"I'm really sorry for making you do this" Sarutobi's garbled voice said through the satellite phone.

"For the hundredth time, don't worry about it" Issei responded, yelling to be heard over the whipping winds.

He was currently trudging through a desert plain. The wind was especially strong today and the scarf he had bought in the last town he stopped in fluttered wildly with every gust. Every time the harsh breeze kissed the sand dunes, orange powder flew into the air and attempted to blind him. He pulled his foot from the ground and hastily stuffed the ends of his cargo pants back into the combat boots he was wearing.

Sarutobi made sure he was well prepared for this mission; it was his first one alone after all. Halfway through Issei's small vacation, a sharp influx of job requests made their way to Kronos. The pay was simply too good to refuse so they sent out almost all available fixers. Sarutobi was the only exception, as she had to coordinate with the other members in the field from their base of operations in Niigata. Issei was given a simpler mission because of his inexperience going solo.

She also checked up on him constantly to make sure things went smoothly. They had sent him back into the Middle East once again. This time he was in Iraq, if you could still call it that. It wasn't much of a stretch to say that the country might not be on the globe much longer. Civil war is tearing it apart and entire populations are being displaced.

That's why Issei is here of course.

The government of Iraq came to Kronos for support in sniffing out ISIS bases in the southwest, a testament to how desperate they are. Anyone could see that the country was a ticking time bomb. It was only a matter of time before it destroyed itself.

Issei suddenly dropped onto his stomach on the edge of a particularly large sand dune. He put his hand up to his face and covered his eyes. BOOST. When he pulled his hand away, an emerald green glow emanated from his irises. A few hundred yards away lay an entrance leading into the ground surrounded by sand bags and men with head wraps and guns. With the advanced eyesight he could make out the individual follicles of hair on the men's arms and the smallest scratches on their guns from this distance. This was definitely the place he had been looking for.

After he had gotten back from Yemen, Haru had run several tests every day to gauge the revival of Issei's magical circuits. They found out that he could utilize his sacred gear as a modified Twice Critical but did not have the magical power needed to manifest it in physical form. He also had very little contact with Ddraig. Apparently, the dragon had difficulty talking to him at all due to the amount of magic he now possessed. Whether the young devil's magic reserves would continue to heal was still a mystery but one thing was certain, he could no longer rely on his sacred gear. It would never regain the former power and glory that it once possessed in Issei's body. His time as the Welsh Dragon was over.

"I found one" he spoke into the satellite phone.

"Good job. I'll send your coordinates to Iraq officials and they'll clean up there. Three more days of this and we can get you home" Sarutobi replied cheerfully.

Issei cracked a smile and closed the satellite phone before getting up and starting the long walk back to the village he had been staying in. The village was nothing more than a small outcropping near the edge of the desert consisting of sunbaked stone buildings. The only reason it managed to stay afloat was due to the salt traders moving their product from the Euphrates River to towns in the southern region. Almost the only business the people received was from accommodating these traders and acting as a rest stop. As a result, he was able to get a room with no questions asked.

It was the perfect place for a fixer that wanted to stay off the radar. Issei was finally walking into the town and toward his lodgings when he heard the sound of helicopter rotors. Helicopters were a common sight in Iraq, especially after the Gulf War. It sounded as though this one was going to pass straight over the town, probably for one last supply run before settling down for the night.

Issei walked through the door to his inn and gave a friendly nod to the innkeeper before continuing on to his room. It had been a long day and the desert had a way of drawing every last drop of strength out of a person in such a short amount of time. His shoulders ached as he slipped off his backpack and sat down on his bed.

"Three more days" he sighed to himself.

The helicopter outside had reached the town and seemed to be flying over just as Issei had predicted.

A silent hiss, like a branding iron thrust into water, was the only warning the young devil had before the room burst into flames. The force of the blast met him before the inferno did and he was knocked to the floor behind his bed. His shoulders and back stung and a ringing echoed in his ears as he slowly picked himself up off the floor. Every flammable object in the room had been set alight; even the walls seemed to have melted slightly from the heat of the blast. The only reason Issei had survived was because the bed took the brunt of the blast for him. He looked over and saw that his door had been ripped from its hinges and that the lobby of the inn was also consumed in flames. There was far too much fire for this to have been a normal explosion, it must have been magic.

The thunderous beating of the helicopter grew louder as it landed outside. Issei quickly wrapped his scarf around his nose and mouth and picked up his pistol and slightly charred backpack from the floor. He peeked outside his room to see the lobby had been completely destroyed. The front wall had almost completely melted and everything inside was either scorched black or still burning. In front of the building, the helicopter had landed and troops were filing out from the large back door. He recognized the sigils on their uniforms from Yemen. It was the Shiite Houthi rebels. It couldn't be a coincidence; they must be here for him.

Shots rang out as they executed the villagers. People ran as their homes were set alight by the mages in the group and those that weren't shot, burned to a crisp. With too many outside, Issei crept toward the back door of the inn. In the center of the blackened hallway, the charred body of whom he could only assume was the innkeeper guarded the rear entrance. It was clear the man had been attempting to escape by the way his body lay against the door. Issei suppressed the urge to throw up as he peeled him from the exit. He crept around the side of the building and was met with a grotesque sight. The burning buildings lit up the night and gave detail to the bodies of the villagers. Most were riddled with bullets with horrified looks on their faces while others were burnt beyond recognition. The soldiers spared no one. Issei could make out the bodies of women and children littering the ground.

As he turned to run away and contact Kronos, two soldiers rounded the corner. Issei didn't think twice. He put two in the rebel's closest to him and a third bullet ripped through the other's neck. The man fell in a sputtering mess of blood and Issei took off. He could already hear the soldiers in the town scrambling. He dropped his left hand down and a green light flashed briefly. BOOST. He tore through the sand with the speed of an olympic athlete, his power giving him a huge boost. Ten minutes later, he fell to the ground exhausted. The burns on his back stung and he was bleeding from multiple cuts along his body. The cold of the desert night was beginning to set in and without good clothes it was only going to get worse.

He was alone in a foreign country with killers on the hunt for his blood.

AN:

So yeah, it's been a while. I know I'm going to get shit for it and I don't really have a good excuse. To be honest this chapter is short because that's what I had done when I decided to take a break. I had some serious relationship problems a while back and needed to sort myself out. Just a little while ago I reread Eighth, The Dragoon by Arrixam (HIGHLY recommend) and realized I really wanted to start writing again. I am still in college and I'm going to have to find a good balance, but expect more chapters in the future. Thanks for reading and all the wonderful pm's/reviews guys. Reading them always puts a smile on my face.

~Junior