3 CHAPTER 3

Before starting the chapter I wanted to clear up a few things, Some of the readers are confused by the concept of souls of Liam and Issei.

So let me explain this in a simple manner, Our MC is not Liam or Issei, he only calls himself Issei because of his body…

In reality MC is a third person born from combining Issei and Liam.

For ex, imagine Liam to be 'A' and Issei to be 'B' …

Now the Mc is neither A or B, instead he is a different entity which is 'C'.

Hope it is now clear.

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Issei got up from his bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face, he splashed some water on his eyes and used a towel to dry his face when he finally noticed something which made his face pale…

His hair color… has changed!!!

He focused on his his hair which were brown since yesterday were now…

He ran his fingers through his hair and was shocked when he felt that it glided without any obstruction…

'When did my hair got so silky?'

He thought with a baffled expression, he

He looked himself in the mirror again and then did a model pose.

'Damn, I didn't knew that hair color could change someone's vibe so much…'

He now had dark red hair, his hair style also changed from his previous spiky one…

He now had hair style similar to Ken Kaneki from Tokyo ghoul but with red hair…

The most peculiar thing was that his hair were not similar to Gremory family,

They had crimson hair but his hair were more… Demonic?

What is he even saying? How can the hair be demonic? Even he didn't know what he was saying, but that was the first thing that came to his mind.

He then noticed something he failed to notice due to focusing on his hair, his eye color is also changed to red!! Even though it was not as deep color as his hair his eyes were still red in color.

He wanted answers right now, he suddenly recalled that Malphas told him to focus on his solar plexus to talk.

He followed his instructions and focused all his thoughts on his solar plexus, it wasn't too difficult and sure enough...

"Miss me already." - Malphas

"Shut up, you sound creepy!"- Issei said making a disgusted expression.

"So, what did you want? Don't tell me that you expected some super epic power-up right now." - Malphas said, Issei could literally feel sarcasm dripping from his tone.

"No, that's the thing, I didn't expected anything!! What's up with this new hair and eyes color?" - Issei

"Isn't it obvious? You are the future red dragon emperor as well as successor of Lucifer, you get it now?" - Malphas.

"No I don't! What does my hair color has to do with that?" - Issei

"Nothing, it just makes you look more like someone who took over the Lucifer." - Malphas.

"…" - Issei

"…" - Malphas

Issei sighed in defeat, it's not like he didn't appreciate the new make-over, he liked red hair, maybe mostly after he saw how cool Reinhard from re:zero looked.

But the most concerning thing right now is how he is going to explain all this to his parents,

Hair color can be changed with dyeing but what about eye color? Not to mention it just changed overnight.

His mom is going to strangle him when she catches a glimpse of him today…

He was pondering seriously to find a way to escape this precarious situation, but the only solution he could think of is…

"Malphas, you have to help me!" Yeah, he is not an idiot to let his pride be the cause of his death, in front of such a grave situation it's better to take help from allies rather than mantaining your ego.

"hahaha, the welsh dragon emperor is afraid of a human female, why haven't I died of laughter yet? Hahaha"

Issei could hear him rolling on the ground while laughing, a tick mark appeared on his head as he gritted his teeth…

"Fine! I will change the memories of everyone who knew you before that your hair and eyes color were always like this." - Malphas.

Issei sighed in relief after hearing his words, He felt a weird feeling in his chest for a moment before it disappeared like it was never there.

"I have changed the memories, it is fortunate that you haven't been in contact with a supernatural being, it would have been a pain to alter their memories."

- Malphas.

"Thanks, i guess. But wasn't this your doing in the first place?" - Issei

"Of course not, it's the influence from forbidden gremoire and boosted gear."

- Malphas.

'But in the anime, Issei's hair color didn't change after activating boosted gear, I think that's where the grimoire comes in.' Issei pondered in his mind.

"By the way, your Mana capacity also improved from before." - Malphas.

"Really!?! Didn't expect that." Issei exclaimed in surprise, he knew that Issei's talent in magic was extremely bad so getting Mana is a plus.

'This solved the problem of having low magic since Issei had bad talent and Liam was basically normal human.' Issei thought with a happy smile plastered on his face.

"Now I think you have enough Mana to talk to the sleeping dragon." Malphas reminded him again.

Issei was surprised that why he didn't think about this?

Issei didn't had to be told twice, he focused on his left arm like before and his sacred gear appeared on his arm.

He imagined something inside his chest and then imagined that to be flowing to his sacred gear.

What he was trying to do was a very crude manner to channel Mana in his body and send it to his sacred gear to provide enough power to communicate with the heavenly dragon of domination.

Sure enough the green gem in the centre of the gauntlet started to give off a blinded glow which made Issei unable to see anything.

When he finally opened his eyes he saw himself floating and in front of him was a scene so majestic that he won't be able to forget in his whole life.

He saw a Ddraig for the first time in his true form… A red dragon with green eyes with fire surrounding his whole body was staring straight into his eyes...

It was impossible to not be imitated when you can literally feel the power and dominance oozing out of his aura.

Issei could feel his scalp get wet with sweat, but he didn't back down either and continued to stare back at the heavenly dragon.

After a few moments Issei heard him snorting "You are not that bad at least in personality, human. I think I will barely accept you as my host."

Issei's side of mouth curled up in a smirk and said "Barely acceptable huh? I would like to call myself the strongest red dragon emperor of the history instead."

Ddraig paused for a second and then broke into a laughter "Hahaha, that's the type of domineer I expect from my host..."

"...Fine, I will give you my full support, in exchange I only want you to defeat the white one."

After that Issei felt his eyes getting closed without his control, next moment he again opened his eyes to find himself in his room.

He looked at his left arm and saw that he has already unlocked the whole boosted gear, before he only had the gauntlet covering his hand but now it reached to his forearm.

(A/n: he is talking about the form Issei achieved while fighting Raynare.)

He focused on it and could feel a mental connection forming in his mind

"I think this is the start of our partnership." - Issei

"Indeed, but you have to get strong first, human. I saw how you were training since the last few years, your will power is commendable but the training you do is not efficient, from now on I will assist you in training." Ddraig stated through the mental link.

"Thanks" Issei said in a grateful tone while feeling excited, he himself knew that the training he was doing was not enough, he could become strong in the future but not as strong as someone like Vali.

Issei sneaked through the stairway to downstairs, he hesitated for a second and then stepped inside the living room where his parents were.

They both turned towards him after hearing the noise of footsteps, Issei stopped in his tracks and didn't stayed silent.

The staring contest went on for a few moments until his mother exclaimed "Issei, why are you so late today? Normally you wake up earlier than today."

Issei silently released the breath which he didn't knew that he was holding and replied "I think I was just a little tired from yesterday."

"We were waiting for you, let's eat now." He nodded his head and sat down to fill his belly, due to the crazy training he perform everyday, it was natural that his appetite was higher than a average person.

Finishing his breakfast, he stepped outside his house and started walking to anywhere with less activity.

"I sense no on nearby, This place should be good enough."

He stopped his footsteps and looked around to get a better look at his surroundings, he was basically surrounded by abandoned warehouses and factories…

'Where the hell is this place anyway?' This was a typical type of place where crime happened.

Issei wasn't exactly scared of that though, after all the training and martial arts, there shouldn't be any normal human who could defeat him.

"For the starters, I am going to teach you the basis of magic and fire magic since it's the main element I use."

"First of all, do you know what fire is? What the basis of flames is? How is it possible for it to exist?" Ddraig asked Issei with a light sneer which confused the latter.

"Isnt it formed by the process of combustion in which-"

"hahahahah" Ddraig couldn't control himself anymore and laughed which didn't exactly suited his image.

"What's wrong?" Issei asked with a puzzled expression, he didn't knew why Ddraig was laughing at him but it subconsciously made him embarrassed for some reason.

"So the humans have even found a way to explain the process of forming flames huh? Then why shouldn't I and the other gods related to fire just die with laughter."

"What do you mean?" The puzzled expression on his face grew more.

"I apologize for laughing like that, in simple words the explanation the humans have found for the existing of flames is entirely wrong…"

"… The elements such as fire, ice, lightning and so on, the laws and the reason behind their existence are only known by few who have mastered the respective element. The explanation that humans have 'assumed' is nothing more than inaccurate thesis and made up numbers to forcefully explain what they couldn't find out."

"Even the supernatural beings don't know how to properly handle the flames, they just depend on their bloodlines to increase the power of their attacks." Ddraig finished and paused for a few moments to let Issei register the information in his mind.

"So, since you are the heavenly dragon of domination, it means that you also have a complete mastery over your element?" Issei inquired after a few moments of pondering.

"Naturally, even the god couldn't control the fire element like me."

"I see… but what if I don't have talent in that element?" Issei expressed his doubts with a frown on his face.

"There is no need to be worried about that, by possessing the boosting gear, your raw talent has already reached the best in the world in terms of using the fire."

Issei was flabbergasted, best in the world? Does that mean that he can reach the level where Ddraig once was? That would be really awesome, as much as he knew Ddraig was feared and respected by all the factions and alliances in his times.

"That's not the only thing, we also have to still find the element in which you were innately talented since you inherented the talent in flames from me."

Issei nodded his head, this made some sense to him, the fact that he had the talent but he only need to train to bring that out was like a boost in his motivation.

"Yeah, let's get started!!"

Ddraig then proceeded to teach Issei the basics of magic and told him to practice it until he feels that he can control his Mana like the back of his hand.

It was quite difficult for him since his body was not used to the Mana in the start, the sudden spike of Mana in his body was causing problems for him thus Ddraig first told him to control the Mana properly.

Ddraig informed him that he had Mana capacity equal to a low-class devil much to Issei's surprise, it wasn't much but with the fact that Issei was still a human, it was not that bad.

Issei spent the whole day doing the same thing over and over again, he would first try to feel the Mana in his body and then circulate it through all parts of his body individually.

It was obvious that he couldn't master this in one day, but even so there was quite some progress, at least it didn't felt that he was playing tug of war with his Mana anymore.

Ddraig complimented his hard work and will power again which greatly pleased Issei.

The sun was already setting in the horizon when he arrived back at his house, he entered through the front door and after greeting his parents went for a shower.

He sat on his bed with a thud and released a tired breath, even if it wasn't physically tough, it still used all his mental energy to focus on his Mana again and again.

While Ddraig was training Issei, Malphas on the other hand was peacefully sleeping in the grimoire without a single care.

"Human, you should leave this house for training for a few years, you are merely wasting your time here by studying something you will never need in your life..."

"… You have a great destiny ahead of you, instead of wasting your time here in the comfort of your house you should be training and gaining experience."

Issei stayed silent even after Ddraig finished his suggestion, he himself knew that the schedule he was following right now was eating his time, like going to school and the trip he has to make from back to school or park to home… Every single second is important to him but…

The idea of leaving behind the smiling faces of parents, leaving this family didn't sit well with him, maybe because of the influence of Issei's soul, he became to value his family very much…

Ddraig seemed to have read his line of thoughts as he suggested "If you are worried about your parents that much then I can just erase your memories from their minds…"

Issei didn't said anything and instead clenched the bedsheets of his bed tightly, he just imagined what would it feel like if Gorou and Miki didn't recognize him, didn't called him son again, didn't recognize him and call him a stranger even when he was standing in front of them, this thought weighed heavily on his mind since even he felt that it was a good solution to erase his memories.

He knew that they weren't exactly his own parents but he still felt attached to them since Issei was a part of his being and most importantly the two years he spent with them were very memorable, he spent many warm moments as well as arguments with them…

He leaned back on the bed to lay down his upper body and put his forearm over his eyes and said in a low and barely audible whisper "What to do?"

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So I'm asking you guys now to make a choice here,

Either he leaves his home to train and gain strength.

Or

He stays cooped up in his house till the Canon and train here.

To vote just drop a paragraph comment at the choice you want to vote with a '+1' comment.

For those who are reading on browser, you can just comment in the chapter comments.