There were many events in Issei's life that hurt his body.

Most of them involved girls. Whether they were life and death chases, beat down punishments or plain normal incidents of Issei slipping up, sometimes literally.

Only Riser managed to trump the amount of punishment the dragons and by extension Obsidian dished out.

The dragons weren't some one would remember from legends. Since they didn't had one in the first place. Most of them lost their lives before stepping up onto the world stage.

Ninety percent of the dragons that were summoned were killed by Ddraig.

The latter didn't even remember their names, they were that generic to him.

Generic to the dragon emperor was not generic to Issei however.

They were still dragons. And they were pissed.

Hell, some of them were so pissed, they didn't introduce themselves at all.

Dragons on four legs, humanoid dragons, dragons with only wings as arms, serpent dragons, dragons that looked more like dinosaurs due to a lack of wings...All of those dragons, in various colors.

Issei could have sworn there was a pony dragon, but his memory was a little blurry.

Their names were a little weird to.

Blue, Lizard, Bob…

Maybe names were the reason they were considered weak in dragon terms?

However, as stupid as their names were, they still packed quite the punch compared to his puny new devil self.

You could give him a week and he wouldn't be able to finish the list of things that was done to him.

Punched, crushed, bitten, burned, electrocuted, almost drowned…

Obviously they held back or Issei would be dead again. It didn't change that they still wanted to hurt him and Sid did not restrict that desire of theirs.

Still, despite the pain, the teenager smiled weakly.

A new secret technique came out of it, in order to damage the hard hide most dragons had. He could not wait to use it.

"No chances of you renaming it?" Ddraig asked in exasperation. As Issei giggled in a perverted manner, the dragon inside of him let out a deep sigh. "Figures..."

Ddraig never understood his genius, the boy mused. Whatever. One day, his partner would see how great his ideas sometimes were!

"If that day comes, I am willing to throw the next fight against the White one, I tell you that," the soul of Boosted Gear growled in an aggravating manner and his wielder decided he poked enough against the powerful being and kept quiet.

Anyway, long story short, he was beaten to a bloody pulp, but also learned a lot.

Still, he needed to be carried to the school by his friend in form of piggy back ride.

It wasn't really embarrassing for the pervert.

Bro privilege, so it didn't bother him nor the adult.

Though Issei did take offense at the comment about his weight.

He was muscular, that was all!

Anyway, Issei's current state.

While his face and body were filled with bruises and wounds, his clothes were still clean.

Magic was bullshit.

Obsidian said something about a stealth spell that hid his wounds. When Issei asked him why he didn't just heal him, the adult said he was too lazy and Asia was better for the job.

The boy bit his lip at the thought.

He did not want to get punished for his training. Both, Rias and Asia, were always rather...stern when it came to his well being. He loved them for that, but seriously, he could do without the lectures and the feeling of shame for himself.

Either way, while he recounted the events, Issei finally arrived at the club house with Sid. After the latter knocked on the door, he opened it when Rias' voice called them to come in.

When they entered, the future harem king saw heaven.

The girls were there, yes.

They were also only in their underwear.

In. Their. Underwear.

Now Issei had experience in peeping.

But no experience could protect him from the elite picture he was shown.

Cute, sexy, embarrassed, confident, indignation, casualness it was mixed perfectly like a cake.

Everything a pervert like him dreamed of, all in one place.

His nose began to bleed more than from the dragons.

However, he would not faint by the beauty. Not yet.

He could not falter now. Issei needed to thank the one showing this masterwork.

Weakly, he grinned and raised his thumb at his carrier, who had a blank expression at the display in front of him and slowly turned his head to Issei.

"You truly are a bro, Sid. Nice! My pain already is gone!" He exclaimed happily, causing a chuckle from the more curved girls and an embarrassed "eep" and a deep, flushed frown by Asia and Koneko respectively.

Meanwhile, his carrier nodded slowly and began to smile.

It was not a nice smile.

"Let me fix that."

Before Issei could understand what he meant, he felt himself flying and crash down on the floor.

For a moment, the boy blinked in confusion.

Did...did Sid just throw him into the middle of the room?

The next moment, Issei was more busy groaning on the ground in pain from the impact, holding his body with closed eyes.

Ddraig's rumbling laughter did not help his condition at all.

Beside hearing some shuffling in the room, probably Asia and Rias going over to him with worry, he heard his older friend's dry voice sounding through the room.

"If you don't know, there are things called locks that could help prevent this stuff to happen."

"You seem grumpy today," Akeno said with slight amusement and a deep sigh came as a response. When the pain began to get better, Issei opened his eyes.

"Too soon on a Sunday. Blame him," the man said as he pointed at the boy.

At the same time, some magic energy radiated from the right finger and hit Issei like a small spit ball.

Suddenly, gasps sounded in the room and Issei frowned at the oh so innocent expression of the Sorcerer.

So Sid deactivated his concealment spell for the injuries. Cool, Issei mused dryly.

Now everyone could see how beaten up he actually was.

"Issei, what happened to your face?!"

The boy winced slightly at the loud exclamations, from Rias on the right and Asia on the left. Stereo yelling hurt.

Immediately, both of the girls glared at Sid, who already sat down on the couch with closed eyes and crossed his legs, while he leaned back.

Feeling the judgmental stares, he gave a shrug.

"Training."

The casual reply made his prez bristle up a bit and pointed at him in aggravation.

"He looks like he was used as a chew toy!"

Issei not so subtly observed how she...bounced.

Asia noticed too, because she slapped him on the back of his head and continued healing him.

In return, Sid let out a small laugh, shaking his head in amusement.

"Ha, that actually happened! Was pretty intense too." Then, he calmed down a bit and pointed at their general direction, still with closed eyes. "Anyway, clothes."

The girls stared down on themselves, blinking for a moment, as if they forgot about their appearance for a moment.

"Right," Rias said awkwardly and bit her lip.

Issei did not mind at all.

Koneko seemed to notice, because as she walked past him to get her clothes, she kicked him in the face for good measure.

Asia's objections did not come soon enough, as she had to heal his broken nose as well.

Still totally worth it.

As Issei stood up and thanked Asia for the healing, he could hear fast foot steps approaching from outside.

"I heard yelling, is everything alright?" Yuuto asked with great concern as he slid over the ground and stopped right at the door.

Depending on how one would look at it, he was fortunate that the girls were already dressed when he arrived.

Anyway, when the people in the room waved of his concern, Issei looked at Rias and Asia with worry as he took a seat next to Sid.

They had a good time together, so why did the two of them glare at him and then decide to ignore him?

Helplessly, Issei looked over to his adult friend, who in turn just gave him a stare of disappointment.

The boy bristled. What was he doing wrong?!

"You didn't seal the deal last night and the girls are angry because of it," Ddraig replied in a tone that suggested he was an idiot. This made Issei only get more frustrated as he glared down at his left arm.

What deal?!

"Oh my-Forget it! I let the Sorcerer deal with you!"

The boy shared the irritation the dragon had, though for different reasons.

What was he doing wrong?!

Before he could ask again however, he noticed how Koneko walked over to her usual seat, but stopped right in front of Sid. The man himself only raised an eyebrow at her, as they stared at each other in relative, long silence.

"You have a lot of energy," the small girl said quietly and Issei was not the only one who blinked at that statement besides the adult, who chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head a bit.

"Yeah...my wife said the same too." Then, he noticed the look of betrayal from the wielder of Boosted Gear and Sid frowned at him in response. "What?"

Tears flowed down from his eyes as he stood up and pointed at the husband with great despair and anger.

"Stop showing off with the fact that you have sex all the time!" Issei yelled in outrage.

It was the first time he saw Rias spit out a tea in shock, but he was more focused on the traitor in front of him!

Issei ignored that the entire room basically froze in time and stared at him with wide eyes and open mouths.

Sid recovered the fastest, closing his mouth in order to put up a chiding expression as he stared at Issei unamused.

"I am not showing off. Sorry if it sounded like that." Then, he raised a finger and jabbed Issei on his chest with a deep frown. "Also, we don't fuck every single day. Not as long as I have a say in it."

"I said all the time. Which means when she is there in the first place. And when she is there, you do it all the time!" The boy yelled back at his right seat neighbor, slamming his left hand down on the table.

The man opened his mouth, but then slowly closed it as he stared on the ground, blinking a few times.

The atmosphere felt a bit awkward, coupled with some coughing, but Issei was more interested in how his friend would defend himself here, crossing his arms with expectations.

"I cannot argue with that," he said in a surrendering tone, nodding to himself as he let out a sigh and let his arms hanging low limply.

"Damn you! How can you act like that's a bad-"

Before the Sacred Gear user could continue his rant, the man flicked his right hand for just an instance.

The next moment, Issei could not get one more word out, due to the fact that a thick layer of white silk like substance covered his mouth like a mask.

"Time out," he said dryly, making a snap with his fingers to separate a barely visible wire from his hand, like a puppeteer.

The boy growled as he clawed at the makeshift mask, to no avail.

Issei hated when Sid used his weird magic alchemy wires or whatever they were called!

"Anywho, how are you today?"

The other occupants blinked when Sid put up a friendly smile and turned to them.

His ability to change the subject was as subtle as always, Issei thought darkly.

Subtle like a UFO crashing down in a city, maybe.

The boy ceased his struggling by now and sunk into the couch with crossed arms and a pout.

Anyway, the Sorcerer's comment was enough to shake them out of their spectator trance and Akeno was the first to regain her wits as she chuckled as she stood behind her king.

"You are quite open about your love life."

"Desensitization is part of the program with these two idiots in my life," Sid replied with a casual shrug and Issei bristled again, breathing heavily through his noise.

"You are an idiot."

Issei swiftly ignored the dragon and threw his arms in the air, before sinking even deeper into the couch, crossing his arms.

No, he did not look like a child throwing a tantrum.

And he didn't blush as the other residents giggled a bit at his expense, Ddraig was lying!

However, the amusement immediately stopped when Rias cleared her throat and observed Sid with a neutral expression.

Nobody moved from their seats, though Issei shuffled uncomfortably in his place next to Sid.

He was the only one at his side, so it was a bit weird.

However, at least the peerage didn't gather around his master again, so staying here was okay, Issei assumed.

Still, despite the lack of a unified front, one could feel the shift of atmosphere from casual to professional with Rias' simple action of making a small sound.

His king was so awesome!

"Since we have celebrated already, it's time to get back to business...Meaning, you," she said in a calm tone and Sid crossed his arms, equally serious as her.

"My abilities, you mean," he clarified with a small frown. The king nodded as she put her left leg over her right one.

"You show a good grasp over magic, good enough to teach others. These...wires are only part of it. Normally that would be fine." She pointed at the adult with narrowed eyes. "However, you can talk with spirits. Like with Asia when she...was gone for a while. That changes quite a bit."

At that, the man hummed in thought, then looked at the nun in question.

"So you told them," he said in an even tone and when Asia averted her eyes in shame, he smiled at her gently. "I'm not mad. It was well within your right."

The girl weakly smiled back, but couldn't say more as Rias rubbed her chin with a "hm" noise.

"I take this as a confirmation then." She took a deep breath and leaned back. "Does that connect to your ability to summon...familiars?"

"You could say that," the man said slowly and when the king frowned at the vagueness, he sighed and folded his hands as he leaned forward. "Look, what I can tell you is that my ability is not connected with a Sacred Gear, as much as it seems like and that it has a connection with my communication powers. Anything more is...too dangerous for others to know."

"Dangerous for you or for us?" She asked with some skepticism and a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Sid said in a grave tone, frowning deeply as he gestured with his folded hand at her. "I am not kidding that people would be willing to destroy entire countries for this kind of power. Hell, entire countries will be destroyed if worst comes to worst."

Issei gulped underneath his makeshift wire mask as the rest of his peerage widened their eyes at his words.

The man just admitted how dangerous he could be, in a way.

"Hence the secrecy," Rias said in an even tone and rubbed her forehead in slight irritation. "With all due respect, if you say something like that, my curiosity is quite hard to suppress."

The Sorcerer nodded at this and leaned back on his seat.

"I know. How about a consolation prize for not digging for more?"

The president froze in mid motion and slowly lowered her hand with a blank expression.

Issei on the other hand would have gaped at his friend.

Was he planning to bribe his master?!

"Depends on the prize," Rias asked after repositioning herself in her seat, only sounding mildly interested.

The Sorcerer grinned, apparently seeing more than the pervert did and leaned back, opening his arms to her.

"I'll offer my services so that you can talk with lost ones and I am willing to give general advice in soul and magic matters."

This time, Rias could not stop herself from widening her eyes in shock.

However, her reaction was the most subdued.

Asia covered her mouth with a gasp and Koneko actually dropped her sweat she was eating on.

The most extreme however, were Akeno and Yuuto. The latter looked like he was slapped in the face with a baseball bat, so much disbelief was in his face. The former on the other hand appeared to hold herself back not to jump on Sid and do something bad to him in order to get his services for herself. At least that was he thought, considering how hard her grip was on her own arm.

A certain...mix of hope and despair were in their eyes.

Issei wondered why.

Anyway, Rias finally managed to find her voice and slowly nodded, still trying to regain her composure after looking at her peerage in worry, especially at her queen and knight.

"That...would be a sufficient bribe. For now." Shaking her head, she steeled her features and stared grimly at the Sorcerer. "I cannot promise to keep you secret forever. I have my own duties."

"Just try to downplay me and I am happy," Sid replied with full understanding, crossing his arms again.

"I can try, but only because you helped Issei and us a lot." Rias paused after sigh and narrowed her eyes when she looked at her pawn. "Speaking of Issei, does he know?"

The pervert did not like how everyone's attention was focused on him and he began to sweat buckets.

He thanked the mouth guard, because he could not respond verbally to that question. And thankfully, he didn't need to respond in any other way, because Sid raised his arm protectively and bowed his head slightly.

"More than you do. But you have to understand...I know him better than you."

For a while, the king stared at the two of them with a frown. Issei felt bad as he lowered his head.

He did know more than them and keeping secrets was not the thing he wished to do. Still, his loyalty to his friend was also important and he understood the dangers of Sid's power. It was his decision and he decided that he wanted to keep it a secret.

It made the boy feel a bit...sad.

"It is my duty to know all about the residents in my area to make sure they are not a threat," Rias at last said. However, her features softened up, a sad smile on her face. "But as a friend and master, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. And if Issei trusts you, I shall trust you. But I hope that you will be able to confide in us one day."

"Thank you," Sid replied in a quiet tone and squeezed Issei's shoulder.

The boy then understood that Sid wanted to entrust them with this secret.

But he wasn't sure if they could protect it like him. Not yet.

The teenager's face filled with determination.

Issei would make them trust each other. Both sides were his friends, so it was only natural to bring them together.

Besides, Sid could need more people to talk to about his...problems other than himself and the others.

Anyway, with the "negotiations" finished, Rias stood up with a casual smirk.

"You still need to meet the other devil responsible for this place. Issei, Asia, you too."

The two newly reincarnated devils shared a glance of confusion while Sid blinked incomprehensibly.

There was another one?