Drifting towards and just barely into the realm of consciousness, the first thought that comes to his mind is about the smell permeating his surroundings. It's a stale sterile smell, one that -despite limited experience- he finds himself associating with a hospital. After the smell, it's the soft beeping of some device, and the even softer flow of air from what he assumes is an air-conditioning device. His eyes snap open as he takes in the sight of the hospital room around him, the darkness of the room combined with the lack of light from the window indicating that the sun had long fallen below the horizon. His eyes flitted around in the dark room, taking in what he could from the nearly pitch-black room with little success, or so he felt it should have been. Despite what he somehow knew to be near complete darkness, he was still able to see extremely well, easily making out most of the features of the room in a few moments.

He was alone in the room. The room itself was small and simple, but had comfortable furnishing, with the relative lack of extensive medical implements hinting towards it being for long term stays rather than emergency procedures. A slight glow draws his attention and his eyes snap to a digital clock within the room, noting idly that it's nearly two-thirty in the morning and that no one should be bothering him for quite some time. Oddly secured in his solitude and satisfied with the lack of threats in his environment (which he felt was extremely important, for some reason) he shifted his line of thought to other, less pressing matters. Less pressing matters like who he was, why he was in the hospital, and why he found himself instinctively acting like he might be attacked at any moment.

It was almost alien, the contents of his mind, for things he felt he should know by heart were unreachable, pulling away as he drew near and leaving him grasping at nothing. Equally odd, was the actions of his body and instincts, for even as he pondered his own identity he found himself supremely aware of his surroundings in a manner he somehow knew to be abnormal for him. Footsteps in a distant hallway, moving away, not an issue. A police siren, moving towards the northwest, closer somewhat, but not in what would be the most efficient manner to reach his location, unrelated. A fly, flitting around his room, drawing close to him foolishly only to be swatted to death, his own movement instinctive and easy, pinpointing the pest and eliminating it with ease, even though the darkened room should have made this nearly impossible.

It felt like all his senses had been sharped to immeasurable levels, and then had all the potential downsides of such an enhancement promptly removed. It was less like everything had suddenly become louder or brighter and more like he'd suddenly become aware of perceptual feedback of much lower levels than he'd previously been capable of. It was like playing an old 2-bit game and then suddenly finding the graphics switching to unbelievably high quality, he still saw the same scenery, but it had suddenly become phenomenally more detailed and clear. He honestly found it a bit cliché, a boy waking up in the hospital after an accident only to find themselves with a superpower or something but bereft of his memories as a price. It was something that would fit right the plot of one of his childhood friend Iri's hero gam-.

He froze stock still, the memory of his childhood friend sparking another memory, which sparked another and another as all the previously unreachable memories in his mind came flooding back in an overwhelming torrent.

"Issei Hyoudou…" he whispered, finally remembering his own name even as his entire life came flooding back in a few short moments. He was 13 years old, an otaku and a teenager with a healthy appreciation for the female form (often unfairly referred to as a pervert) and he was in the hospital because…. Issei froze again as more memories came flooding back in a flurried maelstrom.

Partially removing his loose-fitting hospital garb, Issei examine his torso quickly, finding a few bandages as well as several fading scars visible on his torso, more closely examining his hand he found faint scars on the front and back of it, aligned as if something had gone straight through the center of his hand. Taking a heavy breath Issei confirmed what his somewhat hazy memories had suggested to him: He was in the hospital because some crazy chick with a knife had tried to kill him and he'd ended up getting stabbed (and slashed) several dozen times before descending into an oddly focused…. Blood-rage, or something, and somehow managing to beat said crazy chick into unconsciousness despite his totally-should-have-been-fatal wounds in response to her threatening to kill his parents.

Judging both by his hazy memories and the fact that he wasn't under guard or restrained, said crazy chick's actions had indeed occurred in public and he'd already been clearly identified as the victim of that incident. Which meant all Issei had to do was get a restraining order (if she wasn't already in jail) that put as much space between him and her as was physically possible and he was good to go. Or not, considering said crazy chick knew his name, address, and phone number (something he'd initially been fine with) as well as his daily schedule, computer passwords, and social security number along with countless other minor details that he himself scarcely remembered all memorized to a T (something he'd found out too late, and had most assuredly not been fine with).

A 100% genuine, real-life, crazy as hell, Yandere. That appeared to be the true nature of Yuuma Amano, Issei's stalker turned girlfriend of 4 months turned assailant. At first it had seemed perfect, a fun-loving bubbly girl around a month or two younger than him who was drop dead gorgeous, and for the first 3 months it had been heaven on earth for Issei. Then the other shoe dropped. Over the course of the 4th month Yuuma had grown increasingly conflicted about something, obsessively monopolizing his time and attention more and more. She'd started jumping at shadows and mumbling something about how 'if she didn't, they would' and 'why couldn't they just understand'. It had cumulated on the night of a family outing, where she, having tagged along, began mumbling that 'if they couldn't live together, then they would at least die together' that she'd 'be along right after' and that 'it'll be quicker and less painful if I do it' before attacking him with a knife at speeds far faster than any 13-year-old girl (or human really) should have been capable of.

Looking back on it, Issei found it odd that even though she'd apparently gone bat-shit crazy, Yuuma's attacks seemed to lack a killing edge (how did he even know what that was?), and she seemingly felt genuinely horrible every time she'd injured him (not that it'd stopped her from continuing to try and kill him). He'd somehow managed to last for several minutes despite her unbelievable strength and speed and his increasingly large number of injuries, to extent that when he'd finally gone down, Yuuma had mumbled something about there being another way and turned to his parents (whom she had knocked down into a daze earlier) and declared that she'd have to kill them so she could take Issei away properly, and that this was a better option than killing him and she felt horrible she hadn't thought of it earlier.

At her declaration, something had shifted in Issei and he'd somehow managed to stand up, despite his injuries. She moved fast, fast enough to easily outpace an Olympic runner, yet somehow he'd moved faster. She hit hard, like her thin frame somehow held the muscles of a world class body builder, yet somehow he'd hit harder. She should have been better than him in every way, yet he'd won. He'd beaten her with strength he shouldn't have and speed that didn't seemed human, all while simply ignoring and somehow not being hampered by injuries that should have swiftly been fatal. Uncertainty bubbling within him, Issei mumbled one word out thoughtlessly, and in response, everything changed.

"Help…"

Help Menu

Explaining Stats

Explaining Quests

Command prompt list

More Help

Staring at the translucent screen floating in front of him Issei blinked dumbly, his eyes focusing randomly on one word and inadvertently vocalizing it "Stats?"

Status

Name: Issei Hyoudou

Current physical condition: Slightly injured

Mana reserves: Full

Active status effects: Artifact binding [Initially SSS+ rank, currently SSS rank after reduction from resistances, 41% progress to next rank degradation, estimate time for full degradation (2 years, 5 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, and 11 hours)].

Attributes

Titles: Survivor, Hero, ?

Race: «Heroic» Humanity

Stat cap: (Base: C-) [Effective: B-]

Age: 13 years

Class: «Divine Madness» Berserk Brawler

Estimated combat Rank: D+ (C+)

Vitality: D+ (C+)

Mana: D-

Strength: D (C)

Agility: D (C)

Endurance: D- (C-)

Intelligence: D-

Charisma: D

Perception: D

Luck: C-

Skills

Class skills:

«Berserk» type skill growth enhancement (S)

«Physical combat» type skill growth enhancement (A+)

«Physical» type attribute growth enhancement (A+)

Unique skills:

«Hero» (E+): Human unique skill, acquired for defeating an opponent beyond humanity. At current rank, base stat cap for all attributes is raised by 3 ranks from D- to C-, base value of all attributes increased by 2 ranks permanently. Grants the «Physical attack resistance» and the «Magic attack resistance» skills. Moderate increase to the growth rate of all attributes and skills. Race changed to human subspecies: «Heroic» humanity, grants Unique skill «Holy Affinity». All descendants will be born with the skill «Heroic lineage» (a less potent, lower grade version of the «Hero» skill) at equivalent skill rank.

«Holy Affinity» (B): The ability to manipulate and use holy aligned power from various sources. At your current rank your ability to wield mass produced light weapons far exceeds the level of even a high-ranking exorcist, allowing you to bring out power several times the weapon's normal limit in exchange for it quickly breaking under the strain. Even if you are not naturally aligned to the blade, you are able to bring out around 80% of the full potential of Low-level holy swords, 40% of the full potential of Mid-level holy swords, and 20% of the full potential of High-level holy swords.

«Natural Holy sword wielder [?]» (SSS+): You were born naturally aligned to the holy sword [?] and are innately able to draw out its full potential with sufficient practice. This provides a considerable boost to the initial rank and growth rate of the «Holy Affinity» skill.

«Divine Madness» (E+): Highest grade berserk type skill. Alternate manifestation of «?», While active increases all physical attributes a set amount determined by skill rank in exchange for decreasing mental attributes by imposing mental pollution to the same degree(Malus nullified due to ability affect). Allows user to ignore pain and injuries, allowing them to fight at 100% right up until the point of death. Current rank increases Vitality, Strength, Agility, and Endurance by 3 ranks while active and ignores the user's normal stat cap. Physical attributes increase further when the user is close to death.

«Controlled Insanity» (D+): Nullifies or reduces the effects of mental pollution from all sources, including skills. Current rank decreases all mental pollution effects by up to 6 ranks.

«Gamer's Gear» (SS+): High borderline minimum Longinus-level Sacred gear. Records and interprets the user's abilities based on trends and norms acquired via the Akashic records. Provides SSS- rank mental attack resistance and greatly increases the growth rate and ease of acquisition for all skills. Permits the acquisition of certain racial skills regardless of wielder's species. Prevents skill degradation over time. Upon activation grants low level (D- rank) resistance skills for all status effects and damage types. Grants the «Universal knowledge» skill.

«Universal knowledge» (C-): Allows access to knowledge acquired via the Akashic records. At current rank you are able to access most of what can be considered common knowledge as well as some level of uncommon knowledge.

«?» (?): Currently Sealed and inaccessible due to (Artifact Binding) status effect.

Rare skills:

«?» (D+): you have ? and hence are ?. Stat cap increased by 1 rank for every 3 ranks of this skill. Base Stat values increase by 1 rank for every 6 ranks of this skill. Can be passed down to descendants. Skill can only be increased by ?. Current level increases stat cap by 2 ranks and base stat values by 1.

«Exceed Limitations» (D+): Raises effective stat cap by 1 rank for every 6 ranks of this skill. Current level raises stat cap by 1 rank.

«Rapid Recovery» (C): Increases the effect of the Vitality stat in regards to natural healing rate. At current rank this skill also facilitates slow, limited levels of regeneration sufficient to regenerate limbs and certain internal organs over the course of a few months. It remains impossible to regenerate the heart and brain from anything more than cursory damage.

«Enhanced Acclimation» (C+): Ability to rapidly adapt to new physical and sensory feedback, reducing the effect of various forms of sensory impairment and environmental effects. At current rank you are immune to mundane sensory impairments such as those from flashbangs or sunlight.

Special skills:

«Unarmed Combat Technique» (D-): Ability to fight effectively unarmed or while using compatible equipment such as gauntlets.

«Evasive Techniques» (D-): Ability to evade all manner of attacks based on experience, reflexes and instinctive responses.

«Eye of the Mind [False]» (D+): Instinctive ability to avoid danger and read the flow of a battle based on an innate 6th sense augmented by combat experience.

«Presence Concealment» (C-): Ability to remain undetected by others when necessary.

«Presence Detection» (D-): Ability to detect distant or concealed entities.

General skills:

«Mundane item creation»(D): Ability to create non-magical items.

«Cooking»(C-): Ability to prepare food.

«Housework»(C-): Ability to perform mundane housework activities

….

Resist skills:

«Mental Attack Resistance» (SSS-): Reduces or nullifies the effects of Mental attacks.

«Physical Attack Resistance» (D+): Reduces or nullifies the effects of Physical attacks.

«Magic Attack Resistance» (D+): Reduces or nullifies the effects of Magic attacks.

«Spiritual Attack Resistance» (D-): Reduces or nullifies the effects of Spiritual attacks

«All Element Attack Resistance» (D-): Reduces or nullifies the effects of Elemental attacks.

«All Status Effect Resistance» (D): Reduces or nullifies the effects of negative status ailments.

«Conceptual attack Resistance» (D-): Reduces or nullifies the effects of conceptual attacks.

Having unwittingly read through the entirety of the semi-transparent screen that had just appeared in front of him, Issei was thoroughly stumped, after another moment of waiting he mumbled hesitantly "Help… explaining stats" and quickly found the screen in front of him being replaced by another instantly.

Explaining Stats!

There are two parts to your stats: Attributes and skills.

For the moment lets focus on the first portion, Attributes. Attributes are things that define your physical and mental state, ranging from race to physical strength to magical power. While mostly self-explanatory, Titles, class, and stat cap will be explained in greater detail.

Titles: Attained for achievements and reputations, titles provide certain benefits and perks depending on their basis. The effects of titles are typically not in the form of a flat value and are almost always largely conceptual in nature, such as the «hero» title providing an increased affinity towards fighting dark aligned creatures and individuals.

Class: Combat specialization. Provides class skills that boost the growth rate of certain skills and attributes. This does not restrict what skills you can use, instead acting as a summation of your specialties, as time goes on your class will change to suit your specialties accelerating the growth of the skills you consider your focus.

Stat cap: The max level of ability acquirable for physical and mental attributes, luck and charisma are not restricted by this. Can only be raised through difficult and unorthodox manners but can also be temporarily surpassed using certain skills. Most supernatural species possess stat caps several orders of magnitude higher than mundane humans. Note that intelligence refers to raw mental processing speed and capacity, not necessarily an individual's ability with higher level thinking and concepts.

General guide for attribute ranks

(E-): minimum attribute rank

(D-): Peak human level/ extremely weak angel or recently reincarnate low-class devil

(C-): Average low-class devil/ angel (1 set of wings)

(B): Average mid-class devil/ angel (2 sets of wings)

(A+): Rookie high-class devil/ angel (3 sets of wings)

(S+): Experienced high-class devil/ angel (4 sets of wings)

(SS+): Elite high-class devil/ angel (5 sets of wings)

(SSS+): Maou/Ultimate-class devil/ angel (6 sets of wings)/ Low level deity

(EX-): Super devil/ mid-level deity

(EX): high-level deity

(EX+): Irregular-level deity

Now let's move on to skills! Skills are abilities and traits that have effects ranging from increasing certain attributes to simply allowing you to perform certain actions more skillfully. Skills are divided into class, unique, rare, special, general, and resist skills.

Class skills: While these skills have no use on their own, they accelerate the growth of skills related to them, allowing for increased proficiency growth.

Unique skills: Extremely high-level combat and supernatural abilities, these skills are typically possessed by sparse handful of people, most commonly by those with at least SS+ rank combat prowess.

Rare skills: high level combat techniques and supernatural abilities, these skills are not common and are typically used by individual's S rank or higher.

Special skills: Combat techniques and base level supernatural abilities, special skills are relatively easy to increase in rank.

General skills: Skills representing mundane abilities used in day to day life, little to no combat use meaning higher ranks typically belong to noncombatants.

Resist skills: These skills represent an increase in an individual's ability to deal with a specific type of damage or attack type beyond the normal level their base attributes would provide. Resist skills are rather difficult to increase in rank. Possessing an EX+ rank in a resistance skill makes one effectively immune to damage or harm from the relevant source, regardless of its magnitude.

General guide for skills ranks

(E-) to (E+): Novice

(D-) to (D+): Passible

(C-) to (C+): Competent

(B-) to (A): Skilled

(A+) to (SS-): Master

(SS) to (SSS): Grandmaster

(SSS+) to (EX+): Godlike

Frowning lightly, Issei moved out of his bed, standing in the center of the room before suddenly lashing out with a punch at the air. With that starting point, his movements flowed and he found himself moving at speeds far beyond what he'd been capable of shortly before this whole debacle. The motion felt surprisingly natural too, like he had months of formal instruction somehow. His menu, status screen, whatever, had said his unarmed combat technique was only D- rank, just barely passable, but it was still a massive difference for Issei, considering he'd probably thrown less than a hundred punches in his life, most of which occurred in his death match against his (now former) girlfriend.

Issei stood in his best approximation of a fighting stance and shot off another punch, then another, and numerous more after that. While he had very little in the way of practical knowledge there were a few things he'd learned from anime that he figured he'd might as well try and mimic. Throwing punch after punch at speeds far faster than a normal human would be capable of, Issei found that with each passing second his motions grew more and more natural. With each punch he threw, his blows grew more and more refined as he instinctively discarded the flaws and imperfections in his movements, progressing at a rate he could feel. Hours passed like minutes and it was only when the first flickering lights of dawn began speeding through the room's window that Issei snapped out of his trace, realizing it was now nearly 7 in the morning.

Returning to his bed quickly Issei noted that he'd barely even begun to sweat, despite the prolonged exertion, a testament to the fact that his endurance had apparently reached peak human level. Of course, it was also a testament to the kind of horrible situation he now found himself in. Considering the fact that peak human was D- rank, apparently the level of extremely weak angels and devils, he was likely extremely weak in the grand scheme of things, with even his apparent strongest state (under the effects of divine madness) being at most around the level of a stronger than average low-class devil which -judging by how low that was on the scale- meant nothing against stronger entities.

He had to do his best to keep this all a secret until he could get stronger, while his stat limit at the moment was B- (an effective A- with his berserk skill) there was probably a way to raise that, although he was fairly certain his Hero skill would only increase by repeating the type of situation he'd acquired it in, namely by shattering his own limits and beating an opponent beyond him.

He could only hope he hadn't recovered too quickly, considering that was likely something that would bring attention to him, although the fact that he wasn't under observation meant his recovery had likely been just within the acceptable range and not at blatant superhuman levels (he hoped).

Issei shook himself slightly, it was going to be fine, he could handle this…somehow.

-a few hours later-

Azazel
Governor General of the Fallen Angels
Combat level: SSS (?)

It was not going to be fine, he could not handle this, he was totally screwed.

"Now, now, kiddo" The fallen Angel who could snap him like a toothpick chided "Calm down, I'm not here as your enemy or to hurt you in any manner."

Issei blinked at that "Seriously?"

The Fallen angel nodded "In fact I'm here both to apologize and to give you an offer I think you might be interested in."

"Apologize?" Issei frowned suspiciously "For what."

Azazel sighed "For young Raynare, or rather Yuuma in your case, and her actions."

Issei tensed "So she was a fallen angel then, one of yours."

"Yes."

"She tried to kill me and my parents."

"Yes." The fallen sighed "I ask you don't hate her too much for that, Issei, it wasn't entirely her fault. While the stress certainly got to her she was, in a desperate twisted way, attempting to do the best for you."

Issei glared "The best for me? She tried to kill me! What could possibly have been worse for me than that?"

"Well, having your soul shattered, for one" The angel noted calmly, causing Issei to freeze in shock.

"W-what?" Issei murmured dumbly.

"You possess 2 sacred gears, one of which is referred to as the Gamer's gear and the other of which I have taken the liberty of sealing for the moment for reasons I hope you will come to accept." Azazel begun "A few years ago, I set about making a device for removing sacred gears from their wielders, with the intent to use it on those who abused the powers they were born with or who merely didn't wish to be part of the supernatural world. Unfortunately, the sacred gears were bound too tightly for them to be removed outside of death returning them to the biblical god's system without shattering the soul they were bound to, so I ultimately discarded the project and -until a short while ago- believe I had destroyed everything regarding it."

Issei grimaced, connecting the dots "So you've got people working behind your back then?" he paused "The people who sent Yuuma… no…. who sent Raynare to confirm if I had a powerful sacred gear and steal it if I did?"

The fallen angel nodded "More or less, it hit a snag for them when Raynare actually started liking you. from what I can tell she should have dealt with you about 5 months ago -back when she was only stalking you- but instead she went against her orders and started dating you, before her superiors began putting more pressure on her about why it was taking so long starting about 2 months ago, about a month before she went crazy on you."

Issei started "A month!? I've been in the hospital for an entire month!?"

"Between your injuries and you becoming a hero, a month is actually somewhat on the short side, the transition to heroic humanity is by no means a quick process." The fallen angel smiled as Issei started at his comment "I'm only slightly younger than dirt, kid, I've seen enough heroes to recognize one when I see one." The fallen angel hummed lightly "That being said, I was actually rather surprised when I realized you were going through the transition, while there are still a bunch of hero descendants running around I don't think there's been a true blue first gen hero around in several hundred years…" Azazel paused trailing off before muttering more to himself than Issei "wasn't sure it was even still possible with him gone…"

While he might've missed the last part a month earlier, his heightened senses easily caught the comment "With who gone?"

Azazel blinked before frowning "Right, superhuman senses, listen kid just forget that last bit, I don't think you want anything more dumped on your lap at this point."

Issei paused for a moment before nodding reluctantly "fine, now you mentioned something about a second sacred gear that you sealed? I guess that would explain why've I've apparently got an artifact binding status affect that doesn't wear off until 29 months from now, but why did you seal it if you aren't here as my enemy"

"Because having it unsealed at the moment would probably just drop your survival rate, it'd be a different story if you were still a normal human -as it be your only means of defending yourself- but as a hero you have the potential to gain enough strength without it that the adverse effects of your second sacred gear would be more detrimental than its benefits at the moment." Azazel explained "While I won't tell you its name -seeing as that would probably accelerate the degradation of the seal- the gist is that it would grant you great power but also attract powerful individuals, think of it like an item that boosts your stats and EXP gain but massively raises your encounter rate. Combined with the fact that heroes already have that to some extent and with it unsealed you'd probably find yourself fighting a SS rank combatant within a matter of months."

Issei sweat dropped "So basically itemized protagonist syndrome?"

Azazel snapped his fingers "Exactly, and since being a hero already gives you that to an extent you'd basically have protagonist syndrome squared. While sealing your second sacred gear might deny you all but the most cursory of its benefits, it suppresses the downsides almost entirely. It also lets me hide you from the guys who want to steal your sacred gear, since they never bothered to learn your name and only kept track of you by your sacred gear's signature."

"Can't you just, I dunno, deal with your apparently traitorous subordinates instead of letting them stew? I mean if you know who they are, that is. Also, how do you know they don't know."

"Believe me, I'd like to, but the faction in my organization they're apart of is significant enough that I've got to be careful about my actions so the entire Grigori -that's the name of my organization by the way- doesn't tear itself apart at the seams." Azazel paused "As for your last question, well, Raynare was happy to cooperate when she learned that her former superiors' orders were not -in fact- approved by me and that I was working towards insuring your safety."

Issei froze at that, frowning "Really…"

"Really." The fallen angel replied before sighing "Look I get that she didn't really handle it well, but as I said it's not entirely her fault and she really does genuinely care about you." Azazel sighed again, rubbing his forehead "Raynare is about the same age as she looks, she didn't fall from heaven like most of us and was actually born to a pair of fallen angels, she is genuinely going through puberty -yes that's a thing even for angels- and as a result, the more unstable emotions intrinsic to fallen angels are even more chaotic than they should be."

"More unstable emotions? What do you mean by that?"

"Let's put it like this, a black dot on a white canvas is much more striking than one on a grey canvas, coming from a state of near perfect purity fallen angels become extremely dyed in whatever sin was the focus for their fall, despite retaining an otherwise largely pure mentality." Azazel explained "Kokabiel, a high-ranking angel who fell due to Wraith and Pride, is exemplified by extreme levels of both, but at the same time has virtually no greed, little lust, etc. etc. Fallen angels who are born as such start as a basically pure slate before developing their own intrinsic 'sins' during puberty, as they are not used to said urges they typically cannot handle them well and often run wild during this time period. Raynare's sins appear to be lust and attachment, both of which are now aimed at you, even if you hate her to the day you die she will love you regardless." Azazael paused momentarily "In summation, if she had been born an angel and then fallen the sin which would have caused her to fall would have been something along the lines of loving you more than the Biblical god."

Issei frowned before grimacing slightly "So she's a yandere."

Azazel moved his hands in a wishy washing motion "Not the whole 9 yards but to some extent, the only reason she went as crazy as she did this time was because she was under the impression there was literally no way to resist her superiors, after you proved able to fight to a surprising level, she grasped onto the one in a million chance you'd be able to defend yourself after your sacred gear was unlocked and tried to kill your parents to remove any trail and so they couldn't be used against you, even if you hated her for it." Azazel commented "Don't get me wrong, she was having a hell of a mental breakdown at the time and not thinking anywhere near clearly, but if she felt she had even the slightest chance to save you and your parents from her superiors she would've gladly died doing so."

"I still don't know if I can forgive her for what she tried to do." Issei noted.

"You'll have time," the fallen angel smirked "especially considering she's going to be acting as your live-in bodyguard for the time being."

Issei choked "Excuse me?"

"While your parents were understandably upset with the whole thing, after learning the whole story they were more forgiving of Raynare than I thought they'd be, your mother even started gushing over how it was such a tragic love story and your father was won over by Raynare's comment that she didn't care if you went after other women so long as you had some time for her, your old man even went on to cheer about you becoming a harem protagonist." Azazel commented cheerily.

"She nearly killed them!" Issei roared "And me for that matter, what the hell mom and dad?" He groaned, shaking his head.

"Your parents didn't seem to care about the threat to them in the slightest and while they were upset with her hurting you, they seemed to get over it when they realized Raynare was fully under the impression that the only alternative for you was an agonizing 12-hour process of your sacred gear being removed cumulating in your soul literally being shattered by said process." Azazel noted "Your mother also commented on how it must have been so hard for Raynare to hurt the one she loved while comforting the girl… Your family is surprisingly weird now that I think about it."

Issei groaned "Whatever, if they're fine with it I guess I'll just try and get over it."

Azazel smiled "Good, good, there's no rush fortunately seeing as your lifespan has probably been ratcheted up to 4 or 5 hundred years at least by virtue of your newfound status as a hero, to say nothing of the fact that it'll probably increase even more as you reach higher levels of heroic humanity which -I'm sorry to say- is basically inevitable for you considering everything." The fallen angel noted.

Issei just sighed heavily "I don't even have it in me to be surprised anymore" he groaned before pausing thoughtfully "That said, is it possible for me to get any other security measures? Like weapons or armor or something?" he shrugged "Not to be greedy or anything, but I managed to beat Yu-" he stumbled before correcting himself "Raynare, back when I was still a normal human, I don't feel like she'll be much help if something decides to try and kill me."

Azazel just laughed "Well doesn't someone have a high opinion of himself, although I suppose it's fairly well earned all considered."

Issei scoffed "Less of that and more the knowledge that if someone can't beat the crap out of the current me with ease then they won't last a minute against anyone of any real power." He refuted mildly.

"Well you aren't wrong" Azazel shrugged "But Raynare's more than a little bit stronger than you probably think" he noted, smiling as Issei raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief "Let's put it this way," He continued "at the time she started fighting you she had spent the last month outside of monopolizing your time trying to find an alternative to killing you; going entirely without sleep and scarcely eating or drinking for that entire time period. On top of this she found herself essentially unable to bring herself to inflict a fatal blow -which she otherwise would have been able to do easily- and refrained from flying or using light spears, likely because she was still in a semi-public area."

Issei opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and then sighed "Well shit."

"Yep, congratulations young man, you beat up a starved, exhausted, emotionally unstable 13-year-old girl and became a hero because of it." Azazel teased "Although in all seriousness that's still quite the feat for someone who was an untrained mundane human the day of said fight." His smirk faded slightly "Raynare is quite talented for her age and is probably nearing the point where she'll acquire her second set of wings soon." He noted "In perfect condition I'd put her overall combat strength at around B- rank or so, when you fought her she was probably C- rank at best."

Issei groaned "Humans are so underpowered" he complained, prompting a laugh from Azazel.

"Perhaps" Azazel admitted "Yet somehow they continue to flourish as numerous other species fall into ruin and start to fade." He noted before smiling "But I'm sure you don't want to hear the ramblings of an old man, so I'll cut things short" the Fallen Angel drawled before depositing something on Issei's hospital bed.

Turning his attention to it, Issei found himself gazing at the mostly sheathed form of a steel sword engraved with silver ornaments, the inch or so of its blade visible from where the sheathe had slipped down was pristine and of masterful craftsmanship, even to an amateur's eyes. The blade itself was of a length that Issei somehow knew to be sitting at the very cusp between being that of a hand-and-a-half sword and a longsword, putting it at around 80cm or so in length. All this information flooded Issei's mind in a moment, apparently falling within the realm of 'common' knowledge and hence falling under the preview of the universal knowledge skill granted to him as part of his «Gamer's Gear» unlocking.

Yet the random facts and knowledge his sacred gear had begun whispering to him were put aside in the face of the odd longing and familiarity Issei felt looking at the blade, an odd feeling that led to him near immediately picking up the sword, blinking at the odd feeling of security holding it brought him. When Azazel spoke up next to him it was all Issei could do to not cry out in shock.

"I see you like your apology gift, huh kid" Azazel laughed as Issei blushed in embarrassment "Now, now, it can't be helped that a newborn hero like you might get a bit overwhelmed the first time you get to hold a holy sword, especially considering how crazy high your holy affinity is for a rookie hero." Azazel raised an eyebrow enquiringly.

Recovering from his embarrassment, Issei paused in momentary hesitation before answering the fallen angel's unspoken question "I… well my sacred gear says I have a SSS+ rank natural affinity to a currently unknown holy sword, which apparently boosted my general holy affinity." Azazel's eyes widened in interest but before he could ask more Issei continued speaking "But before that, is this really a holy sword? As in a genuine holy sword out of a legend or something?" even as the question left his lips Issei already knew the answer to it, as he probably had the moment he'd first seen the sword.

Azazel paused, clearly still interested in Issei's natural affinity, before sighing and putting the topic to the side momentarily "Yep, it's not a particularly famous or well-known one though; Lobera or more formally La Espada Lobera, The wolf-slaying sword." Azazel noted "As far as its power goes it's about standard for a low-level holy sword, which still puts it far and above the mass-produced crap the church churns out for their exorcists nowadays. While it probably won't stand up to higher level holy and demonic weapons it's a solid starter for a newbie hero that's both strong enough to be reliable and weak enough that you don't end up over relying on it instead of developing your own skills and ability."

Issei just nodded having largely returned his attention to the sword "So I don't suppose you have something I could conceal this in? I don't exactly know magic yet and an 80cm sword is rather hard for a 13-year-old to hide on their person."

"What not even a thank you?" Azazel complained mildly before replying "Concealment charms on the sheath, mundane individuals won't even give it a second glance."

"oh, ah thanks" Issei mumbled sheepishly "sorry but I was kind of distracted."

The fallen angel just laughed "No worries." Humor draining from his face slightly Azazel sighed "Going back a bit, the reason I'm sending Raynare to look over you -aside from simply wanting to help out one of my fellow fallen- is because she's strong enough to help protect you from less exceptional threats and weak enough that she can remain hidden and undetected from the real heavy hitters. The guy behind this mess is, well he's one of the stronger members of the Grigori, I have maybe 6 or 7 people I trust that could reliably match or beat him and I'm afraid I can't tie one of them down to watch over you, although I'll help you where I can, I have to put the good of my people first."

Issei simply nodded "I can understand that, in the first place I'd rather not be over reliant on a group or faction until I can get a better understanding of the magic side of the world."

"Fair enough" the fallen nodded "Well I've taken up enough of your time, I've arranged it so you're checked out of the hospital, so you can just head home now if you want, this hospital is in your hometown after all. Raynare can answer any other question you have once you get home."

Issei paused at that before agreeing hesitantly "Alright, guess I might as well bite the bullet on that one" he sighed.

Azazel merely grinned in response.

Raynare
Fallen Angel, Live-in maid
Combat level: B-

The atmosphere was so tense that Issei was fairly certain he could cut it with the still sheathed holy sword that sat in his lap as he stared at the fallen angel who had been his girlfriend for 4 months with a conflicted expression. Glancing at the stairs leading to the second floor, where his parents had vacated to in order to give him some time alone with the girl across from him, Issei sighed.

"I would have hated you" he stated simply "I would have hated you so much that no one and nothing on this planet could have ever made me forgive you; if you had succeeded." He finished, his tone absolute and unwavering.

The dark-haired girl across from him flinched visibility, lowering her head "I know." She replied.

Issei gazed at her for a few moments longer before letting out a heavy sigh "Then I guess it's good for you that you failed." He said tiredly even as Raynare's head shot up, a small flicker of desperate hope sparking in her eyes "it won't be today or tomorrow, it might not even be this month or year, but if you prove to me you are sorry, prove you are genuine and not hiding anything this time I will forgive you… eventually… more than that I don't know, I guess that's up to you." he finished before simply standing up and leaving the fallen angel to her thoughts.

-one year later-

The world was an incredibly dangerous place.

It had taken very little time for Issei to come to this conclusion, despite how firmly it opposed his old view of the world. Reaffirming this new understanding even as he gazed evenly at the blood-soaked warehouse in front of him, the now 14-year-old boy let out a soft sigh.

There was a soft click of shoes hitting concrete behind him "Are you okay, Ise?" a familiar voice called out.

"I'm fine," he responded, turning slightly to glance back at his companion "you?" he questioned softly.

The ravenette smiled "Not a scratch on me."

Raynare
Fallen Angel, Live-in maid
Combat level: A-

"That's good" Issei murmured before turning back to what remained of the duos' opponents, glancing one last time at the remains of a small group of stray devils they'd slain before turning towards the exit "No use sticking around, let's go."

Raynare just hummed affirmatively and followed behind him.

In the last year since he had entered the supernatural world Issei had been exposed situations and entities that would've been enough to leave him terrified to leave his house if he'd learned of them prior to his ascension into heroic humanity. As it was it had been -in a sense- far too easy for him to substantially increase the rank of his Hero unique skill (now sitting a D+ rank) with all the things he'd ended up fighting and -in some cases- almost dying against.

While he hadn't exactly brought it up with his parents (to avoid worrying them too much) almost dying was apparently a much less dangerous thing for a hero. It was somewhat hard to explain, but it was almost like there was a distance or dullness to what should be near instantaneous death, with a situation most would -at best- just barely survive being something Issei could just push his way through and surpass.

Between this and all the other ways Heroes were apparently bullshit on top of his sacred gear's effects, Issei had managed to make downright absurd progress in the last year, shooting up to what could be roughly gauged as a solid A rank combatant. While his nature as a hero and his «Divine Madness» skill made this somewhat more of a suggestion than a limit, it was still a good norm to set himself at outside of the aforementioned dues ex Machina inducing factors.

While a fair portion of his physical prowess could now be attributed to his passable skill in body reinforcement magic, it remained somewhat odd how far Issei had left the realm of humans even without this, considering his physical attributes (now sitting around C rank unenhanced) were enough to lift tons and move at over a hundred miles an hour. He could only be thankful his parents had been understanding enough to let him be homeschooled for a while, considering his family were now supposedly vacationing abroad after winning a lottery.

As one might imagine, that was actually just a front for the money Issei had earned within the supernatural world, considering even B rank strength was enough to get rich and the fact that his disposition as a hero was also beneficial towards finding loot and the like. His parents were simply traveling with him as they explored parts of the world, sticking to regions were various major factions were less active even as the learned what they could about the supernatural world as a whole.

Seeing as his parents were normal humans (even with the boost they received from a combination of Issei's status as a hero and his Sacred gear) they were unlikely to be about to acquire anything resembling top tier strength, even if the two of them had proven quite adept at cheesing beyond what would be expected from 'normal' humans, particularly considering the short amount of time they'd been part of the supernatural world.

Issei's mother had accomplished this by using a combination of runes, sealings formations, and enchantment; becoming adept at putting together increasingly airtight and sturdy defenses at whatever location the Hyoudou family had decided to stay for what typically amounted to a month or two. Issei was still unsure how exactly his mother had managed to figure out a method to draw out the holy energy his sword produced and use it to charge and impower the barrier's she created, but by this point the end result of his mother's efforts would likely take Issei at least two or three hours to break through. Other than this Issei himself was wearing the equipment his mother had enchanted for him, which was steadily improving between his mother's rising skill level and the increasingly vast amount of money the family had to buy better materials for it.

Issei's father, on the other hand, had taken what could be called a rather reckless path, using high strain techniques to maximize his fighting ability to the limit in exchange for an extremely short effective combat time. This wasn't exactly an entirely new style, but Issei's father had supplemented it with the use of seals and enchantments (courtesy of Issei's mother) that function in a somewhat similar manner, requiring weeks (and in some cases months) of off and on-again efforts from the whole family to charge with an effect length of at most a few tens of seconds when used.

Issei's parents had a basic strength level of D+ rank or, boosted to perhaps C rank or so with the general use equipment his mother had enchanted with his father being able to fight at nearly A+ rank level strength for around 35 seconds when using his various techniques and slow charging magic items to their fullest. It was -to be blunt- insane for a pair of humans introduced to the supernatural world a little more than a year ago, and with Issei and Raynare (who had formally left the Grigori by this point) thrown in the Hyoudou family had gone from a normal low middle-class family to what amounted to a magic knight household.

It was weird -to say the least- but honestly Issei couldn't help but find his current life exponentially more satisfying than his old one, incomparably so.

Issei was drawn from his thoughts suddenly, leading him to come to a stop suddenly on a rooftop, with Raynare noticing him stop moving from above and coming down to land next to him.

"Is something wrong Ise?" his partner and still not-quite-girlfriend asked, concerned.

"Side quest sense is tingling" Issei replied with a shrug, referencing the odd instinctive draw he felt towards interesting situations due to his heroic status "might as well check it out, if you aren't tired that is?"

"I'm fine"

"Alright, let's go check it out then." Issei smirked, reorienting himself and setting off.

A/N: This will probably end as just a one shot, but who knows. It was just something I wrote up randomly over a few sessions when my muse was going willy-nilly, but it got to the point where I figured I might as well post it. If it gets enough interest I might continue it, although I'd have to think up an actual long term plot to do so (lol).

Anything in opposition to canon world mechanics is deliberately changed, so yeah.

And yes, i have a thing for weird gamer-style systems.