ALL NOVEL The Sleeping Dragon (High School DxD)
Chapter 79: Gabriel’s Plan
A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!
Also if you've enjoyed reading this story and want to hop on board my next story right at the moment of its conception, please check out The Soul Engine for me! It just started and I'm really excited for it~
In which the truth comes out about not just Gabriel's plan, but also her past~
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She loves him. This cannot be overstated. She, the Fallen Seraph, is deeply in love with Issei Hyoudou. And not just because he’s introduced her to such depraved and debauched delights. Not just because he’s shown her the pleasures of the flesh and helped her exult in them. No, it’s more than that. He is her everything. Her entire world.
Without Issei Hyoudou, Gabriel would not exist in her current form. Without Issei Hyoudou, she would not be Free. She would still be chained in invisible shackles, forced to do her brother’s bidding, incapable of making her own choices. In that regard, Issei Hyoudou was more than just her lover. He was her savior.
Which is why, as she squirms in his lap, Gabriel can’t help but be incredibly nervous while waiting for his response. Having finally bitten the bullet and declared her intentions to install him on her Father’s Throne at long last, Gabriel can do nothing else BUT wait for his response. Issei, of course, has fallen silent and still at her declaration. His face has become unreadable as she looks back over her shoulder at him.
But finally… he breaks the silence.
“Explain, please.”
His voice, while slightly strained, is as tender and loving as ever and Gabriel relaxes back into his arms, turning forward again as she lets out a soft sigh. Even now, he made her feel right at home. He made her feel so very happy.
“I didn’t think it would even be an option originally, my beloved. But now… now I believe it might just be our only path forward.”
Issei hums at that, quiet as he lets her continue on. It still takes Gabriel a moment to find the words… this is, after all, a very hard subject for her to talk about even after centuries of separation from the events.
“… You see, Father… Father always knew he was going to die. He was God, after all. How could he not know his End was approaching? He made preparations for his eventual departure… he made plans for someone to replace him once he fell in battle.”
She feels Issei’s jolt of surprise at that and is unsurprised. The very idea of God being killed was anathema to many… but the thought of him being replaced? That was even worse. There was a reason Michael had never fully succeeded in taking the reins after all. Well, multiple reasons at that.
“Father’s plan wasn’t just to be replaced, however. His plan was to be replaced by a human being.”
If Issei weren’t already wrestling with the whole ‘replacement’ angle in the first place, she knows that bombshell would have rocked him even harder. As it is, her beloved finally breaks his silence to let out a single choked word.
“Seriously?”
Giggling lightly, Gabriel nods in his lap, looking down at her hands just beneath the surface of the bath.
“It was always Father’s hope that someone powerful enough to replace him would rise from your species. That someone Good and Strong and Capable would eventually take his seat after he was gone. The whole Sacred Gear System, in fact, was designed to eventually produce such a human being. The Thirteen Longinus specifically showed the most potential in that arena. After all, if you have the power to kill God, could it not be said that you might one day have the power to replace him?”
Gabriel hesitates here for a moment… before confessing one of her Father’s greater secrets to Issei.
“More than that… the Sacred Gears are capable of growth. The more experiences they have, the more users they accumulate, the stronger Sacred Gears become. Over time… there will eventually be more Longinus-level Sacred Gears than just the first thirteen. This was God’s gift to humanity, and his pledge. And I must admit, even though I am now Fallen… the fact that the devils have pilfered so many of my Father’s artifacts from humankind sets my blood ablaze even now.”
There’s a brief pause at that, and Gabriel flushes at how uncomfortable she’s suddenly made it. She means every word of course and won’t take it back… but she’s also well aware that Issei has many devil lovers. Several of whom have Reincarnated Servants with Sacred Gears. As such, when he moves past her words without commenting on them, Gabriel doesn’t truly mind.
“… You want me to replace God. You think I’m really powerful enough for that, Gabriel?”
Here, Gabriel turns around in the bath to face her beloved at long last. The Fallen Seraph doesn’t hesitate to lift her hips up and impale herself upon Issei’s cock, moaning softly as she loops her arms around his neck. Sinking down onto his length, Gabriel quirks the corner of her mouth up in a half-smirk.
“No. Not as you currently are. None of humanity has cultivated enough power to be able to sit upon the Throne of Heaven at this time. However… there’s a loophole, Issei. And you just so happen to meet the requirements.”
That gets a blink from her beloved and Gabriel can’t help but giggle again at his confusion. It seems rather obvious to her, but then… she knows everything there is to know, so maybe that’s why. Either way, she’s not going to keep Issei waiting as she slowly slides up and down his member, gyrating her hips around in a wide circle before undulating along his length.
“If not for Michael’s machinations, perhaps I could have… but no, I’m getting ahead of myself. Put simply, while no human alive is strong enough to withstand the pressures exerted by the Throne of God’s full power, you are a special case. Because you have Boosted Gear.”
There it is. Her beloved just needed a gentle nudge. Gabriel nods and a wider smile spreads across her lips as Issei’s eyes suddenly widen in realization, his hands on her hips gripping down as he gasps.
“Yes. I estimate at this point in time that with your base strength… if you can Boost ten times, you’ll be powerful enough to survive my Father’s Throne and assume control over the full power that it grants access to.”
With that particular bombshell delivered, Gabriel falls quiet for a moment, giving her beloved time to process everything she’s just said. She was telling the truth earlier, when she said she didn’t actually think of this plan until more recently. When she’d first Fallen, Issei wasn’t nearly strong enough to even begin considering implementing it. Not that that mattered to her. His strength wasn’t his most appealing quality for Gabriel.
However, there was no denying they were surrounded by snakes, so Gabriel had gone about toughening her beloved up all the same. And Issei… Issei had MORE than rose to the challenge. Frankly, Gabriel was still a little shocked by his progress at this point in time. His strength had risen dramatically in the short time that she’d known him.
And sure, part of that was because Gabriel herself had not gone easy on her beloved. She had brought Issei to the brink of death more than once, only pulling him back from the edge at the last possible second each and every time. But not everyone could have risen to the challenge as he did. Not everyone who had carried Boosted Gear could become the Red Dragon Emperor that he’d become.
“… I can’t maintain my Boosts indefinitely, Gabriel. I think I could reach ten… but for longer than a few seconds? Probably not.”
Smiling softly as Issei finally speaks up, Gabriel shakes her head.
“You cannot maintain your Boosts indefinitely… yet, beloved. If you manage to take my Father’s Throne and gain access to its power, you will have the ability to maintain your Boosted Strength indefinitely.”
Issei’s eyes widen at that again, and Gabriel is quick to clarify something.
“Even then… you won’t be as powerful as Father at his peak, Issei. But that was never the point. God didn’t want a replacement that was already as strong as him. He wanted a human who would prove worthy of his mantle and grow into the role over time.”
Taking a moment, Issei nods slowly as he accepts this. But then her beloved’s brow furrows and Gabriel can see something else is bothering him now.
“… How did it get to this point? How did things get so bad up in Heaven if it was always the plan to find a replacement for God?”
Gabriel winces, feeling… significant pain dredged up by Issei’s words. But she doesn’t blame her beloved. Not even slightly. He can’t know just what sort of trauma he’s invoking by asking her that. Moreso, it needs to be said. He NEEDS to know what happened if they’re going to pull this off. Letting out a breathless sigh, Gabriel looks away for a moment before finally answering.
“Father only confided his plan in one of his children, beloved. Me. With so many of us Falling, he told me that only I would know about the potential for a human to one day replace him. He gave me greater access to the Sacred Gear System as well as a result, access that none of his other creations, not even Michael, had.”
Here, Gabriel can feel her face twisting up into a hateful expression at the mere mention of her brother’s name. She forces herself to continue all the same.
“In the years after God’s death, I went down to Earth many times. I sought out the greatest and best of your race and I looked for not just the potential for power that Father told me to find, but also the potential for Good. For Love. For Leadership. With my help, things could have been coaxed along. Sacred Gears could have been prodded to grow stronger. And once I found the right candidate for the job, I could have cultivated them ahead of time with the tools that Father gave me.”
She’s getting worked up. She knows she is. But Issei, far from looking scared of her, just looks concerned for her as he wraps his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Gabriel lets out a breathless sigh and melts into his embrace… but she’s far from done speaking, so she continues her explanation. Whispering into his ear, she tells her beloved of her brother’s betrayal.
“Michael caught me going down to Earth in those years. More than once. And in his fear… he ruined everything. He thought that I was engaging in dalliances with the humans I was investigating and that I was in danger of Falling as a result like so many of our brothers and sisters had. He didn’t trust me when I told him that I was doing important work for our Father.”
Pulling out of the hug quite abruptly, Gabriel snarls and digs her nails into Issei’s shoulders, beginning to bounce up and down on his cock rather angrily. To his credit, Issei just grunts and holds onto her hips, not stopping her from engaging in a bit of hate-filled sex. Not hate for him… but certainly still hateful in its origins.
“In Michael’s eyes, God MUST have told him everything. Which meant that I MUST be lying. Because only MICHAEL could know best. He… he took away my CHOICE, beloved. Without even giving me a chance to truly explain first, he acted unilaterally with what little power Father DID give him over us to ensure I couldn’t Fall.”
Growling out her words now, Gabriel snarls even louder just thinking about it.
“In doing so, he locked away my ability to remember my own orders from Father. He ended my search for God’s replacement without even knowing what I was doing! Until… until I Fell and broke free of his shackles, I couldn’t remember anything that Michael didn’t know I knew. I couldn’t make my own choices. I couldn’t carry out Father’s Will.”
Beneath her, Issei looks so very sad on her behalf. He holds her even as she once again slows down her riding of his cock, the anger rapidly replaced by something akin to despair. However, within that despair is a kernel of resolve. Of raw determination. Gabriel’s jaw clenches even as she shudders upon Issei’s cock.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, Gabriel. How… how did he get away with it?”
Here, Gabriel smiles sadly.
“That’s the worst part, really. How did he get away with it? How did Michael manage to enslave me, his sister, without Falling? It’s not just because God gave him Authority over all of us, all of his remaining brothers and sisters unless we Fell. It’s also because… in his own eyes, Michael believed he was doing the Right Thing. Even as he robbed me of my agency, even as he trapped me in my own mind, he thought his actions to be righteous.”
Letting out a shuddering breath, Gabriel shakes her head.
“Everything Michael did was still within the bounds of Father’s version of Heaven, Issei. Because if it hadn’t been, Michael… he would have fallen. That’s why I don’t just want to put you on the Throne to save us and our loved ones from everyone who will be coming for us. I also want to change Heaven and Earth. I want to flip the whole damn board over.”
Leaning forward, the Fallen Seraph places her forehead against her beloved’s. She looks Issei in the eye, trusting him completely and utterly. He is her savior and for that she will be eternally grateful to him. But even with that said… she’s not expecting anything as she asks the question that needs to be asked.
“Will you help me, Issei Hyoudou?”
She would completely understand if he said no. It was immediately both a ludicrous plan and an incredible escalation from their current circumstances. Replacing God probably shouldn’t be Plan A when other options like going to ground and finding a way to hide from their enemies were also available. But at the same time… it was Gabriel’s purpose. Even if Michael had stopped her from carrying it out for centuries, she had still never been closer to her goal than in this mom-
“Of course, Gabriel.”
Gabriel’s eyes widen as Issei answers her without any hesitation. She stares at him for a moment… and then leans in and kisses him again, a kiss that Issei returns. Riding him there in the bath, Gabriel moans into her beloved’s mouth. Her inner walls flex around his cock. And in return, the Red Dragon Emperor pounds up into her from below, fucking her with every last inch of his big fat dick. Gabriel can’t get enough of it. She loves every last moment.
Her beloved, her savior, her conqueror. And soon the whole world would know him as their God. Gabriel could hardly wait.
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[X] Spend a little bit more time in the bath first though, then get to work - 87%
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