The New Issei

A month after Issei Became half angel and half dragon he had decided to enter a gaming tournament for his favorite game, Super Smash Brothers. It was being held in a town next to Kuoh so he decided to take a break from mastering his new abilities and go have some fun. Akeno wanted to accompany him and he was happy to take her along and make it into a date for them. They both left early in the morning and got onto the train, an hour later and they were at their destination, the town of Kosaka. This town is a small one but it is famous for having several large gaming tournaments a year.

Issei: "The tournament starts in an hour. You want to go look around until then?" He asked as he smiled at Akeno standing next to him.

Akeno: "That sounds fun. Lets go see if there is any interesting things to see around here." She said while smiling and looping her arm through his and pulling him close to her. This caused Issei's smile to become warmer as he walked into town with her.

Issei: "I really am glad you decided to come with me Akeno. It makes this whole trip even better." He said as they walked together and looked at some of the shops.

Akeno: "Kuroka wanted to come but ever since you met up with Sirzechs she has been pushing herself more in her training. She decided she would stay behind since she was close to mastering a new move. Sometimes I really worry about her." She said as she looked slightly worried. "Do you think that you could at least take her to see her sister? You are close to Koneko so I think she would agree if you are the one who asks her." She said as she looked at Issei with a small look of pleading in her eyes.

Issei: "Oh god not the puppy dog eyes. She always gets me to do what she wants with those." He thought as he quickly looked away from her. "Fine, I will have them meet up when we get back, alright?" He said while sighing. This caused Akeno to jump on him and hug him in happiness.

Akeno: "Thank you Issei, I hate seeing one of my sisters that sad." She said as she snuggled up to him.

Issei: "Sisters?" He asked in curiosity while looking down on her.

Akeno: "Its something that those of us in your harem decided on. We have all agreed to treat each other as sisters since we will all be your wives in the future." She said while blushing and fidgeting. This left Issei dumbfounded.

Issei: "They have already decided something like this even though it is still quite sometime until we are of an age to marry. Oh well at least they all get along." He thought while shaking his head and sighing. "I am glad you are all getting along." He said as he hugged her waist and started walking again. "Now lets go to the tournament hall before they start."

Akeno: "Yeah, I hope you win it all Issei." She said as she clung to him while smiling happily.

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Issei: "Wow this place is huge." He said while looking at the huge domed structure they were entering.

Akeno: "Well I will be heading to the audience stands now Issei. Do your best." She said as she lightly kissed him before heading to the seating area.

Issei: "Well with a good luck charm like that, I can't loose now can I?" He thought as he watched her leave while smiling. He then turned and headed into the gaming area while looking for his name for his seat. Once he found it he sat down and waited for everything to get started. There were a total of 32 gaming stations set up with 8 seats for each station and individual screens for the players. A grand total of 256 players were going to be here today to play. It was honestly an amazing sight and each of the 32 stations would have only one winner. After the 32 winners were found they would be split into 4 groups of eight to get the top 4 and then those top 4 would compete for first. "This is going to be fun." Issei thought as he looked at the other people gathered at his station. The tournament was soon started and everyone chose their characters before it got under way. Issei chose Link and got ready to crush his opponents.

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Issei: "Well that was fun." He said as he beat his last opponent from his group of 8 that had made it into the top 32. He was now one of the top 4 for this tournament. "That last guy actually almost had me." He thought while smiling and making his way to the gaming station where the top 4 would face off. He knew this was going to be much harder and he was really looking forward to it. But when he saw one of the people seated there he almost had a heart attack. "Why can things never be peaceful when I go somewhere? Am I cursed or something?" He thought bitterly as he walked closer. Sitting there was Azazel. Issei went and sat next to him before saying. "Lets have a good game mister."

Azazel: "Yeah lets have some fun shall we." He said while smiling. "My name is Azazel, lets have a good game." He said as he held out his hand for a handshake.

Issei: "My name is Issei. Its nice to meet you Azazel and I am also looking forward to a good game." He said as he shook his hand. They both then went and selected their characters and got ready to play along with the two people across from them.

Tournament Announcer: "Here we go folks, Its time for the finals. Hope you all enjoy it. Now get ready, set, fight!"He said as he started their match. The beginning of the match actually went really quickly. Azazel and Issei both knocked out the other two as quickly as they can before they focused on each other. They were equal for awhile before Azazel showed that he was the more experienced player and outmaneuvered Issei knocking him out. It was the best match they had both had and they both enjoyed it greatly. After the tournament they got their prizes and left.

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Akeno: "Issei! Congratulations on second, you looked like you had a lot of fun." She said as she came up to him as they were leaving the stadium.

Issei: "Yeah it was a blast. I usually only have that much fun when playing against a strong opponent in chess." He said while smiling and wrapping his arm around her as they began walking out of the door.

Azazel: "Hey kid wait a minute. I wanted to talk to you after the awards were given out but you ran off." He said while laughing and coming up to the both of them. "Although with such a beauty waiting for you I can see why you rushed off." He said in a teasing tone while smiling at them. But then he got a good look at Akeno and a look of shock covered his face. "She looks like Shuri. Is that Akeno? But there is no way she survived that massacre." He thought as a serious look crossed his face. "I need to find out for sure."

Issei: "Crap it looks like Azazel might have figured out who she is. If he tries to take her away I will not go easy on him." He thought as a hard look crossed his face. This look was not missed by Akeno or Azazel causing them both to tense up as the air got slightly heavy around them. "Lets take this chat somewhere else. It looks like you have some questions for me and my girlfriend so lets go somewhere with less people." He said as he turned and began to walk towards an alley. Azazel and Akeno both followed him. Azazel looked slightly nervous but also curious while Akeno seemed to be slightly frightened by the hard look on Issei's face. She had only ever seen him with that look when the situation was really serious.

Azazel: "I have no problem going somewhere else, but do you have an idea where to go kid?" He asked as they went farther back into the alley. But soon shock covered Azazel face as suddenly they were not in an alley anymore but out in the middle of a large clearing. This was one of the places that Issei used to train in before he made the training space in the bas.e.m.e.nt at his house. It was warded heavily and far from any towns so there was no need to worry about being discovered. "Where are we kid?" Azazel asked in a slightly harder tone as he looked around. He could tell that there are wards set up all around this place as well as barriers, and that worried him slightly. He was in an unknown area with someone that could be a threat, this caused him to immediately go on guard.

Issei: " This is one of my training areas. No one will disturb us here and you will not be able to send for help or teleport out of here. Now why don't you ask your questions and I will decide whether or not I will have to kill you Azazel."He said in a cold voice. Azazel may want to take Akeno away or force a meeting with Baraqiel, but neither Akeno or Shuri wanted to see that man again. So he would respect both of their wishes, even if it meant fighting against Azazel.

Azazel: "Whoa there kid. I don't want to fight, just want some answers is all." He said while smiling wryly and shaking his head. "Sorry if I gave the wrong impression back there."

Issei: "I know why you acted like that and depending on what you want to know or decide to do. We may have no choice but to fight." He said as he sighed. "Ask your questions, I will answer what I can."

Azazel: "Well I suppose the first one and the most important one is if that girls name is Akeno Himejima?" He asked as he looked at Akeno. This caused Akeno to get nervous and hide behind Issei. She knew that she would just be burden if a fight broke out so she stayed behind Issei while being really worried.

Issei: "Yes she is, now what are you going to do about it?" He asked as he got himself ready. Azazel was no push over, it would be like fighting Michael but this time trying to kill each other. He was not confident to come out of this unscathed, after all Azazel had a ton of experience and a few nasty tricks up his sleeves.

Azazel: "Nothing, she seems happy. So why would I interfere with that? It is my fault that this whole thing happened in the first place. I made Baraqiel choose between family and orders. He chose to follow orders, even if he knew it would endanger his family." Azazel said as he got a pained look on his face. "I never should have ordered him to go on that investigation. It was a trap to get him away from his family and I should have realized that. Because I did not, it got Shuri killed and I thought it got Akeno killed to." He said as he sighed and looked like he aged several years. "I hope you can one day forgive me Akeno." He said as he looked at her with a sad look in his eyes.

Akeno: "It is not your fault. My father knew we were being hunted and yet he still chose to leave us alone. In the end we were attacked. It is his fault for abandoning us. You were just doing what you thought had to be done and you thought the investigation would be dangerous enough to need Baraqiel's power. It was his choice whether to go or not and he did." She said with venom and hate in her voice. Her and Shuri both had come to hate Baraqiel but for Akeno it was worse since he was her father and had abandoned her mother and her.

Issei: "You heard her. She hates her father now so it would be best to keep him in the dark about her survival." He said as he gently hugged Akeno to him. She immediately hugged him back as she buried her face in his c.h.e.s.t. "We do not need him ruining the new life she has."

Azazel: "Alright I will keep it to myself. Plus he has a new wife so I think him finding out would be bad as well, for both sides." He said as he sighed and shook his head. As Issei heard this his eyes turned sharp as he looked at Azazel.

Issei: "He remarried in such a short amount of time? Did he not care about their deaths?" He asked in a heavy tone as a slight amount of his holy draconic mana began to leak from him. Of course he realized what he was doing and quickly calmed down but he still had an angry look on his face.

Azazel: "He did care. He held a large funeral for them both and fell into depression for the next year. But he is used to losing loved ones to war so he moved on. Of course it was easier since a subordinate of his was in love with him and comforted him during his time of grieving. They got together a little while after that." Azazel explained as he was slightly nervous from the power he had felt from Issei.

Issei: "I see. I suppose it was natural for him to move on eventually. I just did not expect it to be so quickly." He said while sighing and relaxing. "So what now? You have any other questions before I take us back?" He asked as he looked at Azazel.

Azazel: "Yeah just one. Would you be interested in hanging out every now and then to play some Super Smash Brothers? You are the best opponent I have had in a long time so I figured we could have some fun playing together every once in awhile. Plus you are interesting." He said while smiling at Issei like he had just found something he was really curious about and wanted to inspect it.

Issei: "I don't mind, but I would also like to do some research together. You see I am also a researcher of Sacred Gears and Gods System so I think we could benefit from helping each other. What do you say?" He asked as he held out his had for a handshake. "I also have a fully stocked game room and a lab so you can drop by my place for our meet ups. I will have a bar installed in the game room for you." He said as he smirked slightly.

Azazel: "You had me at saying you wanted to share research, the lab and the game room are just nice bonuses. But the bar is a necessity." He said as he shook Issei's hand. "I am looking forward to seeing where this team up will lead us. I think we will be good friends in the future." He said as he smiled with his usual c.o.c.ky smile. Issei then teleported them all back to Kosaka.

Issei: "See you around Azazel. Oh and here is my address and phone number." He said as he handed a piece of paper to Azazel. "Do not be shocked if you see devils over there or angels, I often get strange guests." He said while chuckling and teleporting himself and Akeno away.

Azazel: "Well that was interesting. I guess that was his way of warning me to check things out before I visit." He said as he smiled and walked away. "I have a feeling things are going to get really busy in the next few years." He thought to himself as he teleported back to Grigori.