The next day
Issei woke up at 6 feeling tired and by tire his body was feeling way to uncomfortable and sore, he asked Ddraig but did not got any reply deciding to get a shower in his own room rather then to face the girl as if something was warning him to not meet them. He got ready and walked towards the school.
Ise-kun you look tired did you fight someone asked, issei noted it was kiba one of the only person who had a contact with issei in the last few months from the ORC and suspected something was wrong but issei always said not to worry so he didn't press the matter.
Ohayo Kiba, yeh I got in a fight with a strangely strong assassin claiming to be part of the Hassans, but I dispatched him easily and then his body disintegrated into ashes, I am feeling tired after that fight. He said.
Kiba was shocked that another assassin came after him it was the 2nd time this happened this month, but since a lot of factions wanted him dead they try contacting Rias about it but she said to leave the matter.
Oh right Buchou and Akeno-San are coming to visit today so we better hurry up and reach school on time. Kiba said and they both started walking swiftly towards the school.
Kuoh Compound
As issei reached kuoh academy with Kiba he started receiving those glares and hateful look that he was accustomed to before he never cared about it at all but now that he toned down his perverted tendency a bit he was annoyed by those looks and the murmurs that followed them.
He greeted the members of student council, since Sona and Tsubaki went to college with Rias and Akeno, the title fall on Xenovia and Saji and Asia becoming the president of the ORC.
Both of them talked as they walked closer to the ORC building. Soon they went past the big, broken, creepy wooden door used to enter the building, and towards the end of the left corridor. Only seeing a double wooden door at the end of their path.
* Creeeak!*
Opening the double door they saw a staircase in front. Soon after, they started walking up the stairs, grabbing the rusty railing that left a metal scent on their hands. Reaching the second floor they went to the second door to the right and opened it. Inside the big, old-looking room was the members of the ORC. Looking further in, the brown-haired boy saw two people he wished to see. … 'Rias… Akeno-san…' - He thought
The room they were in was rather odd, the ceiling was really tall and in all four walls bookcases filled his view. On these bookcases some strange sigils were written on their surfaces, all in a strange language he recognized as, Devil Letters. That touch gave a rather uncomfortable vibe to the whole room. At the far end, towards his left, one could see a black desk with a black leather chair. Four couches red in color were accommodated at the center of the room, now filled with people. Seeing the two women sitting on one of the couches he was faster than the knight for once.
Even speaking with a cheerful voice. - "Rias! Akeno-san!" The two women hurriedly turned and looked at the boy. Yet something in their eyes scared him, he did not know what, but something seemed different from the way they used to look at him… "Well, hello Ise." - With a neutral and even emotionless tone of voice, the red-haired woman talked to him. Issei was taken by surprise by her tone, being more direct and even a bit cold. "Ise-kun… it's nice to see you again. It has been a while." - Yet the answer of the Yamato Nadeshiko froze him up. Nothing seemingly wrong with her words, yet he could detect she was different, at least towards him. In the past she would have run towards him and hugged him, but now she did nothing. Even the smile she had was forced as if she talked to someone that she didn't care for. The blonde knight on his left also detected something odd, but quickly composed himself.
Taking a look towards his friend he saw him standing there, not moving not even blinking. Quickly acting up before something happened, he spoke. "Rias-sama. How have you been? It's been more than a month since we last saw you." - The knight calmly asked in a too professional tone. But Rias didn't perceive the tone used by said Knight. "Yes Yuuto. College has kept us quite busy, so I apologize for that. But since today we had a free day we decided to come by and check how things are going. Right Akeno?" - She answered. Meanwhile, Issei came back to himself and was about to speak up, but was stopped by the answer of Akeno. "Yes! We had free time and wanted to check on all of you, especially on Asia since she is the new president. But by the looks of it, she has been doing well." "Yes, Akeno Onee-sama, Rias Onee-sama! All of us have been quite well, thanks for asking!" - The blonde-haired woman answered in a cheerful voice while smiling. Kiba and Issei realized how she didn't notice how they were acting towards Issei. Actually, for Kiba, it seemed as if she decided to ignore what happened, something that was weird coming from her… Taking the word, Koneko spoke. "Rias-Buchou, Akeno-senpai, we've been well. Even my sister has been well thanks to Yasaka-sama, talking to her about a possible job. Being an embassador of the Yōkai." - Completely changing the subject of the talk, Koneko talked about her sister.
The blonde-haired boy became suspicious, it seemed as if something happen to all women' lives and were trying to hide it from the male. Even Xenovia who would normally be talkative. Odd quite odd… "Oh! So something like that happened to Kuroka-sama, I'm happy for her." - Smoothly replying, Ravel talked from the couch at the left of Koneko. A certain brown-haired boy walked closer to them, his bangs covering his eyes, obscuring them.
"Is that all you are here for?! To check !?" - With a cold tone, he almost screamed. Then he widened his eyes, he realized that his words were cold, so he hurriedly began talking with a soft and warm voice. "Would you not want to talk more? Tell us about your college life. Anything at all! We have time, after all, it's Friday! Tomorrow there is no school for both of us, so why not we take this time to catch up?" - Knowing about his mistake of talking like that, he asked with a goofy smile on his face. Kiba released a sigh of relief, but what came next surprised him as much as it was possible. With a clearly strict and cold tone, Rias spoke. "Yes, we only came for that Ise ." - Her voice sharpened. - "We are very busy and later today we have a meeting with our class to check on some projects we need to do! We also came to tell all of you a couple of things!" - Dismissing the comment of Ise, the red-haired stated. Akeno then spoke up.
"We came only to say that in the near future we won't be able to spend much time among ourselves. After all, right now College is quite tough, and being the future president and vice-president of our faculty only makes it tougher. So our senpai has been kind enough to guide us, so that we can take up their positions well enough!~" Akeno spoke up towards no one in particular, but Issei knew it was towards him. Even the mention of that senpai was slightly different from the rest of her words, being flirty and sexual. Call it a gut feeling of Issei. "Yuuto!" - Rias turned around and looked straight at her Knight. "We also came to tell you, that because of recent events our Contracts have been increasing, but because there are only so much we can do, and since Issei is the worst of the worst at it, I need you to take a few more contracts in his place." Kiba was with a face filled with shock. "Don't worry there won't be that many so that it affects you studies, be at ease." - Rias said as he looked at him. Kiba, on the other hand, didn't expect of her to just insult Issei like that! Those words where something he never thought that would come out of her! Completely out of breath at the sudden insult towards his best friend, he did not have the words to answer back. "I'll take your silence as an answer. Now, excuse us, but we need to leave!" The two of them stood up and walked towards the exit, passing by Issei and not even looking at him. One could see the boy tremble in disbelief but he just stood there, not saying anything.
"Wait just a bi'' Issei said in a monotonous tone making Kiba look at him In worry , "I was attacked again yesterday night and this time it was 20 assassins- " issei was saying but Rias cut him off, "were you hurt or any major injury ?", "No nothing major".
"Then forget about it" she said and left making Kiba's eyes widen in disbelief and issei's mind to be blanked.
A couple of minutes passed and the only ones left were Kiba and Issei. The former worried about the later, and surprised about how things turned out. He was even more shocked about how the rest of the girls did nothing, not even looking at him. Like they didn't know him, as if he wasn't worth anything in their eyes.
Waiting for Issei to come back to himself, he thought about the new order his master gave him. Annoying it was, it seemed that he will need to make adjustments to his schedule. Training will be completely left out, at least for now, until he completes the new contracts he will get instead of Issei. Issei woke up from his stuppor. Seeing no one except Kiba in the room, he tightly wrapped his left hand into a fist.
Drip.. . Drip…
Blood came from his hand, slowly painting the wooden floor with a few red drops. "Really!? Only that !? Six months without seeing each other and that's what you say!?" - With a tone fill with sadness, melancholy, anger, and fury, the brown-haired spat.
"What happened?! Why has everyone around me changed so Goddamn much!?" - He screamed from in between his teeth. Also getting a heahache at the mention of the holy one.
* Smash! *
He punched the wall and made a hole on it. It wasn't that deep, but it still proved how angry he actually was. Kiba could see how his friend was suffering, it did not surprised him. After all, Six whole Months without speaking to any of them, as if they were someone else. And when he did try to go talk to any of them they would answer with an ' I'm busy', 'Don't bother me now', 'Get out pervert!', 'Sorry, but maybe next time' so he wasn't surprised by his sudden explosion.
One could guess just how bad his mental state was. He was quieter and less open than before, proof that this did serious damage to him, and even his binge anime runs, but what could he do? He tried talking with him, but Issei just avoided the topic completely. Only by sparring did Issei get all those thoughts out of his head and now, on that thought whenever they fought issei didn't use boosted gear that much but was capable of keeping up with him and every time he used some new technique to catch him by surprise, but there won't be time even for that! Kiba felt useless, truly useless.… What a friend he was… Kiba knew that speaking with someone else won't cut it, and the rest of the group were always doing other things.
Gasper was in the hospital with Valerie, waiting for her recovery.
Azazel-sensei was always in Grigori because of recent, past events.
The girls… well you can answer that one.
Irina was in Heaven doing some angel stuff.
The Student-Council was far too busy with the school and with the project of their King.
Sirzechs-sama, Grayfia-sama, Michael-san, Vali, were all busy. Either with political treaties, damage repair, fixing their own territory, or with missions to help the cause against those rebelling groups.
Rossweisse-sensei was called back by the Norse Pantheon because of something Odin-sama asked her to help with. They heard from her that it was related to the barrier trapping the Trihexa, and that she didn't even know when would she come back. She only left after saying goodbye to Issei, and after that contact was lost, no one could reach her.
He assumed that because the work was far too important to let distractions in, no contact was allowed. So in the end there was no one, nothing could be done. Issei turned around as fast as he could, kicking the door open almost destroying it and saying to himself "I need to go where they are! I need answers from them, and that little speech won't cut it!" - As a someone who got a new copy of GTA 6 and wanted to play it bad, Issei was gone, leaving Kiba alone in the room.
20 Minutes Later
Issei ran as fast as he could. His destination, Kuoh College Division. However, he heard a voice inside of his head.
[Partner? What happened? Why are you running? Are you being chased by the girls of your school again… ] - Ddraig talked to him mentally, tiredness present in his voice.
Issei stopped running and looked at his left hand, more specifically the reverse of his palm. A green circle shining in a dull, green light was right on the reverse of his palm.
"Ddraig!" - He was happy. "Partner it's good to hear you, I did not hear of you in the entire day. But the conversation needs to be postponed, right now, I have something I need to do!" Surprised by the severity in the tone of voice of his partner, Ddraig understood. Something must be, or will go wrong. [Okay Partner.] - He agreed with him.
[But I will stay awake for now to see what exactly happened! Whatever you need, just talk, I'll be there.] - Ddraig solemnly answered. (Thanks pall. I'll explain things to you as soon as I am done knowing myself}
Continuing his run, Issei decided to take a shortcut through the park. Maybe that way he can catch up to them. Running like he just stole something, he swiftly went through the park and after a couple of minutes of running, he finally saw the ORC a few meters up ahead.
He watched how the girls said their goodbyes to Rias and Akeno, something he found odd. (When did they start to accompany them? Why did they do it? Simple courtesy… or something else? Maybe they have something to do here?) - Shaking his head he left those thoughts for another time. Issei then followed Rias and Akeno inside their College.
Ddraig was quiet, but he was thinking the same as his Partner. Being a millennia-old Dragon he knew something was off. Experience is the greatest teacher and right now he felt something bad will happen to his Partner, something really bad.
Before Issei, a big metal gate made its appearance as the entrance door, having a rather rusty and broken look to it. Walls of bricks were at either side of the gate all covered in moss, symbolizing that they were old. Looking beyond the gate one could see a big building in the furthermost part of the complex, and alongside it, many smaller buildings which could be the other fraternities of the College were present. However, not a single student was outside, and thanks to that getting in was quite easy, no problem at all.
Walking past the gate, he looked at the backs of the two women he was looking for, but instead of running as fast as he could towards them, he decided to follow them. Something about them felt… weird. Continuing his "chase" the two women expertly crossed the campus. Said campus being a full patch of dirt and grass with a few statues of what he guessed to be the founder of the College and other important teachers.
A lot of trees adorned the path he was walking on, he could identify some as rosewood trees thanks to their purplish flowers. Many other trees were alongside them, but he was no expert, so he couldn't decipher what species of trees they were. The smell, was of freshly cut grass and wet dirt something he expected about such a big campus.
The buildings were styled like the ones in old British movies. They were similar to images he had seen of Oxford when he was looking for universities in his free time. Maybe the founder got inspired by the British architecture? Who knows? Being late, around 5:00 pm on a Friday, the students were gone. Just a minority were left for whatever reason they must have. Walking towards the building he saw at the entrance, the pair of women continued their walk while talking among themselves. It appeared they did not notice someone was following them, a lack of awareness on their part. Soon, they finally entered the main building that seemed to be their faculty.
They crossed the main door of the faculty and walked towards a huge staircase that covered almost all the room they were in. At both sides of the floor above them, balconies adorned the halls making it seem refined and high-class. Reaching the end of the stairs they made a last left turn, and at the very bottom of the hallway, one could see a double door with a sign above it. It read as Student-Faculty in bright gold letters and encased in a wooden framework with intricate details. Clearly, someone spent some money on it.
Issei, still being at the end stairs, peaked his head out and saw how Rias knocked on the door.
Seconds later, a man made his appearance.
He was tall, around six foot something, appearing to be in his early twenties. His physique was quite big so he did some kind of sport, Issei's fighting experience kicking in made him guess martial arts. He had shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes as clear as the sky, but something within them made Issei uncomfortable. Not that he was strong, but more like he was a threat to him.
Reaching that conclusion he continued watching the man as he talked to Rias and Akeno. Soon after some talk, the man invited them in.
[Partner… something is not right. Something is just odd… ] - Ddraig finally talked with hidden worry in his voice. [Partner, I feel something terrible will happen to you. You should leave!] - Surprised at the sudden words of his partner, he widened his eyes and mentally answered.
(Ddraig. What are you talking about? Nothing will happen. Although looking like that, that guy is weak, pitifully so. Maybe around Low Class devil, if not lower.) - Issei answered in his mind, but he had to agree he did feel threated, but for a completely different reason he did not yet understood.
[I know Partner!] - His tone exasperated. - [But something about that guy makes me feel uneasy! It's as if he will leave you so terribly wounded you might no be able to do anything else in your life!] - His words were serious. [Just hear me out and let's go away! You can ask them at another time, or maybe even the other girls!] - Ddraig stated, worry present in his voice, but his partner was just too stubborn.
(Pfft! Come on Ddraig.) - He told the Dragon. (Just a quick peak inside. I will hear what they want to talk about and after that, we'll leave and start watching BERSERK .) - The boy stubbornly answered, but deeply inside he had fear.
(Quick, before the door closes!)
[Wait! Partner don't-] - Cutting the communication with the Dragon. Even cutting him mid speech, he sprinted towards the door just before it closed. Sticking his finger in before it closed, he made a gap big enough for him to see without someone inside noticing him. Quickly thanking his extremely good eyesight, he looked inside. An extremely luxurious room stood before him. Fine leather couches laid on its center. One big enough to fit three people and still have room to spare. On each side of the biggest couch, there were two smaller ones, fitting for a single person.
In front of it, a normal dark wooden table with three tea cups filled with recently-poured tea. Further in, right against the wall, there were bookcases. The sheer number of books was enough to fill the entire wall. And in front of them, there was a big leather chair with an accompanying desk the same tone as the wooden table. The ceiling had a fancy chandelier, while tall lamps with ornaments adorned the corners of the room.
But it wasn't the room that took the air out of his lungs, it wasn't the furniture, no.… it was the ones inside said room. That image, took the entire life out of him. Sitting on the biggest couch in the room were the two women he was looking for. But both of them were leaning their entire weight upon the man he saw before, with a blush on his cheeks and a stupid smile on his face.
Both women were wrapping themselves around him like a snake about to eat their prey. Their eyes were filled with happiness and enjoyment. The kind of happiness he had seen when he made Akeno reconcile with her father, and when he declared his love to Rias in the ORC.
The Dragon inside the Boosted Gear went wide-eyed at the scene, hoping his eyes went bad due to the nightly binge he was doing. He even went to the extremes of asking the dead God of the Bible for his eye-sight to be wrong. Quickly checking how his partner was, he managed to figure out something on him. Disbelief appeared in his eyes. He could not find anything! Not even the slightest fragment of emotion could be seen nor felt! It's as if his brain and body just shut down, placing his entire attention to the scene in front of his eyes! He also could not enter the mind-realm of his Partner, but guessing by the information obtained so far, the situation was not good!
Wishing to check again, he tried once more, but nothing happened. He repeated the process over and over again, but only finding the same to happen. Leaving that aside he decided to monitor his Partner's body. A chill ran up his spine when he noticed how his body currently was. [Just how could that happen?!] - Ddraig quickly screamed, but it seemed Issei was not capable of hearing him.
[Those things gave him his power! Damn! They even gave him back his life in the beginning! How could such a vicious reaction occur in his body?!] - Ddraig quickly said to himself, surprised and even a little bit scared by the horrendous reaction happening inside his Partner's body! [It's because of THEM! How could something like this happen because of those WOMEN!?] - Anger filled anger he did not felt after that fateful day he got his title of "the Red Dragon Emperor".
His voice full of venom as he spat his conclusion. He was furious! Those disgusting woman were actually doing something that horrible to his Partner! [Partner! Lea-] - But before he could tell his Partner to stop watching and to leave this place immediately, a voice interrupted his thoughts. Said voice, was of the Wishing to check again, he tried once more, but nothing happened. He repeated the process over and over again, but only finding the same to happen. Leaving that aside he decided to monitor his Partner's body. A chill ran up his spine when he noticed how his body currently was. [Just how could that happen?!] - Ddraig quickly screamed, but it seemed Issei was not capable of hearing him. [Those things gave him his power! Damn! They even gave him back his life in the beginning! How could such a vicious reaction occur in his body?!] - Ddraig quickly said to himself, surprised and even a little bit scared by the horrendous reaction happening inside his Partner's body! [It's because of THEM! How could something like this happen because of those WOMEN!?] - Anger filled the Red Dragon Emperor. His voice full of venom as he spat his conclusion. He was furious! Those disgusting woman were actually doing something that horrible to his Partner! [Partner! Lea-] - But before he could tell his Partner to stop watching and to leave this place immediately, a voice interrupted his thoughts. Said voice, was of the man no the vermin sitting on the couch.… Right in between the pair of women.