Chapter 3

  In the end, it took all eight of Rias’s Pawns to reincarnate me and one Bishop for Asia. For the next few days, I would be staying with Rias, and Akeno would take in Asia, at least until our living situation was resolved. As it was Friday, that meant no school for the next two days, and Rias was already telling me what will happen.

  “So that is how you found me.”

  Rias said with a bemused look after I explained to her how I showed up in her clubroom.

  “Yes, sometimes it is just that simple," I said with a smirk, looking at the crimson-haired heiress sideways as we made our way through the dusky streets of Kuoh.

  “But how did you know to ask to join my peerage? You said you grew up in an orphanage, removed from the supernatural, yet you seem to have a good knowledge of our ways.”

  “Ah, for that I would have to thank my partner.”

  “Your partner? The Red Dragon?”

  “Yes, Draig is a font of knowledge, both lived and that of his previous hosts, though sometimes it can be a little outdated or not precise; it depends on the thing, really.”

  Rias just let out a non-committal 'hmm' sound and continued walking. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up again.

  “So the Red Dragon educated you on the supernatural while you grew up?”

  "Somewhat. I manifested Draig quite early, so we have been sharing our thoughts for almost a decade at this point.” I said with a shrug. “As I said, I grew up in an orphanage, didn’t think much of the world or that there was anything more to stories other than being stories, and I got an interesting wake-up call when I was 8 years old when I met a big red dragon in my dreams. Later I was taken in by a priest, and my childhood was more or less a normal one, but he turned out to be connected to the Fallen, and I ended up with them.”

  Rias made a humming noise. “So he gave you to them?”

  “Pretty much; that was about two months ago. I spent most of the time travelling from hideout to hideout and ended up in Kuoh, and the rest you know.”

  Rias looked at me sideways, clear interest in her eyes.

  “If you had your sacred gear awakened for a decade, you are bound to be quite powerful.” Smiled Rias, looking very pleased with herself.”

  I chuckled.

  “You would think so, but I have actually never trained my Boosted Gear powers. It kind of defeated the point of staying hidden.”

  Rias shot me a questioning look.

  “My life is a statistical anomaly. The amount of attention, just from one of my powers, is not something I was too keen on.” I admitted to something that still baffled and scared me in equal measure.

  “So you hid them.”

  I nodded. “I was able to train with my father’s heritage, though, so I am not completely helpless.”

  “With me being a devil now and being under the Devil faction's protection, I am quite eager to delve into my powers headfirst.”

  “Power and immortality, I remember … I shall look forward to seeing what you can become.”

  “You did me an Asia favour; I shall not forget it.”

  We walked in silence for a moment until Rias broke it again.

  “The kindness you showed to Asia – that was quite nice of you.”

  “… to be honest, it did not cost me anything, not really.”

  “Still, you did go the extra step; others could have left her there or taken advantage of her.”

  She sounded sincere.

  “Well, I never really cared what others might do; I am who I am.”

  Another humming noise from the crimson-haired devil.

  “We will need to get you a uniform," she said after a while.

  I missed a step in my stride.

  “… a uniform?”

  “Yes, for the school.” She explained, sounding pleased with herself for some reason, though I could guess why.

  “… school?”

  A sinking feeling of realisation pooled in my stomach.

  She just smirked at me and continued walking.

  “Do keep up, Kairos-kun; we are almost there. What do you think about pizza for dinner?"

  I exhaled heavily and followed behind her.

  Pizza would be nice.

  Waking up in the morning on the couch inside an apartment of Rias Gremory has been an interesting experience. The first thing that registered when I woke up was that I really didn’t like the sun. I don’t mean in a normal ‘let me sleep’ moment. I mean in a ‘shit, the sun actually hurts’ moment. To be fair, it did go away after a few minutes. My body already processing my new devil part of it. If I had to take a guess, having divine blood helped some, but what do I know?

  Over the course of this new life, one thing I learned is that all this supernatural shit is certainly not an exact science. Some things are not compatible; some add to each other, while some multiply themselves. Who was to say if my body was twice as strong or ten times as strong by becoming a devil? Would a son of Zeus have the same increase in power? What about descendants of deities whose domains are counter or aligned to the devils? What would those even be? Darkness? Demonic? As I said, not an exact science.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  YOU ARE OVERTHINKING THIS AGAIN. THIS IS NOT A GAME; DON’T TRY TO MINMAX IT.

  IT WILL ONLY COME AND BITE YOU IN THE TAIL.

  How do you even know what that word means?

  MY WHOLE BEING IS BEYOND YOUR KEN.

  What a perfect non-answer. If you don’t know, just chalk it up to cosmic bullshit; 90% of the time it works every time.

  Anyhow, aside from the rumbling dragon inside my head, I was starting to get excited for today. Last night I chatted with Rias about what my role will be and the immediate future. The best news was that my training could begin as early as tomorrow. I was really excited about that. I have long been forced to hide and slink in the shadows, afraid to let even a sliver of my powers leak, lest I be forced into conflict I was not ready for.

  Now? Now I had a safe space to grow and support from others to help me grow in my power. The unbelievable level of attractiveness that both my new master and her queen possessed was an added bonus.

  Rias also informed me that the Fallen are likely looking for me and Asia right now, and it will only be a matter of time before they figure out where we have gone to. Afterwards, they will most likely hightail it out of Kuoh, since Rias doubted they had a stomach to antagonise two Pillar heiresses in their own territory beyond what they’ve already done.

  I wasn’t so sure about that, to be honest; the Fallen group had a purpose here, and it was definitely not just to play with some humans with Sacred Gears.

  THE FALLEN HERE ARE ALL WEAKLINGS WITH ONE PAIR OF WINGS. THEY DID NOT COME OF THEIR OWN WILL; OF THAT I AM CERTAIN.

  You think somebody is directing them? What for?

  WAR MOST LIKELY. OR AT LEAST AN INCITEMENT OF CONFLICT.

  So, the question remains, if that is true, who is giving them their marching orders?

  I slowly got up and started to get comfortable; I would need a coffee to start with. Fortunately, Rias showed me the kitchen last night and told me to make myself comfortable, so I planned to do so.

  As I went about getting some caffeine goodness and something to eat, a rustle from the door leading to the single bedroom of the apartment caught my attention. I could not help but be reminded of last night’s conversation and gulped a little. I shook my head to clear my mind and focused on the task of getting breakfast.

  A concise and unhelpful rumble echoed in my mind.

  YOU’RE A PUSSY.

  My eloquent reply of ‘Shut up’ was unheeded, and more rumbling, this time of laughter, echoed through the connection I shared with the Heavenly Dragon.

  From my back, I heard the sound of a door opening.

  “Good morning, Kairos-kun.”

  "Morning." I answered as I slowly sipped the coffee. I started to turn around and instantly regretted it, as a very much naked Rias Gremy greeted my sight.

  The first thing that went through my mind was that Rias’s crimson hair was indeed her natural colour, and the second was me spitting half-swallowed coffee back into the mug, making a mess of my shirt.

  Her giggle at my situation did not help, nor did the rumbling laughter of the red traitor.

  “Was that necessary?” I asked, unwilling to look away, and taking the opportunity of Rias being seemingly comfortable with her own nudity to just blatantly stare. By the pit, those things were huge.

  “What do you mean, Kairos-kun? This is how I sleep.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Mou, just a little harmless fun. I cannot have my pawn be a prude after all; you are a devil now.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about that."

  “Oh? But you seem to get flustered with me, and yesterday you took the couch instead of an offered place in my bed. It is big enough; you would have been comfortable.”

  I took some time to process what she was saying. Did she seriously think I was being prudish? I guess it’s not completely out of the question for my background. Raised in an orphanage and then with a priest? I can see how she would make that assumption.

  PUSSY

  This was starting to piss me off. I gathered what social courage I could and looked Rias dead in the eyes.

  “It is not that I feel shame when looking at you. It is that I do not enjoy being teased when I know it shall remain at teasing.”

  This seemed to get to her, and a blush made its way to her pale cheeks.

  “Oho? Are you having naughty thoughts about me, Kairos-kun?”

  “Very much so. So please, for your chastity and my sanity, do keep your clothes on, master, because I cannot guarantee I shall if you don’t.”

  “Mou, you are being difficult, but oh well. You do still need more time to learn our ways. With the devils, power is the main drive. With power, riches and women will follow. So do try to become powerful, servant-kun, and maybe I shall reward you.”

  At this point, my confidence was starting to leave me, images flying through my head of what could be. But I grounded myself; I needed to keep thinking with the grey matter, so I simply just nodded. Hoping that I was in fact behaving cool and collected, like a protagonist should.

  Her smirk told me it was perhaps not that case, but oh well. Such is life.

  YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR CONFIDENCE.

  Still unhelpful, partner.

  YOU WANT HELP? VERY WELL.

  GAIN POWER, AND CONFIDENCE WILL FOLLOW.

  Huh, that actually sounded more like actual advice. Was it that simple? Just become powerful, and everything will fall into place?

  TRUST ME, ONCE YOU HOLD POWER TO CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE IN YOUR HANDS, THINGS THAT ONCE SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE WILL BE MERELY ANOTHER OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME.

  I nodded internally, taking the advice for what it was.

  Having made a fresh coffee, I set down some food on the table, and Rias and I started getting some food into our systems. While chewing on a piece of toast and a sunny-side egg, Rias looked up from her own breakfast.

  “By the way, Kairos-kun, are you excited for today? We shall begin your training. My peerage made a free day for themselves and are going to be giving you and Asia-chan a helpful hand, getting your bearings as devils.”

  “Honestly, I have been looking forward to this moment for years. I am tired of hiding.”

  “Good attitude to have, Kairos-kun.”

  “If you don’t mind, could you not add the honorific to my name? The devil power of understanding other languages is playing fast and loose with me. Japanese is not my first language, but I still hear it.”

  Rias managed to look sheepish.

  “I may be adding it on purpose; it seems to be getting through your ability to translate.”

  “Must you?”

  “Mou, you are no fun at all.”

  “Just seems weird, is all.”

  Rias pouted cutely at me.

  “Just calling me Kairos, or even Kai, is good enough.”

  "Oh, very well. Kai … Kai … Kai … Nope, I shall use Kairos; it sounds better to me.”

  “As you wish, master.”

  “Ah, but you cannot call me master; that is too formal.”

  “So what do I call you?”

  “President!” She said with excitement, as if that made any sense.

  “That makes no sense.”

  “It’s the title I have as head of the Occult Research Club.”

  “It translates weird; it sounds like you are a head of state.”

  “Mou, you are being really difficult today.”

  “If it makes you happy, I could call you Rias-sama instead of master?”

  “That is too stuffy and formal.”

  “Then just Rias?”

  “Ma, how forward of you.”

  “… again, I am not Japanese.”

  In the end, we just settled on me calling her Rias when among friends and with an honorific when in the company of other devils or important people. I would still call her 'master' occasionally; it seemed to rile her up, and I was starting to like the look of embarrassed Rias.

  With the nonsense of devil translation magic aside, I was really looking forward to today. I could finally start on my journey to power. For in this world, with power came freedom and choice.

  YES, WE SHALL SHOW THEM WHAT A RED DRAGON OF DOMINATION IS TRULY CAPABLE OF, PARTNER.

  Even Draig seemed to be enthused.

  I didn’t know about becoming a dragon of domination, but I was certain we were going to at least fuck some shit up. I thought with a grin.

  AN: This story is being cross posted on AO3, WebNovel, Questionable Questing and Royal Road. Updates will be regular every Saturday at minimum. It is possible I will be able to write faster, if that happens I will post the chapters sooner, but 1 chapter per week is guaranteed.

  If you wish to read 5 chapters ahead, you can do so on my Patreon.