Phase 1 - Gula

Chapter 6 - Exhibition

High-pitched whispers echoed around him. They were flung all over the place, invading his ears and mind. His exasperation was growing with each attempt a girl made to sound secretive when she was anything but.

His crumpled sleeves offered no comfort to his heavy head. His hands were cold against the polished wood of his desk. A muscle along his right shoulder was starting to tug and throb, finding the cramped position he chose to rest his head disagreeable. He nuzzled his improvised pillow nonetheless, seeking a position that would ease his self-sustaining vexation.

All he could find was the will to grumble under his breath.

Hidden under his mane of wild brown hair and stashed between his arms, he could grimace all he wanted. It was his only weapon against the excited squeals and girly shrieks of admiration he couldn't completely block. He had decided to slap his forehead against a hard surface and not look at them directly to pretend they didn't act so baselessly… hungry. He had thought his blackened vision would lead him to a bountiful and happier wonderland full of sexy women.

"Kiba-kun, you're so cute!"

Sadly, the sounds they emitted were enough to bare the entrance of his sacred mind ground.

"Do you want to come to the karaoke with us? I'm sure your voice must be as pretty as your looks~"

His throat was dry and achy. Vomit was bubbling in his stomach.

"H-Hey, if you're hungry, would you want part of my lunch, Kiba-kun?"

His nails scratched the surface of his desk as he slowly closed his fists.

He couldn't blame the girls. They didn't annoy him, honestly. Almost any beautiful woman was an automatic trigger for fond memories. It was the thing the girls were trying to jump at. Almost desperately, like hunger-driven beasts that were on the verge of insanity at the sight of a juicy feast, they lunged at the thing and allowed their innermost passions to be heard loud and clear all across the classroom.

The thing, as it wasn't something that deserved to be called a human at all -and he really wasn't, objectively speaking-, was a pretty boy the same age as Issei.

His blond hair was the first characteristic one would notice, as he clearly was a foreigner despite his seemingly irreproachable Japanese. Earnest blue eyes like sapphire adorned his gentle and inviting features –and had Issei stared an unhealthy amount of time at them, wondering if his knuckles could make them look less appealing? Well, that's a secret he wasn't ready to disclose. His Caucasian complexion added the finishing touch to the manifestation of what people would surely call 'White knight in shining armor', 'Prince Charming', and such.

How he hated him and all the stereotypes he represented. Kiba Yuuto was a creature that Issei could only despise for he possessed all the qualities that made him so much better looking than Issei -on the surface only, though. Pretty boy couldn't be what he reflected. He had to have some dark secrets and unknown flaws. Issei bet he watched sad videos on the net to make himself cry or some other dastardly behaviors Issei would definitely uncover for the sake of his mental health.

It reminded him of his brother, as they both had the whole European beauty going on, but whereas Ayame looked like a dead fish, Kiba was a beacon that naturally attracted women within a 1 kilometer radium. Or more.

He was also a member of Rias' peerage, and his comrade. But that was a most unimportant thing.

'…I mean, it's not like I'm a saint or anything, but I ain't gonna put up with golden playboy showing off his charms in front of me either,' resolved the somewhat frustrated brunet inwardly. 'Why does he have all the girls and I don't?!'

In some lone and abandoned corner of his conscience, the boy had the inkling that his lack of female acquaintances had to do something with his habit of making unnecessarily pervert commentaries and getting caught peeking into the dressing rooms. But, of course, he wasn't going to admit his flaws when he could instead direct all of his negativity at Blondie.

"Hahaha, sorry, but I can't compromise," said Kiba as he rejected the girls' incessant offers. "I'm quite occupied. But maybe we could go out some other time, if you're still set on it."

Issei gritted his teeth.

'You absolute bastard! How can you refuse such a spectacular opportunity?! Are you even a man at this point?!'

He couldn't believe Kiba. If he were in his place, he would have instantly accepted and begun to sing the national hymn to celebrate his success. Fortunately, the small population of male students also agreed with Issei on that regard. They all hated the pretty boy who dared to refuse a woman's proposal –or many, so many ended in his trap- just because he could.

Kiba truly behaved like a Devil, passively tempting innocent women under false pretenses of a romantic interaction, only to turn them down at a moment's notice. It was an aberration, a sacrilege.

However, the girls didn't seem to mind, and started nodding and collectively accepting that a guy such as Kiba surely had much more important matters to attend to than pleasing them. Even though he wasn't looking at them, he could almost imagine the look of horror and dismay on the girls' faces when Blondie approached Issei's desk.

It was expected. Issei was supposed to attend another meeting at the Occult Research Club, and since Kiba was close by and the same age as him, everyone thought it was a good idea for him to pick the brunet along the way. Everyone except Issei and the girls in his school who stared at Blondie as if he were their savior.

"Good morning, Ise." He could almost hear Kiba's pretty boy smile without facing him.

Issei sneered in the cradle of his arms. He peeked out of his barricade with one eye.

"Whomst hath given thee the right to speak my name?"

Kiba was obviously taken aback by the rather strange greeting coming from Issei's hate-filled lips, if his confused humming was anything to go by.

"Ehhh… sorry?" he responded after a beat, scratching his head in the process. "I apologize if I offended you by calling your name so casually. Why are you talking like that, though? Is it a new trend?"

Issei groggily raised his face from his desk. His hair was slightly more disheveled than normal, and the bags under his eyes didn't make him more approachable for that matter.

He mechanically turned his head around. His bones creaked with the slow movement, adding certain flair to the scene he was quite proud of internally. He gave Kiba an overly fake smile with all the friendliness he could manage. It definitely wasn't credible at all, but that was beside the point.

"Ah!" Issei chimed as if he was surprised, ignoring Kiba's questions about his overly strange greeting. "If it isn't Kiba Yumi!"

The blond deadpanned, smiling as his confusion grew even stronger.

"M-My name is Yuuto, not Yumi."

"That's what I said," responded Issei with the most innocently scornful smiley face. "You must have heard wrong."

"Or maybe you misspoke…" The other boy shook his head moments later. "Anyway, I've come to pick you up. Shall we go now? Buchou is waiting."

Issei felt obscenely tempted to keep making fun of his companion, but he wasn't going to waste time if Rias was waiting for him in that precise moment. He already got in a lot of trouble already. The boy was still slightly afraid of facing the redhead at some level, but it wasn't anything they couldn't talk out like normal people.

They quickly walked out of the classroom. Blondie dared to blissfully ignore the death stares the girls who were talking with him just moments ago sent their way. Phrases which involved 'Issei corrupting the prince of Kuoh' were thrown around with great frequency, making the brunet cringe every now and then.

"Hahaha, it seems you're kind of famous, Hyoudou-kun," said the blond with a smile. Issei wasn't sure if he was purposefully ignoring the ill will behind the girls' incessant murmurs, or he was actually that ignorant.

The brunet scoffed. "It's not the kind of fame I appreciate, mind you." Having the girls talking behind his back wasn't nearly as frustrating as being compared to Kiba. It made him more self-conscious than normal.

"You say that, yet still manage to bring attention to yourself quite rashly, Hyoudou-kun."

He couldn't suppress a flinch.

"Really, to fight against two Fallen Angels head-on, without enough physical strength, magical strength or free reign over your Sacred Gear. Even I would consider against it."

Issei looked down, slightly blushing and lips twitching. Kiba's gentle smile was ticking him off by the second.

"And the cherry on top of the cake was when you used the amulet." Kiba daintily tried to cover a snicker behind his hand, but it could be heard all the same. "The thought of it is adorable. I can almost imagine Buchou being unable to get a wink of sleep because of it. Honestly, to worry a lady like that is just very ungentlemanly of you, Hyoudou-kun."

Now that was just cold.

"Oi, Kiba," Issei called menacingly. "If you want me to introduce your face to my fist, just say so."

Kiba smiled warmly at his threat as if it was nothing. Then, after a moment of thought, he began to snicker even louder. The sole sight of it did naught but the opposite of pacifying Issei's conflictive thoughts, which he had trouble hiding the longer he engaged in conversations with a person he didn't like from the get-go.

However, despite his rising anger, a specific inquiry arose from listening to Kiba pointing out his flaws.

"Wait a second. How do you even know I fought with Fallen Angels and used that old charm? It hasn't been a day already."

"Akeno told me about your little encounter very briefly. I stumbled upon her today. As for the amulet…" Kiba placed a hand upon his chest. His eyelids partly covered his too blue eyes from view.

"…Well, I guess it's not my duty to tell you just yet. Besides, I do believe Buchou would prefer to explain things herself."

Issei rubbed the back of his head, not entirely satisfied with the answer. He was getting a little tired of the secretiveness of the supernatural in general. Rias didn't appear to harbor bad intentions or anything, and he honestly wasn't able to get angry at her, but the boy didn't enjoy being treated like a little kid either. It's not like he would be disturbed by knowing more about the new world he was thrown in anyway. A spear to the stomach was bad enough.

Well… he started living as a Devil a few days ago. He couldn't be exactly forceful to get the answers he wanted, as he himself didn't come to accept everything despite his willingness to fight and survive. Waiting a little more wouldn't hurt anyone. He just had to follow Rias' advice for real, and nothing would go wrong. She couldn't keep him in the dark forever, right?

He shoved the though away. No. She wouldn't. The world was too full of weirdos wielding spears and beings far too murderous for his simple human preferences for her to do that.

He nodded to himself subtly. Yes. He sounded logical there, almost on Ayame's level, and if that was not impressive and also a bit depressing, he didn't know what else was.

'Cheer up, Issei.'

He just had to be positive! Maybe he would actually become friends with the other members of the peerage. Hell, maybe they could even go out and do silly stuff together! He still felt like a stranger, but that didn't lower the possibilities of him making new friends.

Issei shifted his gaze towards the silent blond teenager walking alongside him. Kiba was waving his hand in a friendly manner to each and every girl who sent a smile or a kiss in his direction. He did it so naturally, so swiftly; it looked like it was out of habit.

…Yeah, maybe he could postpone the start of a new friendship. He still had contextual differences with some of the members.

- ~DxD~ -

Issei's frustrated ranting and Kiba's obnoxious pretty boy acting eventually met an end as they both reached a hidden mansion. It was standing in an inconspicuous place in the academy's forest, away from prying eyes and mystery-craving fools that would commit a certain mistake if they decided to approach it.

The wooden steps leading to the front door creaked as they stamped on them. Kiba bent his arm and aimed to turn the golden doorknob with his dainty fingers. Then, without warning, the front doors slowly opened by themselves. From the half-lit darkness reigning in the interior of the mansion, a beautiful figure peeked at them with almost glowing violet eyes.

"Come in, come in, my humble guests~"

Akeno's fingers wiggled like snakes trying to enchant their prey, motioning for Kiba and Issei to enter as she waltzed out of the way, leaving them enough space to enter the Devils' den.

"Oh, nice timing, Akeno. How did you know we were coming?" said the blond, smiling at his old friend warmly.

The young woman put a finger over her smiling lips and offered her audience a teasing wink.

"You should know, young Kiba, that a magician never reveals her tricks~"

He readily laughed at her joke before walking past her. Then, her eyes fell on Issei.

"My, my, hello, dear Ise. We meet yet again. I hope it isn't too bothersome to deal with yours truly, both in your house and now here, of all places."

"N-Not at all, Himejima-senpai," he responded, swallowing a lump and then shakily smiling back. "It's always a pleasure to talk with a beautiful person…"

"Awww!" Akeno pinched his cheek softly, and Issei couldn't suppress a blush. "You're so sweet, Ise. Are you sure Ayame-chan didn't fall from his cradle when he was little? It's quite disheartening to have a crooked sibling and not know why~"

"Haha… yeah…"

Issei cringed a little upon seeing her friendly smile, as the memory of her falling from the skies with lightning at her beck and call was still fresh in his young mind. Akeno didn't seem like a bad person, much like Rias herself. However, she was way too theatric and dramatic, so to speak. It was hard to differentiate between the moments she was serious and the moments she wasn't. Now that he had a minute of respite, he was self-conscious around her.

Chills ran down his spine whenever he talked with Akeno. Her personality was hard to read. Her ever-smiling face had an impassiveness that reminded him of Buddha himself, and he wasn't sure if his mere existence could bring any change to her expressions even if he were to slap her.

Issei shook those thoughts away, and decided to step forward. As he did so…

Bzzzt-

Something snapped.

His arms shook.

His neck twisted and coiled, jamming his chin in his chest. White and black fought for his vision.

His eyelids shut on themselves. His eyes were twitching out of their sockets.

Issei wheezed.

Static sound filled his ears. Numbness came, crashing and washing over his body as if electricity was travelling across his body.

"Guh… What the… Hell…"

Issei looked back, and caught sight of Akeno covering her mouth with a hand, eyes wide in surprise.

"Oh my. That… wasn't supposed to happen," she said, looking at the open doors suspiciously. "It seems you almost activated one of the traps I put in the clubhouse, Ise."

"W-Why though?" he coughed timidly, trying to straighten his hunched back. "It's not gonna explode, is it?"

That would not be a good start to his day. Not at all. Whatever Ayame would say about him exploding, it couldn't truly rhyme with good.

His senpai giggled. "Nay. My traps are designed to recognize the evil piece inside of your body, so it instantly knows you're not an intruder. It would cause convulsions to anyone else who isn't allowed to enter without my permission."

Convulsions? Now that was scary. And all too familiar for his pulsing muscles, now. Issei gulped.

"I-Is it necessary to go that far?"

"Of course, Ise. We're Devils and death is a common occurrence in our affairs. If we cannot take risks and show our strength, others will trample all over us. Even by supernatural standards, this peerage is too soft. Shall I tell you what others do with prisoners?"

Issei quickly shook his head, lips trembling. "No, no! It's okay, I totally get it! But… what if a normal student just happens to find the clubhouse? Won't they get hurt?"

She smiled confidently as she closed the doors. The lack of sounds the monumental wooden doors produced as they were swung shut was ominous. "That won't happen. I took my sweet time to place many layers of magic fields around this place, and each one has a different effect on unwanted guests. Some people won't register the clubhouse as 'important' and will go away. Others will experience disorientation and headaches. Others will get a sense of dread from the house and run away scared, and so on. It's foolproof, unless someone is skilled enough to dispel my magic, which won't happen anytime soon."

The boy could only gape in amazement at the amount of thoughts put into the security. He was also beginning to understand how much they wanted to keep this a secret, and the fact that they didn't want unwarranted victims either. Maybe he could actually work with that…

"Though, I wouldn't mind seeing what happens if someone manages to drag themselves to the front doors, hahaha…"

…Or not.

"A-Anyway," Issei interrupted Akeno's mad giggling to stir the conversation towards safer lands, "why did I get zapped? I am supposed to be a Devil."

Akeno snorted, like he had just said something funny. "My magic crafting is almost flawless, Ise. If anything, you're the silly goose who goes around peering into the prohibited territories of magic when he shouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean, Himejima-senpai?" asked Issei with a deadpan.

She put her hands on her cheeks and flashed him a Cheshire cat smile.

"Ahhh, I wonder~"

"That's not a response…"

Akeno seemed to completely ignore him and walked up to the doors once again. She held out her hand, and lightly tapped the wood with the tip of her index.

"Enclose."

The words that flowed out of her lips were almost too heavy, and one would even think they were palpable things with weight attached to them. Those were words with innate strength backing their existence, an invisible power that took the form Akeno desired it to have.

Moments after speaking the command under her breath, brilliant yellow marks like circuits lit up from the doors to the ceiling, and across the walls of the house. They vanished into nothingness as Issei let out a quivering exhale. Suddenly, the teen had the feeling that he was trapped in a metal box of sorts. There was a clear diminution of oxygen.

It was the familiar feeling of the unknown. Albeit Akeno was more powerful, more careful, more skilled in her approach, he knew what she had just done.

Akeno had casted a spell. That by itself wasn't so surprising, as Issei had observed magic beforehand. What truly shocked him was how different, how deep it felt in comparison to a simple magic spear. Even in his ignorance, Issei's instincts were almost screaming that Akeno's spell would normally take more than a single word and a flicker of a finger to function, but she still managed to do it. Then, he wondered, was that just his limited human fascination for the unknown supernatural world making the cogs of his brain malfunction, or a warning and a call for him to discover how strong she was beneath that easygoing nature of hers…?

The young woman twirled, hands linked beneath her chest.

"The safety procedures are taken care of. Shall we proceed upstairs? Our dear club president is waiting."

Issei shrugged his shivers and goosebumps away. "Yeah, sure."

They finally began walking forwards.

From the outside, the clubhouse clearly couldn't compete with the size or royal flair that the main buildings of Kuoh Academy showed at first sight. It was worn down. It had plants growing across its walls. If that wasn't bad enough, it was also surrounded by trees and basically no one but members of the club knew where it actually stood. However, behind its dusty doors and tightly shut windows, there was a place that completely overturned one's initial expectations.

A dimly illuminated hallway welcomed them upon entering. A long, long red rug with golden edges covered the path to follow, and beneath it shined a floor of dark wood that had been carefully and well maintained. A red wine color splashed the walls with its hues, mixing well with a white floral pattern.

Issei was given the chance of inspecting the house's many rooms days before, and he could only be amazed at the amount of luxury his eyes spotted every time he let his gaze wander.

The dining room was big and spacious, with a table long enough for 10 people, at least. There were golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, flower pots decorating the aforementioned table, and incredibly beautiful chairs made of dark wood surrounding the monumental furniture.

Going through another door led to the living room, which had a more homely air to it. There were many red couches, most of them particularly turned towards a flat TV screen that occupied a portion of the wall. A small table where people could casually lunge was also present and nearby were bookshelves with varied reads.

There was also a big, big kitchen which Issei thought would put high-quality restaurants to shame. He was still coming to terms with the fact that the house was bigger than it actually looked, and that was saying a lot already.

Apparently, all peerage members except Issei were living in the clubhouse, within their own private suites. Whenever school ended, they all came here and attended their personal lives, before going outside once again to perform their duties as Devils. They also took turns so that each week, a different servant would be given the responsibility of cooking food and make other delicacies for the entire peerage. It seemed to work fairly well.

They seemed happy, all in all. Like a family of sorts.

Issei himself couldn't help but to smile at the idea. Despite his lecherousness and goofiness, he did want friends like that. Now, he had his perverted buddies in crime, Matsuda and Motohama, to goof around with him. However, they weren't what you would call best friends or even "soul mates".

'Man, it would be awesome to experience something like that…' he mused, rubbing his nose. He felt his face relax into a more lighthearted expression. If he could feel this way every time he came to the clubhouse, his future would be rather content.

They quickly took the path upstairs, and after another round of short walking, they finally reached Rias' office, and the meeting room by default.

The doors were opened and they stepped forward.

On one couch was sitting Kiba, casually waiting for them to arrive. He shot them a quick smile of acknowledgment, which Issei returned with a scowl. Damn pretty boy and his long legs. He looked way too comfortable for someone who should have been seated for only a couple of minutes. He couldn't have been in the meeting room for longer than that, however long his disgustingly 'dreamy' limbs were. He couldn't walk that fast.

On the opposite couch was a small girl eating ice-cream. Her body was small and fragile-looking, and her height was much reduced compared to the others. The short hair that adorned her relatively small head was white in color, a tint more or less similar to vanilla flowers. Her eyes, sharp and unexpressive, had a warm amber coloration which stood starkly against her pale complexion. Her facial features were beautiful and childish, not to mention as unexpressive as her eyes.

She was a first year student, which made her a junior, and the youngest of the whole group. She was famous in school grounds for being extremely cute, and was dubbed as 'Kuoh's unofficial mascot', a statement which Issei had to wholeheartedly agree with. Her name was Koneko Toujou.

The moment he stepped in the room, the girl shot him a quick look. Issei returned the flicker of her attention with a smile he intended to make as friendly as possible.

"H-Hello, Toujou-san. How's it going?"

His smile was trembling slightly. She kept staring at him, before shifting her gaze to the table.

"Dumbass."

"W-Why are you being so harsh all of a sudden, Toujou-san!?" cried Issei with a saddened face. "Could you at least pretend you like me?"

"Too complicated."

"Huh… I don't know if your extreme sincerity is good or bad…" he admitted, head dropping a little. She did a small gesture, almost a shrug fo sort, and returned to her ice-cream. Koneko harbored a clear dislike for him. The fact that he started drooling from how cute she was the first time they met may have had something to do with that. It wasn't Issei's fault women were so beautiful, though.

The interaction didn't last much longer, however. They had other matters to attend to.

Click…

Akeno closed the doors. With her usually tranquil and smiley face, she walked to a corner of the room, close to Rias' desk. After adjusting her voice, she spoke.

"We're all here now, Buchou," she announced. Kiba and Koneko didn't seem particularly eager to stand up, but Issei tensed up a little. They waited expectantly for the consequent response of their leader, but…

Everyone's eyes fell on the far end of the room, where the desk was. There was a wild mane of deep crimson hair all over the wood, serving as a makeshift blanket of sorts for the person beneath it. Her arms were lazily spread out, and her nails were digging into the piece of furniture a bit too strongly, if the cracked wood close to the fingers was of any indication. One of her shoulders twitched ever so slightly, maybe because of the uncomfortable position. A girly grumble that the others could vaguely make out as silent curses escaped from her lips.

Rias laid face flat on her desk. Nobody seemed to know what to make of it.

"Eh… Buchou?" called Akeno once again. She approached to the aforementioned young woman, and shook her shoulder a few times.

Rias only made some intelligible noises, before slowly lifting herself up.

Her messy hair was only the tip of the iceberg when it concerned her disheveled appearance. As she yawned behind her hand, one could truly appreciate her uncovered face. Her eyes, a beautiful mix of emerald and blue, were bloodshot, which ruined their ever-calm colors quite awfully. Under those eyes, there were prominent bags, clear sign of tiredness.

She looked around the room tiredly while rubbing her face, like a child waking up from a nasty nap. Then, her eyes fell on Issei.

Issei tensed up even more. Dread sat upon him as the elephant in the room waited to be unveiled.

"Ah," she murmured in the most disinterested manner anyone could have ever spoken with. "If it isn't Hyoudou Izayoi."

The room got silent for a little, and Issei felt sweat run down his cheek.

"M-My name is Issei, not Izayoi."

"That's what I said," she stated assuredly while letting another prolonged yawn. "You must be tired or something. You're not listening correctly."

"…No, I'm pretty sure that you're the one who's tired Buchou," rebutted Issei, a look of worry on his face at the weird acting of his master.

She threw her hands in the air and slammed her pretty face onto the desk once again.

"Izayoi, Itsuka, Isshie… Whatever, it's the same thing. I'm not particularly worried about remembering the name of a very naughty servant who doesn't listen correctly when I speak to him, on top of having ignored my clear warnings beforehand." Her dejected tone, albeit weak, had a hint of worry and scolding that simply left Issei feeling chills running down his back. Akeno was one thing, as she didn't exactly command obedience or respect and was more of a friendly big sister, but Rias was another matter entirely. She was his boss, and she was angry at him now.

The young woman used the piece of wood that was her resting place for support as she shakily stood up. She straightened her hunched back with a loud crack, and stepped up towards the problematic boy in question; all the while the other servants followed her with their eyes.

Issei froze in place, his hands a little bit too flat against his thighs in a mock attempt to imitate a soldier's way of acknowledging a superior.

Rias, despite being clearly tired, still managed to exude an air of refinement and ladylike demeanor even as she simply walked towards him. Her slim legs did just the right amount of movement to produce the minimal amount of sound with her every step, but to the brunet, each time her feet touched the ground felt like a tremor inside his mind.

She stopped a few centimeters before him. Being slightly shorter than her servant, she was forced to look up. Issei locked gaze with her, almost out of instinct.

His nervousness was almost palpable, as if he was about to do an exam he didn't study for, but worse. Yet, upon gazing over those beautiful emerald eyes of hers, his slowly opening jaw could only betray him. His brain lost a bit of control, putting more focus on admiring her rather than control the muscles of his face. But despite that, he still felt happy and almost compelled to just stare at her face, which might have been a work of art of the highest order.

Even exhausted and in a sour mood, she was still gorgeous.

"Let's begin."

He stiffened again, and gulped.

"B-Begin with what, Buchou?"

She lifted her right hand in the air slowly, light flickering on her pale refined nails as she extended each individual finger of her hand into a flat position.

Then, Rias took a step forward.

"We're going to begin with fixing you, Ise."

Shuck-

His sight shook. Tension coursed his veins and everything snapped. His legs went soft. The only thing that was supporting him was his Master's hand. His arms went numb. His body grew heavy. He hunched forwards, slackening into a puddle of flesh and rubber bones. Nowhere to move, no thoughts to move, just one point he could see and one thing he could watch with something akin to horror rising in his petrified body.

Rias' hand was buried in his chest.

None of the other servants seemed worried or surprised. They simply opted to stare stoically at the gruesome spectacle their master was performing out of nowhere.

Issei trembled. Air stopped moving in his lungs. Rias wasn't looking at him directly, gaze looming over her hand and something only she could see.

"Ah… Agh… Bu… Buchou…"

"It's okay, Ise. This won't hurt a single bit," she interjected quickly, reassuring with what sounded like her usually tranquil and extremely confident manner, but the teenager's ears picked an uncertainty, perhaps imaginary, that made his intestines twist and curl. His voice was caught in his throat, held back by his body's inability to move and his shocked mind.

Her fingers wiggled inside of him, pushing through bones and meat as if there was nothing but air to her. A slushy kind of sentiment began to well up, and Issei could only think about her fingers mixing the contents of his insides into a very disgusting-looking "Issei smoothie". However, it didn't feel like someone stabbing a knife in his flesh. Her hand was warm, almost as if she had put it inside of a fire before starting her experiment with his body. Her movements were gentle and careful. She wasn't so much piercing his body as she was phasing through it.

The woman's appendices began to circle and round up one of his most vital organs. His heart began to beat incredibly fast as she took a firm hold of it.

Issei gasped, releasing the last bubbles of air that hadn't escaped his chest yet. Dots were swimming across his vision and he could only red, red, red hair.

"W-Wait… that's my…"

Completely ignoring his feeble cries, she grabbed his heart, and pulled a little.

"Gah…!"

A red light began to emanate from his chest. Issei could almost smell something akin to sulfur searing through his skin, slowly deforming the natural complexion of his body. Consequently, ethereal rows of crimson colored 'circles' circulating around Rias' hand appeared in thin air, each one with a set of strange symbols he had never seen before engraved on them. They rotated and shrank to a small point in his chest.

"Show thyself before me, for I am your rightful beneficiary and lord."

Thump-

Words, molten steel and gold, were poured inside of his ears. An invisible hammer hit him square on the head, making him clench his teeth to a breaking point. He tasted blood.

Thump-

His heartbeat decelerated bit by bit. His body relaxed and his mind hit the verge of unconsciousness. This was it. This was death.

Thump-

Rias pulled one last time. After digging through his insides once again, the arcane circles subsided and the red light within Issei was forcibly removed.

Between her index and middle finger was his exposed heart.

"W-Wha… What is…?"

Upon closer inspection, as his body slowly regained some senses and his eyes ceased burning, he noticed a strange phenomenon in the heart his Master was so candidly holding. It had a weird shape, one that reminded him of a pawn, a piece of chess.

"This is your evil piece, Ise."

That's what his King uttered, almost a whisper so low he didn't hear it. His ears rang. At the same time, he couldn't help but to recognize such object as his heart, or at least, the element that served as such.

'Disgusting' was the best adjective he could label that thing with. A dark-red light was emitting from the artifact, a color his mind mistakenly believed to be rotten meat shifting and moving. If he pushed the idea a little further, he could say that thing was alive and pulsating, performing questionable tasks within his body he was unaware of. The boy felt a pull towards it. The piece desired to go back inside of Issei, and Issei himself felt a burning desire to snatch the piece away and swallow it whole, even though the sole thought of doing so irked his mind and disgusted his dying consciousness.

A straight red luminous string connected the piece to Issei's chest. Another red string seemed to be pointing at Rias' chest, but it was… fickle. Almost nonexistent. It flickered in and out of the world ever so slightly, each passing second.

Rias sighed. Her young, young face aged a little as tiredness combined with apparent disappointment were mixed in her emerald eyes, tainting her beautiful complexion.

"How shameful. I never thought I would be doing this with one of my servants. I suppose there is a first time for everything," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else. "I'll take it as a learning experience."

Issei couldn't speak. His bodily functions were stopping completely, and his body had grown a little cold. His eyes blinked weakly, trying to keep himself awake. The urge to reunite himself with his 'heart' was maddening, and the figures of his peers around him were blurring.

Rias raised her hand over the piece.

"Thou who hath strayed from the eternal bond of flesh and soul our ancestors bestowed upon us, come hither, and abide to my calling."

The evil piece began glowing and pulsating, and Issei could have sworn his heart followed the same rhythm, which only reinforced his previous notion about it being alive.

"Thou who hath forsaken his place as an extension of my strength, as my loyal sword and shield, and as my fated sibling of another blood, remember your duty."

The light emanating from the evil piece grew brighter, and sparks began crackling around it.

"Never forget the covenant that binds and pierces through us, imprinting with brave fire our future together into our souls."

As words of power flowed out of her mouth, the red string connected to Rias that was previously so feeble gained a stronger, more visible coloration.

As if gravity had suddenly inverted towards him, Issei felt he was being crushed from all sides. Extreme dizziness and a terrible urge to vomit took over him, and perhaps, if he wasn't so weak and without energy, he would have given in to the instinctual reactions and heaved his intestines out.

"I welcome you with open arms once again, valiant servant of another blood. May the flames inside of our hearts burn bright."

Seemingly finished, and with the swirl of pure energy dancing around them subsiding, she extended her index and carefully pushed Issei's 'heart' back where it was supposed to reside.

The object sank into Issei's chest quite easily, almost as if his body had eagerly yearned for this return and has thus devoured it.

He stumbled back, managing by some coincidence to land on one of the couches and not hurt himself. The thumping of his heart started anew, and each pulse sent a jolt of pain right to his brain. Bit by bit, warmth crawled beneath his skin, to the tip of his fingers, then across his shoulders, throughout his back, upon his legs, feet, and right back to the center of his chest. Just then did he realize how cold his body had grown during that short lapse of time.

Seconds later, his tiredness completely disappeared. Better yet… he felt renewed, as if a kick of adrenaline had woken him up, giving him energy to do anything at any given time.

"What the… What was that?"

He grasped his shirt, knowing there was no danger. Then, he looked forward.

Issei's confusion only strengthened itself thanks to the scenery offered to his young eyes. Akeno, Kiba and Koneko, the three of them had a hand resting upon their chest. Although Koneko seemed to dissimulate it a little bit better, the boy could clearly see a somewhat relieved expression on their faces, not much different from the kind of face he would make after getting out of a nasty problem. Were they… tired or something?

His guts were telling him it was probably something worse than being tired and he utterly disliked his guts at that point in time.

He looked at the person right in front of him, seeking answers.

Rias huffed upon meeting Issei's stare. She placed one arm beneath her chest, and with her other hand, she rubbed her face. He dared to say she looked kind of… brighter? The exhaustion overflowing from her appearance had just vanished in a few seconds.

"Huh… that's so much better. I honestly didn't believe I would pull it off on my first try ever…" Rias contemplated, still rubbing the tiredness off her temples.

"Buchou, could you please tell me what's going on now?" Issei requested with a bit more emotions that he intended to. All heads turned to look at him. "I really want to know. It feels like I'm being left out here. Aren't we supposed to be comrades?"

This time, the young woman stopped ignoring him and gave him her complete attention. A few seconds passed with her simply staring at him, processing his question and wondering how to respond accordingly.

She sighed. "Sorry, Ise. The problem is that your fight yesterday affected all of us, in one way or another."

Issei tensed. What? "But why? I didn't do anything that could have…"

"Yes, you did. Think about it, Ise. What was the special ability of the gift I gave you, the one you used yesterday?" she inquired with a knowing expression. "You surely remember that, after fulfilling its purpose, the amulet would drain your soul and give it to me through our link."

Surely after saying that, the pieces of the puzzle fell in place. The amulet was a last resource he was supposed to use when one of his clients made a wish too stupid and impossible to fulfill normally.

"That must mean you took away my soul or something…?"

She shook her head.

"Ise, I can't absorb my servant's soul. Your soul is directly mixed with the evil piece I put inside of you, and consuming your soul would mean consuming the evil piece too. Needless to say, I can't use my own evil pieces on myself."

Rias closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, as if rejecting a bad memory. The moment she exhaled, several crimson 'threads' appeared in thin air out of nowhere. These flickering threads soon became apparent, and he knew what they were, for he had seen the same thread connecting him to Rias just minutes ago.

The threads came from Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko. A red light shone in the center of their chests. All lines converged towards their King.

"The evil pieces fulfill two purposes. One is turning you into a Devil. The other is linking your soul to your master's, so that I can monitor your condition and keep your piece in check. It's a two-ways link; in exchange for my protection, you supply me with the souls humans sell to you. A King piece doesn't exist because it's not necessary for me to use it."

She followed the threads with her eyes, and traced their trajectory with a finger experimentally, making them vibrate gently. Issei felt his heart speed up happily at the touch, yearning for more.

"When you used the amulet and tried to feed me your life essence, my body rejected it immediately and our connection was severed. As you can probably conclude, that was the reason I looked so exhausted. It caused a shock in me, preventing me from sleeping," she raised one hand and waved at her other servants, "and the feedback also disrupted my connection with the others. That's a very grave situation, Ise. If I can't alleviate the excess of power coming from the evil pieces, my servants will suffer for it."

"Ah, not to mention," interceded Akeno, "remember you almost fell into one of the clubhouse's traps? That's because your evil piece was 'disconnected' from Buchou. My magic is supposed to allow total entry to Rias' peerage, but since you're just a 'random' Devil, since there's no connection to your master… you follow my idea?"

He let the words sink in one by one. Yesterday night had been an incredibly desperate situation, of course, and he did manage to get out of it alive. Yet, despite that, he only made others worry about him, and on top of that, he caused problems to his club president and comrades. To him, it had first been an unfortunate coincidence that came at the price of helping his family. Little by little, he realized his actions had had more impact, had caused more ripples than he was prepared for.

"Fortunately enough, I did memorize the standard spell to fix our link, spell I never thought I would ever use. And I'm sure everyone here is feeling much better, that's for sure…." Rias crossed her arms and lowered her head, her features acquiring a serious edge. "…But no, that's not the main problem here, Ise."

The redhead approached him slowly, and Issei couldn't exactly find the words to express his apologies. None of them seemed to be enough to compensate for his failures. The fact that his Master was almost circling him as a predator would did not alleviate his rising shame and discomfort.

"…I'm angry with you, but not because you caused us problems or anything like that. I'm angry because you acted recklessly; you put yourself in pointless danger, just because you disobeyed a clear warning of mine. None of my servants will be hurt or worse if I can help it. But how can I take care of someone who doesn't show the smallest concern for himself?"

She put a hand on his shoulder, her grip tender and gentle. There was still warmth emanating from her fingertips. Issei looked down. He couldn't bring himself to look up and face her.

"I understand we haven't known each other for long, but you're part of our… our family, basically." From the corners of his eyes, he could see the others nodding in acceptance. "And family members look after each other. It's unconventional, I know, but I can't think of it any other way. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

Moments passed. His heart beat against his sternum, reminding him of who he was and what he was now. Her hand eventually left his shoulder and returned to her side.

"So, that's why I want you to promise that you will listen to me. Not just for our sake, but for yours too, Ise."

She allowed the command to linger in the air, so as to let her pawn understand his position. The other members of the peerage watched and listened intently as the situation unfolded. It wasn't a necessarily terrible situation, but there was a general knowledge of danger. They all were aware that one misstep could bring death to their footstep. Issei himself knew the why of all this scolding, all of this 'you were stupid, Issei' dressed up with pretty words.

All eyes were on him, waiting for him to say what needed to be said.

"Hahaha… Man, I really screwed up big time, eh…?"

He got up from the couch to his full height. His head hung low for some seconds, in a defeated and accepting stance, and then he looked forward again.

Brown eyes met emerald ones.

"Okay, I get it. I was stupid, and reckless, and I put my life in danger and I also bothered everyone here needlessly…"

Issei crossed his arms defiantly. His heart thumped against his ribcage.

"…But ya know what? I ain't regretting what I did. Not one single bit," he said firmly, and almost everyone rewarded his attitude with a surprised expression. Rias stared at him sternly instead.

"You yourself said it, Buchou. You gotta take care of your family. Wanna know why was I hanging out at night even though it was dangerous? That's because I helped my brother," he affirmed without skipping a beat. "My bro is a dumbass, a sloth, and a total Edgelord. But at the end of it all, he's also my only brother, and I love him. I would be scum if I didn't lend a helping hand to a person who carries the same blood as me. I wouldn't be able to look at my mom in the eye if one day I came back without my big brother because of me doing nothing to help."

Issei uncrossed his arms and pointed his thumb towards himself with a slight smile.

"I am sorry for making y'all worried, and I'll try to be careful, but I make no promises. If I see someone getting hurt without deserving it, or someone who needs help, then I'm the one who's gonna jump into the fray first." There was a pause. He lowered his hand, and his smile seemed to be a little bit brighter now. "That also includes you guys."

"Huh…?" murmured Rias. Her brows were arched and low, expressing an emotion she rarely showed to the world. She was surprised.

"Yeah, I mean…" Issei stopped for a second and rubbed his nose as he looked away, trying to hide a bashful smile that just did not want leave his lips. "…You said we're a family of sorts, right? That means I have to take care of you too. I ain't letting anyone hurt you, even if it means I have to be stupid and risk my own life again. And if it only means I'm gonna be yelled at when all is over, then you can bet your whole money I'll be stupid a thousand times and more."

Issei grinned toothily. It was the kind of grins that let him off the hook all too often with his family, even when his brother was beyond annoyed with him. He had a talent for bothering his big bro, but he was gifted in avoiding Ayame's witty remarks too.

"'Sides, the only reason I'm alive is because of you, Buchou. You're right; we haven't known each other long enough to even really care about each other. But if the person who saved my life says we're family, then we'll be the damn best family there is in the whole town."

Silence fell upon the meeting room. The brunet kept on sporting his winning grin to show his goodwill even though his cheeks were starting to hurt. He had to show he cared. He had to show he wasn't joking. The peerage just stared at him after his little speech.

Issei had no reason to feel ashamed. He did the right thing. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Everyone called him a pervert and an idiot, and he was completely fine with that. He could always look up and smile at them fools, because he at least was truthful to himself.

He waited and waited and waited for an even harsher scolding. He waited for them to call him an absolute idiot as it was customary, yet…

…Issei could only feel his smile falter in surprise, seeing the smiles on the faces of his new comrades.

"Hmmm, sweet and noble at that! It seems our little junior was quite the catch, Buchou~!" interceded Akeno with a goodhearted chuckle. "My good old friends, let's make sure to treat our new addition well. You don't find a young man as bright and honest as this everywhere~"

Kiba nodded in acknowledgment, smiling with half-lidded eyes. "Indeed. It's the kind of person I could trust to watch my back. Honesty and trust between comrades leads to victory in battle."

The youngest of them all, Koneko, raised a thumb up as she munched her ice-cream, her expression unchanged.

Issei looked at each of his comrades, gaze flickering from one to the other. His cheeks were turning red and he couldn't find the right words to say, his mind flustered by what he was seeing and hearing. Were they actually accepting him? "Guys…"

Then, he remembered that the person who seemed worried about him the most was still in front of him. Issei refocused his gaze on Rias once again.

If smiles were able to transmit actual warmth, the beautiful expression Rias showed as her lips subtly curved upwards in a satisfied smile would have melted down the North and South poles without a problem. Issei felt his heart skip a beat, and the idea that he was experiencing a stroke wasn't so farfetched anymore.

She sighed and took a step forward.

"Ah, how troublesome…"

Once she was close enough, she raised a hand over Issei's head. She patted him and scratched his hair sweetly. Issei allowed her to run her fingers through his hair, feeling tickles. He couldn't suppress a very prominent blush at having such a beautiful woman in front of him, so close, touching him.

"…What am I going to do with you, my cute, dummy servant?"

Issei let out a nervous laugh, which made Rias giggle in return.

A few heartbeats later, she stepped back and stopped her show of affection.

"I commend you, Ise. While I don't exactly agree with the idea of you getting hurt for free, it satisfies me to know you're doing it out of pure kindness and camaraderie. It's a great virtue to be able to live according to your ideals. Since you're so adamant on being a dummy, then that means we just have to protect you while you protect us in return. Does that sound good, everyone?"

Everyone nodded in sync, accepting and shouldering the will of their King.

"Excellent," she commented with an inspiring smile. "Now that we're all finally here, and our little difficulty has been solved, I would like to step things up and introduce our new member to a Devil's duty."

Trying to rein his rising excitement in, Issei couldn't stop a question from escaping his thrilled lips.

"What's the new task, Buchou?"

Rias smiled at his quick response and gave an answer of her own.

"You have experienced the tame part of a servant's life up until yesterday. Since you're now accustomed to violence, I will proceed to show you firsthand what you may end up doing in the future. Tell your parents you will be home late."

The redhead walked back to her desk and sat down. She linked her hands together and rested her chin on them.

"Tonight, we shall hunt."

- ~DxD~ -

The wind's wailings turned into a natural, perpetual companion for as long as the sky was dark in a night as cold and as empty as the one that settled upon Kuoh. Without the characteristic noises that crowds of people produced in broad daylight, the wind acquired a menacing presence, auguring uncertain events with more prominence than it could have had it been completely silent, for it was sometimes muted by random creaks and screeches and sometimes overwhelming the ears still awake. The moon was brilliant, illuminating parts that some streetlights had trouble reaching, yet it also managed to project unnerving shadows around the corners, creeping and dancing in the pale light. Another element to exalt the eeriness of such a night.

In a place that lacked the accumulated presence of humans, at times where there was no one around, predators took the stage. They took many forms, ranging from the preys they stalked, to more horrific appearances that only the most perturbed minds could conceive.

Within that muted night, a small group casually strolled throughout the streets, mingling with the shadows.

One thing Issei could begrudgingly admit, despite his pride as a guy, was that his guts had twisted painfully when he had stepped outside the club to embrace that peculiar nighttime. Fear, dread… Something was unsettling him profoundly. He couldn't blame his supper for his upset stomach; his mother had outdone herself after he had admitted he was going out with new friends.

Per his past experiences, the boy was now aware that his chances of surviving another day decreased dramatically according to the position of the sun. He couldn't simply avoid dangerous situation if the people who wanted to kill him for being a Devil could smell the fact that he was a Devil from a mile away.

Twice he almost died, twice he got saved. As in all rhymes, the third time was the last, so he definitely had to refrain from pushing his luck too much.

Though… having Rias and the others marching alongside him towards their objective was pretty calming. They chatted with each other and had a rather friendly demeanor, but Issei knew better than to underestimate them. They held themselves with confidence, as if pointing out a stupidly obvious fact. They knew that, with their numbers, no monster that would dare to creep out of a corner would be enough to beat them.

He and Rias trailed behind everyone else. Walking in front of them were Kiba and Akeno, who shared jokes and inconsequential daily experiences while making varied appreciations. Koneko marched at the very front, seemingly leading the group.

"Eh, Buchou…" said Issei sheepishly, "what is the thing we're hunting, exactly?"

She hummed as she caught a lock of her crimson hair, twirling it around her index playfully. Her expression was one of calmness. She almost looked bored, or maybe she was deep in thought.

"A Devil." Her lackadaisical response prompted Issei's wish to ask for more details, but Rias continued before he could blrut out his thoughts. "And no, it's not the kind of Devil that makes you think of myself or Akeno, for example."

Well, he was tempted to say Akeno was another kind of Devil for another reason entirely, but he remained silent about that. He wasn't gonna make judgments just because his upperclassman was… a little scary. Just a little. A very tiny little that could relatively be a lot.

Ayame looked like he was eating whole lemons every time he talked with the beauty. His big bro was not one to look so sour around anyone. He normally was bland with people, not sour to the point of actually being mean.

"You see, evil pieces are actually very unstable. The process in which they turn a normal person into a Devil is much more complicated and dangerous than just giving you cool powers," she explained. "Devils are creatures of darkness. We become stronger by feeding off of human emotions. We are greedy when we want something, lustful when we like someone, and angry when things don't go our way. Our powers are shaped by our imagination and desires. Our bodies are incredibly sensible to our emotions."

He listened intently, clasping the fabric of the clothes on his chest area. The thing that worked as his heart beat against his chest, mocking his fears.

"For you to be considered a full-fledged Devil, the evil piece needs to make extreme changes. First, it roots itself deep into your soul and 'taints it' with demonic power. Then, it reshapes your mind and makes you far more susceptible to your normal inclinations. Finally, it strengthens and transforms your body in proportion to your emotions. This is the reason you have wings or are able to use Devil magic."

…All of a sudden, being turned into a Devil sounded far more unsettling than Issei had anticipated firsthand. His brain was able to conceptualize most of what she said, but if he let his imagination push his train of thoughts further, the end results didn't seem nice. Taint his soul? Reshape his mind? Strengthen his body? It sounded so simple, yet a corner of his reason had trouble accepting it.

Could it be so simple? So... reasonable? Unwillingly, his memory took him back to his childhood and bedtime spent listening to stories where magical deals were always two faced. Magic, here, seemed almost too easy to comprehend, too easy to accept, too sweet a deal.

"Soul, mind and body… this order is not coincidental. It prepares you for a new life. Your soul needs Devil Seele for you to be a Devil. Your mind needs to be more daring, more emotional so that the impulses any Devil experiences don't break your judgment. Your body has to respond to those new feelings and change. It's a splendid system, if I may say so myself."

Her praise was accompanied by an excited twinkle dancing in her eyes, which vanished as soon as it came into existence. She coughed as if to change the mood, even though her behavior didn't change much throughout the conversation. The boy couldn't suppress a little smile at how cute she looked, so flustered she was at her own excitement.

"Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. Before, I said that the link between master and servant was incredibly important. Evil pieces are constantly producing demonic power, which responds to your emotions. If your emotions are strong, there will be a leakage of that same power inside of you. Our link allows me to absorb that excess."

Issei, who had been listening raptly to her explanation, pulled a strange face. Up until now, he was pretty much in the dark in relation to supernatural stuff. However, he had had encounters with dangerous beings before. He felt with his flesh the strength of magic. He also felt fear. But, although his mind was clouded by emotions and sensations at those times, the details didn't escape him.

"…Well, let's say that some peerages don't have the same stability," she continued as her voice lost a bit of strength. "For one reason or another, some servants end up running away from their masters. Sometimes, they kill them."

The boy remembered. Dohnaseek, the man who tried to kill him. He remembered him and his incessant speech about things he couldn't care less about. Yet, one certain thing was slowly resurfacing.

"These servants who have gone rogue are, often, violent creatures. The lack of master renders them unable to control the excess of demonic power their evil piece pours in their system. Their souls are then corrupted. Their minds are twisted into a shadow of what they once were. The strongest of them all are able to dominate the evil piece and look normal, but…" a pause, and then a sigh, "…The majority doesn't share such strength of will."

For a moment, he believed Rias' voice overlapped another. The man, Dohnaseek, spoke such words.

Without a master that controls the flow of demonic power inside of you, the evil piece will start to corrupt your soul. Sooner or later you will kill people just to feed on their souls and any trace of your previous persona will disappear.

Quite unfortunately, the murmurs replayed inside of his mind weren't any brighter for that matter.

Ironic yet darkly true.

Same horrible words, same tone, different intentions. Different intentions. Issei grasped the idea and did not let go of it, intent on controlling his erratic heart. Rias wouldn't hurt him.

Issei gulped and choked out words came out.

"…S-Stray…"

A low murmur coupled with rising anxiety. A denomination he believed to be a simple insult when he heard it just a day ago. Yet, the dots connected one by one the more he discovered and understood what kind of dark comedy was playing in front of him.

Rias' head snapped in his direction, looking slightly amused.

"…Well, yes. We do call them 'Stray Devils' for reference, though it's a colloquial term. The formal term for them is אֲבוּדִים."

'Avudim'. During a few painful heartbeats, his ears failed to catch the actual pronunciation, though it also took a couple seconds to suddenly decipher what it meant, as if he actually knew all along. Whatever the language, he had a gut feeling that it wasn't Japanese. Was the magical Devil translator inside of his head malfunctioning or something…?

Never mind that. What truly mattered here is that Dohnaseek's words, which he believed were only aimed to break his spirit and trust in his master, were taking a sinister turn. At first he simply didn't think they were true. But looking back to it, the blood-chilling explanations only seemed to gain more and more credibility.

"Ise?"

The boy almost yelped in surprise. He flinched back a little. What did he actually get into when he was resurrected by his upperclassman? His cheeks ached and he then realized he was pulling a face and not a nice one.

Rias' expression had a hint of worry. "Is everything okay? Are you feeling funny?"

"N-No, no," he instantly responded, putting up the best smile he could. "I was just shuffling through the details and… I guess I'm a little bit uncomfortable to have an evil piece inside of me now, hahaha."

His half-assed joke mixed with real preoccupation wasn't taken as funny, however. Rias' face showed more and more concern, although her composure wasn't broken.

"…I know it's dangerous, and I have an idea of how it makes you feel. But don't worry," Rias assured while lightly tapping his shoulder. His heart beat to her tune. "I will try to be a good master and refrain from giving you reasons to run away. In return, I only ask for your trust."

Issei gulped again, his face relaxing a little. Yes. Rias was trustable.

She wasn't denying that being a servant was a distasteful role if his end result was being a Stray the moment he turned his back on her. However, she did treat him well enough. The others seemed to obey her, not out of fear, but out of real loyalty. She had done nothing to hurt him or hurt his family. He could do this.

…Of course, maybe that was the point. Rias had no reason to lie if that ended up backfiring against her plans. At the same time, she could have had hidden everything from him and kept him ignorant to that danger until much later, maybe forever. The fact that she had told him the truth was remarkable, considering it would have been beneficial for her to deny his lack of free reign without her completely.

All things considered, Issei didn't like the idea of being a slave. He didn't like the idea of turning into a human-eating monster either. Both options were undesirable. But, wasn't she making everything possible for him to not screw up? That surely had to mean something.

Ah, this was dumb. What was the point of doing mental gymnastics? That was Ayame's hobby besides sleeping till he dropped dead and making snarky comments, not his. Issei already said he would protect Rias and the others. As a man, he couldn't leave a debt unpaid.

"It's okay, Buchou. Just 'cause this evil piece mumbo jumbo is shady doesn't mean you're gonna take advantage of it. I don't think you're that kind of person," the brunet confidently told her. "I refuse to believe a girl as cute as you would hurt a fly."

Rias closed her eyes and let a satisfied smile flicker on her face. She tapped her slim fist against Issei's shoulder.

"Keep your flirting to yourself, kid. Remember I'm still a year older. You still have a long road before you make me blush. And besides, you shouldn't judge my ability to hurt by my appearance." Her smiley expression seemed one of enjoyment despite her negative response.

Issei smiled back. "Sorry. The words just flow out when the incarnation of the word 'beautiful' is in front of me."

The redhead giggled and suddenly, she wasn't a dark master of evil arts anymore but a young flower that glowed, and of course, his concentration was broken. Why were women so cute? If being adorable was a sin, Rias would go to Hell, no questions asked. Now, she was a Devil, so…

'And her breasts are incredibly big… I don't think one hand would be enough to fully grab one of them…' Such lecherous thoughts almost made him salivate before he shook his head. He had to focus. This wasn't the time. he could think about that later, in his dreams…

"I'm glad you're so reasonable, Ise. This wouldn't exactly be the same if I had to watch over you all the time."

He nodded enthusiastically. His eyes then refocused on his comrades walking in front.

"Sooo… how are we gonna find this Stray?"

The young woman did a slight movement of her chin, pointing to the servants walking a few steps ahead of them.

"Koneko has good senses. She's leading us to the Stray by smell. Once we're close enough, Akeno will pinpoint the exact location by tracking their Seele."

Issei scratched his brown mane.

"…How do Stray Devils smell anyway?"

She looked away, smile vanishing into a neutral expression.

"Like blood."

Her comment was met with silence, as Issei knew better than to keep making small talk after that. It would have been wrong. Too many implications were hidden behind her answer and he wanted to mull over them as much as he wanted to escape them.

They kept walking. Eventually they abandoned the residential area and ventured into the poorer parts of Kuoh. After passing by decrepit houses and clearly inhabited sewers, they finally reached an abandoned place. It was a factory that had closed some time ago. It was turned into a junkyard soon enough and not many souls were seen around except for rats that looked straight out of a horror movie thanks to their sheer corpulence alone.

Koneko stopped in front of a broken fence which encircled the entire compound, with the group following, hot on her heels.

After some indiscrete sniffs, she turned around and pointed a finger behind her.

"There."

Rias walked up to her and patted her head, congratulating her for a job well done. Koneko closed her eyes and accepted the gesture silently, corners of her lips quirking just enough to pass as a semblance of a pleased smile. It was noticeable on a face normally so expressionless.

Kiba crossed his arms as he got a good look at the place.

"Why do they always choose to hide in the nasty places?" questioned the blond upon seeing the wreckage called an edifice sprawling before them, sounding either amused or slightly annoyed. "It's almost insulting to be searching in the trash for our targets. Our abilities should be deserving of something more dignified."

"Now, now, Yuuto, don't you know that lowly rats prefer to make themselves at home in the humid and dark places?" reasoned Akeno as she caressed her cheek. "It's a sign of their weakness. They would rather stalk and kill from the shadows than upfront. We just have to lure them out~"

Rias nodded, agreeing. "Exactly. Which is why, I want you all to give your best and show Ise what you're capable of. And Ise…"

"Yeah! What do I have to do, Buchou?"

She looked at him and smiled.

"Be sure to stay besides me. Strays like to strike from behind, and you're the weakest. It'll surely come for you if we leave you alone."

Issei understood her reasoning. Whatever she wanted to show him, it didn't include her, which meant she had the responsibility of protecting him. He approached her, maintaining a distance of some centimeters yet still somehow feeling as if he were clinging to his mother's skirt as he had once done a long time ago.

After making sure Issei was at her side, she turned around and set her sights on a small aperture in the fence. A chain was tied around the gaps and secured with a rusted lock. She took it in her hand and turned it around.

"Huh… I suppose illegal trespassing is beyond us at this point in time. We have done worse anyway."

Rias slightly tapped the lock with the index of her free hand.

A red light shined for a brief moment-

CRACK!

-And subsequently, the lock exploded, freeing the chains in the process.

The newest addition to their band of criminals watched intently as the piece of worn metal slowly melted down and lost shape, black-red flames burning what was left of it. The young woman pushed the fence open and stepped in, signaling for everyone to enter with a wave of her hand.

"Where is our objective, Akeno?"

The raven-haired huntress hummed for a moment, directing her sight to the main edification.

"This one is not as sneaky as the others. It's hiding right inside the only place with a roof. I guess we have to be thankful~"

"The factory, then."

The group kept marching with coordinated steps towards the main building, raising small clouds of dust from the dirty ground and neatly dodging the piles of junk accumulated on the disappearing ground. Every now and then Issei's sight diverted towards towering shadows that his mind mistakenly believed to be silhouettes of giant monsters of some sorts, only for his vision to prove him wrong as he stared at pieces of twisted metal. His nose twitched at the terrible odors that wafted around, so strong they left a metallic aftertaste on his tongue. Everyone's attention was on the factory itself, and yes, Akeno did say the Stray was there and only there. But forgetting caution wasn't exactly appealing right now.

They reached an entrance. They were big metallic doors split in the middle. There were handles to slide them open in the opposite direction. They showed signs of decay and rust, much like the rest of the place.

"Koneko," Rias called.

The small girl made a sound of confirmation. She stepped towards the rusty and thick metal handles, grabbing them both with a hand each.

Issei tilted his head, slightly baffled. He had to control his urges to step forwards and help the petite girl. She was so terribly tiny. What could she do to such huge doors with her so ridiculously small hands?

"Buchou… is it fine to let her do it alone? Those things look heavy. I… think we should help."

However, the redhead raised a hand to stop his questions and showcased a small smirk.

"There's no need. Remember when I said you shouldn't judge my ability to hurt just by my appearance?" she asked spiritedly. "It also applies to them."

Issei snapped his attention back to Koneko. The small, fragile-looking girl pulled the handles away from each other. Her seemingly weak arms trembled, sign of effort. Against those metallic gates, someone as insignificantly tiny as her couldn't do anything to open them. Issei looked with pity while she struggled.

His right foot advanced.

However…

Creak-

The gates visibly budged and vibrated. A screech like that of metal being bent resounded.

Soon enough-

BAM!

-Both doors were violently trashed towards their respective sides, a path inside the factory opening with no resistance whatsoever. The walls shook and cracked. Some degraded windows even broke thanks to the shaking. Big gusts of winds combined with dust arose and blew everywhere.

Issei gaped in astonishment at the incredible show of brute strength. Rias looked back at him with a smug look.

"See?" she said triumphantly.

The brunet gulped, and slowly nodded, acknowledging that Koneko was someone he definitely didn't want to have an arm contest with. She would crush him and he didn't have that kind of kink, thank you very much.

Issei made sure to not stray too far away from Rias as they strolled inside slowly, minding the particles of dirt still dancing in the air.

The factory was as dirty and as abandoned as he first believed. Concrete pillars that were cracked on their entire length, their paint scrapped off by angry teenagers leaving their marks and rodents having a feast, barely managed to hold the slowly crumbling ceiling, or what was left of it. Pieces of badly maintained or even destroyed machinery were spread across the place here and there. Rubble accumulated in some corners.

The light of the moon shone through the gaps of the ceiling, illuminating some spots as others remained in darkness.

Akeno clapped her hands conspicuously as she took some steps forward.

"Come, little Stray. Come out and play with us~" she said goofily and with an excited smile, completely forgoing any safety. "It's not good manners to keep a lady waiting, and you really don't want to see big sis here angry~"

Rias and Kiba laughed a little at her call, although they tried to muffle it. Issei couldn't really bring himself to giggle with them, instead opting to watch how this newfound bizarreness unfolded.

"Now, Akeno. I know you don't enjoy hunting Strays and want to get this done, but I want to do this in order," Rias told her Queen, who stopped waltzing around the place as if she owned it. "Koneko will do the honors."

Akeno huffed jokingly and crossed her arms. A pout adorned her delicate features and it would have made Issei's heart melt into a puddle if only they weren't hunting a monster and she wasn't expressing joy at the very idea of hunting. "Ahhh, okaaaay."

As wordlessly as ever, Koneko passed by a pouting Akeno and went deeper into the place, looking from one corner to another as she tried to find her objective. Her small hands were clenched into fists, raised at stomach level. An eerie silence prolonged itself, with only her footsteps breaking it.

In such dark dwelling, Issei could see as clear as day. Being a Devil meant he had better vision at night too.

But, therein laid the problem.

Some shadows, he could not distinguish. Shadows that shifted weirdly. Shadows that slithered across the ground. Shadows that moved as quickly as his gaze flickered to catch them.

Nervousness took over him, sending his heart into a race it couldn't win. Then, numbness spread and Issei knew what he was feeling. He could reason with his emotions all he wanted but he knew and couldn't fight the fact that his nervousness had morphed into paralyzing fear. Even if he wanted to run towards Koneko and get her out of the way, he couldn't. It wasn't just because of Rias' order. It was something else. A malignant presence. Something primal and animalistic. A lust for blood so great it could almost be seen as a red mist stretching its disgusting limbs in the air. It was invading his lungs, creeping into his blood, breaking the shelter of his mind.

Blood and lust for it were all he could taste, all he could think about even though he comprehended the desire was not his.

His fears flickered and vanished. Koneko was alone, standing in the rubble. Koneko was alone in the mist and no one was doing or saying anything to help her. He managed to unlock his jaw and force his vocal chords to shake into forming words.

Soon enough, he knew-

"T-Toujou-san, watch out!"

-That the shadows were not shadows.

Surely enough, a line in the darkness broke apart from the rest.

Almost in slow motion, a gigantic jaw emerged from the places where the light didn't reach. It happened the moment Koneko turned her head the other way and Issei wanted to scream, scream, scream. A sharp sight escaped his chest and nothing else. The sight that presented itself to his once human eyes was too much.

Sharp and pointy fangs, each one seemingly able to skewer any human being with ease, rounded her up from above and beneath. It was like the vivid imagery of some wildlife documental where the hungry animal pounced from its hiding place to chomp down a well-deserved meal.

Issei found his voice back just for it to falter and fail him again. His intentions were clear, but his feet refused to move an inch.

Of course, his instincts told him to save Koneko, as she looked helpless.

He balled his fists.

A giggle escaped someone, distorted to Issei's ears. He blinked and watched as Akeno smiled. His mind caught up and he understood she was the one producing the so bizarre sound he had heard in the terrible situation that unfolded in front of their eyes. He blinked again and yes, there was only tranquility and confidence expressed by his comrades. Nobody moved to save the small girl. No one seemed as preoccupied as he felt. He himself realized how dumb he must have looked a second later.

Issei was so worried thinking about how weak Koneko looked, he completely forgot how strong she actually was. She tore metal doors as if they were made of butter.

With a marked twist of her hips, the young Devil planted her feet on the ground, and faced the enemy directly.

The jaw closed as it tried to engulf her and gulp her down as a light snack.

BAM!

Cracks ran through the ground after the impact, breaking the cement and the rubble. A curtain of dust arose from the dirt. Issei almost lost his footing, the vibrations coming from the ground so strong they made his knees weak and his breathing quiver, but his nervousness probably impeded him from flinching, even when facing such violent scene.

The dust settled down.

Koneko's hands held the giant monster in place, grabbing it by its teeth as it tried to swallow her whole. Her feet buried into the ground, destroying the cement and yet still holding their ground nevertheless. They both struggled and neither budged. The small girl pushed back with unrelenting strength, not even a sign of fatigue or effort on her emotionless face. The snake pushed with its humongous body, the rings of its body constricting in its efforts to overthrow the white-haired maiden. Its tail hit the ground violently, forcefully.

"…Disgusting."

The girl kneed the beast in its jaw, closing its mouth forcibly. Then, with her powerful hands, she took ahold of its snout and slammed it against the ground.

She retreated, fists ready for more action.

A distorted grunt was heard. The monster dislodged itself from the ground. Coming into the clear moonlight, one could appreciate its true appearance.

It resembled a gigantic snake of sorts. Its viscous body was covered with black scales and scars, probably from previous fights with greater monsters and devious preys. Its eyes were mismatched, as one eye was a purple-colored slit, common of a reptile, while the other possessed a red-colored pupil.

The most striking feature was a red light shining from a part of its long, long body. Sets of crimson veins shone from the center, exuding dark power that Issei knew about all too well. His heart beat faster in response to the sight, reminding him of what allowed him to breathe and see such fight.

"Pay attention, Ise," ordered Rias with crossed arms. "This is what happens to a Stray when the evil piece is stronger than its holder."

Morbidly enough, he did understand. Devils were susceptible to their emotions. The evil piece made that specific trait stronger. And for someone who was far too gone, far too lost in its desires… such deformity was the result of someone who became a slave to his own wishes.

The serpentine monster slithered away silently, maintaining distance with the group and the little girl whose inconspicuous body held inhuman strength.

"This exquisite smell… It's the scent of unbridled rage. Of furious decay and unparalleled destruction, particularly coupled with a tinge of despair. The scent of that which rots meat and mows down even the strongest spirits, until they're nothing but ash in the air…"

A booming voice escaped from its horrendous mouth, which opened ever so slightly only to produce sounds. It cackled joyfully, and its visage concentrated on Rias and Rias alone. Its fang shined dangerously and the red light that shone through its veins pulsed visibly, thirst and lust becoming one in its deranged mind.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit, Lady Gremory?" Its voice, albeit distorted, had a gentlemanly baritone tone to it. It was a suave voice that couldn't have belonged to anyone older that a middle-aged man. "Surely you didn't come to play a little game of chess with me? If so, I must apologize. The lack of appendages for menial activities is quite a conundrum to deal with, as you can see…"

Rias kept her arms crossed. "No chess, quite sadly. In accordance to the millennia of laws we Devils have operated under, I hereby order you to turn yourself in for betraying the pact of soul and flesh, and for the indiscriminate consumption of human souls."

A resemblance of a wicked smile spread across the monster's features. Its scales moved and its veins twisted to accommodate the bizarre expression on a creature that was not made for smiling.

"Turn myself in? Oh, I'm afraid that can't be done, Lady Gremory. This evil piece of mine is such a binge eater. It always asks for more souls. I cannot even go on a monthly diet without going nearly insane!" said the giant snake as it tilted its head from side to side, moving slowly. "Why have such manners and give me a choice, if I may ask? You surely must know that a Stray doesn't attend to reasons that go against its wishes. Is the Lady feeling merciful tonight?"

The crimson-haired lady smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm showing my new servant the ropes. He needs to know how to politely ask filthy monsters like you to stop abusing their powers," explained the heiress. "With that said and done, we can proceed with the next phase of the hunt."

The Stray lost its demented smile to show its fangs, dripping with poison and folly. A low giggle escaped from its throat.

"Ahhh, always the well-mannered princess, aren't you Lady Gremory? It doesn't suit you at all. You should command and destroy, not ask nicely and hold back." The Stray proceeded to lower its ugly head, as if ready to jump again. "I think we have done enough talking. I'll thoroughly enjoy devouring the princess' soul. So, what was the next part of this 'hunt'…?"

Rias' smile disappeared upon hearing the question.

"Your execution," she emotionlessly stated. "Koneko."

"Understood."

The white-haired girl answered the command and jumped from her spot, breaking the ground from the force of her impulse. The Stray cackled and roared, reason and control completely gone. Both Devils lunged at each other with the intention of killing the enemy.

"Ise." The boy acknowledged Rias' calling but his eyes were still on the fight in front of him. "Some time ago, I said that each evil piece held a special trait, which manifested in the strengths and weaknesses of my servants."

Koneko stomped on the ground, and after pulling with her hands, she removed a chunk of stone many dimensions greater than her body above her head. She quickly intercepted another powerful bite from the Stray, using the piece of earth as shield.

"Koneko Toujou is my [Rook]. Although she's short, has a limited reach, and is of average speed on her feet…"

The girl let go of the chunk of stone and stepped back. The Stray bit down and destroyed the makeshift shield, directing its hungry gaze on the moving prey that so desired to escape its hunger. Said prey ran back towards one of the pillars, ran vertically on its legnth, and then jumped above the monster.

She rolled in the air one time, and extended one leg out.

The snake made a sound of realization, and quickly tried to dodge.

"…She makes up for it with great resistance, and overwhelming brute strength."

Koneko delivered a powerful axe kick down. The Stray barely managed to move its head, but the girl caught a part of its body. It was a strike powerful enough to bury the serpent into the ground and break its scales.

The factory rumbled. The walls cracked. The ceiling shook dangerously. Issei shivered. He couldn't blink anymore, so enraptured he was by what was playing in front of his eyes.

Koneko moved away. The snake, seemingly forgetting about its new injury, slithered after her. One, two, three powerful punches of her little arms to the maw stopped the beast in its tracks. Each blow was like a bullet from a high-caliber gun. Each blow shook its head wildly, and if Issei hadn't been so mesmerized with the fight, he would have noticed the blood falling from its mouth, dripping from its poisonous fangs.

However, she failed to connect her fourth punch. The Stray got under her guard and managed to get Koneko in its mouth. It tried to bite and munch her body into a bloody paste. The girl pushed with her arms and legs, keeping its mouth open. However, she couldn't get away easily.

Rias snapped her fingers.

"Kiba."

"On the way!"

Blondie responded with vigor, instantly jumping into the scene. The brunet watched him run, and in one of his hands was… a broadsword?

Issei could have sworn the blond wasn't armed on their way here. Where and when did he get a weapon? And it wasn't even a Japanese katana, but a genuine sword that might as well come from medieval times in Europe. Something like that couldn't simply remain hidden from view.

Clean steel glinted upon meeting the moonlight. The snake visibly shifted as it watched the teenager run towards it, but Koneko was still struggling inside its mouth. She wouldn't let go. The Stray couldn't attack or defend, still intent on munching on the annoying little girl who bested its strength.

"Kiba Yuuto is my [Knight]. His resistance is not as remarkable as Koneko's, and his attacks aren't as destructive either, but…"

The Stray's used its tail as a gigantic whip, breaking down one of the pillars and barring the entire ground with it. It towered in front of Kiba, ready to strike him down.

SCHUNK!

And just like a mirage, Kiba disappeared from that spot in a blink of an eye. Issei blinked again. He completely lost sight of the blond who was just running a moment ago. His gaze wildly scanned the dark interior, searching for the blond and feeling oddly afraid for the thin, snarky being he normally hated.

Then, carnage manifested.

Blood rained down from the snake's body as it trashed around, dozens of cuts appearing at a rapid pace upon its flesh as its scales broke down, showing dark meat and crimson veins that turned black upon meeting the air. X patterns were carved into its darkened skin, a silver flash cutting them at a rapid pace. Had it cut a little bit deeper, the Stray would have been slashed into ribbons.

Koneko took this opportunity to kick a fang out of her way, trashing it so hard it popped out of the jaw of the monster. She thus freed herself and landed safely out of the snake's way.

Kiba appeared once again in front of the Stray, acquiring a combat stance, and pointed the end of his blade at the serpentine terror. His sword was covered in blood.

"…He makes up for it with blinding speed and well-aimed attacks. On top of that, he possesses a Sacred Gear which allows him to fabricate swords from thin air. He's everything you would expect from a great Knight."

The Stray jumped at Kiba. The later dodged. The teenager disappeared again, and the only way to barely track him down was the light reflected on his sword. One could think he was teleporting, but no. He was just that fast. The snake was incredibly big, so its movements were sloppy. Kiba was able to cut down many parts of its body without great effort, taking a break from time to time to observe the masterpiece of blood and gore he was creating.

The blond was shaken off from the snake's proximity when the snake's tail finally found his moving pattern. The Knight skidded across the ground, and in front of him, the enemy approaching at great speeds in hopes of eating him.

He took another stance, and waited.

The snake opened its gargantuan mouth.

And just like it happened many times before, Kiba disappeared again…

CRACK!

…Breaking apart one of the Stray's fangs with his sword in the process. The boney structure went flying and embedded itself into the ground. The monster howled in pain and trashed around, hitting another pillar and splitting it in half. The entire factory was breaking apart.

Pieces of ruble fell from above. Issei put his arms above his head to prevent any injuries. He needed his brain, whatever his brother said on the matter.

"Kiba, retreat." The blond immediately followed the order and fell back, sword still in hand, ready to be the knight in shining armor and save the damsel in distress. In this situation, Issei felt he was the damsel and that was an uncomfortable realization to say the least.

The Stray hissed, focusing its sights on Rias.

Rias met the monster's demented gaze with her own, and spoke once again.

"Akeno."

Said girl looked from a side and then to another, as if making sure she was the person Rias referred to. Then, she placed a hand on her cheek and laughed.

"Finally, it is my turn to shine~"

She walked forwards lightheartedly, putting herself between Rias and the Stray. The monster sneered furiously at her, while she simply opted to smile mockingly at it.

"Himejima Akeno is my [Queen]. She's the strongest member of my peerage, and as her category implies, she possesses the strengths of a [Rook], [Knight], [Bishop] and [Pawn] altogether."

With another roar, and ignoring the many, many injuries permeating its body, the Stray lunged one more time towards them, forgetting pain. Its perverted mind could barely bear its own bloodlust. He needed souls. He needed souls. He needed souls.

Issei could feel it. The hunger. The despair. The sheer need for more, more, more.

Akeno looked defenseless in comparison to the giant, starving monster in front of her, yet she didn't show any hint of nervousness or worry.

Of course, Issei had no need to worry either. And that was because Akeno herself was a bigger threat than the snake.

She simply raised one hand, and pushed her index finger against her thumb.

"Naturally, Akeno has no weaknesses."

The raven-haired woman snapped her fingers. An intense light was produced.

The sound came seconds after.

BOOOOM!

Arcs of yellow lightning shot out from the small space between her two fingers. The explosive thunder that followed felt like an earthquake and made Issei lose his balance. All of the remaining windows broke down into pieces, falling into a cascade of light and shards.

The lightning exploded against the snake's body and electrified it, devouring it and raving through its body. Its flesh melted down rather quickly, and the injury was cauterized. However, the sheer temperature of it was enough to set the Stray on fire. The monster was thrown back a little and wheezed in pain, coughing up great amounts of blood.

Akeno's smile faltered.

"Oh, wasn't that enough? Gosh, I'm really a softie these days." She put a hand over her cheek and sighed dejectedly. "Silly me. It seems I have to seriously up my game now."

Akeno rolled her shoulders a little, and proceeded to take a crouching position with her hands flat on the ground. It was a stance athletes took before going into a long sprint.

"Here I go~"

And just as naturally as she said, she closed the distances between the serpent and herself in the span of a second.

She barely made a sound. There was a cold breeze that was left as the result of her jump. There high in the air was a smiling Akeno with one hand clenched into a fist. Her enemy couldn't even register her movement, or the fact that she was there, above, ready to strike it down.

She swung a punch towards the Stray's head.

BAM!

A simple strike from her slender arm sent the already injured monster down to the ground again. The impact was even stronger than what Koneko did with her axe kick. The crater was even greater now, and from the repeated blows, it was turning into a hole of sorts.

"Now, for the finishing touch…"

Akeno suspended herself for a moment, an uncharacteristic concentration pouring from her still body. She stuck out her index finger, and moved it in a circular position. Soon enough, a luminous blue circle with strange symbols appeared.

She touched the center of the circle with a tap of her index.

"Skewer, white petals."

From that tiny circle, several transparent pillars shot out with overwhelming strength. Numerous ice spears were formed and were fired, seeking the snake's flesh with all their might. Several of them pierced the Stray, and pools of acidic blood erupted the wounds it bore, turning the scene into a shower of crimson ooze. The destruction of the factory reached its final peak as the Stray Devil was turned into a porcupine

The delicate looking huntress landed on the ground. After slapping the dust away from her skirt, she looked at the monster curiously.

"Hello, little Stray? Are you still alive?" she asked with curiosity, before flashing her trademark smile. It was terrifying in the dim moonlight as she rejoiced at the gory scene she produced. "If you are, please say so. I will make sure to sssskiiin you until you learn to stay dead~"

Everyone relaxed, though Issei couldn't help but to gulp at Akeno's threat. With the danger of the Stray taken care of, everyone began to approach the epicenter of the battle. The monster that not so long ago slithered with animalistic grace and savage precision now laid moribund in a pool of its own blood. Shallow, serpentine breaths were heard from its slightly open mouth. Darkness resided in its maw, reigning feebly over the last heartbeats of the monster.

Rias nodded to herself, and smiled.

"Good job, everyone. This was a splendid performance. I'm very proud of you all," she congratulated the servants. Kiba and Akeno smiled while Koneko nodded in acknowledgment.

Issei felt a pat on his shoulder. He looked to the owner of the hand, and saw Rias beaming at him.

"I'm proud of you too, Ise. Thanks to you being close to me, everyone else was able to focus on the battle. I'm sure you learnt a lot today, right?"

The brunet remained silent for a little. Before she could ask if there was something wrong, Rias found both of her shoulders grabbed my Issei's hands.

She looked at his face, and he was beaming like a child who found a mountain of gifts with his name etched on them under his bed.

"Buchou… that was ultra super awesome!" yelled the boy excitedly. "I mean, it was also scary as hell, but damn! Toujou-san's badass strength, Kiba's speed and sword, and Akeno-senpai's… eh…"

Issei looked at Akeno. She waved at him, giggling behind her hand.

"…A-Akeno-senpai's… power!" he finished nervously as he laughed uncontrollably again. "It was all so cool! I know you said I had to be careful and stuff, but… oof, I'm really excited now!"

Rias was shaken back and forth in a silly manner. At some point she put her hands on Issei's shoulder, like a mother calming her hyperactive kid.

"O-Okay, okay, Ise. No need to be so happy, hahahaha."

"No need? Nonsense!" he instantly rebutted. Rias deadpanned and perhaps she rolled her eyes jokingly at him for a second, but it was probably a figment of his imagination acting out again. "And if you're the King, then that means you're even cooler, right? You must be. You're Buchou after all!"

Rias stammered for a moment and then laughed sheepishly.

"I-Ise, you haven't even seen what I can do. You shouldn't praise me like that…"

Much to the group's fortune, Issei calmed down shortly after praising everyone. They all rounded up the almost dead form of the Stray Devil, and analyzed it. This beast that had killed so many humans before now laid broken and on the verge of death, weakling twitching its humongous tail.

The redhead twirled one hand towards the body.

"This is the last thing you need to know about Strays. Whenever you defeat one, you always have to make sure to finish them off completely."

And just like that, Issei's lingering excitement vanished. He looked at the woman, something dark and gnarling pouring on his jolly mood. He knew what was coming, it was what had been done to himself once in the name of security.

"I-Is it really necessary? I mean, this Stray has killed people and stuff… but it can't even move right now."

"Yes, for now. But if we leave it alone, the evil piece will give the Stray enough energy to heal its injuries and hunt anew. You always have to deal the finishing blow. You don't give them the chance to strike you from behind. You destroy them, without hesitation."

Issei gulped, but he understood what she meant. It would be stupid to ask again.

The supernatural world wasn't merciful. People weren't nice. If you showed weakness, they would kill you. If you groveled at their feet, they would govern you. If you underestimated them, they would stab you from behind.

Red and black lights gathered on Rias' palm, until a sphere of energy swirled into existence. The King didn't wait a single second and shot it out. Like a miasma of death, it spread all over the Stray Devil and disintegrated it bit by bit. Once it was finished, the giant serpent was reduced to nothing more than a cloud of black ash.

"It isn't pretty, I know. But this is how things are in the real world." Rias' appreciation was accompanied with something akin to dismay. She turned around to face Issei. "But that's why we can't sleep in our laurels. I know all of you will make me even prouder, and become stronger."

There was an air of agreement between the members of the group. Once they made sure their enemy was no more with a quick round of investigations around the building and a perfunctory glance at the settling black dust, they moved out of the factory. They all moved out with a bounce to their step, ready to head to far more pleasant places.

Issei mulled over a strange question he didn't know how to formulate.

"Eh, Buchou… if it's fine asking, what piece did you use with me?"

Rias made a sound of realization. "Wait... did you forget Ise? You saw your evil piece this morning."

She rested her emerald eyes on his form, and responded with a twinkle lighting her eyes into incandescent stones.

"You're my [Pawn], Ise."

"Ah... yeah, now I remember. Ugh… I figured, but I didn't want to assume. I'm really the weakest." Issei's sigh of exasperation was met with Rias' chuckle. He blushed and blurted out his next line. "W-What? It's true that I'm the weakest."

She nodded. The teenagers stepped out of the property they had trespassed in and onto the pavement of the empty streets once again. The redhead looked at the incomplete moon still hovering in the sky beautifully.

"Ise, didn't you know?"

She fixed her crimson hair with a dignified gesture. Her red mane cascaded over her hand, sprawling across her shoulders.

"If Pawns were as useless as you think they are, they wouldn't exist in chess. And the truth is…"

A red light flickered across her eyes as she dedicated him one of her usual gentle smiles, the ones he could describe as full of confidence. In that instant, she was royalty and he was her humble servant, satisfied to be hers.

"…Even a Pawn can defeat the King."

Done for today.

This chapter took me longer than usual, but in turn, I also made it longer too. I hope it was to your liking!

Now, I know some of you may be disappointed (or happy) with the lack of Ayame. The reason for this is that this story is about Ayame and the people surrounding him, how he affects them and how they affect him, not to mention how they lead their lives on their own too. Besides, I wanted to take a break from emo boy and show a little more of Issei and his struggles as a Devil, because we all know being a creature of darkness it isn't just about cool powers and bat wings.

The other reason for this chapter was that I wanted to deepen the reader's understanding of Devils, how magic works, and to introduce the members of the Occult Research Club appropiately. They're all characters who will be explored later, but I didn't want to leave them aside. All of them are important in some way or another, and I want to give them the respect they deserve.

Now, I wanted to adress some specific questions.

-Will Ayame actually learn magic?

Yes, but very slowly. Ayame learns through action, not practice. He will get the basics down, and he will do some fancy stuff, but until he unlocks his Sacred Gear, he can only punch things to death. He ain't gonna fire lasers from his fingers or something. Not yet, at least.

-Will Ayame and Issei part ways at some point?

Yes. Ayame has his own life. Issei has his own life. They need to do things very differently, and those things don't include the other. Issei is a Devil and he has to follow Rias' orders. Ayame is a weirdo and he wants to risk his life. Unless the situation demands it, they're not gonna see each other.

The only reason they're together a lot is because of the context. Remember they were both killed by the same girl, and they are both haunted by the same girl to this day. This first arc follows closely the situation with the Fallen Angels and Raynare's group. Issei will be forced to deal with her at some point. Ayame wants to kill her, too. That's where their paths cross once again and the story unfolds.

I promise, in the second arc, Issei and Ayame will have their own side stories, almost totally unrelated one with another. That's where my story really starts to divert from canon and I put more of my own ideas in it.

Don't worry guys. I have this story planned right to the very end, but it will be a loooong journey. I only ask for you to sit back and relax as I get these chapters out. I hope you all have fun with this!

Now, as always, tell me your thoughts. Do you like how Issei is turning out? How did you find the Occult Research Club? Was Rias interesting? Was Akeno funky as always? Did you enjoy the Stray's hunt? Tell me all you have in mind! It really helps.

Now, I take my leave. Stay at home, and stay healthy!

(16/5/2020)