[Issei Hyoudou]
Wait... what? This guy is insane.
Seeing the ice lance coming in my direction, I moved my hand to summon the inventory and pulled out an enormous sword. Gripping it with both hands, I raised the claymore in front of me like a shield and released all of my mana.
The ice lance collided with the blade in an impact that made my arms vibrate all the way to the shoulder, pushing me backward while leaving a jagged, crystalline trail across the alley floor.
Biting my lip, I planted my foot on the ground and swung the claymore in a downward arc that shattered what remained of the projectile into purple fragments.
This damned guy...
I ran my hand across my forehead, still feeling the tingling of the impact in my fingers.
How does he, a completely nameless nobody, dare attack the protagonist of this world? This guy wasn't supposed to exist in this universe.
Romani Oyama...
No matter how hard I tried to remember him, there was no Romani in High School DxD, right?
As someone who had watched the original series more times than he had masturbated to Black Bible and Boku no Pico before reincarnating, I was certain that this bastard had no business being in my favorite series.
So why was he surrounded by the girls who were supposed to belong to me? None of this made the slightest sense.
As that thought crossed my mind with total indignation, a holographic screen formed before my eyes.
=======================
New Quest: The Beloved Protagonist vs. the Hated Anomaly.
Objective: As the protagonist, you are required to eradicate the Anomaly.
Reward: Fire Dragon Slayer Magic
Penalty (Failure): GenderBender
Accept: Y/N
=======================
Fire Dragon Slayer Magic! Just by the name alone, this magic sounded absurd, obscenely powerful. And the penalty... what the hell did GenderBender mean? Even with my incredible +8000 intellect, a single word thrown out there didn't make much sense.
Either way, there was no reason to worry about failing. I am the protagonist of this series with a system. Please, I could bend this entire world to my will at any moment I chose.
With an arrogant smile spreading across my lips, I moved my hand to accept the quest and stared at the anomaly standing in front of me.
"You had your chance, now I..."
Kya! I threw my body to the side, feeling the purple wind of a second lance graze my face.
"Lunatic, I was in the middle of my speech." I raised my body, pointing the claymore directly at him.
"Let's kill each other then." Grinning like a sociopath, he raised his hand and a new lance formed between his fingers.
I swallowed hard. What is wrong with this guy? Does he only know how to throw lances?
Whatever. I just needed to finish him off.
Ddraig...
{Let's go, partner.}
With the Welsh Dragon's voice echoing in my head, a crimson gauntlet materialized around my arm.
It was the Boosted Gear, also known as the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet, with the spirit of the mighty Welsh Dragon, Ddraig, residing within its depths.
"Oh! A Sacred Gear. This is my first time seeing one." Still smiling, the Anomaly who kept hovering around my women like a fly around honey tilted his head slightly to the side, curious.
"That's right, peasant." I raised the Boosted Gear toward him with dignity.
This gauntlet allows me to double my power every ten seconds, without limit, until my own body reaches the threshold it can sustain.
I couldn't lose to you.
Let's go all out, Ddraig!
"{Boost.}"
With the command echoing through the gauntlet like a pulse of heat that ran through my entire arm, I felt my power double instantly.
For the breasts of Rias, Akeno, and Koneko...
Screaming with every ounce of will I had, I moved my body and charged toward Romani in a burst of speed that made the ground crack beneath my feet.
✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧===✧°✦°✧
[Romani Oyama]
He had gotten stronger. Even the magical energy around him had visibly doubled.
Gripping the demonic ice lance firmly, I twisted my wrist and thrust toward him with precision. A smile spread across Issei's lips as he blocked with the claymore.
With the impact, I felt the vibration travel up my arm. This guy isn't weak. But he isn't smart either.
Doubling power is impressive, sure. The problem is that strength without technique is just louder noise with more wreckage at the end.
I fell back two steps, gaining a little space as he screamed something about someone's breasts with a conviction that left me mildly concerned about his mental state.
"{Boost.}"
The deep voice came from the gauntlet in his hand once again, and in that same instant, the pressure around us increased noticeably.
Damn, this is starting to get exciting.
Let's raise the level a bit...
Smiling, I raised my hand and activated the ⟨Abyssal Binds⟩.
But I wasn't using them on him. I was using them on myself.
From my back, tearing through the fabric of the jacket with a wet, heavy sound, three black tentacles emerged. Visceral, dense, rooted in my own body like tenants refusing to pay rent.
Issei stopped for a second.
"What the hell is that!?"
"My Sacred Gear too." Smirking, I lied with the most serious face in the world.
Without waiting another second, the first tentacle shot into the ground, anchoring my body at the moment he charged in a burst of speed. The second spread out laterally like a whip, not to strike directly, but to force a correction in his trajectory. The third coiled around my own forearm like improvised armor at the exact moment the claymore came down on me with the weight of a verdict.
The impact drove me downward. My knees bent until they nearly touched the stone floor.
Heavy.
I drove my heel into the ground, feeling the stone crack under the redistributed pressure.
"{Boost.}"
Third time.
This guy was getting stronger, so let's play for real.
Taking advantage of the composition of the surrounding air. Ambient temperature. Residual suspended humidity. The vapor coming from Issei's mouth with each quickened breath. I had plenty of material to work with.
I extended my free hand, concentrating my demonic power in the air around him and simply... froze it.
A thin layer of demonic ice crystallized around the region of his lungs, not from the inside, but from the outside of his ribcage. Just enough to make every breath a conscious and uncomfortable effort.
Doing this in a fight against an experienced opponent wouldn't work because the technique demands intense concentration and mental multitasking, making it impractical in real combat.
However, this guy wasn't exactly an experienced fighter.
"You can keep doubling." I raised the lance as the tentacles repositioned around me like a functional defense system. "But at some point you'll actually need to breathe."
Issei gasped, grasping for air, staring at me with horror as I started to genuinely enjoy myself.
His eyes went to the gauntlet with an expression of discomfort.
"{Boost.}"
With the power increase, he was using his mana to shatter the ice around his lungs.
He smiled, spitting a fragment of purple crystal along with blood to the side with the expression of someone who had just won an argument.
This is getting exciting...
The three tentacles fired simultaneously and in coordination. Two created a movement-restriction cage around Issei, forcing his displacement options. The third swept the ground toward his feet in a low line to knock him off balance. At the same time, I condensed the demonic ice into a compact lance.
"{Romani Oyama.}" The Sacred Gear's voice echoed from within the gauntlet. It was the first time that Sacred Gear had pronounced my name directly. "{Interesting.}"
Issei seemed surprised by the unsolicited comment from his own Sacred Gear. I took advantage of the half-second distraction without hesitation, firing the lance.
The purple lance advanced, cutting through the air toward Issei.
The brown-haired boy moved his body to the side on pure instinct, the demonic cold tearing through the air centimeters from his face like a razor of temperature, while the wall beside him became covered in purple crystals.
Issei stood still for a moment, staring at the crystallized wall with an expression that had finally abandoned the arrogant smile.
"That would have gone straight through me."
He swallowed hard.
"{Boost.}"
Oh. A fifth time. It'll keep accumulating until the body can no longer sustain the excess, won't it?
"So then... do you have anything beyond that?" I twirled the lance, finding all of this exciting. Please, let's have even more fun.
"Son of a... SHUT UP!"
He charged toward me, exploding with speed.
At the exact moment his feet left the ground, the two tentacles on my back fired at strange angles, tearing into the soil and launching debris in his direction.
He dodged the flying fragments on reflex.
Taking advantage of that opening, the third tentacle coiled around Issei's left ankle and slammed him against the ground. Issei landed face-first on the cobblestone with a solid thud that echoed through the entire alley.
"Damn you!" He raised his hand in my direction.
"{Explosion!}"
All of the accumulated power began projecting through the gauntlet.
Before the blast of energy could collide with my body, one of the tentacles simply thrust upward, and the explosion tore through the alley toward the sky.
"..."
How many people are nearby? I just hope this guy puts up some kind of barrier.
{Reset.}
Feeling all the mana that had been multiplied several times over drop at once, I calmly raised my hand toward him.
The frigid air solidified around his arms, legs, and lower torso in thin layers of demonic ice that stacked one over the other, like shackles.
Issei tried to move and managed only to crack the outer edges with a snap.
I slowly lowered myself until I was at eye level with Issei, who had his left cheek pressed flat against the ground and an expression that mixed fury with total disbelief.
"You have an absurd power... that last strike had enough energy to evaporate me."
"So why did you..." he ground his teeth, fighting against the ice. "Why aren't you..."
"Dead?" I smiled, dragging the tip of my finger across his cheek and freezing the skin. "Because even destructive power still needs someone intelligent to use it."
"I'm the protagonist!" He screamed, glaring at me with pure rage and hatred. "Protagonists don't lose like this."
I looked at him for a moment without saying anything before rising and forming an ice lance in my hand. Even though you have entertaining potential, I'm not particularly fond of your existence.
Just as I was about to bring the lance down toward his neck, his eyes went wide as though he were seeing something in front of him.
"Wait... why is the penalty being highlighted?" Issei's voice came out higher, almost feminine. "HEY! WAIT! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY VOICE?"
Before I could understand what was happening, a golden light formed over his body, and he vanished from the alley.
Huh!?
What happened?
I blinked, confused, and lazily straightened up, scratching my head.
Author's Note: Well... Issei lost. Not only did he lose the battle, but he's about to lose something even more precious to all of us men. How much emotional damage will this cause him?