Deep within me, a darkness laid dormant, another being sleeping above it. I lived my life normally, nothing strange, nothing wrong. I grew up to be a pervert, but along with that I held a strong intelligence and intuition. Because of this, I didn't have many friends. And most of the time, the ones I did make left me. But I was not alone, I never felt alone, I kept moving forward, kept living my life until… until…

I died

I stood before a beautiful girl with long red hair and a voluptuous bosom and back side. Though, strangely, I cared very little about either asset at that moment. The room around us was pure white, so white that it burned my eyes. She began to walk towards me with loud footsteps that echoed as the room began to take colour. It wasn't a room at all, it was a coloseum filled with hundreds upon hundreds of people under a dark, red sky with stars twinkling above, or, what I thought were stars anyway.

The closer she approached me, the echos subsided and the red haired woman lunged into my arms and hugged me tightly "Thank you for saving me" She murmured softly, her head buried in my chest. As she looked up towards me with happy tears trickling down her cheeks, she whispered "I love you Soul Sweaper"

I felt a bright smile adorn my face as I hugged the woman tighter, placing a hand against her cheek "I'll love and protect you forever, Ri** G**mo*y, by the bond that binds us, I swear this"

I woke up suddenly in my bed with my alarm blaring in my ears. I was doused in a cold sweat and breathing raggedly "What the hell was… that..." I whispered breathlessly. It felt so real, so… Life like. I brushed my uneasiness off and got out of bed. I have no time to think about such a dream anyway, it was time for my classes. I took one more moment to collect myself in my own bed before slowly throwing on my uniform.

I quickly went into the bathroom to straighten and untangle my shoulder length black hair and insert contacts into my weak black eyes. Without these, I couldn't see shit, I maybe could see at least a couple meters in front of me but nothing more than that. After getting ready (very sloppily), I trudged out the door not bothering to do anything else. I did not need to say goodbye to my parents because they had already left for work and food, forget that, that would take too long. I yawned loudly as I began my journey to my school.

"So Sweaper" one of my best friends, Matsuda, started as we stared at our underclassmen girls doing their gym routine. We had a free period (something progressive schools had begun to implement in our area) which allowed us to do what our group was known for, checking out girls "You an ass man or boob man?"

"Don't ever patronize me like that" I clenched my fist in front of me "There is no difference in my eyes! Tits! Ass! They are all treasures of this world! We must worship them with true respect!" We got some (okay, a lot of) strange looks from girls that passed us by. Pandering, that's was I was doing with the two boys. They were nice guys, just a little perverted, well, really perverted. But that doesn't mean I wasn't either, just a little less so. Well that was a lie too, I just don't show my… true tastes in public, a man needs some pride in himself.

My other friend, Motohama, wiped a mock tear from my eye "Beautiful, such passion, I applaud your devotion"

We laughed for a moment before I sighed "Too bad our little plan for this school is going completely stagnant"

"Plan?" Matsuda asked.

"You don't remember? Why we enrolled in this school. The ladies. To finally get some! To finally" I got up "get a girlfriend! Hell! Many girlfriends, love for all!"

Matsuda shared my enthusiasm "Hell yeah! Bitches and hoes for all!"

We laughed a bit before calming down "Well, that was the plan anyway, but look at us. We're in our spring semester of our second year and between the three of us we haven't gotten one girlfriend let alone any girl friends. Hell, it's as if the entire female student body hates us, which, they have reason to" I said as we turned and stared at the girls passing by in their gym uniforms as if on inert instinct.

"What's the point, it'll never happen" Motohama said dejectedly.

"Don't lose hope, there has to be some chance left, for at least some of us" I reassured.

We heard a group of girls squeal and turned to see them fawning over a fellow student of ours, Kiba Yuuto "Kiba-san! Kiba-san! Please wait up! What are you doing alright now" a female student asked with her friends around her waited patiently for the answer.

"I'm sorry, I have a meeting with my club right now" he explained.

"Aw..." They said in unison, sounding disappointed in his answer.

"I wish I could go though, it's cool of you ladies to invite me" with their spirits lifted, they waved him off as he walked away to his club meeting.

"Who's that guy?" I asked curious at how the 'pretty boy' was acting.

"Kiba Yuuto, class 2-C, basically a walking babe magnet. Every girl wants to sex him up." Motohama mentioned.

"And every guy wants to mess him up!" Matsuda continued. Ah their enthusiasm, one of the many reasons I hung out with them instead of others, they conveyed their inner thoughts openly, instead hiding them away behind a thin façade.

"Hm… something about him seems… So fake " I mumbled quietly to myself, making sure the other two didn't hear.

"He sucks so much less than we do…" Motohama muttered dejectedly.

Matsuda glanced down towards his wrist-watch "Oh shit, I'm going to be late!" Matsuda said as he grabbed his bag.

"Late for what?" I asked. Matsuda only turned back to us and just gave a thumbs up and a perverted face, he had to be up to something.

"I call this place the 'Tit-Hole'! I found it yesterday looking for more 'research' sites" Matsuda said as him and Motohama stared through the hole into a changing room.

"That's a horrible name, not to mention really… odd sounding when you say it aloud" I voiced my opinions openly, though, at the moment they paid me little to any mind.

"Great find Matsuda! Excellent find! Superb find!" Motohama said patting his back.

I looked around cautiously "Come on, quickly. Let me have a look see before someone else stumbles upon here" I tried to pry them off. Suddenly, they stood up and scampered off making me fall on my ass "Damn those idiots, leaving me behind like that… wait why did they run off like th-"

"Well, well, look who it is" I turned to see the entire kendo club behind me.

"Well shit" I murmured. One raised their shinai to strike me down but I caught it quickly (at the cost of intense pain in my palms) before taking it away from her. Quickly thinking, I ran the fuck away from the scene with them chasing me while yelling different insults and curses.

"Where did he go? Find him!" The president of the kendo team Murayama called out as I hid behind a stone wall with my friends "God… why does he have to be such a pervert" she sounded kinda disappointed, if I didn't know any better I'd think she was into me.

"I think attacking me with bamboo swords was a little too extreme…" I grumbled rubbing my bruises and tossing the half broken shinai away somewhere.

"Did you at least see some boobage or ass?" Matsuda asked, pissing me off slightly.

I smacked the back of his head "I didn't get to see shit! I was a little too busy getting my ass beat by fucking bamboo swords! I didn't even get to look through the hole! You asshats ruined every… thing…" I trailed off as I saw a female student with red hair, crimson hair, like the woman in my dream. She seemed to make a face like she recognized me which was… intriguing. No, I was probably imagining things… Right? She couldn't know a nobody like me. She turned around and left the windowsill where she stood. "Who… Was that" I said stunned by her familiarness and allusive beauty.

"Yeah, who was that total babe" Matsuda added.

"Her name is Rias Gremory" Motohama said adjusting his glasses "99/58/90"

"Rias…" I remembered everything that happened in my dream, completely ignoring what stats Motohama had just said. It was crisp in my mind, like I could close my eyes and see it again. I remember the name from that dream, it sounded heavily distorted but it was similar. I furrowed my brows, was that her? I've never met her before, how the hell could I have a dream about that with her. Just thinking about all of this made my head hurt.

"She's the president of the Occult Research Club." Motohama continued "Word around the school is she's from Northern Europe"

"Hm…" I nodded staring towards the opened window she was standing at only moments ago, pushing the pain out of my head

POV Change: Rias' View

I looked at a chess board thinking deeply "Who was that" I thought aloud.

"Hm? Who was who?" My Vice President, Akeno Himejima, responded to my musings.

"The boy in the middle of those other two. The one one that stood out with the black hair" I explained, glancing over to the window once more, seeing they had left, leaving a small sense of disappointment in my chest.

"Hm… I believe he is in class 2-B, and if I remember correctly… His name was Soul Sweaper." She answered from her own memory.

Sweaper… Like from my dream… And from that "Keep an eye on him"

"Is there something special about him?" She question, curiosity lining her tone slightly.

"I'm sure you've heard about that name before" I replied, sure she understood.

"Soul?" Oh Akeno.

"No, his last name" I paused for a moment sighing at her answer "Sweaper"

Akeno thought deeply "Wait" her eyes widened "those Sweapers?" I nodded "I'll keep an eye open" I was curious about him, with a name like that, he's sure to be a target in some regard. Maybe he carried a sacred gear as well.

"Now, let us continue our game" I said sitting down across from Akeno, smiling lightly at her.

POV Change: Soul's view

I watched the cars pass by on a bridge above a busy road holding my school issued bag over my shoulder "Man, this blows. I came to this school to get with the ladies and instead just got more loneliness. Well, at least I have my good ole right hand" I joked to myself. It doesn't matter that I couldn't find a nice girl to date, I got my friends and my family like always.

My ears perked up as I heard footsteps approach me "Excuse me? You're Soul Sweaper from Kouh Academy, correct?" I looked at her confused of why she would be asking for me, of all people.

"Uh, yeah, the one and only" I said a little nervously. That uniform of her's, I've never seen it before, what school is she from? Certainly not one from Kouh.

"H-hi, I, u-uh" she stuttered just as nervously as I was, though something was off, but I couldn't tell what yet.

"Do you need help with anything?" I asked calming myself down quickly, she's not one of the girls from school, I don't have to walk on eggshells around her.

"Hello, I'm Yuuma Amano and… Well… I wanted to know if you were seeing anyone right now…" She asked shyly. It was a normal question… but why did it seem so hollow, like she didn't mean anything she was saying.

"Now..? No… why do you ask?" I questioned cautiously, ensuring that I wasn't being toyed with.

"That's wonderful!" She said with an empty smile that infuriated me. I hate when people act so fake, especially when they show nothing, no one deserves to be like that.

Even though it was such an empty statement that seemed like it carried no meaning, it still pierced through my ego like a well sharpened spear "Ow…" I winced.

She continued, not noticing or not caring for my reaction "Well… because you're single…" She bowed deeply "Would you please go out with me"

It was a simple confession, but like her question prior it was empty, emotionless, it sounded so… fake, so lifeless, I couldn't accept such a confession.

I was silent for a moment thinking of the options I had in front of me to choose from before saying "I'm sorry but-" I paused thinking over my words once more "-I don't really know you very well, do you think we could, you know, hang out as friends to get to know each other a little better?" I asked her with a warm smile, wanting to know her true intentions and wanting to know more about her as a person to figure out the reason for such empty words.

POV Change: Yuuma's View

"...do you think we could hang out as friends to get to know each other a little better?" What..? I was under the impression that this Soul Sweaper was a mindless pervert who would do anything to get some ass, why was he acting so nice. And that smile, that vilely warm smile, why did it warm me as well. Why did it warm my heart? No, no! I shook my head to clear it of such unimportant thoughts, I had a job to do and I don't intend to fail.

"O-okay then, that's fine" My words shook from the warm feeling in my chest. Dammit, why was this so hard.

POV Change: Soul's View

I smiled again, there we go, that was a genuine reaction. "How about this sunday, in the afternoon?" She asked.

"Anytime is fine with me, I don't do much on the weekends" I said truthfully, me and the guys usually hang out on weekdays, weekends are reserved for personal time.

"Then it's settled!" She replied with a hollow smile "oh, do you think I could have your number?" She questioned slowly taking out her obnoxiously pink phone that had a little angel with black wings key chain hanging off of it. That was strange to say the least. The colours of the key chain contrasted with the phone's colour profusely, seeming like a strange choice for a girl who acted like her.

"Uh, sure" I responded producing my own normal black smartphone from my uniform pocket. We traded numbers and began to go our own separate ways.

"I'll see you this sunday!" Yuuma called out from the other side of the bridge type structure, though, in her voice I could detect that hint of genuine anticipation telling me she was (at least somewhat) telling the truth.

"I'll see you then too!" I called back making my way down the concrete stairs quickly, my tired body and mind aching to return home and embrace my bed. But I couldn't shake a feeling of dread within myself.

POV Change: Akeno's View

"Hm… Well president, you were right about him becoming a target" I said to myself from atop a nearby building observing both this Soul Sweaper and the fallen angel. I listened in carefully as they were at a distance that made it fairly hard to peer into their conversation.

"I'm sorry but-" He stopped for a moment "-I don't really know you very well, do you think we could, you know hang out as friends to get to know each other a little better?"

"Hm?" I hummed in confusion, having been under the impression that this boy was just a pervert like the rumours had entailed. This boy is interesting...

They talked for a small while until they separated and carried on to their own different paths. "I should report back to the president… she would like to know what happened" I said jumping from the building to make my way back to the club room. I should watch Soul from now on, it would probably prove to be quite fun.

POV Change: Soul's View

I opened my eyes slowly. My vision was heavily blurred and my abdomen was burning as if I was on fire. On my chest I could feel a moving weight pressing down on me.

Concentrating I could begin to hear the sound of intense sobbing followed by their voice "Soul, I'm so sorry, I didn't want this to happen, I just, I just" they croaked out through their sobbing, their voice shaking violently.

I recognized that voice, it was Yuuma and she was crying harshly "Don't worry… Ray… It's alright" I reassured her in a very weak and strained voice. That wasn't right, why did I call her Ray, her name was Yuuma? And why was I in so much pain, oh Christ the pain. All of this made me feel like I was an outsider in my own body, I couldn't control myself consciously at all.

"It's not alright! You treated me so kindly, you only paid attention to my insides not my out and I let this happen to you! It's all my fault" Why did she blame herself? What happened, rather, what was happening?

As thoughts shot about my mind I coughed a concerning amount of blood and whispered to her weaker than I had done prior "Run Ray… before… before he gets… you… too" My voice began to trail off as I lifted a hand to cup her cheek, I had the deep desire to save her, how she acted, how she was, it felt like she deserved to live and shouldn't die here along with me. As the feeling in my hands faded my vision began to fill with absolute blackness.

"Soul, Soul!" She said lifting her head, a look of anger beginning to form with her intense sadness "Soul I… I…I lo… I'm in lo-" My consciousness finally faded to pure blackness along with my breathing and my sight. Silence filled my entire being, there was nothing, no feeling, no thoughts, no state of being… until-

Until

My alarm blared loudly into my ears making me sit up suddenly. I was in the same state as I was when I had that dream about Rias, my heart was racing, my breathing ragged, my body doused in a thick layer of chilled sweat. I wiped my brow and thought about the dream. It felt the same as the one with Rias, everything was so crisp and clear, right down to the feeling of the pain in my stomach.

Suddenly, thinking about that mind numbing pain, I threw up on the hardwood floor next to my bed, clutching the once injured area in pain. Fuck, I didn't have time for this, it was Sunday, the day for my platonic date with Ra-, er, Yuuma. I trudged out of bed to clean up the mess I left next to it, starting off this already long feeling day.

It took far too long to clean the bile that was on my floor. It had stained into the wood making me have to scrub at it for a long amount of time. So long that I was currently ten minutes late to my platonic date Yuuma. I was over twenty or so meters away from the corner we had agreed to meet (after she had spent a few too many hours texting me that prior night, depriving me of an hour or so of needed sleep) and saw she was already there, looking (genuinely) slightly nervous about my lateness. Though, something stopped me before I reached the corner, something deep in my subconscious.

"Hello! Please take a flyer" a woman in a strange red and white dress said to me as she handed me a flyer with an odd looking circular symbol that seems to have some alternate meaning unbeknownst to me.

"Uh, thank you" I responded as she walked away. I shook my head and cleared my thoughts before pocketing the flyer and continuing on my way, now wasn't the time for such trivial things, I got me a cute girl waiting on me. "Yuuma! Sorry I'm late, I had to clean my room" I called out truthfully as I slowed down next to her.

She visibly relaxed before giving me a hollow smile "That's okay, I wasn't waiting for very long long"

"Shall we?" I asked.

A blush lightly dusted her cheeks before she began to go along with me. I smiled towards her as we began our (platonic) date, with that dream still at the forefront of my mind.

"Oh! What about this one" Yuuma asked me as she held up a shirt. God this was excruciating. She wasn't showing any honest emotions at all. And it was painfully obvious she picked up that shirt without even glancing at it. Though, once in awhile she did show a genuine reaction towards something that occurred, most likely relating to me. I smiled and said it looked nice before she put it down and looked towards other clothes. While she did her thing, I also perused the clothing to find something that looked like it's worth buying.

After a couple minutes I had found something that I thought would look good on Yuuma, though why was beyond me "Hey Yuuma" She turned to me and I held up what I found "Do you think this would look nice on you?" I was holding a pearl white dress with black sidings that took up a segment of the back to make them look like folded in wings. For the life of me, I had no idea what compelled me to think it would suit her tastes, all I knew was, at least deep inside, it looked nice on her. Well anyway, her face flushed making it at least seem like she thought the same way as well. Her blush lightened a little before she smiled somewhat widely and took the dress to try it on. I'm making progress... I hope.

POV Change: Yuuma's View

Why was he so kind? Why was he so caring? Everything I reviewed on him, everything I set up, he is nothing like how he acted at that school. He was so nice, so courteous, and something about him was… charming. I'm acting like a goddamned school girl! I was like putty in his hands, he was countering my every move to try to get him to drop his guard and instead it was like I was falling into his trap. Was that it, did he know who I was, what I was? No… he wouldn't do that, I don't know how I knew this or why I knew this but I did, or rather, I hoped I did.

POV Change: Soul's View

After she had tried on the dress (which fit, strangely enough, as I did not know her size) I took liberty and bought it for her as a gift, in which allowed me to receive a nice (and genuine) reaction. Yuuma was seemingly happy with her present, and did not seem afraid to show so. After we were finished at the store we spent an unknown amount of time we went to (Well it was really "she led me to") a nice quaint cafe on the corner of the street we were on. We took our seat and ordered some drinks, it being too early for dinner and too late for lunch to have any food.

"Hey… Soul" Her voice sounded slightly deeper accompanied with a different tone of voice but her nervousness was still evident. "I need to be honest with you…"

"Yes? You can tell me anything R-" I coughed to cover up my fuck up "Sorry, you can tell me anything Yuuma, we're friends after all."

"That's the thing… co-could you call me Ray" What. What did she say? Ray... the same name I called her in my dream. No, I am sorely beginning to doubt that was a dream, I think it was something else, it had to be.

Ugh, my head, this whole thing is turning into a pile of annoying shit, but, I still need to be there for her, and, for whatever was going to happen later on, specifically involving my excruciatingly death "No problem Ray, that's fine with me. Would you like to explain, er, why you lied about this" I tried to be as gentle as possible, this seemed like a touchy subject.

She began to talk about… a number of personal things. Some being about her father throwing her out of her home. How her job makes her do very undesirable things. And among many other smaller things. She seemed to be more open to me than before, like I have finally made some sort of definite progress. I paid the bill as we saw the sun setting and she led me out of the cafe towards a familiar park. The deeper we got into the park the more nervous she grew, eventually stopping any form of talking, as if concentrating on something of import.

POV Change: Ray's View

No, I can't do this… I know, even now, I was throwing away everything I worked for, everything I stood for. I just… couldn't kill him. He was so nice to me, so caring towards me even though he didn't know anything about me. I don't want him to die. I don't even want him to get hurt, I need- I need to do something. "S-Soul, you-"

POV Change: Soul View

It looks like she made her decision "S-Soul, you-we need to go"

I raised an eyebrow, her question peaking my curiosity "Why, is there something wrong?"

"We just- we just" she seemed panicked, but I couldn't figure out why. "We need to go before-!" She paused, as if scared to tell me the answer. Her eyes darted around and I followed them. Then I realized, the sound of the fountain in my ears, the time of day, the name Ray asked me to call her. Bile churned in my stomach as I saw a single black feather enter my view from behind Ray. I grabbed her and threw myself (and by association herself) towards the fountain with all my strength. A large, lightning blue javelin narrowly missed the both of us, preventing immediate death.

"What the fuck…" I uttered as the javelin dissipated into nothingness.

"Oh, so the cockroach still lives" a deep, masculine voice called out from an unknown location. I looked around for a moment before seeing the source of the voice floating about four meters into the air. No, not floating, he was flying with his void black wings.

"Dohnaseek! What are you doing! This is my job" Ray called out to the man who was now known as Dohnaseek.

"Oh, is that correct" he responded in a pretentious voice "It doesn't look like you're doing your job, this isn't toying anymore Raynare, and don't take me as a fool to not miss out on your attempts to run away with the target"

A look of fear washed over her face "Y-you…" She turned to me, looking even more frightful. I swallowed hard.

"So because of your incompetence, I shall take this job upon myself to… get rid of the Sweaper." He announced as he produced another javelin out of nothingness.

She yelled out in opposition "I won't let you!"

"Oh… then…" He paused, but what was next was obvious "Take this!"

I pushed her out of the way to avoid her getting hurt "Your fight is with me!" I needed to make sure she was okay, that's all that mattered. Sweat began to bead above my brow as I swallowed my fear hard.

Dohnaseek gave a hearty laugh "Ha! The Sweaper fights back! Alright, I'll fight you, here" He slowly floated onto the ground and folded in his wings "I'll even give you a handicap! Now, come at me!"

I looked towards Ray and saw she was frozen in fear, at what I could only guess was the winged fucker in front of me. I put her safety in the forefront of my mind, plans wouldn't work on an opponent like Dohnaseek, him being so much stronger than I was. I cleared everything out of my mind and rushed at him head on. He was only surprised for a moment before grinning and hitting me out of the way. I slammed into a tree making it shake violently. What the hell was that, that… that couldn't be human.

What the fuck am I saying, he had fucking wings for Christ's sake, of course he isn't human! I got up and shook off the pain, that was good but not good enough. I need to get him more off guard so he can't pummel me to death. I erratically attacked him, I had no pattern or any planned movement. My moves were so erratic to the point where I started to actually hit him. I slashed at his arm with my hand and gripped onto a chunk of flesh and cloth.

"Y-you" He seethed violently. Uh oh.

POV Change: Ray's View

I… I can't move, I don't know what to do anymore. I was scared, so very scared of making Soul get hurt but this… was my life. Everything I have done was all I stood for after God casted me out of heaven. Azazel… Shemhazai I- I can't just… I owe them… No! I can't just leave Soul to die! After all the kindness he's shown me, after all the caring he's given me! I stood up to oppose Dohnaseek but my eyes widened when I saw what just happened because of my cursed hesitation.

POV Change: Soul's View

"COCKROACH!" I was much too close to the trench coat wearing man for him to go beserk. I formulated a plan to create distance between us and started by swinging a left hook towards him. Though, when I attempted to do so, nothing happened, it was almost like… my face lost all its colour when I looked towards my left arm. Dohnaseek had cleanly cut it right off, all the way up to my elbow. I was in shock, so much so I didn't notice him thrusting a light javelin through the middle of my abdomen and kicking it with such force it stuck me to the fountain. I threw up a large amount of blood. The pain, it was the same exact pain that I felt in that fucking dream. The burning feeling, like my innards were ablaze. The javelin dissipated making me throw up an even larger quantity of blood.

Faintly, I heard footsteps rush towards me "Soul!" It was Ray… why didn't she run… wasn't she scared? "Soul, oh fuck, please Soul, are you alright."

I gathered my slowly fleeting thoughts to concentrate on being awake "I'm… fine Ray… don't worry about me… you need to… you need to run, now." I won't let this be like in my dream, I need to her run, I need her to escape.

"I can't! I need to… we need to" she pleaded weakly before I interrupted her.

"Please Ray, save yourself…" I began to lose focus, my mind and consciousness beginning to creep away from me.

Tears began to freely fall from her eyes "Soul… from all the kindness you've shown to me, all the nice things you've done for me, I wish… I wish we could have done more together... " A light smile adorned her face "After the little time we knew each other, I… I've… fallen for… I've fallen in l-" her voice began to fade quickly, what was she trying to say?

Fuck, I can't even think straight anymore. Realizing I was no longer able to hear her she looked towards the ground solemnly and stood up. My head tilted downwards towards my gaping and oozing wound, making anything around me no longer in my field of vision.

Crimson surrounded me, so deep looking, so red, just like… her hair. Rias, Rias Gremory, I still remember that dream I had of her, that life like dream, like that of a memory. I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to know more of Ray. Fuck! I don't know what happened to her, is she alright? Did she escape? Fuck! FUCK! Why did I have to be so weak, why couldn't I protect her, why couldn't I protect anyone! I wish… I wish I had the power to protect everything I cared for. I wish I had the time to know both of them. I wish… I wish… fuck… it's getting harder to think…

As the last of my consciousness began to degrade, I saw a bright flash of red light. This light gave me a small, miniscule amount of energy, allowing me to lift up my head towards it.

"I have come" A commanding voice called out, it sounded so familiar, so, so… "You have summoned me, have you not? Since death is approaching upon you, I shall take you into my household." A pair of wings sprouted from her back, though, unlike that Dohna… something or other guy, they were like that of a bat's. "From this very moment forward, you shall live on for my sake, Soul Sweaper" She pulled something from somewhere, it was a glowing red. My vision was blurring quickly so I couldn't make out the item even if I wanted to. For now… I think… I'll take a little… nap.

My alarm began to ring loudly into my ears and I took a giant gasp for air. I inhaled and exhaled quickly, attempting to catch my breath. After taking a moment to calm down, I relaxed into my bed, was that a dream? It was something like the other dreams but this seemed less real and had less repercussions onto my waking body.

I sat up and shrugged the curiosity away, fuck it, I'll figure it out in school, I don't have a lot of time to waste here. I reach for my contacts and begin to put them on, though, as I put on the left one I noticed something off. I could see perfectly out of my left eye, it seems like I didn't even need to wear a contact on that eye anymore. I took out the other one and came to the same conclusion. What happened to me yesterday?

I began to ponder the thought as my eighth alarm went off signally I only had 10 minutes to get to school. I panicked and went through my morning routine before rushing out the door at a breakneck pace.

My friends, Matsuda and Motohama, and I loitered around a stairwell on the east wing of our academy. They were chatting about the updated list of hot girls around campus while I scoured my phone some shred of evidence of Ray. She had to be somewhere in my phone, there was no way it could've just vanished out of thin air… right? I checked my wallet for evidence of any spending done and found first, a receipt to the exact store and cafe that Ray and I visited, and second, the exact amount we (well, really I) spent at both of those places. Why didn't this add up, why is most evidence of her missing, and what happened yesterday, was that really a dream..? I shook my head, I need to collect my thoughts.

"Hey, bro, are you alright?" Matsuda asked me, noticing my distress.

"Yeah, usually you're starting the porn conversations, not listening to them." Motohama added.

"Sorry, just been thinking of… things" There's no way they would believe I was hanging out with a girl yesterday, so telling them was completely out of the question.

"I know just what you need!" Matsuda announced loudly with a large grin.

"What is it" I asked curiously.

"Why, my newest addition to my world famous DVD PORN COLLECTION!" He yelled even louder. His extreme (and shameless) enthusiasm produced a large grin on my face.

"I will take you up on your offer good sir! Say, is it high quality and hard to find porn my good man?" I inquired with a posh voice.

"Very much so!" He responded with a similar posh voice.

"Tch, perverts" Some girls commented as they passed us by.

We all laughed before Motohama interrupted us "Oooh, total babe 12 o'clock" my head tilted towards the direction my glasses wearing friend and froze as I saw who it was. Rias Gremory, in all of her red haired glory. My mind immediately brought last night's dream, making my eyes widen slightly. We locked eyes for a moment making me freeze in place. She walked down the stairs with elegance until she reached somewhere near my proximity. She turned her head towards me to see the recognition of her in my eyes. She smiled as if she knew something I didn't known before descending the rest of the stairs and continuing on her way towards wherever.

"Dude! She was totally looking at you!" Matsuda said hitting my shoulder "Remember the little people, okay!" He continued with a mock tear in his eye.

"Yeah… Okay" What was… that about…

POV Change: Rias' View

"Are you sure you want to do this" I asked once more to the person kneeling before me "Once you do this, they won't take you back, hell, they'll kill you for this"

"I don't care… please, I need to do this" they begged me pitifully, prostrating themselves in front of me.

"Hm… alright, I will take you in." I narrowed my eyes "However, keep in mind I am only doing so because you protected him, if you hadn't done that, you would have been dead where you stand"

"Thank you Milady" they said graciously, pushing their head further onto the ground.

"Akeno, would you brand her for me?" I asked my queen.

"With pleasure president" Akeno responded, walking behind the groveling woman with a pulsating red branding iron. "This is going to hurt" She whispered to them with a small, sadistic grin as she brought it down to their lower back. They yelled out in pain but did not writhe around, good, at least she held some intelligence to make her actually worth what I was doing.

After a few minutes, the iron cooled down and Akeno lifted it from their back leaving behind a scar that intertwined with the soul "From this point forward, you belong to me Raynare, you will do everything I ask of you and return I will allow you to live on with your treason.

Raynare began to cry, a blissful smile on her face despite the boiling skin on her back "T-thank you so much Milady, I am eternally grateful."

I kneeled down and wiped her tears, now that she was apart of my peerage, being cruel to her would be unrightfully so, she is family after all "I will supply you with a new identity and adjust the memories of your new surrogate family." She continued to cry as Akron handed her a box filled with items she would need (i.e passport, birth certificate, school registration papers, etc) "From now you will be known as Rayla Sweaper, sister of Soul Sweaper and daughter of Akari and Drake Sweaper, understand?"

She nodded quickly "Yes! Thank you!"

POV Change: Soul's View

As my two friends began looking through Matsuda's massive porn collection, I still couldn't get the thoughts of either Rias or Ray out of my mind. Nor could I forget what happened on the stair well, it was just so off putting.

"You have the new Momozomo video! I didn't even know this was out yet!" Motohama squealed holding up the DVD.

Matsuda smirked "It isn't, I pulled a lot of strings to get that bad baby, now, let's watch it!" He said, plucking the case from Motohama's hands and put it into the player. I moved a little closer to get a better view of the screen, maybe porn would take my mind off of things, Momozomo was pretty famous in the porn industry, for reason obvious. We huddled up in front of the screen as it began, not wanting to miss out on it.

"Her tits are perfection, I need to expand my Momozomo collection" I added in, shaking off my anxiety for the moment "Them hips too, they don't lie"

As it started to get hot and heated Motohama stood up "I'm going to go turn off the lights for this" we nodded as he went over and did so. When he sat down I looked around the room confused, strangely, everything had an odd red tint.

"Hey, I thought you said you were going to turn off the lights" I questioned furrowing my brow.

"What? Are you okay bro, cause they are off" Matsuda asked me worriedly, looking back in confusion

"No they're-" No, no they are off but… I don't know, it was like I could sense it. "I'm going to the bathroom"

"There's porn in the usual places if you're going to spank the monkey" Matsuda called as him and Motohama continued watching intensely. I shut the door behind me holding my bag and washed my face. What the hell is happening, why was everything so weird. I shook my head and doused myself again with more ice cold water. I stared into the mirror with wide eyes as a feeling of gut wrenching dread filled my body. I need to go and I need to go fucking now. I texted Matsuda that I was heading home because I didn't feel very well before bolting out of his house after waving goodbye to his Mother, who liked me better than her son if I might add.

I ran as fast as I possibly could not being able to shake the dread away at all. I feel the murderous intent following me, watching me, hunting me. Out of pure instinct I had ran to the same park that where I, at least I believed, was killed in.

My hand touched the cold marble of the fountain "That couldn't have been a dream, it just couldn't, I refuse to believe that" Now that it was fully night, the redness in my vision looked much normal and was much more pronounced, it wasn't the lights playing tricks on me. I heard the rustle of what sounding like a bird flapping it's wings and turned towards it's source "Come out! I know you're there!"

A loud, distorted noise filled my hearing before the sky above gained a purple shade and he came out of his little hidey-hole, Dohnaseek "Well, well, I guess they were right about cockroaches, they are very hard to kill"

Anger bubbled violently from deep within me "Where is Ray!? What did you do with Ray!?"

"Ray?" He questioned me "Oh, you mean that traitor, Raynare, she fled like the coward she was, probably to go die in some corner somewhere" I clenched my fists "Oh, did I make you angry?"

"Fuck you!" Something felt differently about me from yesterday besides my eyesight, my muscles felt tighter, my body felt lighter, my legs felt faster, it felt like something dormant had just awoken deep inside of me. And it made me so very fucking hungry.

"I see, you want a rematch after what I did to you" He grinned "Very well, let's see if the pest can kill" My anger exploded inside and I sprinted towards him. He blocked my attack, though, with some obvious difficulty. He seemed surprised "How did you gain so much power?" I refused to respond to him as I pushed him into a tree. The push only seemed to anger him further instead of doing my actual goal of injuring him. He dusted his coat and fixed his hat

"You are accompanied by no friends nor your master, you currently show no signs of disappearing nor do you show any signs of deploying a magic circle" It sounded like he was justifying him killing me, no, that can't be right "Therefore, killing you is completely within my jurisdiction" Or not… shit. He winded up to throw another light javelin towards me while I was still off guard. I don't have enough time. Quickly thinking, I try to shuffle to the left to avoid being impaled again.

I avoided being impaled but I couldn't avoid losing my right arm, fuck! What is it with me and losing arms! It's not like they fucking grow back! The wound where my arm was sizzled as the light burned it "Fuck!" I yelled out in pain "This shit didn't happen before" I growled lowly breathing in sharply. What's that smell? Huh… I guess I am a pig.

"So you have become a Devill" Dohnafuck said aloud "Or rather, you've awoken… this is problematic" he seemed troubled now.

"Hah!" I laughed, pushing down the blinding pain "Scared now you stupid bird?" I taunted, obviously pissing him off.

He growled "Hardly you worthless bat!" He called back, unfurling his wings and flying towards me at alarming speeds. With no options, I opted for a bear hug, wrapping my arm around his body and clutching onto his wings, slowly crushing them. The initial impact put a lot of pressure into my ribs, threatening to bruise them seriously, but the tree that I was subsequently slammed into all but shattered my rib cage. Roaring in pain, Dohnaseek flew back, his wings bleeding and slightly eschewed from me crushing them.

I slumped down onto the tree as Dohnaseek fruitlessly reached back to grab his fractured wings, my ribs digging into my lungs violently.

Fire

It felt like a fire was burning deep inside of me, starting from my stomach and creeping up to the stub where my arm once was. Pitch black flames began to leak from the wound, slowly increasing until my shoulder basically spewed fire. My body was burning, it hurt like hell but… it felt so comforting, like a mother's embrace despite the pain.

Slowly, I stood up, feeling my fingers once more. Looking down, I clenched my right hand into a fist "Impossible!" Dohnaseek yelled, looking at me in disbelief "You little shit, what did you do!" He screamed.

"I have no fucking clue" I answered back, a smirk on my face "But I do know one thing" my smirk fell, an enraged look in my eye "Your ass is mine" I took a step forward, ready to lunge at the man who dared to take something I cared for, but something made me stop.

My heart beat harshly for just a moment, my world going deafeningly quiet for a second "Fuck!" I yelled, falling to my knees.

nOt YeT… noT ReADy…

"Who the fuck are you!" I yelled, holding the sides of my head "How are you in my head!"

Dohnaseek took his chance, materializing another javelin of blue light "Die you brat!" He yelled, bringing his arm forward to throw the spear of light. I prepared for death, but it never came "Dammit!" He screamed as I looked up, seeing him hold his hand in pain "What now!?"

A flash of light made me turn my head, words leaving my mouth instinctively "Rias" I said, my mouth gaping.

"I do not appreciate people damaging what I own" she said, her authoritative voice booming throughout the empty park.

"You insolent fool!" He roared, throwing his javelin at her, only for it to be kicked out of the way by a cute little silver haired underclassmen. Nope! Out of my head thoughts, those are illegal! "You INGRATE!"

He rushed at Rias, making me attempt to rise to my feet, only for the same rush of pain to afflict me once more "Dammit!" I cursed, slamming my fist against the ground, angry that I was so weak. A feeling of relief washed over me when another woman appeared, blocking his attack with furious strikes of lightning.

Dohnaseek was blown away, barely landing on his feet, but still having enough time to throw one last spear. Black feathers fell to the ground, causing my eyes to trail upwards. It was intercepted by one more spear, this one being red "R-Ray?" I gasped.

"Dammit… so this is where you went you traitorous fool" Dohnaseek growled as Ray landed in front of the others. "Wait a minute… that hair of yours" Dohnaseek stood up and dusted off his hat "You're part of the Gremory family, aren't you girl?"

Rias narrowed her eyes, obviously angered by his very presence "Yes… that is correct, my name is Rias Gremory, and who might you be Fallen One?" Rias asked with venom in her voice,

"Who would have guessed it" a slight tone of annoyance was in Dohnaseek's voice, displeased that he was interrupted in killing me. "So this town is protected by the House of Gremory, and I take it that stray bat is your servant?"

Rias' eye twitched "If you bring any harm to him, no good will come out of it"

"I apologize" Dohnaseek smirked, making me growl "But perhaps you should keep a tighter leash on your dog or he might run into someone less happy to see him than I" he warned ominously, putting his hat back on.

"While I appreciate the advice" Rias began, narrowing her eyes "Should this situation occur once more, I swear on the House of Gremory you shall not go unpunished"

"The same could be said to you girl" Dohnaseek replied, flapping his wings once with a wince. He flew up into the air, his flight slightly off kilter from the damage in his wings. His voice echoed once more as the barrier around us was dispelled "My name is Dohnaseek, pray that we do not cross paths again Sweaper"

Blood trickled down my mouth as I growled "Yeah, yeah you… fucking" I fell over, eliciting a gasp from Ray "Crow" my world went black, my consciousness fading once more.

"Awaken, Devouring Dragon God" a voice called out to me, forcing my eyes opened.

The world around me was black, an empty void devoid of everything but a single girl "W-who… what..?" I gaped, confused completely about the situation.

I stared into her eyes, a shiver going down my spine. They were dead, devoid of emotion "You are in my plane of existence Devouring Dragon God, the Dimension Gap" she answered, of course not fully sating my confusion, but something inside of me realized that was probably the most I was going to get out of her.

"Devouring Dragon God?" I questioned, my eyes wandering around the darkness "Why are you calling me that? A Dragon God? I'm no god Miss" something told me that this… 'girl' is probably a lot more than she is letting on, so I treated her with careful respect.

"Incorrect, you are the Devouring Dragon God" she corrected me "The sacred gear you possess marks you as so"

"Sacred Gear?" I asked, looking towards her once more "What the hell is a Sacred Gear?"

"Artifacts passed down from God with great power" a wave of pain washed over my head "My apologies, I had forgotten your are a devil"

"No… problem" I grunted as the pain began to dissipate.

"You hold the 14th Longinus, Absolute Devouring, the lost Longinus. There are thirteen that are known, each with immense power and each unique and irreplaceable" she explained to me "Your sacred gear has the power to temporarily absorb other's energy, and, as well as devouring the life force and energy of other dragons and sacred gear"

My eyes widened in shock "D-Devour? You mean-"

She cut me off "Correct, you are able to completely eat other dragon's cores and sacred gears, taking them out of existence. Perhaps you can do the same to other life forms, but I am not sure. Only you you possess that power, Soul of the Sweaper Clan"

"Sweaper Clan?" I asked, examining her thoroughly. Huh, she's pretty cute- NOPE, PROBABLY ILLEGAL.

"It is not my place to say" the girl said flatly, pausing to think "I require your help, Devouring Dragon God, this realm is not only inhabited by I, there is another, Great Red, an immensely powerful dragon."

"I'm gonna assume you want me to kill him" I said to her, interjecting.

"Correct, I wish for my silence to return, devour the dragons sealed within every sacred gear, grow your power and devour Great Red" she requested of me, her eyes giving a glint of pleading.

I nodded "You want your silence?" I thought for a moment, scratching my chin absent mindedly. "If silence is what you wish, then I will get it for you, but could you tell me your name?"

The girls nodded "My name is Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon, born from the void itself" she curtsied "I shall grant you anything in return, if you wish for the world is end, then I shall do so"

"Anything?" I thought carefully, if I could get anything… no… I know what I want "Then… I want you to be happy" I said, my eyes meeting her's, catching a look of confusion within them "Your eyes… they're so empty, no one deserves to be like that, even if you are made from the void or whatever, you deserve some happiness"

Ophis tilted her head "You wish for me… to be happy?" She questioned "You would waste your wish for my sake when you could have the world of you so desired it? I do not understand happiness, how could I feel it?"

I smiled warmly at her "Well, I'll teach ya, don't worry" I moved slowly towards her, petting her head "I'm a simple man, I don't care for material things, and if I need something, I'll do it myself, so for now, this will do"

She seemed to enjoy my touch "This feels strange… but if you wish for my happiness… then I shall allow it" as I moved my hand away, she looked upwards, as if hearing something "It is time, please, Soul of the Sweaper clan, devour all that is in your path, leave none that oppose you alive in your wake"

I bowed "In the name of our contract, I shall uphold my promise, and bring you the silence you require" I announced, a hand over my heart. I was always one for theatrics.

Ophis moved closer to me, bringing my head down to her's "To complete our contract, I shall give you some of my power. This will be the beginning of your conquest Devouring Dragon God, may nothing stand in your path" before I could ask her how I was going to receive some of her power, she put her lips against mine, forcing open my mouth. My eyes widened as her tongue pushed open my teeth, swirling against my own tongue. Power began to flow through me, but I could barely notice it as I was currently making out with a loli. She broke away from me, a trail of spit connecting our mouths "Now, awaken"

My eyes are forced open once more, except now I was listening to the familiar sound of my alarm in my own bed. I wiped the sweat from my brow "Now that shit was definitely not a dream…" I murmured. I was currently in shock thinking about how my first kiss (one with tongue I might add) was with someone who looked like a little girl jailbait.

I shook my head, banishing those thoughts. Trying to get out of bed, I realized my body was void of any clothing "The hell? Wasn't I wearing clothes last… wait… how the hell did I get home?" I began to try to rack my brain to remember last night.

"Mmmm" I hear someone groan, making my blood run cold. Slowly, I lift up the covers next to me, my eyes widening with what I saw.

WHOOP WHOOP, THE SHIP IS AT FULL MAST! READY TO SET SAIL!

Ray and Rias were cuddled up next to me, completely naked "Go back to sleep Soul…" Ray murmured.

I quickly jumped out of my bed, slamming onto the floor "Fuck!" I yelled.

Rias yawned, slowly sitting up, giving me a perfect view of her everything, making my ship go full mast once more "Good morning Soul-kun"

"R-Rias-senpai! W-why the hell are you in my bed!" I sputtered in confusion.

She smirked, looking down "It doesn't look like you care very much hm?" Immediately, I covered my sacred place with my thighs and hands "Fu, fu, fu, I'm kidding my cute little pawn"

"Y-you still haven't answered my question" I said, my face redder than her hair.

"After what happened last night, I had to heal you" she answered, sitting up, her legs still spread. My eyes refusing to look away "I couldn't let my servant die, after all"

Servant? Oh yeah "So… I'm a devil?" I asked, my brain beginning to process everything "And I'm under your service as a… pawn?"

Her eyebrows went up slightly, looking slightly surprised "You seem comfortable with this, did you already know about this?"

"No, I just figured it out" might not be a good idea to tell her about Ophis, something tells me she's pretty powerful. "And really, there's nothing much I can do about it right?"

She giggled "I was right, you are special aren't you"

I chuckled nervously "Heh… I guess"

Ray stirred sitting up her and rubbing her eyes "Mmm… is he up?"

"Ray!" I called out, standing up, running over to her and wrapping my arms around her tightly.

"S-Soul!" She exclaimed, surprised that I suddenly hugged her. However I slowly felt her wrap her arms around me as well, returning my hug.

"Thank god you're okay" Rias and I winced at my mention of God. I need to stop thinking about God, I guess this is karma for using his name in vain all the time "Shit, ow"

"I'm happy you're alright okay Soul" she replied, however I suddenly felt her tense up "S-Soul… y-your…"

"My what?" Twitch "oh… uh…" her blush darkened "It's not what you think"

"I-its okay" she said sheepishly "I'm… fine with it"

And there goes my self restraint. I almost grabbed her right there and then and did the deed but I was able to restrain myself. I moved away from her and covered myself once again "O-okay… now… could you tell me what's going to happen now Rias-senpai"

The dragon inside me laid inert, sleeping, waiting for more power to enter it. My humanity is now forfeit, and in return, I have become a Devil, a demon. But no one told me what laid asleep inside of me, and many were none the wiser. The power that laid asleep with my dragon and partner writhed, waiting, and watching, until finally… it was time for it to wake up

Welp! That's all for chapter 1 everyone. This is probably hands down the longest chapter I have ever written for anything, so please don't kill me if the other chapters are nowhere near as long.

But anyway, I hope your like how Soul is so far! He's kind of like Issei but with a little more character depth and a more outspoken serious side. I'm making sure I keep as far away from Issei as possible however, I don't want a carbon copy and I'm sure as hell you guys don't want one either. By the way, Soul Sweaper is a character I have been frequently been using, however his personality has been different in every story. But if you want more Soul, check out my other stories! I have "Humanity Will not Fall", a Highschool of the Dead fanfiction, "Fire and Steel", a Sekirei fanfiction, and "The One who Brought Skyrim Together", and Elder Scrolls fan fiction!

And as for the harem, I'll list the people who will be apart of it below.

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…

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Everyone, basically everyone. Leave a suggestion who you want first. Rias will be taking place as first though, and some genders will be swapped around for more women for Soul to court. This includes, Gasper, Vali, Freed (Oh the plans I have for Freed), and others that I will have to think about.

There will be lemons in this! I have made that decision, however they will be posted separately to the main piece, to avoid clutter. I'll try to keep them above a thousand or so words, and oh boy have I gotten good since my last lemon I wrote. Again, Rias will be Soul's first, and then that's where it all goes downhill.

Oh, and I'm going to be using a format I have seen other authors use for reviews. Everyone who leaves a review, I will answer them both personally and in the AN in the beginning of each chapter unless you do not want me to do so for your review!

On that subject, don't be afraid to review! Post anything you want, it doesn't have to be a question either. However, if you leave any criticism, please make it constructive and not just a character assassination.

And for those who have been reading my other stories, those will update… eventually. And this will probably follow that same path, so until next time.

Thanks for reading.