Dragon X Devil: Clockwork Blaze | By : TwistedViper20XX Category: +G to L > Highschool DxD Views: 27061 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1 |
Disclaimer: I neither own nor make any money from "High School DxD" nor its characters. |
In the Dimensional Gap, a massive presence loomed.
Where it loomed or when, immaterial concepts as neither time nor direction existed in this particular plane of existence.
A plane this presence wasn't accustomed to, and was desperate to break free of once again.
This 'presence' was the Aspect of Time, commonly worshipped as the Bronze Dragon God Chronostrasza.
Its previous host had apparently met a most unworthy end, and been discarded for its efforts.
Normally Chronostrasza could revive its host easily enough, but for reasons understood only to itself, it had decided that enough was enough and moved on to find a new vessel.
The only question as it observed the billions of rips in the cosmos as life came and went was, which one?
Finally, it settled on a path and vanished into its new existence.
PoV: Shoichiro
*DING-DONG-DING*
Finally.
I stand and bow along with the rest of my class, as is expected of us all. Despite living in this country my entire life, I have yet to truly understand why.
Another question for another time, perhaps.
My mind already buzzes with questions that are within my understanding; the ones I don't understand will simply have to wait.
It's lunchtime at Kuo Academy, the high school where I'm currently a second-year student. I grab a notebook and head outside to eat alone on the lawn, as is my custom.
For all of my notoriety here, I have exactly zero real friends. I do have a handful of associates, but that's about it.
Part of me is okay with that, while the other part of me that craves human companionship is tearing at the seams.
I shove that part down and begin to eat.
Except today, for reasons I have yet to comprehend, I'm not alone.
She is here.
It's not even the fact that she's here that bugs me... I can deal well enough with that, I suppose. There are other things at work here, and those are what I find so irksome.
First is the way she tries to hide herself from me. She's perched in a tree almost like a cat, obscured by the branches and leaves, and just... watching me.
Second is the fact that - and this is absolutely not her fault - I can't see her, but I know she's there. I can sense her, like a normal human being would never be able to.
Her presence tells me more about myself than it does her. If I can sense her like this, then logically speaking I must not be a normal human being.
Oh well... problems for another day, I suppose.
This stalking has gone on for two months now, with increasing frequency. At first, it was just here and there, but for the last two weeks she's been in that tree every day, watching me eat and review my notebook.
I think about inviting her to sit next to me, but I've seen her in the hallway. I know for a fact it's her because she carries the same... presence as the girl currently in the tree. She's short, has golden eyes - almost like mine, so it's no wonder that I find them to be her best feature - and shoulder-length silver hair with a cat clip over each of her ears.
She's cute enough, sure... until I move down to the mosquito bites under her shirt.
So disappointing.
I finish my lunch and crack open my notebook. Physics, my favorite topic. I do some reading before I head back inside for the rest of my classes.
My name is Shoichiro Seiryuu, and I am a 15-year-old physics nerd.
After school I have my meeting the Archery Club, the only other humans whom I share more than a passing interaction with. There are eight of us, and I'm the captain despite only being a second-year.
Granted, I became the captain in my first year, but that's neither here nor there.
I remember the day my grandmother gifted me my first bow. I don't remember why, but she insisted I have it and learn how to use it, even at such a young age. My parents seemed to know, but they wouldn't tell me.
Assholes.
Anyway, for the last ten years I've trained with a bow and arrow. As a result, I've gotten really fucking good. But it's a strange kind of good. Like I can feel where the arrow is going to land just based on my shot.
The weight of the arrow, the draw distance, the aiming angle... it's another reason why I study physics so much: mass, force, gravity. All concepts I apply to make the perfect shot.
In fact, running the Archery Club is what earned me my nickname.
I hear it in whispers, like it's supposed to be some mysterious secret. I have to try not to laugh because it sounds kind of ridiculous, like a superhero's name or something.
The 'Black Arrow.'
But we're not the only ones here. There's something else.
Another strange presence, except it's entirely not human.
Not hostile, at least I don't think. But it's definitely new.
In one of the upper corners of the overhang. I can feel it, but I can't see it.
Part of me is tempted to fire an arrow in its direction, but that would freak out the rest of the students. Since they don't seem to sense it, I acknowledge its presence but otherwise ignore it.
My name is Shoichiro Seiryuu, and I am a 15-year-old archery master.
The subject of physics just seems to resonate with me for some unknown reason, especially the concept behind electromagnetic waves. They basically boil down to how slow or fast photons move, changing their frequencies for different applications.
It's all about speed. For reasons yet unknown, so am I.
I'm the fastest person in my school. No one else even comes close.
I can run fast. I can run far. I'm at the point where I do half-marathons on weekend just for the fun of it.
The weekends aren't the only times I run, of course. In fact, I run literally every day after archery practice. Four miles throughout the city, with strength exercises thrown in along the way.
As a result, if I had to bet money, I would also say I'm the strongest person in my school. Although that might not necessarily be a fair comparison, since from what I've heard, mine was the first class to allow boys to enroll at this school. Prior to that it was all girls, and I can count the number of boys I've seen around campus on both hands.
Not that it matters... if it really came down to it, I could swat them all without breaking a sweat.
Okay, that might be an exaggeration when it comes to two of them in particular. I sense similar auras around them as I do my stalkers, but nowhere near as strong. Maybe because I haven't been around them long enough.
When I train, I sense another presence following around me. The aura is different but distinct, and stands out more than its owner's chest.
Which, I must admit is a tall task.
This one is Tree Girl's opposite in almost every way. Tall, violet eyes, hair to her ankles and tits out to Honshu. And there is something about her that just calls out to me, to conquer her, to dominate her, to make her mine, to force her to submit to my will... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
My name is Shoichiro Seiryuu, and I am a 15-year-old pervert.
Most days, today included, the sun is setting by the time I'm ready to finally head home. My observer is still hovering nearby, I can sense her well enough to pinpoint her location by now. I twist the cap off a sports drink and take a long sip.
I could hit her with the cap if I so chose, but I refrain. She's 'hiding' behind a brick wall just out of my view, but I know she's there. Like Tree Girl, it's the fact that I know she's there that is so unnerving.
Why? Why am I able to detect these people's presences?
I'm not even concerned about the fact that these auras or whatever means they are more than likely not entirely human; if I can detect them like this, I must not be entirely human either. If I'm not, then what the hell am I?
"Excuse me... you're Shoichiro Seiryuu, right?"
I'm standing at the top of a flight of stairs leading to a highway overpass, when a voice freight trains its way into my consciousness. I look in the direction the voice came from and see a... girl? "Yes?" The only word I can force out of my mouth at the moment.
My name is Shoichiro Seiryuu, and I am a 15-year-old boy with no idea how to talk to girls.
Actually, I should probably not say "no idea," but if I went with what was in my head most of the time, I'd scare people away more often than not. Chalk it up to the voices in my head.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that; I literally hear voices in my head. In fact, I hear them now as this girl confesses to watching me train. She then asks me to be her boyfriend.
The voices are quietly clamoring for me to get away from this girl, so of course I say "I'd love to," with as goofy a smile as I can muster. She jumps for joy, puts her email address in my phone and runs off as happy as a clam. The voices die down, although they're clearly frustrated for some reason.
Guess I'm gonna have to learn some social skills, pronto...
"Kaa-saan! I'm home!" And apparently I have a girlfriend, but I figure that can wait.
My mother peeks her head out from the kitchen. "Welcome home, Shii-kun." I really don't get how Shoichiro gets reduced to Shii-kun at home, especially when she's the one who gave me the damn name in the first place, but I've gotten used to it.
"Dinner should be ready by the time you finish your shower." She's gotten my routine down pat, which I am eternally grateful for. I still have homework to do.
"Arigatoh, kaa-saan." I speak, read and comprehend Japanese like it's my first language, but with a harsh American urban accent. As a result, I sometimes misplace the emphasis in certain words, and it is glaringly obvious.
As if I needed yet another thing to set me apart from my peers, but still... I like it.
My name is Shoichiro Seiryuu, and I'm a 15-year-old Japanese boy, although I look exactly nothing like it.
I'm 5'6" tall - well above average for my age, considering I'm still growing - and 155 pounds. Not skinny, not built, but defined due to all my exercise and training. My skin is dark - like the average African-American I see on TV and the Internet dark - darker than my mother but lighter than my grandmother. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I spend my free time studying physics. Not genetics.
My hair is black and sits in a giant poof on top of my head. There just doesn't seem to be much I can do with it, so I try to keep it combed and use it as an excuse to always sit in the back of the classroom.
My eyes are a light brown, almost gold (my mother calls them 'honey,' which would sound like a compliment if it came from anyone other than my own mother, but I digress), albeit ultimately useless. I have to wear pretty strong contact lenses just to be able to see two feet in front of my face. Glasses are not my style, but I do own several nice pairs of sunglasses. They keep others from getting a good view of my eyes, which is good because it hopefully keeps people from reading what I'm thinking at any given time. At least I hope.
I shower and join my parents at the table for dinner. My mother is only a couple shades lighter than me, so I question where she comes from but she refuses to tell me. Her husband, my stepfather, is full-blooded Japanese. I like, admire, and respect him. His parents? Not so much... I think they're from the war generation that doesn't like foreigners or something. Neither of us has ever cared enough to ask.
We finish eating and I make the tea. I decide to use the last few bags Obaa-san brought from her homeland. She refuses to tell me where she's from either, but at least they make really good tea there, wherever "there" is. It tastes like apples, and there's never a need to add anything to it. I make a mental note to ask Obaa-san to bring more the next time she visits. She's always telling me I'm her favorite grandchild, so that should be easy enough.
After tea, we all retire to our rooms since it's getting pretty late. Homework takes until about 1:45 due to my atrocious handwriting. I don't know what it is about writing in Japanese that is the absolute bane of my existence. Not that it really matters... I won't be going to sleep anytime soon anyway.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, I haven't slept more than an hour a night since I started high school. Yet somehow I wake up every day fully refreshed and energized like I slept a full eight hours.
My parents have often suggested I exercise at night so we can "spend more time together," which I kindly but firmly refuse. Truth is, I tried that once and only once. It was enough to air me say "never again." It feels like the woods around here come alive at night, and not in a good way. If I believed in ghosts, I would be convinced they were following me at night. But I don't, which means that whatever comes out at night is something unknown.
I fear the unknown more than anything else in this universe.
Which brings me to the girl from the bridge.
Yuuma Amano.
There is nothing remarkable about this girl whatsoever, which has me on edge. She was wearing a school uniform that I didn't recognize, meaning she doesn't go to my school. The only way she could possibly know who I am is from watching me train around the city.
Which means I now have a total of four stalkers, but she's the only one brave enough to actually approach me.
That alone should automatically qualify her as the most dangerous.
If they wanted to attack me, they certainly would have by now. Tree Girl, maybe not since she's always watching me at school. But Tetra Tits, who watches me running and working out around the city? She could have taken a shot by now, so she likely isn't going to.
Or have I simply been so arrogant as to believe I could take her if she did?
Sometimes I question if I'm too paranoid, but it isn't until this very moment I realize I haven't been nearly paranoid enough.
Or how does the saying go, it's not really paranoia if they really are out to get you?
I'm thinking too much. I need some *ahem* stress relief, so I dip into that secret stash that every teenage boy owns, but none ever admit to.
Well... almost none. There's the notorious Perverted Trio at my school. Hyodo, Matsuda and Motohama, who allegedly talk about nothing but porn. I try not to pay too much attention to school gossip at school, especially when it comes to that particular topic.
Not because I find it disgusting or anything - quite the contrary, I find the subject of women's bodies and what I could potentially do with them fascinating, to say the very least. But for some reason, of all the legendary seven deadly sins, lust seems to be the one I fall victim to the most.
Maybe that's why I deliberately avoid talking to girls at school: so I don't say the wrong thing or stare at the wrong part of them for too long and end up making a complete mess of myself.
Speaking of mess... good thing I have baby wipes nearby.
I check my phone one last time before I climb into bed. Yuuma is meeting me nearby to walk to school together.
Here's just hoping I don't puke on my shoes or anything.
PoV: Rias
e2-e4 / d7-d5
Nb1-c3 / d5xe4
Nc3xd4 / f7-f6
My parents brought it up again last night.
Bf1-b5 / Nb8-c6
Bb5-a4 / g7-g6
My impending marriage to that peacock prick of House Phoenix.
c2-c4 / h7-h5
d2-d4 / f6-f5
Ne4-c5 / Ra8-b8
Times like these are when I hate being an only daughter. If I had an older sister, he would be marrying her instead of me.
Such is life as the Heiress of the illustrious Devil House of Gremory, for whatever that's worth.
Nc5-e6 / Rb8-a8
One of my more blunderous moves, born out of frustration and distraction. Fortunately, my opponent fails to capitalize. I don't make that same mistake twice.
Ne6xd8 / a7-a6
Akeno must sense my frustration. She's clearly trying to let me win.
Nd8xc6 / e7-e6
She's not even hiding it.
Nc6-e5 / Ke8-e7
Ne5xg6 / Ke7-d8
Ng6xh8 / c7-c6
If only I could defeat the threat of this marriage so easily.
d4-d5 / f5-f4
d5xe6 / Bf8-d6
Qd1xd6 / Kd8-e8
Qd6-c7 / Ra8-b8
She's drawing out the inevitable. Just like me, I suppose.
Qc7-f7 / Ke8-d8
I have her cornered, but one wrong move and she could slip out. That sounds all too familiar.
Bc3xf4 / Bc8xe6
It takes me longer than it should to realize this isn't a trap.
Qf7xe6 / Ng8-e7
O-O-O / Kd8-e8
I have several options on the board, some of which lead into more of a shitstorm than others. Again, that sounds all too familiar. Unlike real life, I spot a way to end this immediately.
Rd1-d7 / h5-h4
Qe6xe7
Checkmate... if only this engagement were that simple to deal with.
I thank Akeno for humoring me with the match, even if she was throwing it from the beginning. I know Riser won't be that easy to beat, but my spirits are at least lifted somewhat.
My parents have given me an out: should I refuse to marry Riser, all I have to do to earn my freedom is beat him in a Rating Game.
Beat Riser Phoenix, whose record is 8-2 with a full set of Evil Pieces, in a Game with a Queen, a Rook, and a Knight when I've never even taken part in an official match.
This should be a cakewalk, right?
I need help. Desperately.
Fortunately, I may have found at least some help.
There's a boy in Kiba's year who stands out - literally and figuratively - from the rest of the students.
He's intelligent, always studying at lunchtime from what Koneko tells me.
He's fast and strong from Akeno's reports.
He's a master archer from what my familiar has observed.
And there's something else about him. I can't tell what it is, but he just carries this powerful aura around him. I feel it every time I pass him in the hallways. It's possible he's a user.
I wonder if Sona has noticed it yet. I hope not; as much as he doesn't seem like her type, his power might just be too much to ignore and she may snatch him up into her own Peerage.
But the question is, how exactly do I approach him? "Hi, my name is Rias. Can I make you into a Devil so you can help me defeat my fiancé-to-be so I don't have to marry him?" Sure, that would go over real well.
Unfortunately, time to craft the perfect approach is a luxury Akeno informs me I don't have. The fallen ones have noticed him as well, and dispatch an assassin to take him out.
That at least makes it easier. I just have to wait for her to murder him, then reincarnate him as my Devil soldier. The only question now is, which piece should I use? I have eight pawns, a bishop, a knight and a rook at my disposal. Not great options, all things considered.
If I knew exactly what sort of magic powers he had, I might consider using the bishop.
If he were any good with a sword, I'd probably go with knight.
If he looked like more of a fighter, I could use the rook.
Neither Akeno nor Koneko has been able to get any sort of read on what his powers might be, which leaves me in a rather disadvantageous position. The safer bet feels like a pawn.
Of course, if his powers are more than I can control with a single piece, I run the risk of leaving myself short on numbers. Then I'm right back where I started this whole mess to begin with.
All this thinking, plotting and planning is putting me even more on edge, if that is possible. I decide to take a shower in the club bathroom after Koneko and Kiba have left for the evening. Akeno decides to stay for a little while longer. She briefs me on his workout routines, in a little bit too much detail for my tastes. If I do bring this boy into my Peerage, keeping her away from him will be another challenge on its own. Although...
He is a boy, after all. I'm a girl... I could just seduce him. Then once word gets out that I'm no longer a virgin, surely Riser would no longer want to marry me.
Right?
Ugh, who am I kidding... he'd take me anyway just to prove how truly powerless I am compared to him and my family's wishes. Still, I'll file that plan away as a last resort. Besides, this boy is fairly middle of the road as far as looks go.
Maybe if he did something with his hair and stopped wearing those ridiculous sunglasses...
Once I make him my servant, those will be the first things to go.
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