Issei vs Tiamat Part 1

"TIAMAT" Rias couldn't believe that the chaos karma dragon king was heading their way. Better question would be why.

"Why is she heading this way." She asked

"I don't know. Her territory is on the other side of the familiar forest and I made sure to take a route that avoids her territory all together. She never ventures far from her place so I have no idea what's going on." Zatouji could not think of anything that would explain why Tiamat ventured so far from her territory. This was the first time this has happened.

"Could she be out hunting?" Kiba asked, sacred gear already activated but he got a quick rejection from the familiar master

"No! If she were hunting, there is no way she would have made this much noise to scare away her prey. In addition, she has plenty of prey near her territory so it would make so sense for her to travel all the way here in search of food."

RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

They all heard another roar, this one much closer than before indicating that she really was heading their way. Poor Asia hid behind Issei and the poor girl was shaking like a leaf. Issei embraced her to calm her down.

"Are you okay Asia-chan?" Rias couldn't help but be worried for her bishop.

"y-yes I'm fine. I-it's j-just that I've never felt so much hostility before." Asia stuttured clearly still trembling in fright.

"Hostility? What do you mean?" asked Kiba in confusion.

"It's no wonder you cannot sense it." It was issei who began to explain. "This is something only dragons would be able to understand. You guys are only able to hear a roar but for us dragons, there is a deeper meaning conveyed through the roars. It is actually an ancient form of dragon language as my sensei once explained to me." Tannin had once taught about the ancient dragon language their species used to use. It was a relict of ancient times before dragons learned how to communicate using proper words. It is more contextual than literal, the roar or growl is filled with dragon's emotions and intentions and other dragons will interpret the meaning themselves. It wasn't perfect, especially to explain more complicated matters, so dragons would develop a similar skill to devils where they speech would be translated to the language most natural to the listener, but it never disappeared.

"I was able to understand perfectly what was said. Asia, though not a full dragon was partially able to understand the feelings behind it. That is what she meant by feeling so much hostility. And she is right, that roar conveyed major feelings of hostility and it seemed to be directed towards us although I am not sure why" Issei finished his explanation holding both Asia and Akeno near him.

"What did she say?" Akeno asked him making him raise a brow.

"You really want to know?" They all nodded.

"Well… if I were to translate her roar into words, she is basically saying 'I'll murder you and turn your body to ashes' alongside every possible synonym you can think of so… yeah, she is pissed"

"Why is she coming towards us? We didn't do anything to her." panicked Matsuda.

"I-I don't know. This has never happened before. She never strays far from her territory" said an equally panicked Zatouji.

That was when the boosted gear materialized on Matsuda's arm.

["I believe she is coming because of me."] they all heard Ddraig say.

"Why is that?" asked an agitated Matsuda who did not like where this is going.

["To put it bluntly, Tiamat hates me"] replied Ddraig. Unfortunately, that is the last answer Matsuda wanted to hear.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! WHY THE HELL DOES SHE HATE YOU!" shouted a very panicked Matsuda.

["um… I'm not entirely sure. I forgot the reason."] That is not an answer Matsuda would accept.

"How the fuck can you forget the reason a dragon king hates you!"

["Calm down partner. Most of my memories have become a blur after I had my soul taken from my body and placed inside the boosted gear and the passing of time has simply made it worse. So it isn't a matter of forgetting but I rather that I cannot remember what I did to cause such hate."] Ddraig tried to explain his host his reasons hoping to calm him down but all it did was scare him even more.

"CALM DOWN! How the fuck am I supposed to calm down. You just told us that she hates you so where does that leave me, your host! I don't want to die for something I didn't do to a women… FOR ONCE. Also, for MAOU's sake, you couldn't have warned me about this sooner 'oh partner, just a reminder Tiamat hates me so be careful to avoid her' If you had warned me sooner I would never have come here in the first place!" argued Matsuda fearful for his life.

["It's because I didn't know she was even here. Had I known; I would have immediately warned you to stay away. Normally I was able to feel her presence coming from a mile away and warn my host to either hide or run away before she would get to us. However, this time, I couldn't sense her until just now. She must have learned how to conceal her aura from even me"] Ddraig reasoned.

"So where does that leave me? I may not be smart but I'm not an idiot" he pointed at the direction Tiamat was coming "Angry Dragon" he then pointed to the boosted gear where Ddraig's soul is residing "target" then he pointed at himself "your host. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she is coming after ME!" Matsuda howled, clearly not pleased with Ddraig at the moment for withdrawing such a critical piece of information. Everyone else, likewise, weren't exactly at ease knowing that the strongest dragon king was heading their way to kill their friend, more so Rias who treasured her peerage despite all their quirky personalities.

"Alright, let's take a moment to calm down. I'm sure we can resolve this issue peacefully if I can just talk to her. Although, I hate to use my standing during a negotiation, I am the little sister of the current Lucifer so I'm pretty sure Tiamat would at the very least listen to me less she wages war against the entire underworld." Rias was willing to do anything to protect her peerage even if it meant using her status as the current "Lucifer" sister which she didn't want to.

"Buchooooouuuu" Matsuda cried looking at awe and wonder at his president.

The familiar master, however, was a bit skeptical about that.

"ehhh, I don't know about that, princess! If what the red dragon emperor said is true then she is definitely not in a state to be reasoned with. An enraged dragon is something no faction, in their right minds, would even dare to face. There's a reason why everyone is scared of dragons."

"he's right about that" Issei mumbled however everyone was to scared to be able to have caught that.

"That-That doesn't mean that I cannot at least attempt it." Rias tried to reason, at the very least to herself, that it was possible to converse civilly.

"Well, you are about to get your chance Buchou because… here she comes" They all heard Issei say as they redirected their attention to the sky and sure enough they could spot a flying entity coming towards them until her form became visible to all.

With a beat of her wings, she suddenly came to a halt hovering just above the group. However, simply that motion caused a massive wind blast their direction and it took every ounce of strength to brace less they would be sent flying. Issei grabbed both Asia and Akeno as he was the only one who seemed barely affected by the gust of wind. Well, not exactly affected but more along the lines of already used to it considering he lived with dozens hyperactive dragons throughout his life so getting used to having massive gusts of wind blown your way was just par for the course.

Everyone now got to see Tiamat's full appearance. She was a large, light blue western type dragon. However what Issei noticed was that she was definitely way bigger than his uncle Tannin almost twice his size. While Tannin stood at around 20 meters tall, Tiamat seems to be around 35 meters and what's more she was definitely more powerful than Tannin. At first, he didn't really believe him when he told him Tiamat was stronger than him but that was mostly due to his admiration for his uncle. When he was young, he honestly believed his uncle to be the strongest dragon after his parents and no one could convince him otherwise. Everyone found it to be adorable so they didn't say anything. However, after he became older, his uncle gave him a brief lesson about all the powerful dragons around the world and how many of them were more powerful than him. This included Tiamat. Now after standing before her, he could see that his uncle was telling the truth. She was definitely bigger and more powerful than he is. Her aura definitely felt chaotic to say the least, befitting her name as the Chaos Karma dragon king. However, while everyone else was scared out of their wits, Issei had one particular thought of the dragon before him.

'Beautiful' was the only thing he could think of when he saw her up close. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her blue eyes, so filled with rage and hatred was directed towards them, only made them look even more beautiful to him. He felt hypnotized by them, almost drowning in their depths.

Granted, this wasn't the first he was in the presence of female dragon. Back during his time in Tannin' territory, he met and befriended many female dragons. Some of them even wanted to court and mate with him but back then he wasn't interested since he was focused mainly on training and he was still reeling from the loss of Akeno. In any case, he has met quite a few female dragons but they all pale in comparison to the dragon before him, both in terms of beauty and power. The only dragon that would surpass her would probably be his mother. He could feel a smart part of his instincts screaming at him to claim her.

He quickly shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. This was not the time or the place to even fathom such things. Luckily, Tiamat's loud voice made him refocus on the present situation at hand.

"DDRAIG! You have some nerve showing up here. How dare you soil my territory with your vile presence." She roared in anger.

'Holy moly, even her voice is pretty' was all he could focus on

…

failed

Taking a deep breath to calm her fear, Rias slowly stepped forward.

"G-Good evening, Tiamat-sama, m-my name is" despite her nerves, Rias attempted to introduce herself, however she was interrupted by Tiamat before she could do so.

"I know who you are girl. Rias Gremory, sister of the current Maou Sirzechs Lucifer" she spat with venom sending a shiver down everyone's spine before she continued. "It is also because of him that I haven't gone after the current vessel of that accursed asshole. But, now that he's here, your very presence defiles my home so I will destroy you." She glared at all of them but most of her hostility was directed towards Matsuda, who definitely has wet his pants by now considering how frightened he looked.

Rias continued to try to initiate dialogue with the enraged dragon hoping beyond hope, to save her pawn.

"P-Please wait Tiamat-sama. We only came here to search for familiars for my peerage and were about to leave the forest."

Tiamat glared at them then shifted her view to Asia.

"hmf, so you think that just because you brought a dragon tamer with you that it would spare you from my wrath" she stated, confusing everyone present including Issei.

"A dragon tamer? What do you mean?" she was honestly confused over the matter. She never even heard of a dragon tamer. Is it even possible to tame a dragon? Their pride would never allow weaker beings to order them around. Her friend was a beast tamer but that's all she knew.

"Don't play dumb with me girl" she growled before pointing at Asia "I can feel that person's aura and she feels like dragon fruit." She took a moment to look at Asia again and noticed something else "Well, well well… how interesting. Your both a dragon tamer and a dragon. Never seen that in all my years but that still isn't going to spare Ddraig." She stated sending a wave of killing intent at them. Rassei, despite being the youngest of the group immediately took action by placing himself in front of Asia to protect her. His desire to protect her overrides his fear of Tiamat. He shot a bolt of lightning towards the dragon. Of course, it didn't really do anything other than annoy her. Tiamat looked at the young whelp.

"I commend your bravery young one but if you try that again, I will erase you" she threatened him, clearly not in the mood for such foolishness. Asia, fearful for Rassei's safety quickly grabbed and embraced him fearing that she would lose her newest familiar.

Issei as well commended the little dragon in his mind. He was impressed by the bravery shown by his junior. To actually be able to overcome his fear and use his power to protect Asia was an amazing sight to behold and he was only a baby dragon. He will certainly grow up to be an outstanding dragon some day. Although what Tiamat just said about Asia really shocked him. Asia is a dragon tamer? That's really crazy but Tiamat has been alive for many centuries so Issei doubted she would lie about that. In a way, it does explain a bit why he felt some form of attraction to her when they first met and the fact that Rassei instantly took a liking to her.

'But wow, she's both a fairy dragon and a dragon tamer. That's one heck of a resume' If Issei believed she needed protection before, she definitely needs it now. They will have to make sure that this information doesn't get spread out. Being a fairy dragon is already a cause for concern for various factions; if it was known that she is also a dragon tamer, things could get ugly. Did his parents know she was a dragon tamer? They are primordial beings so they should have known. Either they didn't know or they knew but didn't tell Issei because it didn't matter to them. Most likely the latter. He would have to ask them afterwards but right now was not the time as he could feel Tiamat's aura rise. It was time for him to intervene.

He stepped forward.

"Please wait a moment" he stated, making Tiamat shift her attention towards him.

"Who are you?" she asked having barely noticed him.

Issei smiled. "How are you Tiamat. My name is Issei Hyoudou and I am a dragon just like you. I have to say that it is honour to be able to meet you. I have heard a lot about you from my sensei Tannin" She raised her brow at that last detail.

"and what is one of Tannin's brat doing all the way out here."

"I came here with my friends. Like Rias stated earlier, we merely came to get familiars for Matsuda and Asia and we were just on our way out. I understand that you bear a strong resentment for Ddraig but can you please let us leave in peace, just this once." Issei tried to settle the situation without resorting to violence. Unfortunately, he was met with a snort from Tiamat.

"Hmf, you don't understand a single thing you whelp. I commend you for trying to aid your allies but the moment Ddraig's host stepped foot into my territory, there was only one way this would end… with his death." She flatly denied Issei, her voice laced with disdain and mockery and her face graced with a grin aimed specifically at Matsuda who shivered in response.

"I can smell your fear from here boy. You shouldn't worry! In honour of their bravery" she pointed to Rassei and Issei "I will make your death quick and painless"

"W-W-Why do you h-hate him so much? What could he have done?" Matsuda asked, his voice shaking heavily as he maintained his stare at Tiamat not even blinking out of fear that should he do so, she would disappear for a second and kill him.

"Why do I hate him? He knows exactly why! It's quite a long story and frankly I do not have the patience to tell you. I promised Lucifer that I would not kill you so long as you stayed away from my territory but it seems you have a death wish. Something, I would be more than happy to assist with."

"Please wait!" Rias, once again, tried to intervene "Can you please tell me what he has done! Maybe some things could be reversed." She pleaded with Tiamat.

"Reversed? You truly are a naïve girl. What Ddraig has done to me can never be reversed and his actions made me the dragon that I am today" she laughed bitterly at her words.

"How can we be sure unless you tell us! Ddraig stated that he doesn't remember what he did so if you could tell me, I promise that I will do everything in my power to correct his mistake. I swear on my name as a Gremory" Tiamat's expression suddenly changed and Rias breathed a sigh of relief thinking that her words got through to Tiamat.

Unbeknownst to her, her words did affect the dragon but in the worst way possible.

"He… doesn't remember" she mumbled unheard by everyone except Issei who had a bad feeling which was quickly justified as Tiamat unleashed her power in a bit of rage knocking everyone to the ground from the sheer pressure of her aura. Even Issei, slightly reacted to the pressure exuded by Tiamat. That just illustrates how infuriated she really is

"THAT ARROGANT ASSHOLE! HOW DARE HE CLAIM THAT HE DOESN'T REMEMBER WHAT HE DID TO ME! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! YOU AND YOUR HOST WILL PERISH HERE DDRAIG." She charged her fist with aura and swung it down towards them.

"Dammit, guess there is no choice now" Issei remarked as he quickly conjured a flame barrier around all of them. However, to his shock, the barrier shattered the instant she made contact with it. The very same barrier that completely negated a stray devil's assault was completely ineffective against the dragon king and this barrier had a lot more power behind it.

Acting quickly, he conjured a newly created barrier with multiple layers and just to be safe he also casted holy sphere as additional protection. This time, the barrier managed to survive Tiamat's attack even though it did take some damage. Now, it was Tiamat's turn to become surprised. There weren't many enemies who were a match for her, let alone survive one of her attacks and yet this whelp seems to have done just that.

This delay allowed Issei to tell the rest of his friends to evacuate the place.

"while she's distracted, you guys need to get out of here. I'll hold her off" his voice brought them back from their fear.

"W-What?" was all Matsuda could say.

"You can't be serious! Are you seriously going to take on Tiamat all by yourself." Rias shouted in disbelief.

Issei nodded

"Yes. At the very least, I will hold her off until all of you have escaped safely."

"I'm not letting you fight her alone Issei" Akeno stated.

"As much as I appreciate your help, none of you are strong enough to handle her, let alone survive one of her attacks and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you ever again." Issei cupped her face gently "Please trust me and go."

They all seemed discontent but they knew Issei was right. None of them were strong enough to take on Tiamat and the only thing that they would accomplish by staying behind would be to hold Issei back as he would be too busy protecting them so with a heavy heart, they all nodded.

Akeno grabbed his hand "You better come back to me, you understand!"

Issei smiled "Yes ma'am!"

She let go of his hand as she and her group made ran away.

Seeing her prey getting away from her caused Tiamat to refocus and immediately went after them.

"You are not getting away" she bellowed before she was blocked by a pillar of fire that prevented her from going after them. She looked to the source which obviously turned out to be Issei who looked up to face her.

"In case you didn't get the memo… your opponent is me." He stated as his eyes turned into slits, getting ready for battle.

Tiamat, on the other hand, was not amused.

"I don't care if you are Tannin's brat or whatever. If you get in my way, I will eliminate you" she growled at Issei who didn't seem the least bit frightened.

"I don't know what you have against Ddraig however I know that I cannot allow you to go after them. They are all my friends and I will not allow you to harm them Tiamat." He said as he closed his eyes and started to gather his strength. Unlike the hydra before, he would need to be serious in order to fight against the strongest dragon king alive.

"Then you will die alongside him." Was all Tiamat said before she raised her own aura indicating the start of the battle.

Sensing that Akeno and his friends were far enough, Issei opened his eyes.

"So be it."

Immediately after he said, an immense pillar of flame emerged underneath Issei engulfing his form making Tiamat pause as she had no idea what he was planning. She needed to be cautious. Unlike the others, she could tell Issei was strong and her instincts have never led her astray so as much as she wanted to chase after Ddraig's host, she had to first deal with the enemy in front of her. What emerged from the pillar shocked even her.

What emerged from the flames was a 45 meter tall crimson dragon (If you don't remember what he looks like, just google igneel from fairy tail and he looks like that except his color is a deep crimson which a few black outlines. And instead of a scar in his eye, he has one across his torso). She knew Issei was a dragon but she never expected this behemoth.

"Shall we get started then" Issei voice became deeper and sounded a lot more powerful. She could instantly tell that Issei was a very powerful dragon. For a moment, she was in awe of the being in front of her and if she was being truthful, a little bit of lust as well. She was a female dragon after all. Female dragons tended to only mate with not only a powerful male but also one that surpasses their strength due to their pride. Tiamat was no exception. She was probably the strongest female dragon alive at this point(if you don't count Ophis) so her standards were set pretty high. Yet, here was a dragon, barely 2 decades old from the looks of it, whose mere presence screamed power which did turn her on a little bit.

Unfortunately, that only lasted for a moment because his aura also exuded dominance and it reminded her so much of Ddraig that she momentarily overshadowed his profile with Ddraig causing a surge of rage to burst from her.

"DDDDRRRRAAAAIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGG" she roared as she launched herself towards Issei raising her fist. Issei also charged towards her, coating his fist in flames.

As soon as both fists collided, a huge explosion ensued.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The forest below them was instantly destroyed as trees were incinerated and debris started flying everywhere as a result of their single clash although currently neither dragon seemed to care much for the destruction they were causing.

Tiamat immediately resumed her assault at Issei as she started unleashed a series of blows consisting of claws, fangs and her tail which Issei evaded. Tiamat seemed to have the advantage as her relentless assault was putting Issei on the defensive and not allowing him to strike back. Unfortunately, she was currently letting her emotions get the best of her and was not fighting rationally and Issei knew that which was why he was patiently waiting for an opening.

That opening soon appeared as Tiamat shot a wide hook towards him. He evaded it by twisting his body around and using the momentum, smashed her body with his tail propelling her backwards and scoring the first clear hit of the fight.

"Ahhhh" she screamed before using her wings to re-balance herself. She stared at Issei with anger in her eyes before taking a deep breath, understanding that he took advantage of her opening due to her recklessness. Despite being so young, she had to admit that he was strong and that he was not an opponent she could deal with without going all out.

"Not bad at all youngling" she wiped the blood from her mouth "but this fight has only just begun". Tiamat created 3 spheres of chaos and launched them towards issei who created a flame barrier around him to protect himself. Her attacks hit and shattered the barrier but it was enough to protect him. However, Tiamat knew this which was why the attack was simply a distraction as she tried to blindside him from behind him. Unfortunately, Issei didn't fall for it as he kept his senses up and felt her coming from behind him. He lighted his fist with his flames and swung at her but Tiamat managed to put her guard up just in time.

With the newly created distance, Issei unleashed another roar towards her but she noticed something very different about this attack. His flames changed color to blue.

Tiamat managed to dodge his attack however, it still managed to hit her wings and to her surprise, they immediately froze. That surprise only lasted a moment as she immediately responded by increasing her body temperature and the ice quickly melted.

'I guess using Ice against a dragon was not the best idea' His ice flames were very strong capable of freezing many enemies like he did against the fallen angel forces in the church however against a powerful being, it wouldn't do much other than stall their movements. It's even less effective against a dragon, a being of flames who can like Tiamat did, just focus their aura within their body and instantly melt the ice around their body.

After getting rid of the ice, Tiamat started charging towards Issei.

"In that case, how about this" Issei unleashed a burst of black flames from his mouths. Tiamat, however did not seem to care for the incoming attack and continued to head straight for it which confused Issei. His black flames were no joke and were definitely stronger than his ice flames.

His attack hit Tiamat causing another explosion to occur. Issei was hoping his attack, at the very least, did significant damage to make her retreat. His goal was simply to prevent her from chasing after his friends and killing Matsuda for who knows what Ddraig did.

Unfortunately, to his extreme shock, Tiamat emerged from the smoke pretty much unscathed except for a few scratches and torch marks layered across her scales. He was only shocked for a moment, but that was all that Tiamat need to smash her fist on his faces finally scoring the first hit on him. Issei braced as much as he could and luckily enhanced his defenses at the last second but her hit still hurt. Luckily, her attack created a bit of distance between both of them which allowed him to refocus.

"I have to admit that for a youngling, you certainly do possess incredible abilities. To be able to change the properties and characteristics of your flames at will is something I never thought possible. Your black flames in particular are very strong. However, it would seem that you do not truly understand everything about your technique. Flames that continue to burn until their target is reduced to nothing but ashes. Powerful indeed but also chaotic by nature. Against any other opponent, these flames of yours would have probably done a lot of damage if not outright kill them but unfortunately for you, I am the Chaos Karma dragon king and chaos is my element. Therefore, I also possess great resistances that's comes with it." Tiamat explained. Her tone seemed to contain a trace of respect for Issei despite her anger at the moment. It's not every day she meets another dragon that utilizes the chaos element even though it looked liked he didn't even know about it himself.

Issei, for his part, could not help but feel impressed by Tiamat. She not only perfectly understood the specifics about his flames but even knew things about it that even he didn't know. When he created or discovered his abilities, he thought he had a good understanding of what each of his flames did however it seems that he did not know as much as he thought he did as Tiamat just revealed. It was impressive.

''You are impressive'' Tiamat seemed to mirror his thoughts "which is why I am going to give you one last chance to get out of my way. It would be a shame for a dragon of your caliber to die protecting that welch asshole." Tiamat offered Issei the chance to leave. She didn't lie when she said that it would be a shame for Issei to fall. Her race was one that was on the verge of extinction and the last thing she wanted to do was to kill a dragon with so much potential despite being so young. He kind of reminded her of herself when she was young and driven so as a reward for determination and power, she decided to offer him what she considered a lifeline.

Unfortunately Issei shook his head immediately.

"I'm very honoured to be praised by the strongest dragon king but unfortunately I will have to refuse your generous offer Tiamat. Matsuda is both my friend and a friend to someone very special to me. I became stronger in order to be able to protect those I care about and it would seem this is the time to show it. Therefore, I am very sorry but I cannot allow you to proceed with your vendetta and I will stop you here." Issei declared with a fire burning in his eyes as he raised his aura demonstrating his unyielding determination to Tiamat.

"Very well then" Tiamat raised her own aura to match his but this time her eyes revealed a fiery determination of her own to defeat the dragon before her. She no longer seemed clouded by her anger and instead focused on Issei.

"In that case, I will have you fall here… Issei Hyoudou" For the first time, Tiamat stated his name illustrating her newfound respect for the boy.

"Here I come Tiamat" Issei responded as they both, once more, launched themselves at one another.

Their battle had now truly begun.