Chapter 21: Chapter 21
Issei came back from the meeting with Artemis and to be met with his mother in front of him with a stern expression. "Where have you been?"
"I was with my friends... didn't you see the note?"
"Did you get permission from me?"
Issei groaned and replied with, "I'm 17, mom... I'm not a baby anymore."
Miki snapped back, "And where do you think you live again? Oh right... my house. If you live in my house, you live with my rules. One of those rules is, let me think..." Miki playfully placed her finger on her chin and began thinking, "If Issei was to do anything, he should consult with his parents first... Right Garou?"
His father was sitting on the couch, slumped against the back of it and reading the newspaper. Hearing his wife, he simply sighed knowing that his son was making trouble again, "Yes honey... Now where was I?"
Miki smiled, a smile that meant the worst for Issei, "Guess who is grounded?"
"... Not me."
"No cheesecake for a month nor any more Gundam's in the house... Understand?"
Widening his eyes upon hearing her threat, Issei began panicking. Two of his favorite things not being given to him anymore for a month straight... this was true hell. "You- "
"No talking back to your mother." She smugly smiled at her son.
Groaning and heading back upstairs, Issei was a little frustrated. Wait... he still needed to kill the strays he told he would deal with to Sona and Rias. Deciding that he could release some frustration on these unfortunate monsters, Issei jumped straight out of his window and straight towards the first stray devil. Landing in front of another abandoned factory, Issei can't help but notice that these factories in Kuoh were truly the golden places for these stray devils.
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Danger ahead: Stray devils, a horde of them ahead
Defeated: 0/10
Reward: Level Up
+Reputation with Rias and Sona
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Another quest requiring him to kill a horde, didn't really bother him. Hopefully, nothing crazy shows up and decides to mess with him. Last time he had Rias and her peerage to help him, this time he had none to help him. Busting the door down, Issei was met with a stench of cold, raw blood crawling up his nose. He shivered in disgust before calming down thanks to the white aura returning.
"Oh... another one decides to show up?" He heard a stray from above. Turning to see the stray, it was a Arachne. With her 8 legs and huge spider body connecting to a small fragile humanoid body, Issei noticed that she wasn't alone. There were 8 Arachne hanging up on the ceiling.
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Name: Arachne
Title: Stray Devil
Race: Devil
Level: 30-35
HP: 2600-2700/2600-2700
MP: 800-850/800-850
STR: 42-44
AGL: 32-44
END: 52-54
INT: 32-34
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Okay... They were pathetically weak. Issei guessed that the reward for beating them was just finishing the quest. Rushing in, Issei closed the distance instantly and began slicing and dicing.
On the other side of the spectrum, Rias was seen extremely frustrated and worried. Her arranged marriage with Riser was still continuing and she didn't want it to happen. She had just met Riser and realized how out matched she was for the rating game that was going to happen between the two. Riser had only lost two rating games out of respect for his opponent. Rias only had a third of the members that Riser had and one of them was locked behind reasons.
She didn't know what to do... "Rias, we should get help... from someone. We need... Issei's help... He's the only hope we have... your brother can't do anything and no one else we know is strong enough to beat him."
"Akeno... I will not bring my problem to Issei. He does not need to help me nor need to know this... I don't want to be the type to ask others for help for a problem that I can solve." Rias declared and continued sulking.
"Rias... we don't have any other... plans. We only have 15 days... Riser was only giving us pity for the fact that we only have 4 members against his full peerage."
Even her queen was getting worried, but that was when Kiba stepped up. "We just need to train and become more powerful."
"But do you really think we can become powerful enough to beat him?"
"What else do we have? We must fight for our survival... we won't be given a scapegoat, we won't be given a magical opportunity, we must make our opportunity." Kiba declared while Rias nodded.
Before they could continue, that was when Sirzechs decided to make his entrance known. Showing up with his wife on the side, Sirzechs watched as his sister widened her eyes upon seeing him. Rushing over to him, she immediately latched onto him and began tearing up. They both knew why... they both knew what was going to happen. Even if Rias and her peerage was to train, Rias was still going to get destroyed.
"Brother... I don't want to marry him..." Rias's voice began cracking, her emotional state was becoming more vulnerable as she spoke, "He's going to do things to me... I don't want to be near him... please brother."
Sirzechs could only look down at his sister and hug her tighter... he couldn't say anything... he couldn't save his sister. Even being as powerful as the Lucifer, he had rules to abide. He couldn't do anything to save his little sister from her torturous future. Grayfia could only look away in sadness... The end was inevitable...
However, that was when something clicked inside Rias. Seeing her situation again, she began to realize that... It was similar to the time when the knight was in front of her. She felt just as hopeless as before... She remembered everything... The time when the knight had walked straight towards her while she could only close her eyes and wait for the inevitable. Backing away from her brother... She hated this feeling. Always trying to hope for the best when she did nothing... She began to despise this feeling... She wanted to be strong like Issei... She wanted to be strong like her brother.
Why couldn't she be like Issei?
She gritted her teeth hard and clenched her hands tightly. She needed to do something... "Brother... I have a question... Is there a way where you can... Teach me how to use my Power of Destruction more properly? Is there also a way for you to train my peerage and I harshly..."
Hearing his sister's request, Sirzechs could only be confused. Rias had never asked him to train her... He was a little concerned. The training that he was going to put her through will be something that she has never ever experienced. He was hesitant... "Why do you want to be trained by me?"
"Because... I... feel so helpless. I feel like I always need someone that needs to save me. I always feel like this... and with the knight... I felt the same way and nearly died. I want to do something... I want to be like Issei. He got beaten up and got right back up to beat the knight. I want to be like that! I want to be able to get right back up and, even when the task seems impossible, I want to overcome it like him!" Rias's aura began glowing with the more words she continued saying.
Seeing his little sister with such determination, seeing her glowing with such a brilliant aura, her brother could only smile in gratefulness. 'Thank you... Issei Hyoudou for this. I will now... train my sister for the first time.'
Rias was going to experience hell...
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Quest Completed: Stray devils, a horde of them, ahead
Defeated: 10/10
Reward: Level Up
+Reputation with Rias and Sona
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Finally... he was done with dealing with the trash. However, he felt someone was approaching him. Turning around, he was met with Sona staring at him with amazement. "You... you beat them... all ten of them..."
"Yeah... I was just about to speak with you. Well, you made my job a lot easier."
Sona was still shocked... she knew that her entire peerage and Rias's peerage was definitely going to have issues with dealing with a couple of them at once, but to deal with all ten by himself. Sona was finally beginning to understand what Rias was saying when she was saved by him. He was powerful... "I... thank you... you don't know how much this means. You just... you just saved us so much time and pain."
Shrugging his shoulders, "Just doing my job." Walking away from her, Issei did turn around and asked something. "Say... you did keep your end of the deal, right? About the phone call thing..."
Sona chuckled, "Of course, Rias was the one that immediately did it. She made sure to stop anyone from calling your parents."
Issei smirked, Rias was definitely becoming a much better friend than he thought... Speaking of which, Issei thought it was about time to check the reputation between the two people he knew he helped.
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Reputation system:
Artemis —> Thinks of you as friend and someone that she could trust. She thinks of you as a hero as well and someone who means well.
Rias —> Her admiration for you is through the roof and she will follow you around like a lost puppy. She trusts you and treats you with almost as much respect as she does with her brother.
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... Rias was starting to get a little scary with her admiration. At least it wasn't obsession.
While walking out of the factory, Issei noticed a small black feather flowing through the sky. Widening his eyes and immediately dashing towards the feather, he gripped the feather and knew it was a fallen-angel's feather. Gritting his teeth, he dashed straight towards where the direction of the feather came from. Sona, upon seeing the quick reaction, rushed to see where Issei was going. However, the speed difference was so grand, Issei blitz her to the point where he disappeared from her line of vision in seconds.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone