An alarm clock proudly screamed its news into the silent room it occupied and was rewarded with swift mechanical destruction from a nearby hand that ploughed through the dutiful construct remorselessly as well as obliterated the dutiful bed stand that was occupied the position of nothing more than a bystander. Mud brown eyes blinked blearily awake and a head adorned with flaxen hair crawled out from under the voluminous covers that festooned his place of slumber. Taking one look at the sight before him, he sighed at the needless destruction before looking straight upwards into the empty air.

"Status," Morgan Carolinus intoned unnecessarily and a cluster of writing appeared in front of his eyes visible to only himself. His eyes briefly scanned the list coming to rest on one item in particular.

Currently Affected By:
Sleepy : Bearer takes twice as long to learn skills and the response time of all somatic reflexes are increased by 60%.

That was a debilitating, if easily cured status that any Human worth their salt would have dealt with before they went to battle or started training. His writing rearranged itself at his thoughts and another item popped into the space where his eyes occupied.

Greater Sleep Resistance: LV 42
Decreases required duration of sleep required daily. Protects against abnormal Sleep Status Effects and shortens duration of Sleepy Status.

The skill had actually levelled up not so long ago and thus it would likely be to increase in rank any time soon, especially with a marked lack of high level sleep magic that he could practice his resistance again. The description never went into too much detail but from his experience he knew that he required around two hours of sleep a night and under extreme circumstances he was able to stay awake for two weeks without any degradation in mental faculties.

"Quests," Morgan spoke aloud and the Status page changed to show two lines of dialogue.

Long Term Quest:
Investigate and evaluate the environment, flora and fauna of planet Earth for possible benefits or threats.
Reward: 2,000,000K XP, 1 Artefact Grade 5, 60,000,000GAU.

Short Term Quest:
Keep your spirits up.
Reward: 5,000K XP

He smiled briefly but uncertainly. Quests varied in frequency and tended to be divided between two types. These were quests that encouraged personal growth and quests that improved the condition of humanity. The former was useful for day to day life and were delivered mysteriously at the behest of the System while the latter normally had further reaching implications and came with massive rewards.

Yawning and feeling that precious oxygen flowing into his brain and other organs, Morgan sat upright and discarded the covers over his bed. The pre-dawn air was cold and it was made colder by the fact that he always slept unclothed. Still the freezing air and tiles were unable to affect him in any way thanks to his Greater Cold Resistance LV 176. A single glance in wall mirror displayed his perfectly lean, lightly muscled body, kept free of imperfections by the System. According to his father how bulky a person's body was depended on their relative Strength to Dexterity ratio. As his DEX was more than double his strength his body appeared relatively slim overall.

" ," he said and in response to his words he instantly felt a cleansing power that dug into his body disintegrating every piece of dirt upon him. The words of the Second of the five gods were powerful but very few humans used them as their primary magic and they were mostly relegated to household chores and other miscellaneous tasks that didn't involve fighting.

He pulled some work-out clothes from his personal Item Box and dressed himself swiftly before embarking on a two hour carefully selected workout that left him gasping for breath by the end of it. Today he had decided to focus only on weights, trying to improve his comparatively abysmal strength score, but despite pushing himself for all his muscles could give, he had received at the end of the workout a measly point of STR and two points of DEX. Sighing at his misfortune he walked into the silvery kitchen before grabbing a few slices of bread and downing them with a glass of milk. Having attained sufficient nutrients to last until his lunch, he had already resolved to purchase his daily sustenance from the local cafeteria.

His morning rituals completed and seeing that the time was steadily approaching the time by which he had to attend school, he reached into his Item Box, quickly changing into different clothes, and pulled out a small blue silvery key that was gifted to him upon first arriving at this town. Despite the rather ordinary look of the object it was a rank 5 artefact and was a reward for a celebration quest, a rare form of quest that was initiated retrospectively whenever one performed an unexpected achievement. The rewards for these were understandable great and the key did not disappoint, it being exactly what he needed for that current situation.

Slipping the key into the front door of his house he felt a surge of his Will Force and with a click the door snapped open, revealing an alley that was perhaps less dingy than most. Stepping forward into the alley, he looked back to the doorway and saw the now familiar sight of an open door made from the bricks of the alley. Without preamble and being mindful of any possible observers he quickly closed the door and slid the key into the keyhole; turning it once before withdrawing it and watching the door fade out of existence.

Stowing the key in his pockets he strolled down the chilly Kuoh streets watching as the great beast of humanity slowly crept into something clearing awareness. Lazily, almost without thinking his eyes roamed over a balding middle aged man wearing a neat brown suit that was carrying a briefcase in his hand and he activated one of the oldest magic known to Humanity.

Name: Kenji Sota
Race: human
Age: 42
LV: 2
STR: 5
DEX: 7
ATK: 4
DEF: 2
VIT: 6
INT: 12
WILL: 6
CHA: 3

The status was nothing more than pitiful. There were a few skills attached to the bottom related to business and conversation and other paraphernalia but Morgan had already had all of his interest replaced with a burning disdain. The man rushed passed him and Morgan wondered if the man knew, could conceive of the danger that he was in at that very moment. All it would take was for him to move his hand slightly and the man would die, probably without even knowing what had hit him. It was almost inconceivable for him how the human could go his entire life without knowing just how fragile he was.

The sadder thing was that status was by no means uncommon and as he trudged through the streets he knew that if he were to examine any of the humans around him he would probably see nothing higher than a level of six at the most. He raised his hands to his right cheek briefly before he placed it back in his pocket. He was smiling far less than normal these days; these sorry sights draining his spirit even as they fortified his Willpower and every day he felt himself missing his home; missing the thrill of contesting against a monster, or sparring with his dad, or having a lesson with his dad, or eating his dad's cooking.

He let those thoughts run free for a while before he forcefully brought himself back to the present. He was given a unique opportunity to not only enrich himself but to also serve the good of humanity. Before all of that creature comforts such as those were nothing but a distraction. Besides 5,000K XP per day was an absurd amount for not losing hope and with his current Willpower it would be a cold day in Firalam before he succumbed to despair.

His destination for the day, and every day recently, was Kuoh Academy, an apparently prestigious school that had recently become co-ed. He had gained a scholarship through apparently coming first in the nationwide tests, thanks to his relatively high Intelligence, and ever since then he had maintained the scholarship by consistently coming first in every class besides creative writing, a part of the curriculum that he unfortunately had no Skill in.

He grimaced at the thought of those types and instead decided to something more pleasant such as recite his mathematics book inside his head. He had barely got to the tenth page when he saw the gates of the Kuoh and he braced himself for the inevitable results of his arrival. Sure enough when he got there he was hit by a familiar wave of sound. Unfortunately it wasn't an enemy attack or his Extreme Sonic Resistance LV 8 would have completely neutralised it. Instead it was far more… stupid.

"Kyaa, its Carolinus-sama," one female voice said with a voice that sounded way too excited for a simple daily event.

"He's so cool," another girl apparently concurred with the first.

"He looks so good today," another member of that gender spoke up.

"That bishie bastard is stealing all the girls," a familiar male voice spoke up and Morgan looked over to see one of the members of the so-called perverted trio speak up. The ignobly named triumvirate were the three culprits behind most of the acts of perversion towards woman and seemed to serve as a lightning rod for the feminine nine-tenths of the school's hatred. The look of indignation on their face had made him chuckle a few times at the beginning but now it even failed to elicit a smile. He still couldn't decide whether their irrational hatred or the girl's unreasonable veneration annoyed him more and for the umpteenth time in the last few months he cursed his Charisma score.

The crowd suddenly shifted allowing a girl to move to the front. Surrounded by her apparent friend and subtly encouraged by them; Morgan had seen this song and dance all too many times and it always had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Umm, Carolinus," the girl started and he briefly noted that she was rather attractive with large brown eyes and long black hair that reached her waist; she had less muscle on her body than he normally liked but that was honestly the least of the problems in a possible relationship between the two of them.

"Yes," he said trying not to show his irritation at this annoyance. No doubt the girl had spent some time working up the courage and he it would be cruel of him not grant her his consideration at least.

"Please take this," she said handing him an envelope, apparently deciding not to voice her thoughts out loud in such a place, and then apparently overcome with embarrassment she moved away.

"Thank you, Haruto," Morgan said, having quickly checked her surname using Status, and she froze in her tracks before her face turned red and she turned around and walked off swiftly.

A muttered 'oooh' swept the crowd and the conversation continued, quieter this time with murmured susurrations taking the place of the previously loud voices. There was still nothing preventing him from listening into them but his own disinterest in the daily lives of other students. He made it inside the door and was once again met with an apparently ceaseless round of admiration that only furthered his irritation. If these people had the time to declare how cool he is or to foist off their stupid titles on him then surely they have enough time to improve themselves. 'Maybe this was just how humans were without the System,' he thought once again before giving a moment of thanks to the five gods and all that they did for Humankind.

"As popular as ever Carolinus," a now familiar voice reached his ears and he turned towards the familiar face of the Student Council President.

"Shitori," he said in acknowledgement, offering no further communication to the creature that stood in front of him. Sona Shitori, or Sona Sitri as her status page revealed, was the top student in the year above him and a strict uncompromising taskmaster that he had the misfortune to run into. This problem was compounded by her one massive, massive flaw that was revealed as soon as he first laid eyes upon her status page.

Sona Sitri
Race: devil
Age: 18
LV: 83
STR: 86
DEX: 93
ATK: 102
DEF: 120
VIT: 133
INT: 255
WILL: 164
CHA: 146

Skills- Lesser Water Magic: LV 95_ Devil Magic: LV 14_Strategy Games: LV 45_Lesser Magical Resistance: LV 78.

Title: The Heiress of the Sitri Clan

"Standoffish as usual," the devil heiress commented. "It doesn't do any good for the school's image to see one of their top students so unapproachable," she followed up, rather hypocritically in Morgan's opinion.

"Are you really the person to be lecturing me on behaving superciliously," Morgan said while raising an eyebrow. "Your reputation as the cold, strict, aloof head of the Student Council both precedes and overshadows mine."

"But I am still head of the Student Council," she rebutted. "I still interact with my fellow students every day. Despite your academic records being impeccable you are still part of the going home club. Kuoh Academy has always encouraged the students to participate holistically in our curriculum and yet you leave school at three every day."

"Thank you for your advice Shitori. I was considering joining the track or the kendo club," Morgan lied.

"So you've said the last two times that I've brought it up," the Sitri said with some exasperation and Morgan had to bite back a harsher retort. "And yet there hasn't been a hint of you participating."

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," Morgan responded. "Both of those options seem so tempting that I just wasn't able to decide between the two choices and it would be a crime to only dedicate half of my time to such honourable pursuits." He wasn't able to completely keep the sarcasm out of his voice by the end of it and it showed in the Sitri's expression. A slight, barely registerable, smile crossed her face at the fact that she had apparently broken his composure. Well the joke was on her, his composure was still intact considering she was still alive.

"Well there is always an alternative," she said, as predictable as the gods' damned sunrise. "You are generally well respected among the student population and we would be glad to have you on the Student Council." At Morgan's raised eyebrow she continued unabated. "Just think on it. I know it may be tough giving up some of your free time at first but in future you won't have any regrets. Maybe I can convince you to accept on a trial basis?"

"Shitori be honest," Morgan started. "How much of your desire to get me into the Student Council is because you wish to have a rematch in chess. You know I never did take you for a sore loser."

"Is it considered the actions of a sore loser to practice against the one who managed to beat me? Even if the way you did it was a bit underhanded," Sona defended her actions.

"You agreed to speed chess," Morgan said. "Your inability to handle it was not my fault."

"But it was by your design," the devil girl said. "You were better than me when constrained by that arbitrary time limit but after your victory you gave me no opportunity to play the mode of chess in which I am strong at or even try for a rematch under your own rules."

"Time is precious and limited Shitori," Morgan said. "Standard chess takes forever and I apparently do not have as much time to waste as you do." The last zinger drew the conversation to a close as Morgan excused himself and left. The crowd that had gathered around the two of them parted in front of him allowing him swift exit. He walked through the hallways ignoring the empty words of the student body. He made it to his classroom in relative silence before he took a seat in his desk and just bathed in the quiet of the class before the hustle and bustle of the day started in full force.

Suddenly the quiet of the classroom was disrupted by a door slamming and Morgan raised an eyebrow as a very familiar person barrelled into the room, instantly becoming subject to the harsh glares from the mostly female population. Dressed in the typical Kuoh academy uniform, of average height, average build and brown hair and eyes; the appearance of the boy that entered the room was the very definition of the word average. Still appearance is only skin deep and Morgan would rather have tough resistant skin than pretty skin anyway. What set him apart from his peers was his unbelievable streak of perversity that overshadowed any of his other personality traits.

Issei Hyoudou was one of the three members of the so-titled Perverted Trio and a person who attracted looks of disgust from each and every direction due to his loud and arrogant declarations that he was going to have a harem. It was an interesting declaration in a day and age where the situation didn't really support it. humans here and Humans in his homeland both tended to veer towards the standard male and female pairs to raise a child with alternate arrangements being the exception rather than the rule.

"In your face, Morgan," the excitable boy said and Morgan could practically taste the disapproval radiating from the surrounding crowd, indicating their dislike that social pariah was speaking to the school genius so familiarly. It was their own fault actually; he wasn't Japanese so the social norms really meant nothing to him. If they wanted to be on first name terms then he honestly had no problem with it. There were very few people in this school whose lips would dirty his name and kid who just happened to be a bit of a bit of a pervert wasn't one of them.

"I have no idea what you are speaking of Issei," Morgan responded. "Just what has got you so riled up this morning?"

"I have a date," the young man said smugly, basking in the fact that he was no longer a single man.

"Truly?" Morgan stated, actually a bit shocked. "How? What possible redeeming features have you acquired since I last met you?"

"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean," Issei shot back amidst a round of laughter in the class.

"Issei you are a colossal pervert," Morgan stated, not expecting or receiving denials. "I know you have good qualities buried deep down." He paused for a moment. "Deep, deep down; but your constant and loudly documented displays of debauchery overshadow all of them. For an actual woman to want to date you; well she must have either fallen head over heels for your looks, or must have been as large of a pervert as you are."

"Is that what you really think?" Issei said and Morgan blinked as there was a note of contemplation in his voice. "We're going on a date this Saturday," Issei said and the note of contemplation was gone to be replaced by the usual brashness that allowed him to continue speaking normally through the waves of hatred that was being sent his way. "Do you have any advice for making it go well? I want to make it special," he finished and to Morgan's surprise the usually cocky Issei was blushing by the end of it like a virginal bride.

"I have never been involved in a date before," Morgan admitted drawing at least one gasp from the onlookers. "Try asking somebody with a bit more experience."

"Okay, I'll do that now," Issei said running off without saying goodbye eliciting another rumble of disapproval from the surroundings. For all intents and purposes Issei seemed like a normal young man besides his incredible level of perversity, but his body hid a dark secret that was only revealed when Morgan had initially scanned him. The Title Red Dragon Emperor (Sealed) had shown up unexpectedly and Morgan had almost taken damage to his vitality from that sight alone.

A dragon back in the homeland of Humanity was a blazing meteorite that, once ejected from Firalam (The Blazing Star of Fire), would fall to the land below and scorch everything to ashes. Driven mad by the relatively icy temperatures of his birthplace they would start to torch everything in sight in a futile attempt to recover some precious warmth. It was a common saying that if you could see a dragon your eyeballs were probably already melting out their sockets. According to his father it would require Absolute Heat Resistance 8,000 to even approach a dragon without turning to ash.

No whatever the Red Dragon Emperor was; it was not the same as the dragons back home; but there was nothing saying that it couldn't be just as strong. Whatever manner of beast that was sealed inside his classmate was enough to get Morgan to keep an eye on him at least. He briefly wondered which girl had decided to suddenly go out with him and for what reason. Most of the girls in the school hated him with a passion which left Morgan with the sneaky suspicion that the person who apparently wished to go out with him may have seen more inside him than just his steadfast determination and unusual honesty. His thoughts already went to those covetous devils and his fists clenched automatically before he relaxed. Whatever his thoughts on the non-humans were he wouldn't do anything unprovoked as long as his mission to gain information was still in force.

*1 Willpower gained

Sleepy Status removed.

xxx

" ," the eldritch tongue poured through Morgan's lips as he walked down the Kuoh streets a few hundred metres behind a pair of teenagers. The use of the words or some crude attempt at an invisibility spell had actually physically tired him out and he resolved after today to either learn some stealth magic of his own or at least learn how to improve his natural stealth ability. The two teenagers in question that he were tracking were Issei and his new date although Issei's date; actually now that he looked at it she didn't look like a teenager at all, looking closer to a young woman in her early twenties, although once again her status revealed that she was much older.

Raynare
Race: fallen angel
Age: 432
LV: 68
STR: 105
DEX: 132
ATK: 135
DEF: 118
VIT: 151
INT: 99
WILL: 68
CHA: 134

Skills- Light Magic: LV 9 _ Lesser Magical Resistance: LV 50_Seduction: LV 3

Morgan snickered quietly at the low level of seduction. While it was rare to encounter creatures with the seduction skill, even in the Surrounds, it would be a poor parent who failed to warn their child of enemies with attacks that targeted libidos. Those caught unaware could easily fall to mind magic, pheromones, illusions or whichever medium the creature used to enflame the passions of its victim, sometimes using multiple methods at once. To only obtain a level of 3 was unprecedented to the extent that Morgan wondered if she could even be called a seductress type enemy at all.

Still the seduction skill did not detract from the really alarming thing upon the page; namely her status as a fallen angel. Back where he came there was no such race, but fortunately for him there were myths about fallen angels in this world and he had spent some time to browse the internet for information as he trailed them on their visit to a restaurant, a movie and now a walk through the park to top off what appeared to be Issei's perfect date. It wasn't exactly Morgan's bundle of Exp though, if he ever decided to enter the dating scene, and he wouldn't because that would detract from his training, he would probably take his companion on a hunt or go artefact shopping.

Actually now that he thought about it, that would be the perfect date. Create an artefact for his significant other and use the date as an event to test it out. If he didn't suck at artefact creation then he would likely try it out, even if he had no current wish to search for a partner.

A slight saline taste in his mouth was made an easy warning as the presence of magic in the air triggered his Magic Detection LV 99 and Morgan watched as a barrier appeared in the park, centred on the pair of them. It appeared to be the sort of barrier that blocked sound and hid its occupants; although the power was pathetic in comparison and he was easily able to see through it. He stood about a hundred metres back out of sight and he was barely able to see the Fallen Angels lips move, although the barrier and the associated distance meant that he wasn't able to get an accurate enough vision to interpret the movement of her lips and the spoken words were slightly to soft to be intelligible to him at this distance.

Therefore it came as a surprise when black wings sprung from her back and her outfit changed into something immensely impractical. Sheer annoyance at this fucking world where apparently a bikini was considered the height of armour flooded through his veins and he nearly lost attention in the crucial moment when she thrust forward with a scarlet magical spear that formed in her filthy hands. Nearly being the operative word in this case. If he had actually lost attention at such a time like this then his father would have dragged him down for retraining.

As such the very moment that she thrust forward the spear intent on running through her former boyfriend; Morgan stepped in front of Issei. He watched her eyes widen as her target was obstructed by him but like everything else about her it was painfully slow. Twisting his body slightly to the right he raised his left leg and then thrust it to the side breaking the spear in two like it was made of glass. He idly noticed it was composed of light energy as he returned his foot gently to the ground and watched as the fallen angel jumped back in clear alarm. She summoned another one of those shockingly weak magic spears adopting something that could be called a defensive position if you were drunk or blind.

"Who are you," she said her voice noticeably flustered as she stared at Morgan, a single second of confrontation pointing out the difference in their levels. "I am on a mission for Azazel. If you interfere you will be in conflict with the fallen angel faction."

"Are they here today?" Morgan asked as he lifted his hands in front of his face, staring at them briefly before returning them to the pockets of his pants. Truthfully any method he used to kill her could be considered overkill but he might as well restrain himself to his feet. Maybe she would then prove a slight challenge.

Short Term Quest:
Defeat the fallen angel
Reward: 5XP

He almost snorted out loud at the joke the system played on him. The utterly insignificant amount of XP awarded could be considered the ultimate mockery towards an enemy that frankly did not amount to much at all.

"Morgan, what's going on?" Issei said sounding dazed and overwhelmed for the moment. "Did Yuuma just try to kill me? I guess I'm just dreaming then. But how far back does my dream go. Does my date still exist, was any of that real?"

Morgan watched as Raynare's lips curled in contempt that was hidden immediately and he couldn't help but agree with the non-human… and subsequently hate himself for it. Issei was pitifully weak at the moment, there was nothing special to him besides the Red Dragon Emperor that was currently sealed and if he read the situation correctly then this animal had attempted to kill him before the Title could be unsealed.

"Wait, wait," the walking corpse said after a bit waving her hands in this world's sign to slow down. "You're putting your life on the line to protect him. Which faction do you work for? I'm sure somebody as powerful as you would fit right in with the Grigori. Just think about it you could have money, power, women," at the last word she shifted her position to a pose that men would have found alluring, although she had far too little muscle on her body for his taste. Still there was some value in the words that she spoke and he would hear more of them.

"Tell me about this Grigori," Morgan said as he started to shuffle his feet slightly while remaining in the same spot, warming up the appendages for the purpose of high speed movement.

"The Grigori is the greatest faction of the heavenly factions to belong to," Raynare began. "We're not angels who sit above in heaven and do absolutely nothing while letting their grunts run free under the supervision of wrinkled old men. We are also unlike the devils that enslave all their strong assets, branding them and hunting down them when they inevitably try to escape. If you joined us then you would be afforded the power and respect that somebody of your strength deserved."

"That isn't going to happen," Morgan said feeling the muscles in his legs start to warm up. "Just relax for now Issei. Gaze upon the nature of the non-humans and do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of pity." As he said that he took a step forward, painfully slowly so that the creature would register his movement. Distance was a vital part of every fight and closing the distance was therefore a signal of aggression that forced an opponent to either attack or retreat.

"Wait, don't come any closer," the fallen angel said panicking as Morgan advanced on her position. She held up a hand in a vague attempt to forestall his advance but Morgan didn't even slow down, instead continuing his painfully slow walk. She moved her red spear pointing it towards him, her eyes baring a final warning that he was all too happy not to heed.

"Prepare yourself," Morgan instructed feeling a slight anticipation at the incoming fight, no matter how one-sided it would be. Then he moved, faster than the fallen could perceive, and with a single wild kick he shattered the shaft of the red spear forcing it to break apart into magic. The fallen angel paused for the briefest of seconds at the destruction of her weapon before she leapt backwards flapping her wings putting some distance between the two of them and summoning half a dozen more of those vermillion light spears.

"I'm warning you," she said causing Morgan to scoff. Her every reaction spoke of cowardice, the type of person who would mercilessly kill people who were weaker than them while begging for mercy from those who were stronger. While there was nothing inherently wrong with hunting those weaker, after all Morgan would gleefully murder a whole forest of weaker elves if the stronger ones weren't always protecting them, it was foolish not to expect the same to happen to you when confronted by the stronger.

"The time for conversation ended when you tried to stab the boy," he said, slightly interested at the fact that she chose to fight at all rather than run. What he was doing was the equivalent of playing with his food but he couldn't help it. He hadn't had a battle for so long that he would fully savour even these meagre picking were enough to whet his appetite. He leaned forward slightly before he pushed off letting the fallen angel taste the speed that was his strongest attribute.

Crimson shadows rained down upon him focused on not only his body but that of his classmate behind him and he laughed internally at the thought that something this light would pressure him. Lashing out with his foot he caught the side of the red spear that aimed for poor weak Issei, injecting his magic and causing it to adhere to his foot before he spun around landing on his left hand and allowed the spinning spear, blackened by the mere touch of his energy, to slash through a couple more of those projectiles.

He flipped himself upright again kicking another one of those red spears as he did so, to see the fallen turn on her heel and take to the skies. It was a practical yet futile move and Morgan applauded it by instantly returned her spear to her, lodging it in her scapula with a flick of his foot at the exact spot where wing met shoulder severing the appendage and causing her body to collapse to the ground unsteadily. With grace born of an abnormally high dexterity he landed on his feet again and placed his left hand back in his pocket as he walked forward casually, as if he had all the time in the world.

For all intents and purposes he did have all the time in the world, at least compared to the pitiful fallen angel who was scrambling backwards away from him, her severed wing lying to the side twitching pitifully and a pool of blood forming underneath her. That single spear that he threw wasn't enough to kill her even though it had left a nasty hole through her body. Still despite the wound that she received she didn't go into shock indicating that she had at least more vitality than the average human although that wasn't such a great feat nor was it to be applauded when it was achieved by a different species.

"Wait Morgan stop," he heard Issei say from behind him as the boy's footsteps approached him hurriedly. It took a special kind of fool to try and intervene in a life and death match and Morgan was torn between praising his bravery and deriding his stupidity. On second thoughts he should definitely pick to deride stupidity; bravery can be taught but it is exceedingly hard to teach a corpse anything.

"I know she looks vaguely…" Morgan started as he turned towards his classmate. The entire time he still kept vision on the fallen angel and thus he was not surprised when her terrified visage morphed into a look of hatred. Achingly, painfully, slowly she summoned a magic spear and threw it with passable accuracy towards his face.

Greater Light Resistance increased to 66

"Human, but you should trust me when I say that there is a monster underneath," Morgan continued speaking to his classmate as the spear hit him on the side of his face before shattering, his resistance that had sat on the cusp of levelling up for too long tipped over the boundary by a hairs breadth. Issei frankly looked shocked, horrified actually at the thought that his distraction had caused Morgan to be hurt. 'He honestly gives himself too much credit,' Morgan thought as he turned his head towards the fallen angel who stared at him in disbelief as her spears simply broke against his skin. If he had been caught off guard and injured it would have been due to his own stupidity and not the careless words of a boy with a level under 10.

"Please…" the fallen angel began to speak but Morgan refused to indulge it's honeyed words and so granted her the most tender of mercies as he moved forward, faster than she could react, and with his right foot he pushed her head down to the ground. Applying the appropriate force he pushed downwards with his right leg crushing the skull and destroying the brain, killing the fallen instantly and painlessly.

An elementary fire spell and the corpse had turned to ashes and a wind spell then dispersed the ashes around the park. A retching noise reached his ears and he turned back to see Issei regurgitating the food that he had eaten on his date. 'It really was a pity that she looked human, otherwise it would have probably been a lot easier on the boy,' Morgan thought to himself only to raise an eyebrow as a flash of red came from the boy's pocket and then seconds later a similarly scarlet teleportation circle appeared.

xxx

Rias Gremory had been called out to more than a few contracts in her time. While some Kings would delegate any contracts they received to their servants, believing it beneath their pride, she had prided herself on her near perfect record when it came to fulfilling contracts with the exception of a few impossible or unrealistic tasks that she had rejected. From the moment that she had teleported in there was a dozen different things that she would do to make the client feel at ease, safe, and happy even before they had gotten to the request. Still over the many contracts she had performed she had been in some pretty wild situations from perverts dressed as magical girls to teenagers trying to learn magic to people who genuinely need rescue.

However the scene that greeted her when she decided to answer an evening call was different from those other calls. Her skin tingled as traces of light energy poisoned the atmosphere and there was a persistent undercurrent of malice in the air. Her mind immediately shifted gears going from welcoming and comforting to alert and battle ready and the Power of Destruction bubbled under her skin as she scanned the area. A boy around her age caught her attention first and she honed in on the familiar feel of one of her contracts in his pockets. A second later she recognizes him through all the stress and danger of the current situation as Issei Hyoudou, a famous pervert in Kuoh High and a boy that she had her eye on for a while due to reports from Koneko that he likely possessed a Sacred Gear.

'Why was he in an area of angel or fallen angel activity?' she thought to herself. 'Was he confronted by them, scouted by them, working with them?' The possibilities were numerous and she would have no way of telling unless she actually asked him. A last glance around the evening night and she almost jumped out of her skin to see another familiar face. Just a few metres away from her the famous Morgan Carolinus stood with an unreadable expression on his face as he stared at her unblinkingly. Sona had expressed interest in this student due to his high intelligence demonstrated by the almost unprecedented feat of beating her in 'some form' of chess but his lack of sacred gear had proved a sticking point for Rias.

"What happened here?" she said eying up the two boys firmly waiting for any response. Issei surprisingly was not looking at her chest, instead his vision switched between Morgan and her intermittently and his breath was fast and uneven as if he was in the early stages of a panic attack.

"You should go home Issei," Morgan said ignoring her completely while still looking at her. "There seem to be other things prowling around in the night," his voice said sharply and Rias realized with some alarm that he was referring to her.

"Wait Carolinus," Rias said raising her hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not going to attack. I just need you to tell me what happened." She gave a smile that would have caused all of the boys (and some of the girls) back in school to swoon, but his eyes simply grew harder as he regarded her.

"Issei go home," he said and Rias watched as the young man seemed to step forward. She couldn't sense a trace of magic in his body and yet his movements seemed abnormally threatening in the quiet light of evening. It was as if his every motion was centred upon her and she broke into a cold sweat as unknown instincts told her that if she didn't act right now then she would disappear on this night and her peerage or family would never see her again.

"Wait," she cried out, her voice weak. "I'm warning you," she continued her voice louder as she immediately summoned the Power of Destruction into her hand. The red-black glow of her magic momentarily calmed her but that calm was snuffed out as every step her underclassmen took caused the shadows to lengthen and the air to chill. "If you don't…" she started and then realised that he was a mere ten steps away and she had lost focus sometime in that exchange. No more words could be spoken in this short time and her mind had gone blank of any possible words of discouragement; and so she threw the ball of pure destruction towards her fellow student.

For a brief moment she felt relief touch her heart as the ball sped through the air towards her target unimpeded and then that feeling of dread resumed as Morgan Carolinus lifted his hand and the Power of Destruction that she was so proud of stopped in front of them.

"Last words," he said and for the first time since she had seen him he smiled; an inhumanly sinister grin that was at odds with everything that he had been before and Rias in the last moments of her life came to the conclusion that she had been fooled. No normal human could be so terrifying. With a motion of his hand that seemed almost casual he flicked her own magical attack back at her and Rias found herself rooted in space, unable to move even an inch as certain death was flung towards her. Suddenly a shadow fell in front of her and to her surprise she saw Issei fling herself in front of her somehow. Her shock didn't last long as just before the magical energy was going to engulf them all it disappeared.

"Perplexing," Morgan Carolinus said after a few seconds of silence. He no longer gave off any aura and if it wasn't for her slightly depleted magical reserves Rias would have thought that the last few seconds were a lie. "Do you not realise Issei," Carolinus said, his words scarily calm. "This…person is the same type of being as that girl who tried to kill you?"

"She and I are not the same," Rias spoke up despite the trembling in her voice. "She's a fallen angel and I'm a devil. We are two separate races."

"You are both non-human," Carolinus said his voice cold and indifferent. "You will not deny that?" he said his words part query and part command.

"I would never kill Issei," Rias said but there was no response from him, as if he didn't even care.

"Morgan," Issei spoke up, his voice sounding out of breath. "Rias isn't like Yuuma. I'm sure she would have helped me if she had arrived a bit sooner." That wasn't the right thing to say evidently as no signs of relenting showed up on his face. Just as Rias was about to confirm her lack of hostility Morgan suddenly looked to the side as if he was distracted by something.

"Let's call off hostilities," he suddenly said after a moment of pause. "I may have acted too quickly," he said with a look of embarrassment. "Sorry, from my perspective you showed up just after Issei was attacked by the black winged girl. It was a bit suspicious so I may have overreacted and when you threw that ball of destructive energy at me I sort of panicked and decided to just treat you as an enemy. Why don't we all just go home and sleep on this. I'm sure that tomorrow we will look back at this and laugh."

"Okay, I'm sorry about this," Rias apologized and then immediately wondered why she did so. His words sounded reasonable and she could feel the fear drain out of her as if dispelled by his calming voice. After all she had been the one to launch the first attack. Embarrassment nearly coloured her face as she remembered her state of panic and she forced herself to keep calm and composed.

"Issei," Carolinus said as he turned towards the boy in front of her. "I'll walk you home now; just so that you don't get ambushed by any more black winged girls. Let's speak tomorrow Gremory, shall we."

"I'll send somebody to pick up both of you after class," Rias said now almost fully calmed. "Until then try not to talk about this to anybody."

"I will be the picture of discretion," he said serenely. "Goodbye Gremory." Those were the last words he said before he left; putting his hand on Hyodou's shoulder and escorting the shocked human away. Issei said some words of farewell but she almost didn't hear it."

xxx

"This is where we part ways," Morgan said as they arrived at Issei's gate.

"Are you sure you don't want to come inside," Issei said to Morgan. The young guy had obviously not fully recovered and he had tried to drag information out of Morgan this whole time. Morgan had not replied for the simple reason that he didn't want to display his lacking knowledge.

"If I come in then I will introduce myself to your parents as your date," Morgan said causing Issei to blanch.

"You can be quite cruel Morgan," Issei said after a moment of recovering his composure. His voice was less jovial then normal.

"Cruelty is the one truth of the world," Morgan said, before stopping for a moment and wondering if it was the same in this world as well. He shook his head and gave a half wave before leaving the human standing in front of his house.

Divine Quest Completed: The Fifth
Keep your cool, son.
Reward: 1 XP

"Am I making you proud, Dad?" he asked himself the question he would never ask his father. In one swift motion he reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver blue key before inserting it into the air in front of him and summoning a transparent door made of air that he stepped through. A second later there was no evidence he had ever been there.

Author Note: Sometimes I look back on some of my stuff and wonder why I didn't just publish it. This chapter was 95% done and my first attempt at a Gamer Story. I was inspired by the Light Novel So I'm a Spider, So What? which somehow got me to think about how a world that composed entirely of Gamers would exist and more importantly why it would exist. This was just a bit of a diversion and I will return to my regular schedule of stories I need to finish shortly.