Dxd: Dragon's Bloodline.
Chapter 33.
Ryu stood there, shaking in anger and fury.
"Despicable pieces of shit," he muttered under his breath.
"I knew it didn't make sense... for dad to suddenly go crazy, I knew it was suspicious how he didn't kill any of us... and it makes sense why he disappeared and cut contact with us," Ryu muttered under his breath, all the pieces fitting together in his mind now.
"...No," he then said, taking a deep breath and calming his nerves, "Now's not the time for this."
His head snapped up, towards the building and he rushed inside.
His eyes landed on Issei's unconscious form.
Ryu breathed a sigh of relief, he was still here, he was still safe.
He walked up to Issei and kneeled, shaking him.
"Issei? Issei get up man," Ryu said, shaking him.
Issei was unresponsive.
Ryu took a different approach, giving a couple of slaps to his face.
Issei groaned, his eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened them.
"Where..." he muttered, his vision still blurry.
"Issei? Good, you're awake," Ryu said, a relieved smile crawling up his face.
Issei's vision cleared up slowly, "...Ryu? That you?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"Man... I'm glad to see you... where am I?" Issei asked, sitting up slowly while letting out groans of pain.
"Somewhere, you got kidnapped, though you needn't worry about that anymore, he left."
"...Yeah, I remember it now, some girly looking dude jumped me... he beat me black and blue, didn't give me a chance to use Boosted Gear at all..." Issei let out a sigh, and looked down at his hands, "...Guess I'm still too weak huh?"
*SMACK*
Ryu smacked him on top of his head, gently of course.
"Ow, that hurts Ryu."
"It's supposed to, don't say that about yourself, I got my ass handed to me too."
"For real?!"
"For real."
Only then did Issei notice the bruises on his face... and red lipstick marks.
"...What about that?" He pointed at it.
"About what?"
"The lipstick marks."
"What?" Ryu swiped his hand over his cheek and then looked down at it, faint red color was on it.
"...That fucking..." Ryu growled, his fingers clenching into a fist.
Issei raised an eyebrow at that reaction, and began to slowly get back up on his feet.
Then a sharp pain invaded his ribs, he let out a hiss, but didn't stop his movement.
Issei was back on his feet now.
Then he looked at Ryu, who was still kneeling and glaring at his hand.
"Want to talk about it?" Issei asked, "Seems like you've got a lot on your mind there bro."
"...Yeah, I'll call Akeno for a lift, we'll talk at my place."
"Sounds like a plan, but wipe that lipstick mark off first. Akeno might get jealous... or something, don't wanna loose your chance with her right?"
"...Yeah, good idea," He said and began wiping it off.
"Ha, so you ARE into Akeno!" Issei pointed a finger at him with a smirk.
Ryu raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, and she's into me. Official, starting today." Ryu smirked back.
Issei's eyes widened, and his mouth took an 'O' shape, then he gave a thumbs up.
"You sly dog!" Issei swung an arm over him, and he immediately hissed in pain again, but he ignored it.
"Didn't knew you had it in you! Nice job."
"Well... to be fair, Akeno was the one who pulled me."
"Congratulations you two, I'm sure Rias and the others will be happy for you as well, especially Rias... she's been pretty invested in the idea of you two being a thing."
"...She should think about her own love life..." Ryu muttered to himself.
"What was that? Can you repeat that?"
"Nah, nothing... just talking to myself."
Ryu took out his phone and dialed Akeno's number, she teleported in front of them almost immediately.
She took in both of their appearances, Ryu was dirty and bruised, especially his face.
Issei was leaning onto Ryu, he had some difficulty breathing and some bruises as well.
"Let's go, we'll discuss it at your place," Akeno said, "Everyone's at our house already."
"'Our house?'" Ryu repeated, a small smile forming on his face.
Akeno froze, realizing what she said.
"Damn... so it's 'Our' already?" Issei whistled, "Ryu, you work real fast don't you?"
"...We both do."
"Lovely."
Akeno then conjured up the circle once more, and the three of them disappeared in a flash of bright red light.
The three of them stood in the living room of Ryu's house.
Rias and her peerage were there, and there was one more extra person as well.
"Issei! Ryu!" Asia ran up to them, "Sit! I'll heal you two!"
She grabbed both of them and dragged them to empty seats.
Ryu leaned his head back on the sofa.
"What happened? Tell me everything," Rias asked from the side.
Asia was currently working on healing Issei, her hands were glowing green and the bruises on Issei's face were gradually disappearing, and so was the ache in his ribs.
Issei let out a sigh, and then an idea flashed through his mind, "Ryu's boyfriend kidnapped me."
The tense atmosphere was shattered.
Ryu's head snapped up so quickly he damn near broke his neck, he glared at Issei who just shrugged.
"What?" Akeno's icy voice came from behind, "What's this... about a boyfriend?"
She leaned over the sofa, her hand resting gently on Ryou's shoulder.
She was smiling, but the look in her eyes was... cold.
She then sniffed the air
"Come to think of it... I do smell perfume on you..."
Ryu let out a sigh, "It definitely isn't like that, nor do I swing that way," his eyes then captured Yuto struggling to hold in his laughter.
"That's more in Yuto's alley."
"HUH?!" Yuto was taken aback at suddenly being dragged into the conversation, "You're mistaken, I'm not into men either."
"Don't change the subject, my darling~" Akeno's sweet voice came from beside him, her grip on his shoulder was tightening a bit more.
"Well? Spill it, we are all dying to know... about this 'boyfriend' of yours," Rias said.
Ryu rubbed his forehead with his hand, and let out a sigh.
"It was... Wyrm, or Ryuko, as he calls himself. Someone connected to my childhood, I don't understand it clearly... but he's obsessed with me for some reason... it's actually terrifying."
"I see... and what did he want? Why did he kidnap Issei?" Yuto asked.
"He said it was a 'greeting,' kidnapping Issei was to drag me out and make me 'take him seriously.' There was not much else into it."
Rias's eyebrows furrowed, taking all this information in, "I see... he's definitely begging us to kill him right? Coming in my territory like that... harming my precious pawn and my friend..."
A mana that signified the purest form of destruction, began leaking from Rias.
"...Inform me if you he comes by again, I'll erase his very existence. Personally."
Issei looked at Rias, completely enamored by her.
His eyes were wide open, taking in her furious countenance.
He was completely enchanted by that red-haired beauty.
Koneko who was sitting next to him, jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, taking him out of his stupor.
"...Perv," She muttered, Issei couldn't really hear her but he managed to read her lips.
"Don't worry about that... Rias," Ryu said, his voice turning colder.
Ryu clenched his fist, and practically growled, "I'll snap his pretty little neck, if I see him again."
Ryu left out the part about the 'organization' that Ryuko was a part of, and their involvement in Kokabiel's death.
Their involvement wouldn't go unpunished.
Rias noticed that Ryu was even more furious than she.
She nodded, "...Alright Ryu, make sure you take his life the next time you see that bastard."
"Gladly."
Ryu took in a deep breath, calming his nerves.
Then he gazed at the extra person who was standing there, behind Rias.
"Okay... let's address the elephant in the room," Ryu started, "What is she doing here?"
Rias glanced back, "Oh, right..." She scratched her head.
"Xenovia Quarta, my new knight, she joined us just yesterday."
Ryu's eyebrows shot up in surprise, he certainly didn't expect that.
Xenovia openly expressed her distaste for Devils and such, so it was quite surprising that she stood here now as a Devil of all things.
"How did that happen?" Ryu asked, genuinely curious.
Xenovia grit her teeth in anger and spoke,
"...God is dead and the Church has betrayed my trust. I do not wish to associate with it any longer."
"Still... don't you think the decision was hasty?" Ryu inquired.
Xenovia slowly nodded, "It might have been hasty, but I don't regret it at all."
Ryu smiled, "You've... certainly grown in no more than a week. I respect that, Xenovia."
Xenovia smiled as well, "My eyes have been opened."
Author's note:
So I'm currently working on two new fanfictions, which I obviously haven't uploaded yet because I'm stocking up on some chapters.
One of them is a Teen Wolf fanfiction, (OBV no harem, maybe even no romance)
Teen Wolf: Not So Average Guy.
The MC looks like Kitae Kim from Lookism, as for his abilities... well... we'll get to that, no Werewolf or anything though.
I'll upload these two after I finish this, maybe even earlier.
And the other one is a MHA fanfiction
MHA: Tora Oni.
Basically, someone with Yamazaki Shingen's capabilities in the world of MHA, no this isn't a reincarnation or transmigration or whatever it's called.
So, which one do you guys want me to prioritise? The MHA one, or the other one?
(This isn't gonna get dropped. No, the reason why my upload rate is bad isn't because I'm working on those two fanfictions.)