Chapter 24: Chapter 23
(This chapter is just a Copy&Paste from the original so don't worry this is not the 2nd chapter of the day like usual. I will make the 2nd chapter of the day soon)
-The day before Issei transform his body into a Dragon-
He left a recording about what happened to him at his house. And the faction leaders found this recording.
Now they are watching it.
*Is this thing on?*
The voice of Ise was heard, all didn't dare to even breathe.
*[Yes Partner. See the light, that's proof of it!]* - The voice of the Dragon was also heard.
*I see! Good! Thanks, Ddraig.*
*[No problem.]*
Their voices were heard clearly.
*Well if someone found this then that means two things; either I died, or you were looking for me and coincidentally found this.*
The voice of Ise was empty and when he talked about his own life, they could see how he didn't care about it in the slightest.
*Whatever it is, doesn't matter. I'm leaving this because I'm about to do something dumb, and according to Ddraig the chances of success are so close to zero that they are basically zero! So this is a will, memory, suicide letter, name it as you like!* - Issei was speaking with his empty voice.
They all could see how bad he was.
He had extremely long hair and large eye bags. His body was so skinny that his skin was basically glued against his bones. His eyes were dead, like those of a corpse, they held no light and his voice was the same, completely empty.
*Right now me and Ddraig are about to do our plan named Suicide Attempt!*
The name made the ones watching clutch their hearts. What plan was it that it deserved such a name?!
*It's simple, I'm about to remove the 'Evil Pieces' from my body and hopefully not die.* - Those words made the eyes of all widen. That's practically suicide!
*Now the climax, the reason I do this is... because I have nothing left!* - He told the recording
*During the past couple of Months everyone left me behind, only a few people had the decency to at least say goodbye to me. The women I 'loved' changed and were no longer the same. It seems they all had somebody else and unknowingly, I discovered it the bad way.*
*At that moment, in a single day, I discovered how I was dismissed and ignored by everyone, by everything. I was broken, mentally and physically. At that moment I activated the 'Juggernaut Drive' out of pure negative emotions, but the last shred of sanity I had, stopped me from fully activating it.*
The revelation of why the 'Pieces' turned like that made all the people inside the room freeze, Sirzechs, Grayfia, Azazel, and Michael were the most affected ones.
*Since the 'Juggernaut' was stopped then I should have become better?... wrong. Everything just became shit!*
*At that moment the 'Evil Pieces' inside my body were further corrupted, and they became eight malicious spots which devoured my body and 'Life Force' constantly. I named those eight spots 'Corruption', but if you think that was the worst think again! * - Ise kept throwing jabs at everyone, they didn't even know what to do.
*Because of the same 'Piece of Shit Pieces' I could no longer sleep, every time I slept, I dreamed of them, spitting behind my back just like that day when I discovered everything... I had Nightmares, horrible... nightmares...*
This recording made all the people watching it feel terrible, they wanted all of this to stop, but it appeared no one answered their prayers.
*After the nightmares, I thought everything would stop... wrong again!*
*The nightmares became nigh terrors in which I vividly saw each of them insults me, scorn me, hit me, abuse me, and they were just watching, laughing at me, they did many other things in front of me... so, so many... to the point that I just broke!*
At those words, everyone felt so dizzy that they couldn't analyze everything perfectly, but then they looked at the eyes of Ise.
They were grim, dreadful, distressing, miserable.
They all felt goosebumps on their skin, their faces paled and their hairs stood on end.
Those eyes, they will never forget them...
As if all light was lost, as if every reason one had left to live was gone, as if every trace of sanity evaporated.
They knew he had hit rock bottom.
*So I gave up on sleeping. Many days went by and I still haven't experienced a good night of sleep. Yet the worse hadn't come!*
All of them internally begged Issei to stop.
*These things became more... violent.*
He lifted his shirt and what they saw made everyone inhale a cold breath of air.
On his chest, three disgusting, swirling, pulsing black spots could be seen. Seeing them made everyone swallow their spit loudly, even some held back their desire to throw up.
*These are the locations were the 'Pawn Pieces' are, and are the positions in which I feel the most pain.*
*But after this no longer! Even if I die trying, I will get all of these horrible things out of me!* - Issei told them for the first time energy was on his voice.
*That's why I decided to do this, I literally have nothing left to lose. So to whoever is seeing this, I hope you could make this our little secret. Let's say that if words get out, then many things will happen.*
The recording finished, and silence filled the room.
They were surprised, just how much did he have to suffer?
"Everyone, I know there's a lot to digest, but everything we saw today will be kept among us." - Azazel was the first to speak he was surprised by everything but had the force of will to continue.
"Plus Issei is still alive" - Azazel stated confidence in his tone.
"How do you know that?" - Serafall asked him.
"Well, the 'Pieces' couldn't have flown back from his body, accommodated themselves on a wooden box, and coincidentally placed themselves on Ise's desk." - He was being sarcastic.
"He survived his so-called 'Suicide Attempt', came back, I don't know why, and left the pieces. Once we find him, we can ask him why!" - Azazel acted as a leader for once and motivated everyone.
The women regained light in their eyes, specially Grayfia.
The men were pretty much the same.
"The question is, where is he?" - While rubbing his chin the Fallen asked, this little push made everyone get their energies back.
"True we need to find him, there are many things we need to tell him, and even if it's not worth anything we should at the very least apologize!" - Sirzechs talked to everyone. They had a goal and they needed to accomplish it.
"What should we tell Rias and the rest?" - Grayfia asked after some silence minutes flew by.
"We should tell them that Issei left, but we shouldn't tell them the reason."
"They need to learn from their mistakes and in a way 'pay' for it, but I believe the truth will break them." - Both Azazel and Sirzechs commented, they had their plan. They needed to be responsible for their actions, but since the truth was too heavy, they will only tell them half of it.
All of them still had questions about why Issei did this, but one thing was clear. It was related to the girls, it was clear enough for all to see that they did something that was unforgivable. At least, for Issei.
Although they needed more information about the true reason, now they had some clues.
They needed to investigate more deeply into this, and now they could only wildly guess.
"I see. So we'll tell them Issei is gone and that we do not know the motive of his decision, then by their own thoughts they will, in a certain sense, think it's their fault." - Ajuka explained the rest only nodded.
"Better that way, once we find Issei we will talk to him about a lot of things!" - Grayfia regained her former appearance, she wanted to talk to Ise and clarify things.
The rest only rested on whatever chairs were left and started to digest the information they gained, it was rather big and not pretty but they needed to do it.
Soon silence filled the room and no one spoke for a loooong time.
-Scene change to Issei house at dxd world-
This is the day when Rias group find out about Issei disappearance
Right now was late in the afternoon and almost night time and group of people reached the 'Hyoudou Mansion'.
The group consisted of the ORC, Irina, Ravel and their boyfriends.
Seeing the huge building, Reiji asked - "What's that place?"
He was surprised, all his life he stayed at Kuoh yet this was the first time he had seen this building. The rest of the men accompanying them nodded their heads simultaneously.
"That's Issei's house." - Dismissing the subject Xenovia answered the question.
The rest of the men became petrified, not believing what they heard soon they once again heard the voices of the girls.
"Hey don't stay there, we need to enter!" - Akeno screamed at them, the ORC was just at the door of the mansion, the men hurriedly ran over to them.
They ran past the gate that almost closed in on them.
Next, a huge, thick wooden door was the only thing separating them from the inside of the building. In their eyes the building was enormous, maybe having 5 floors or more, it looked more like an apartment complex than a single house.
*Knock-Knock*
"Issei! We're here please open up." - Rias knocked on the door while she raised her voice, trying to catch the attention of the owner of the building.
*Knock-Knock-Knock* - A few more knocks were heard.
"Maybe he isn't home?" - Akeno talked to Rias.
"How could that be? It's Friday in the afternoon almost night, he's probably training." - Rias didn't believe the words of her 'Queen'.
Reaching the doorknob she turned it towards the right, the door moved and a - *Click!* - sound was heard, the door opened afterward.
"The door is open... maybe he's training and left it open just in case." - Rias believed her own words and stepped inside the house.
Today rather late in the morning she left to gather the rest of the ORC and the boys.
They had to explain to their parents that they will not be at home very often, but with the help of a little bit of magic and the approval of the boys, they made it possible.
With Reiji they told his parents more or less the truth, and because of that much more time was spent but in the ending they agreed, getting a sigh of relief from both Rias and Akeno.
Walking in everyone noticed how no one was at home, at least by the looks of it.
Then Koneko released her ears and tail and said. - "Ise-senpai isn't home."
This made the rest of the girls widen their eyes.
Kiba was a bit surprised as well but he was also happy. If he met the men beside him then he will raise hell, of that he was sure.
"He isn't home?!" - Rias raised her voice, surprised that he wasn't here.
"Maybe he had things to do?" - Irina tilted her head cutely while she tried to explain.
The rest were suspicious, but they left those suspicions behind.
It's impossible for him to be away, maybe he was doing groceries or something like that, they all thought the same.
Their feelings were still unsettled, and the fact that Issei wasn't home made them a bit paranoid.
"OK, let's start the training!" - Rias told them, the men just swallowed their spit in anxiety.
"But before that, you need to know a bit more of the supernatural world. Throughout the next weeks, we'll slowly teach you the basics and a bit more of our world!" - Rias was talking proudly.
Then they went to the staircase since they were too many they didn't fit inside the elevator.
Going up the stairs they reached a place that Issei visited a lot and practically slept inside.
'The Library of the Fifth Floor'.
Opening the door the men were impressed by the magnitude of the Library.
"Everyone we need some books!" - Rias declared.
"Asia. Go to the magic section and search for the very basis of magic. Koneko, look for a book in 'Sacred Gears', they should know a bit more about it. Before we only told them about the most important ones. Xenovia go for a book that explains the basics of; The Underworld, Heaven, and Grigori. Although we'll explain everything to them, we might need another type of information." - Giving her orders, Rias told her Peerage.
The named ones replied with a - """Yes!""" - And went to get their tasks done.
"Okay while they are gone I'll answer the questions you may have!" - While crossing her arms under her big bust, Rias turned towards the men present.
Akeno just smiled at her side, ready for anything.
"I have a question Rias-san." - Ken raised his hand.
Everyone's eyes went towards him, making him sweat a little. After all, he wasn't a man of public speech or gathering of people.
Rias nodded her head, light shined in her eyes, it seemed she was happy about being capable of teaching someone something.
"We already know the basic 'Hierarchy' of the power of the supernatural world, so I have to ask. How are the 'Underworld's, Heaven's and Grigori's, was it? Roughly divided?"
A very basic question that possessed no threat at all, Rias was about to answer when Akeno intervened.
"It should be better for me to explain Grigori's, after all, I'm half a Fallen Angel." - She unfurled her wings, being feathery and dark in color.
"But first, you should know what a Fallen Angel is!" - That took them by surprise.
They never thought that the woman in front of them would be a Half-Fallen.
They knew about Koneko, after all, Hijama told them, so they were not as surprised when they saw her ears and tail but it was different for the woman in front of them.
Those wings looked scary, at least in Reiji's eyes, not that he would voice it out loud.
"Fallen Angels are Angels that have fallen from the grace of God due to having "impure thoughts" that divert them from the teachings of the God in the Bible. The leaders of Grigori were tempted by human women and had fallen after having sex with them. And despite being cast out of Heaven, Fallen Angels can still use the power of light." - Akeno explained seriously to the men, they just paid attention.
They were shocked, they didn't know about that except for Reiji because of family circumstances.
"Grigori is an organization created by Azazel and the Fallen Angels who fell with him; they were also called "The Watchers of the Children of God", in other words, the looked after the Sacred Gear possessors." - Her voice echoed all over the field.
"Grigori invites or takes in possessors of Sacred Gears that have no family and are left all alone, looking after these Sacred Gear possessors while training them on how to use their powers, turning them into experienced possessors to remain within the organization."
She roughly gave an explanation of Grigori, the men felt their Horizons broaden, at least they weren't that ignorant about it.
"The leaders of Grigori are Azazel, Shemhazai, Baraqiel, Kokabiel, Armaros, Sahariel, Penemue, and Tamiel. And they are known as Cadre, having the strength above 'Ultimate-Class' and hereby being the leaders of the organization" - Akeno finished her explanation and hid her wings.
The men tried to digest the new information they gained and just stood there, some even closing their eyes.
After some time passed, someone asked
"How about Heaven?" - Ryutaro was the one who asked.
Irina answered as fast as she could. - "Since I'm part of Heaven I should answer!~"
She was extremely excited and energetic, little lights could be seen in her eyes. Then she showed her wings something, that aside of her boyfriend, surprised everyone.
"A-A r-real Angel?!" - Hijama asked, his mouth completely open.
That scene caused a pair of giggles from Koneko and Ravel.
"Pfft! A self-proclaim one, she's a reincarnated Angel. Similar to the 'Peerage System' the Angels have one as well based on cards, called 'Brave Saints'" - Xenovia laughed at Irina and explained to them.
They thought something like that could occur, after all, if the Devils could transform any other race into their own, why the rest could not?
"Let me continue!~" - While puffing her cheeks Irina scolded Xenovia, who just smirked.
"The Angels are powerful beings who serve the Biblical God, and have the powers to inflict pain upon Devils and by extension the Fallen Angels due to their light-based powers~"
"They live in Heaven which is divided into seven layers, or as they called them, the Seven Heavens~. Our leaders are the Seraphs and they are Angels who are guardians of the Throne of Heaven. The members of the Seraphs are the Archangel Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel who were titled the "Four Great Seraphs~" - Irina synthesized what Heaven was and their Angels.
Then Ravel stood up from the chair she was sitting on, and by the surprise of Rias, she explained about the Underworld.
"The Underworld is roughly the same size as the Human world, but with a much larger landmass, as there are no oceans and just lakes. It was once ruled by the '72 Pillars' of the Judeo/Christian religion but after the Great War, over half of them became extinct. Right now it's ruled by the 'Four Great Satans' titled 'Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus'. Because after the Great War the original ones died, new candidates were chosen to possess those titles and rule the Underworld." - Ravel finished her extremely concrete explanation.
The men were happy, now they knew about the world a bit better.
"If you wish to know more then come here and learn from the books, it would be better for you that way." - Rias finally talked, a sigh escaped her mouth, making Akeno at her side giggle.
"Any last Questions before we go down to start the training?" - She asked at them but only one of them raised his hand. Nodding her head he signaled him to talk.
"In the past, you mentioned the strongest battle-oriented 'Sacred Gears'. What exactly are they and what can they do?" - Souji asked curiosity filled his voice, he seemed really interested in that subject.
Rias was about to speak when Kiba pronounced.
"May I? I have a 'Sacred Gear' and have met the majority of the Longinus wielders so I should be the best one to answer the question."
Kiba proposed to his master, getting only a tired nod from her.
"Thank You." - He thanked her.
"The strongest battle-oriented 'Sacred Gears' are called the Longinus you already know that they are capable of killing a God and that they are thirteen of them, so I'll skip that part." - Kiba stood in front of them and calmly explained.
His aura was similar to that of a teacher, and to the men hearing his 'lecture', he seemed quite knowledgeable and good at explaining.
"You should know that the name 'Longinus' was derived after the first created Sacred Gear and was named 'True Longinus' the spear that killed the son of the 'God of the Bible', the first and most powerful. And unlike other 'Sacred Gears', that have more than one of the same type, the Longinus is utterly and completely unique, and only one of each may exist at a time. They essentially combine powerful abilities that aren't supposed to be combined!" - Kiba began his explanation, he learned all of this from Azazel-sensei.
The rest of the present ones paid attention to him.
"I'll tell you their names, abilities and the current possessors, but after this no more questions we need to start the training!" - They just nodded.
"The 'True Longinus' is also known as the 'Holy Spear' and one of the three 'Holy Relics'. It's currently wielded by Cao Cao, the hero who descended from the man recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's a spear capable of destroying anything it touches and capable of controlling light!" - The men were surprised and were about to ask
"No Questions! If you wish to know more, then come here after training and learn!" - Kiba scolded them for almost breaking their promise.
Seeing them turn silent Kiba continued his explanation.
"Next is the 'Zenith Tempest' 'The Prison of Bright Heavenly Thunder' a Longinus capable of controlling the weather and manipulating its elements. It's currently wielded by Dulio Gesualdo, the 'Trump Card of Heaven' and the strongest exorcist!" - Kiba took a breath and continued his explaining.
"Then it's the 'Dimension Lost' or 'Fog of Extinction', it's capable of blocking all attacks with its mist and transport anything inside the mist to any location the user wishes. It's wielded by Georg Faust, also a descendant of the one with the same name."
They didn't understand who this 'Georg Faust' was but after training, they decided to come back here at the library.
"After that its the 'Annihilation Maker' or 'Creator of the Demonic Beast', a Sacred Gear that's capable of creating any creature that the possessor can imagine. It's wielded by a boy named Leonardo."
Kiba was starting to laugh at them, that due to seeing the faces of the men before him. They never thought a Longinus would be that broken.
"With that, we get to the 'Mid-Tier Longinus'." - Kiba forcefully stopped his laugh and looked at them to see if they were paying attention.
"Good." - He noticed that they were really paying attention.
"The 'Boosted Gear' or the 'Red Dragons Emperor's Gauntlet', it has the ability to double without limit the user's capabilities and transferring power to anyone or anything. You already know who is the wielder." - The smirk on Kiba's face made the rest of them gulp. Never would they have thought that 'Hyoudou Issei' would have something that dangerous!
"The 'Divine Dividing' or 'The White Dragon Emperor's Light Wings', it has the ability to halve the power of anything or anyone, which is then added to the user. The current wielder is a demon/human hybrid, named Vali." - Not saying the last name on purpose because of obvious reasons, Kiba talked about the Longinus he knew more about.
"Regulus Nemea, 'The Battle Axe of the Lion King' an axe that its capable of splitting the earth with a single swing, now it manifests as a huge 3-meter tall lion, its also has the spirit of the 'Nemean Lion' of Greek tales. It's wielded by Sairaorg Bael, a Devil from the 72 pillars."
Wanting to ask more about that, they stopped themselves, they knew that it would be a bad idea.
Seeing this Kiba nodded and continued his explanation
"The 'Canis Lykaon', or 'Dog God of the Black Blade', a Longinus that takes the form of a big, black dog. It's capable of manipulating shadows, create and manipulate many curses, and creating cursed blades that could kill just by looking. It's wielded by Ikuse Tobio, a human who is part of Grigori." - Managing to take a breath he let the information sink in, soon he continued
"Then is the 'Sephiroth Graal'. Have you heard of the Holy Grail?"
The men nodded at the question, after all, it was really famous.
"Well the Longinus is the Grail itself, it's capable of bringing the dead back to life and restore any and every injury no matter how bad it is! Its currently wielded by Valerie Tepes, a Vampire/Human hybrid and another of the Three Sacred Relics."
They were surprised, so the Holy Grail was real!
" 'Incinerate Anthem' or 'The Crucified Stand of Purple Flames' it's the last of the Sacred Relics, and the cross in which Christ was crucified. It has the ability to generate purple flames with 'Holy Power' that can burn anything to ash. The user is dead, so I don't know when another might appear."
That was the first Longinus they heard that didn't have a host.
Unknowingly, that made them release a breath. In a way they were happy, that was one less monster they needed to worry about...
" 'Absolute Demise' or 'The Eternal Ice Princess', it transforms into a three-meter tall doll that protects its user, legends says that it can control ice to the point it can generate temperatures below the 'Absolute Zero'. Its current host is Lavinia Reni, a magician and self-proclaimed sister of Vali."
"The other two are 'Innovate Clear' and 'Telos Karma', but I neither now it's abilities nor their hosts, after all, they haven't been found."
With that, the explanation ended, managing to make the 5 men sink on their knees.
"How?! How, is it possible for things so powerful to exist?!" - Souji was heartbroken, he wanted to fight against a Longinus but now he was extremely scared of them.
"Yes, brother! How could such monsters exist?!" - Ryutaro was also agreeing with his brother, after all, this was a shocker.
"So Hyoudou Issei, holds the 'Boosted Gear'... What a monster, capable of doubling his abilities without any limit!" - Ken spoke up, never would have he thought such a weapon was in the hands of him.
"So the Longinus are basically broken abilities, and their hosts are monsters in human skin." - Reiji deducted, he felt tired and their training hasn't even started.
"Well, as long as you don't anger any of them you should be okay!" - Asia tried to calm them down, her gentle smile was soothing and manage to make the men relax.
*Clap-Clap*
"Well everyone we need to start the training!" - Rias concluded and stepped up.
She managed to drag everyone out of the library and into the training field #2.
In less than a second everyone was already ready to train.
"Asia, Irina, and Akeno use the book and teach them the basics of human magic. Xenovia, you specialize on the sword so teach Souji a little. Kiba you're a technique type, please guide Ken. Koneko, you and I will teach Reiji the basic of close combat and demonic magic. Well everyone lets start!"
But before they could start, a magic circle made its appearance in the center of the field.
A man with a luxurious robe made its appearance, he had crimson red hair and blue eyes. The moment his eyes landed on Rias and the rest, they were filled with disappointment and guilt.
He had a silver-haired maid accompanying him, but her eyes were filled with guilt and regret
"Rias, everyone, there's something you need to know." - The man spoke to Rias and the rest interested a bit in the identities of the men present but quickly dismissed the thought.
"Onii-sama?! What are you doing here?! Even Grayfia as well! What happened?" - Rias was surprised, she hadn't seen her brother and sister-in-law in a long time, and when they do come they have things to talk to them about.
"Rias who are they?" - Reiji asked the question everyone had in their minds.
"He's my big brother and one of the Four Maous, Sirzechs Lucifer!" - She answered the question with pride, even her eyes held a brilliant light.
Those words made every man here pale-faced, the man in front them was the current Lucifer, a being of Legend!
"Let's leave the greetings for another time. Rias I came here to tell you something extremely important!" - Sirzechs felt his heart break when he managed to get the courage of telling his sister.
He took from his robe a small wooden box.
"Rias please remain calm." - The maid at the side told the female, but she herself was almost failing to keep her emotions in check.
Sirzechs resolutely handed the box to his sister.
Rias grabbed it, she felt horrible and she didn't know why.
Her heart was threatening to burst out from her chest, her hands were trembling and her mind spinning. She just mechanically received the wooden box and lifted the lid.
Her face turned pale, her lips blue.
She let the box fall to the ground its contents spread for all to see. Soon, everyone besides the men had the same face as Rias.
"No... No... NONONONO!" - Rias screamed at the top of her lungs.
The rest were the same.
Akeno was frozen completely, not moving an inch.
Irina and Asia had their hands on their mouths, small amounts of tears were falling from their eyes.
Xenovia and Koneko held the same expression, their eyes held nothing, even the light on them was gone, soon they started to tremble and a heavy aura was released from them.
Ravel was crying quietly while turning her head away from the scene. Not capable of watching it.
Kiba was clutching his hands tightly, his bangs covered his face but the aura he excluded was suffocating.
Seeing this the rest of the men tried to comfort them but the sole aura they irradiated was enough to keep them away.
The reason for all of this was the contents of the box that now laid spread across the floor.
Eight crimson 'Pawn Pieces' with black spots and cracks on them.
Those were Issei's 'Pieces'!
They wanted to reject the thought, but that familiar aura made them incapable of it. It was his aura without a doubt...
"HOW?! HOW?!" - Rias screamed at her brother as tears fell from her eyes.
"We don't know." - The answer made all the present place their attention on the Maou.
"Azazel came to Ise-kun's house to talk to him about his training and his Longinus, but he couldn't find him. He searched everywhere and only found those 'Pieces' in a wooden box inside his room."
The words of the Maou were also filled with guilt, but soon enough he controlled himself and went back to his normal tone of voice.
"We checked with Heaven and they said that the Longinus is still with him, in other words, he's alive!" - Sirzechs gave them the hope they needed.
"But why would he do something like that? All of you were with him, so why did he do something that could have cost him his life? It's not like you did something to him... So why?" - The Maou knew which buttons to push.
Just those words made the girls freeze, the tone of the Maou was perfectly filled with curiosity and intrigue so he masked his intentions perfectly.
All the girls stopped their trains of thought.
The idea of why he did it slowly spread all over their minds, they weren't sure but Rias and Akeno thought back when they last saw him.
The change in tone when they last saw him, his cold eyes, his body that became too skinny which they decided to ignore.
The guilt they formerly felt increased by ten times. Their hearts stopped for a second and their faces returned to being pale but this time much more worse in color. Their eyes were filled with too many negative emotions to describe, but two of them were obvious; guilt and regret.
"We are currently looking for him, all the Three Factions are. If our efforts turned out to be useless them we would need to ask for help from the other factions." - Sirzechs stated for once the truth, his eyes and the ones of the maid behind him were filled with eagerness and the will to fight, those words made the girls gain a bit of hope.
"Let us help!" - Rias practically ordered his brother.
"Sorry, but that won't happen. This is an extremely secret mission within the Factions, so we will search on our own. You, on the other hand. Should not let this affect you. We don't know the reason behind it, so the best choice is for us to find him and ask him ourselves, after all, we owe him that!" - The last words spoken made the girls turn back to reality.
They knew that Issei was still alive, just missing. So they need to ask him, Why?
They had their suspicions and that thought would not let them rest in peace. They knew they were the reason but subconsciously rejected the idea, but what other reason could it be?
Bad feelings and emotions were filling them, the guilt they felt because of their own thoughts was big. But they wouldn't know until they asked, so until then they were left alone with their own thoughts, something that would little by little eat them from the inside out.
"So from this moment on the Sekiryuutei, Hyoudou Issei is declared to be missing in action!"
The reason they declared him MIA and not just missing was because the world still thought of him as a Devil, by declaring him MIA he wouldn't be counted as a Stray and hereby hunted by others.
The men were surprised by the sudden turn of events, but since they didn't know much it didn't matter to them.
Then the Maou came close to his sister and hugged her.
"Rias don't let this affect you too much. He's fine and we will find him! Keep getting stronger just leave this to us, you can be at ease." - He, with a brotherly tone, consoled his sister.
She just received the hug and nodded her head, cleaning the tears off her face.
"Also, the date for the 'World Class' 'Rating Games' has been established, it will be in less than 3 months from now, during Autumn maybe early Winter. So from this moment onwards, you have less than 3 months to become as strong as you can get!" - He ordered the rest of them
"Yes, Sirzechs-sama!" - All the Devils and Irina shouted for the Maou to hear, he only smirked.
"With that, I leave you to start the training." - He picked up the 'Pieces' that were on the floor, activated a magic circle and left.
After he left the girls were broken, their eyes were filled with unshed tears and their faces were filled with regret.
"""""Don't worry girls we're sure he's fine!""""" - The five men tried to console them, unknown for them the damage those words did.
The former thought the girls had, came back to their heads.
They knew the reason he did this.
They were the reason!
They cried and seeing this, the five of them came closer and hugged them.
The moment they felt that hug they all thought - (((((((Issei...)))))) - Tears fell even more than before, the guilt they felt was slowly corroding them from the inside.
Kiba watched this with eyes filled with grief, he had the suspicions of why his friend did that but the only thing he could do was to wait and hope for the best.
He turned his head from the scene and looked at the simple looking white ceiling.
(Come back soon, pal...) - His thoughts were directed at his best friend, which unknowingly right now was traveling to the other world with a big smirk on his face.