Chapter 14: Chapter 14
"A week has passed since we started this training." Issei could be seen in front of a pile of headless bodies of magical beasts. Ddraig, knowing that his partner was going to become powerful, made sure to make sure that Issei would be able to fight any type of being. He had experience with beasts and fallen angels, but Ddraig wanted to slowly expand upon this. Rather than aiming for more fallen angels, Ddraig had been directing Issei on a trail to where he had sensed a few stray devils.
It was time for him to become cold and merciless to the devils. The more he fought, the better and more he would be able to predict his opponents. Another thing that Ddraig made sure to do was to make sure that Issei would be able to handle the sight of blood to the point where it was just a regular Monday for Issei. Unlike fallen angels, devils showed blood and remain as corpses when killed off.
"You've done well for now. Take a break, the place where I have brought you to is not the pretties and will require you to be at your best." Ddraig heard Issei sigh in relief and immediately drop down onto the ground. "You will be fighting against the other type of monsters in the supernatural world, the devils."
"I wonder how much more powerful I have become since I have fought against the fallen angels?"
"Not much of an increase, but the training was done to make sure that you would be able to have an easier time being at that level for a little while. Rather than having it as a spark of luck, it would be now just a trump card. I want you to change that to the point where it is just a natural weapon that you can use."
"Understood, what are devils? I have heard the stories through a friend from a long time ago, but I'm guessing not all of them look like Satan himself."
"Oh yeah... I forgot to tell you about them. Basically, they are humans but with wings. I'm pretty sure you know what a peerage is, a group of devils that follow the lead of a king. The devils that you are most likely going to fight against will be the ones that have either escaped their masters or the ones that have killed their masters. Be ready, they show no mercy, nor do they show any sort of pride in battle."
"Understood." Issei remained on the ground, recovering from all the training that he did. Patience is his ultimate weapon, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and quickly end the battle in a second is what he is known for doing.
However, getting back to the other side, Rias Gremory has been sitting down at her desk for a little while. The situation with Riser had died down completely thanks to her brother, Sirzechs. It was bound to happen; her brother was also as desperate as she was to get her out of the arranged marriage that her parents had placed her in. Sirzechs, using his influence, was able to find a way to break this specific arrange marriage. Finding information, using Riser's personality against him, he tired every way of finding pieces to break until he finally was able to temporarily be able to free Rias. However, since Riser's family had been backed down from marriage with Rias, other families have were free to take that position.
"Issei is still missing from school." Akeno had said while giving Rias some papers.
During that time, Rias had been curious about the whereabouts of Issei. It wasn't too hard for her to find the information from the hospital that Issei Hyoudou was released from the hospital not too long ago, several weeks ago. However, the idea of him being able to survive the encounter with a fallen angel was still bizarre. Fallen angels don't leave their jobs unfinished, especially after seeing the abandoned church not too long ago. The dead corpse of a woman in the church still haunted Rias's mind. The lifeless corpse, the hollowed eyes screaming for help, the terrified expression begging to be saved. It all was too much for Rias. She couldn't sleep that night thinking to herself of her failures in saving two human beings.
"Okay." Rias simply answered with.
"Do we contact his parents?"
"No, leave it." Rias stated while reading through the papers. Seeing as though Akeno stayed silent and in front of her, Rias guessed that Akeno was questioning her decision. "Akeno, Issei's decision is his own decision. He doesn't want to come to school, we aren't the ones who have the authority to question his parents. If he knows of the supernatural world, or if he has a sacred gear, angering him by contacting his parents or forcing his parents to tell us will only bring us more harm. I know if my parents were questioned or forced to answer a stranger's question, I would be angered."
Akeno stayed silent before nodding. She shouldn't worry about much. They had a territory to deal with. One problem may have been solved, but another rises to the cause.
She wondered, what was Issei even doing? Hopefully, he wasn't hurt too much from his encounter with the fallen angel.
An explosion occurred, shattering the doors leading into a large building abandoned in the middle of the forest that Issei decided to train in. The explosion itself didn't hurt anything inside, but the sound alerted all those within the building that someone was entering.
"Oh! Another human decides to enter our home." The dark, venomous whisper of a being that was no way a human could be heard by Issei from the ceiling. Issei looked up with an emotionless gaze to see a spider with a deformed woman's upper body: the eyes being placed randomly on her head, her chest being imbalanced, and her arms being slightly uneven with one of them being larger than the other. Issei could only stay silent. Staying slightly outside of the building to make sure that he wouldn't be trapped indoors. He would take the advantage rather than giving the advantage to them.
Seeing as though none of them moved. Issei did the same. Patience is his weapon... Locking eyes, Issei observed the room with his enhanced eyesight, using the boosted gear to enhance his eyes and seeing through the dark to notice another five figures. One of the stray devils, he presumed, looked like a walking tree trunk the size of a garbage truck staying motionless in the back of the building. The other four were on each of the corners, three of them looked similar, being spider women like the first one, but they were only half the size, being the size of a small pick-up truck. The last one looked to be a man that had three of his limbs removed. His eyes seemed to be lifeless and his body on motionless. They must have feasted upon him.
Seeing as though they won't move out of that building, why not take the building down himself. Quickly, Issei launched a small grenade like ball into the building and caused an explosion of great magnitude. Causing for the building to collapse, Issei watched as all the figures had shown themselves to him. Not allowing them to recover, while three of the toppled onto the ground, Issei appeared right in front of the first one nearest to him. Forming an aura blade, something that he worked on, and, rather than stabbing it straight through the heart of the monster, Issei stabbed it into the heart of the monster and, with his other hand, tore the monster apart from the inside out. He wasn't going to take the chance.
He would rip the body apart, taking the brain and the heart out at the same time.
"What?" The tree trunk monster said while backing away, shaking the ground with each step that it took. Issei simply threw came into proximity of the monster, placing his aura blade on the bottom of the monster and allowing for the flame that he created to engulf the monster.
"Wood plus fire equals... you decide." Issei turned his attention to the other monsters. He had enough, placing his hand on the ground and blocking out the agonizing screams of the demon behind him. Blowing up the entire area with his power, Issei killed all of the entities around him.
"Ddraig, are all stray devils this weak?"
"From what I remembered; they are placed in a system. Ranked from weakest to strongest according to letters. You fought some of the weakest devils."
"This was basically useless."
"I was honestly expecting more as well. I'm guessing I found them this easily because they were the only abnormal energy signature in the proximity. Sorry about that, partner."
"No worries, now I know what else to hunt during my travels."
"Well, you can continue doing what you must, partner. I'll take a little break from everything."
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit, best buddy." With that, Ddraig decided to mute himself from Issei. He needed to take a break from all this.
Ddraig was seen sitting down in the boosted gear. Thinking to himself, he turned to see the past users, the ones that had fallen to the curse of the juggernaut drive. He would never have hope for hosts to survive against the curse placed on the gear. However, Issei was different. Ddraig wanted to help Issei. Ddraig wanted to save Issei from the curse. Issei was Ddraig's first friend, someone that he could talk with, someone that Ddraig could tell jokes and speak his mind to. Being as powerful as he was, Ddraig was always alone. Beings feared being near his presence. Years of isolation left Ddraig silent, unjoyful in life, but the sudden appearance of Albion during the Great War had brought in joy... Ddraig had thought that he had found someone who knew what he felt. However, that quickly turned into a battle to the death. Ddraig wanted to show dominance while Albion wanted supremacy. This led into them losing their lives against the father of the factions.
One thing that Ddraig didn't know was that the emotion of his users had also a great impact upon him as well. Over the past couple of days, seeing Issei losing his mind when battling against his greatest opponent, his trauma. However, seeing his partner in such pain. Recalling through Issei's memories, Raynare was her name. She was the one that started it all. It reminded Ddraig of the bloodshed, the unfairness, the cruelty of the world. Over the many centuries, Ddraig had started to become softer, less violent, someone that no one would have thought would be one of the great dragon emperors that caused for the three factions to work together and take down. Not only that, Ddraig had begun losing his joy in life, his partners treating him like a tool was a huge factor in this. However, everything had changed with the introduction of his current partner.
The spark of flame that was once the hatred, anger, and dominance that Ddraig once had during the Great War against everyone, Albion, Father of the Angels, and the factions themselves was reignited once more. He was reminded that the world was becoming a monster. He was reminded that the world was always against him. No matter who he was with, the world will forever hurt him, whether it gave him to a partner that used and abused him as a tool or gave him to a pathetic partner, Issei was his answer out. Issei was someone that Ddraig could influence. Someone that Ddraig to speak with. Issei was someone that Ddraig could call friend because they had one goal in mind.
Rip and tear the supernatural world. Killing all those that will do them wrong. Seeing his partner turn into an evil dragon, Ddraig couldn't help but feel angered. The way that his partner was going to be killed was heartless. Something that he thought no one would stoop down to that level. The words that the fallen women said had angered Ddraig... Ddraig had decided that he and his partner didn't need the world and they will destroy the world together.
The Heavenly Dragon of Domination had finally returned, and domination wasn't the only thing in his mind.
"Issei Hyoudou, thank you for being my very first friend." Ddraig couldn't help but smile upon saying that. The time that he had spent with Issei had been the best time that he spent in thousands of years.
The sensation of having his anger and hatred against the supernatural world being ignited once more and having his first friend. Had awakened something. The motivation that Ddraig had felt finally awakened an ability that Ddraig thought was lost for forever.
Widening his eyes, Ddraig looked upon seeing his arm glowing slightly... His right arm being illuminated by his original power.
"Huh... HAHAHAHA... To think that it only took finding my first friend and my motivation to be back for penetrate to be back with me. Issei... You truly are someone amazing." Ddraig could only smirk while closing his eyes. He couldn't wait to teach his partner this ability. He couldn't wait to see Albion's face when his partner was a prodigy among a prodigy.
"You know this makes me want to train myself." Watching his partner, fighting against Tiamat herself, seeing as though he may have been rusty with some of his moves. What if he fought against Albion again? "If I'm going to make Issei train, so will I."
Getting on his two back legs, Ddraig began punching the air with his hands, weaving, slipping, and having some head movement, Ddraig was shadowboxing. Ddraig had seen many humans do this for training and it always paid off. Maybe, he could try this and improve upon his performance in battle.