This is part five and the last part to chapter 6. Leave your Power Stones if you enjoyed reading.
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He left school. It didn't take him long, but it was beyond messy. Running down the stairs, there were still several other students roaming the halls from lunch time, turning his way in shock or fright as he burst through the front door and down the walkway. Within seconds, he was at the front gate that was shut locked until school was out.
Panicked and too deep to turn back, he used his hands and leapt over it.
"Woah, what the hell?!"
"Did you see that?!"
"How'd he do that?!"
His heart was pounding like mad and he was still trying to regain all of his lost bearings. What happened back there was crazy, almost like a dream, and he felt miserable that he was running down the street for seemingly no apparent reason.
And there was only one person to blame. Rather, one dragon.
"You!" Issei yelled, lifting up the back of his left hand to glare at it as he continued sprinting, now embarrassed and wanting to get as far away as possible. "What the hell, man?! What's wrong with you?!"
"Not this again..." The dragon sighed, a green circle of light appearing on the back of Issei's hand. "What's wrong with me? Here's a better one. What's wrong with YOU?"
"What are you talking about?! I was about to get laid and you ruined it!"
"You were about to get played. Be grateful I intervened when I did, or have you already forgotten our conversation from before?"
"Don't lie to me! You're just jealous that I was in and you could only watch!"
Another reverberating sigh left the glowing green light. "It seems only one of us has any sense. If that's how you're going to be, you may as well throw in the towel now."
Finally slowing down as he found himself at a crossroad, Issei echoed the dragon's exasperation, letting out a sigh of his own as he tried calming down. He stared intently at the back of his hand, waiting for the car driving by to cross. "Okay, back up and rewind that. You said I was getting played," He paused to consider those words. "By Sitri-san?"
"Who else? Definitely not her Queen you nearly knocked over as you ran away."
"That's who that was?" Issei hoped he wasn't going to be in trouble for that, on top of having left Sona hanging. If they had gotten pissed off at him, then he was in deep shit. "I'll worry about that later. Can you just explain what you mean? How was I getting played when she was coming onto me like crazy?"
"Are you an idiot?"
"Hey!"
"Must I spell out everything for you?" Ddraig grumbled, already sounding fed up with the teenager. "And here I thought you of all people would be aware."
"Be aware of what?"
"The wiles of women."
Issei connected the dots quickly and was rattled in place. He stood at the crosswalk for several more seconds even after the car had passed before his feet picked up automatically. "She... seduced me?"
"Clearly. You're still carrying around a package with you."
"Carrying around a... OH, GEEZ!" Issei squeezed his legs together in a failed attempt to hide his shame. "Damn... that car just drove by!" He hoped they hadn't paid much attention to him as they passed. Considering he was out of school in his uniform, they probably seen that shit.
Now haunted by that awful knowledge, Issei quickly took off his blazer and wrapped it around his waist. He couldn't just cup his junk the entire way home, so this would have to do.
"Why so ashamed? One or two more people who now know you're a pervert won't change anything."
"I know that, but I still have my pride!" Issei huffed, making sure his groin was well guarded. What really sucked was now that he realized it was there, he had to consciously walk around with it. His experience with Sona was still fresh in his mind, so it wasn't going down anytime soon. "Shit... you think everyone in school saw, too?"
"Doesn't change anything."
He wanted to refute, but knew the dragon was right. Sucky as it was to admit, his piss poor reputation couldn't get much worse. "Whatever, forget it. So Sitri-san seduced me, that still doesn't mean she was up to something. She could actually like me... right?"
"Don't know. You have an ability that lets you check that. Did you forget to use it?"
"...Damn it."
"Of course you did. This is you, after all."
Palming his forehead, Issei berated himself for not using Observe. It was such a simple ability that could even be used inside his mind, and he forgot to use it. He had the cheat codes and he kept hindering himself unintentionally by getting caught up in the moment. "I keep getting new and cool powers that I forget to use my old ones. You can't blame me for not remembering them all."
"I can remember them all, so yes I can."
"Well, you're the Red Dragon Emperor who's lived longer than I can freaking count. I'm just Issei Hyoudou, a stupid good for nothing who lucked out on some power." His feet had carried him in front of his house. Rather than go inside, he simply stared at it before continuing down the road. If his mother was home, she would kill him for skipping out. "So Sitri-san may or may not like me, but that doesn't change the fact she tried controlling me."
"That's correct."
"What was she going to make me do? If anything?"
"Can't you tell? She wants you to join her peerage, much like the red-headed one."
"I know that, but I thought... I thought she would've been more-"
"Prudent? On the contrary, it was a clever stunt she pulled."
"I guess... but I still can't believe it."
"I was surprised as well."
A puzzled look appeared on Issei. "You were?"
"I thought at any given moment the girl would back down, yet she continued to pursue. Had her determination been any less, I wouldn't have had to intervene."
"What do you mean by that?" Issei asked, unsure what the dragon had meant.
"She did well to hide it, but the tremble in her hands appeared far too frequently to go unnoticed."
Issei was shocked to hear that. "...Sitri-san was nervous?"
"Afraid is the appropriate term. She was losing her first time too, you know?"
"She was, huh?" Issei's hands clenched slightly, a whirlpool of emotion spinning inside him. "I didn't notice at all."
"I would be shocked if you did. You can barely see through glass, much less your own lust."
Taking the insult without retaliation, Issei's thoughts clouded with the black-haired bob-cut girl. It unnerved him that she was willing to sacrifice something so precious for the sake of 'obtaining' him. It was a sick way to try and manipulate him, as well as unmindful to her own person.
What if she regretted it? What if he wasn't worth the price? The thought made his stomach churn.
As upset as he felt, he couldn't get angry at her. If what Ddraig said was right, then she had been hesitant and afraid. Yeah, she was fighting through all that to try and claim him, but he felt guilty for making her feel like that. He shouldn't, but he did.
Call him soft or whatever, but Sona was his friend. He still cared about her well-being.
Ddraig let the boy simmer in thought, waiting patiently as he made his way down several blocks before finally proposing a question. "Let me ask you this. In that moment had she opened up her legs for you on the condition of your admittance into her peerage, would you have accepted?"
"...I think so," Issei admitted, feeling shame towards himself.
"Then the price she readied herself to pay would have been acceptable. Just be thankful I've decided to be more proactive in my host's life. I don't usually do that."
"The price was acceptable... I'm not sure about that."
"You remember what I told you before? Things will no longer be the same for you. The power in your grasp cannot be understated. Those with interest in you will begin using every means at their disposal to acquire you to their ranks. This is only just the start."
"You mean that they're gonna keep throwing themselves at me until I give in?"
"Maybe. Whether the glasses one or the other devils continue to or not should be the least of your concerns. You'll soon catch the attention of a being far more powerful than they. When that happens, you'll be forced to make decisions you do not want to."
"Who?" Issei gulped.
"How should I know? I'm speaking hypothetically." They may have been predictions, but ones made from a dragon older than countless millennia. It was spoken on good authority, a foreboding warning to the not so distant future. "Be ready for anything and don't let your guard down. I don't want to be forced to save you from such a ridiculous situation again."
As much as Issei longed for that situation to have played out, he knew Ddraig was right. Friend or not, he couldn't let Sona or anyone else trip him up like that again. After experiencing the lengths someone like her would go to, he felt prepared to face any deviant temptations head on and reject them. They played his weakness too soon and failed. It wouldn't work so effectively a second time.
Feeling the discomfort between his legs brush against his thigh, Issei grimaced and he looked down the street. "I just realized I'm still walking around with a boner. I didn't want to go home because I didn't want to get yelled at, but leaving it like that is making me feel worse. I should go and beat it out of my system real quick."
"You better not. I'll scream."
"What are you, a freaking girl?!"
"No, but I'll turn you into one if you think you can defile my honor and stain my eyes with such an abhorrent sight."
"Is it really that bad? Are you trying to tell me not a single one of your hosts masturbated at all when they had you?"
"I've lost count of the thousands of times my partners have had sexual intercourse, nor would I keep track of something so asinine."
"So they have! Then what's the big deal when it comes to me?!"
"None of my previous hosts were such perverted fleas."
"I'm not a flea! Take that back!" Issei fumed at the beast within his hand. That bias for him specifically was so not fair.
"You are, too. I recall you fleeing just moments ago."
"And now you're telling jokes?!" Issei had half a mind to show Ddraig who was the boss, had the dragon not been big, mean, scary, and many more things straight outta his nightmares. That was why he instead settled for strangling his wrist in futility.
A deep sigh left the green marker. "If you are going to do it, just do it. But I'd prefer if you did it with your right hand."
"Y-you're giving me permission?"
"It's not about giving you permission. It's about your twisted arousal somehow refusing to dissipate." Ddraig sounded disturbed by the fact that Issei hadn't lost a single ounce of his spunk in the dozen of minutes after his intimate encounter in the student council room.
How horny could one teenage boy be?
"You're sick," Ddraig couldn't help commenting.
"Rude..." The comment jabbed deeper than Issei expected. Apparently, he was so perverted than even an ancient dragon thought he had issues.
"More importantly, you should be using the free time you've gained to train."
"You're right." He now had a few extra hours from leaving school early to put in some extra work improving himself. It was a good time to test some of his skill privately without having Koneko around. Not that he didn't trust her, but The Game was still something he was keeping closely guarded to himself.
The new powers he acquired still needed some testing.
"School... oh, shit! I forgot about Asia!"
Lunch time would have been over by now and he hadn't returned to class. Not only would the girl be worried sick over him, but she was probably nervous out of her mind being all alone in class without his emotional support.
"I'm terrible. Shit, I gotta go back."
"Don't. Just train."
"I know, bu-"
"You can handle getting scolded for abandoning your post. The white-haired one will guide her back thanks to the contract. What is most important now is focusing on yourself and acquiring more power."
Ddraig was right yet again. He felt guilty for skipping out on school, abandoning Asia, and dipping the way he did with Sona. But it was already over and done with. He needed to move on and make up for it later.
There was still one issue. "I'm not sure how much further I can improve right now. I don't have a quest."
Training did resort in level gains and increasing his skill stats, but quests were much more effective. Having a partner to spar against also seemed to help him grow faster. Issei wasn't sure how much he could do all by himself with only a little time.
"You do have a quest."
"I do?" Issei asked in confusion.
"Whether you were given one or not, your quest is to get as strong as you can. You're not alone. I'll direct you." Hearing the decisiveness within Ddraig's voice gave the boy some reassurance. He felt more powerful just by hearing the dragon say that.
"Got it. I'll go home to jerk off, and then it's training time!" Issei pumped his fist high in the air.
Ddraig let out a disgruntled groan.
Back at Kuoh Academy, a Devil King with short black hair styled in a bob-cut and glasses matching her violet colored eyes was kicking herself for being too hasty. She thought she had him in her grasp, but something made the boy freak out and dash away. It was a humiliating experience for her, as well as discouraging and upsetting. Nevertheless, she only blamed herself for not being considerate enough. It was a lesson learned and not one she would soon forget.
Abandoning her own ethic code and delving straight into debauchery... it wasn't something she were proud of. Even when she had pushed well past her comfort zone and wanted to retreat, she pressed on; which ended up backfiring in the worst of ways. Such heavy sacrifice that yielded nothing of preference. Above all, her first sexual experience was now stained with disgrace and shame. That was likely the case for Hyoudou as well.
In the end, she had no one else to blame but herself. Her desire to outperform Rias and get the better of her had led to nothing but failure. It was her decisions and forwardness that strained their relationship, she just hoped it wasn't ruined. She would have to make amends and strategize anew. Rias claiming victory with ease all because of her mistake could not come to fruition.
This game was far from over. Once it was, she would be crowned the victor.