High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Issei

God was dead.

The words sat in the middle and left us reeling

It was such an absurd idea that I didn’t know what to think for a moment.

Asia dropped to her knees.

I was at her side before I consciously decided to move.

“Asia!”

She was shaking.

Not like a person afraid of dying.

Like a person who had just watched the pillar of her life disappear.

Her eyes were wide, fixed somewhere far away, hands pressed to her chest as if she could hold herself together by force.

Kokabiel kept talking.

Of course he did.

“It’s true. After the war all three sides were falling apart. The Angels had lost God, the Devils lost their Maou and many of their 72 pillars, and the Fallen Angels lost most of their stronger members with only their leaders being unscathed. It’s to the point where the factions are interbreeding with humans to survive now.”

Xenovia looked shell shocked.

“No….. it’s not true….. it has to be lies…”

“It’s to the point where there wouldn’t be another war unless something drastic were to happen. Every side has become a husk of its former self and has no interest in reigniting conflict after the losses they saw. But I can’t stand it! It’s pathetic! We should fight to the end not play with humans and their sacred gears! I can’t stand it!”

Asia moved her hands away from her mouth and quietly spoke .

“But….if God is dead…. then his love that protects us…” 

Kokabiel smirked.

“Ah, that. There is a reason that miracles and divine protection from Him are practically gone. The leader of the Angles, Michael, is using the system God left behind to hold things together the best he can. He’s trying but can’t replace God. That’s why things like a holy-demonic sword are appearing. They’re unnatural. “Bugs” in God’s system.”

Asia sobbed again.

I pulled her closer.  

I heard all of it.

I hated all of it.

And the worst part was that he sounded like he believed it was funny.

He talked about Yuuto-san’s Holy-Demonic Sword like it was an interesting trinket. He treated her pain, her dead friends, her sword, all of it like another interesting symptom of the age.

Bastard.

“Asia,” I said again, gripping her shoulders gently, “look at me.”

She didn’t.

For a second I thought she couldn’t.

Then her gaze finally moved, slowly, and fixed on me with a kind of hurt I didn’t know how to answer.

“God…” she whispered. “Then the prayers… the love… the reason I…”

Her voice broke.

I hated Kokabiel more than I had words for.

Buchou stood a little ahead of us, still facing the Fallen Angel.

Akeno-san stood behind the group ready with more lighting.

Koneko-chan had already regrouped next to the others after her failed attack.

Xenovia stood like a carved statue, with Durandal in hand and all the color gone from her face.

Yuuto-san hadn’t moved much either, but her stillness felt different—less disbelief than a terrible, widening comprehension of what it meant that Valper had almost figured it out and died for it.

Kusari-san stood near Buchou’s flank.

She and Buchou were having a hushed conversation.

Good.

She must have an idea for the fight.

I didn’t look at her for long.

If I had, I think I might have noticed too much.

Kokabiel raised one fist to the sky and laughed.

“I’ll begin the war from here! I’ll drag Sirzechs and Michael onto the field myself! Even if I’m the only one who remembers how the old world ought to have continued!”

He was insane.

And strong enough that insanity had become everybody else’s problem.

I stood.

Not because I had a good plan.

Because sitting beside Asia and listening to him use my town, my school, and my people as a stage for his war was impossible.

“We’re not letting you do that.”

My voice sounded smaller than his.

I hated that too.

Kokabiel looked down at me with open amusement. “You?”

“Yes, me!”

He spread his wings wider. “Do you know what kind of existence stands before you, Sekiryuutei?”

No.

Not fully.

But I knew enough.

Enough to understand that he was on a different level than anything I had fought so far.

Riser had been strong.

Kokabiel was something else. Something old. Something that made my bones understand fear before my pride could argue with it.

Still.

“I can’t let you destroy my home,” I said. “My comrades. Buchou. Asia. Everything here. Not for your selfish reasons.”

That made his smile sharpen.

I pressed on anyway because if I stopped, fear might win enough room to sit down.

“And I’m going to become a Harem King, so I’d be in real trouble if you ruined my future!”

Kokabiel blinked.

Then laughed.

Not insulted. Delighted.

“A Harem King?” he said. “Then join me. I’ll hand you beautiful women one after another if you join my side. You can do as you like with them. You’ll get your harem immediately.”

For one horrible second, my entire brain went blank.

He was offering me… that.

Like it was that easy.

Like my dream was just a cheap bribe.

Like beautiful women were something to stack up in a pile and claim.

I stood there.

Frozen.

Probably drooling a little.

Because I am, tragically, still me.

The battlefield seemed to stare at me.

Koneko-chan muttered dully, “...trash.”

Then Buchou stopped talking to Kusari-san and shouted, “Ise! Wipe your drool! What are you doing right now!?”

I jerked back to life. “I-I’m not going to fall for such tempting words that easily!”

Not entirely convincing.

Not my best delivery.

Kokabiel’s grin widened.

Asia was still on the ground, shaking.

Xenovia looked half-broken.

Yuuto-san’s sword hand was steady, but the rest of her might as well have been carved from rage and exhaustion.

Akeno-san’s eyes were too sharp. 

Kusari-san watched from beside Buchou with an odd look in her eyes.

Koneko-chan had gone very still but still glared at me.

Buchou looked furious and embarrassed at the same time.

And I—

I was still here.

Still alive.

Still able to choose what I was fighting for.

Buchou turned toward me fully then, cheeks red enough that it almost looked strange on a battlefield this ugly.

“If you want girls that badly,” she said, “then I’ll do all sorts of things with you after we get home alive!”

My brain detonated.

I forgot God.

I forgot Kokabiel.

I forgot the barrier, the school, the blood, the wings, the theology, all of it.

None of it mattered

“Really!?” I blurted.

Buchou glared, cheeks still red. “Yes! If beating him means paying that kind of price, it’s a small price to pay!”

That was it.

The one clean, shining truth in a battlefield full of insanity.

Hope.

No.

Better than hope.

A reward.

“Then even…” My mouth was moving before shame could stop it. “Even sucking on your oppai!?”

Buchou’s face went redder.

“So long as we live through this!”

The jewel in my gauntlet exploded with light.

Scarlet power surged through my arm so hard I almost laughed.

My heart pounded. My body shook.

Every stupid, shameless, devoted, overblown part of me aligned into one perfect line.

The Boosted Gear had answered.

Again.

Of course it had.

“Ah,” I said, grinning like a man who had finally seen the path to enlightenment. “I can do it. I could even punch God!”

Kokabiel stared.

Stunned.

Not because of my strength.

Because of the reason.

I pointed at him with a hand shaking from power and righteous perversion.

“I’m going to defeat you so that I can suck Buchou’s oppai, Kokabiel!”

No one responded to my declaration. 

Even Kokabiel narrowed his eyes.

“Seriously, what are you?”

I thumped my own chest with my free hand.

“I’m Rias Gremory’s Pawn! Hyoudou Issei! I am the possessor of Boosted Gear who lives on hot blood and ero thoughts!”

It was the most honest answer I had ever given in my life.

The power flooding through me felt sharper than before.

Wilder. Stronger.

More perfectly tuned to my own stupidity than any sacred weapon had a right to be.

I was ready to charge.

Until a chuckle came from above.

“Interesting”

Kusari

God is dead.

The words went through the battlefield.

Through Asia first.

Through Xenovia-san.

Through Issei’s outrage.

Through Rias-Buchou’s commands.

Through Yuuto, who did not move and therefore worried me more than anyone else.

But not all in the same way.

For a heartbeat, I hated Kokabiel for saying it. 

Not because I had any stake in God’s existence.

That had been burned out of me long before meeting Rias’s peerage. 

I hated him because he understood exactly where to place the knife.

Not in the body. In the reasons and beliefs people held to keep enduring despite how cruel the world is.

Asia collapsed under it.

Xenovia-san looked carved hollow.

Yuuto stayed on her feet by deciding not to fall yet.

And while all of them were still reeling from that wound, I looked at the battlefield and reached the only conclusion left.

We could not beat him.

Rias’s attack had already shown that.

Yuuto’s balance breaker and Xenovia’s Durandel barely scratched him.

Even Issei’s absurd power surges would not change the difference in scale enough.

Kokabiel had batted away a fully boosted destruction with one hand.

He was still smiling. Still playing. Still not serious.

Kokabiel was not an enemy we could beat by pressing harder.

He was an enemy we could only survive.

Not beat.

I already understood

Someone would have to stay.

Someone would have to keep him occupied long enough for the others to run, regroup, or survive until reinforcements arrived.

The thought came cleanly.

Too cleanly.

Because Sirzechs-sama’s voice was already waiting inside it.

[Tell no one.]

[Stay in her peerage.]

[Be completely loyal.]

[Protect Rias, even at the cost of your life.]

I hated him for that.

Not because the order contradicted what I wanted.

Because it did not.

Because I had reached the same answer on my own and now could no longer separate which part was my choice and which part had already been stolen from me and named obedience.

Because I had looked at the field, at Kokabiel’s hands blotting out Buchou’s boosted attack, at the gap between us and him, and reached the same conclusion on my own.

And then the order was there inside it, poisoning it, taking a choice I would still have made and making it feel like obedience instead of agency.

I hated him.

I hated that he had done that to even this.

I was afraid.

Not only of facing Kokabiel alone.

Of staying behind.

Of watching them leave.

Of becoming the thing left at the edge of a battlefield because it was useful to leave it there.

Of being abandoned again.

Even if it was not their choice to abandon me.

I hated that I wanted to do it, but it was also the only option we had.

My feet were already moving before I had finished admitting any of that to myself.

Toward Rias.

She stood slightly ahead of the line, eyes still on Kokabiel, still listening to him poison the air with his talk of war and dead gods and rotting systems. 

I reached her side.

She looked at me at once.

I knew I would sound wrong.

Too tight. Too cold.

“What is it?”

“I need you to remove another seal.”

For one second I thought she had not understood the words.

Then she did.

Her expression changed immediately.

“Kusari-chan, what?”

“Another seal,” I said. “Possibly more than one.”

Her shock hardened into alarm.

“Remove a seal,” I repeated. “As many as you can.”

“Kusari-chan—”

She looked concerned and confused

I cut her off before her concern could make this harder.

“We are not strong enough,” I said. “We can’t beat him like this.”

Her eyes flicked once toward Kokabiel and then back to me.

She had seen it too. Of course she had.

She just wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that I did.

Or she simply wouldn’t have entertained the idea of throwing one of us away.

“No,” she said. “We still don’t know how much time you need between releasing seals. Your body isn’t ready.”

In another battle she would be right.

Not this one.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

“Buchou—”

“And if I remove more,” she pressed on before I could interrupt, “my brother may interfere again. He warned me what could happen if I touched the other seals.”

Sirzechs-sama.

Always there.

In the room. In the battlefield. At my throat.

Those are not the important concerns, I almost snapped.

Instead I made myself breathe once.

“None of those things are important right now.”

Her face changed.

“Kusari-chan.”

That was not the answer she had expected from me. Not in that tone.

“We cannot beat him.” The words came faster now. 

I tried to reel them in, but couldn't

Less polished. Less careful. 

“Not like this. Not with what we have. You see that.”

The words came out flatter than I intended.

She did not answer.

That was answer enough.

I stepped closer.

“He stopped your attack. He’s not even close to serious. If he decides to wipe the field, we die. All of us.”

“We are not abandoning anyone.”

“Kokabiel needs to be held long enough for the others to get out.”

Issei was arguing stating with him because that was what Issei did: throw his heart at monsters and hope stubbornness counted as a strong enough weapon.

Sometimes it worked for him.

Not enough tonight.

Her face tightened. “Then we hold him here together.”

“No.”

The second refusal was angrier.

I heard the sharpness in my own voice and could not soften it in time.

“Someone stays,” I said. “Someone had to.”

Her head snapped toward me fully then, crimson eyes blazing. “No.”

She sounded more frightened.

“Buchou, you realize that we won’t all be able to make it out. Someone needs to stay.”

Rias shook her head.

She understood who I would suggest.

“Who else?” I asked her.

That made her pause.

“Who else stays, Rias-Buchou?”

Her mouth opened.

Closed.

I did not let her find the wrong answer and say it aloud.

“Asia-san can’t.” My voice was shaking now, but I kept going. “She’s the healer. She’s barely standing after what he said. Even if she weren’t, she can’t hold him.”

Rias’s eyes flicked toward Asia involuntarily.

I continued quickly

“Issei-san can’t,” I said next. “He’s the one with the strength to break through later. But you saw what his strength was like fully boosted. Even if he does something crazy it won’t be enough, and we both know you won’t leave him.”

That one hurt her.

I kept going.

“Koneko-chan can’t,” I said. “She’s a close-range fighter, and you saw what almost happened to her when she attacked him. He was even distracted with Xenovi-san and Yuuto-san.”

A tiny part of me hated myself for saying that.

Because Koneko had stepped in front of me to shield me before.

But this was not a conversation where kindness would help.

“Akeno-san can’t,” I went on. “She also already went all out at him and it did nothing. If she stays alone, she dies. If she leaves with you, she can still help you keep them all together.”

Rias-Buchou’s eyes had gone very wide now.

Not because she disagreed.

Because I had already thought through all of them.

“Yuuto-san can’t,” I said. “She’s too close to this. Even now. She can still fight, but not like that, not alone against him. If you leave her, she won’t retreat. She’ll just keep going until she dies. Even with Xenovia working with her they only scratched him.”

My throat hurt.

I was vaguely aware of Kokabiel telling Issei something about a harem.

Breathing hurt.

I was forcing myself not to shake

“And you can’t,” I said at last, because this was the center of it and there was no way around it. “You are our [King]. You are the one everyone else escapes around. If you stay, then no one will leave.”

She stared at me.

I could see it in her face—the horror of recognizing the logic while refusing the outcome.

“No,” she said again, but softer now. “No. Stop.”

I did not.

“Then it’s me.” I paused to control my voice. “You can release my seals to give an edge to stop Kokabiel long enough.”

Her breath caught.

No more pretending. No more softening. No more room to hide the shape of the choice under better phrasing.

“I’ll be able to stall him long enough. It has to be me.”

“N-No.”

This time it came out almost broken.

And then we heard Koneko mutter loudly “…Trash.”

We turned towards Issei.

Rias’s face changed instantly.

Mortification.

Fury.

Possessiveness.

Love.

All in one rush.

She took a moment to register what was happening between Issei and Kokabiel.

And in the middle of my conversation with her, she turned just enough to shout across the field:

“Ise! Wipe your drool! What are you doing right now!?”

He jerked suddenly and then pointed to Kokabiel. “I-I’m not going to fall for such tempting words that easily!”

His refusal wasn’t convincing in the slightest.

Rias sighed.

“If you want girls that badly,” she said, “then I’ll do all sorts of things with you after we get home alive!”

He stood up straighter and turned to her so fast his hair snapped to the side.

“Really!?”

Rias huffed before replying.

“Yes! If beating him means paying that kind of price, it’s a small price to pay!”

Then Issei continued to make it worse.

“Then even…even sucking on your oppai!?”

Rias’s face nearly matched her crimson hair.

“So long as we live through this!” She shouted.

I was in disbelief at the scene

Not entirely because of their content.

Because even now, with Kokabiel above us and war in the air and the world’s structure cracking open, he was still a perverted moron and she was still trying to save him with herself.

Issei’s sacred gear shone with power.

I took a moment to look at the people around me.

Koneko watching Issei with shock, hope, and disgust.

Yuuto holding her sword and braced to join Issei in the fight.

Asia kneeling on the ground trembling from having her world broken.

Akeno smiling at Issei being himself despite everything going on.

Xenovia loosely holding Durandle, looking as if she just needed anything to heal her faith.

Rias blushing while watching Issei be an idiot.

Issei shouting while shouting perversion into the air.

I almost laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because it hurt.

I stepped closer to Rias.

My control was gone now. Not entirely. Enough that I could feel the seams in it splitting.

I was not only afraid of dying.

I was afraid of being the one left.

Of being told to stay.

Of choosing to stay.

Of watching them run and knowing that even if I wanted this, even if I believed it was right, some part of me would still hear every footstep away from me like abandonment.

And I hated that too.

It made it harder to make the choice.

Less clean.

Rias turned back to me. Still blushing.

My voice broke when I said the next part.

“I don’t want to be left behind.”

For one second she forgot to argue.

She deserved to hear this.

“Even if I choose it,” I said, quieter now, more honestly than I had meant to be, “I don't want to watch you all leave me behind, even if it's the only real choice.

Her eyes changed.

Completely.

“Do you think I want to ask you to stay? That I asking you specifically would be any easier.”

That was worse than if it had been simple.

I swallowed.

Then did the only thing left.

I put my hands on her arms.

She flinched from the urgency in it more than the touch.

“Rias. Please.”

My voice was broken.

Not polite now.

Not controlled.

She looked at my face and saw too much.

Saw the fear.

I drew her hands up.

Placed them at my neck.

Where she could release a seal from me.

My breath caught as soon as her fingers made contact.

The whole structure of the seals seemed to wake under her touch, like a living thing recognizing the one person who could undo it.

“If you release it,” I said, “I can buy enough time.”

“You can’t know that.”

“If you release enough seals, I can hold him longer than I could now.”

“That won’t be enough!”

“It will be.”

I pressed her hands harder into place.

She resisted.

Not with force. With refusal to accept what I said.

“You’re lying to me,” she said.

I tried to smile for her.

I gave her the most sincere one I could manage without falling apart

“Rias, it will be fine. I’ll fight long enough for everyone to get to safety,” I said. “Then I’ll join you.”

She looked into my face.

And knew.

Knew I did not believe it.

Knew I hated that she could see it.

That if she agreed to my plan this would be the last time she would see me.

“Kusari,” she whispered.

The field behind us shook again with another flare of Issei’s power and another stupid, earnest declaration of devotion.

For one absurd second, his voice and my own desperation occupied the same stretch of time, and I hated the contrast because both of us were trying to save her and everyone else in ways that were humiliatingly honest.

Rias’s hands were still at my neck.

My hands were still holding her there.

We had both stopped breathing properly.

And then something changed.

A new pressure entered the field.

There was a laugh from above.

Both of us turned at once.

An armored figure floated in the air.

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