Crippled

Chapter 5

Issei walked home from the outskirts of town, frowning in disappointment over his overall failure. He had gone out of his way to look for a suitable place in order to practice magic in a more durable environment. Sure, Sona had offered him the use of the school grounds as a place to exercise his usage of the arcane arts, but Issei didn't think that she would take too kindly on his experiments with the more destructive side of it. After all, using fire magic wasn't exactly known as a kickstarter for a barbecue, and more along the lines of the prelude to a forest fire.

Nowhere was available however, at least, no place where it wasn't liable to gain the attention of the local authorities, and while Sona and even Rias would probably wipe their minds clean or even set up a barrier to discourage people snooping in if he asked of it, he felt uncomfortable messing with other people's minds.

Still, it really didn't change the fact that he hasn't actually started on evocation of any sorts which made Issei a bit sad. He really, really wanted to be able to cast fire bolt.

He heaved a sigh, blinking when the view to his right changed from forest to something else and found that it was a stone stairway.

"Is this one of those shrines?" Issei asked himself, looking up at it and shielding his eyes from the sun, squinting and making out a red torii above. "I guess it was closer than I thought." He said, remembering his and Sona's discussion about it. Issei shrugged and made to walk past it when he stopped in his tracks, remembering the words of a certain blonde nun all the way over in Italy.

"Act of god huh?" Issei muttered, to himself, looking back at it thoughtfully. "Wouldn't hurt I guess." He humored himself, turning to the temple. "Though I don't think this was what she had in mind when talking about a god." With a sigh, he began his walk up the stairs, though he did cheat about halfway through and just levitated himself up, passing through the torii with a curious gaze.

Issei looked at the place with an appreciative once-over. It was a beautiful place-if a bit stereotypical as a shrine- well-maintained even, which struck him as highly suspicious, given that the place apparently hadn't been occupied by anyone for probably years now, though he didn't dismiss the idea of a caretaker being hired to clean up the place, or a few devoted people delegating themselves to the task.

He looked around before approaching the front of the shrine, clapping his hands together and bowing for a brief moment.

The only warning he got was in the form of a low growl before it attacked.

Issei turned as quickly as he could, and the only thing that saved his life was a combination of the sudden rush of adrenaline as well as the fact that he had already ingrained his own defensive circle into his brain.

It sprang to life before him, the only thing separating Issei and a length of shining steel out to cleave his head clean from his shoulders. It snarled in anger, hurtling itself towards his defense, bearing down onto it even as Issei's eyes bulged in terror, dragging himself backwards to the ground and hitting the wood of the shrine.

The thing shook its head in annoyance, gnashing its teeth in rage, black wings ruffling in anger, the tips pointed at him, edges looking sharp enough to cut and tear, before once again throwing itself on the circle, giving Issei a sickening opportunity to observe it up close.

The thing was terrifying, looking like it was ripped straight out from a nightmare. A long, beak of a nose, looking sharp enough to cut. Blood red skin occasionally splattered with a streak of dried brown, bits flaking off on every movement. Huge muscled arms, biceps almost as wide across as Issei's waist, and arms that looked capable of pulverizing bone in its grip.