High School DxD light novel

Life...

...The crumbling field.

I'm walking...in that field... But I don't have the strength to walk any more...

I'm going forward...while having Ophis lend me her shoulder... It's the effect of the curse...

...It's truly ironic, since I'm having Ophis help me when I came to rescue her...

...My eyesight is getting blurry. ...That's weird, since I'm not even sleepy.

...I don't feel the pain...from Samael's curse now...

It doesn't hurt...nor is it painful...

[Partner! It's almost time! Azazel and the others are probably about to open the Dragon Gate for us! Then the only thing left for them is to summon us!]

...Ddraig. I know it... Let's go on...

...Oh yeah, what should I do once I get home...? Reflect on...what I did wrong for the promotion test with everyone...?

...Oh yeah...we still have the mid-semester test as well...

...Once I get...home, I will first...

"...Hey Ophis."

"?"

"What do you want to do once you return...?"

"Return? I, do not have any place to return to. The dimensional gap, I do not have the power to return to it."

"...Then you can return...to my place..."

"The house of Sekiryuutei?"

"...Yeah, that's right. If you were able to get along with...Asia...and Irina...then you can get along with...everyone else as well..."

My legs...won't go any further...

Huh...? My sight...goes to the side...and then up...

...Did I fall down...? No, I can't even tell that...

"...Ophis, have you ever...fallen in love with someone...?"

...What am I saying...?

However...I can see...that beautiful...crimson hair...in my mind...

[Partner, get a hold of yourself! Everyone is waiting for you!]

...Yeah I know...

...Asia...is a cry-baby so I have to return quickly...

...Akeno-san...is a very fragile person...even if she looks like that...and Koneko-chan...I'm glad she's getting along with Ravel...

...Xenovia...and Irina...I remember when they were enemies at first...

"Ddraig, this person has the curse circulating through his entire body. —He's at his limit."

[I know that, Ophis! I already know that! But he won't die! This man has always kept on standing up!]

...Rossweisse-san...Gasper...hurry and come...home...

...Azazel-sensei...Kiba...Matsuda, Motohama...my important...

[Let's go home! Partner! What are you doing! Stand up! You always stood up!]

...Sairaorg-san...Vali...I still...want to fight...you guys...

...Rias...the one I love...

"——Ise, come back to me."

...I'm glad that...I confessed to her...

...I will definitely...return to...your...side...

"I love you Rias..."

I'm glad...that I could at least...say that...

...——

"...Ddraig, this person isn't moving."

[...Yeah.]

"...Ddraig, you are crying?"

[...Yeah.]

"I, only knew him for a short time."

[...Yeah.]

"He wasn't a bad person. —He was my first friend."

[...Yeah, it was fun. ...Hey, Ophis. No, this man's last friend.]

"What is it?"

[Can you listen to my story for a bit, before I move on to a new host?]

"Okay."

[I want you to remember this man forever. Let me talk about him...]

"Was he a good Sekiryuutei?"

[Yeah, this is the story about the man who was the best Sekiryuutei.]

[=Lost Life=]

In front of me, Kiba Yuuto, there is a ritual being performed by Azazel-sensei along with the help of the former Dragon-King Tannin-sama.

"The preparation of the summoning magic circle is complete. We will open the Dragon-Gate."

Sensei said that, and the magic circle started to glow.

We, the Gremory group, and those who are involved, are at the place where the promotion test for Mid-class devils took place.

We were on the transportation floor. Azazel-sensei drew a magic-circle to call dragons on the whole floor of the basement. He's trying to open the Dragon-Gate in order to call out Ise-kun. Kuroka is also helping with that. After the battle in the artificial dimension, we moved to a place where we could draw a magic-circle to summon Ise-kun, and are currently opening the Dragon-Gate to summon Ise-kun by force.

We called the former Dragon-King, Tannin-sama immediately for his assistance in opening the Dragon-Gate. Of course, the Hakuryukou (White Dragon Emperor), Vali, is waiting at the side of the magic-circle while enduring the damage caused by Samael's curse. Buchou and my comrades are looking at them with anxious expressions.

After that, the monsters created by the "Annihilation Maker" in the artificial dimension appeared in the Underworld and they have begun their attacks on each of the main areas of towns.

The counter-attack squads have already been deployed by both the devils' side and the fallen-angels' side.... But they are having a hard time due to the large area they have to cover and the formidable monsters. Apparently, the monsters are creating more anti-monsters by themselves while they are advancing forward. Then the remnants of the Old-Maou factions joined them and began to attack towns and villages that were along the routes of the gigantic monsters.

The God from the realm of the dead, Hades, was helping both the Old-Maou faction and the Hero-faction from behind the scenes. He was sticking his evil hands around to the point, where even the Hero-faction was fooled by him. A scheme Hades probably made so he could cause a blow to the devils, fallen-angels or other factions.... As a result of Hades' actions, the gigantic monsters have appeared in the Underworld.

Right about now, he's probably looking at this situation with glee.

I'm also worried about Ophis' power that was stolen by Cao Cao. The birth of a new Ophis by using that power....

The situation is gradually growing so serious that it seems like the Maou-sama are persuading each of the factions... But the existence of Cao Cao who holds the holy-spear that can even take down God is a looming threat, and they couldn't get cooperation from the superior-beings.

A spear that can kill Maou and God.

If a God from a certain faction or the Maou was to be killed by that spear, the status quo of the factions will be overturned. Having that in mind, it became hard for the higher-ups to move. Due to that, young devils with power like us and the teams of Ultimate-class devils received the mission to take down the monsters.

We are devils with great power. We have to proceed forward and fight since Maou-sama cannot battle. Sairaorg Bael is also heading out.

There are reinforcement squads dispatched from those factions who we have alliances with:

From the Heavens, the "Brave Saints".

From the fallen-angel sides, the Sacred Gear possessors.

From Northern Europe, the Valkyrie squads.

They have responded to the crisis of the Underworld...the devils side. Since the Gods and Maou cannot move, the people below them have to.

Xenovia and Irina-san successfully told the circumstances to the higher ups of each faction. I heard that they are currently in heaven repairing Durandal.

But at this rate, the monsters will destroy the capital located in the Maou's territory. The evacuation of the civilians had already started, but it's a grave situation as we don't know if we will make it in time.

….We need your power Ise-kun. The time for you to use the power of the Sekiryuutei for the Underworld has come. There are many children in the capital waiting for you to come! That's why please come back!

"….Yes! It's connected!"

Sensei shouted and the magic-circle started to glow!

The jewel of Fafnir that Sensei held glowed in a golden colour. Vali's body also emitted a white-light. Tannin-sama's body also glowed in a purple colour. And the light spread throughout the whole floor....

I blocked the dazzling light with my hands, and the light stopped.

We then looked at the centre of the magic-circle.

At the centre of the magic-circle, what appeared was.... 8 evil pieces of "Pawn".

..... Eh....? Wh…what does this mean....? I couldn't understand this phenomenon. What's in front of me isn't Ise-kun but....."Evil-Pieces". That's it.

And those "Evil-Pieces" have the same crimson colour as the evil pieces that Buchou had….. But it isn't Ise-kun.

Ise-kun isn't there. Instead there are only 8 "Pawn" pieces....

For a moment, we didn't know what this meant. Sensei dropped lifelessly onto his knees and hit the floor.

".....You idiot....!"

With the words Sensei let out, we started to realise what happened. Akeno-san sat on the spot lifelessly. Buchou went into a daze while standing.

".....Where's Ise-san? ...…..Eh?"

Asia-san said it with a puzzled expression. Ravel-san hugged onto Koneko-chan who wasn't showing any reaction and she started to shake her head really hard saying "No...." while weeping...….

....You are not fair, Ise-kun. Just to return the evil-pieces...…

....You said you would definitely come back..... The tears that are falling down from my cheeks didn't stop for a while.

That day, we lost Ise-kun...…