I am the bone of my sword.

Issei opened his eyes and once again looked upon the dream that had followed him his entire life. He stood at the base of a hill surrounded by a flat and never-ending landscape. The entire place was covered in a layer of smog that tinted the land red. Embers flickering on some unseen and unfelt breeze.

This world was not so simple though, no, one would simply to look around or glance towards the heavens to reaffirm that fact.

For in the sky turned colossal and ancient gears. Rusted with age but still spinning, fulfilling some grand unknown purpose. They hung there in their thousands, being supported by nothing and offering only the sound of their rotations as an explanation to their presence.

Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

Truly those gears were imposing things. Hovering and watching over the hill. But they were the background to this world. In the same way that no matter how impressive a frame is, it will always be overshadowed by the picture it holds. These giant masses of steel were outshone by the swords that decorated both the hill and the flat plains that lay beyond.

Giant claymores rested in the earth. Rapiers and longswords lay scattered by the millions. Katanas, daggers, dirks and any other type of sword you could care to name. There were not only swords though. Axes and spears, maces and halberds also joined the sprawling mass. Each weapon standing out from the ground, the tips of the blades biting into the earth and allowing them to stand. They seemed almost like graves. Marking yet another battle, another foe vanquished and another person dead.

I have created over a thousand blades.

Issei took a step forwards and placed his hand around the hilt of a blade. There was nothing special about it as far as appearance went. But within rested a power that defied the natural order of the world.

It was the same for many of the weapons here. They had power beyond what a simple sword should possess. They may be plain looking like the blade he held in his hand, or perhaps they were extravagant and ornate. Some blades held no power other than an edge that could cut flesh. It mattered little. They simply stood there. Weapons that went beyond the power of mortals resting next to mundane blades.

Unknown to death, nor known to life.

This world terrified him. It haunted his every waking moment, always at the back of his mind. While he was awake he could ignore it. But when he slept every night, without fail, he would once again stand here. The hill and the plains and the gears and the swords all begging him to ascend the hill, to take up these blades and wield them as he desired.

He knew he could if he wanted to. Even when awake he realized that all he had to do was call upon the power of this world, of these blades. He had done it before, years ago when he was younger, before he realized the danger. This was his power. This was his world, his reality marble.

Have withstood pain to create many weapons.

But he could not call upon this power without a price. The last time he had done so, almost three years ago, it had landed him in hospital, it had almost killed him. A feeble excuse he knew. He had pushed himself too far, past his limits. If he did it again he would not fall into the same trap. But that still left questions unanswered.

Were had this power come from, and what was it?

He knew names of course, this place was his reality marble, but he didn't have the knowledge to go with those names. What was a reality marble? How was it made, how did it work?

A variety of questions but no answers. And no foreseeable way of getting them. It was safer to simply ignore this place and get on with his life. Cowardly perhaps, but undeniably the safer option.

Yet, those hand will never hold anything.

He had better things to do than think about this hill and these swords. He had a life to live, one where he did not have to worry about the supernatural. Perhaps it was foolish, after all he himself was proof that such things did exist.

Why spend his time worrying about things like that he could be peeping on the kendo club with Matsuda and Motohama. The wonders of oppai were everywhere after all and it would not do for him to miss them while he was worrying about the unexplainable.

He could not bear to think about what had happened when he had pushed himself too far. The swords erupting from his body, tearing him apart from the inside. The pain he felt as his was shredded and cut a hundred thousand times over. The blades that replaced his fingertips, his arms and legs reduced to mangled lumps of flesh, bone and steel.

This world did allow him to recover. What would have killed a normal human simply left him on deaths door. The blades that had at one point torn his body asunder began to repair it. Slowly and surly fixing the damage, healing him.

He would not go through it again.

That agonising pain that had almost destroyed him. Almost wiped him from existence. He refused to suffer like that again. So what if it was cowardly, so what if it was simply running away with his tail between his legs. Those who would insult him for trying to forget about his powers had not had to suffer the agonising torment that he had.

So, as I pray

Now he would enjoy the pleasures of life. To find love and to love. He would gather himself a harem full of those with big oppai. Like that old man had said, the wonders of oppai were eternal.

And if that dream had gathered him a less than perfect reputation, then what of it? He would achieve his dream, and it wasn't like he was really hurting anybody. After all, all the kendo club received was a bruised pride while he and his two friends saw a glimpse of paradise.

He had even gotten a girlfriend yesterday. A girl named Yuuma had confessed to him on the bridge on the way home from school. He was going on a date with her tomorrow.

Truly his luck was changing.

And so as he began to wake from the dream, he stared at the world that haunted him. How he wished he could leave it behind, to escape from the shadow that hung over him. To escape this place that gave him so much power, but also so much fear and pain. And as he awoke from his sleep to face another day he uttered its name.

"Unlimited Blade Works"

Authors note:

This is the first piece of fanfiction I have ever wrote, I hope it turned out alright. This is only the first chapter in a story that I hope to continue, I am a massive fan of all things Nasu and have become very interested in highschool dxd fanfiction as of late (even if I was a bit indifferent about the show). In this I want to explore how Issei would handle having a power as dangerous as the unlimited blade works, as well as merge the two universe together to a point.

So I thank you very much for reading, I hope that you drop a review and I hope to see you again in the next chapter.

There are a lot of hopes in this note aren't there.