'High School DxD' Just Showed Off How Much Issei Has Grown

High School DxD's much anticipated fourth season, High School DxD Hero, is finally underway and as the story is moving into the Kyoto arc, Issei got to show off just how much he's improved since becoming a devil.

When visiting Rias' family, Issei and Rias come across Sairaorg, who ends up challenging Issei to a fight to test their mettle before he and Rias' rating game officially begins.

After confirming that he wants he and Rias to go all out and use every power at their disposal during their rating game, his fight with Issei begins. Sairaorg has proven himself to be a fierce devil in the past, as he trained his body to its strongest in order to make up for the fact that he did not inherit the Power of Destruction.

But Issei managed to keep up with Sairaorg in the fight. Even proving that he's learned from his mistakes and uses his Rook upgrade to power of his defenses. He manages to connect a few strong blows on Sairaorg, but each time he's hit with a powerful punch strong enough to not only pierce his Red Dragon Emperor armor but break it.

Regardless, Issei has enough speed and strength to at least remain standing in the fight and Sairaorg takes notice. But when Asia suggests from the outside that Issei grope Rias' breasts to gain more power, and thus become the "Oppai Dragon," Sairaorg stops the fight.

He's respecting Issei for how much he has grown in the past few years, and states that their rating game will indeed be one where they fight all out. Issei is excited for the coming day, feeling that they both share a pure fist, and surely fans are highly anticipating this moment as well.

Fans have watched Issei grow from struggling with his demon powers, training, and now a better mastery of them. As he and Sairaorg are essentially the same in that regard, it just shows how much stronger Issei can get if he tries hard enough.

If you are not familiar with High School DxD, then you should know the series is one rooted in supernatural adventures and gratuitous fan service. The story follows a boy named Issei Hyodo who is best known for his perverted ways. After being asked on a date, the boy is killed when the girl turns out to be a fallen angel. Issei is revived by a busty classmate of his named Rias who is a devil herself, and she contracts the boy to become her new pet as she reincarnated him into a devil during his resurrection.

Based off a series of light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi with illustrations provided by Miyama-Zero, the series began serialization in 2008 as part of Fujimi Shobo's Dragon Magazine. The series has since been collected into 22 volumes, and has spawned a manga adaptation as well. The manga has been handled by Hiroji Mishima starting in 2010, and has 22 volumes currently available as of 2006. The series has since spawned three anime series before, and were all licensed for an English language release by Funimation running from 2012 to 2015 in various intervals with the latest iteration of the series premiering later in 2018.