Chapter 3

As Harry fell through the lava pond that led to the fifth level of Hell, he could feel Ichigo's gaze on the back of his head, and to be honest he couldn't really blame him; but even so it was starting to get a bit annoying. "Something on your mind?" Harry prompted.

"What was that back there?" Ichigo asked immediately, getting straight to the point.

Harry shrugged. "Take a guess."

Ichigo scowled. "You were possessed, and you let it happen! Was it an inner hollow?" Ichigo may have come into the knowledge that his inner hollow was actually his true Zanpakuto, but he still knew that the Vizard's inner hollows were actually just that.

Harry raised an eyebrow. He had heard the term Hollow before and Izanami had explained what they were to him, but he didn't know what an inner Hollow was; from the context he assumed it was a Hollow of some sort that was somehow inhabiting one's soul or sharing their body. "No, not an inner Hollow." He denied.

Ichigo frowned. "Then what is it?" He asked again.

Harry sighed. "Look, Ichigo. I've only known you for pretty much less than half a day. I'm sorry if it annoys you, but I'm not just going to reveal all of my secrets to you just because you asked me."

"Tch, fine." Ichigo replied. He wasn't happy about it; the power Harry had displayed when possessed gave Ichigo a bad feeling, as if the one using that power could squash him like a bug. The only time he had ever got that feeling was the first time he fought Aizen and he had stopped Ichigo's Bankai with his finger.

Just as they finished talking, they passed through the bottom of the lava (which somehow left them unharmed) and came out into the fifth level of Hell; the landscape was composed of black rock flowing with lakes of lava, as well as many irregular columns covered in veins of lava jutting out from the ground. Izanami quickly told him that the Kushanāda were capable of materializing from within these lava columns. It was obvious why this level of Hell was the worst one available for the normal Togabito; the even lower levels were reserved for specific beings that were sealed because of their high level of power. The second lowest, the eighth level of Hell was where Izanami was trapped by Izanagi before she freed herself by dispersing into the Hallows.

Harry and Ichigo quickly landed on one of the higher columns, one void of the cages containing the sinners being punished. Ichigo just seemed to slow down and land softly, however Harry used the fiery nature of his magic to create thrusters at his feet and lower himself like that.

"Now what?" Harry asked, waiting around.

Ichigo furrowed his brow, looking around at the landscape strangely empty of Kushanāda. "The Kushanāda should have come to greet us by now." He muttered.

Harry nodded. "Ah, that might be because of me. One of the passive abilities my... tenant gives me is that the Kushanāda don't bother me. Maybe since you're with me they don't see the point in coming out?" He suggested. 'It would have been nice to know that a month ago.' He grumbled internally. At first, he had avoided the Kushanāda, assuming they would attack him. One day however, one had suddenly appeared in front of the white block he was training on, almost giving him a heart attack. Izanami had very nearly taken over to deal with it, but paused when the Kushanāda just stared at Harry for a while before walking away. It was nice to know, since it allowed him to experiment with his new powers more openly.

Ichigo smirked. "Is that so? Well, I'll just have to do something they won't appreciate." He said, unsheathing the smaller sword that hung on his hip. Harry stepped back slightly, guessing what he was going to do. Ichigo held the sword in front of him, pointing the end at one of the pillars with quite a few sinners on it. He drew the sword to the side, creating what looked to Harry like a tiny sideways oval of energy. "Getsuga Tenshou." Ichigo intoned calmly, before an enormous wave of white energy burst forth from the small oval and consumed the pillar, before dissipating quickly and leaving nothing behind.

Harry gaped. While he could probably do something similar to that, it would take a lot more effort and power than Ichigo seemed to have to put into it. 'Yeah, so not picking a fight with him...' He sweat-dropped. Still, the act seemed to have worked in bringing the attention of the Kushanāda, proven by the loud horn-sounding noise that emanated from the other large pillars before the Kushanāda emerged from them, making their way towards Harry and Ichigo.

They each stayed calm, knowing that despite having some form of individual intelligence that allowed them to act independently if needed, the Kushanāda were still just a manifestation of the will of Yomi, the realm of the dead. Without a powerful enough God to run it, the realm had resorted to the safe-guards built in to it by Izanami and had created the Kushanāda. It was more than enough to manage the realm, seeing as Hell was now an independent dimension rather than being part of the Underworld like it was thousands of years ago.

Ichigo didn't know those specific details, and Harry only knew because Izanami had told him. If she hadn't, he would probably never have known.

By this point the Kushanada were now standing in front of the pillar they were on, and Harry noted absently that they were at least three or four times as large as the Kushanāda on the first level of Hell, which was why despite still standing on the floor below, their head, chest and shoulders towered over even the largest of the pillars they could see. The lumbering giants emanated a deep rumbling noise that projected a questioning sort of feeling that Harry and Ichigo sensed, which they took to roughly mean 'what do you want?'.

Ichigo stepped forwards. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. Just under a month ago, I was here and I defeated a sinner named Kokuto that was trying to escape Hell by getting me to destroy the chains. Do you remember?" The ground shook slightly as the will of Hell made an affirmative noise. "You must also remember then, that you gave me this gift." He said, before closing his eyes and suddenly releasing a large amount of what Harry recognized as Judgement magic! The energy coalesced into a strange armor made of bones which looked out of place on Ichigo's clothes, only covering his torso, left arm and the side of his head.

"What the..." Harry muttered in shock, his eyes wide. How could Ichigo use Judgement magic!? He didn't seem to know anything about what Harry did when he was possessed by Izanami, so how?

"Those aren't his powers." Izanami spoke up.

Harry frowned. 'What do you mean?'

"Since I am no longer ruling Yomi/Hell, the realm itself developed a sort of sentience so it could continue to function. I myself made it so that would happen. A product of this is that because the Kushanāda can only be made to be so strong, every now and then Yomi can select someone to bestow specific powers onto to subdue any particularly troublesome sinners that become a threat."

Ichigo opened his eyes. "I would like to return this gift." He said.

The Kushanāda stared at him for a while, before their heads turned to Harry and seemed to bore into him for what felt like over ten minutes. Harry returned the gaze, showing no fear or nervousness in the environment that was usually one of the most inhospitable places for mortals in the known realms. Suddenly, all of the Kushanada's eyes glowed, and Harry turned to Ichigo when he heard the orange haired teen grunt in pain. His eyes widened when he saw that the bones that Ichigo had donned looked as if they were boiling on the surface of his skin.

He spun back to the Kushanada when the ground started to shake in bursts, which gave Harry the feeling of a chant. "What's going on?!" He exclaimed.

"I'd brace yourself." He heard Izanami say.

Harry got slightly nervous at that statement, but tensed himself anyway. "Why? What's going..." He suddenly lurched forwards, his eyes wide as his body was wracked with intense pain unlike anything he had ever felt. "GYAAAARRGHH!" He screamed, falling to his hands and knees in pain, clenching his fists so hard they were drawing blood. Along with this, every few seconds, a massive burst of golden energy would erupt from Harry's body, getting bigger and more powerful each time.

Because of the immense pain, he didn't notice the armor from Ichigo's body turn to energy then flow onto Harry, reforming into armor similar to Ichigo's, only more uniform and ornate, looking like actual armor rather than just bones that were placed together to cover his skin. His hood remained, but the armor seemed to destroy the rest of Harry's shirt. Once the armor had formed, from underneath the skull on Harry's right shoulder black cloth darker than the void emerged, flowing down to Harry's wrist. Once fully emerged, the cloth covered Harry's arm like the small cloaks that noblemen would wear. Covering his legs was the bottom half of a cloak, tied with a red sash at the waist, while armor the same as what was covering his torso could be seen on his feet.

Ichigo had recovered by now, and turned to Harry and widened his eyes at what was happening. He had assumed that he would just have to return the power to the Kushanada and that would be the end of it, but it looked like the Kushanada had decided to give that power to Harry instead. Looking down and clenching his fist, he narrowed his eyes. There was a noticeable difference in the amount of reiatsu he was passively leaking out now. It was a lot less than before, but it didn't make him weaker; he couldn't use that power after he used it the first time anyway, so not having it anymore didn't make much of a difference if any at all.

He made to try and approach Harry to help him, but had to jump back when a Kushanada slammed its hand down in front of him. His hand instantly went to the sword on his back, but he paused when instead of continuing to attack, the Kushanada simply stayed there and watched him.

"You want me to leave him alone?" He said, and got a feeling of approval. "I'll just wait here until you're done then." He said, but stumbled when he got a very physical show of disapproval in the form of the Kushanada slamming its hand down next to him. "Hey!" He shouted. "What the Hell? You want me to leave? How will he..."

"Thanks, but it's not necessary. I can leave any time I want, I just have something to do before I leave." He suddenly recalled Harry's statement from earlier, and narrowed his eyes in thought at the still groaning form of Harry.

"Is this what he meant?" He muttered, referring to the thing that Harry said that he had to do. He looked back at the Kushanada to see it had it's enormous fist raised to attack and put his hands up placatingly. "Woah! Fine, fine, I'll go, geeze." He sighed, turning to go but pausing briefly. He turned his head back towards Harry. "Good luck." He said, before he reached into his Shihakushou and brought out what looked like a glowing cross and snapping it. His form began to shimmer in white light before he disappeared in a flash.

Harry continued to lay on the ground, groaning and writhing in pain. He thought receiving Hell's blessing wouldn't hurt so much, but at the moment it felt like the armor was actually melting into his skin and merging with his bones! He was getting more powerful for sure, but he couldn't really tell by how much because of the pain.

"Just hold on Harry, you're almost there." He heard Izanami say, and he absently noted that her voice had taken a huge jump in how healthy it sounded. It was now almost completely normal, and Harry thought it sounded kind of... beautiful.

"W-what th-the Hell is happening to me..." He gritted out, almost growling.

"It's the gift of Hell. One reason is because of the fact that you still have a human body. Receiving this power whilst still human would kill you, so the armor as the manifested will of Hell is altering your physiology to that of something capable of handling the power." Izanami explained.

The pain had subsided a little now, allowing Harry to ask; "Altering it to what, exactly?" He groaned.

He heard Izanami hum thoughtfully. "I'm not sure exactly. Since it's Hell's power it's obviously going to be a dark creature or similar to. A Devil for example, or maybe a Grim Reaper or even a Dragon." She explained. Existing within Harry's magical core/soul, she could easily see the state that his body and magic was in by observing the flow between his metaphysical core and his real body. A lot more magic was flowing into and around Harry's core than usual due to obvious reasons, but it was slowing down now enough for her to observe it properly. When she did, she widened her eyes in shock. "How is that possible?!" She exclaimed.

"What!?" Harry jumped. It had receded into a general ache now, thankfully, but Izanami's alarmed yell startled him.

"The process definitely worked, you can be sure of that." Izanami assured him, sounding a bit distracted.

Harry nodded. "Right, but..." he trailed off.

"It altered your physiology alright, the reason I'm surprised is that it may have altered it almost too well." She said, confusing Harry.

"How can it be altered too well?" he asked, standing up and instantly noticing his new attire. "Oh wow, neat." He grinned, admiring the armor.

"That's the armor of Hell. It acts as a representation of your blessing, while also responding to your will, and also acts much like a Sacred Gear does; however it doesn't transfer to someone else when you die, it is so much a part of you now that it's part of your soul. If you died, it would go with you." She explained.

Harry widened his eyes, this was some armor. Willing it to fade, he watched as it dispersed into golden particles, revealing his intact clothes underneath.

"As I was saying, what I meant was that it altered you in a way that I didn't expect. It doesn't mean that I thought it was bad, it's your opinion that worries me." She said. While she knew that Harry had opened up significantly in terms of being accepting of darker races like Devils and Fallen angels, she also knew that he was still somewhat leery of them; thankfully he had voiced the desire to actually meet them before he formed a true opinion of them.

Harry shrugged. "Well, I can only assume the worst until you actually tell me, Izanami." He pointed out.

"You've become a Demon, or close to it." She said, skipping the preamble.

Harry blinked. Demon? "You mean I became a Devil?" That wasn't too bad, to be honest it was probably one of the best outcomes.

"No, Devils aren't true Demons. Devils are dark creatures, yes, but they are far from the first race to have opposed Heaven. Lucifer originally tried to corrupt his energies enough to become a true Demon, but he failed. The Demons were already in decline since Trihexa went into hiding, and by the time Lucifer fell, there were barely fifty Demons left in Hell."

"But why did he fail?" He asked, fascinated by the new information.

"The reason he failed to become a Demon was because instead of finding one of the few remaining sentient Demons, he found a Demon that was driven insane by the influx of holy energy that flooded Hell when one third of Heaven fell. Because of this, he mistook the Demons for inherently evil creatures that crave the souls of mortals and have no other compulsion besides chaos and destruction." She began, continuing when confirming that Harry was following her explanation.

"He was wrong, of course. Not completely though, Demons do crave battle as part of their nature, but they were mostly content to fight amongst themselves. They had no reason to start fights with the other factions, as even with their extraordinary powers they would most likely fall to the combined powers of the Angels, Fallen Angels and Devils, along with whomever else was dragged into the great war."

Harry nodded, but scratched his cheek. "That's fascinating, but what does this have to do with me being a demon?" He asked tentatively.

If Izanami had eyes, she would have blinked in surprise. As it was, she chuckled sheepishly. "My apologies, I always get carried away when explaining things. My general point was that Demons, despite being dark creatures, are much like Devils in that they aren't inherently evil."

"So what does this mean for me?" Harry asked, clenching a fist and holding it in front of his eyes. "I don't really feel that different, to be honest."

"You wouldn't, you haven't really been completely turned into one. All that happened was that you gained a demon's physiology and your energy will now feel like that of a demon's. Don't worry, if you were a full demon then trust me, it would be a lot more noticeable." She assured him.

"That... doesn't sound too bad." He said slowly. It was a good start, if he had just become a straight up demon right off the bat, he didn't know how he would have reacted.

"Hmm? So this is what the alarm was about..." Harry spun around, instinctively summoning the armor of hell and the scythe that came with it, before taking a defensive stance.

Standing before him was a red-haired man, he looked quite youthful but Harry could tell he was older than he looked, as well as the fact that he was very strong. He wore an ornate shoulder pauldrons that looked more ceremonial than protective, along with opulent robes. Harry narrowed his eyes. Judging by Izanami's description, this was... "Sirzechs Lucifer?" Harry said.

The man blinked in surprise, before chuckling. "Well, stranger. It seems as if you know who I am. Would you do me the honor of knowing your name, as well as the reason for you being here?" He said, all the while sporting a smile on his face.

To anyone else, it would look like a good-natured and polite question, but to Harry, he could see the underlying threat in the man's words. But since the current Lucifer came all this way just to see what caused a ruckus in Hell, Harry was confident that the man was also just genuinely interested in why Harry was here.

"What the Hell." Harry eventually chuckled, dropping to sit cross-legged. "Why don't I give you my life story then. That's what usually happens in situations like this, right?"

Sirzechs tilted his head to the side. "I suppose." He smiled. "Go on then. I'm all ears."

"Well for starters, my name is Harry Potter..."

End of Chapter

AN:

Here's another chapter!

Sorry, this one's a bit of a short one, which probably wasn't what you wanted. I couldn't really figure a way to write any more about Harry doing things in Hell; but I thought ending it on when he meets Sirzechs was a good place to end the chapter.

And before anyone complains about another fanfic with the main character siding with the Devils, let me ask you this. Why does it matter? The world of Devils is explained in a lot more detail than any other part of the DxD universe; this makes it much easier to write a story, which helps, since I'm quite a busy person and I barely have enough time to write fanfics as it is, as you can probably tell by my lack of updates.

I welcome constructive criticism, but any complaints/flames moaning about Harry siding with the Devils will be promptly ignored.

Now that I've stopped ranting, I must say that I genuinely hope you enjoyed the chapter!

The next one will be Harry's public Debut amongst the Devils.

Thanks for reading!

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