you that nothing will harm you while you are here.

And to your questions: Where we are? This here is, as it is called, a provisorical spatial dimension. You could say it is a small gap between realities that my group is using for its purposes."

"A what?" Issei wanted to call out, but it became only a quiet whisper.

He slowly nodded with his head sheepishly. Of course he understood absolutely nothing.

"Maybe I should use other means to convince you," the man said.

Suddenly the room around them changed. Instead of being in a white empty space they were now... standing a few centimeters above the open sea. Or better said they were hovering right above the water.

Issei could hear the waves of the ocean, could feel the wind. It was so real.

"Come on, touch it," the man named Darian said, as Issei bowed down and reached his hand out to the surface of the sea that had just appeared where they were standing.

He could feel the cold water running through his fingers.

"It is..." Issei wanted to say.

"It is real... technically at least," Darien told him. "My power can form this place and whatever I will it becomes reality. I would be capable of even more if I were truly here," he stated.

"Truly here... but?" Issei questioned.

"My physical self is actually in a different universe. The body you see here, like everything else around you, it a manifestation I have created with my mind," he explained.

Everything around them now changed back as it was before. The ocean under their feet was once again replaced with the empty white room.

Once again Issei was aghast.

"Other universes?" he asked.

"Like in the TV-shows," the being named `Darien´ responded with a hint of humor.

"Of course." For a moment he grinned and actually had to hold back his laughter. Even the being in front of him had a grin on his face. But then remembered where he was.

Does that mean you are something like...ah... God?" he asked. Given the power he possessed this question was not so far off.

"No," the man replied, "but you could say I and my group are deeply connected to the force you would call God. But that is an explanation for another time. I see that you can barely keep up with the few things I have already told you."

That would be an understatement, Issei thought sarcastically.

"I have brought your soul here, to make you an offer," the being called Darien said to him.

"An offer?" he repeated. "Brought my soul here?"

"As I have told you, you have indeed died," the man continued. "As you have probably figured out, your current body - just like mine - is just a mental projection. I have formed it so that we can talk easier. Your true body is still lying in the park," he told him calmly.

Issei didn´t say anything. He had suspected something like that actually. But hearing it from his mouth... Issei only managed to gulp.

"I am a Guardian, a protector of the multiverse as you could call it," Darien introduced himself. "I am the leader of our group... and I want to make you an offer."

"An offer?"

"Yes, but tell me first, would you like to live again?" he asked.

"Of course I would," he replied heatedly. "Who wouldn´t?"

"Who wouldn´t? That is a good question. What if I told you now that your return is to be bound on certain conditions?"

"What do you mean with `conditions´? Of course I want to return to life. All I want to do is go back and forget that any of this ever happened. If you can bring me back then just do it."

"That is exactly what I meant," the man stated. "I fear that the option to `go back how things were´ no longer exist for you."

"What do you mean?" Issei asked confused.

"What I mean is this, even if you return, do you really think the people who were responsible for your death would just let you continue to live your life like nothing happened?" he questioned.

Issei froze. The situation became quickly clear to him. Of course they wouldn´t. As soon as they found out that he was still alive, they would come after him again.

"Responsible? You mean Yuuma?" he asked

"Her and others."

"Devils," was his simple answer.

Issei was once again stunned. But at the same time, it was at this point that he truly had enough of it all.

"Okay stop... Devils?" he yelled. "Would you please care to explain to me from the beginning. Don´t get me wrong, you seem to be a okay guy, for a super powered super-being anyway, but...

First Yuuma turns into this... whatever she was... and stabs me. Then she starts to talking about something called Sacred Gear... I don´t even know what that is... and then you show up and tell me something about mind-reading, guardians and other universes..." it was all bursting out of him now.

All his senses were still somehow telling him that this being could crush him like a bug and that yelling at him was probably not the smartest thing to do. But he just couldn´t help himself.

"I just don´t understand anything anymore," Issei said now more quietly. Ironically, his time here was probably the first time in days that he had not spend most of his mental power on thinking about girls and their breasts.

Yet the `man´ who could so easily destroy him if he wanted was only looking at him with a friendly... and obviously uneasy expression. Issei couldn´t help to think that this guy felt sorry for him.

"Okay... ahm," he said. Issei was still trying to make sense of all of that.

He wasn´t even sure when he had suddenly developed a sixth sense for danger. If it was that.

"You are right," the man responded then. "I should first explain a few things to you. Like you have probably already figured out by now, your girlfriend Yuuma is actually a supernatural being... like I am, but different," he stated.

"Her real name is Raynare by the way, as we have found out. She is actually a Fallen Angel to be exact... She is part of a group that resides in this town. But they are by far not the only supernaturals here..."

"A Fallen Angel, like in the Christian Bible you mean?" Issei asked him. "Like in... fallen from Heaven and all that?"

"In a way yes. But I doubt that she or any member of her team have ever actually fallen from Heaven. One thing you should know is that there had been a Great War several centuries ago between the three most prominent factions - the Angels, the Fallen Angels and the Devils."

"A Great War?" Issei repeated.

"Yes. All three sides had been decimated at it´s end... and the Fallen's were in the worst state.

Literally only their leaders and a handful of others had been left. So it is most likely that Raynare and the rest of her team had been born in the generations afterwards.

Today the three factions are in cease-fire. Or more correctly - as it is called today - a Cold War situation. Your hometown Kuoh is actually being dominated by the Devils. In fact the girl Rias Gremory, that you know from your school, is a Devil."

It was all just too much. Issei´s brain was still trying to process all the crazy information that was suddenly being thrown at him.

Rias Gremory... a Devil? She was in the class above him in High School for fuck´s sake. One of the most popular girls in his school.

"And what has that all to do with me?" he called out now. "I am not an Angel or a Devil or whatever. I am not a member of this damn groups," he practically yelled. "So why in the world had Yuuma-chan suddenly... killed me?"

"You have a Sacred Gear inside of you," came the answer. "She had mentioned the term, right?" he asked. "It is, to put it simply, a weapon created by God.

It was created in first line as a defense for humanity from the supernatural. Sacred Gears are reincarnating themselves into human beings. That means a small number of humans are born with such a weapon sealed inside their bodies. You are one of them."

"So that is the reason? I was born with such a weapon inside me and she killed me just to make sure that I could never by sheer chance use it against her?" Issei began to understand the situation... Or at least a small part of it.

"Yes. But we were speaking about the ways to bring you back to life," Darian reminded him.

"So you can bring me back to life?" Issei responded.

"I can. But the truth is, I am not the only one who could do this. There is someone else who is planning to do the same thing. You remember what I have told you about the Devils?" `Darian´ asked him.

"You said that Rias Gremory-sempai is one of them?" He was still a bit unbelieving about the idea that one of the great `Onee-samas´ of his own school should actually be some sort of demonic creature.

"She is," he answered. "In fact she is one of the two leading Devils of this area. She, along with the one known as Sona Sitri has claimed this town as `her´ territory."

"Her territory?"

"Yes, without the consent or even the knowledge of most of the people who live here of course. But that is a moral question for another time," he stated. "She is the other person who is trying to revive you. I have however kept a hold to that for now."

"What! You mean you are actually keeping someone else from reviving me?" Issei exclaimed in shock. "Why in the world would you do that?"

"As I told you, her `help´ comes with a high price. If a Devil revives you, you become a Devil yourself... and automatically the servant of the one who did revive you in the first place," he explained to him. "But it seems Rias Gremory had no intention to tell you that until afterwards," he commented.

It was clear by his tone that he thought not very high about the Devils and their methods.

"She would essentially made you her slave... and if you would ever try to leave her the Devils would hunt you down and kill you. She knew who Raynare was and what she was planning since the day she had first contacted and asked you out and could have easily stopped her or warned you. But she decided to deliberately let you get killed so that she could force you to become part of her group of servants without having to ask you.

So I interfered to give you an actual choice."

After hearing this, Issei could only gulp again. He understood now that he meant when Darien said that there is more than just one group to look out for.

"For the moment I have moved you here... and this place is outside of your regular flow of time. That means we have time to talk. So that you can make you own decision. Now, are you finally ready to hear my offer?" he asked him.

"Yes... yes I am Darien-sama," Issei replied.

"You don´t have to call me that," he said. "I am not your master... unless you want me to be. And despite the power that I command, I don´t consider myself above you... or anyone else for that matter," he stated.

"Let me make one thing clear, If you want me to, I will bring you back to life anyway. No matter if you accept my offer or not. My help is not bound to such prices. Do you understand that?"

"Y...yes," Issei answered, still a bit insecure.

"And before you even ask that, the reason why I myself have not interfered and prevented your death is simple. As I told you, I am not truly here.

I have great power - nearly unlimited by your standards - but even that is not enough to interfere physically when my actual self is several dimensions away. To that comes that for certain reasons the influence of my group in your home-universe is somewhat limited. So all I was able to do was to summon your soul to this place."

Issei at this point just accepted that piece of information.

"Okay, I understand," Issei replied.

Well, at least this guy had an excuse for not keeping Yuuma from killing him, he thought. Being in another universe actually sounded like a quite good one to him.

"The offer I want to give you is simple. Do you want to join our group?"

"Join your group?" Issei repeated dumbfounded.

"Yes. We the Guardians are protecting all realities from threats, simply spoken... a duty given to us by the Force of Creation that formed all universes."

"So that is God then?" Issei questioned.

"Yes and no," he answered. "The entity that is in your world known as God, is actually a small part of this force that was separated from the whole to watch over your home-universe.

My power is in fact far above the God of your world. But it is still nothing compared to his true self that exists in all universes. That is actually connected to the reason why our influence in your world is limited. But that is again a tale for another time.

What you should know for now is this... Yes we are protectors, of this world like any other... and we are at war. There exists is an organization - no a force - at the other end of the spectrum. They are the truereason our group was formed a long time ago. To counter the threat that they present.

Their goals are in some sense the complete opposite to ours. They want to `reform´ the entire multiverse, by destroying everything that is flawed, failed or unworthy in their eyes... or just standing in their way. That means people, states, worlds, even entire universes, all is to be destroyed if it doesn´t meet their standards. This is actually yet another reason why I couldn´t help you in person. I am currently involved in a campaign in another universe.

The war between our two sides has been going on for thousands of years. It makes the so called Great War between the three Faction look like a small scale banter."

"And you want me to become part of that?" Issei called out in absolute shock and horror.

"Don´t misunderstand me. I don´t want you to join this war, at least not yet. Not for a long time.

What I offer you is this, fulfill one mission for us... or maybe two if you cannot make up your mind. It won´t be anything too dangerous, only dealing with minor threats for now. In exchange we will train you and help you to realize the power of your Sacred Gear.

One job, an easy one, that is all we ask from you and then we will properly train you and show you everything you need to know to protect you from anyone who would try to take advantage of you. After this one job you can then decide if you want to stay with us or not."

Issei had to admit it sounded better than anything else he had heard so far.

"If you refuse, I will bring you back just like the way you are," Darien told him. "But as I said... we are at war. You can understand that we simply don't have the time to train you if you don´t do at least one task for us," he stated.

"Okay," he thought it over, "I guess we can show you in any case the basics of your Sacred Gear´s power, even if you say no. We will leave you to defend yourself. But we will not train you to your full abilities. For that you would have to find someone else.

Your other options are to let the Devil reincarnate you and willingly become her servant. But then you will automatically get involved into their conflict instead. Or you can choose death and move on to whatever Afterlife the people of your home are being send to. I advise you to take some time and think it over."

"What kind of job?" Issei wanted to know.

"The job I want to give you is actually very close to home," he said. "Answer me one question. If you had the chance, would you go after Raynare... and Rias Gremory and kill them... if I offered you the power to do it? Think about it, the one who had murdered you and the one who had set you up to die. Would you destroy any of their subordinates who had helped them in their schemes and is standing in your way? Think about it and answer me."

Issei didn´t say anything for a few moments. Anger flew through him. He didn´t even know who he was more angry at, the one who had claimed to like him and then killed him without a second thought. Or the one who just sat back and let it happen, without getting her hands dirty, when she could easily have prevented it all.

Yes, a part of him wanted nothing more than get his hands around their throats. But... He suddenly saw their faces in his mind.

"No," Issei answered after a few moments. "I won´t. Despite everything I don´t want either of them to die. Or at least I don´t want to be the one to kill them. I am sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You have passed the test," Darien told him. "We want protectors after all, not murderers. Even if the difference between both is sometimes slim."

"Test? Hey, does that mean you have been screwing with me right now?" Issei called out.

A part of him could not believe how easily he was now chatting with a being that, by his own words, surpassed God.

"I admit I did," he replied. "I needed to know how you truly feel and just scanning the surface of your mind is not enough.

The true job is this. We want you to keep an eye on Raynare... the one you know as Yuuma Amano. Find out everything you can about what she is doing. We suspect that she will soon target another Sacred Gear User. Do everything to protect this person from her... or from others.

We have reason to believe that there is someone else pulling the strings behind her actions, a organization that could become a greater threat in the near future.

Disrupt her plans and interfere with her actions wherever you can, Keep a hold on whatever she is doing. But don´t kill her or anybody else for that matter if it can be in any way avoided. We are not after Raynare, we want to find and expose whoever is hiding behind her."

"Moment," Issei said, "you want me to go pestering Yuuma?" A grin began to form on his face.

"I knew you would like that part," he responded. "If you want to call it that, then yes. Make her life harder, annoy her as much as you want, make sure her plans fail completely."

"But you don´t want me to kill her?"

"As I said, this is a low-threat mission, by our standards, so it should not be necessary to kill anyone... We are looking for information."

"You know something?" Issei said to him. "You have a deal."

"Are you sure?" he asked him.

"Well, from all possibilities your offer sounds like the best one. And I am certainly not willing to die yet."

"As you wish. There is however one last thing you should know. When I return you to life, a small part of my energy will remain inside you. For me this doesn´t mean much. The little bit of energy spend will restore itself quickly. But you, you will be different. This is a universal law that cannot be changed. Whenever a person is reincarnated, at least a small part of the force that reincarnated it stays inside this person. No matter what method is used.

You will still be human. But you will be stronger than before, have access to abilities and power that no `regular´ human would possess."

"Well, this is a good thing isn´t it?"

"Given your situation it is, yes. I only wanted you to understand that even I can't bring you back exactlylike you have been before."

"It doesn´t matter. With this Sacred Gear thing inside me I was never completely normal anyway... and more power sounds very good actually."

"I see. Since you have accepted I will send you back now. When you have arrived, one of our agents in your world who is already somewhere in your town will contact you to give you more exact instructions and train you. For this I will plant a telepathic signal in your mind that she will be able to sense. So she will find you quickly and will remove it then later."

"She?" Issei asked hopefully.

"I know exactly what you are thinking," he responded sternly. "Yes, she is attractive... and you will have to talk with her about this topic."

"Okay," he grinned.

"I will send you back now. We will see each other again in the future Issei Hyoudou." Darian lifted one hand and pointed at him... and once again the world around Issei started to change.

xxxxxxx

Issei awoke. He saw that he was still lying next to the fountain.

The wound that killed him however was gone. He decided not to stay here any longer and forced himself to stand up.

He tried to bring some distance between himself and the place he had died. Right now he truly didn´t want to meet any Fallen Angel or Devil, at least for today.

But somehow his legs just didn´t want to work correctly. Of course, he had just been dead. What did he expect? After a few hundred meters, he broke down again.

He was lying there for maybe a minute. Then he heard someone coming.

"It seems I have found you faster when I have thought," a voice spoke. "So you are the new recruit the boss has told me to find."

Issei realized that his worry was needless. This was obviously the agent that was send for him.

As he looked up he saw a young girl. She had brown hair that fell over her shoulders and was wearing black jeans and a light grey blouse and a black jacket, matching her pants, above it.

"You are the Guardian looking for me," he said.

"Yes I am... and what is your name?" she asked him

He saw that she also had a great pair of oppais. Yes, Issei thought, he truly was back.