My dragon’s blood was used in order to enhance Gasper’s ability. Similar to that, the Champion forced me to drink the blood of a dragon. Hence, the dragon’s power within me had increased; my body became hot, and I couldn’t stop my body from changing. My arms had already dragonified, and an abnormal heat was now reaching my head! My helmet then released on its own—
“Hyaa!”
I heard kaa-san’s scream. I looked over at kaa-san, and she looked back at me with an expression as if she was looking at a monster. …What’s going on? While I was thinking about that, I used my hand to touch my own face. …The sensation of touching the human skin that I normally had couldn’t be felt, but what I felt instead was the texture of very rigid skin. Rizevim sent a small magic circle flying towards me. A mirror emerged from that magic circle. I looked in the mirror — my skin had become hard, my eyes had been enlarged, and my teeth had grown out of my mouth; it was a completely alien appearance. …I, even my face started to become dragonified…. In this situation, Rizevim lightly laughed as he gleefully said to my parents
“Please look at this carefully, Hyoudou fusai. This is what that son-shaped thing in front of you looks like — a monster.”
—! …Bastard, he would actually say that right now!? From the very beginning, he planned to have me dragonify, and let my parents see it!? He actually prepared this as some kind of a show!? …This was his payback to me for beating him up in Heaven. That bastard was actually so obsessed about that…fuck! —Seriously, even dog shit would be better than this bastard…! Rizevim continued
“In the spring of last year, your precious son died. This dragon then usurped your son’s position. He lived a false life with you. During the break, didn’t he say to you that he needed to travel away? That was because he needed to go to the world of the Devils. At the end of the year, wasn’t he always busy, and unable to spend time together with you? That’s because he was doing certain activities, as an alien, and as a monster!”
That bastard, he was really enjoying this, he was saying such things with a joyful expression! My parents’ faces were dyed with fear as they looked at Rizevim and me. …I didn’t want to look at the expression on my parents’ faces. “…Please don’t look at me, tou-san, kaa-san.”
…I tried to say such words. If there was a hole in here, I would want to hide in there! With such an appearance, I definitely didn’t want to be seen like this by my parents! Stop it! Please stop! I hope this is all just a dream! Like this…with this…uhh! My…mind collapsed. I could do nothing but cry—. Meanwhile, Rizevim continued to speak with a playful expression
“Tou-san? Kaa-san? Oh ho, did you fusai hear that? That monster still plans to use lies to deceive the two of you, right?”
At this time, standing in front of me, someone shielded me. —It was Asia! Asia had tears streaming down her face as she desperately told tou-san and kaa-san about the situation
“Otou-san, okaa-san! This person is Ise-san! Please, the both of you have to believe this! Indeed, he was reincarnated into a Devil, and he also has the power of a dragon in his body. Even so, it isn’t wrong that he is Hyoudou Issei! Please believe in him! You must…I’m begging you!”
Looking at Asia as she cried, Rizevim smiled as he said
“Hyoudou fusai, this blonde-haired girl is also a Devil. Please don’t be deceived. Things like Devils were originally monsters which used sweet temptations to pull humans into the abyss; presently, you fusai have been lured in by the Devil’s whisper, so it would be better to take note of that.”
……Asia was a good child. …The only reason that Asia died is because of me…. …Tou-san, kaa-san, its fine if you don’t trust me. But, only Asia — you only need to trust Asia…! …I…couldn’t say a thing; bearing such verbal assaults, I could only blindly apologise. “……Sorry. ……Kaa-san, tou-san……I’m sorry……”
…I’m guilty of deceiving you until now. This was my silent punishment. Perhaps this was the moment of my retribution. Because I never told you about being a Devil. No, even if I said so, would my parents believe it? Also, if I did tell them, there was the possibility that I would drag them into the supernatural world. Supposing that was the case…I couldn’t. …However, as a result, my parents were still endangered. That’s right, all of it was my fault! If I never got involved with Raynare, things wouldn’t have become like this. If I was smarter, perhaps I would’ve found a way to live as a human. …But, you know tou-san, kaa-san. I don’t regret becoming a Devil in the slightest. I met many people, and I learnt a lot of things. As a human, those were things which were absolutely impossible to experience. Only this, I’ll definitely never regret. The only thing that I regret is — I never told my parents about my true identity. So, I need to apologise to them. “—I’m truly very sorry, tou-san, kaa-san.”
So, I apologised. That was all I could do. Even if I’m rejected by the those two, even if they cut off our parent-child relationship, that’s also fine. Afterwards, it’ll be fine as long as I can rescue them. Yeah, I definitely need to rescue them. I swear! After I rescue them — I’ll leave. I can’t allow them to be endangered again, I will — obediently disappear. From my parent’s side, I’ll obediently disappear. So, I’m really sorry, tou-san, kaa-san. I burst into tears. I — repented. After I had prepared myself to be rejected by them, a voice was directed towards me. “…You are Ise? Is that right?”
—It was tou-san’s voice. Tou-san walked a little closer to me. Rizevim was shocked for a moment, and then he said with dismay
“Hold on, Hyoudou-shi. You mustn’t be fooled. Telling such stories while showing such emotional tears, it’s something that Devils can calmly do.”
But, tou-san shook his head, and still approached me. “You’re wrong, he is Ise. …That bad habit of apologising is exactly the same.”
Kaa-san then followed behind him as she nodded and said
“Yes, I also know. Even if the appearance of his face has changed, I understand his response. Ise. That child is Ise!”
The two of them — they arrived in front of me and Asia. Having dragonified, I couldn’t properly look at them…but tou-san stood in front of me, and protected me. Standing in front of Rizevim and the Champion, his legs were trembling but he still shouted
“From now on, I won’t let you do anything to my child! If you want to lay a hand on Ise, then you’ll have to send me flying first!”
—Mn! …I was shocked by tou-san’s words. “…For me, when I was born, it was very ordinary, nothing special ever happened. I never thought about doing anything special. I just wanted a plain and ordinary job; I just wanted a normal family; I just wanted to live an ordinary life with that family. Even now, that’s what I want.”
Tou-san clearly asserted. “Whether he’s some Devil or not, or whether he’s some Maou, I don’t know anything about it at all to be honest.