I, Hyoudou Issei, found my consciousness within my own heart. Or, in their terms, my mindscape? Normally, this space is silent, save for the lingering presence of past Red Dragon Emperors. Now, it was filled with crimson-black mud, submerging the predecessors without resistance.
As nine rings—not one—were embedded into my body, overwhelming emotions surged. Not from one or two souls, but countless—three thousand years of humanity's collective feelings, crashing like a tsunami.
First came the king's wrath, intent on incinerating the world. A compulsion for evolution called expectation.
"I won't forgive the Devils who violated my kingdom. I won't forgive the Fallen Angels who slaughtered my people. I won't forgive the angels who defiled my wealth. I won't forgive the humans who relied solely on me. I won't forgive the gods who denied my ideals. Humanity could achieve so much more—why does no one understand? If you won't move forward, I'll force you to! For your own sake, you must go further! You must live for the future!"
It was a sorrow I never wanted to witness.
"I don't want to fight anymore."
"Lord, I surrender myself to you."
"Kill, kill, kill!"
"A man like you shouldn't live!"
"I won't forgive Rome!"
"No, you can't die!"
"Mommy, where are you?"
"Another failure…"
"Hey, your dad's a murderer!"
"Liar!"
"This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"You should be grateful to bear my child."
"How dare you forget me!"
"Whew! These guys will make fine slaves!"
"Let's sacrifice that orphan."
"Scary, scary, scary!"
"I'll have my revenge."
"We need to cut rations this year."
"Please, you at least must live!"
Screams I never wanted to hear.
"Daddy—"
"Someone, help!"
"What did I ever do?!"
"The deceived deserve it."
"Poor thing."
"Stay back, monster!"
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of your wife."
"Why is my invention used for war?"
"No! This is my child with him—I won't let you take them!"
"If not for him, I'd have been promoted."
"Nothing beats hunting for stress relief."
"Verdict: the defendant is a witch."
"You too, Brutus?!"
"I loved you."
"Stop it!"
"Let's die together."
"Come faster, you useless fool!"
"You're a burden just by existing."
"Hand over the money!"
"I thought God would fix everything."
Tragedies I never wanted to know.
"Die, you fool!"
"Take that!"
"It's broken."
"I can still fight—"
"My stomach's empty…"
"She fought believing your words!"
"Sita, where are you?"
"Now Britannia falls, Arthur! What will you do?"
"This isn't the victory I wanted!"
"I won't forgive you, Diarmuid!"
"Die for God!"
"Tch, this is useless now. Toss it."
"Die for the company."
"Ugly."
"It's a necessary sacrifice."
"I shouldn't have given birth to you."
"Don't hate me."
"No, no! I didn't do that!"
"I was never meant to be king!"
This is the world a certain Beast saw. The sins of human history my other half was taught for three thousand years, now carved into me as humanity's karma.
"Help me…"
"You're my servant from today!"
"This experiment failed. Prepare the next subject."
"Blame the God of the Bible who made Sacred Gears."
"Mere humans!"
"I'm bored. Let's trade."
"God… is dead?"
"A rare Sacred Gear. Extract it for Azazel-sama!"
"Servants obey their masters, right?"
"Amen!"
"Reincarnating rare ones could be fun."
"Why is she branded a heretic?!"
"It was all my doing."
"I don't want to die."
"Can't a Devil love God's apostle?"
"For every happiness you stole, carve death into these freaks!"
"Father, why did you abandon me?"
"Human, surpass my corpse. That's the true history of humanity!"
This can't be everything. It's only a fragment. If this were all, the world would've ended long ago. Humanity would've perished. There must be beauty, purity, justice. Those allowed humanity to survive this far.
"Red Dragon Emperor, cease your pretense."
It's not everything, but it's undeniably true. A reality I can't ignore or avert my eyes from. That's why I'm the Overlord Dragon. That's why the past Red Dragon Emperors existed.
I didn't want to see, hear, or know it. I was lucky to avoid it. But tragedies like these litter this star in nauseating abundance.
Even I, right? I didn't want to admit it, but I knew. I was abandoned to die. I was used. Reused. I died. Not by choice, but because of the dragon's power I couldn't even acknowledge, I was killed. Deceived and killed. If killing was the goal, why did that Fallen Angel play at being my lover? Laughing inside? Oh, she died somewhere unrelated to me. And the woman who let me die—I can't kill her. I loved her once, so I can't, even knowing it's wrong. I just can't kill the woman I loved.
In such a world, have I seen anything radiant enough to deny this ugliness? Do I know anything warm or kind?
"Rias Gremory's Pawn, recall the humans you've seen."
No need to think. I was raised among such things.
"Issei, good morning."
"Get up, Issei!"
Dad, Mom.
"Hey, buddy, let's talk about boobs!"
"Return that adult DVD I lent you!"
"God, you reek of virgin."
Matsuda, Motohama, Kiryuu.
"Boy, found any good boobs yet?"
The picture-book man.
"Devil-kun's a fun guy."
"Let's watch Milky together!"
"Devils are surprisingly nice."
Morisawa-san, Mil-tan, Susan.
"Issei-san, we'll meet again, I promise!"
Was it Zepar's IF possibility that made me feel this way? Despite meeting only once, Asia, I miss you so much.
Those ordinary days feel so beautiful, so distant. Yes, before I became a Devil, my normal life—that was beautiful enough to deny this hatred. At the Kuoh Summit terror, I told Vali not to mock my parents. To him, they're trivial, but to me, they're irreplaceable family.
I want to return there. I must. As I tried to resolve myself, my feet wouldn't move. Hands like zombies from the mud grabbed my ankles.
"Don't mess with me!"
The mud-covered zombies multiplied, seizing my waist and shoulders, dragging me into the mire, spewing misplaced resentment.
"They stole from us!"
"We never had it to begin with!"
"Why haven't you lost anything?!"
"A Devil!"
"A Devil living like a human is wrong!"
"—Die!"
Infinite resentment assaulted me as I sank.
"Die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die!"
"Die, irresponsible Red Dragon Emperor!"
"Someone as strong as you could've done something!"
"What a terrible guy!"
"Kill him!"
"Kill!"
"Kill everyone who made me miserable!"
"That's your duty!"
"Don't shirk your role!"
"My child died because of you!"
"If you won't do it, give me your body!"
So ugly. Why am I blamed? I'm not involved! Is this humanity's true nature? Nonsense. It shouldn't be. I just remembered it's not everything. Sure, there are bad parts, but—
"Hyoudou Issei, accept humanity's essence."
Yes, this is humanity's essence. Resistance is futile. Action is meaningless. I'll drown in this mud. Tainted by it, I'll kill that Devil. The woman who overlooked my death. I'll destroy everyone responsible.
"Don't give up, Hyoudou Issei."
…Zepar?
"You're worthy to walk our ideal. A Devil who regained human thought. But this is wrong. This isn't even a Beast of Humanity. Living for revenge is fine. Dying for vengeance is fine. Atoning for someone's regret is admirable."
Then why stop me?
"Revenge driven by this malice lacks your own emotions! You feel no pity for this vengeance. Don't answer a duty you don't feel. Will you become a convenient tool for others' whims? How is such folly justified?"
"Exactly, Oppai Dragon Emperor. You mustn't end like this."
A mysterious voice and light appeared in my mindscape, evaporating the mud.
The clarity from the mud's absence sharpened my thoughts. I recalled a god from another world I'd interfered with, taught by Zepar. A spirit from a world the Demon God Pillars tentatively called E.
"…A god from another world?"
"Yes, Demon God of another world. I'm a spirit serving the Oppai God."
"We knew of you through parallel world observation, but for such an absurd freak to exist… When we learned of you, the information room, observatory, and twenty-seven Pillars panicked."
"That's your problem."
I get Zepar's feelings, but protesting its existence is fair. If existing is a crime… what then? Is the malice flowing to the rings a sin just for existing? They're victims, unsaved and unsaveable?
Also, stop calling me that! That TV show from a parallel world hasn't even been conceived here!
"Oppai Dragon Emperor, with the Oppai God's blessing, defeat the Beast of Truth, the root of all evil, with your love for breasts. You can save humans and non-humans alike."
"Why?"
Killing intent cloaked in questions rose from the fading mud.
"Why help him but not me?!"
"Exactly."
"We sought power too!"
"Why only now?"
"Hey, quiet, Oppai Spirit! I've been in this situation—"
Zepar's attempt to stop it was too late. The Oppai God's envoy spoke, pulling the final stopper.
"Why must I save you?"
Surely, it meant no harm. It simply didn't understand the need to save unrelated humans from another world. But to the mud, pure malice without a shred of goodness, it was the worst answer. Instantly, mud surged from the ground, tainting the cleared air, swallowing me.
"They abandoned us."
"They abandoned me. Abandoned. Abandoned."
"Poor me, so poor, so pitiful, so pitiful."
"Not just this world."
"All worlds are garbage."
"He must be killed."
"Everyone must die."
"I'm so pitiful—happy people shouldn't exist!"
"Be miserable!"
"So die!"
"Kill him!"
"Red Dragon Emperor, do it, you must, you have to!"
The mud mixed into me, swirling around me like a vortex, drawing everything in.
"S-stop, Oppai Dragon Emperor! D-don't absorb me, nooo! I, we, are melting…! No, no, I don't want to be killed…!"
Goodbye, Zepar. Farewell.
"Stop… please! This is our fault! Wait, Hyoudou Issei! I should be dragged down with you! Don't sever me!"
Sorry. I can't meet that expectation. I avoided Juggernaut Drive thanks to you. Your alien emotions cared for me. This is my last shred of conscience.
"That goodness is unnecessary! A being born this way isn't even a Beast of Humanity! What ideals or love can such a mass of hatred prove? Worthless and meaningless! Wait, we're not done—"
No, it's over. Thanks, otherworldly Demon God. Next time, like Ddraig, you'll probably be my enemy. Everyone but me is an enemy.
As my vision sank into the mud, a kingly man I'd never met clapped.
"Thank you, Hyoudou Issei, sacrificial hero who gave himself to save the world. My ideal is fulfilled. Too long a journey. Three thousand years too long. Finally, I can atone. I can surpass my Lord. Congratulations! Humanity can now evolve!"
Empty gratitude and blessings. So hollow, so blatant.
I get it now.
This king didn't care who touched the mud. His goal wasn't salvation—it was proof.
My consciousness drowned in the mud.
With this resolve, his Class was determined.
"I awaken."
The title of weakest Red Dragon Emperor was a lie.
"I am the Red Dragon Emperor, taught my sins by God."
A calamity born of humanity's endless desires, bearing the karma of human history.
"Abandoning the infinite path, sinking to the end of illusion."
Named Beast D/L, a Beast of Humanity on this star, wielding the principle of Expectation.
"I fall to the Beast of the Crimson Overlord Path."
An idol burdened with tragedy and miracles, forced into salvation and victory.
"I shall forget you all."
That is Hyoudou Issei's bestial nature.
Juggernaut Drive And Advent Beast!!
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