Natsu Dragneel In Dxd - Volume 1 Chapter 34 Welcome To My Home Part I

Interdimensional Travel.

Funny words, aren’t they?

I mean, first, let’s take the meaning behind them. Interdimensional means the space between to entirely different realms of space and time, all connected by the circ.u.mstantial and bendable rules of the universe. Then, Travel. That obviously means to commute from one place in time to another. Combine those two definitions and you get a pretty good summary of the complete absurdity that is Interdimensional Travel.

Now, let’s move onto Magic.

That’s a pretty brittle but malleable subject. Is the purpose of magic to follow the rules of the universe, or break them? Was magic even created- did it just happen to appear and fuse itself within the confines of the laws of physics everyone follows to this day? Truth is, who knows where it came from, or rather, who cares? What matters with magic is not its questionable origins, but its unforeseen and dangerous future.

Will it be used for benevolence or corruption?

Leading us to find the answer to this existential question are our young and brave heroines and heroes. Rias’ peerage has gone through a lot to get to where they are now: crippling a corrupted church, battling a phoenix, fending off a fallen Angel, prevented a coup d’etat, got stabbed in the back with betrayal, and witnessed the official declaration of war from a terrorist group called the Choas Brigade. With so many life-threatening encounters, the group has had to grow stronger throughout the school year in an insane amount of time. Their growth has exceeded anybody’s expectations, especially since, now, Rias’ peerage has a total of three individuals withBalance Breakers, along with multiple persons holding special magic andHoly Swords. And somehow, despite the odds, Rias Gremory came into the possession of the vessel for one of theHeavenly Dragons, theRed Dragon Emperor, Ddraig; she is also, unknowingly, harboring an ambivalent but devious aberration.

Not too long before, they had just encountered the truth that one of their beloved members had gone on a potential suicide trip toHellwith a strong possibility of not returning. They were also told that a new summit of powers was being held to discuss the newest threat to peace, the Choas Brigade. And due to this, the eccentric teenagers have to train like hell before the month ends and the summit begins, warding off any high-risk confrontations. Rias had agreed to be trained by the Fallen Angel Leader, Azazel, in exchange for information about Natsu’s condition, but despite her disappointment, her own fire burned brighter than any cynicism and her large ego crushed any burdens weighing her down. Now was the moment for her family to grow and mature once again into wonderful conduits for her empire.

After all, Family needs to look out for each other. The Strong protects the Weak, not abandons them.

The high tension conversation with Azazel ended in a roller coaster of emotions, but all of the Devils went home to begin to the mission. The first objective: Start packing. Azazel told them they were leaving in less than 24 hours, so, they had to pack all of their essentials that evening, sleep well during the night and arrive back at school grounds by mid-afternoon. This was plenty of time for the group to mentally prepare themselves, but Issei was on a whole other spectrum of uneasiness. He had dealt with the stress of school, the stress of having no friends, the stress of not studying for an exam, and just trying to live life the best he can, and in the end, he managed to come out decent. But this was completely different compared to those other times. This time, he felt a sense of responsibility?

Yuck! That word can put a sting in anyone’s mouth, but Issei knew at this point, it was unavoidable. For some reason, he was compelled to do it despite him, with all of his being, wanting to fight back. It took a bit of brainpower but he finally realized the cause for his anxiety. It was simple really, but he never had to deal with it in such quantity before.

Issei realized the expectations others have put on him. He finally understands, truly, what it means to be a caretaker, to have someone else put their entire faith on your shoulders. To be honest, a person’s unfaltering faith is pretty heavy. No wonder Heaven is being overworked. And that’s exactly what going to happen to him once he begins this “training” regimen. Issei could only hope that the results are going to be worth his own suffering, and so he doesn’t let anyone down in the process, especially Rias.

The day for departure crept up faster than anyone had suspected. It seemed like minutes ago, they left to go to their homes, and now, they’re going to leave it for the entire summer break. In hindsight, leaving the comforts of your home to go the Underworld appears to be a terrible trade-off to the average plebian. However, considering they are Devils who have willingly signed their souls away, it only makes sense. They have pledged absolute loyalty to their president and King, Rias Gremory of the Gremory Estate. It is their duty as servants to bend to the will of their masters, but everyone, including Rias, never saw it that way. Despite them being named servants by craft, they were immediately integrated as part of her family. Logically, it’s only right to properly show them where she and her blood relatives hail from.

Once they had all met at the front gates of the school, Rias had used her authority as club president to enter the school grounds with her peerage and Azazel as “club business matters”. All of them dragged two or three backpacks or suitcases with them as they walked to their club room in midday, the silence acting as the main antagonist to their excitable nerves. Once they entered the spacious room, everyone dropped their bags and turned to Rias for instruction. Rias nodded to their obvious signal and began to open her mouth, “Okay, Azazel, we’re ready.”

“Oh, that’s great! You guys were taking so long I almost started making tea!” Azazel joked half-heartedly, he didn’t seem to bother to put much effort into it. Quickly, he told everyone to pick their supplies back up off the ground as he began to stretch out his arms with glowing palms. Azazel had made his hand shine brighter and a large magic circle covered the entire floor. Issei instinctively stepped back out of fear; he’s seen these same markings and designs on a magic circle before; they all had this similar eerie feeling radiating from them. He’s seen it with Raynare, Kokabiel, and now again with Azazel. It dawned on him that his relationship with Fallen Angels has conditioned him to immediate distrust- not a good trait when you’re trying to make peace, but at least it wasn’t immediate offensive threats.

His vision was then captured with a blinding light, followed by a larger than normal crimson and gold bullet train.

Wait, a train? ‘Are we at a train station?’

“Welcome, one and all, to the Gremory Estate funded Interdeminsional train!” Azazel’s announcement put everyone on pause. Never in their wildest dreams would they have thought that it would require a train to travel dimensions. It just doesn’t make sense. Constantly, the three factions would travel back and forth from their own dimensions to Earth by just using magic circles, so why would using a train be any different?

“Hey, Azazel, why didn’t you just teleport us to the Underworld? What is this!?” Issei interrogated. Was this some sort of trick?

“Calm down, Issei, I’m the one who instructed Azazel to bring us here,” Rias exclaimed in a stern voice, turning and facing all of her Peerage, “This shall be the first lesson to begin your training. Akeno already knows this, but, only by using high-powered magic fueled vehicles can one person- or many in our case- travel between dimensions. First, I should state that it is easiest for different realms to go from their own dimension to earth and back again with no problems. However, it is practically impossible to break the barriers separating the realms in their own bubble. So, to combat this, we use docking stations like this which resides on the edge of space-time, near the eternal void, to make the travel more plausible. Meaning, going from theUnderworldtoMount Olympusis made possible thanks to this.”

Issei was impressed by his president’s thorough explanation of standard interdimensional travel, making an idiot like him even understanding it. He looked around at his peers and found they had the same dumbstruck faces as him- except Koneko, of course, she didn’t really seem to care.

“Oh, one more thing I should add,” Rias began to resume, “This type of travel is a much smoother and quicker ride when going through realms that dwell in similar theologies. Like, it’s far easier to travel between theUnderworldandHeaventhan it is toCapitoline Hillof Roman mythology.”

“Fantastic job, Rias! Looks like you’ve got a pretty little noggen to go along with your face.” Azazel teased once again. She instead scoffed at his remark and whipped her hair away from him, steadily heading for the entrance to one of the train carts.

“Come along everyone, it’s almost time for departure. And don’t worry about your bags, the conductor will bring them aboard.” As if they were ants following a crumb trail, our heroes followed Rias in a heartbeat, never even acknowledging Azazel’s presence, or rather, not wanting to accept he was still here.

Once they were all on, Rias told them she had to depart to the front cart to discuss their course with the conductor. Azazel, of course, accompanied her. So, Issei, Asia, Xenovia, Kiba, Akeno, Gasper, and Koneko sat in waiting for their president. Their attention soon deviated to the sudden jerk of the luxurious cart they were in. Right after, they heard a loud roar coming from the front of the train, now realizing that it had started moving. Finally, their journey has begun.

Once the train had been moving for a while, with Rias’ return still up in the air, from Issei’s standpoint, nothing seemed to be out of place within the group. Just like the day before, everyone continued with their normal routine. Asia and Xenovia were talking together about their new training, and Kiba was standing up reading a book. The people who were sitting down, Koneko, Akeno, Gasper and Issei, all sat on the same elongated armed couch, however, Gasper and Koneko sat at opposite ends while Issei and Akeno played cards in the middle.

Looking up from his device, Gasper, whispered as loud as he could, “Hey, Koneko-chan, do you have any snacks?”

Despite him whispering, which he was terrible at, everyone heard exactly what he said and turned to Koneko, hoping they could get some as well, but a few seconds passed and still she didn’t reply, as if her mind was wandering anywhere but here. Gasper called out again feeling uneasy with the sudden silence and soon Koneko looked up and gave a small smile, which, considering who it’s coming from is very odd.

“Sure,” she replied, digging into her small bag and pulling out a pocky box. She reached over and gave it to Gasper who took it happily, but Issei, who was stuck in between the exchange, felt an uncomfortable presence with her.

“Hey, Koneko, are you feeling alright? You look a little worn.” Issei called out as politely as he could. He cared for her, but he didn’t want to get punched at the moment.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Once again, she gave out a quick and small response and went back to staring out the window. Afterward, everyone decided to shrug it off, attributing her attitude to the unfamiliar train ride.

Soon enough, the atmosphere changed, once Rias walked back into their cart with a satisfied smile, “Hello again, everyone.”

“Oh yes, President!” Issei jumped off of his seat on the couch, practically lobbing over to her, “Do you want to play cards with me and Akeno!?”

“Woah, Issei, calm down, of course I’ll play with you. But first I’d like to introduce some guests that’ll be riding with us.” Rias stepped forward slightly pushing Issei out of the way while she turned and opened the door further. Then, out came three familiar faces. One that Issei loved, one that Issei feared, and the other he was spooked by.

“Saji, Sona, and Tsubaki, at your service!” Saji spoke with glee, jokingly bowing in front of Rias’ peerage.

“Saji, don’t say that; we’re not here to serve them, we are their guests so they should honor us.” Sona strictly corrected him causing him to flinch back.

“But, it was only a joke…” His charisma almost perished but was revived once Issei punched him in the arm, “Ow, dude! You could’ve just said hello!”

Saji punched back him, inciting a laugh out of Issei, “I know, but it feels like we haven’t talked in forever! We’re both busy trying to ‘please’ of superiors.” He leaned in carefully, whispering the last part.

“We heard that.” Both Rias and Sona warned their boys. Honestly, the two of them are just toddlers in bigger bodies. One’s a pervert and the other’s a dunce.

Rias led them to the extra seat available near the large couch as she sat down between Akeno and Issei, Akeno being the one to deal out the cards. Issei beforehand had invited them to play.

“So, Rias, what is it that you discussed back there?” Akeno asked still with her usual smile. Her speed and skills in dealing cards were far beyond anything Issei could do. He intently watched her pass out the different suits in a blink of an eye while simultaneously listening in.

“Nothing much. I was just talking with Sona here about training plans during the summer. Then, Azazel butted in a few times to add his own input.” Rias explained shortly.

“Wait, Saji, you’re going to the Underworld to train too?” Issei questioned with a curious tone. Leaning in, he waited for Saji to get the okay from President Sona to tell him.

“Well, duh! I can’t have you leave me behind! After this month, I’m gonna be stronger than ever.” Saji lifted his arms and flexed but Issei only laughed at his attempt.

“Yeah buddy, I feel you,” Issei smiled then turned to face Rias, “Wait, speaking of training, do you know what our regimen will be yet, Rias?”

“Why, yes. Yes, I do.” She answered.

“Then what is it?”

“You’ll find out when it comes.” She replied definitively. Issei grunted in response but his president didn’t seem to care.

“Well then, Saji do you know what your training will be like?” Issei deflected.

“It’ll be horrifying, blood churning, adrenaline-inducing, life or death combat, and trials.” He responded with confidence.

“Yeah, I know that much. That’s almost the exact same thing Azazel told me. But do you know the actual training you’ll get?” Issei asked again. He was getting a feeling that Saji was in a similar predicament he was.

“Oh, then, in that case, no…” His pride quickly deflated his breath slowly seeped out into a long sigh. Yup, he knew it.

“Okay, let’s get this game going then,” Akeno announced. Not long after, static speaking could be heard from the top of the train cart.

“Attention passengers of the Gremory Estate Interdimensional Transport, we will be arriving at the designated destination in an hour. Please be careful to follow the rules and enjoy the ride.” The speakers squeaked at the end causing some to rub their ears, but Rias only smiled.

‘Only an hour till I get home.’ She thought solemnly.

During that hour, the adolescent Devils acted like actual teenagers in what felt like a long time- except, of course, Tsubaki and Koneko. They all played different card games competitively, betting on silly dares for each other to do if they lose. Issei and Saji lost the most. Eventually, everyone gathered in a circle and talked about their daily lives, explaining to Sona’s group what they’ve had to go through recently as well. Back and forth banter about themselves kept the party of friends busy enough to ignore how much time has past, and by then, they had already entered the Gremory territory. Before that, however, Sona, Tsubaki, and Saji had to leave at the stop outside of Rias’ Family province. After their heartfelt goodbyes, they left immediately not wasting time to depart on their own journey.

Soon after, the conductor announced another notification, solidifying their entrance in Rias’ home, “Attention all passengers, we have now officially crossed no man’s land and are now in the Gremory Family Province. I hope you all enjoyed your ride here on this transport and will ride again in the near future. Please fasten yourself to a seat as we will stop shortly.”

While this was being said, Issei’s curiosity led him to one of the larger windows to the side of the cart so he could look down from the flying train. To his amazement, he saw multiple spots of land scattered across the colorless ground all in hexagonal shape, all being connected by long, thick strips of land carved from the ground. In the middle of all the states, there was an even larger shape dwarfing all the others, as even some buildings could be seen towering on the land.

“Woah! Rias! This is crazy! I can’t believe this is all owned by your Parents!” Issei screamed in wonderment. Never before did he think their family was this rich. It’s not imaginable!

“Thank you, Issei. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Also, for reference, that main spot of land is approximately the size of Japan’s main island.” Rias pointed out with a small smile on her face. Obviously, she feeling a bit of pride showing off what her family has accomplished.

“Oh my God, really!” Asia squealed out unexpectedly. Quickly she covered her face due to embarrassment, but everyone could understand where she was coming from. Saying the President was stacked would be an extreme understatement- an insult, maybe!

While Rias was busy entertaining her Peerage by answering their questions, a certain sarcastic dark angel arrived to “spoil” their fun unintentionally, though, you could look at it the other way as well.

“Hey Rias, everything is prepared. We can begin anytime you like.” Azazel made his presence known just by speaking a few words, however, the context of them was lost to everyone. What could he be referencing to the President?

“Are they really?” She asked with some prejudice. Getting a c.o.c.ky nod in response, Rias took a deep breath and put her head down, seemingly in shame, “Okay, I know everyone has some problems with Azazel, but from now on he’s to be considered part of the family, even if temporarily. He has been gracious enough to allow himself to tutor us, so we should give him the respect he deserves.”

After such an announcement, the entire lobby could be felt oozing stress and discomfort, but they all knew Rias was in the right. Issei, despite him wanting to speak out against the first part, restrained himself enough to adhere to Rias’ demands. Ever since Azazel has started to become ‘buddy-buddy’ with them, Issei quickly understood that he had some underlying motive, however, simultaneously, his efforts sometimes seem to genuine to be obscured by bias. Maybe, he could give the dark Angel a chance ‘Just as long as he doesn’t hurt my friends.’

“Now, Azazel, you’ve got everybody’s attention; you may speak.” Rias addressed as she walked away from him and joined the group Devils that compounded toward the middle.

“Okay, my people! Listen up! Soon the big boys will arrive, and we’ve got to be prepared,” Azazel announced joyfully, “And I can see from your contorted faces that you have no idea what I’m talking about, so I’ll explain: as you all know, theUnderworldwill be hosting this monumental summit of superpowers or great theologies, and one of them will be Norse mythology. That means the Supreme god of Asgard,The All-father Odin, will be coming.”

“Wait, you mean the father of Thor,god of thunder? You must be joking, he never leavesAsgardunprotected, especially to be an ambassador.” Kiba retorted. The complete absurdity of that statement drove his mind toward yonder. From all that he’s heard and read about Norse mythology, after the great wars of Odin conquering nine realms of the great ofYggdrasil, he went into a hermit state and never left in fear of someone overthrowingAsgard. After that, no one has seen his face outside of his realm.

“Ah, I see one person here is well versed in Norse. Well, young Kiba, let me be the one to tell you that this Chaos Brigade that we’re dealing with is a serious threat. One, I must add, theAll-Fatherdeems worthy of his attention. Also, he has announced that he’s seen a prophecy in which, a man, dr.a.p.ed in red Dragon scales, illuminates a dark dimension with an outstanding green light. And I think we all know who that is.”

It took some time for it to register, but eventually, everyone did a doubletake and turned their heads at Issei, who looked even more surprised than they were. Unnerved by all of this information, he dropped to the floor with dripping sweat, his legs suddenly feeling weakened and tired.

“ME!? You can’t be mentioning me, right!? I mean, there has to be other dragons that are able to shine green light!” Issei was scared, actually, more than that: he was petrified. All this time, day after day, ever since he became a Devil, unfathomable amounts of responsibility has been dropped on him from the most unlikely of people, and this one really topped the cake. How exactly was this supposed to benefit him? Was this a good prophecy, or a bad one? Could he avoid it!? “Azazel, obviously theAll-Fatherhas made a mistake. He must have mistaken Ddraig’s power for Natsu. I mean, he’s way stronger than me.”

“Wow, Issei, I can’t believe you just insulted one of the most powerful gods out there,” Azazel said sarcastically, grinning the entire time while watching Issei’s breakdown, “Listen kid, you underestimate yourself way too much. You see after that last battle with Vali, your powers grew beyond anything Sirzechs or I could even imagine. One of the reasons why Natsu went off to train was because of you. Your growth in strength sparked his own drive to be better because right now, you two are about equal strength when you’re able to go all out. However, he deemed that in order to reach his goals, he has to endure the most gruesome of environments, and that’s what I’m going to do for you.”

“Issei…” Rias bent down on her knees and stared him in the eyes with solemn grace, “I’m sorry if you feel overwhelmed, but just know Everyone you know- me, my peerage, my brother, your family and friends- they all believe in your ability to be great. And now, it’s time for you to believe in yourself too.” Rias wrapped her arms around Issei and dragged him into a comforting hug, as all his worries seemed to melt away, his shoulders suddenly feeling lighter than before.

While this was going on, the entire train jerked to a stop and caused the people in the cart to fall to the ground, except Azazel, “Well, that sure ruined the mood.” He said with a light chuckle.

“Azazel, what’s going on!?” Rias said with extreme apprehension. She looked up from the ground only to see him grin with all his teeth, “Azazel, what is this!?”

“I don’t know either Mrs. Prez. I’m just enjoying the show.” He said pretentiously with his hands in his pockets.

Just as everyone was starting to get on their feet, Koneko felt a shiver wash down her spine as her ears twitched uncontrollably and her eyes contracted into small dots, “Danger is coming. Brace yourselves.” She simply said in a monotone. No one knew what she meant until a bright white light took over their vision and the train started rocking violently.

Soon, a feeling of weightlessness enveloped Issei while strong gusts of wind hit his face and stung his eyes. Oh yeah, now he knew what was happening, ‘Am I falling!? When- how did this happen!? Where is everyone- I can’t see a thing!’ His panic was ended quickly once he felt his body cratered into the ground. The pain glossed over his body like a calm shower, but the feeling was too intense for him to endure, and promptly, he passed out not knowing anything of what happened.

An unknown amount of time:

Overwhelming dread.

That is exactly what Issei felt once his conscious finally peaked through the pain. Pushing past all the hurt and aching, he jumped to his feet and hurriedly scanned his surrounds. He saw that he was in a gray cavern with tall walls and sharp rocks pointed in indiscriminate directions. The looked up at the sky and saw that it was still the same stale blue-purple as it was before when they entered the Underworld. It was comforting to know that he wasn’t teleported to a new dimension. But, it was even more reassuring when he saw his friends starting to wake up all around him.

“Guys! Oh, I’m so happy to know that we’re all alive!” Issei screamed with joy. He watched as Akeno and Kiba were to first to stand, then Xenovia and Koneko, and finally Asia and Gasper who Issei helped up. And that’s when the realization hit, “Wait, where’s the President!?’

“Oh my, Issei-kun, you’re right. She’s not with us.” Akeno’s eyes widened a bit with a bit of terror as she covered her mouth in shock, but soon her rational thinking took over- it was because of all the training with Rias that she was able to even cope with this. It was her job as Vice-President to take care of the family when Rias was gone, and that’s exactly what she was going to do, “Okay, listen, everyone. It has obviously come to our attention that both Rias-san and Azazel-sama are not with us. Once we get everything in order and come up with a plan, we’ll immediately search for her. But first, we have to get out of here safely.”

The Peerage all listened intently to what Akeno had to say, but Koneko seemed to be concentrated on something else, “Asia-san, I’m going to need you to heal us first before we can do anything. I’ll need you to heal me, Xenovia, and Kiba as we’ll be the search team for Rias and Azazel. Then do the same for Issei and Koneko as they’ll act as guards for our camp. Finally, do the same for Gasper and yourself for support.” They all looked at her with the same expressions: uncertainty, which hurt Akeno to see her family scared and hurt, but she didn’t need them to be scared, right now she needed warriors.

“I know you all are scared about what’s happening, but don’t worry. I will get us through this, I promise. I just need cooperation with what I tell you. Now-” she was quickly cut short when Koneko, who’s been disconnected the entire time, yelled, “Watch out!” as she ran back toward the group.

Not knowing what she was talking about, Rias’ peerage watched as she tackled Gasper to ground, rolling behind a large pointed rock. But soon, they all knew what she was yelled about. At first, it was the heat that gave off the warning, and it wasn’t even a split second when they’re eyes meant with the image of a giant stream of flames crawling its way toward them. Luckily, because of Koneko’s warning, they had enough time to scatter and hide behind their own oversized boulder as Issei took hold of Asia and ducked for cover.

The flames quickly overtook the front sides of the rock as little wisps licked around the sides. During this bombardment, Akeno, Kiba, Xenovia, and Issei quickly activated their magic while Koneko adorned her fighting gloves. Once the fire subsided, they all jumped out to see a giant being of purple scales and black armored plating on their torso and legs while two protruding curly horns stood on the side of its head and long face. Steam flew out of its mouth through its sharp teeth as its cleaving nails hung on the side of the caverns, only emphasizing its enormous height while on its two legs.

This terror-inducing beast could only be one thing

“A Dragon!?”