Chapter 1: A Soul Can't Be Cut

A blue orb surrounded by smokeless flames hovered among a black, velvety backdrop. It shimmered brighter and brighter.

*Thump thump!*

The sound of a heartbeat seemed to echo into the seemingly endless chasm. Perhaps it was the orb's. Perhaps it wasn't and instead emanates from the orb's progenitor.

"Wake up."

A groggy voice responded, "... Who are you? Who am I? What is this?"

"So many questions. Kukukuku," The deep voice laughed. "You will be very intelligent and capable, that I will make sure of. For now, let's start with who I am."

The darkness lit up revealing an expanse of snow-covered mountains, and from behind them emerged a large being spoken of only in mythology, rare among even its own kind.

The creature roared pridefully, frightening his sapling.

["My name is Ddraig. It's nice to finally meet you, partner."]

"H-Huh?"

["I know, you're very confused. You're not even born yet."]

"Not born? What does that mean?"

["It means you have not yet entered the world of the living via your mother pushing you out of her womb while screaming in agony."]

"Sounds painful," He replied dryly, not sure what to make of all this other than the fact that he found some strange sense of familiarity and comfort within the person Ddraig refers to as his mother, despite having not yet met her.

["It is only natural that you do not know a thing. All souls begin pure. Where they end up is entirely up to them."]

"What do you mean?"

["Take your soul as the only example to concern yourself with. Will you be good or evil? Will you be a force for positive change, or will you bring about destruction and ruin? Or perhaps you'll disappear in the passage of time having not done a thing? Maybe you'll die of old age having lived an average, insignificant existence. Or maybe you'll not even take a breath and will return to Him, having not had the chance to experience the pains and pleasures of existing. Your physical form will someday perish no matter what, as that is inevitable for all life, but your soul is eternal and indestructible. A soul can't even be cut."]

"I'm so confused."

["That is to be expected."] Ddraig huffs, as if proud of himself.

"By the way, you didn't answer my earlier question."

["I know who you are because I can hear your parents converse when you were conceived. They plan to name you Issei, son of the Hyoudou family in Kuoh, Japan."]

"Issei..." The orb repeats its name back to itself.

["Indeed. You are but a soul waiting in the World of Souls to be given life. We have nine months, so let us begin."]

"Begin what?"

["Your training, of course."]

'Nani?' Issei thought as his soul sweat-dropped.

And so, Ddraig taught Issei literally everything. Some details were left out for later teachings, such as information on who the Three Factions are and their Great War.

For now, his main focus is to teach his new host the basics of survival, sparring with him in Issei's spiritual form, teaching him magic, expanding his reserves, upgrading his arsenal of skills, and testing his wits.

More than eight months passed.

In that time, Issei grew stronger in many ways yet to be shown, all the while getting to know Ddraig. While he felt that Ddraig was hiding some stuff from him, he trusted that the dragon had his reasons.

They both grew close to the point of becoming brothers in all but blood.

["Oh, and by the way, you will not remember any of this nor will you be able to use magic until you've awakened me."]

"What?! And you're telling me this NOW?!"

["This is my first time training a host of mine before they're even born. You should be thanking me. Anyway, it's time for me to go into yet another long nap."]

"Wait! Don't go! You... You're like an older brother to me! How am I supposed to make any progress without you?!" Issei pleaded desperately.

["If you knew the things I've done, I wonder if you'd still feel that way..."] Ddraig mumbled. ["Farewell, Issei. Till we meet again."]

Ddraig's form disappeared.

Issei's soul slumped back, as if falling onto his butt in a relaxed but pissed off pose that delinquents use.

"Tch! I don't even know how I've gotten stronger. Sure, you taught me a lot, but in terms of physically training me, all you did was attack and force me to dodge."

The sky lit up once more as a blinding white light filled his vision and the cries of an infant could be heard in Kuoh Hospital.

Issei Hyoudou was born.

"It really is a boy!" The father was overjoyed.

"I sure am," The baby spoke in a deep, manly voice.

"What the fu-"

To Be Continued

Chapter length- 805 words.

A very short but simple introduction to this new DxD fic of mine. All the following chapters will be significantly longer than this one.

Some of you may have missed it, but there is no harem in this, and the main pairing is Issei x Raynare since Raynare is my favorite DxD character for some reason.

I think the LN is trash, especially with the way Raynare was written to be so one-dimensional with her personality and motives, so I'm going to give her a lot more depth. My favorite iteration of her is from the fanfic "A Man's Heart", as the writing in that is impeccable.

There will not be lemons, but I might write some minorly sexually suggestive content. I know firsthand how horny us DxD fans can be.

Again, I'm not a fan of the LN, just a fan of the really good fanfics. I especially like betrayal fanfics revolving around Issei not being able to confess to Rias and co.

This fanfic is being written on Wattpad and will be also published on Fanfiction, AO3, and Webnovel.

My life is extremely busy, but I'll try to update once, maybe twice a month. No promises.

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