Several days had passed since Issei had rescued Kunou. Since then, the duo had made a temporary base of operations in the abandoned apartment building with Issei managing to rig up a working shower for them to bathe in as they gathered all the materials they'd need for their up journey.

Eventually, the time had finally come for them to leave the city and packed with everything they could in Issei's strange storage ability they set out on their journey.

Unfortunately, due to how badly damage the city was, they had to make their way out by foot as both buildings and trees blocked their path.

Nearing the edge of the city, the duo made their way to the vehicle that Kunou had found two days earlier, the vehicle in question was a pure black 1969 Dodge Charger RT in near perfect condition granted there was specks of dirt and dust covering it but other than that the car was still road worthy.

Upon entering the car, Issei did one final check before igniting the engine and pushed his foot down on the accelerator causing the car to speed off onto the road. As the car drove off into the distance, the pair never noticed that they were being observed by a being of titanic height as it stood near the center of Kyoto city.

During their long trip, Kunou had began to pester Issei into seeing what would happen if he tried to infuse the car with his flames, needless to say he'd rejected the idea multiple times due having no valid reason as to why he should do it. However, he finally caved after arrived at an abandoned village due to the car being low on fuel and they couldn't find any extra. Without much of a choice, Issei hesitantly placed his hands onto the hood of the car and released his flames and the outcome was not what he was expecting at all.

If anything the car largely remained unchanged aside from the fact that flames now spewed from the turbo that poked through the car's hood as well as the wheels. Needless to say, the transformation did seem to have its desired effects because it looked like the car no longer needed to rely on fuel.

After sorting everything out, the pair immediately got back into the car that Kunou had now taken to affectionately calling it the Hell Charger, and resumed their journey.

"So how long will it be before we get to Kuoh ?" Kunou asked as she peered out the car window.

"If my math is correct than it'll be about a month or two before we're anywhere near the town." He answered, his eyes trained on the road watching for any threats that could jump out at any moment.

Kunou, deciding that the car was to quite for her taste pulled out a CD from the car, one of the few items they managed to find in perfect condition, and put it in. Soon the song "sweet dreams" by the Eurythmics started to play over the radio. While neither could fully understand the words, they did enjoy the beat as the car trailed ever onwards.

Suddenly, the car was launched forward by a fiery explosion. The car skidded for a few feet before coming to a stop near a broken tree.

"You alright?!" Issei called out as he struggled to undo his seatbelt.

"I'm okay!" Kunou replied much to his relief. "Oh thank God." He said as he finally unlatched his seatbelt and slumped down onto the roof.

Moving onto his knees, Issei quickly crawled over to Kunou and helped her undo her seatbelt. Next, he kicked open the door on his side and crawled out to help move Kunou without a problem before going back to fetch his sword.

Once they had escaped their car, the duo quickly took off into the forest near them with Issei summing Blaze to help guide them as they tried to escape whatever it was that attacked them.

With a loud boom, a large fiery bird landed infront of them. Issei could only watch in horror as he finally realised what had attacked them.

"It's a Phoenix..." He said as he pulled the Rebellion from his back. "Kunou... Run."

"But Issei..." Kunou started before he interrupted her. "This is not the time for arguing! Take Blaze and run. He'll help you find me once this is all over." He said as he turned to face her. "Now go!"

With some hesitation, Kunou turned to run as Blaze followed close behind her. As soon as she disappeared from his sight, Issei soon turned his attention back to the giant Phoenix. He was surprised that it hadn't attacked them during the time Kunou started had to run.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" He cried out as he raised his blade.

The Phoenix let out loud screech before breathing out a large stream of fire in his direction leaving him with barely enough to dodge.

Deciding to commit himself to killing the giant bird, Issei charged forward. The Phoenix continued to blast balls of fire at him but he continued to press forward somehow avoiding the attacks.

Eventually, he managed to get close enough to actually start slashing at its legs. The Phoenix tried to stomp on him however he quickly jumped out of the way before leaping forward and slashing down with his sword completely severing one of the talons from the birds foot causing the bird to screech in pain.

It tried to swipe at him with one of it's wings but he managed to dodge it at the last second before continuing his attack on the birds foot. Acting fast, he leapt onto the foot and impaled the Rebellion into it, effectively pinning it to the ground.

Next, he summoned Cavalier and pulled it into the leg, the blades doing their work by severing the foot completely from the leg as the Phoenix let out a squawk of pain. After that, Issei de-summoned his weapon and pulled out his sword from the severed foot.

He smiled in satisfaction as he watched the bird tumble to the ground. Seeing a chance to deliver the final blow, Issei began to charge towards its head but before he could deliver the final blow the bird snapped its head to side causing him to instead slash it's eye and blind it.

Spreading its wings, the Phoenix quickly took to the sky. Suddenly, Issei saw a bright blue glow out of the corner of his eye and upon turning to see what was causing the light, he found that the foot he had severed from the Phoenix was rapidly disappearing.

As he watched, a horrifying realisation came over as he slowly turned to look at the flying form of the Phoenix and saw the same blue glow emanating from it's stump. Suddenly, the Phoenix turned around and released a volley of fireballs his way.

There wasn't any time to dodge so Issei crossed his arms to try and tank some of the attack unfortunately it didn't work and he found himself being thrown onto his back.

Still slightly disoriented from the explosion, Issei didn't have any time to react before the Phoenix suddenly swooped down and grabbed him.

"Gahhh!!!" He cried out as pain flared throughout his body. Fighting through the pain, he pooled fire into his free arm and shot it at the bird to miniscule effect.

Images of his harem, Kunou, his familiar Blaze, his parents flashed infront of his eyes and suddenly a strange sensation began to build up in his gut as his anger grew.

"I... Won't.... Die.... Here!!!!" He cried out as his body exploded into a pillar of fire knocking causing the Phoenix to let go of him. Once the pillar of fire disappeared, Issei was gone and what stood in his place could only be described as something positively demonic.

The figure appeared to have skin that looked similar to molten magma with parts of it glowing red. In addition, the figure also had a wolf-like muzzle alongside a white mane and a long tail. To complete the demonic look, the being also had a pair of backward facing horns that appeared to be spewing fire from them and a set of claws on each hand as well as it's feet.

Issei??? Let out a loud beastial roar as he fell to the ground. With a loud thud, Issei??? crashed into the ground before rising to his feet and summoning a massive fire ball and launching it at the Phoenix successfully knocking it out of the sky.

With a might leap, Issei jumped up to meet the now falling bird and delivered a fire infused punch to its head before grabbing it's body and twisting it around so that it would take the brunt of the fall.

The resulting landing knocked down all the trees in the area while also creating a huge crater. Issei??? slowly got off the down bird and grabbed it by its neck to lift it up.

Shaping his hand into a stabbing position, he plunged his hand into the birds body but before he could finish the job a huge explosion of fire burst out of the Phoenix engulfing both of them in a pillar of fire.

Once the fire had faded, neither giant could be found and instead the unconscious figures of two people lay where they once stood. Issei's clothes were torn and dirty but he didn't seem to be in any severe condition and the same could be said about the very familiar blond that lay next to him.

Kunou had found the pair two hours later and much to her surprise the Hell Charger was parked near the pair in an undamaged state with the Rebellion buried in the ground just of to Issei's left.

"Weren't you badly damaged and flipped over?" Kunou questioned as she observed the car only to jump when it honked its horn in response. "Okay... The car's definitely sentient." She noted before looking over to her friend's unconscious bodies.

Tilting her head back, Kunou realised that it was going to rain soon worrying that there won't be enough time to drag both of them to shelter Kunou started to stress about what she should do before the Hell Charger revved it's engine and opened it's trunk.

Kunou stared in confusion before recalling Issei mentioning that the car now had the same storage ability he did. Rushing over to the back of the car, Kunou plunged her hands into the dark void and started pulling out two large poles and a large metallic cloak big enough to cover the car and make a temporary shelter at the same time. Placing the poles in the ground infront of Issei's and Ravel's prone forms, Kunou attached the large cloak to them before connecting the rest of it to the car to make a makeshift tent.

No sooner had she finished did it start raining. As quickly as possible she entered into the tent and left it open for Blaze to enter before closing it. With a sigh of relief, Kunou walked over to the Hell Charger and opened the door to the passenger seat and pulled out two blankets, one for her and the other to cover both Issei and Ravel so they don't get cold.

After covering the pair, Kunou got into the Hell Charger and played the disc as Eurythmics started to once again blare over the radio before pulling the blanket over her head and slowly started to doze off.

A full night had passed before Issei had started to regain his consciousness and oddly enough instead of feeling drained, he felt stronger, more powerful almost as if something had awakened within himself. With a thrown, he tried to recall what had happened after the giant Phoenix had grabbed him but it was all a blur. While struggling to recall what had happened, he had failed to realise the familiar warmth beside him that had also began to stir from her slumber.

"Mhhh... Ise.... You're so warm..." She mumbled out before her eyes shot wide open upon realising what she'd said. "Ise?!?!" She cried out as he snapped his head in her direction.

"Ravel?!?" He cried out before tackled back onto the ground and his lips where captured by a now happy Ravel who had began to tearful kiss him in joy. "Your awake..." She said after finally breaking the kiss for air before wrapping her arms around him in a bronze crushing hug.

It took a while but Ravel had eventually let him go before realising Kunou was there as well. Together, the pair began to tell Ravel everything that's happened before asking her what had happened to her.

She soon admitted that her memories are hazy at best but she did recall seeing a giant figure in the sky one day after she began heading home from her visit to Issei.

"Suddenly, I was engulfed in a pillar of fire and everything after was a blur." She said as she finished her recap of what had happened on the day where everything went to hell. Ravel looked over to Issei only to see a troubled look on his face. "Is everything alright darling?" She asked.

"Hmm...? Oh yeah, everything's okay. I'm just troubled by something. You said you were engulfed in a pillar of fire before everything became a blur for you right?" He asked.

"Yeah....?" She replied as she and Kunou looked at Issei to continue.

"Well that same thing happend to me except I was after Kunou and I separated so I could fight the giant Phoenix." He continued before a disturbed look settled on his face. "Nearing the end of the fight I was grabbed by it and all I felt was anger and a strange pull grew in my stomach before suddenly a pillar of fire engulfed me and I think that I was.... Transformed." He said as the girls looked at him in surprise. "But if I'm right than it would suddenly explain why you were here and the giant Phoenix being nowhere in sight." He added and with each word more and more of the fight became clearer in his mind. "Because.... You were the Phoenix." He finished.

The girls gasped in shock but before they could bombard him with questions, he pulled their food from the fire. "Ahh, foods ready."

After that, the trio quickly dug into their food before focusing on cleaning up their mess. Recalling that there was a river nearby, Issei pulled out three towels and some soap from the car and began heading in the rivers direction.

He was soon joined by the girls in their birthday suits which he struggled not to stair at them. It took a while but eventually they had fully cleaned themselves but unfortunately for Issei and Ravel had to put on their damaged clothes.

Returning to the car, Issei placed the all their items back to the trunk before a thought struck him. If the trunk is connected to the same storage area than surely he could go and finally find out where all his stuff goes. At first, he was hesitant but eventually his intrusive thoughts won and he swung his legs into the trunk eventually Ravel noticed what Issei was doing.

"Ise, dear, what are you...?" She didn't finish his sentence as he suddenly slid into the darkness.
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2593 words total. A bit rough I know but I did star writing this during the night where most of my ideas for this story usually form. I'll admit, my fight scenes have started to improve so with enough given I'll be able to make fight scenes so extravagant that no one would be able stop reading but for now this is the best you've got.

Please tell me what you think. Other than that enjoy!