"Why do you keep clinging to the same crap?! You're my damn stupid host! You can't be a pathetic weak man who only thinks about women all day!! You're destined to be something far greater!!" Ddraig roared with fury inside Issei's mind. He had been watching this boy's idiotic actions for far too long.
"Bost!!" the strange mechanical voice echoed again from Issei's gauntlet. The poor boy gritted his teeth, stopped staring at the girls, and focused on the strange demon. "That image of them is false. I must be hallucinating..." Issei told himself.
However, "Damn it!!!!" Issei screamed with fury as he looked at the strange demon, "You're lying!!! It's not true!!!" Issei shouted in rage. The fury repressed in his heart for so long now boiled over like boiling water.
"Yayaya, What are you saying? The little shit who pissed his pants wants to play the hero in front of his girls? Yayaya, Hilarious!!" the strange demon mocked, and in the next moment, he focused his attention on Issei.
"Come on, little shit!!! Hit me if you dare!!!" the strange demon's taunts seemed to have no effect on Issei. The poor boy's mind remained focused on his own thoughts.
"I am the Red Dragon Emperor..." Issei murmured with rage, using his only healthy leg to launch himself forward with force.
"Bost!!" again, Issei's arm shouted mechanically, in mid-air, he flexed his good arm and swung it forcefully forward.
A powerful gust of wind spread through the entire place due to Issei Hyoudou's sudden movement, however, the strange demon watched this with a mocking gaze.
"It's a lie, It's a lie, It's a lie!!" Issei shouted, his eyes full of madness, he felt like he could sweep the world before him, but when he was about to strike the demon's face, the latter simply raised a hand.
Tap
The strange demon opened his palm and stopped Issei's attack with such ease that he simply grabbed the poor boy's gauntlet. "Is this your toy? You feel so confident just because of this, Yayaya!!!," the strange demon laughed out loud, Issei's body was shaken by inertia and he vomited half a liter of blood in one go.
Squeeze
The strange demon applied pressure to the gauntlet, crushing it and pressing Issei's arm as if it were caught in a vice.
"Graaaaaghhh!!!!" Issei let out a muffled scream of pain. He tried to move with force to break free, but it was impossible, with two broken limbs, one immobilized, and only one good leg, his kicks barely caused any disturbance to the strange demon.
"Yayaya!!! Seems like you haven't learned the basic rules, little boy, Sacred Gears depend on the user, a panicked child..." The strange demon squeezed the gauntlet again, causing another scream from Issei, the poor boy writhed like a fish out of water, using every kind of movement to try to escape.
"A panicked, scared child can't even draw out the potential of the weakest Sacred Gear!!! Yayaya!!!" the strange demon burst into laughter again.
"Move, dammit!!!" Rias Gremory said to herself, she had froze after letting her guard down due to her surprise at Kiba's death, the strange green smoke had dispersed all over the place, and her body felt a chilling, creeping fear running through her veins.
Her eyes were teary, her body trembled constantly, and her breathing was agitated. "Why won't you move? Why won't you honor your royal lineage?" Rias Gremory began to cry, questioning many of the things that tormented her when she was alone, reflecting on her life.
"Why aren't you more like your brother?" she finally asked herself. If she had more strength, she would have broken her teeth from how tightly she clenched them. Her eyes, fully dilated, watched Issei writhe erratically, screaming with torn vocal cords and struggling to break free.
"Why haven't you surpassed your sister until now? Have you been wasting time eating sweets and playing the good little girl?? Hahahahaha!!! Ridiculous!!!" Koneko cursed herself in her mind, her state was slightly better than Rias's, but even so, she couldn't fight against her thoughts.
"What happened to your promise? Why did you let your mother die? Why did you abandon her?" Akeno was already on her knees, eyes on the ground, erratic tears flowed from her eyes, mixed with sweat streaming down her face, her moans and sobs were like those of a girl in the middle of a war.
"Yayayaya!!!! You've lost!!! You're trash!!!" the strange demon let out a loud laugh, enjoying how the weak and foolish boy thrashed while he slowly crushed his arm, breaking his bones and compressing his skin.
The atmosphere in the room was melancholic. Rias, Akeno, and Koneko, influenced by the green smoke, Kiba's death, and the torture inflicted on Issei by the strange demon, had mentally collapsed, they were incapacitated.
The strange demon eventually stopped laughing and observed how Issei's erratic movements grew weaker, how the poor boy was running out of voice and strength.
"Huh? That fast? Seems like you've reached your limit..." the strange demon couldn't finish speaking—he felt a primitive fear creeping into his being. Something inside him screamed that this was wrong, that if he didn't flee, he would die in a strange, terrible way.
"What?" the strange demon whispered, he released Issei's arm and quickly tried to escape, but—
...
"I saw you..." a strange, raspy voice whispered near the strange demon. Again, the primitive fear grew stronger in him, and he quickly opened his jaws, remembering something he thought he had forgotten.
"Orochimaru..." the strange demon whispered in absolute fear, immediately falling to his knees, his body no longer seemed to obey his commands—something was restraining him.
Looking more closely, the strange demon finally saw: his body had been surrounded by many green snakes wrapping around him, tightening as if trying to compress him.
From a corner of the room came a maniacal laugh—not as loud as the demon's, but loaded with a pure malice that the strange demon could never hope to match.
"Kukuku!! Have you forgotten me so soon?..." Orochimaru's magnetic and mocking voice echoed in the room, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima, and Koneko regained some composure once the strange demon fell to the floor, they raised their heads to see the man in the corner.
Pale skin, long hair, gray robes, and a strange wide smile. The girls were stunned. Orochimaru gave off a different feeling of the strange demon with his presence: he felt more mysterious, more mystical, and above all, more dangerous.
Unlike the fear and thoughts induced by the previous green smoke, Orochimaru generated a primal fear with no assistance. His mere presence was enough to overwhelm everyone in the room and force them to their knees—if they weren't already.
"Orochimaru... W-What? W-What are you s-seeking?" the strange demon stammered. His mocking voice had turned into that of a frightened puppy and was barely audible, as if he were whispering.
However, the Serpent took a few calm steps forward, each one enough to make the strange demon whimper in terror.
"Nothing. I've only come to stop you from killing the people Itachi-kun cares about..." Orochimaru said his intentions with calm and elegance.