Issei slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by the strange sight of a flaming bird perched just above his head looking down on him in a curious manner.

"Uhm, hello...?" He said before he rose to an upright sitting position. The bird suddenly clapped it's wings at his sudden movement and moved to a new position to continue looking at him.

"Where did you come from?" He asked the bird as he looked around for any more creatures. Fortunately, there weren't any which did put some of his worried to rest.

However, he did notice that there was a pile of fruit in a basket laying next to him. He knew that it wasn't there when he went to sleep. "Was this you?" He asked as he looked at the flaming bird to which it nodded it's head in confirmation.

"Thanks." He said before hastily digging into the fruit basket. Picking up a bright red apple, Issei took a big bite and moaned in delight at the sweet taste. Before long, Issei and completely devoured all the fruit in the basket.

Looking into the basket to see if there is anything else inside, he found a book on survival, a cookbook, a map, a torch and a watch. 'Hmm, these will be very useful.' He thought as he fastened the watch to his left wrist. As he grabbed the rest of the items, he realised that he didn't have any means to carry them without hampering himself in battle.

As if to answer his thoughts, the items in his hand instantly disappeared in a puff of fire. Normally, this would have worried him but his gut was telling him that he could call the items back at any point.

"Thanks for the gifts, my fine feathered friend." Issei said as he rose to his feet before turning around and bowing down. "But it seems like we'll have to part ways now." He continued before turning to leave.

Suddenly, the phoenix flew in front of him as if to stop him from continuing. "Is there something you need...?" He asked only for the bird to perch itself on his shoulder.

"Ahhh.... I see. So you want to come with me, don't you?" He asked as the bird crooned in acknowledgement.

"Very well than, from today onward your my partner!" As soon as the words left his mouth a strange magic circle appeared around the phoenix and disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared not that he noticed.

"But I can't keep calling you bird or phoenix... Hmm...." Issei thought for a second as he pulled his left hand into a think position.

Pulling his hand from his face, Issei snapped his fingers as perfect name came to him. "I know! From this day forward you shall be called Blaze!"

Blazed cawed agreement, apparently it liked its new name.

"Alright! Looks like it's time to get going down to Kuoh!" Issei yelled out before realising something. "Right after we find out where we are." He added as Blazed spread his wings and launched into the air for a better aerial view.

As for Issei, he began to look for any means of information that could help him discover where he is. 'Alright... How hard can this be? It's just a simple errand, how long could it possibly take?'

Issei wasn't proud at how long it took him to figure out where he was nor was he very happy about it. As it turns out, he was currently in Kyoto meaning that his earlier estimation of how long it would take to get home was very inaccurate. As for how long it took him to learns this small bit of information, well it took the better part of two hours and that was with the help of his newfound feathery friend.

Groaning in annoyance, Issei realised that if he wanted to survive the trip to Kuoh, he'd need to stock up on any and materials he can find. Issei made a mental list of all the items he'd need for the journey as well as noting to himself that might need to make use of one of the many abandoned vehicles in the area.

"KEEEEYAHHH!!!!"

A loud scream tore him from his thoughts. Issei swung his head in the direction of where the scream came from and quickly took off. Blaze flew above his head to help assist him in locating whoever it was that needed his help.

Turning a corner, Issei soon found who it was that needed help.

Much to his horror, he realised that it was Yasaka's daughter Kunou.

She was surrounded by eight strange metallic monster unlike the ones that he fought in the hospital.

"Hold on Kunou! I'll save you!" He yelled out as he drew the Rebellion from his back and charged forward.

"Issei...?" She asked unable to believe what she was seeing as he dived towards the nearest machine and pierce it in the head.

"Die you filthy machines!" He cried out as he pulled the Rebellion from its head before twirling around and decapitating another two.

One of the machines tried to rush at him while he was focused on the others only for Issei to side step it and slashed the machines back before kicking it to the ground and stabbing it in the head.

Yet another of the machines tried to rush him only for Blaze to swoop down and unleash a torrent of fireballs on them taking down an additional two.

Another one tried to sweep his side, only for Issei to instinctively jump over the robots head. As he did so, he drew up his left hand and threw a fireball into the machines head blowing it up.

The last machine, upon realising that it was going to die decided to drop whatever it was planning to do and tried to run only for Issei to instinctively slash out his sword and release a wave of fire at the retreating robot destroying it in a single moment.

Once Issei was certain that the threat was gone, he sheathed his sword and turned around to comfort Kunou only to be tackled to the ground by the young yokai as she rapidly dissolved into a sobbing mess.

"Issei...!!!" She cried out as she rubbed her head into his stomach, tears violently leaking from her eyes. "I thought you were dead! We all did!" She continued as he slowly raised his arms to embrace her in a hug.

"There, there..." He began as he tried to comfort the poor girl, patting her on the head seemed to help if ever so slightly. "I guess you could say reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." He joked in a vain attempt to cheer the girl.

Eventually, Kunou did calm down and once that happend she began to explain to Issei everything that had happend during his coma. Much to his surprise, however, was the fact that he had been in a coma for over a year and a half. The reason he found this surprising was due to the whole overgrowth of foliage in the city which should have at least taken a couple of years only for Kunou to reveal that it turned out like that due to the magical overload that effected everything and everyone. Apparently, everything that existed be it organic or inorganic was effected by a strange new magic source called aether.

Surprisingly, enough it wasn't the supernatural that caused this but rather a bunch of human scientists. They were experimenting with something that they believed would help provide the answer to infinite clean energy and they were somewhat right, they just hadn't expect the price that came with it. Ultimately, the human scientists had brought a celestial god from another realm to Earth which lead to it being flooded with aether. No place was safe, not even hell or heaven.

The worst part was that everyone was effected although some were more badly effected than others. Not even the other races where immune to it and a large chunk of them were turned into the monsters while others were turned into some form of zombie. Even those that weren't as effected were still changed, their magic was enhanced, angels found that they couldn't fall, fallen found that their light magic was stronger, the devils found that they could reproduce much easier than before and any animalistic race gained an enhancement to to their senses.

When asked about the dragons, Kunou revealed that they were all turned primal by the energy like most of the beings effected however, unlike the other races that had a few that didn't turn, all the dragons were effected. Even worse was the fact that shortly after the event, they had discovered that the strange energy had also effected the sacred gears, corrupting and altering them in ways they never thought possible. Ultimately, the magic had either cracked, damaged or outright destroyed any and all remaining sacred gears with their powers bleeding into their hosts.

Once Kunou finished explaining, Issei found himself at a loss for words.

"I... Oh... Wow! That's.... A lot to take in." He said as he looked over at the young yokai. "I can guess that because of the scientists the whole world now knows of the Factions?" He asked.

"What's left of them that is..." Kunou replied morbidly as she played with Blaze. "Is there anything else you need to know?"

"No." He replied before bending down to embrace the young girl in a hug. At first, Kunou tensed at the sudden contact but eventually relaxed upon feeling his warmth. She couldn't help but feel safe whenever he hugged her.

Breaking the hug, Issei grabbed Kunou's shoulders, "I'm going to need your help if we're going to make it to Kuoh." He said before standing up. "Is that alright with you?"

Kunou nodded her head and with that the duo proceeded to spend the rest of the day looking for anything that could be useful for them. It had taken the rest of the day but they'd eventually gathered a good amount of food and building materials should they need to make shelter. Kunou has even managed to find camping gear and tools, while Issei had came across a duel set of pistols that upon touching had reformated into a more deadly looking handguns and he had also managed to secure a bike that had also been imbued with his flames.

Issei felt that the pistols would prove very useful as it means that he can rapidly hurly pyro attacks more easily. Issei decided to call the guns Scorch and Cinder due to Issei infusing The guns with his infernal flames.

As for the bike, it had come into creation when Issei lobbed a fireball at one of the monsters that had attacked him only for it to miss and land on a broken bike. The fire had completely engulfed the bike reformatting it for combat and once the change was completely it began driving itself towards the enemy running them over before coming to a stop infront of Issei. In a similar fashion to how Issei can summon and de-summon items at will the bike was proven to be no exception. However, he did learn that it could be split in two to be wielded like a twin pair of chainsaws.

The pair had also come across more of the stranges crystals similar to the ones Issei first found at the hospital and upon absorbing them not only gave him new abilities but also granted him a new weapon.

A twin set of blades connected to a pair of chains that's wrapped around his wrists oddly enough Issei felt as if a fire was burning within them. Kunou had taken to calling the weapon "The Blades of Chaos" and oddly enough the weapon felt like it was a fusion between Greek and Nordic magic.

Finally, the duo had set up a campfire and managed to make a shelter in one of the many abandoned apartment buildings that was still somewhat intact. This was done so that they wouldn't have to worry about being attacked while they slept but if they were Issei trusted Blaze to protect them and at the very least, wake them up before the threat arrives.

As their food cooked, Issei consulted the map that he had acquired earlier that day to figure out a travel plan on how to get back to Kuoh. He noted that without a plane, the trip could take a full six months if he accounts the many various monsters that now roamed the world and the trip would take them through many famous locations, one of which being Tokyo and there was no telling what awaited for them there.

With a sigh, Issei put the map away and summoned Blades of Chaos, Agni and Fotiá. Unlike, most of the weapons Issei had encounter in the Supernatural, the blades seemed to have been created from the crystallised flames of both Greek and Norse magic but how and why the magic was in Kyoto in the first place was a mystery. 'How very peculiar? Every time I think I'm used to this new world it still finds a new way to surprise me...' He looked over to Kunou as she curled up into a little ball on his lap with a small blanket draped over her. He smiled at the sight before turning his attention back to the blades, he could sense their innate power and it felt as if it was familiar to him.

Oddly enough, the blades felt naturally in his hands as if he'd wielded them his whole life, in fact Issei felt as he could use them without difficulty even though he was never trained in anything but sword combat and hand to hand combat. He de-summoned the blades and soon pulled blanket over his head head and quietly dozed off to the crackling sounds of fire.

Before he could fall asleep, his eyes snapped open as he recalled that he hadn't had he food yet. Yanking the blanket from his body Issei turned to find that his food was thankfully not burned yet. Careful not to disturb Kunou, Issei picked her up and layed her down on the only bed in the room that was thankfully otherwise intact.

Pulling his food from the fire, Issei quickly began devouring it as fast as possible before making sure to leave some for his familiar. Once he had finished, Issei soon made his way over to the bed and layed down next to the small Yokai, dropping the sheets over both of them, Issei smiled as Kunou nestled herself next to him before his eyes began to close and cold embrace of sleep began to take him.
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Alright! Here's my first chapter of 2024 out with over 2400 words! Wow!
Any who in the next chapter, Issei will not only gain a new vehicle but also reunite with a certain blonde Phenex! See you in the next chapter of Fallen World! Also I'm updating the Bio again to account the new weapons Issei has. Also I did say that this story is an x-over so be sure to expect more monster and enemies from over franchises so don't be shy to suggest any of them as long as you tell their names and what franchise their form.

Next chapters title - An Infernal Awakening