The Red Dragon Emperor

The First Day of School

"Who is he?"
"He's cute!"
"He's so cool!"
Hyoudou Issei could hear the gossiping of his new classmates with his dog-like hearing as he stood at the front of the classroom. "Class, these are our new students, Hyoudou Issei and Asia Argento," said the teacher, giving them a chance to introduce themselves. After the two introduced themselves to their new classmates, they sat down in two empty seats next to each other.

Having no interest in the class yet, Issei started to stare out the window, lost in thought. He was surprised to find himself quite nervous about coming to this new school so suddenly, and in the middle of the year, no less. He couldn't complain though. So far, he's played the part of a regular high school boy quite well, and nobody has noticed anything about his powers. However, he could definitely sense some irregular auras coming from this school. A small part of him wishes those auras would find him, but Issei scolds himself, knowing that he came here to lead a peaceful, quiet life with his closest friend, Asia.

Asia Argento had been by Issei's side for almost a year now. He had found her outside of a church with all her belongings, obviously emotionally stricken and quite depressed. He started to look after the girl, taking her with him wherever he went. Even if he found her troublesome sometimes, he just couldn't leave her behind. Later, he found out she had been pinned a heretic by the Church and exiled due to her power to heal devils and fallen angels with her sacred gear, Twilight Healing. The Church apparently viewed this as a hindrance and immediately eliminated the threat by excommunicating Asia. Now, she is Issei's closest friend and most trusted partner. She was the one who sealed a lot of Issei's power inside him to avoid being noticed by anyone or anything that would be a potential threat to his new, quiet lifestyle. After all, a dragon is kind living magnet. Its immense power will attract everything, good or bad. Whether it be monsters, devils, angels, or fallen angels, Issei wanted everything supernatural to stay away from him. He could easily take them down if it came to a battle, but he would rather avoid such situations completely.

"Issei?"
Issei snapped out of his daze and turned to Asia who seemed to have a worried expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, sorry Asia, I just spaced out."
"Are you excited for our first day here?"
"Yeah, but keep your guard up Asia, I can sense multiple devils present at the academy."
"O-Okay," said Asia, seemingly shaken by Issei's serious expression and his warning. Asia turned back to her desk and returned to writing something. Issei went back to listening to his classmates' hushed whispers about the two new students.
"She's so cute!"
"Ooh so is he!"
"Wow! He rivals the current Prince!"
Issei wasn't the arrogant type, but he did slightly enjoy all of the female attention he received. Though he wasn't too excited about the boys in the class cursing him for having the girls fawn over him so much and having a cute girl with him. He started to have his doubts about living a quiet life here.

After classes ended, Issei took a seat at a bench in the courtyard of Kuoh Academy.

Enjoying your new life, partner?

Issei jumped at the sudden voice in his head. This voice belonged to the Welsh Dragon, Ddraig. Ddraig is one of the two Heavenly Dragons, the other being the Vanishing Dragon, Albion. Since a war long ago involving dragons and the three factions, the two Heavenly Dragons have been sealed inside two different hosts generation after generation who were destined to fight each other, as the dragons inside of them were eternal rivals. Issei is the host of the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig. However, Issei's is a special case. The dragons were originally sealed inside of the sacred gears which were then bestowed upon the two hosts. However, Issei managed to merge himself with the dragon directly, becoming a half-human and half-dragon hybrid. This gives him dragon's abilities such as his enhanced hearing and smelling. It also unlocked more power as the link between Issei and Ddraig strengthened that he could never use when Ddraig was still inside the Boosted Gear.