They watched, glancing through the droves of unrefined life walking through the gates.

It was fitting, they thought, that the young birds walked passed the gates towards the one that would bring salvation.

The world did not see how stagnant their existence had become. The masses believed themselves whole and complete, without having experienced true suffering.

Suffering will bring out their true selves. It will make them stronger, or they will die.

They called themselves the hoard. They were many and yet they were one. Those who resided in the same mortal shell, and did not condone the other's actions, had been shunned from the light.

Patricia, Dennis, and Hedwig all saw the truth. The Beast would help show the world that they were not weak or defective. The Beast would show them all.

Only through pain can you achieve greatness. The impure are the untouched, the unburnt, the unslain! The broken are the more evolved. Those who have not been torn have no place in this world. They are asleep. We will help the worthy awaken, and the tainted will be our sacrifice for ascension.

As the birds walked, carrying the sticks they thought made them more powerful, the beast stole the light and took control of the body they inhabited.

Nose turned up, something caught the creature's attention. Something familiar. A scent on the brown and pink haired ones.

Yes, they would do. Those two interacted with the false prophet, his smell still lingering on their bodies.

It wasn't yet time to reveal the truth to the world. But soon…

-LineBreak- Week 4

It was time for Sona to wake up.

Her internal clock had the heiress waking at the same time every day, just before dawn. Even though her mind knew that her body just didn't want to listen. She was quite comfortable where she was at the moment, the only reason she wasn't drifting back to sleep was that there were things to be done.

Once again Issei had shifted in his sleep, holding her body against his chest securely. She wondered if he would be embarrassed if he were to wake up right now. As she had suspected, Tiamat had amped up the training once he unlocked his balance breaker, and that little extra skin contact had helped to keep him healed and ready to go the next day.

Naked as they both were, Sona was having a hard time keeping a blush off her face. It was a stupid thing to think that she somehow wouldn't crave something more from this. His heart thumped in a strong and steady rhythm, his skin giving her the warmth she needed to fall asleep in the first place.

But these weren't what had Sona flustered.

Among the Japanese population, Sona was an average height for women. But for a devil, she was on the shorter side. Her legs had tangled themselves with his beneath her, her head resting against his chest just below his chin. Her situation would have been worse had she been taller.

She didn't need to turn her head to see what the warm pulsing thing nearly wedged between her ass cheeks was. Sona knew she should be getting up and head back to her office to deal with the paperwork for the new term, but her mind was having a hard time convincing her body to do anything at the moment.

Today was August 23rd, which meant that Issei was just about to reach week #5. Sona was glad that things had worked out in getting Issei trained with Tiamat because he was showing a similar growth rate from before. If he could keep working on extending his limit with his balance breaker, then she was confident that things would work out for the rating game.

Sona lifted her head and looked down to her sleeping pawn. He had 8 more days before coming back home.

She couldn't help but bring one hand out from where they were pulled against herself, and lightly swiped the hair out of his eyes.

He looked so peaceful like this, instead of that fiercely determined look he had when she usually appeared in the forest. From what Tiamat had said, Issei had started fighting differently.

There was no hesitation or pulled punches. When she gave the signal to begin, Issei was going all out right away. Sona couldn't blame him for the change, especially after experiencing the change his aura had undergone. The chance that he would start to draw enemies was only going to grow from this point on.

Even when he wasn't trying to make it surge, Sona could it feel it affecting her. Slowly, like gravity pulling a drop of molasses down the side of a tree, it was drawing her to Issei. A whirlpool whose current she couldn't swim out of. It felt preordained, a fact that was written before she was even born. Sona knew that wasn't true, but it was hard to rationally equate the way in which he had started to dominate so many facets of her life with anything else.

The only other thing she could use to describe what was happening would be to admit something that she adamantly wanted to deny for now.

That she was falling in love with her pawn.

In order to stall herself, to keep in line with her plans and how she wanted to live her life, Sona had to keep thinking that fate was the reason.

Lust was not the reason that she smiled when she thought of the way he touched her and the others like they were made of glass, listened to them as though nothing else mattered but what they had to say.

Lust was what had her staying in place, that itch in the back of her mind telling her to lift her hips just enough before bringing them back down.

She would blame fate for making her want to hear about the things he liked to do, even though she knew most of it. Fate was the reason that she just wanted to listen to that beating heart, feel the warmth that his inner fire produced, lose herself in the protected feeling that came over her when he pulled her on top of him in his sleep.

It wasn't love. Because if it was, then what was stopping her from reaching back with her hand and caressing the appendage making itself known?

Nothing.

If Sona was in love with Issei, there would be no reason she couldn't turn around and wrap her lips around it, licking the underside as she bobbed up and down until she swallowed the fruits of her labor.

By the agreement with her family, the only thing she couldn't do was have that piece of him embedded into her, lighting up the nerves that had never been touched before. Until she was engaged, Sona was to remain a virgin like the devil population expected her to be. The women that got married under the pretense of being virgins and being discovered had not been spoken to kindly.

Sona could not have that cock sliding into her pussy, wet and nearly convulsing in need. She couldn't have him kissing and sucking on her neck until she felt him spill inside of her, letting her lay back on the cold wood of her desk as she felt the seed nearly drip onto the floor.

She couldn't do that. There were many ways in which she felt that devils needed to change, but this wasn't necessarily one of them.

But by that same agreement, Sona was completely within her rights to pump her hands along the length until her still blooming body was covered in the warm white fluid. She could let him take her head between his hands and thrust his length down her throat to his heart's content.

If she were feeling particularly adventurous, she could even lather it with her aqueous numbing magic before climbing atop him and letting him slide into her ass.

Sona shook her head before burying it in his chest, the blush wasn't able to be kept away anymore.

Her thoughts were getting more and more sex-driven by the day. There were only so many times she could reorganize the alphabetical list of students before it started to come back.

She wanted to blame Reya for some of it. Her bishop had been all too pleased to share her activities with Issei before he left for his training and was even more pleased by the way that Momo huffed and pouted. Before hearing about that, Sona's most common romantic or sexual thought about Issei had been a kiss.

'Anal sex? Seriously? What in the world is happening to me?'

Even in her thoughts, it was a rhetorical question. Sona knew what was happening. Devils were sinful, but there was always one sin that became more prevalent than others. It just depended on what your lineage was.

Unfortunately for her, both of her parents had a weakness for lust, it was just significantly weaker in her mother.

Both Sona and her sister took after her mother. Serafall was a master at getting information and negotiating with men, which made her great at her job of foreign affairs. Sona took after the more medical and liberal art side.

Had Serafall gone through anything similar in her life? This almost debilitating sexual desire? Sona shifted in her place on top of Issei and was further embarrassed by the clear feeling of a wet spot on his pelvis.

There was only one thing that Sona could come up with to explain that.

Her saving grace came in the form of a communication circle.

"Lady Sona, your admission has woken up. She's not happy."

A breath of relief escaped her lips before she could stop it.

"Thank you, I'll be right there." She spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Issei up.

He needed his rest to endure the things that Tiamat was putting him through. That and she didn't want him becoming aware of her current state while she was still here. He was already acting more on instinct than when he'd been with Tannin if he made a move on her, Sona wasn't sure she'd have the ability to push him away.

This concerned her greatly.

Lifting herself up slightly, Sona bit her bottom lip. A large part of her wanted to stay right where she was. The dragon that she'd taken to her family's hospital was awake, and Sona had promised to check in on her. She needed to get up and make sure that the girl didn't start attacking the staff, thinking that she'd been kidnapped or something.

The only one who knew the details of how she got into a hospital, was Sona. No one else would have the answers the girl might be looking for.

Issei shifted, and his hands tightened around her. Not enough to pull her back down, but enough that she could tell he was subconsciously aware that she'd moved.

Sona slowly leaned her head down, placing a kiss on his forehead. She had never done something like that before, but she just felt that she had to do it.

One way or another, Issei was going to be hers. She didn't know how long it would take, but it was inevitable. He could have a harem with her entire peerage and then some, but nothing would change the fact that Issei Hyoudou was her husband.

The sooner that process began, the better. At least then she would have an outlet for all these annoying physical desires that were clouding her mind.

'perhaps those "self-care lessons" weren't so useless.' Sona thought as she slowly disentangled herself from the sleeping young man.

-LineBreak-

The present members of the Hyoudou Residence all sat around the table for breakfast, the sound of cutlery chiming against a plate every few seconds.

The two high school girls could feel a subtle tension in the air but didn't know if they should address it, or how to go about doing that.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hyoudou read the paper and sipped at his coffee as if everything was right in the world.

"Honey, you have that meeting tonight, right? The one with the buyer of the order you've been working on for months?" Mrs. Hyoudou was the first to speak.

The sole man in the house tilted his paper down along with placing the mug on the table gently.

"I do. From what I hear, it's the first of a few meetings we'll be having. They want to go over any changes in materials and the pricing." He said with a satisfied smile.

He'd been working on this order for so long, that finally getting some progress and having an open line of communication was a huge weight off his shoulders.

"What could they possibly want to talk about that would take more than one meeting?" The wife countered, only to be met with a shrug.

"Not sure, but I hear this is a common thing from the guys that have been around a lot longer than I have. They say that most of the time it's just some small talk with a few drinks. And a way to get to know someone and see if you want to do business with them later on."

Even the two younger women at the table realized what much of the conversation would likely be.

Just some guys trying to one-up each other with stories of what girl they may or may not have had sex with.

Silence reigned once more, as the wife and mother tried to fake being okay with everything going on.

The three jumped when her hands smacked the table, getting all the plates and silverware to clang against each other.

"I hate this." She whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear, giving up on trying to put on a supportive façade.

"He's been gone for so long." Her statement was a no-brainer to decipher.

Issei had been gone since the day that summer break started, and they hadn't heard a word from him since. Just about 5 weeks now.

Yui reached over and placed on hand on the mothers, holding it firmly to convey her shared feelings on the matter.

"He'll be back soon. Just a few more days."

Mr. Hyoudou had deemed this out of his scope and went back to his coffee and newspaper.

"I just wish I knew where he was, and what he was doing. I know he's under that nondisclosure agreement, but this still feels so sudden."

One day she thought that the only thing Issei did was his student council work and attend the kendo club here and there. The next, she finds out that he's been traveling for a job that he can't talk about, with a business that's run by a globally successful corporation. It was a huge change that she was still getting used to.

Sometimes the girls forgot just how protective and loving Issei's mother could be, after the argument a while back.

As long as you stayed clear of lies and anything she deemed to approach the lines of sexual harassment or deviancy, Mrs. Hyoudou was the ideal mother figure. If you violated those rules, however, she could turn cold and volatile in an instant.

Issei had done that as a kid and now had a healthy fear of ever doing it again. The girls didn't blame him one bit. His mother was scary when she flipped moods like that.

"I just want my son to come home." The girls watched as she got up and started to busy herself with cleaning the materials that had been used to cook their meal.

Katase and Murayama went back to eating. They had to be careful of the time because they were traveling with the other kendo members for the senior matches of the competition. The junior level had already been completed, with Kuoh taking 3rd thanks to Murayama. Yui had gotten knocked out of the running at 5th place, thanks to the surprise of seeing her father among the crowd.

He apologized for missing his daughter's chance at winning, but she was too happy to truly care. She hadn't thought he would be able to make it. For her first competition, 5th place was still a good starting point to build on the rest of her high school kendo career.

Both of them agreed, that it would have been nice to have Issei rooting for them in the stands.

The only solace came from the diminishing scent still in his room. They had decided after his first week gone, that both would sleep beside him from now on.

Kaori felt like a light bulb had just gone off in her head.

"Mother how long has Ise had that bed?"

It still felt a little weird for the brunette to call the woman that, but it made her happy so why not? Also, if things played out the way it had been explained to them, there was a very real chance that the woman turning from the sink could be her mother in law at some point.

Wiping her hands with a rag left there for this very purpose, Mrs. Hyoudou tilted her head as she thought about it.

"I'm not sure actually. 5…maybe 6 years now."

Her brows furrowed as she tried to figure it out by recalling any events that had happened around that same time frame, but nothing came to mind.

"11 years. We bought it at the same time as his desk." The father said in between sips and sounding like he could even recall the day of the week it had happened.

"No that can't be right."

"It was the year I started my job, I still have the receipt from the delivery crew in the office just in case we had to use that 10-year warranty."

Kaori saw the way that Mrs. Hyoudou looked appalled at her son still sleeping on the same bed that was meant for him as a child and intervened before a light-hearted argument could begin.

"Issei said there was a spot in the middle that pokes his back, and it squeaks every now and then." The mother seemed to understand what went unsaid, and that was each of the girls had experienced it themselves because they snuck into his room in the hopes that the parents wouldn't notice.

But she and her husband already knew. As long as there weren't any surprise additions to the family, neither had a problem with it. From what her husband had said, Issei was being much more conservative about his sexual urges then he'd been as a teen.

"The perks of a curious and promiscuous neighbor!" Koji had said. Apparently losing his virginity on his 15th birthday was the gift the girl had given him.

At least the girls that Issei would sleep with were all… Never mind. She didn't want to finish that thought.

"I guess it's time we get him a new one then!" Mrs. Hyoudou chirped happily, thankful for something to do and surprise her son with when he got home. Kaori smiled, before trying to wither away from the knowing glance.

"He probably needs a bigger one too, wouldn't you say?"

Mr. Hyoudou chuckled into his mug as both girls blushed but still slowly nodded. It would be nice to have room for the three of them without being too cramped.

"Well then, why don't the three of us go out shopping tomorrow?" And hopefully, they would be able to have it delivered by the time Issei got home.

-LineBreak-

It had been quite some time since Sona had last been walking these halls. Other than bringing the female dragon here, it had been almost 3 years. Almost everything looked the way she remembered.

The halls were illuminated by expensive bulbs that were easy on the eyes even with the high output. The wood paneling, paintings, and plaques along the walls kept it from seeming barren.

Devils of every sort walked through the hospital. Some appeared completely human, while others had pointed ears or horns on their head, and the rare case of a tail or un-retractable set of wings from whatever they'd been before becoming a devil.

Her steps were measured as she walked toward the wing meant for VIP patients. Since Sona had brought the girl herself, the staff had allowed the use of the more private and expensive ward.

Though as she got closer, she could hear voices getting louder, along with the clang of a tray being tipped on to the floor.

She had wasted no time in setting off to hopefully ease the anger of a dragon in a confined space, only realizing on her way here that being confined indoors might not be the best way for a dragon to wake up. Especially if it was somewhere they'd never been.

The daily reports that the Nurse in charge of the floor sent to Sona made it clear the illness had been dealt with swiftly. Leila, the nurse she spoke with 4 days ago, had asked about the strange energy signature that was mingling with their patients. It had been powerful, filling the dragon to the brim and nearly had her body spasming for 3 days.

Ddraig had miscalculated how much power this dragon would be able to handle. It was a good thing that Sona had taken her here when she did.

The noise of things falling to the floor and the yelling stopped as Sona was just about to cross the threshold of the VIP ward. If Sona didn't know any better, it suddenly felt like Issei was here and in a rage unlike any she'd ever experienced, as the ward was exposed to an uncontrolled release of power.

The silence was broken by the whistling sound of the wind.

It started quietly but was quick to rise until her ears were being pounded by gale force winds.

That was when Sona saw her, sandy blonde hair whipping behind her, as a pair of large beige wings catapulted the young woman towards the Sitri Heiress. Striking hazel eyes widened as they locked onto Sona.

With a flap of her wings, sending paperwork, gauze, catheters, and needles off of a cart and rolling on the floor, the dragon slowed until she could set her own feet down on the ground.

Once she had, the unknown girl eyed Sona curiously, taking large intakes through her nose. Sona stood exactly in the same spot, not wanting to appear threatening or overconfident, staring directly into the dragon's eyes.

It was strange to see that color mixed with the reptilian pupils. The outer parts of her Iris being a sage green, transitioning to a near sky blue for just a tiny bit, before shifting to an orange that replicated the sun.

The illness may have been swept away easily with proper medical care, but her body still showed signs of malnourishment.

The stature of a sickly 10-year old girl was gone. What stood before Sona was a young woman of at least 17, based on the structure of her face. Although, that may have just been due to the condition of her body. The usually rounded face of a child could have faded away as the fat stores were used to just keep her alive.

She was taller than Sona, and probably equal to Issei's height. The dragon was scrawny, slender arms and legs showing out of the hospital gown she had been given by the staff. Determining anything more than that wasn't possible due to how those garments fit. Loose and open backed to keep in line with a "one size fits most" rationality.

"You smell like him."

Sona was taken from her musing when the quiet and raspy voice reached her ears.

'Smell like him? What does she….' Sona stopped the thought as she realized.

Only a little while ago, she had been draped over Issei, both of them stark naked. Of course, a dragon would be able to pick that up.

"You must be his devil mate. Are you here because of what he did to me?" Sona wasn't sure that she heard the inflection in her voice correctly. It almost as though the girl sounded sad like something had been taken from her without her consent.

"He is in my peerage, but there is no sexual relationship between us." 'Yet.' She thought but kept it to herself. There was an image she had to maintain in public.

"Then you allowed it happen?" Suddenly the girl was angry, narrowing those captivating eyes in a way that spoke of no good intentions.

Whatever the girl was insinuating, Sona wasn't following. She needed to be clear with her choice of words.

"I believe we should start from the beginning, as to avoid any sort of miscommunication or misunderstanding. My name is Sona Sitri, heiress to the Sitri name."

…

Sona waited as the girl seemed like she wasn't interested in trading pleasantries.

"Aurora."

Keeping quiet, Sona waited to see if that was all the girl had to say. As the seconds stretched into double digits, she assumed that it was. At least it was a starting point that could help control the flow of things from there.

A few staff members were peaking around the corner from down the hall, not very keen on getting closer to the dragon that had just gone through a series of mood swings, one of which was violent.

"How are you feeling Aurora? When I brought you here, you had yet to wake up since my servant found you. Tiamat wasn't sure you ever would."

There was just a small amount of concern laced in her voice, but even that was a far cry from what the staff listening in could recall of the young devil.

The dragon shifted on her feet, wings coming to fold against her back and her eyes glancing down to the side.

"My sickness is gone."

Sona knew that dragons were not a species that were very trusting, but something seemed off about the way Aurora spoke and acted. Angry one moment, then looking like she was about to fall off a cliff into a deep depression the next.

Was the energy given to her by Issei causing these changes?

"Was this his wish? None of my family have ever had a human form before." The girl looked down at her hand, marveling at the fact that she had fingers rather than claws.

"I can still feel his energy inside me. He must be more powerful than I thought." The emphasis on the word and its bitter tone had the pieces falling into place quickly.

Sona felt sick to her stomach, for letting the girl in front of her think for even a single second, that Issei might have assaulted her.

He would never do that, not even if his sanity left him completely.

Aurora seemed to be under the assumption that Issei had been the one to force her change in appearance, rather than doing it herself and nearly dying in the process.

"Aurora, would you mind if we talked privately? I would very much like to ease the suspicions I believe you have about the events prior to your arrival here."

It needed to be a private conversation. She could not be trying to denounce a rape allegation where others could hear her. It would paint the wrong kind of picture. Once a claim of that type was made, the perception people had of you was already set. Sona could not afford to be thought of as a person who would try to protect a rapist. Perception was reality, and first impressions were monumental in how someone would perceive you from that moment forward.

Aurora raised her head and looked at Sona curiously, then turning and catching a glimpse of the ones that had been trying to poke her with needles when she woke up.

At the very least, she wanted some space from the people cowering behind a wall. The devil girl in front of her seemed cordial enough, that she wouldn't have to worry about anything underhanded.

After a nod in agreement, Sona lead the girl a short distance to what Aurora thought looked like a mix of a kitchen and living room. It was the break room for the staff of this section.

The sink had a microwave placed beside it, a fridge on the far side, then there was the couch, coffee table, and tv. Throw in a bed and bathroom and this place could have been used as someone's apartment.

Aurora walked in nervously, stopping at the dining table and placing her hands on the back of the chair. She didn't want to sit. The people poking her had said that she'd been here for almost 2 weeks already, she'd been off her feet long enough.

The door clicked as Sona closed it, waving her hand and soundproofing the room quickly.

As soon as that was done, Sona turned towards her with a less stoic look. Her eyes conveyed a warmth that she showed to very few. Even her peerage had gotten so accustomed to the cold and analytical front she used, that the times it was pulled away they all seemed flabbergasted. Except for Issei.

He always seemed to be able to see through it. She blamed the number of evil pieces used to reincarnate him for that.

"You have nothing to fear from me. I am only making sure that we can speak without being overheard, because the identity of the person we need to talk about, has to remain hidden for now. Can you promise me that Aurora?"

The dragon snapped her head over, taken by surprise. A pact? She'd never been able to make one before, thanks to always being sick and nearly immobile for a lot of her life. A few minutes of flying had always tired her out to the point of sleeping the rest of the day if she didn't eat twice the normal amount beforehand.

Aurora nodded her head before giving it any real thought. It might only be verbal, but it was still the first she'd ever had. This was an exciting event for her, even if it was over a topic that she had first made drastic assumptions about.

"Good." Sona blew out a sigh. Things had been dicey enough over the course of the last few months, she didn't need it falling back when things were finally getting back on track.

Sitting in the chair at the dining table across from Aurora, Sona crossed one leg over the other and placed her hands in her lap.

"First let me say this: from the time that you were found unconscious until right now, nothing untoward has been done to you. Not by me, not by Tiamat, not by my servant, Issei, who found you."

Aurora tilted her head. That didn't make sense to her unless the devil thought that…No. Even devils had standards, Tannin had made that clear during some of his visits. She couldn't let herself believe that devils condoned sexual acts with one party unconscious.

So then…What had happened?

"Issei called me, saying that he found a little girl that was sick, and he didn't know what to do. When I got there, he and Tiamat were arguing." Aurora was even more confused. Little girl? She stood taller than Sona, and the man, Issei, was not extraordinarily tall.

"Tiamat explained that you must have been prone to the illness that affected you, and when you somehow managed to achieve this transformation… It left you weak to the point that you would likely die in a few days' time."

A proud smile came over Sona, small as it was, as Aurora was left reeling from being told that she'd transformed of her own accord.

"This is the part that has to stay between us. Issei was just a normal human when I met him. He is the host of the Red Dragon Emperor. When I reincarnated him, he accidentally triggered a technique of the boosted gear. His soul is that of a devil, but his body is becoming replaced with Ddraig's more and more by the day."

Aurora almost fell from where she stood, her hands slipping off the chair's back. The Red Dragon Emperor was the one she found?! Even if Sona was lying and he had taken advantage of her, Aurora's family would be more likely to praise her than anything. They worshipped him like a god for reasons she never understood. Tannin had also mentioned to her once, that the wind dragons were the only ones to follow the old tradition of finding a mate as a whole. There were a few from each subsection of dragons that did too, but they were not really welcome around most others. Isolating themselves had done the wind dragons no favors. The world had changed, and they needed to change with it.

She was starting to feel dizzy, hopefully from all of the reveals and not because her health was slipping back to its normal level. Being able to whip through the halls without wheezing and coughing after had been nice.

"Issei felt responsible for your condition and achieved his balance breaker. He used Ddraig's transfer ability to give you the strength that you needed. Neither I or Tiamat saw him do anything other than try to help you. The only times he touched you, were for that purpose, and it was never anything more than what was necessary to lend you his power."

Finished with her explanation, Sona waited for Aurora to compose herself.

The dragons strange human tongue felt heavy in her mouth like it was weighed down and unable to produce the words she wanted to say.

"S-so…He never…" She couldn't even bring herself to ask. Aurora felt ashamed of having come to think that the young man she'd wanted to approach would do something like that. She'd watched, gathering up the courage and strength to make herself known to him, as he trained and conversed. Perhaps it was because of the things she'd heard back when she was still up on the mountain.

Through the days that she'd watched him, the only violent tendencies he'd shown were when he trained with the chaos karma dragon. She had watched from afar, as he and Sona played their board game and talked, never being able to see the devil woman's face.

She had liked how calm he seemed, even if his expression had drooped every now and then. He didn't have that arrogant and pompous air that she saw in those like her. She had been too sick for most of her senses to work properly, his words lost in the wind before reaching where she had perched herself. Sight was the only one left unaffected.

He had smiled so kindly, that it made her want to ask for his help more than she could recall wanting anything else.

"No, Issei would never." Verbalizing the act they were talking about was something neither of them wanted to do.

Aurora walked around the chair, falling into it almost lifelessly. The tension in her body eased like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

'Then I'm not pregnant.'

Upon waking up and feeling the energy of another swirling inside of her, Aurora had assumed the worst. When she heard that she'd been there for 2 weeks, that had quickly turned to preparing for what would happen over the next several months. Her emotions had spiraled out of control at that point. She was not healthy enough, or of an age where she was capable of caring for a child. She was hardly old enough to not be called one herself.

Wind dragons did not mate for love, but for survival. They still adhered to the barbaric ways of the past, the strongest picked who would bear his child. A female's opinion was hardly considered.

"While you still need to properly nourish your body, the doctors cleared you to be discharged once you woke up."

Aurora let all of her senses focus on Sona. The devil was seemingly honest with everything she said. There was no hitch in her voice, no stutter to say she might be nervous or lying. Her eyes were steady, not wavering in the slightest.

The devil smelled as though she and the red dragon emperor had been sharing a rather intimate moment before coming here. His scent clung to her body, the same way the scent of fire clung to anything near it. Potent, powerful and hard to get out.

"You can leave whenever you like, and I'll have some clothes brought to you if you'd rather stay in human form." Aurora had nearly forgotten that part. Humans, or those that looked like humans, all wore clothing. Something that dragons typically didn't do.

"Or, you can come with me. Issei asked me to give him any updates on your condition. I'm sure he'd like to see you awake and healthy."

She certainly wasn't going back home. Not until she could no longer feel his energy with her own. Even then it might be a bad idea. Aurora also had no idea if she was able to change back into her true form.

That left only one viable option. The same nervous feeling from when she'd been trying to approach Issei came back. She should go with the devil, and at the very least thank the man that had seen her taken care of.

-LineBreak-

It seemed like Tiamat just loved to prove him wrong. Every time he thought the training couldn't get any harder, she brought it to a new level shortly after.

His fists ached, lungs heaving for air through the small vent in his helmet.

Using balance breaker this intensely and frequently was incredibly draining. They'd already been forced to take a break because he had tripped on air and faceplanted. Tiamat was going to use that against him until the day Issei died, he could already tell.

"You're progressing well hatchling." The blue haired woman spoke from above him, offering a hand to bring himself from the ground.

Issei took it slowly, willing the armor away, even though it was already in pieces. The back and shoulders had fallen away from a few blows that he hadn't been able to dodge.

"If you put every ounce of strength you have into one attack, I think you'd be just about as strong as Tannin."

Her hand left his, and Issei had to keep himself from falling over again.

"I know I'm young and all, but it really feels like you're just calling me hatchling to fuck with me."

Coming to his full height, Issei only now registered the second half of what she'd said.

"Wait what?"

Was he seriously already that strong? It didn't feel like when he was constantly getting smacked around.

"You heard me. He would obviously be able to defeat you since you'd be left vulnerable when he recovered." Tiamat shrugged.

She loathed to admit it, but training Issei had started to become less of a hassle as time went on. There was no denying that this was the strangest of Ddraig's hosts she had encountered, a similar train of thought to when she met Elsha.

Ddraig was the dragon of domination, yet all Issei wanted to do was protect. Ddraig firmly believed that if force didn't solve an issue, then he just needed to use more force. Or at least that's how he had been while alive.

The dragon had changed in the centuries of imprisonment. His pride was still intact, unfortunately, so she refused to speak to him more than a few words per day, but the way he approached things seemed diluted.

The loud and boisterous monologues that plagued the older supernatural beings were replaced with words that were at least partially thought out.

Tiamat suspected that the devil girl was the one responsible for the way that Issei chose his moves quickly yet efficiently. He didn't barrel onwards to clash fists or fight fire with fire. The young man was quite obviously attracted to anything with breasts, yet other than a glance he hid it well.

She would have to pay attention to the newer generation of devils, in case there were more like Sona Sitri. Tiamat wouldn't go seeking them out, but rumors and word of events still reached her here in the forest.

"I hope it'll be enough when the time comes." Issei said quietly, clenching and unclenching his hands to try and ease the trembling ache.

Sitting on one of the only boulders in the area to have survived, Tiamat gave her student a questioning look.

"I've been wondering about the reason you're master desired your strength. She doesn't appear to be the type to be overly concerned about proving herself the strongest."

There was no question spoken by the dragon king, but Issei understood the one left unspoken.

What did Sona Sitri need the Red Dragon Emperor for?

Sliding down to sit at the base of a tree across from Tiamat, Issei gave her a tired smile.

"She's more of a strategist than anything. As for the reason…" Issei rubbed at the back of his head. He didn't know if he should really be handing out his kinds plan to people. But this wasn't just anyone, and Issei really wanted to stay on Tiamat's good side.

"Her friend, Rias Gremory is engaged to another pure-blood devil. Neither her or Rias are particularly fond of arranged marriages, to begin with, and apparently, the guy is a real piece of work. So, I'm going to help Rias in a rating game to free herself."

Tiamat could recall hearing something about that several years ago. The practice was abhorrent to her. To dictate the lives of your children because of some rumored blood purity? She was admittedly biased against it. Dragons did not 'marry' per se, but she had been a big reason that the old ways of finding mates had declined. All she really had to do was leave a few too many male dragons near death after they had tried to stake a claim on her. Throw in a few easily overheard comments about how things should be done and wait a century or two, and here they were.

Tannin was lucky that the mother of his first born had actually been looking forward to his challenge.

"And then you intend to take her as your mate?" There was always the chance that some of Ddraig's bad habits and demeanor had infected Issei. She felt the need to bait him a little more.

"What?! Absolutely not." A good response, with no time wasted on thinking of an answer.

"Oh? Why is that? Is she not attractive?" But it was always best to be thorough.

"She's gorgeous. Easily top 5 hottest women I've ever seen." Tiamat hid her smirk expertly. There was a bit of Ddraig in the boy, but it manifested in a way that wasn't truly a problem. Not yet anyway.

"Then why do you not seem to want her for yourself? And who else is on this list of yours?"

Ddraig had only gotten away with running his mouth without a care in the world because there had only been a handful of beings stronger than him. Getting the best results out of his training meant that Issei had to draw on every little drop of dragon DNA coursing through his body.

To her surprise, Issei didn't go ahead and spout off names of women. Instead, he gave her a flat look that tried to hide the embarrassment he felt from being so blunt. She let the smirk show just a fraction when she realized that he knew what she was doing, and then he turned to look in the distance.

In the opposite direction, Tiamat felt the sign of a devil's magic. A transport circle that would soon shine on the ground. Issei had yet to develop the ability to feel the early signs of magic, something that she couldn't really help him with. That would come in time.

"I'd hardly be better than the ones forcing her into the current marriage if I did that."

The magic used on the circle intensified, the portal between two locations starting to open up.

"Before, I thought that forcing marriage on someone was wrong just because of the lack of consent. But now… knowing what it feels like to have someone you love, I couldn't fathom how horrible it would be to get married to someone you might never feel that towards."

The circle shined to life, getting Issei to turn towards it. His detection was adequate for now and could ready himself before an enemy could appear.

As he relaxed when he saw the blue circle so familiar to him, Tiamat kept looking at the expression on his face.

She was intrigued. Not by him specifically, but what he'd said.

As the blue light died, Tiamat wondered just what he could be thinking but wouldn't say. Or perhaps it was more that he felt that he couldn't say it for some reason. All it took for her to understand was a gentle shift in his expression. His head perked up, a subtle upward curve at the edge of his lips, and the way his eyes and brows had gently narrowed.

One of the things that Tiamat noticed about Issei that made him different from Ddraig and the rest of the hosts, Elsha included, was this almost imperceptible inferiority complex he had. It wasn't anything drastic, but she had noticed it while trying to bring him over that threshold into balance breaker.

The way he unlocked it only helped to solidify it for her.

Tiamat knew that was a look of unrequited love if she'd ever seen it. An expression one had when there was too much distance between them and the one they longed for. She had learned enough about Issei to know what the problem here was.

He felt that he wasn't good enough. That Sona was too far above him to even be considered an option. She suspected that he felt this way about a multitude of things actually. The responsibility given to him as the Red Dragon Emperor to not go crazy and murder people in a haze of fury for one. From the way he'd briefly talked about them, the girls that he was already involved with too.

Issei held a fear that he would mess something up and lose them for good, whether it be the girls breaking up with him, or they die.

Tiamat followed his line of sight, watching as Sona gave him a tiny smile, tucking some hair behind one ear and ever so slightly pulling her shoulders back.

'Fucking teenagers.'

Whatever reason Sona had for playing hard to get, Tiamat didn't care as long as it didn't interfere with Issei training and being able to hold up his end of the bargain.

The gestures and posturing made it clear to the dragon king that Sona was interested. If that were the case, then they should stop with all this roundabout stuff and just do it already!

She took a breath to calm down. High-class devils were different from dragons. Position and appearance were important to them. It was likely that Sona was waiting for something.

Both Issei and Tiamat watched as a figure stepped from behind Sona.

"Well Well, look who's back…" Tiamat said, picking up on the identity quickly.

She'd rather focus on the dragon that had been stalking her student than wondering when the master and servant would get over themselves and fuck.

-LineBreak-

Koji Hyoudou was incredibly grateful for the warning that his coworker had given him.

Tonight was meeting #3 within a week. The first time, he had actually been able to catch a glimpse of the man supposedly in charge of everything.

A tall slender man with gold bangs and a goatee. He had stopped by to talk with one of the other men from his company, once a few words were exchanged he was on his way.

The other guys were a little strange to him, but not overly so.

One blonde, one dark-haired, one redhead. They were all middle-aged, early to mid 50's he'd guess. The blonde guy had a thing for short women, the other two were into the girls that looked like their face never changed from an angry scowl.

If his coworker hadn't mentioned that these meetings would end up being so late into the evening, and so frequent this week, his wife would have flipped.

She was already pissed enough thanks to his little detour on the internet.

Seriously though, how could he not stop and stare?

The high school girl had a rack that bounced like none he'd ever seen and those legs! He would never cheat on Honoka, that wasn't the type of man he was. But looking and appreciating God's creations was doing no harm.

Right?

Even in his own mind, Koji had to admit that was some flimsy, hole-ridden logic. Looking at a woman you pass by on the street for a second or two was a much different story than staying on a porn site because of a smoking hot girl that happened to be wearing his son's school uniform.

He would just have to keep himself in check from now on.

"C'mon Hyoudou! You drinkin' or what?" The blonde one, a Brit by the name of Sully, nearly spilled his beer as he gestured for Koji to join them.

"Sully if you don't slow the fuck down, I'm leaving you to pay the tab and walk back to the hotel." So said the tall dark haired one by the name of Alden.

The redhead, who only went by Jimmy rather than giving his full name, stayed silent at the other end of the table.

Tonight was different. Koji could feel it in the air of the "restaurant" vividly. It was apparent that something was wrong, but he didn't know if it was business related or personal. The Redhead had at least been a part of the group the last 2 meetings, but now was silent and not socializing. That didn't bode well for expecting future business with Scapegoat Inc. A business specializing in custom-made costumes and cosplay.

"Ah fuck off Alden. My part of this is already done, so what's the harm?" Sully was adamant that it was perfectly fine if he got himself good and drunk.

Koji came and took a seat at the table, wondering if he'd find out where the problem was.

"The fact that you seem to have forgotten the next arrival, is troubling. Remember the time you got drunk and puked all over him?"

Sully went white as a ghost.

Koji didn't know they were expecting another person and said as much.

"I didn't realize there was another from your company coming tonight." He said lightly, taking a sip from a much smaller beer than Sully had ordered.

Sully swallowed heavily, setting his drink down and waving down the waitress, a pretty young thing that seemed to like the attention the older guys gave her. That was probably all an act though. A ploy to get better tips.

"He works for the CEO. The guy with the blonde bangs has a bunch of side projects, always moving, always working. Anyway, this other guy pretty much does the same thing as you, acquisition stuff. He's not here for anything relating to us though. The boss said he's just joining to help build relations between his companies while he's here on a different job."

Alden gave the waitress his own order, adding his own thoughts about the expectant arrival as the woman moved around the table to get back to the bar.

"Sully gets nervous any time we meet up with him now. Kowalski hasn't been a fan of his since that night and makes it blatantly obvious that he's not the forgive and forget type about being covered in beer battered onion ring vomit. Other than that, he's a nice enough guy."

A few minutes of small talk followed, with Sully being handed a tall glass of water to occupy himself with rather than continuing to get inebriated. None of the men gathered had any issues with him drinking, they just didn't want things to turn…messy, so some self-control was required.

The door to the establishment came open with a creek, with Koji facing that direction and able to see who was walking in.

An absurdly tall man came through, his dark grey blazer billowing from a source of wind whose origins none could pinpoint. With dark brown hair and light blue eyes, the man took in the sight of the place, ignoring how most of the women unattached were giving him appraising looks.

When that gaze snapped to Koji suddenly, something about the brief look of irritation in the man's eyes made him uneasy. It was gone just as quickly, replaced by a somewhat amicable smile, leading Koji to believe that he'd just read the man wrong.

-LineBreak-

For once, Issei was having a hard time falling asleep.

The training hadn't suddenly become easier on him, and it wasn't as though he wasn't tired. He was exhausted. But he couldn't help the way his mind was running.

It was almost time to go home, something he was very much looking forward to.

'Is it weird that I'm still not used to sleeping naked with her?' He asked, more for Elsha than Ddraig. The red dragon had never really worn clothes in the first place so he wouldn't understand.

"To be frank, I'm surprised you've taken it this well, with the way you feel about her. But I suppose with you falling asleep the moment your head hits the pillow, you've had little time to actually absorb the situation as it happens."

Ddraig seemed to realize that the question wasn't directed towards him and stayed out of it. He did feel the urge to say that a dragon should never feel ashamed of their body. They were physical representations of power, the perfect predator. Being afraid of intimacy or showing yourself to another was of no consequence.

Issei didn't even bother with a denial. Elsha was in his head, seeing what he saw and hearing his thoughts. Denying that he felt something for the young woman fast asleep beside him was useless.

Sona had caught his attention the moment he saw her. At first, it was more of a fascination than attraction, or so he thought until that dream shortly after. He'd watched a few series that catered to the BDSM base, but it was never really his thing. There were just some extremely attractive women in the series that his friends had said were out of this world. How was he supposed to not watch it after that?

Either way, the dream of her handcuffing him to the bed and covering specific parts of him with whip cream had been unexpected. Even now that particular dream stood out from his other fantasies.

When he joined her peerage, Issei better understood that his attraction to her was not unwarranted.

She cared for her peerage deeply but felt that she just wasn't allowed to show that to them in any setting that could be deemed public.

This training had certainly helped him to get a better look at what made Sona tick. When they were playing chess and talking, Sona was less reserved. She smiled more than he'd ever seen back up at school.

'I hope this feeling goes away.' He admitted.

It was starting to get really hard to stay on topic sometimes.

Issei had no illusions about the fact that Sona would someday marry another pure-blood devil. If he couldn't claw his way out of this pit, then he wasn't sure how he'd handle that.

Elsha kept quiet. She knew the truth of the situation regarding Sona, but it wasn't her place to say something. The NorseFire Dragon could only come up with one reason that Sona had failed to mention the agreement with Rias. And that was to keep Issei's mind on his training for now. She didn't disagree with that choice.

He had needed to train rigorously if he was going to match up to a being that healed almost as quickly as they were damaged.

But now… Perhaps things were different. Aside from astral projection, Issei had one other thing up his sleeve that could even the playing field.

Issei looked down to see the one his thoughts had been so heavily focused on.

When Sona slept, there was this small content smile on her face. Like everything was right in the world. It made his predicament worse since she was naked and cuddling up to his side.

She was small and slender, but not in a way that took away any of her curves of charm. With his growing strength, she was light as a feather to him, even the times that he'd apparently pulled her onto his chest.

He could still remember feeling her in that position, wishing he had the courage to do that when he wasn't unconscious. Her body was cool against the always heated skin he had now, and it was incredibly soothing. She wasn't busty like Tsubaki or Rias thankfully, he didn't want to know how bad the urges would have been to ignore if she was.

At a glance, she wasn't the kind of girl Issei would have thought he'd be attracted to in middle school. She came off as cold and uncaring, and as form-fitting as the uniforms were, Sona's body was better than he'd had any reason to think.

Maybe it was from the flare of the corset and skirt. Sona did not have particularly wide hips for her size, but her thin waist was perfectly proportioned with it.

Her skin was smooth, something he was currently feeling quite well as she slid her leg up against his, curling herself into him just a little bit more. Her leg stopped before it went too high. Her arms tightened around his chest, getting him to feel her breasts against his arm.

He could tell just by the feel, that they were the perfect size to fit in hand if he were to grab them.

Issei shook his head, wanting to get his mind away from the urge to do anything that might set back the progress they've made over these last weeks.

He drifted off to thinking of his new… friend.

Aurora, or Rory as he'd decided to call her.

Issei really wasn't sure how to describe that relationship.

He'd been surprised that Tiamat had taken a liking to her after hearing how she thought of the wind dragons. Apparently, Tiamat thought that if the others saw Aurora thrive among other dragons, more might reconsider the way that they've lived their lives.

It was definitely hard to hear how the female dragons of that type were treated as little more than second class citizens. Many places in the world were male-dominated, but the wind dragons were stuck in a mindset that a woman didn't have much of a place other than home or procuring food.

For the first few days, Rory had only really spoken a few words. She was nervous around him for some reason, but also hardly ever seemed to leave his line of sight. He suspected that it had something to do with how Ddraig was viewed by her kind. But he was not Ddraig, Issei was merely lucky enough to have him attached to his soul.

When Tiamat offered to let the girl stay here with her, Issei could see that she was trying to desperately hold back tears. He felt bad that he hadn't realized that she was worrying so much over where she would go.

Rory was slowly filling out, that emaciated look fading from the mounds of food that Sona would bring with her each night. It was crazy to see the physical changes happening so quickly. Where she'd once looked like she might just keel over, now she just looked like an incredibly thin young woman that was around his age.

Issei had been told how dragons shrunk if they used too much power, and that was why she'd looked like a little girl when he found her. That transformation had taken almost everything Rory had. Another thing he felt bad about.

He hadn't meant to make her feel like she couldn't approach him as she was. She still had no idea if she'd be able to ever change into her true form again. Wind dragons had never done that before. Maybe if he boosted enough and then transferred it to her, she'd be able to regain her dragon appearance.

Although she did seem to be enjoying the human body well enough. When Issei left the tent yesterday, he'd been met with the sight of her squeezing at her chest, which had grown significantly overnight.

It was probably a bad comparison, but if Tiamat was anything to go by, Rory's breasts would keep growing as she ate enough to feed a dozen people. Daily. She was already about the size of Reya and would likely surpass Momo pretty soon.

Outside of the free show she was giving him, Issei couldn't help but laugh at the bewildered look on her face. She also hadn't understood the reason for him turning around when she noticed he was there until Tiamat and Sona came out to explain that human women didn't typically walk around topless.

"Men find breasts attractive do they not? It would seem a good way to attract a mate."

Issei had no rebuttal to that, but Tiamat did. She went off on a heated rant about how men from all races were mostly driven by their dicks and gave little thought to how the woman might feel about being pursued relentlessly just because of her image.

He made a note to make sure he kept his eyes above the collar whenever speaking to her.

Issei and Rory spoke frequently during the breaks of his training, and during the time he was waiting for Sona. They got along well from his perspective, but there just seemed to be something on her mind that had yet to come up. It started after Sona talked to her the day after she appeared.

She would initiate a conversation, and it always sounded like she had something she wanted to ask him. But it was changed at the last second into something that was little more than small talk.

He didn't have anything against making small talk with her, but he was getting more and more curious about what she wanted to ask him.

She had almost gone through with whatever it was too, when they were talking about the girls back home. Rory seemed to be having an internal battle of epic proportions. Her brows and lips had contorted into some strange expressions before she finally decided to just ask him what his favorite food was.

His thoughts over the she-dragon were pulled away by Sona's hand gliding gently over his chest.

This girl… He doubted that she had any clue what she was doing to him, but this was starting to become torture.

Her slender fingers were drawing circles on his chest in her sleep, and the feeling was something that he loved. It felt intimate, loving even. Like there was no other goal but to just touch him because she wanted to.

Sona was still in a deep sleep, yet her hand was slowly moving south. The light touch came down to his stomach, the feeling making him twitch. It felt weird, but not in any unpleasant sort of way.

His eyes widened as her hand kept moving down, now resting on his hip. The way her fingers danced over his skin and the sight of her smile had blood being redirected.

Issei didn't know what to say, think or do when her ring and middle finger glanced across his shaft. Was Sona having some sort of fantasy of her own? Who was it about? What were they doing?

"Mm… Hot." She mumbled. The way she said it made Issei think that she wasn't referring to temperature. It was slurred in a way that he thought she was in no way against whatever was on her mind.

Her hand fell further down, her index finger tracing up from his thigh to his balls, and up along his length.

She was touching him!

Just as soon as it started, it was over.

Sona's eyes flew open as a magical warning started ringing in her head, the hand that had been touching the genitalia of her pawn now firmly planted on his thigh to push herself up.

"The wards!" She said in alarm.

The daydream look left Issei not even 3 seconds after the words escaped her. There was only one thing his king could have meant by that.

Violet eyes quickly turned over to him, finding Issei awake and looking at her with a worried frown.

"We have to go. Now."

Shuffling was heard from outside the tent from two people. Sona's loud exclamation had alerted both Tiamat and Aurora and they were coming to see what the problem was.

-LineBreak-

"We're Home!" Yui called out as they crossed the threshold and into the house.

The last of the competitions had ended a few hours ago, but the success of their seniors had prompted a celebration. Laughing, congratulating, and many conversations had filled the kendo club room after returning.

Kaori and Yui had been speaking with the current captain about the future of their club, and who should succeed her.

It was between the two of them. The girls weren't too concerned about who would be chosen, because the other would be named co-captain. They would be sharing a responsibility for the club they had come to love. Theirs to lead and guide in the coming years.

"Welcome back girls! How did it go?" Mrs. Hyoudou was seated on the couch, watching some sort of tv drama with a glass of wine in hand.

The duo could see the tension that the mother felt with her son being gone so long. They had to wonder if that dragon tamer thing wasn't somehow a two-way street. She missed her son, and the meetings her husband had this week weren't helping matters.

Mrs. Hyoudou was feeling like she had nothing to do, no one to look after. The three girls had all enjoyed the day shopping a while ago when they were out getting a new bed for Issei. Yui and Kaori had felt mildly embarrassed at being seen through, as even Mr. Hyoudou had picked up on the fact that the girls had been sleeping in Issei's room.

Nothing was ever mentioned about it, so that embarrassment had died down.

"Isuka took first place! We had a little party at the club to celebrate." Kaori smiled.

Looking around, specifically into the kitchen, it was obvious that dinner had yet to even be started. It was almost 9:30 at night.

Looking at the mother again, they saw that her cheeks were a little flushed. Had she been waiting for them to even fix herself something to eat? If that were the case, and that glass of wine wasn't the first, there was a chance that redness was from feeling a little tipsy.

"Are you the only one home?" Kaori added.

Having stood and started to walk over, Mrs. Hyoudou gathered the two girls in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're home." She pulled back and pouted, something neither had seen the woman do.

"Koji's meeting is running late. He said some other man from that company met up with them and were still ordering drinks an hour ago. Hopefully, he'll be home soon."

Neither of the girls were too well versed in any sort of business climate, but it seemed odd enough that the meeting was supposed to happen after regular work hours.

"Are you girls hungry? I wanted to wait for you so at least some of us could eat together." And that answered the question of whether the mother had anything in her stomach to help absorb the alcohol.

"That would be great. Is there anything I could help with?" Kaori was hoping to take over any tasks that might require a sharp object. Mrs. Hyoudou didn't look like she was too intoxicated, but better safe than sorry.

-LineBreak-

Outside of the home and in the darkness created from the tree cover, the beast lurked.

It was time.

They would start here, with the ones that his other sides knew to be the friends of his devil summon. What better way to show the world the truth, then to use those close to a being of false darkness.

The one with pink hair was not as far from purity as first thought. They could tell. The way she looked around, the way she walked along the edges of the dark corners, it spoke of a transition. She was close and would be his first.

The one with brown hair would be a true test. She had known no true suffering.

The older one, the mother, it would be near impossible for her to transcend. Unless… her son, the being of false darkness was torn from her grip. Perhaps they should…

'What's this?'

The beast had the light, he was in control of their body. He was the one who determined who was worthy of the test. The first waves would be altered as needed, finding the best ways to bring out the true beings sleeping inside the dregs that walked the streets.

Two men walked along the sparsely lit sidewalk, one stumbling and the other sober. The drunk one was likely the devil summons father, their looks too similar to write off as anything else, and they were turning towards the same home.

It was the other man, the one walking straight and tall and smelled of the truth, that he was interested in.

That smell, the beast knew it. The scent of the pure poured from his body in waves. The man knew them, he could bring them.

The beast's lips curled into a smile that spoke of blood and pain.

The tall man was not pure himself, but the beast could fix that. The world would hear the whispers of truth quickly turn to the loud beckoning for change.

And it would all start here…

The beast stepped into the light, skin flushed red and in some parts a near purple. The veins popping through his skin only showed that he wielded the power.

The town of Kuoh would be the first of many. When he had created more like him, the cities would be next.

-LineBreak-

Yui sat at the kitchen table, watching Kaori and Mrs. Hyoudou going about their business happily. She could cook a little, but nowhere near the level of those two, so she sat herself down and waited with a few notes of how to progress her kendo skills.

She'd gone over them enough times already, that she didn't even need to look down to know what it read. It had gotten to a point that her recitation of it was going on in the background of her thoughts.

She missed Ise. That was what was truly going on in her mind. He was coming back tomorrow, and she could hardly wait.

It was strange how you could get so attached to someone so quickly. Yui could no longer see her life without him, and the longer he stayed away, the more she wanted to just feel him beside her as they slept.

Kaori was a good enough cuddle buddy, but there were just some things that couldn't compare.

The way Issei always kept her warm, the light musk he always had. Issei didn't smell bad, but there was just this smell of something she couldn't put her finger on, and it was something she'd learned to love.

The way he held onto her as they slept, his arms holding her against him securely. To her surprise, she'd even started to enjoy the way she could feel him poking in between her thighs in the early morning if she happened to wake up.

The thought of what Reya had done still made her angry. Not because of the act in itself, but because she still felt so far away from similar intimate acts herself. But… Maybe that just in her head, like how she'd felt before Issei had literally been on top of her that night.

Maybe if she just took the initiative, she'd find herself okay with it. Issei would probably have to start things off though, and she knew that he'd be too worried about upsetting her to do that.

BANG!

All three women jumped as the loud sound of something colliding against the door echoed throughout the quiet home.

A groan could be barely heard shortly after, getting Mrs. Hyoudou to huff.

"I'll get it. Koji must have had more to drink than he should have."

Kaori looked down at her hand, clenching her other hand over it tightly, and biting down on her lower lip.

Yui looked down and saw a little streak of red, immediately getting up and grabbing a clean towel.

Kaori had cut herself when the noise scared her.

The door opening could be heard as Yui tried to put pressure on the cut on her friend's palm, without Kaori yelling out.

The look Yui received from Kaori let her know that she was thankful before she moved to the living room to see what the hell had made that sound.

The door had been open for several seconds, and yet Mrs. Hyoudou hadn't made a sound.

When Yui looked out, her blood froze. She understood.

Being hoisted from the ground was Mr. Hyoudou, clearing beyond drunk. Behind him stood a tall and sophisticated looking man wearing nice clothes.

But that wasn't what had both Yui and Mrs. Hyoudou frozen in fear.

Just barely visible, half shadowed and half in the illumination of the street light, was another man.

He was about Mr. Hyoudou's height, but he looked like he was built of pure lean muscle.

His chest heaved, muscles rippling under the skin with each breath he took. The respirations almost looked painful, like his strength was a hindrance to the rest of his body. His skin, from what was visible in the light, was a deep red, purple and certain points along his shirtless torso.

But it was the way he looked at them, that had each woman frozen in place.

His eyes did not seem to be those of a rational person. It was like he was a creature born out of a nightmare, only there to terrorize them until they finally took their last labored and frightened breath. His lips curled into a smirk that said he knew that he was about to do something unimaginable. Something no normal ever even contemplate.

"Get inside." Mrs. Hyoudou spoke quietly. "Both of you." Her eyes never leaving that shadowed harbinger.

They had no reason to feel so scared, other than from the look of him. But for some reason, he sent both women into a panic.

Yui acted before either man could move, rushing passed Mrs. Hyoudou and dragging them inside before slamming the door shut.

She let out a breath of relief from not being able to see that thing anymore.

Her and Kaori knew that there were things in this world that did not line up with what most people knew. If seeing that man prompted something so primal, she had little doubt that it was something only Issei could deal with.

And he wasn't here.

Neither bothered to notice the way that the man's eyes had narrowed once he set foot inside.

They didn't even question who he was or why he was here.

All that mattered was that they get away from the one still outside.

"Hhhhoney, wus wif da rough treamen'." The father of the house spoke up from the ground, unable to stand on his own.

The man was plastered.

"Hush Koji." Mrs. Hyoudou gently. Her husband obviously hadn't seen the thing behind him.

"I apologize for the treatment. But may I ask who you are?" the woman had to look up to meet the new arrivals eyes.

-LineBreak-

Issei was just about finished throwing on the rest of his clothes. Sona had just used magic to dress, something he would have to learn at a later date.

Aurora and Tiamat had come bursting into the tent, wondering what was going on.

"The wards on my house went off. Something is there with my family."

The ground outside of the tent started to shine with a blue crest just as Issei felt something pulling his attention away.

Sona and Tiamat turned to it, and the heiress widened her eyes and started preparing multiple communication circles.

"The flyers I gave the girls..." Issei stared at the shining blue with a sense of dread.

Something was beyond wrong. Not only was there something in his house that set of the alarms Sona had prepared for him, but now the girls were actively telling him that they were in danger.

"Go. I'll gather the rest and meet you there."

Issei nodded and made his way to the shining blue circle quickly.

When Aurora stepped inside of it with him, he raised a brow.

"I'm going to help." Was her simple answer.

Issei was about to start saying that she wouldn't be able to move through the circle with him, but Sona was already one step ahead.

A second circle flared beside his.

"Use that one Aurora. This one will only take Issei."

As she stepped over Issei decided that if she were coming with him, she would have a specific job to do.

"Get the girls in the house upstairs. Don't let anyone into the room you pick besides me."

Aurora accepted, knowing that this was not the time to debate over whether she was physically capable to help him stop the threat to his den.

"Good luck hatchling." Tiamat said as the light burned brightly, carrying the two of them away.

Not even the dragon king was treating the situation lightly. If there was anything about Issei that stood out to her, other than the fact that he had a breast fetish, it was his drive to protect his family.

It didn't matter if it was the girls that had taken spots as his mates or his blood relatives, to threaten their safety was to draw the wrath of the current red dragon emperor.

She only hoped that he got there soon enough to avoid a scene that would drown the young man in emotions so heavy that he gave in to the curse of the juggernaut drive.

-LineBreak-

Issei and Aurora came in a flash of blue, ending up right outside of his house.

"Fuck…"

The door of his home was bashed in, barely hanging onto the top hinge. The wood was splintered in the center, almost like a punch was what had done it. The door's frame was hanging and splintered inward.

"ISE!" A scream pierced through the silence, and the one called felt another pull of magic on him.

"Let's go." His face reflected only the determination to stay true to his promise, but it was a very different story of the storm beneath the surface.

Looking at the front of his home, being summoned by the girls when those flyers were only supposed to be used in an emergency. Issei was scared of what he was about to find as he rushed through the door and into the living room.

The reason for those flyers to only be used in an emergency situation? That was because it would mean revealing his non-human nature to anyone nearby, most importantly his parents. He wasn't really ready for them to know about him being a devil yet, but if it was a choice of their safety over making them aware, he'd deal with whatever fallout came of it.

Sure, Sona could wipe those particular memories from any bystanders, but he didn't like the idea of his parents being influenced with magic. Doing that was as good as lying to their face, something he hated doing.

The mess that was the front door was just a precursor for what he and Aurora found inside. The living room was a mess. The couch was torn with white stuffing still floating down to the ground, obviously the latest of the damage done. The Tv sparking with the puncture in the top right corner. Along the walls were deep gouges, some of the pictures had fallen to the ground and the glass breaking, others having been torn through.

The crash of something like thin metal came from the right, from the kitchen.

Taking large steps, Issei made his way in with Rory following closely behind, ready to help her friend's kin.

In the corner, huddled together and shaking in fright, was every member of the household. His mother was holding on to the two girls like they would disappear if her grip faltered for even a moment, his father was having a hard time keeping himself awake, his head dipping down and eyes sliding closed before snapping back open.

On the opposite side, was a tall man being held from behind by the head.

"Barry…?"

Holding onto the unknown battered and bloodied man, was the contractor that Issei regularly saw. Blood slowly leaked from the corner of his lip, his face in a snarl that showed the blood lightly coated his teeth.

There was something different about him. Barry, or whoever was in control at the moment, was always rather slim. Not skinny or scrawny, but they never had the muscle mass of definition that Issei was seeing right now.

"Ise, y-you know this man…?" His mother's voice quivered. She wanted to question how her son had gotten here, moments after the girls had both yelled out his name. She never saw the flash of light coming from their pockets.

He was supposed to be off doing something for his job that he couldn't talk about.

"Are any of you hurt?" Issei ignored the question his mother asked, giving them a quick glance to see if there were any marks on them at all.

"We're fine." Yui answered, her posture still stiff and frightened but slightly more at ease with him here.

He came. Issei had kept his promise and responded when they needed him.

"Young d-devil…help." The battered man pleaded with wide eyes, stretching out a hand towards Issei.

The declaration had Yui and Kaori widening their eyes. This man knew what Issei was with just a glance. It did nothing for Issei, having suspected that something supernatural was going on from the start. He just didn't know the full scale of it.

"Barry… let the man go." He spoke with authority he didn't feel. That placement of hands on the man's head was easy to read.

He was about to snap the man's neck and kill him if Issei couldn't get him to stop. The why part of this situation didn't matter right now. Not while lives were at stake.

The battered man had a strange scent to him though… A flower dipped in oil and lit on fire.

"Barry is gone… He is weak." The beast's words were growled through blood-spattered teeth.

"This one is a fake. He may associate with the true and pure, but he is a parasite to their presence."

The beast tightened his grip on the man.

"N-no! Please!" The man yelled, his scared tone getting Issei to move.

Issei pushed forward with all he had, hoping to jump over the kitchen table that was overturned and push Barry hard enough to get his grip to loosen.

Issei pushed hard when his left foot had contact with the ground, his body going horizontal as his right hand was stretched out to press against Barry's partially visible chest. The part just above the unknown man's head.

"He must die." The beast was too quick.

The hand on the chin pulled, the one on the back of the head pushed, the force of the clockwise motion creating a cracking and snapping sound just as Issei pushed Barry away and into the window.

The tall man fell back, the light in his eyes quickly fading to be dull and lifeless.

Issei fell to the ground as the window broke, shards of pointed glass falling onto the one that had once been Barry and so many others, and the lower half stabbed into his back.

He was quick to stand, casting a sorrowful glance down and back to the man he hadn't been able to save.

Rory moved from her spot in the doorway to the left where she could stand guard in front of the humans. Her wings ripped forth from her back, tearing through the dark green shirt given to her. All except the inebriated father gasped from being given a shield of beige colored wings.

"W-what..?!" Mrs. Hyoudou's words died in her throat as she watched something impossible and inexplicable appear in front of her eyes.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" The beast bellowed in anger and pain as he lifted himself from his spot, pieces of glass breaking off and remaining embedded in his back.

"You… You do not see. You are blinded." The beast growled.

Issei readied himself, already realizing that something had snapped inside the mind of what had been a docile man/woman the last time he saw him.

"Who are you? You're not the ones I've met before."

Patricia was weird and stern in her opinions, but overall, he didn't mind her. Jade was a mouthy teenager, Dennis was an OCD neat freak. Hedwig was just a little boy in a grown man's body that wanted to play video games and dance.

Whoever this was, it was none of the personalities that Issei had dealt with.

The beast slowly pulled a glass shard out of his tricep, beating his chest to will the pain away and sending droplets of blood to the floor.

"I am the beast that will avenge us from the impure. The one that will show the world the truth of our existence. The worthy will join us in uniting the world."

The beast stepped forward, the floor giving a light shake from the force.

"Rejoice. The man behind you may not be redeemable, but the women will be given a chance to ascend as we have. Or… they will all be a part of the sacrifice to announce to the people that the day of redemption has come."

Issei did not see the blue light forming in the side of his vision, the signal that Sona had brought the rest. All he saw was red. A red so deep that his vision darkened around the figure that inferred the death of at least one of his family. The beast was all that mattered at this moment.

The decision was not one that Issei made lightly, but for the sake of the ones he loved, it was the only choice he could see.

Barry… or whoever this was, could not be allowed to take another breath. Issei had seen the way that the personalities could shift at any given time. He doubted that there was a way to extract one of them from the body, not that he had the time or know-how.

Issei would have to kill… again.

He didn't hear the voices behind him or see the barrier placed around Rory and the others in the corner.

As quickly as his hands would allow, Issei drew one back and pulled forth the aura that he'd learned to use without summoning his boosted gear.

There was no call, no shout in anger. Issei punched the orb floating in front of his fist, launching it towards the beast in full view of his parents. It didn't expand in the way that it normally did, instead of staying in its spherical shape so as to not obliterate this portion of his home. His den.

The beast tried to pivot out of the way but had misjudged the speed it traveled and was struck in the chest. Sailing out of the window, clipping the glass and wood and tearing part of the wall out with him, the beast came to a bouncing and rolling stop across the street when his ribs met the post of a light.

Issei stalked forward, his eyes never leaving the smoking form of his opponent.

[Boost!] The gauntlet came to cover his left arm, the green gem pulsing wildly and brightly from the near rabid emotions of the host.

Normally, Issei would have to wait to make his next move. But… A sacred gear responded to emotions, and his were screaming for the quick death of the beast.

[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!] His armor shifted into place quicker than they ever had, eager to match the desire Issei had.

Only Sona and Rory were the ones not left gaping at the tall red armor that was standing in Issei's place, tail flailing and crashing against the floor in what everyone could see was a barely restrained rage.

Momo, Reya, and Sona moved to check the condition of the humans in the room. Rory was only given a minor glance from the bishops since Sona didn't seem alarmed by her presence. The rest of the peerage was all left flatfooted. Issei was radiating a red aura around his frame, fingers flipping off the main portion like flames. The dragon allowed them to pass by, stepping forward in order to accommodate more bodies behind her.

Tsubaki stepped over to the body on the floor.

"Did Issei do this?" She asked while quickly analyzing what she could, her eyes wanting to stay glued to the figure that had taken the place of the normally cheerful pawn. The queen felt it was hardly necessary, but she materialized the diagnostic spell Sona had taught her.

"No. It was that monster." Kaori spat just as Tsubaki had confirmed the cause of death, not at all seeming to be bothered by the corpse.

The beast stood from where he'd collided against the metal pole, the spot on his chest smoking but otherwise receiving little damage.

Issei wasn't all that surprised. It had been only a small measure of his power, its only goal to get him away from the ones unable to protect themselves.

Now that they were essentially alone…

It was time to end this.

"If any of you are in there. If any of you can hear me. I'm sorry." He didn't want to kill, but… he'd learned this lesson already, hadn't he?

The aura of red condensed around Issei, the preparation for one strike that would end the life of 2 dozen living in one body.

"Dark Mistress of many, beholden to none! Take me under your black wings!" The beast threw his hands up, fingers spread wide and straining like he was trying to will a summoning to occur or trying to gather power from something other than himself.

"Jade, Barry, Hedwig, Goddard. None of you deserve this. But I can't let this thing hurt anyone else. I hope you understand." Issei was speaking to the personalities that he hoped could hear him. Underneath that rabid looking face still trying to accomplish some sort of transformation, were people that didn't deserve to die.

With clenched fists Issei made his aura explode in its potency. His apologies, his rationalization of what he was going to do, were done with.

It was time to reduce the threat to ash and deal with the fallout. What that would entail, Issei wouldn't know until he went back to check on them.

The beast was still waiting for some sort of sign that he'd been heard, as Issei's armored feet clanged with each step. In the Red Dragon Emperors left hand was something he'd only learned a little of recently. The same manifestation of aura that Tiamat used against him.

There was a clear difference between his and hers at a glance. The blue swirling power that the dragon king used fluctuated at random, it was chaotic and near uncontrollable. On the other hand, his was a deep red that pulsed like with hunger, the fingers of its translucent flame whipping out towards the closest lifeform. Issei could feel a different side of himself wanting to break through the surface each time he used it. A ravenous desire to burn, to dominate anything that stood in his path, to prove that he stood above anything and everything without nigh limitless power.

Issei had learned the truth of why Ddraig and his counterpart were called the Heavenly Dragons. It wasn't because they were altruistic, they couldn't have been anything from that. It wasn't because they were affiliated with any heaven of any realm.

It was because they stood above almost every other being in terms of power. When humans thought of Heaven, they pictured a scene in the clouds… something far above themselves.

A heavenly being was not much different. The being was above them; in physical position, in power, and in its influence on the world.

The only thing above something heavenly was something godly.

The closer Issei got, the more his aural flame pulled towards the beast. It wanted to touch him, like a hand trying to grasp something just out of reach, the fingers curling in an attempt to grasp him.

The beasts beckoning went unanswered. Seeing Issei come closer, he lunged. Like a lion pouncing on his prey, the beast had his hands clawed and wide enough to catch Issei from both sides.

The Red Dragon Emperor was ready for him. His right hand knocking both appendages to the side as the body fell towards him. The flames pulsed in anticipation, ready to consume.

The gauntlet caught the beast by his face.

And the flames did the rest.

No one was prepared for when the screams came.

Not Sona, not Tsubaki, nor Momo, Reya, Yui or Kaori.

Least of all were his parents, whose eyes were glued to watching out the hole that had been a window.

It only took a few seconds for the bellowing to stop sounding like a person as the aural flames ripped through the face and vocal chords. Not long after… They stopped.

The lights in the house illuminated everything in each room, but none of the humans had ever experienced a moment where the night consumed them so absolutely.

In his drunken stupor, Mr. Hyoudou latched on to the word used by the now deceased man lying in his kitchen.

"D-devil. My son, he's a demon."

It was meant in a metaphorical way, but its actual truth was lost on the man for the time being.

Yui and Kaori watched sadly, connecting the dots of when Elsha said that Issei had been forced to do something he didn't want to do. It wasn't hard to see that it had happened once again. They weren't afraid of him. It would take so much more to do that. But they were afraid for him.

They had screamed his name with a desire for him to save them. But what would that cost him? What kind of mental toll would Issei pay for killing someone he knew, and how long would it be before things went back to normal.

If they ever could.

Mrs. Hyoudou took in the sights around her with the eyes of someone that understood that she did not know everything. She never claimed that the world was entirely as everyone saw it. But still… that didn't make the things she'd seen in the last few minutes any less amazing and horrifying.

Blades of wind thrashing out from the hands of a man her husband had brought home with him. Another man that could be impaled by glass, snap a man's neck as easily as he could lift a pen. And her son. Her son transforming into a red armor out of thin air, creating what she could only describe as energy into the palm of his hand to defend them from the creature that wanted to torture herself and her family.

There was only one term that she knew to describe the things she saw.

"Magic…"

Her son. These other girls that she knew to be a part of the student council from the school.

"Magic is real…"

And they could all use it.

Her head spun as the reality of her situation set in. The girl in front of her had wings coming out of her back, some of the others had used forces of the arcane to protect them.

The mother watched as Issei came back into view from the hole blown into the wall, the helmet receding back to reveal the face she knew.

His eyes, the same color she herself had, landed on her.

She flinched. It wasn't something she could control or something she meant to do. But she was afraid.

It didn't take a genius to realize that if magic was real, and hadn't been implemented into society, that was meant to be kept secret. Now that she knew it existed, what would happen.

Issei wasn't the leader of this group, she knew that already.

The decision wasn't his to….

"You're safe now. I promise." Issei spoke with a quiet and calm tone.

He promised. Mrs. Hyoudou relaxed, if only a little. Her son was no liar. There was no amount of magic in the world that could change that about him… that she knew of anyway.

"Ise." Sona called out from her place by the dead man's body, arms crossed and an even more stern look than normal on her face.

"While protocol says that we have to remove the memories of supernatural events, this is your family. They are not just random bystanders. I will leave this choice to you."

The armor faded away in red particles, swept away by the nearly dead breeze. Issei stood several feet away, still looking at his mother.

He saw the way she flinched away from him.

His father could do nothing but stare in confused horror, unable to make sense of anything he'd seen. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was so drunk, but that would remain to be seen. At the very least, he wasn't slinging curses onto Issei or yelling in terror.

Slowly coming to his knees, Issei looked between his parents.

"Mom… Dad." A lump developed in his throat and Issei felt a small desire to just have Sona wipe their memories of tonight.

"I can't say that you'll like what I have to say, but If you want to remember all of this, I will tell you everything that's happened and everything I've done. If this is too much… Kaichou can make you forget. Tonight will have never happened, and things will be as they have been."

Mrs. Hyoudou didn't need the time to think about it.

"Tell me. Tell me everything." She would finally get to understand what her son had been doing, finally have the answers she was waiting for.

This was the Issei she'd wanted to have back. The one that didn't hide things, the one that told her the blunt and honest truth no matter how she felt about it. Even if it brought her anger down on him. There was too much secrecy.

She wanted to know.

What was that thing he'd…Killed? What was that red armor? Why did this girl have wings? How was magic real?

She needed it.

As Mrs. Hyoudou looked around at the ones gathered in her destroyed kitchen, another question came up.

Why weren't the girls that she loved like they were her own, surprised by this?

END!

In celebration of me turning 27 today, you guys get the longest chapter to date. For this story at least.

Just in case anyone was curious, the beast and the personalities are the antagonist from the movie split.

There's also a musical reference hidden in there somewhere.

As for the motives of what the beast did or said…you'll have to wait till next time.

Also about Sona. I'm trying to have her thoughts get progressively more sex driven, until she finally can't take it anymore. It might have seemed like a big jump from the last chapter, but there was also a chunk of time that we didn't see her sleeping with Issei.