The NPC formerly known as Pandora's Actor, now playing the role of 'Issei Hyoudou', moved through the slowly darkening streets of the city of Kuoh. He refrained from assessing his surroundings openly, to not give away his unfamiliarity with the surroundings.
'Hmm, how unusual.' Pandora's Actor, no 'Issei', smiled inwardly. 'There are so many people around, so many different thoughts – and they're all meaningless, chaotic and so geistlos.'
Unlike lesser Doppelgängers, 'Issei' was a Greater Doppelgänger with the maximum racial level, so his mind reading was not as bare and superficial as that of his lesser brethren. He could read not only the superficial thoughts swirling above, but even the deepest of them, pulling out important information from the depths of the minds of those around him. And at the same time, remembering to appreciate all other thoughts of no importance other than as a collectible item.
The whole point, however, was that Issei was a collector of sorts, a trait he shared with his Father, he shared a love of collections of all unusual kinds. Primarily, related to objects of a magical nature, but anything could be a collection for Issei. Father also loved to collect living people, unusual creatures, strange materials, exotic spells, and a host of others, while Issei above all else loved to collect the roles available to him and given to him from his surroundings.
So now, finding himself in a new world, outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Issei expected to be able to collect hundreds of new roles. And he did see them, as he walked the streets, revealing with a light touch the minds and souls of those around him. But, he realized with some sadness, all these roles were… Empty. They were practically meaningless.
The people around him did not give themselves to their roles, preferring to hold those as meaningless carnival masks. They use their daily life, walking through familiar roads, following their routines, as if hoping that it was the mask that would turn them into another being, into another role, rather than their actions.
Standing at the crossroads, looking at his watch, the young man considered himself 'an exemplary worker, a faithful husband, and a good teacher'. But he, in fact, was empty inside, like a glass jar whose walls had been painted over, in a foolish attempt to pass off emptiness as fullness.
No, there was no desire inside him to really commit to his role, as a 'model employee' he pondered how he could wean himself off his job early and weasel a pay raise from his boss. A 'Faithful husband'? Nothing more than a paper lantern, easily pierced with one finger, only just below his 'faithfulness' were fantasies, desires, dark emotions. A 'Good teacher'? It was only a screen to hide his weariness and stale irritation at stupid students, and at himself, forever stuck in his position as a mere 'teacher'.
Empty, empty, empty and absolutely meaningless existence, protected solely by the easy mask and drawing of the 'role' that they performed, but deprived of the most important thing. They lack the spark of existence, the meaning of existence itself – they were soulless beings in their weak, imperfect bodies.
Indeed, Issei knew that they were not actors, but only scenery, wandering meaninglessly around the stage, creating 'extras' as the background in the Actor's and Father's stories.
There were dozens, hundreds, of them wandering about their business and yet deprived of the sacred understanding of what their business was. Blind kittens trying to find their way through meaningless pokes at walls, unaware of what they were really deprived of.
Issei even felt some pity for them. He had no particular love for humanity in him, but faced with the sight of their current condition, he could do no other than regret their senseless and hopeless walk to one day realize their true destiny.
Only once in Issei's path did he encounter one man, from whom he felt something like a faint facsimile of the spark of that great flame that burned within each of the inhabitants of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. And, as the analysis of his mind told him, it was all down to his religious devotion to the Shinto Temple at the edge of town and its gods.
Issei supposed that, in a sense, it made sense. It was not a drive granted by a Supreme Being, whom the lower beings could not see in any other way than as God, but it was a drive all the same.
Blind to their destiny, humans try to unravel the will of their gods, trying to find their destiny through the determination of their will and plan… a laughable endeavor. Even beings emboldened by the presence of the Supreme Being among them and gifted with an understanding of their purpose of existence were unable to fully grasp the majesty of the plans and the might of the will of their Master. Then, what chance do men, deprived of this grace forever, have? They were no more than blind men, trying naively to understand the will of their gods, relying solely on their own knowledge.
Still, the fact that this slight shadow of a spark existed within one of them was worthy of Issei's approval and praise. His mind was incapable of even imagining how terrible it was to exist without will or understanding. And the fact that some tried to bridge this endless chasm, acquiring something whose absence they could not even fathom, was worthy of all praise.
All of this, however, was only Issei's idle musings as he moved toward his home. Although he had not been handed the memory of Issei Hyoudou, Father had shared with him the information he had gained from his knowledge – Issei was supposed to live in Kuoh. So, all Issei had to do was to gradually narrow his search by reading the thoughts of old Issei's acquaintances, who began appearing periodically, and he could figure out the location of Issei's home.
Something which he had just accomplished, an easy task over all.
"Hmm?" As Issei tried to get inside the heads of the two people sitting inside, and succeeding, he was intrigued by what he had found. 'Funny indeed – I can see why Father decided to take an interest in these people. There is a spark of understanding in them, as in the priest I met earlier, but it was born not of following the gods, but of their own awareness of their place in this world. For them the reason for their existence was Issei himself and his birth. Hmm, entertaining specimens indeed – but, alas, your spark of awareness is nothing before the will of my Father – even if I can feel some regret for your fate.'
After another moment, having carefully traced the basic details in the mind of Issei's parents, Issei could only shake his head. If his Father were around now, then…
Then, as if He could hear Issei's thoughts – a [Gate] that opened near Issei, instantly revealing to the light, his Father, who had already taken the form of 'Issei's big brother', just when Issei thought of it.
'Indeed, He already knows all the steps of this act, tens of thousands of years in advance.'
Issei bowed slightly at the sight of Father, no, his older brother, but he allowed himself an indulgence, there was no one around them after all. He checked. "Father, you are just in time…"
"Umu," Father replied, looking around, as the [Gate] closed behind him. "I assume this is Issei's home?"
"It is, Father," Issei nodded, "And I apologize in advance for any rudeness I may commit towards you and…"
"Not to worry, we have a mission and we both have a part to play." Father nodded seriously.
"So from now on, you are Issei Hyoudou, and I am… Umu, Satoru Suzuki."
Father, of course, already knew exactly what plan Issei had picked up to infiltrate this family, and with one stroke of his pen, completed the necessary picture, even the family name… Haha, did Father already know everything that was stored in the minds of Issei's parents? Of course, that was exactly what it was, his Father had already made His first move.
"Absolutely, esteemed elder brother." Issei bowed.
"No, no, just call me 'brother', or you can use 'bro' or 'elder', if you want to be formal." Father shook His head.
"We will continue to act like brothers in public and at any time, until we return to Nazarick or I tell you directly and explicitly that we no longer need to support the masquerade. Do you understand me, Junior?"
"Absolutely, bro," Issei blurted out, sporting the slightly cocky smile he'd found in the memory of Issei's parents. "I'll go first and introduce you."
"Okay," Father nodded, then turned toward the entrance gate moving to the side a bit, giving Issei the opportunity to advance.
Issei, moving towards the strange contraption of this world, already had knowledge from his surroundings of how the 'doorbell' was supposed to work. And, as he pressed the button, hearing with his heightened ears the slight trill of a bird inside the house.
A moment later, with a beep, the door leading inside the yard and then to the front doors opened, so Issei made his way inside. It still pained his heart to stop himself to turn around and hold the door for Father, devoting himself entirely to his role.
Climbing quickly up the low porch, Issei opened the door leading inside the house, after which he was instantly confronted with Issei's mother and father, Gorou and Miki Hyoudou. They looked very irritated, fearful, and relieved at the same time – quite the mix of emotions.
"Young man!" Miki Hyoudou, a middle-aged woman, well-preserved looks for her age, with short dark brown hair gathered into a ponytail down to her shoulder blades and brown eyes. Issei notes that there's a glimmer of tears in her eyes – and that she was restraining herself from hugging him. Though, it looked equally likely that she was about to punch Issei as well.
"I am waiting for an explanation of where you were all this time, and why I could not call your phone!?" Gorou Hyoudou, a middle-aged man with short-cut brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a slight unshaven face, his big glasses prominent on his face. He was trying to look menacing, but he did not dare interrupt his wife, making it clear who was really 'the man' in this house.
"Mom, I'm sorry!" Issei instantly fell into a 'dogeza', just as Issei had apparently always done in the past when his mother was angry with him. "The phone fell out of my pocket into the sink! It's my fault, I'm sorry!"
Issei immediately began bowing enthusiastically, as if to apologize to Issei's mother, inwardly pleased that he had managed to spy many details before from the minds of random people, and inwardly apologizing to his Father for calling this woman 'mother'. Miki Hyoudou, on the other hand, looked at Issei with a frown for a few more seconds, but then relaxed and looked away, dropping her shoulders and exhaling defeatedly, realizing that her anger might be misplaced. After all, it's not like her son meant for his phone to be broken, right?
"Okay, but the money for the new phone is going to be deducted from your birthday present. And where have you been all this time?!"
Taking the question as his cue, Issei stood up, shook himself off a little, then acted as if he came to himself as if he almost forgot to say something important. "Mom, I found my big brother!"
At this moment, Father, finding the best moment for His appearance, took a step, coming out from behind the front door showing Himself off to the two adults. After which, Miki Hyoudou abruptly gasped out and took a step back, along with Gorou, throwing incomprehensible glances now at Issei and at Father.
"Umu, good afternoon, dear father, mother," Father bowed slowly, keeping a smile of politeness and some embarrassment on His face, perfectly playing the role of a person 'embarrassed by the unexpected development of events'.
"My name is Satoru Suzuki." Miki blinked, then shifted her gaze once again to Issei and then to Father, obviously comparing their physical resemblance to each other before frowning.
Of course, Miki hadn't given birth to a second son a year before Issei, which she had just happened to forget. But a look at the mind around Issei in his way 'home', had long since shown him the appropriate way forward.
"Dad, my brother told me he's my half-brother, and came here from Kyoto looking for his father whom he had never seen before." A moment later, Gorou's thoughts stirred, some half-forgotten memory rising to the surface, making the lie even easier, thanks to Gorou himself beginning to remember his past.
"He said that his mother, Mai Suzuki, died recently, and he came to look for the father he had never met. And seeing how similar we looked, I made an assumption…"
Images began to form in Gorou's mind, and he froze, his pupils dilating. 'Got him.'
Gorou and Miki had been trying to have children for a long time, but because of Miki's medical issue, her previous pregnancies had come only after long attempts and ended in miscarriages. So, a year before Miki finally became pregnant with Issei, his father, Gorou, went on a long pilgrimage to every temple he could think of, praying to the gods for help. A pilgrimage which included a visit to Kyoto, traditionally considered the seat of power of the gods of Shintoism – along being home to Japan's most famous temples. He had left his wife behind for the duration of his trip – for almost a month.
Of course, Gorou really loved his wife and during the whole trip he really only visited temples and prayed incessantly to all the gods he could think of. He had even made the pilgrimage barefoot, stepping in the cold snow, almost losing his own feet from frostbite as perhaps some sacrifice to ensure that his prayers were heard.
As much as his intentions were pure, in the end he still had left his wife's side for almost a month. Something which led to a small fight when his wife had discovered that Gorou had some relationship with a woman in his travels. Someone named Mai Suzuki.
Now, the fact of the matter is, from what Issei could gather, this Mai Suzuki was nothing more than a nurse who was secretly consulted by Gorou about their medical issues of conceiving. Something that Gorou told his wife about, reassuring her when she discovered the many times Gorou called this Mai.
However, now that living proof to the contrary had appeared before Miki and Gorou's eyes, and with Mai Suzuki's death – all Gorou's previous explanations meant nothing. Especially considering how similar Issei and Satoru were to each other, and both of them, according to Issei's parents' memory, were pretty much carbon copies of a young Gorou.
"Gorou…" Miki, clearly coming to the same conclusion, slowly turned to her husband as her eyes glazed over, and her voice became dry and lifeless. "You… what… What do you have to say about this?!"
"This…" Gorou took a step back out of shock as if he was struck, his back striking against the wall. "This is all some mistake! A joke, a prank…"
Gorou was indeed faithful to his wife, but the problem was that seeing the provided proof to the contrary, he couldn't produce anything that spoke in his favor except his words. Besides, that very long month alone had really made Miki doubt his fidelity for a while and… well, Issei's perversion has to come from somewhere.
'Ja, what juicy stories you have…' Issei smiled inwardly, 'Hmm, and you're an interesting ausstellungsstück to boot, Gorou Hyoudou…'
It turns out that in the past, Gorou Hyoudou had a desire to gather numerous beautiful girls around him for the purpose of creating a harem of concubines. While he didn't directly pass this dream on to his son, Issei, he still allowed it to flourish. Of course, soon after he got married, he abandoned that dream in short order, not wanting to hurt his wife along with really loving her. At the same time, however, Miki also knew of this old dream of Gorou's, and it was this knowledge that now broke free, finally overwriting her perception of the figure of the 'faithful husband' that was Gorou.
'How ironic, Vater, with how many empty masks of 'fidelity' there are in the world, but the only one who truly wore none was the one whose mask was became face,' Issei sighed at his Father's brilliance. Truly, He, the Father, was the greatest of playwrights, for His pen, Pandora's Actor, was now writing the great tragedy of irony, weaving the disparate shards of chance into the unified fabric of a tragically comic plot.
"Gorou!" Miki raised her hand in anger, then with a sharp sweeping blow made a harsh slap that resounded in the hallway. "GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!"
Gorou, grasping his cheek, which had a scarred handprint on it, looked up at Father, equally confused and shocked, now replaced by anger, "He's lying! He's lying, I'm going to throw him out of the house!"
"Maybe I should really go away… I don't want to cause any trouble." His Father's acting was so perfect that Issei could even believe that He was really ashamed, embarrassed, and disappointed. Bringing His participation in this performance to such perfection that He literally dissolved into His role, ceasing to play a character on stage, completing the deception.
"I did not mean to cause any…"
"Nonsense!" And of course, as He had planned, Miki completely bought the act and was immediately on Father's side. "You should stay, where are you going to go from here! You've come from so far away… And you, Gorou!" Miki glared angrily at her husband, a complete 180 from his way of talking with Father.
"Get out! I don't want to see you again!" Gorou, upon hearing his wife's angry remarks, still full of anger and confusion, did the only thing his lacking thought processes were good enough to do – he lunged at Father, raising his fist.
Issei would have had no trouble turning Gorou into bloody mists with one sloppy movement of his hands. He had indeed copied an appearance that was not memorized by him at creation, not allowing Issei's original stats and skill to be added to his own, so he had to use only his own parameters.
Even so, as a level one hundred creature, even in his weakest, most basic form, Pandora's Actor possessed enough strength to take down not only Gorou, but most of the houses on this street in a single blow.
And yet Issei knew that his boiling blood, which demanded action, was only another of his tests. Just as his Father was always able to keep things under control, so Issei, if he wished to be His son, had to keep his feelings from interfering with His play. And of course, in no way could Gorou harm his Father, so this was all just another scene in a play, Gorou was simply playing on strings.
As one would expect, Father intercepted Gorou's fist a moment later with ease. Even without using [Perfect Warrior], Father is a hundredth level Player, and was therefore many times stronger than a mere human with no special abilities. However, the moment Gorou's fist was intercepted with an ease that could not be expected from Father's appearance, he only seemed to become more enraged, and grasped Father's body with his other hand, trying to knock him to the ground.
Of course, it was utterly useless, Father didn't budge even when the man put his whole weight into the action. Gorou, faced with unexpected resistance, fell on the ground in a heap.
'Hmm, really, what exactly is Father up to at this point? What advantage is he getting from letting the man embarrass himself?' At other times, Issei would not have hesitated to ask Father for advice or guidance, any insult or taunt was better than the most ghostly possibility of allowing a misinterpretation of His motives and actions. But this time, Issei could not do so, for it was all a test.
A test of how Issei himself could understand his Creator's intent, and his ability to anticipate His plans in order to be rewarded with the right to call him Father. Father himself had unambiguously pointed this out by saying to Issei that 'until the moment when I tell you directly and unambiguously', that Issei had to play his part without asking any advice from Father. And so, Issei now has to evaluate all the variables so that he could come to the right conclusions, to what Father is planning.
'So what are the variables? Just after Gorou was branded a cheater in Miki's mind, now he seems aggressive, unbalanced, and at the same time, pathetic and distrustful. He was acting as if to take out his anger on his son, illegitimate or not, for daring to bring Gorou's own misdeeds to light. All because the son himself sought his father, an act that only happened because of insurmountable circumstances, as his mother had died, leaving the pubescent boy without parents… Vater, tell me, are You the hero of this play, or the villain? Or are You something more, and from the beginning You did not plan to hide under the mask known to these people, appearing to them in Your splendor as the True Supreme Being?'
Sure enough, Gorou tried to rise from the floor, unable to move Father even with all his strength, this time swinging his fists again, to which Father only raised his hands, pushing Gorou away lightly. "Umu, I apologize for what happened, but perhaps I really should leave…"
Issei almost laughed – with just one phrase Father turned Gorou into a pathetic villain, whose words no one else would believe, at the same time elevating himself with His modesty, strength, and politeness to heroic heights. Turning reality into the most basic of plays, with an unambiguous hero and villain, and yet at the same time, plausibly real. So much so that the actors and the audience cease to notice the uniqueness of the script, carried away by the 'realism' of the scene.
Pandora's Actor was not one to revel in human suffering, and he even, on some insignificant level, sympathized with Gorou Hyoudou's plight. But like an enchanted man watching the majesty of a storm approaching with all its destructive potential, devouring houses with indifferent force, Issei simply watched the play with mortal admiration. As He created His great play, using human souls and minds as canvas and words and deeds as ink.
"Gorou, that's enough!" Miki rushed forward, trying to hold back the now hysterical Gorou. But Gorou no longer seemed to hear her, striving with all his strength to harm Father, and yet unable even to even wound Him, especially now that his hands were completely restrained in Father's grip.
Out of impotence and anger, Gorou kicked out his knee, trying to hit Father in the groin. Which, as if by surprise, Father let go of Gorou's hands, though Father himself, of course, suffered no damage, and it was all just a calculated move. For in his blind rage Gorou swung his fist to strike again, but the knee, seemingly crashing into an impenetrable barrier in his path, failed him, causing him to stagger backwards and tip over slightly. Falling, so that his clenched fist hand crashed not into Father, but into Miki, who had rushed to separate Father and Gorou, crashing into her face, breaking her nose, and throwing her to the ground.
A muffled cry of pain and surprise from Miki finally made Gorou stop. After which the anger was completely gone from his face, with blood seemingly draining from it, leaving only a funeral white wax mask, and Gorou turned on the spot, rushing to see Miki.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to!" Gorou dropped to his knees, but when he reached out his hands to his wife, the latter struck them back, refusing to be helped by the one that had hurt her. Both mentally, and now physically.
"Go away…" Miki's voice was quiet and muffled, but her pain was unmistakable. "Just go away…"
Gorou, recoiled back more than if he were actually struck, threw a hurt look at Miki, then at Issei, who had adopted a proper shocked look, then at Father. And, unable to contain himself, rushed away into the street with a sob, eager to escape as far away from this house as possible.
"Umu, it didn't turn out the way I wanted…" Father said quietly and completely with frustration, but in a way that could be heard in the silence that settled, allowing Miki to once again reinforce her opinion of him as a truly frustrated and noble hero. "Sorry, I didn't mean for things to turn out like this… It's all my fault…"
"No…" Miki tried to hold back the tears of pain, resentment, betrayal, and shock inside.
"You shouldn't worry… it's not your… fault." Each of the words was accompanied by a sob, simultaneous with the pop of bloody bubbles from Miki's broken nose, and on the last word she finally could not help herself, sobbing at full voice. Father, seeing this, shifted his gaze to Issei, and Issei could almost have sworn it was as if Father was scolding him. His expression seemingly expressed 'what have you done?!', but since that was completely impossible, Issei realized the most logical of all thoughts at the moment was that he had to help his 'mother'!
"Mother, I'm going to call an ambulance!" Issei acted with alacrity, as he began reading the surrounding minds for the ambulance number, but before he could, Father's voice stopped him.
"No need." Father spoke out, after which he knelt down on one knee beside Miki, making her stop for a moment in her gasping cry as she watched Father warily. Father then reached behind her back, so that she couldn't see what he's doing, while Issei could see that father was reaching for his Inventory for an item, a [Potion of Minor Healing.]
A moment later, Issei realized that this woman's place in Father's plans was far greater than he had initially assumed!
For his Father clearly knew that if He used the potion now, she would later have to be taken under Nazarick's personal control or guard – even if she were killed, she could be resurrected and subsequently interrogated for important information. And if she was not killed, she would surely soon begin asking questions of her own concerning Father's potion, not to mention just how valuable the items were from the Supreme Beings themselves!
"Drink it." Father handed the small vial full of red liquid, and the woman, shaken by sobs and the news that had completely overturned her past conception of her life and her world, did not even resist. Miki, powerlessly, and without question, accepted the vial, drinking its contents easily. Which immediately, as one would expect, healed the minor wounds that Gorou's fist had inflicted on her, instantly restoring her bloodied nose, and removing the blood from her face. A sure sign of rapid magical healing that restores even severed body parts, which included, for example, the blood that had left Miki's blood vessels earlier.
As soon as the healing ended, and probably feeling the pain disappear, Miki opened her eyes and, unbelieving, groped her nose.
"How! What?" She looked up at Father with a confused and surprised look on her face, her earlier sadness suddenly overwritten.
"[Sleep]," Father used a spell that instantly allowed the exhausted woman to fall asleep, with her falling in his arms, thus leaving the last memory in the woman's mind of falling asleep in Father's arms…
Indeed, with each movement He only moved forward, toward the fulfillment of His purposes.
"Pandora's Actor… Issei, I need you to find your father, apologize to him, and… Make the situation at least a little better," Father sighed, playing his role even when there's no one watching.
"Please, I don't think he's gone far, but… I don't know, send him somewhere, preferably somewhere far away, so he can't interfere anymore, and no more of this. He has suffered enough already."
Issei thought about Father's order for a moment. He was tempted to ask about Father's specific instructions, but He had already said before that the masquerade would continue until He said otherwise, precisely and unequivocally. Which meant that this was still a test for Issei's understanding of Father's own instructions.
"All right," Issei nodded, adopting his role's vernacular, and then, as he rose, he quickly disappeared behind the door leading out of the house.
Of course, it was easy to find Gorou Hyoudou with the abilities that Issei possessed. Even if he was more lacking, Gorou had barely made it one block away, so he had instantly caught up with him. Gorou was running away, through unlit alleys, torn between anger, fear and bitterness, dropping tears on the way, alternating between angry and resentful… Making Issei's job much easier as he traveled through abandoned passages.
At this point, however, Issei, Pandora's Actor, froze.
What exactly did 'make the situation a little better' mean? The spark in Gorou's soul has extinguished and destroyed, it could not be corrected by simple actions, unless one reversed time, or allowed the Supreme Being to act Himself. Or, most blasphemously of all, went against the will of the Supreme Being, his Creator Himself. And though the Issei could take Their guises – he was by no means equal to Them. Even more, it was by possessing the ability to take Their guises that Actor was fully aware of the gulf between them.
And now, having personally witnessed his Father's great performance, he was convinced of this once more.
'Send him somewhere, preferably somewhere far away, so he can't interfere anymore' – but where exactly? Issei didn't know the place Father had spoken off nor anywhere in this world much either – all the information he knew was made up of scraps of thoughts and memories of the people around him. Issei could confidently pronounce the name of the city, Kyoto, as he had guessed that it was far enough away – but he had absolutely no idea where that city was. And without that knowledge and having no one he knew in the city itself – Issei could not teleport Gorou there…
And most importantly, 'he's suffered enough already.' What does Father mean by that? It was certain that the spark this man possessed had been extinguished, and therefore he would henceforth suffer for eternity because of what had happened until he… Died! Eureka!
Suddenly, in a single moment of realization, all of Father's words came together in a single picture, and Issei could barely keep from raising his hand to his face, seeking to cover it in a fit of shame. "Oh! Mein Gott, how foolish I am… "
A moment later, Issei dispelled his [Stealth] and appeared behind the man who had changed from running to staggering, and then he turned to him. "Father!"
Gorou paused for a moment before turning to Issei, his face changing into a relieved expression, but still with a tinge of anger and sadness. "Issei?"
"Yes, father!" Issei nodded. "Hurry, let's go home! We realized that this man was a trickster and mom is waiting for you! Come, she wants to apologize!"
Gorou blinked, trying to comprehend what had been said, whereupon, a moment later, a huge weight was lifted from his soul, relief made him practically soar above the ground, and the tears in his eyes changed from angry to joyful. His expression, a smile full of joy with his purpose, his soul, roaring back to life.
Whereupon, Issei's fist turned Gorou Hyoudou into a bloody mist.
"Indeed, the best of deaths." Issei smiled, a creepy visage now that he's covered in blood.
"Truly, Father is merciful."
To make things right… Issei could only go so far as to violate the Supreme Being's previous orders, to tell him about the plan and bring Gorou back to the family… unthinkable.
Or, he could simply tell what Gorou wanted to hear before he killed him, 'send him to a place where he won't disturb us.' that is, to the afterlife.
To kill, at the same time, make it that the last moments before his death, he felt a sense of grace. For his suffering was over, and for a moment he soared above himself, for all weight had been lifted from his soul and relief allowed him to forget everything for a moment… And in that moment. Issei killed him.
Faster than his mind would have felt any pain or betrayal, allowing him to die on top of his grace, in the Father's mercy, merciful even to the one who had to die to do His will.
"Truly the only one worthy to be called the Supreme Being…" Issei sighed as, with a masterful stroke of His pen, Father had set another point in the great play, allowing each of them to feel their part of both drama and catharsis.
For a moment, Issei transformed to his original form to blow away the settling blood mist, thus destroying any possibility of Gorou Hyoudou's resurrection. That is, of course, if ruling out [True Resurrection] and stronger magic from those who knew of his existence and would have wished to use such powers for it.
In a blink of an eye, Issei has returned, leaving no proof of what he had done before except for the pool of blood in the alleyway.
"Truly." Issei smiled, a serene, beautiful smile, totally out of place in the bloody alleyway. "I am blessed to be your son, Vater."