Chapter 7

It took Issei three days to get Gasper out of his room.

On a side note, it took two days for Issei to get back into Gasper's room in the first place, but everyone preferred to pretend that particular bit didn't happen. Trying to convince him that the vampire wasn't Dio Brando, and that the agoraphobe was not going to try and take over the world once his balls dropped, was far more trouble than it was worth.

No one followed the disturbed, porn addicted teenager into the room, partially because they didn't want to intrude on something private, and partially due to the poor impression he had made on pretty much everyone in the ORC.

Even so, the devils and Raynare had somewhat expected Issei to take longer to convince Gasper to go outside. Willingly at that.

The first day, there was a good mix of yelling and things crashing going rampant in the room. After Issei had left, Rias had entered her Bishop's room to find the young vampire a confused mess, hugging his pillow, and constantly repeating "I'm not Dio. I'm not Dio."

Apparently, unlike the rest of the Gremory peerage, Gasper actually had a solid grasp on otaku culture. Being locked inside near perpetually with no way to contact the outside world outside of his computer had left the vampire with few ways to kill time when he wasn't doing Demon contracts digitally.

He was also incredibly reluctant to explain to Rias what exactly a "weeaboo" was when she asked.

After finally doing a google search on the term, the Devil Princess found out why.

She was not amused.

Akeno on the other hand, was.

Either way, it didn't stop Issei from recognizing Rias as anything but a weeaboo. It had already gotten to the point that if someone called her by her name first, he'd look around confused until someone reminded him that "Rias equals that red headed Weeaboo chick".

Raynare took great pleasure in this.

Said pleasure died quickly and miserably when Koneko pointed out that Issei only recognized her as "the useless Cougar", meaning that Raynare was the "old person" of the group.

The second day was even more peculiar, as Issei arrived at their clubhouse on time with a large stack of unfolded cardboard boxes, several rolls of duct tape, some sharpies, and a pair of scissors.

It ended with Issei walking home as if nothing had ever happened, Gasper's room filled with multiple childish robot mechs made out of cardboard and drawn appropriately, three box forts complete with scaled weaponry, and Gasper taped to the ceiling with a box on his head with eyeholes and Dio Brando's face drawn on the front.

The Dio box was also taped to Gasper's head.

When Rias asked what had happened, Gasper shivered and told her in a clearly traumatized tone that she should never question Issei's ability with duct tape or improvised artillery style warfare.

Pretty much everyone was against Issei seeing Gasper the following day, even if he wasn't armed to the teeth with arts and crafts this time.

After some halfhearted promises, they reluctantly allowed him into Gasper's room again.

That afternoon, without any yelling, violence, or chaos, the young vampire walked out of his room on his own.

"R-Rias?" Peeking out around the corner of the doorway, a short, blonde haired looking child dressed in the female Kuoh Academy uniform stuck his head out.

Everyone save Raynare, who was taking a nap, made a double take, completely in shock at what they were seeing.

"Gasper?" The leader of the Devils blinked in genuine surprise and standing up from her elaborate wooden desk. "Is that you? You left your room?"

"Y-Yeah." The shy vampire hugged the corner as if his life depended on it.

"My. This is unexpected. I was under the impression that there would have been a good deal of screaming and other unfortunate things happen before you left." Akeno started off honest, but slowly her mind began to drift to charts unknown if her faint blush was any indication.

"He didn't do anything to you this time, did he?" Kiba warily asked, causing everyone in the room to focus on him skeptically, particularly for any duct tape. It took them a half an hour yesterday to get that box off of his head.

"Ugh. No. Issei-sempai didn't do anything." Gasper shrunk further behind the corner. "We just played video games and talked."

"SKREEEEEEEEE!" An unholy scream echoed from the hallway, causing everyone to pause.

"He… he started to play Bloodborne when I decided to go. Incentive to make sure I didn't come back." Gasper shivered, his eyes wide and dilated in terror. "I don't want to go back. It's not safe there anymore."

Raynare grumbled in irritation from being woken up, and shifted on the couch to be more comfortable. The asshole must have maxed out the TV's volume on purpose.

"Should have seen that coming." Koneko muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. No one disagreed.

Rias shook her head in mild exasperation and approached her bishop with open arms. "Never mind him. Come here Gasper. You've taken a big step. I'm proud of you."

"Mmm." Gasper slowly walked into her embrace, accepting her arms wrapping around him, with all the warmth and comfort they provided. It had been a while since he had been hugged like this. It was nice. He felt safe like this. "I'm sorry for worrying you. For worrying everyone. It must have been hard to put up with someone like me."

"Don't ever say that Gasper. You aren't a bother at all." Akeno chided like an older sister would.

"You're family Gasper. That's what we do." Kiba smiled, Koneko nodding in agreement.

"… Family." The vampire sunk deeper into Rias' embrace, and chest by extension. "Yeah. That's right. You're all my family now, and I haven't done anything…"

"Gasper?" His king frowned in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no." He shook his head. "I'm just thinking out loud."

The rest of the afternoon went with moderate fanfare. Akeno and Koneko busted out their favorite snacks and tea in celebration while everyone congratulated Gasper on his development… except for Raynare who just wanted to sleep off her hangover from her bar crawl last night.

Christ, Dohnaseek could drink if he wanted to. She was surprised she managed to find her way back home… huh. When did she start referring to that place as home?

"How did he do it?"

"Huh?" Gasper turned to Koneko.

"How did the pervert convince you to come out?" The cat girl elaborated. "He didn't threaten you, did he?"

"N-no!" Gasper wildly shook his head. "Er. Well, he did say that he's obligated to tear me apart if I tried to take over the world since he is the one that unleashed me, but I don't want to do that in the first place, so there's no problem there."

"He has quite the active imagination. Doesn't he Rias?" Akeno chuckled, looking at her best friend.

"He certainly does." Rias tried to put up an elegant front, but failed miserably. She was not a weeaboo!

"You didn't answer my question." Koneko frowned slightly.

The accused shifted uncomfortably and looked at his tea. "… He didn't really do anything special. The last two days were weird and scary, but today, we just played some games and talked about random things."

It was obvious to everyone that he was beating around the bush. Something had happened that he didn't want to talk about. "What did he talk about?" Kiba pressed.

"Games. Cheats. Codes. How the characters and monsters in them stack up against the Maou and other strong people in a death battle." He started slowly. "He didn't ask what happened to me or anything private. He didn't… he knew it didn't matter. He knows what it's like to just… to just not want to deal with anything anymore."

"Not to deal with anything?" More than one head tilted in confusion.

"It's hard to explain to someone that doesn't get it." Gasper's head sagged more in shame, as if admitting that he was one of these people would make him look worse to everyone. "The pressure. The fear. Even if you know it's silly, it's not something that can be reasoned with. It's like having a pair of hands made of ice always ready to grab you by the spine. There's no control. You can't do anything about it except do anything and everything you can to have it not happen again. It's hard to even breathe. You can't think. The walls start to move. Everything is too big. It's too much. Scary. Scary…"

Halfway through the vampire's body began to shake in increasing intervals until it began reaching the point where he was almost spilling tea out of his hands. Only a quick reaction from Rias, holding and comforting his small frame, managed to calm him down again.

"There there. Don't worry. I'm here Gasper. Nothing's going to hurt you here." She soothingly crooned, gently hugging him sideways.

"Regressing already?" A new voice caught everyone's attention. "It's been… two hours. Not bad considering his current condition."

"Issei." Kiba's smile dimmed, turning to the yawning guest by the doorway.

"Man slave." Issei nodded, as if he had greeted the fellow with a non-offensive name. Looking around the room, the Sekiryutei took a small, but deep breath, indicating that he was obviously unsettled about his current situation in some way, before focusing on Rias. "Has he had any other moments, or is this the first?"

"This is the first major one." Rias answered, still not liking how casual he was treating Gasper's condition. "He's faltered a few times, but managed to recover by himself save for this instance."

"Good. It means he's actually putting in an effort." Without bothering to wait for the other's reactions, he casually walked over to the center table and picked up a small treat that Koneko had taken out earlier. "Mm. This is pretty good."

"You seem awfully calm despite the fact that Gasper is suffering a relapse." Akeno looked at him skeptically.

"Why shouldn't I? It was going to happen eventually. You didn't think that he'd just walk outside his room and magically be all better did you? Magic does a lot of things, psychology isn't one of them." He gave her a slightly annoyed look, as if she had questioned his capabilities or sense of logic. "The kid's almost as big of a mess as I am. It took me years just to walk outside my house, and almost another whole year to stomach simply being around strangers enough to not show how much of a mess I am doing so. Dio's only taken his first step in actually getting used to this."

"I'm Gasper…" The vampire groaned into Rias' chest.

"And how long do you think it will take him to get past that?" Akeno probed.

He shrugged. "Beats me. I'm not a shrink. I'm just some messed up nut that's a bit further in the recovery process than he is. I didn't exactly take well to professional treatment at that."

"Big shocker there. Did you try to kill them when they got close to your mom too?" Raynare rolled her eyes.

"Didn't have to. Most of those pricks thought that my only option was dosing me to the gills with overpriced medication until I was comatose. She didn't take kindly to that. I didn't either. Fucking sellouts. More than half of that shit they were trying to push onto me was barely past the experimental stage."

Most of the normal pills wouldn't work either. His system was too strong against irregular chemicals to have any effect. That left only the confirmed strong stuff, which were mostly opioids and concoctions that were just as bad. He wasn't touching that shit if his life depended on it.

Everyone save for Issei shifted uncomfortably. Clearly they had just heard something that they weren't supposed to.

"Then what do you suggest." Rias sighed with some exasperation. "You clearly have more experience on the subject than we do. I was hoping that we could get him to attend class and make some friends after he adjusted."

Issei snorted. "Hah. Just like that? You're honestly sticking a barely recovering severe agoraphobe in the middle of a large group of complete strangers with time stopping powers and expecting him not to lose his shit?"

"You seem to be doing pretty well." Koneko leered at him. "Gya-kun is obviously more adjusted than you are."

The dragon paused to look at her with an unreadable expression. Short. Vicious and direct insults. Borderline emotionless. Unnatural obsession with sweets… "You wouldn't happen to be related to Auntie O, would you?"

For the briefest of moments, the ORC could have sworn they heard something akin to a massive entity literally face palm from Issei's direction.

"Who?" Koneko slowly backed away from him.

The dragon puffed out his cheeks childishly, leaning closer with no respect to her personal space.

"Get any closer and I'll punch you."

"Mmmm." He seemed to inspect her with a rather childish expression before giving up and retreating. "Nah. You two just share a few thing in common. Better if you two don't meet. You'd wreck the emotions and self-esteem of everyone you'd come across. None would be safe."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really weird?" Koneko frowned.

"Not recently." He replied with genuine honesty.

"Considering no one wants to talk to him in general, and he's locked himself in his room for five years, that's not hard to imagine." Raynare rolled her eyes.

"Makes sense." Issei shrugged, taking another snack from the table.

"Issei, can we get back to Gasper please?" Rias sighed. She did not groan. Groaning was unbecoming of someone of her stature. "If sending him to school isn't an option, what is?"

"Acclimate him." Plopping down on the couch that Raynare was on and disrupting her almost nap, he began to pour himself some tea. "Do things with him. Make him go outside. Train him. Take him with you when you're hunting weaker, er, what do you call them again? Run away Devils? Missing Devils?"

"Stray Devils." Akeno corrected, giving him an odd look. "You think it's a better idea to take him with us for fights than it is sending him to school where it's safe?"

"Uuuugh." Gasper's hold on Rias tightened. Clearly he was not particularly fond of the idea.

"Maybe. There's an easy way to find out." He took a quick sip of his drink, lamented briefly that it wasn't that brew they made when he was first there, and then put it down. "Oi Dio. How does that sound? Wanna go out with everyone and hunt some wild monsters and insane people that are going to hurt others if no one does something?"

Gasper began to shiver as if he was soaked in cold water. "Aaaaah. Noooo."

Rias frowned. "Issei, I don't see what the point of what you're-"

"No?" Issei cut her off. "Then do you want to go to school? Where you're surrounded by hundreds of complete strangers that will be talking to you all day? Out in the open? All… focusing on you while you try to… figure out what they want? With nowhere… to hide?"

The vampire's trembling magnified by a factor of ten, as did his grip on Rias.

"Fine. You've made your…?" Rias rolled her eyes and turned to look at Issei, only to find that he wasn't on the couch anymore. "Huh?"

Raynare, the only person that wasn't surprised by his disappearance, lazily pointed to a corner of the room before trying to go back to sleep.

In said corner, the Sekiryutei was curled in a ball, leaning against the wall, his hands grabbing his head, and staring almost desperately at the point where the walls met. Just stay here. They'll go away. They always go away eventually. Don't answer them. The vultures don't care. No more questions. No more pictures. I didn't do it. I didn't do it…

"Did, did he just accidentally trigger his own phobia?" Kiba was genuinely astonished by Issei's almost instant shift in personality.

"Looks like it." Akeno watched, unsure what to make of the situation.

"It would be funny if it wasn't so sad." Koneko, as usual, was borderline unreadable. Only the slightest amount of pity could be seen from her eyes. She didn't say it, but she could feel his ki going wild from the other side of the room.

"Should we do something?" Kiba looked uncomfortably to Rias. Truth be told, he thought Gasper's reaction was bad enough, but Issei looked like he wasn't even registering the outside world at the moment.

"No. That would likely only make things worse. He doesn't trust any of us, remember?" Only Rias wasn't particularly stunned by Issei's behavior, having already seen how bad he could be in person once before. "Issei? Issei, it's ok. It's just us. Everyone is leaving you alone now."

Whether it was because he had heard her, or because the sudden self-induced shock had worn off eventually, it didn't matter. After about a minute, Issei's breathing had calmed down enough that he had apparently regained enough self-control to realize what he was doing and more importantly, where he was.

Quietly, and oh so slowly, he turned to look at everyone else in the room, who were staring right back at him.

"…"

"…"

"This never happened. Am I understood?"

"I don't know…" Raynare smirked, taking him seriously.

"You utter a single word, and I won't make your lunches for school anymore." No one could tell if the black aura hovering over Issei was murderous intent, magic, or some time-space anomaly created from some twisted dragonic trait of his. All they knew was no one wanted to touch the damn thing.

Her mouth shut with a loud clack of her teeth. She could tell that he would keep his word if she screwed up. A few moments of cheap laughs and satisfaction was not worth having to rely on cafeteria food.

They were one of the few highlights she had working this bloody mission! She barely made anything on the side as it was! She'd have to use her alcohol money for food if he didn't cover for her anymore! No! Don't take away her salvation!

"Scary." Koneko muttered, getting shallow nods for everyone else there as the guest pushed himself off of the floor, but instead of returning to the couch simply moved to the nearest doorway and leaned against it. It was obvious that he didn't want to be near anyone now and was anxious to leave in a moment's notice.

"… Getting back on track. Weeb, you're one of the observers of Kuoh. That means you get stuck with hunting strays here, right?" Instead of looking at anyone, Issei settled for rubbing his temples and nodding his head so he wouldn't be able to make eye contact.

Rias puffed her cheeks out, clearly still not liking her unwanted title, but knowing a lost battle when she saw one. "Yes. I do. In fact, I was planning on going out to hunt one tonight before you managed to convince Gasper to come out. We were informed by the Archduke of the area that a noted target has moved into Kuoh recently."

"Is it going to be a problem?" He probed.

"Stray Demon Viser. A low class demon that ran away from her master. She's killed many demons and humans since her escape and is drunk on blood, but they were mostly civilians. Against an actual trained peerage she's not a threat."

Issei looked around skeptically. "And against a group of moderately experienced teens that constitute less than half a full semi-trained peerage?"

Raynare stifled a dark chuckle. The brat was still annoying as hell, but he was admittedly far more amusing to be around when she wasn't the target of his perpetual scorn.

The fact that she was considered a grunt among the Grigori was clearly ignored.

The looks he got from everyone in the room were clearly not amused.

"Well?" He didn't budge. It wasn't his fault that they couldn't handle the truth.

"We can handle it. It's not a problem." Rias flatly answered.

"Well all right then." He shrugged, as if her answer settled all his questions. "Then you don't mind if we come along with you."

The nails on a chalkboard sound that came from Gasper's throat seemed to indicate that he was under the impression that Issei included him when he said "we".

Gasper was correct.

"What's with this "we" business?" Raynare frowned.

"If they screw up, you can finish the stray off so you can have your murdergasm." Issei negotiated. "You probably haven't been satisfied for weeks. Probably why you go out every night. Gotta scratch that itch sooner or later or else it will fester."

The Fallen held her tongue. Finally cutting loose and killing a Devil would be a much needed welcome from all this monotony, but she didn't want it to come from getting permission from the idiot.

She was halfway tempted to say that she'd satisfy it by killing him, but her pride wouldn't allow her to ever admit to achieving any sort of climax because of the asshole.

"I hate you. I really do." Raynare glowered.

"The Cougar says yes." He translated.

"No! I don't wanna go!" Gasper trembled so much that he was literally sending small shockwaves through the floor for everyone to feel. "Stray devils are scary!"

Issei rolled his eyes. "Calm down Dio. It's fine. You're not going to fight. The most you're going to do is practice freezing the poor bastard in place every now and then from the other side of the area while the rest of these guys here do all the hard work."

The vampire pouted. "My name is Gasper!"

"Gasper." Rias spoke up, grabbing his attention. "While we clearly don't see eye to eye with Issei, he does have a point. This could be a good experience for you. You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Trust me, you're safe with us. We won't let anything happen to you."

Gasper shifted uncomfortably in his seat, on the verge of tears. He had just gotten out of his room, and they were already trying to take him out on a stray devil hunt? That's too much. It's unfair! It… it…

He looked at Issei again, and they made eye contact. Terrified devil eyes met with dead human eyes.

He remembered the talk they had in his room. He remembered what he had decided to do, and what he refused to be.

"It's not fair." Gasper deflated, losing his will to put up an argument, breaking their unspoken conversation first.

"It's never fair." Issei shrugged, clearly understanding what his underclassman was not saying more than anyone else. "Getting stronger just helps stack the deck more in your favor, but that's it."

"Yeah. You, we know that better than anyone." Gasper laughed bitterly, surprising the other Devils in the room. It was unlike him to be so pessimistic and dry about anything. "I really don't have to do anything?"

"You've barely been out for a few hours, and you probably have less experience fighting than everyone else in the room. Just think of it as, a demonstration of what you'll be doing eventually." Everyone watched and held their comments as the human talked to Gasper without insulting him in the slightest. If anything he seemed indifferent to the vampire's situation. He was surprisingly convincing when he wasn't being an overly patronizing jerk.

"… Fine." It was clear he didn't want to do it, but Gasper was no longer viciously fighting against the idea like he had been before.

Rias looked down at her bishop genuinely astounded. She had been taking care of him for years now, but she had never seen Gasper open up to anyone this quickly before. This level of trust… no, this was genuine respect. In the vampire's eyes, Issei was someone that was actually worth listening to.

Considering what the previous two days were like, it only made Gasper's sudden development even more bewildering.

"Ara? What an unexpected development." Akeno shared Rias' confusion and surprise if her expression was anything to go by.

"Suspicious." Koneko frowned.

Kiba didn't say anything, instead standing back and trying to read and figure out what might have happened from an outside perspective.

Raynare groaned. There went her plans to go out drinking again tonight.

o. o. o.

They made it to the warehouse where Viser was last seen with good time considering that everyone decided to hoof it this time instead of teleport.

Well, Issei went by foot. Everyone else flew.

At first, most were worried that they'd have to match his pace or someone would have to carry him, but Issei had once more surprised them by enhancing his physical abilities with magic. Apparently, he was apt enough in White and Healing magic to augment his muscles to the point that he was running and jumping atop buildings with enough ease to keep up with the flying party.

Ironically, it was Gasper that held everyone up the most. He wasn't too used to flying yet, nor moving very quickly.

"As trying as he is, I must admit, he never seems to run out of surprises." Akeno admitted to Rias as they landed in front of their destination.

"Mmm. He certainly is not boring." Rias agreed, watching as Issei took one last giant leap that had him well over thirty meters in the air before landing cleanly among them, looking as fresh as they did.

He was rather abnormal. Well, that much was obvious to everyone by now, but in more ways than one.

Most experienced magic users used teleportation or flight spells to move around. Physically enhancing oneself wasn't unheard of, but it was rarely used as a means of transportation because not only it took too much energy to do, but it was risky as well. Most physical self-augmenting spells were not meant to be used for long periods of time due to the dangers prolonged uses could have on the body. Excess strain. Over dependence. Over reliance. Inability to maintain internal balances. The list of potential injuries one could sustain was not small, even for an experienced user of magic.

She made a mental note to offer him a free teleport back when this was over. As rude and annoying as he is, Issei did and was still helping Gasper. She didn't feel comfortable forcing him to risk himself just to make the trip here.

"So this is the place." The human looked at the warehouse skeptically.

"Nervous?" Kiba taunted in the polite way only he could pull off.

"Y-yeah." Gasper shivered, looking around warily.

"Actually, I'm more astounded that Kuoh had an abandoned manufacturing district in the first place." The dragon looked around at the abandoned buildings, half full of decayed and dilapidated equipment and resources. "They really let this place go. Do you guys know who owns this area? This is seriously some prime real estate just waiting to be flipped."

"We're about to fight a stray and you're more interested in flipping warehouses for profit?" Raynare couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What? Kuoh's a growing hotspot. Lots of people are moving into the general area. Lots of yuppies. It'd be easy as hell to turn one of these dumps into a solid club that hosts concerts, raves and other events if done right. Most college kids can't hold onto their parent's cash for shit, and the rundown building look is all the rage these days. It's easy money. I bet I could grab one of these places and a sizeable parking lot for..."

"I think he's serious." Koneko glanced at him, uncertain what to think as he lost himself in his calculations.

"Issei, I don't think…" Rias started.

"Seventeen million, eight hundred thirty seven thousand, nine hundred yen." He nodded, coming up with a number with firm confidence. "Give or take."

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" He looked around, confused.

"Eighteen million yen?" Akeno looked around confused. That only amounted to around a hundred and eighty thousand American dollars, give or take depending on how the exchange rate was doing. She didn't know much about real estate, but even so she knew that wasn't a lot of money with respect to something this massive. "You only need that much for a place this big?"

He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "It's just an initial estimation. Probably going to go up to an even twenty in the end. Obviously I'd have to look to see what the current market prices are, but that's what negotiating's for. Key word of abandoned warehouse is "abandoned". A place this size in prime condition is only a little over ten mil. Take in the fact that it's not in prime condition, not in use, not in a sought after part of town, and other notable things, and the price keeps dropping. I'm more worried about making sure that I get a place that passes safety code with as little investment as possible than the initial purchase. Those things are a bitch to get past when it comes to places like this if you're trying to trick them out. The rest of the money would go into buying parking lot property and fixing the place up so it actually looks nice on the inside. After that, filling it out with equipment, employees, getting insurance, and all that other crap would probably gut me another twenty before the place would finally open and I'd finally start getting some return on investment. All in all, it would probably take about…"

And like that, once again, Issei Hyoudou's normal confident demeanor seemed to die like a dog, leaving him almost lethargic. The almost energetic look in his eyes vanished almost instantly, leaving a dull and stagnant pool of brown. Letting out a depressed sigh, he shook his head. "… Too long. Never mind. I got worked up over nothing."

"I think he's bipolar." Koneko bluntly stated.

"Wouldn't doubt it." Kiba agreed.

"He did sound like he knew what he was talking about." Akeno pondered. "Shame. I was even starting to get interested in what he was planning. A warehouse club does sound pretty fun."

Rias didn't say anything. Instead she was more interested in Gasper's reaction to Issei's change in demeanor. Unlike everyone else, the vampire looked like he actually understood what was going on in Issei's head, almost like he was pitying his unstable senior.

"Not to trample on your confusion, but I think we're not alone anymore." Raynare pointed to the warehouse entrance, where a steady heavy thumping sound was progressively getting louder.

"I smell something sweet. But also something bitter and nasty. Oh? There's something meaty and juicy too." The sultry and clearly female voice crooned as the naked upper half of a woman came into view. It would have been attractive is it didn't sound like half her throat had been rubbed with sand paper recently.

"… Eh. Three point eight out of ten." Unlike everyone else there who had made some gesture to get into a fighting or running stance, Issei merely judged her looks. He looked like he didn't even have the energy to run away, let alone fight anymore.

"Seriously? You're judging her appearance?" Raynare glared at him.

"It's a modified scale. Most non-human women cheat with their looks, so I have to be harsh." He elaborated with barely any enthusiasm, turning around to walk to the back where Rias and Gasper were. He didn't care at all if his back was open. "Too many veins are sticking out. Her skin is a mess. Her hair's even worse. She's clearly not taking care of herself as far as dieting and sunlight exposure is concerned. Plus there's the whole, rabid dog lower half to take into account. A pity really. Her oppai looked like they had potential at one point."

Truly, it was a cunning move, coming out with her oppai exposed like that. Had she not been in poor condition, and had he not been experienced in the ways of the world, his defeat would have been likely. This world was no doubt dangerous.

Still…

That discoloration on her skin, and her veins. It was an irregular hue of blue and green. It wasn't natural, even for Devils and monsters. He had seen those symptoms before… but where?

"Dare I even ask what a ten is?"

"Gabriel." He didn't so much as hesitate to mention the universally agreed upon most beautiful Angel in Heaven.

"Bullshit!"

"How?" He looked at Raynare skeptically. "It's Gabriel. Everyone knows how beautiful she is. I'm not even into blondes, but she still holds the score. It's like God specifically and intentionally designed her to be the living incarnation of the ultimate clueless cock tease just to fuck with everyone. That brilliant trolling asshole."

Ah. Those holy oppai. How he would have loved to simply rest his head against such magnificent works of art and feel perfection with his flesh. Just remembering seeing their perfect shape through her clothes so many years ago was enough to calm his nerves and bring peace to his mind. Truly, heaven's grace were within those blissful orbs.

Even Viser paused to look at Issei skeptically at that comment. Hearing someone chew out the Angels and God himself wasn't that big of a deal or surprising. It was on the other hand, rather rare to hear someone call Gabriel of all people the ultimate cock tease because God is a trolling asshole with the tone of a person that really couldn't care less about the subject.

It totally wasn't because he was daydreaming with an utterly serene look of such blissful peace on his face that he was actually sparkling. It was an image that no one there had ever seen on him before.

For a moment, he almost seemed… happy.

And then his nerves were triggered again by the fact that everyone was staring at him, and his expression dropped to one of lethargic impassivity again.

"What?"

Raynare snapped out of her stunned silence first. "Ignoring your little black out, that's not what I mean, idiot! There's no way you met her in person!"

"You're just mad 'cause you're down to a six point four."

"I. You. Wait, down?!"

He was not at all perturbed or alarmed by the spear of light that was now pointed at his chest. "You've really been letting yourself go this past month."

"That's it!"

Before Raynare could act on her semi-justified rage, they were interrupted by the heavy sound of Viser being stopped mid charge by Koneko literally dropkicking the monster that was roughly ten times her size and fifty times her physical mass.

"While I do sympathize with you when it comes to Issei's behavior, could you by chance save it for after we are done killing the stray?" Rias asked politely, though it was clear that she was starting to get irritated with Issei's mouth as well. "And Issei, can you please stop antagonizing everyone?"

The two non-devils had completely different reactions to her request. While Raynare grimaced and settled for glaring at everyone there, Issei curiously just looked around genuinely confused, as if he was a small child that didn't know what he did wrong.

"GYAAAAAAAAHHH!" Viser, on the other hand, didn't seem to be distracted at all as she thrashed at Koneko viciously, clearly intending to tear apart the little girl with the twisted human arms that were part of the warped torso her normal human one was sticking out of, but missing each time as the small target evaded each swipe.

"Switch!"

In a brief flash that Raynare couldn't follow, Kiba bolted forward, armed with a sharp but otherwise unremarkable longsword, and sliced off one of Viser's titanic arms without any trouble.

"So cool." Gasper gaped in awe as Koneko and Kiba double teamed the stray with almost casual ease. The two almost appeared to be dancing around the monster instead of fighting it.

"Mmm. With Koneko's strength and Kiba's speed, Viser is no threat at all." Rias smiled. "You see Gasper? There's no need to worry. We're all pretty strong. We can protect you."

The redhead shot Issei a look to see his reaction on the fight, but to her disappointment, the human looked bored, struggling to pay attention at that.

Well then, if he wanted something flashy, she'd give it to him.

"Akeno. It's your turn."

"Ara? Really? You're not giving me much to work with Rias." The Queen pouted as she sauntered up to the cut, beaten, and exhausted Viser.

"You brats! I'll eat all of you! Your flesh and power will make me stronger and more beautiful!" The monster hissed. Her once elegant and tempting image had changed to that of a malformed human piranha hybrid, with her face elongating and stretching out to degrees that it looked like her skin would split, and her mouth was full of jagged sharp teeth.

Issei deadpanned. He knew beauty was subjective, but did this lady look in a mirror lately? Everyone remotely aware of devil kind knew that the ones that go mad and binge eat raw flesh wind up looking like shit in the end.

Aaah. He should have just gone back home. He still had his quota of porn to finish and tomorrow night is the deadline. This was going to be such a pain. Why did he have to open his big mouth earlier?

Crack. Crack. BANG!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAH?!" Viser lit up like a Christmas tree as Akeno manifested a pillar of electricity above her target and proceeded to perpetually electrocute her.

"Why is she wasting her time like that?" Raynare frowned. "She's a Fallen. She should just use some holy magic to finish the beast off."

"Ufufufufufu. That's right. Squirm and scream for me."

Issei, Raynare, and Gasper slowly turned to look at Akeno as she took pleasure in the suffering of Viser.

"I so fucking called it." Issei muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Total yandere psycho killer."

"She's not a psycho killer." Rias rolled her eyes while at the same time trying to comfort the now terrified Gasper. "Akeno's just an extreme sadist."

"A sloppy one." Raynare deadpanned, watching Akeno electrocute the hell out of the area. At this point she was more impressed that Viser was still able to scream so much. "There are plenty of people like her among the Fallen, but most of us at least know not to waste so much power just to get off on grandstanding. It's embarrassing. She's not even letting the monster realize that she's enjoying its suffering. That's practically half of the basics of sadism."

Issei nodded, holding up a score card. "I agree. Total amateur. No self-control or elegance in her presentation. She doesn't even look nearly as aroused as she sounds. Two point six out of ten. A complete failure of a performance."

"You know, I can hear you." Akeno turned just enough to give the pair a slightly annoyed look.

"Good! Learn from our critiques so you can clean up your act! You're giving sadists a bad name! No one would be aroused or masturbate to a shit performance like this!" Issei stood his ground without any shame.

"How would he even know what a good sadist looks like?" Koneko asked.

"Extreme porn addict." Raynare reminded her.

"Would you like my list of the top ten of all time, or merely the top ten currently still active? I assure you, my selection is quite diverse and expands multiple demographics. Quality does not discriminate."

"Oh. Right. Pervert." Koneko deadpanned.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Isn't being called a sadist a bad thing to begin with?" Gasper wondered out loud.

"It depends who you ask." Kiba evaded the question. As far as he knew though, most people would say yes, being a sadist is indeed bad.

"Seriously, do you guys want my lists or not?"

The conversation didn't seem to help Akeno's mood if the increasing size of her attacks were anything to go by.

Despite claiming that Akeno's performance as a sadist was utter trash, Issei watched the light show with mild interest.

He was pretty certain of it now. He knew, or should know of Akeno somehow. He was sure that he had heard her name somewhere before when they were first introduced. Almost as if hearing her name caused an itch in the back of his head.

Or, it as if someone was screaming a foot away from the back of his skull that he was an idiot for not knowing something obvious.

It couldn't be Ddraig. He didn't care about anyone or anything that wasn't at least somewhat powerful or important in the grand scheme of things.

He should get his seal checked soon. Ghost might be waking up.

Watching her lightning attack also reminded him of something that he felt should be fairly important and know pretty well.

The problem was though, he never really made friends around his age. Ever since he had awakened his Sacred Gears, the number of people he had actually gotten along with around his age could be counted on one hand with fingers to spare.

And they were both guys.

So why did he feel as if he should know her?

Was it her oppai?

No. No he was pretty sure he had not seen Akeno's rather impressive oppai before.

He never forgot a pair of oppai once they caught his attention.

Ever.

If they did meet, if ever, it would have been over five years ago at least, when they were both entering their teens. She was only a year older than him, and while he was a purveyor of many goods, he had never looked at a pair of breasts in that young age range unless the circumstances were… less than fortunate.

Just another reminder that the world was a cruel place.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was a Fallen? No, he never met any kid Fallen. He didn't really spend that much time with any when he was younger except for…

"Akeno! That's enough!" Rias snapped, interrupting his train of thought. "You're going overboard, even for you. She's not even screaming anymore."

"Oh? Oh my." The Queen bashfully flushed in embarrassment and stopped her attack. "I guess I got too caught up in my fun. My mistake."

"She wasn't even enjoying it. What a child. She just likes the power trip and venting frustration." Raynare snorted. Everyone ignored her, not that she cared. This whole trip was disappointing. She didn't even feel like killing this weakling.

"Ah. Ah. Hah." Viser twitched on the ground. Her entire body was covered in burns and scrapes from the endless attacks. There was not a single part of her that wasn't unmarred. It was a miracle that she was still breathing, let alone conscious.

A faint scent reached Issei's nose, his eyes narrowed by the smallest margins.

For the briefest of moments, he had almost lost control over himself.

That smell… it was something that should not be around anymore.

"Oi. Partner…" Ddraig muttered from his left hand, making sure that he was only heard by Issei.

"I know."

"Hm?" Rias looked at Issei confused. "Did you say something?"

"Just talking to myself. I'm a shut in. We do that sometimes." He shrugged as if what he admitted wasn't a problem in the slightest, though if anyone bothered to pay attention, they'd notice that his voice was slightly stronger than it was before. "So I guess it's your turn to try and show off?"

"Do you have to be so rude?" She confronted him, finally reaching her limit on how many insults she and her peerage could take.

"Do you have to feel like you have to prove something to me?" He countered with his own question. The entire time his body was lax and his lethargic expression seemed to sap energy out of anyone that looked at him too long.

Rias stiffened as if she had been electrocuted by Akeno.

"I get it. You're rich and a high class devil from a well off family and you're not a complete incompetent stooge. It doesn't change the fact that you're young, inexperienced, and still in school. So is your peerage. Stop trying to be an adult. You're just embarrassing yourself trying to show off like this."

It was ironic. This was one of the first things Issei had ever said to her that wasn't scathingly sarcastic or crude in any way, yet it still hurt her pride far more than any of those rude remarks by a wide margin.

"I don't know why anyone would want to try and impress you to begin with. If anything, they should be trying to kill you." Raynare whimsically added her two cents. Personally, she wouldn't mind if they did. Worst case scenario is that one of them dies. Best is they both do. She won either way.

"What do you mean by that?" Rias asked confused.

The Fallen smirked in a mocking "I know something you don't" way. "Ask him?"

"Hey. The not dead yet one is eating something." Issei pointed to something behind Rias, clearly not paying attention to either of them at all.

Indeed. While everyone had written off the twitching body of Viser as something almost akin to a corpse, it was still a corpse that could move, see, listen, and eat.

And she was indeed eating something if the hands around her mouth were any indication, allowing an odd pale green substance to leak between her fingers…

"What is that?" Kiba frowned, not liking this new development.

"It smells funny." Koneko agreed.

"Ara? I must have been remiss in my punishment." Akeno took a step forward, electricity arcing around her body. "I'll make sure to-?!"

The Queen was interrupted as one of Viser's massive charred arms shot out and backhanded her through a wall without warning.

"AKENO!" The Devils shouted.

"Whoa." Raynare blinked in surprise, more out of the fact that the monster was still able to move more than anything.

Surprisingly, Issei didn't say anything. Akeno was a Queen. Even if she was weak as hell, which he somewhat doubted, she should be able to tank at least that much damage. He was more interested in Viser.

"Kill. You." The monstrous woman's body began to writhe and spasm as her muscles and bones shifted and mutated irregularly. The power in her frame was increasing tremendously to the point that everyone could see the sick green aura hovering all around her. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU! YOU'LL ALL BE DYIED RED LIKE THAT SCARLET WHORE'S HAIR WHEN I'M DONE EATING YOU!"

Mutated hands burst out of her already twisted body and lunged for the teens, forcing them all to jump away.

"Waaah?!" Most of them at least. Rias had to drag Gasper along with her. "What's going on?!"

"Sorry Gasper. We made a mistake." The redhead grimaced as she retreated away from the tsunami of hands. "We let our guard down. Viser looks like she's taken some sort of drug. This might be tougher than we thought."

"Since when could drugs do that?!" Raynare balked. She was not a veteran, but she had seen and heard of her own fair share of fights. Not once had she heard of a substance that could turn a weak devil into something this overwhelming.

"There have been rumors of a new substance in the black market." Rias recalled something she heard in passing. The Devil Government and security forces have been trying to keep it quiet for the past few years, but the problem was starting to grow large enough that it was it was too difficult to contain anymore. "It throws Devils and Fallen into a wild frenzy. Numbs them to pain, magnifies pleasure, throws their mind into insanity, and causes their bodies to produce higher levels of energy than they normally would."

"Big M. Harley Quinn. Neverland. Emerald City." Issei cut in, causing many to look at him in surprise. He had finally abandoned his lackluster look for one of cold annoyance. "A symptom that frequent users have is varicose veins, and turning a sick green color. It's mostly used in the illegal slave trade. Both on humans and non-humans, but it has an absurdly strong effect on the latter due to its unnaturally strong reaction to magical energy. In small but constant doses, its effects on the mind are comparable to LSD only with a significantly stronger impact on the user's nerves. Lots of its names come from that. It's only when someone takes it in massive doses that a twisted reaction like this happens. The overflowing surge of magical power in Demons in particular tends to cause most to mutate like this due to how unstable unchecked Demonic energies can be…"

He heard of it in passing, but he never thought that it was actually… that that bitch went through and…

"Weaknesses?!" Kiba shouted as he slashed away oncoming limbs at a high speed, but doing so seemed to do next to nothing. If anything, judging from the moans and insane laughing he was hearing, Viser was getting off on the pain.

"Same with any drug user. Wait for them to crash. Using up this much power so quickly leaves most low level Demons literally emaciated. Then again, the effects have been known to last for at least half an hour. I don't think you'd last that long." Issei shrugged. "Outside of that, their cognitive functions are shot like most heavy drug users. Hallucinations are almost guaranteed at this point."

Crack. Crack. BANG!

A bolt of electricity shot out from the side and lit up Viser brightly.

The monster moaned in pure ecstasy before turning her attention to her new attacker and launching an assault in Akeno's direction too.

"When overdosing, drug pretty much causes the brain's VTA to generate dopamine at an insane rate to the point that the entire organ is practically drowning in it. That includes that Thalmus and Sensory Cortex." He continued, his voice dead even and clinical.

"Meaning?" Raynare skeptically asked. Unlike the others, she had some idea of how smart Issei really was, but this was the first time he was actually using his head.

WHAM! Half the side of the building they were next to was torn away from Viser counter attack on Koneko, throwing her through the structure and the one behind it if the sounds were anything to go by. A good number of her mutated hands were scratched up and scarred from the metal she had clawed away at, but the only sound coming from the monster's mouth was one of pleasure and rage.

Up to the side, they saw Akeno flying away from where she had almost been killed. She was no longer smiling, and her uniform was torn up to the point that everyone could see her bra and panties.

Black, obviously, and all lace. No support at all for her impressive chest. How irresponsible. That wasn't healthy. How could she take such little care of her oppai? They must be crying in pain from the lack of security.

"Bottom line? It's what the Weeb said earlier. She can't feel pain, everything makes her feel extreme pleasure, she has a massive energy boost that is literally warping her body into an even greater abomination than before, and her mind is so far gone that there's no real point in talking to her." Issei summed up as Viser turned her attention to them again.

A wave of power that didn't originate from the monster flooded the area, causing everyone to turn to Rias.

The Gremory was surrounded by vicious crimson and black energy, forcing Gasper back. Even if the oppressive power wasn't enough to cause others to keep their distance, the irritated look she had would make up for it.

"Power of Destruction?" Raynare hissed, bracing herself against the sudden surge, unprepared for the new development.

Issei had seen the trademark power of the Bael family before several times. It was a rather scary ability on paper, said to be able to rend apart anything it came in contact with. He could feel his skin and nerves being eaten away just by being exposed to the dregs.

"I've had enough of you Viser. To think you'd fall even further than that of a Stray Devil. Death is a mercy." Rias lifted up a hand and manifested a crimson and ebony charge of death before discharging it ruthlessly.

It was a bit of a letdown in his opinion. The girl was all raw force and no control. "Magic that could destroy" instead of "destruction itself in the form of magic".

Sirzechs on the other hand, even the monsters in his arms acknowledged Lucifer's abilities.

In fact, if his guess was right…

With a chaotic roar, the black and red power stormed forward and crashed into Viser's hands, marring and pushing the waves of flesh relentlessly, but running out of steam far too soon to do any damage to Viser herself.

"AAAAANH!" Instead of pain from her flesh being torn apart, the mad Devil merely glowed in ecstasy, her normal sized arms at her sides and the new ones she spouted reaching to all eight of the breasts on her front and fondling them vicious- wait why the hell did she spawn more breasts too?!

"No!" Issei snapped at Viser, causing everyone to jump in surprise and finally breaking out of his bored and impassive mood. "Those are poor excuses for oppai! Do it again! Do it right! You aren't even fondling yourself correctly and why are there magic circles around your nipples?"

What came next could only be described as automatic rapid fire lactation with acidic rounds.

Everyone had to jump away in order to avoid getting hit.

Except Issei.

He was simply standing there with one eye twitching rampantly. Apparently Viser took no notice of him since he didn't really do anything except yell, instead focusing on the Devils that had been fighting her this entire time.

"Issei!" Rias shouted in alarm as she took Gasper to a safer location.

"Her oppai, and fondling, but acid, and screaming, and why? Why do my eyes and heart hurt so from watching this?"

He seemed to be in a completely different world now, with his brain seemingly shut down due to witnessing what could only be described as sacrilege to all things oppai, stuck in place with his finger still pointing accusingly at the monster, and literally crying tears of blood in heartfelt agony.

"AAAAANAHAHAHAHAHA!" Viser gloated and moaned at the same time, viciously masturbating her chest to the point that she was drawing blood in order to fire more breast milk acid at her targets.

"I don't know what's more stupid!" Raynare shouted as she took cover behind a wall. "This dumb bitch shooting acid breast milk, the jackass just standing there, or the fact that she's completely ignoring him! What the hell is it with this place?!"

"We have to get in closer somehow." Rias grimaced as she moved away from her gradually melting barrier. "Kiba! Akeno! Koneko! Distract her!"

"Right!" The three bolted away from their defensive positions in opposite directions, using their enhanced speed to attack Viser and spread her attention.

It didn't work.

With another orgasmic moan, Viser's body erupted in more twisted limbs in all directions, even as she was being electrocuted by Akeno.

Reaching out like a mad beast, the claws latched onto not only the distractions, but plowed into the walls that everyone else was hiding behind as well. It was only due to quick reactions that Rias managed to push Gasper to safety before she and Raynare were ensnared like everyone else.

And of course, it goes without saying, Issei was caught as well. The jolt and sudden physical contact seemed to be enough to snap him out of his mistreated oppai funk.

"Aha! AHAHA! I did it! I caught all of you! Even Gremory!" Viser cheered in blissful glee. "Tonight I'll feast! I'll be full for the first time in months!"

"Aaaanh." Akeno struggled against the hand that held her, tearing up her clothes in the process. Still, for some reason, from an outside perspective it looked like she wasn't trying that hard and was getting off on it.

"Nnngh!" Rias looked far less pleased than Akeno did, though her clothes also got torn in the process.

"Mmmm!" Koneko, due to her strength, got the special treatment and was held by three hands, rendering her completely immobile.

"Damn it!" Kiba had as much luck with the single hand around him.

"Fucking bitch!" Raynare struggled viciously. Her attire was falling apart just as easily as Rias' and Akeno's. "Just one shot! That's all I need to put her down! Fucking Devils!"

"Rias!" Gasper shouted in utter terror and alarm, his alabaster skin now a pale chalk white. It was just him now. Viser got everyone else. She got Rias. Akeno. Kiba. She even has…

"Oi. Mutant dog oppai molester. Let me go. Now."

Oh. Right.

She has Issei.

Everyone paused at the new voice. Rather, it was the voice of someone that had been talking the entire time, but now it held a significant amount of murderous intent behind it. Enough that even the delirious Viser could pick it up.

Issei didn't like being touched.

"Hooh?" Viser seemed to only be able to tell that he was there in the first place and not that he was dangerous. The hand that held him brought him close, and she sniffed him. "Mmm. You smell delectable. So meaty. You're going to be delicious. I think I'll have you first."

There was a small flash of green, then red under the fingers that enveloped him, and Viser's ring finger exploded in a mess of bone, blood, and flesh.

Correction. Issei really didn't like being touched.

"Magic?" Most of the Devils thought confused. While it was possible to use subtly, it was rarely heard of to do something this drastic while restrained like they were.

For the first time since she took the drugs, Viser felt pain.

"GHAAAAAAAAAAA?!"

It was only a finger. It was nothing compared to the damage she sustained earlier from Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko, and she was hopped up on enough mind numbing drugs that her body had mutated to sickening levels…

So why? Why was her bloodcurdling scream even more agonizing and desperate than anything she had made before?

No. Even before that, why did it hurt in the first place? She was hopped up on enough drugs that Akeno's lightning running through her entire body forced her into a monumental orgasm. It shouldn't be physically possible for what he did to do anything more than cause her more pleasure.

"You little HUMAN BASTARD!"

Instead of following his request, Viser instead slammed him head first into the ground multiple times viciously, as if tenderizing his body.

No one noticed the brief flash of red just as she wound up for the first impact.

For what seemed like minutes, the area was occupied with the rhythmic thumping of a human boy slammed on the ground ruthlessly, cracking the concrete and asphalt with ease.

"Eh. Ehehehehhhh. I prefer my meals somewhat fresh, but I will have to do with this." Satisfied with his treatment, the mad beast grinned viciously as the area under her human waist opened up like a jagged mouth turned sideways, revealing a sick, fanged, bony cavern of death. The thick and disgusting looking pale green fluid that almost resembled pus dripped from the opening and onto the ground, hissing as it ate away at the cement as easily as her acidic breast milk.

Another flash of red and green.

Viser's pinky finger literally exploded in blood, bone and gore.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGH?!" Again, the beast hollered to the heavens, loud enough that it shattered what little intact glass remained in the area, and harsh enough that everyone saw blood spewing from her mouth.

Even if she wasn't hopped up on drugs, the Devils and Fallen could tell that the monster's agony was not normal or natural.

Finger by finger.

He wasn't fighting her.

He was torturing her.

From her perspective, Rias could spot that his left arm had changed, but all the blood and gore sticking to the teen masked what it was exactly. She could spot a hint of green, and that the shape of his limb had altered to become slightly bigger. Was it a Sacred Gear?

"I won't ask again." His tone was as cold as a tundra. Any of the immature wit and energy he had earlier was dead as far as he was concerned.

Issei didn't so much as look flustered from his state. Covered in blood and dirt, his clothes torn up, and being mistreated so violently. He was used to all of that.

What bothered him the most, was that the monster was still touching him.

He didn't notice, or care for that matter, but Rias' peerage were making significant alterations to their thoughts and impressions of him from this.

"You! YOU LITTLE FREAK! HOW DARE YOU HURT ME!? YOU SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HURT ME!" Viser shrieked in a concoction of rage, fear, confusion and incredulation. It was impossible. She wasn't supposed to hurt with this much of the drug in her. No one was supposed to be hurt when on it. Even if she was killed, she was supposed to feel good, like she deserved. It didn't make sense.

She couldn't crush him. But she could kill him another way.

Without saying anything, the monster's mutilated arm jabbed itself straight for her lower cavernous mouth.

"I warned y-wait, those aren't intestinal organs, those are OH SHIT SHE'S SHOVING ME IN HER-!"

Crunch. The twisted maw closed in on him with a sickening sound.

"Issei!" Several shouted in alarm.

"That dumbass. He can't get his mind out of the gutter for five seconds, can he?" Raynare wasn't one of them. She was the only one that was more interested in what happened next. She knew he was fine. Or at least, should be. If he was a normal human, he wouldn't have been alive after being thrown against the ground like that. Let alone talking.

"Hahaha! Mmmm! Delicious! A bit tough, but that human is without a doubt prime meat! I think I even taste a hint of Dragon in him too! How wonderful!" Viser gloated, the pain in her hand already gone as her drugged mind adapted to whatever Issei had done to her. Soon enough, she turned her attention to Rias next. "Ah! But of course, the main treat of the night is you Gremory! It's not often I get to taste the Higher class! I wonder if you'll be any different than your slaves! Oh! If you are, then it would be a waste if I had you first! I suppose that means I'll have one of the others next!"

The Devils and Raynare struggled futilely against their bindings to no avail. Neither had the strength or the freedom to focus enough to cast magic needed to escape.

The only one free was Gasper, who was watching in horror from a distance as the only people close to him were about to be killed.

"No." He tried hard not to cry as he sunk to his knees. "No. I don't want this…"

"I know I have to leave sometime. But outside is scary, and Rias is strong. She doesn't need me. No one does."

"I just came out to watch. I can't help. I'm weak."

"You're right. You're weak, and she's strong, well, stronger than you at least. But sooner or later that idiot's going to bite off more than she can chew. She's the type that will let her pride beat her common sense at the worst times. And when that happens, she's going to need all the help she can get. Maybe yours. Maybe someone else's, but she will need help eventually, or she's going to lose something important."

"I can't do anything." His shivering increased massively. "If Issei-sempai can't win…"

"Why did you come outside? You're more scared of everything than I am."

"Same reason you should. Money, property and valuables. Anyone can get those from their bedrooms. It's easy if you know how everything works. The things that matter though, the things that support you in your head and heart, make you who you are… those tend to be ones that you can't control, things that can go away if you're not careful. It's hard to find more of those, even if you try to look for them."

"Go away?"

"… I… I've let enough things leave. Not all of it was my fault, but in the end, I didn't even try to hold onto anything. I, gave up. I hid. Before I knew it, I saw that I barely had anything left that I care about anymore. Things that were already falling apart. To just hide away while anymore of them left, that was the same as just standing by and doing nothing. All this fucking power and potential, I tried to put it to good use, to help people, but in the end it was pointless. No, I never liked it much in the first place. I never cared about power or money or any of that bullshit. It all fell apart anyways. And now? It's all I have left to keep what little I have left. As much as I hate it, it'll still be useless if I just sat around and did nothing. A shameful and disgusting waste that everyone makes too much of a big fucking deal about."

Standing by and doing nothing. Just like what he was doing now.

Issei looked at Gasper with a pained and bitter smile.

"Being me sucks. It's torture. It used to be fun, but now… Take it from someone who doesn't have much anymore. You still have a lot to hold onto. You still have a chance to get better. Please."

The small boy in girl's clothing grimaced, mustering the strength to push past his fear and stand up again.

"Don't be me."

His fists tightened. He watched from a distance as Viser slowly began to move Kiba to her unholy maw…

"… Dio."

It was funny how a single word could ruin a moment.

"My name. IS. GASPER!"

The dhampir's pupils warped, turning crimson red with a burning white core. It was the sign that he was using his Sacred Gear, Forbidden Balor View.

Viser and Kiba were frozen still.

"Eh?" Rias, Akeno, Raynare, and Koneko blinked in confusion as the hands that were holding them went stiff.

"I can't hold her for long! Hurry up!" The Bishop shouted, trying his absolute hardest to keep the girls outside of his peripheral vision.

Right now he only knew two ways his Sacred Gear worked. The first happened if he was in a panicked state. Essentially he stopped time for a few seconds for everyone around him. It didn't work on really strong people like Sirzechs, but it did affect most.

He absolutely refused to refer to it as "The World", regardless of how horrifyingly similar it was to that famous power.

The second was Forbidden Balor View's more well-known effect, where he could stop time on everything within his line of sight. This was an active power that he had to focus to use, and was something he never got the hang of.

Even now he could feel his control slipping. This was the most successful attempt he had made, and by the looks of things he'd be lucky if he lasted ten seconds.

"Right!"

Now that they weren't being crushed to death, or fondled, the girls could focus their strength and magic to free themselves. Koneko needed a bit of extra help, but she managed to get free in the end just in time to get some distance before Gasper finally lost control over his eyes and powers, looking away and falling to his knees again exhausted.

No one noticed the odd green glow that was pulsing from Viser's stomach.

"Huh?!" The monster blinked in confusion as she came to and noticed that her captives other than Kiba were free. "What?!"

"Viser! Let Kiba go and we will make your death a quick one!" Rias yelled, her patience long gone as she flew above her target, magic primed alongside Akeno and Raynare.

"Ara. I agree. While I am fond of drawing these things out, I admit I've lost my interest in this debacle as well." Akeno smiled, but her eyes were murderously cold and lightning arched around her malevolently.

"You two already had your turn. I need to vent some stress too." Raynare conjured up several holy spears around her. As powerful as Rias and Akeno were, Viser was a devil, and holy energy was a death sentence to a weak one like her.

"Mmm." Koneko just settled for cracking her knuckles.

Viser merely looked up with blurred eyes, almost as if she wasn't even looking at them in the first place.

"Ah? Aha! Ahahaha! So that's how it is then?! Nothing has changed! Nothing nothing nothing NOTHING!" She burst out into hysterical laughter. "If nothing will change for me, then at the very least, I'LL CHANGE SOMETHING OF YOURS!"

Before anyone could react, the monster's hands holding Kiba clenched tightly and making him scream in pain. With a mighty gesture, she lifted him up, no doubt ready to crush him on the hard ground.

"Oi. Monster drug bitch. A bit of trivia."

A tremendous wave of murderous intent flooded everyone's senses, paralyzing even the delirious Viser.

Accompanying the horrifying sensation was a vivid and viciously sick green glow coming from the opening that had consumed Issei.

"He's still alive?" Akeno blinked in genuine surprise. The voice that had caught everyone's attention was clearly his, but at the same time, someone else's. The tone and pitch were the same, but everything "human" and "immature" about it was replaced with something, that, well, was clearly far more terrifying.

"The words "I'm a medic" are synonymous with the words "I know how to fuck with your insides"."

Something inside Viser's stomach lurched. Just a tiny bit. It was barely noticeable.

"I'm fucking you."

The monster turned bone white.

"Start screaming."

Viser screamed.

It was incomparable to when she was being electrocuted by Akeno, or when Issei broke her fingers earlier.

What everyone was listening to now was the sound of someone screaming for death, of someone that was undergoing torture that they were unused to, unprepared for, and incapable of withstanding even when hopped up on drugs that were meant to prevent her from feeling pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH?!" Every warped limb of Viser's went sporadic, thrashing everywhere in every direction, scratching at every inch of flesh she had in an attempt to do away with any and every part of her body that she felt was agonizing her being.

With the number of hands she had available, she had soon rent herself so badly that it was harder to find a patch of skin that wasn't marred than one that was intact.

Kiba was launched into the distance in the midst of the flailing, but due to the fact that he was a Devil and was in solid physical shape, he recovered relatively quickly.

"Now! Focus on the top half!" Rias shouted, unleashing her power of destruction at Viser in a colossal wave.

"Right!" Akeno and Raynare followed through with their attacks, blasting back the overly mutated body of their enemy in the process with no remorse and drowning out Viser's screaming in the process.

The combined attack was nothing short of pure chaos. An irregular and unnatural mix of lightning, holy energy, and destruction given corporal form all unstably assaulting a single target. Viser was not defeated as she was butchered. What was left of her body was sent flying back with enough force that the building that the monster crashed into collapsed almost as soon as it was hit.

"Did we do it?" Koneko asked, feeling slightly useless since she had no real long ranged attacks.

"I don't feel anything." Rias didn't confirm anything yet. She had already let her confidence get the better of her once tonight.

"What about Issei-kun?" Akeno spoke up, seeing what remained in Viser's body slowly come into view. She was not the only one that was surprised to find out that he had survived being eaten earlier, and his actions just now made finishing off their enemy far easier than it should have been.

… Plus, truth be told, she was slightly turned on by what he did and how he talked in the end. His tone at the end, and those screams Viser made, mmm…

"He should be fine." Raynare flew down, far more confident about Viser's death than the others. A random nameless Devil surviving a direct hit against the Power of Destruction and multiple Holy Spears? Yeah. No. The bitch was dead.

Looking down, she saw the twisted and mutilated carcass lying among the rubble. There was no head or upper body to be seen, and what was left looked like it had been tenderized and burned at the same time. It wasn't moving in the…

What was assumed to be the front of the beast suddenly lurched as a hand covered in green magic speared through as if she was watching one of those Alien movies.

Ok. Aside from Issei being disgusting, the body wasn't moving.

Ripley would be proud.

"Issei!" Rias came down just as he managed to pull him free of the cadaver. "Are you… ok?"

"Ara? Oh my. It looks like the rumors had some truth to them after all." Akeno smiled saucily, clearly liking what she saw.

The reason for her pause was understandable. He was naked and covered in bodily fluids after all.

No wonder Viser was constantly going on about him being meaty.

"Hmm. Not bad. Shame it's attached to an idiot." Raynare admitted honestly, taking in the sights.

The only form of clothing he had on him anymore was the white and blue holy cloth that was wrapped around his right arm up to his elbow.

On the plus side, he wasn't that bad looking. His baggy clothing hid the fact that he was actually in pretty good shape with a lithe frame and pronounced muscles. It wasn't overkill, but he certainly looked like he could handle his own if he had to fight.

And while being covered in a monster's bodily fluids was disgusting, the wet sheen that it gave his body made all his physical features stand out in a very noticeable way that none of the females there would argue against.

Still, it was a bit distracting when the fluids dripping off of him were eating at the ground by his feet.

Staggering and swaying as he got back to his feet, the teen human glared at everyone there.

"I was just man handled by a monster, used as what was essentially the world's largest consumable dildo like I was in some sort of two bit horror vore hentai, spent five minutes in by far the fourth most disgusting vagina of all time. Then, because someone apparently didn't think things through, I was electrocuted in said vagina, reclassifying me as the world's largest consumable vibrator. I finish it all up with reverse c-sectioning myself out of said uterus based prison. So no, I'm not sure I am ok right now."

It took a moment for anyone to come up with a reasonable reaction to that.

Akeno looked away embarrassed at the electrocuted comment. In hindsight, shocking an opponent that had an ally inside of her was probably not the greatest of ideas.

Rias grimaced at the rant. He did raise some valid points and, wait what was that about being an edible dildo? Viser ate him, she didn't… oh… oooooh.

Suddenly the vagina parts of his rant made much more sense.

Then that means that the acidic looking fluid all over him was actually…

"You're naked too." Koneko flatly pointed out, though no one missed the faint blush on her cheeks and the fact that she was trying to avoid looking at him.

He threw his arms up in the air in frustration, not at all bothering to try and cover himself, which in hindsight was surprising considering just how much he hated being the focus of multiple people.

And now he, an enochlophobe, is going to have to run across town with his scrotum flying in the wind for all to see just to get a pair of pants. Then tomorrow, he'll have to talk to the enabler about buying a new overpriced piece of shit uniform because why the fuck not? He wasn't fine, he was fucking fantastic.

"This is the Cerberus incident with Vali all over again! You let the novices do what they want because, hey, they look like they know what they're doing, why not humor them a bit? The next thing you know, you're bare assing it back to your house and praying your magic will ensure that your photo won't be all over the internet by the end of the day!"

"We're not novices." Koneko frowned.

"No. You're kids pretending to be adults." He snapped back irritably, with more emotion and heat than he had ever expressed since he met them. "If Dio or I weren't here, which was by sheer coincidence by the way, you lot would have been offed because you had no idea what the hell you were doing once things got just a little bit difficult. I came here expecting that I wouldn't have to do anything. Worst case scenario coming here was that the Cougar would simply cheap shot the thing from a distance, she'd get an ego boost and be slightly insufferable for a while, and we'd call it a day. But no, despite supposedly having more real world experience than you combined, she's just as bad as you guys! One thing goes unexpected, and you all fall apart like a house of cards!"

"My name is Gasper." The words came out of the crossdresser's mouth before he even thought about it. It was quickly becoming a habit that he had no control over.

Judging from her expression, Raynare didn't appreciate having her competency put into question.

"You should look at a mirror." Kiba interjected, finally arriving on site after being thrown. "You were distracted and in more danger than all of us. If anyone was sloppy, it's you."

"I can afford to be sloppy because I am not weak." Issei coldly countered. "I was more useful literally being shoved inside that thing's fanged cunt than you were swinging your shiny stick around the entire time. Oh, and just a reminder, I wasn't supposed to do any fighting in the first place. You were supposed to handle this easily by yourselves."

His words had stabbed deep into the chests of all the Devils there. Issei was right. He was supposed to just stand by and watch them work. They were supposed to prove how competent they were. Instead they nearly all got killed.

"No." A small, traitorous voice in the back of his head whispered. "You were sloppy. Again. You were careless, again. You didn't care. You have no one to blame but yourself. And because of that, you were…"

Issei clenched his teeth desperately. No. Don't go down that path. You were just surprised that you were eaten by a fanged vagina instead of a normal oddly placed mouth. Stay angry. Focus on them. Don't try and make connections that aren't there. Don't try to remember something that will only make things worse…

But what about the drug? Why is it still here? It shouldn't be around anymore.

"Oh my. Not bad for a kid. Then again, you are a dragon. I might enjoy this after all…"

"A knight that's fast and a swordsman. A rook that can tank and hit hard. A queen that's a one trick pony. A bishop that's so emotionally distraught he's almost like me, and a King with a potent ability but makes no effort to manage or improve the ones underneath her. Congratulations. Other than Dio, you're all so mediocre it literally hurts. Me in particular. See the acid cooch juice and electrical burn marks? I'm literally half an industrial battery at this point. No, you're less than mediocre because there's only five of you. You are literally less than a third of a normal peerage." Issei continued to tear them apart, cradling his head and groaning loudly to himself more than his audience. "AaaaaaAAAAAH! This is exactly like Vali all fucking over again! Fuck you Sirzechs! You knew this was going to happen! You knew I was going to react like this! I swear I'm going to kick your ass if you show up in front of me!"

Rias held her tongue at the dressing down she was receiving. Never had anyone ever talked down to her and her peerage like that before. She had been insulted yes, but being treated as an incompetent child that didn't know anything, that her lineage, intelligence, powers, peerage, and abilities were absolutely meaningless, was something she had never experienced, and she didn't like it.

Especially so when she knew that she actually deserved it.

Looking around, she had a feeling that her peerage was of a similar opinion.

"What on earth is he talking about?" Akeno asked the others, somewhat concerned that Issei was acting like they weren't even there now.

"No idea." Koneko replied, shifting uncomfortably. If her instincts weren't going haywire, she would have been more than irritated at the human relentlessly putting her family down. "He's working himself up unconsciously. His ki is growing larger and more agitated."

"I'm more surprised that he's actually talking about someone using their real name." Raynare tilted her head to the side in genuine astonishment.

It was understandable. Issei never calls anyone by their real name. He always comes up with some nickname or label for them. Even the teachers at Kuoh weren't exempt from the treatment.

Everyone looked at her for a moment before their eyes widened at once.

"She's right."

"I don't believe it."

"It must be serious."

"Maybe Vali is some other person's actual name too."

"Issei, what are you talking about?" Rias asked warily. "Why are you angry at my brother?"

The frustrated human glared at Rias with renewed intensity. "You! The minions! Cougar! You're all pathetic! If I leave you alone, you're gonna screw up at some point, things will happen, and then worst of all, I'm going to have to cover your asses because I live here! Which means that everyone's going to pay attention to me again and people will start dragging me into their bullshit problems again! No! Fuck that noise!"

All the non-humans there clearly did not appreciate his thoughts on their abilities, but decided not to say anything just yet. It was never a good idea to stop a visibly disturbed person mid-rant.

"Starting next week, you lot are training." He continued, catching them all off guard. "You will show me what you have, and then I will come up with a way that will make you not suck, so then you can leave me the fuck alone. This is non-negotiable. I am not going to be stuck dealing with everyone's bullshit again. Am I understood?"

"Hey. Why the hell am I being forced into this too?" Raynare complained.

She would have said more if a tremendous wave of pure murderous intent washed over everyone there, anchoring them to their spots.

Suddenly they all felt very, very small in front of the angry naked teen dripping in acidic junk juice.

He didn't change physically in the slightest. He didn't generate any power of any kind, utter some curse, or alter reality, but for some reason he simply stood out more than anything else seemingly at will. Almost like everything else became so insignificant compared to him that it became akin to background scenery.

"Because if you don't, I'll tell Azazel to send over someone barely competent that does. Am. I. Understood?"

It was at that moment that Raynare remembered that she had been complaining to a very agitated Sekiryutei, and realized that perhaps maybe, just maybe, some of those rumors about him might actually be true. "R-right. Understood."

He didn't let up whatever he was doing as he glared at each and every person there in the eyes, making sure his point was made before pausing at Gasper. The small dhampir was shaking in terror, unable to look away from him.

It was like a stab to the chest.

"Partner. Calm down. You're pushing yourself too far."Ddraig chided, still hidden from the others.

That reaction. The confused fear. It was all too familiar to him.

His emotions had gotten out of control again.

This always happens. Not even two weeks out of the house and he was already throwing around his Presence around like it was some cheap trick as if he was some novice, scaring everyone into submission just because he didn't like something.

He was supposed to have grown out of this. He was supposed to be better.

He was… supposed to be a lot of things that never did come to pass, now that he thought about it…

Damn.

Closing his eyes, and taking in a deep breath, the oppressive sensation Issei emitted weakened rapidly, almost like deflating a balloon, much to his audience's relief. Almost instantly, the world came back into focus, as if nothing had been altered or twisted in the first place.

"What on earth was that?" Kiba asked, trying to still the minor shaking in his hands. He had never felt something as intense as that before.

"A-ara? That was quite, intense." Akeno shivered, though for reasons even she couldn't specify exactly.

Issei looked like he was going to say something, when he was interrupted by a buzzing sound behind him.

A mechanical buzzing sound.

Inside Viser's body.

It was something intimately familiar with any teenager of the twenty first century. The hum of a cell phone set on vibrate.

Slowly, as if knowing that doing so might cause Issei to explode again, the group turned their attention to the young man.

Issei took in another deep breath. Held it, and exhaled slowly. His posture degraded from something imposing to one of defeat. His stature shrunk, and even the aura he gave off faded into near oblivion.

"I'm going to turn around, crawl back into that cadaver's vagina, grab my cell phone and hopefully my wallet, crawl out of it again, and go home. I am then going to take a long shower and clean myself until I either feel purged of this mess, effectively skin myself, or pass out. Then I will sleep, or watch porn for so long that I will pass out. I will not go to school tomorrow, and probably the day after. Don't talk to me. Don't contact me. Don't even think about me. I am too tired to deal with your problems right now."

The second he opened his eyes, the teen looked like he had aged twenty years, as if he was hiding just how exhausted he was the entire time. Even more unnerving were just how dull and lifeless his gaze, and his expression had become. They were always a bit off looking before, but now they were the textbook definition of haunting.

It was genuinely astonishing that the Issei of twenty seconds ago and the Issei of now were the same person.

Rias, knowing she might be stepping on a land mine, cautiously spoke up. "Will, will you need help getting home? I can arrange a teleportation circle to the academy. It's closer to your house than here."

"I can open a Dragon Gate. I can teleport myself. Thanks for the offer." He dismissed her emotionlessly, turning around and walking to Viser's corpse. Without a single moment to think about what he was doing, the man reached forward and lifted one of the ruined fanged maws that had eaten him just a short time ago, completely ignoring the vile fluids and smells that came from doing so, and looked for his cell phone.

"I see." The redhead reluctantly stepped back. "We'll have to stay to take care of the body and the area so they don't attract attention. Standard procedure."

"Yeah. I know S.O.P." He didn't seem to be paying attention to her, too busy being engulfed in the mutilated carcass. "Found them."

Raynare really wanted to know how the hell his cell and wallet were intact while everything else had been reduced to slop, but she held her tongue. There was a time and place for random questions, and this wasn't it.

"Oi. Weeb." Issei started to walk away from everyone. "Tell your brother that this is his only warning. If he does anything like this again, I won't wait for Vali anymore. He'll know what it means."

With that, the teen made for a nearby alleyway, not at all caring about his lack of clothes or the debris that he had to go over barefooted.

"Oh. And Dio. Good job. You're the only one that wasn't completely useless."

Before anyone could respond, he was already out of sight.

He didn't teleport near them. Each Dragon's Gate had a unique color depending on its user.

It wouldn't take much to connect the dots if they saw his crimson and ebony crest.

o. o. o.

Azazel yawned heavily and glared at his cell phone. He had actually bothered to go to sleep that night, and wasn't too appreciative about being woken up.

His weariness vanished almost instantly the moment he saw who was calling him.

"Well, this is a surprise." He answered it, speaking first. "You rarely call anyone, even when you were more social."

"When were you going to tell me?" Issei was clearly in no mood for games. His tone could be described as barren, but with a coldness that could send chills down anyone's spine.

That was a loaded question if Azazel had ever heard one. "You're going to have to be more specific Issei. We both know I have more than one valid answer for something like that."

"Nee-san's drug." The teen bit out, as if tasting something vile. "Why in the all the hells is it circulating? I thought what I was reading about in the message boards was just some knockoff or imitation, but no. My nose just got nearly plugged with that unmistakable shit while watching some stray idiot downing the stuff like it was candy. You swore that our mistake would not see the light of day or night. It was supposed to be one of the few things you and the Satans did right by me five years ago. Funny how far your words seem to go these days. I'm starting to see a pattern."

The Governor of the Grigori's cocky smile dropped instantly. He had not expected that particular slipup to reach Issei so soon. "Issei-"

"Does she know?" He cut his senior off.

"Kid, we both know that she doesn't work in-"

"Does. She. Know?"

The Fallen sighed. "Yes. She's not too thrilled about it either, but we were all caught off guard when we confirmed it showed up. Don't think I shortchanged you. I was with you when we destroyed all the records for it, remember? Beelzebub and I worked together to wipe it from everyone's minds and all databases. We all agreed that it was bad stuff, even if we could control it."

"And yet it's apparently the latest fucking craze." The dragon wasn't impressed. "We both know there's only one other person other than us and Nee-san that it could be."

"We both know she's untouchable. Otherwise, Sirzechs would have obliterated her by now on sheer principle. If I didn't know you so well, I'd almost assume that he hates her more than you do." Azazel sighed, knowing where this is going, all but confirming the boy's suspicions. He had to speak up soon or else the kid would lose control again. "Issei, do you really want to throw yourself into the spotlight again over this? People have finally forgotten you. You got what you wanted. No one knows who you are anymore."

The silence was damning.

"Ha. Haha. No. No. You're right. Fuck it. Fuck everyone. Let them drown in their stupidity. It's not my problem anymore." The hauntingly whimsical tone Issei had was just as damning. "There's no point in helping. No one wants me anyways, so why should I do anything for the world in the first place?"

"Kid…" Azazel winced. Those words hurt him more than any of his potential assassins over the past century. It was hard to imagine that they came from someone that just a little while ago was someone that could put a smile on anyone's face.

"Thanks Zaz. I'm gonna sleep now… or watch porn. Whatever comes first I guess. Say hi to Nee-san for me… so tired…"

The Governor tried to say something, but was cut off by the click of the other end of the line cutting off.

"Well shit." The others weren't going to like this. And just when they thought they were making progress too.