"Rias-senpai! I'll become your servant!"
"Yes, welcome to the family, Issei."
A magic circle glowed on the floor in an open area of the club room, with Issei standing in the center wearing an expression that mixed anticipation with anxiety.
"Issei, you can relax more, you know? The reincarnation is instantaneous and doesn't hurt at all."
Rias tried to reassure him, but the guy himself was—
"Y-yes!"
—completely tense. Well, can't blame him for that.
"Alright Issei, hold out both hands."
"Y-yes!!"
You're way too tense, Issei. Rias placed one pawn piece on his outstretched palms, then a second, a third... When she placed the eighth and final piece, the Evil Pieces began to glow with a soft light.
"As expected from a Longinus. Using all eight pawn pieces... For a moment I was worried you might not be able to reincarnate."
Yeah, I was worried too. But why? I thought it was close in the anime too... I pondered this as the ritual continued.
Issei remained standing in the center of the magic circle while Rias stood outside it, directly in front of him, and began chanting.
"In the name of Rias Gremory, I command you. Issei Hyodo. Become my devil servant. Rejoice in your new life as my pawn!"
The pawn pieces rose into the air, glowing, and were absorbed into Issei's chest. Right after the light faded—
Whoosh!
Oh! Devil wings! Honestly, since he mostly flies around using Balance Breaker later on, these barely get any screen time.
"Whoa! Wings!"
"Hehe, looks like the reincarnation was successful. Nice to have you aboard, Issei."
"Yes! Please take care of me, Senpai!"
Right after he gave that energetic greeting, Issei's face contorted in pain.
"Gah! What the hell is this?!"
Everyone was shocked by Issei's sudden change.
"Issei! What's wrong?!"
"Rias-senpai, it feels like my whole body is creaking and aching from the inside..."
Issei dropped to his knees. What's going on?!
"Rias-senpai! Let me examine Issei's body with senjutsu!"
I placed my hand on Issei's forehead and carefully analyzed his ki flow. I found the cause immediately. Right, there was that setting too...
"It looks like Issei's body can't handle the power of all eight pieces... From what I can tell, sealing about four of them should fix the problem!"
"Got it. Everyone, step back!"
I handed Issei over to Rias while everyone moved away. Rias manifested a magic circle in her palm and pressed it against Issei's chest. A bit of wind whipped around the room briefly, then quickly died down.
"...That should do it. Issei, how do you feel?"
Issei blushed as Rias stared at him from close range, then patted various parts of his body to check his condition.
"Y-yes, I feel fine now."
"Good! Thank goodness!"
Rias pulled Issei into a hug—I can't see from here, but he's definitely making a ridiculous face right now.
Still, it's true that in the anime, Issei had his piece power sealed by Rias. Even though pawn pieces should theoretically allow promotion to queen, he could barely manage rook at first. They initially said he couldn't become queen right after reincarnation, but that was probably a lie.
After becoming a devil, going through morning training, intensive training for the Riser fight, and only then having seals removed to finally become queen—just how tight were those seals anyway...
As expected from the historically weakest host in terms of raw talent. Even though he's gotten stronger than in the original, his base was too low to exceed eight pieces' worth of value. Good thing too—having the protagonist stuck in a debt repayment route this early in the story wouldn't be funny at all.
While I was thinking this over, Issei got back up and demonstrated that his body was working normally.
After watching Issei with an affectionate smile, Rias turned to me.
"Ikki-Kun, thank you. It's thanks to you."
"Yeah, thanks a lot Ikki!"
"No, I think you would have figured out the cause quickly too. If anything, I might have been overstepping."
"Not at all. The intention to help is what matters, and saying it wasn't necessary is just hindsight."
Hindsight... Well, I guess that's true.
"Hey, if you don't mind, would you like to become my servant too? Between today's incident and your abilities as a senjutsu user, I'd really love to have your power..."
A recruitment offer... Well, I figured this might happen. I've considered joining either the Gremory or Sitri family many times. If I'd just been reincarnated, I probably would have said 'Yes!' immediately, but circumstances are different now.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline."
"I see... May I ask why?"
"I can't go into details, but I'm currently dealing with a certain matter, and for tackling that problem, it's more convenient to remain human. There are other reasons too, but that's the main one."
"...Wouldn't being a devil work?"
"I wouldn't say it's impossible, but I want to keep my chances of success as high as possible..."
She looked a bit disappointed but backed off.
"If that's the case, then I understand. I don't want to interfere with someone who has clear goals. But when that problem is resolved, if you're interested, please let me know."
"A reservation? I'm flattered you think so highly of me."
"As long as I still have openings in my family by then."
She winked as she said this—first time I've seen someone pull off a wink in real life... though she is a devil.
"Well! Let's call it a day and wrap up, but Issei, you need to fill this out and bring it tomorrow after school."
She handed Issei a piece of paper.
"This is... a club application?"
"Exactly. You'll be joining this Occult Research Club that I use as a base for devil activities. Since you're my family member now, this is mandatory. So Ikki, what about you? Since we've gotten to know each other, want to try participating in the club's public activities?"
"What do you actually do in Occult Research?"
What was it again?
"Basically, we investigate unidentified life forms and UFOs, then display our research reports. We interview kappa, travel directly to Loch Ness to search for Nessie, that sort of thing. When we're free, we enjoy tea and snacks."
"I'm in!"
No need to hesitate!
"Then you fill this out too and bring it with Issei tomorrow."
I received my club application form as well, and we disbanded for the day.
And so, I didn't become a devil. The lifespan issue is something to deal with later...