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The Kuoh Academy bell rang, announcing the start of recess. The usual bustle of students filled the hallways, but at the back of the building, leaning against the railing of a rarely used staircase, Kaiju watched his classmate with a mixture of exhaustion and pity.
Issei Hyoudou looked worse than ever. He had dark, deep bags under his eyes that made him look like the living dead. His uniform was disheveled, and he breathed heavily, resting his forehead against the cold metal of the railing.
"You look terrible, Issei," Kaiju commented, taking a sip from a box of apple juice he had just discreetly transmuted in his pocket. "You're a magnet for trouble, you know that? You haven't even been in this world for a week and you already look like you survived three world wars."
Issei let out a muffled groan and turned to look at him with bloodshot eyes.
"You have no idea, Kaiju. My life has become hell," the brown-haired boy complained, dragging out his words. "This morning was torture. On the way to school, I couldn't stop closing my eyes because of the sunlight. It's like my own body rejects the day."
Kaiju nodded slowly. He knew perfectly well that this was the biological consequence of his new nature; newly reincarnated low-class devils usually had extreme sensitivity to holy energies and natural light.
"The sunlight feels like it's piercing through my skin and I can't stand it," Issei continued, rubbing his arms as if he could still feel the burning. "I swear, the morning sun is totally bad for me and I can't wake up in the morning. I'm exhausted, and last night... last night I was almost killed. Again!"
Kaiju stopped his juice halfway to his mouth, raising an eyebrow. "Again? Wasn't the park incident clear enough for you?"
"It wasn't my fault!" Issei squealed in a desperate whisper, looking both ways to make sure no one was listening. "President Rias sent me to do my first job as a devil. I only had to deliver some magic flyers by bicycle. Everything was going fine until a magic circle glowed in the street and another woman with black wings appeared. Her name was Kalawarner."
Kaiju frowned. So the Fallen Angel faction was not going to sit idly by.
"She was furious," Issei recounted, trembling as he remembered it. "She cornered me and started yelling at me, demanding to know what happened to Dohnaseek. She asked me how it was possible that a useless human like me was alive and her companion had disappeared without a trace in my territory. I almost pissed my pants, Kaiju! If I told her you disintegrated him, she was going to kill me, and then you were going to kill me too!"
"You did well keeping your mouth shut," Kaiju approved coldly. "And how did you manage to escape from her?"
"That's the thing... I didn't escape. She attacked me with a light spear. I thought it was the end." Issei looked at his left hand, clenching his fist with a mixture of fear and awe. "But then, I wished with all my strength to survive. And my left arm... exploded in red light."
The brown-haired boy extended his arm in front of Kaiju and, concentrating with his eyes closed, managed to summon a crimson flash. A red gauntlet, with a glowing green gem on the back of the hand, materialized around his forearm. It was a base form, rough and primitive, similar to a Twice Critical, but the energy emanating from it had nothing demonic about it.
"Rias-senpai and the others arrived just in time to scare Kalawarner away," Issei explained, opening his eyes and looking at his own gauntlet. "When we got back to the club, I asked her what this thing was. She told me it's my Sacred Gear."
Kaiju took a step forward, his brown eyes locking onto the artifact's green gem. The word echoed in his head with monumental weight.
"And what exactly is a Sacred Gear?" Kaiju asked, his tone losing its usual sarcasm and becoming unusually solemn.
"Rias-senpai explained that they're tools... miracles encapsulated inside human souls. She said they're artifacts created directly by God," Issei replied.
Silence fell over the staircase.
For a being who had designed Celestial Eyes and possessed powers capable of devouring entire pantheons, the mention of a "god" was usually not a big deal. However, Kaiju was not only a warrior; deep down, he preserved the humanity of his previous life. He was a firm Catholic believer. Despite having reincarnated in a world full of demons, pagan mythologies, and monsters, his faith in the biblical God, the absolute creator, had remained intact.
Seeing an object, a physical miracle, forged by the very hands of the God he believed in awakened a deep reverence within him.
Kaiju raised his right hand and, with a delicacy that brutally contrasted with the fist that had disintegrated Dohnaseek, touched the cold metallic surface of the crimson gauntlet. Upon coming into contact with the Sacred Gear, his spiritual senses perceived the immensity of the holy energy sleeping inside it. It was a divine design, perfect, pure, and benevolent, sealed inside a mortal's soul to grant him the ability to protect himself.
"Created by God..." Kaiju murmured, fascinated. His eyes reflected a gleam of genuine respect and interest. "It's a work of art, Issei. A living miracle residing in your soul. You are the bearer of a blessing not everyone has the privilege of carrying."
Issei blinked, bewildered by the scarred boy's sudden change in attitude. He dispelled the gauntlet's summoning, letting it disappear into particles of red light.
"Yeah, well... maybe it's a miracle, but it doesn't do me any good if everyone wants to kill me for having it," the brown-haired boy sighed, rubbing his tired eyes, misery returning to his face. "Being a devil sucks, Kaiju. I can't stand the sun, I'm someone else's servant, and now I have a group of crazy Fallen Angels looking for me to get revenge. Yesterday I almost cried from frustration. Sometimes... sometimes I wish my date with Yuuma-chan had never happened and my life was still normal."
Issei's complaints echoed in Kaiju's ears. He saw a terrified teenager, forced to participate in a supernatural war he did not understand and had never asked for. The brown-haired boy had been manipulated, murdered, and then revived to serve as a soldier on a demonic chessboard.
Kaiju crossed his arms, his expression becoming unreadable. He evaluated the situation in silence. He had the power to rewrite reality, alter variables at the atomic and spiritual level, and defy the very concepts of the multiverse. If the Gremory peerage had profaned Issei's humanity without his consent to use him as a Pawn, perhaps it was time to balance the scales.
"Issei," Kaiju called him. His voice was low, grave, and cut through the air like a blade.
The brown-haired boy looked up, frightened by the intensity in the scarred boy's gaze.
"You've been complaining all morning about your sensitivity to the sun, about the fear of being killed, and about how much you hate being Rias Gremory's slave," Kaiju said, taking another step closer, blocking any escape route. "So I'll ask you one question, and I want you to think very carefully before answering."
Kaiju leaned slightly forward, staring directly into his eyes.
"Would you like to become human again?"
The question hung in the fresh morning air, competing with the distant sound of students chatting in the courtyard.
"Would you like to become human again?"
Issei Hyoudou froze. His gaze lowered toward his own chest, where Kaiju had assured him the demonic chess pieces resided. His friend, or rather, the "Master" who had revealed powers taken straight out of fiction, was offering him a way out on a silver platter. A way to escape supernatural wars, psychopathic Fallen Angels, and eternal servitude.
He could become a normal high school boy again. He could forget Sacred Gears, light spears, and the constant fear of dying.
Issei closed his eyes and imagined that life.
He saw himself walking home with Matsuda and Motohama, buying magazines, peeping through holes in the wall, being rejected by every girl in school and living a gray existence, without magic, without epicness... and most importantly: without Rias Gremory.
If he became human again, he would no longer have an excuse to be in the Occult Club. He would no longer be able to see Akeno-senpai's elegant smile, nor receive Koneko-chan's cold but adorable insults. And above all, he would never be able to get close to President Rias, the girl who, despite having turned him into her servant, had held him in her arms when he was dying, giving him a second chance.
Issei opened his eyes. Doubt and fear had disappeared completely, replaced by a burning fire and a determination bordering on the absurd.
He clenched his fists, stood up, spread his legs, and looked Kaiju directly in the eyes.
"I refuse!" Issei shouted with a passion that would have moved the gods, if the reason behind it had not been so stupid.
Kaiju, who was already passively channeling a bit of cyan Ki into his right hand to perform the "spiritual surgery," blinked. He let the energy dissipate, genuinely bewildered. "You refuse? Issei, I'm offering you your soul back. I'm offering you freedom."
"Freedom?! What do I want that kind of freedom for if it means going back to being a hopeless loser?!" Issei struck his chest with pride. "Kaiju, listen to the words of a true man. Rias-senpai didn't just save my life; she opened the doors to paradise for me. In the Underworld, if a devil becomes strong enough and rises in rank, he is allowed to have his own territory. He is allowed to have polygamy!"
Kaiju's jaw dropped by one millimeter. A nervous twitch began to form in his left eyebrow. "Don't tell me..."
"YES!" Issei pointed dramatically at the sky, tears of emotion in his eyes. "I won't run away! I'm going to use this Artifact of God, become the strongest devil, protect the President's smile and huge breasts, and become the Harem King! That is my ninja way! That is my resolve!"
Silence once again took over the rooftop.
Kaiju looked at Issei for ten long and agonizing seconds. He observed the heroic posture, the shine in the brown-haired boy's eyes, and the absolute, pure, unshakable conviction born from teenage lust.
Slowly, Kaiju brought a hand to his face and let out a sigh so deep that it seemed to take a couple of years off his own life expectancy.
"You're an idiot," Kaiju muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You are the biggest, most honest, most pathetic idiot to ever set foot in this universe. You are choosing demonic slavery for the microscopic possibility of touching some breasts."
Issei lowered his arm, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous laugh. "Hehe... well, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of bad. But besides that... Rias-senpai was kind to me. When Raynare killed me, I felt so cold and so lonely... but the President's magic circle was warm. I don't want to betray her. I want to be useful to her."
Kaiju lowered his hand. Upon hearing those last words, the exasperation on his face softened.
Issei's devotion was not just pure perversion; there was genuine loyalty being born in that boy's heart. An innocent gratitude toward the one who had extended a hand to him in his worst moment. Kaiju, more than anyone, understood what it meant to cling to a light in the middle of despair. He himself had created an entire world just so he would not be alone.
A small and almost imperceptible smile appeared on Kaiju's stoic face.
"It's a stupid and suicidal decision, Issei," Kaiju said, turning around to start walking down the hallway toward his classroom. "But it is your decision. You'd better train hard. If you die pathetically after refusing my help, I'll laugh at you at your funeral."
"Hey, don't say things like that, you insensitive bastard!" Issei shouted after him, following quickly, though the knot of anxiety in his chest seemed to have loosened a little.
Kaiju watched him in silence for a couple of seconds. Then, a smile began to form on his face. However, it was a smile that did not reach his eyes; a cold expression, devoid of any trace of joy. Right at his temple, a vein visibly pulsed, betraying a level of irritation that contrasted dangerously with his apparent calm.
"Become stronger? I see..." Kaiju murmured, his voice dropping to a dangerously low tone. "You know, Issei, ever since the night I saved you from that Fallen Angel and turned his body to dust, I haven't had a single minute of peace. I've felt the energy of those high-class devils stalking me, watching my every move from the shadows like I'm a damn lab rat."
Issei froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. He had no idea Rias and Sona had launched an extreme surveillance operation on him.
Kaiju let out a long, heavy sigh, bringing a hand to the bridge of his nose while the icy smile did not leave his face.
"But, looking on the bright side..." the scarred young man added, letting out a small laugh devoid of humor, "I have to admit I at least had quite a bit of fun this morning."
"You... had fun?" Issei repeated, completely incredulous, looking at Kaiju as if he had lost his mind. How could anyone have fun knowing he was the target of the two deadliest demonic peerages in the city?
Kaiju did not bother giving him any more explanation. He slipped his hands into his pants pockets and turned around, resuming his path down the hallway.
"Go back to your club, Issei," he ordered over his shoulder, without looking back. "And when you see your owners, tell them from me to be very careful where they walk. School accidents are quite common these days."
Leaving the brown-haired boy with the words stuck in his throat and a knot of confusion in his stomach, Kaiju disappeared around the corner.
Issei, still feeling miserable from exhaustion and fear of the Fallen Angels, dragged his feet toward the old school building. He climbed the creaking wooden stairs, expecting to find Rias-senpai to continue his training, or at least to inform her that the Fallen Angels were still looking for him.
However, when he opened the double doors of the Occult Research Club, the scene before his eyes made his brain reboot.
The impeccable and elegant room had turned into an absolute disaster, and its occupants were in even worse condition.
Rias Gremory, the perfect and beautiful president, was sitting on her sofa with the hem of her uniform completely torn, her crimson hair tangled, and her face covered in what appeared to be thick, dark mud. Beside her, Akeno Himejima had her blouse stained with huge splashes of bright yellow paint and was shivering slightly, as if she had fallen into a pond of icy water.
In the other corner, Kiba Yuto looked as if he had rolled down a gravel ravine; his impeccable knightly clothes were full of plaster dust, scrapes, and dry leaves. Koneko Toujou was sitting on the floor, completely soaked in dirty water, wringing out her skirt with an expression of pure murderous instinct.
And to top it all off, Sona Sitri and Tsubaki Shinra were also there. The always stoic Student Council President had cracked lenses on her glasses, and her uniform was covered in a sticky mixture of school glue and white feathers, making her look like an enraged chicken.
"What the hell happened to all of you?!" Issei shouted, pointing at them with his jaw on the floor.
Rias looked at him with eyes injected with pure humiliation and fury.
"Coincidences, Issei," Rias growled, spitting out a bit of mud near her mouth. "A series of impossible, absurd, infinite 'coincidences.' Scaffolding giving way, buckets of paint falling from ceilings because of the wind, sprinklers turning on by themselves, and freshly waxed floors defying friction."
Issei swallowed, remembering Kaiju's words and terrifying smile from a few minutes earlier: "I suppose I at least had a bit of fun with them."
What none of the demonic heiresses suspected was that they had not been victims of bad luck or any detectable magical trap. Kaiju had not needed to lift a single finger or emit even one fluctuation of divine aura to humiliate them. He had simply used the Celestial Eyes in secret. Specifically, the teenager had activated the Purple color of his iris.
Using that invisible kinetic force at a distance, Kaiju had unscrewed key bolts, deliberately tipped over paint cans from the art club, and manipulated the mud in the courtyard with micrometric precision, orchestrating a brutal and comedic theater of humiliation against his supposed watchers. The pieces on the board had wanted to hunt him, but in the end, they had all ended up playing the reincarnated God's game.