The first thing I noticed about Kuoh Academy was how damn normal it looked. After the nightmare of that black-glass wasteland, I expected something more dramatic—floating castles, maybe, or rivers of blood. Not a perfectly manicured courtyard under a cherry-blossom sky. The contrast made my skin crawl.
The System's alert pulsed in my vision:
[WORLD #1: HIGH SCHOOL DxD. PRIMARY TARGET: RIAS GREMORY. VOID CORRUPTION DETECTED: 11%.]
Then I felt it—a pressure like a boot on my windpipe. Devilish energy, thick and cloying.
"Another stray?"
The voice dripped with aristocratic amusement. Across the courtyard, a girl with crimson hair that seemed to burn in the afternoon light tilted her head. Her school uniform might as well have been a royal gown for how she wore it.
Rias Gremory. The name surfaced from the System's fragmented data like a half-remembered dream.
I opened my mouth to respond when the ground beneath us screamed.
---
[WARNING: VOID-TAINTED ENTITY DETECTED]
The cobblestones erupted in a shower of molten stone. Something massive and wrong clawed its way free - a devil, but not like the elegant girl before me. This thing was all distended muscle and oozing flesh, wings like tattered garbage bags, eyes rolling wildly in its skull. Acid dripped from its maw, eating holes in reality itself.
"Impossible!" A blonde knight materialized at Rias' side, his sword already drawn. "Strays can't breach Rating Game barriers!"
The System disagreed. [STRAY CORRUPTION LEVEL: 92%. CHAMPION ENERGY ABSORPTION EFFICIENCY: 300%]
"Looks like dinner's served," I muttered, rolling my shoulders.
The knight - Kiba, the System supplied - moved first. His blade became a silver blur as he struck at the creature's flank. The Stray didn't even flinch. One massive arm backhanded him into a stone wall hard enough to crack it.
[COMBAT DATA RECORDED: DEMONIC SWORD TECHNIQUES. SYNTHESIZE? Y/N]
I didn't bother answering. My body moved on its own, the System feeding me trajectories. I ducked under a swipe of claws that would have taken my head off and grabbed the Stray's forearm.
[ENERGY DRAIN INITIATED]
Blue light spiderwebbed across its flesh. The creature howled as its muscles withered before my eyes. Power flooded my veins, hot and thick as molten metal.
[ENERGY ABSORBED: 45%. CORRUPTION DETECTED. PURGING...]
Black ooze boiled from the Stray's pores. It collapsed in on itself like a deflating balloon, dissolving into smoke that coiled around my arms. The System shrieked:
[EVOLUTION UNLOCKED: DEMON HUNTER MODE]
Fire raced along my nerves. I looked down to see my right arm transforming - scales erupting across the skin, fingers elongating into claws, void-black smoke curling between the joints.
"His scent..."
The whisper came from a petite girl with snow-white hair and feline eyes. Koneko, the System identified. She'd gone pale, her nostrils flaring. "It's like the Nekoshou tombs."
Before anyone could respond, the cherry blossoms turned to ash around us.
"Oh, Rias-chan..."
The new voice dripped with saccharine malice. Feathers rained down around us - real feathers, white tinged with gold. A man stepped from nothingness, his grin sharper than Kiba's sword.
"You've found such a delicious toy."
[WARNING: SERAPH-CLASS ENTITY DETECTED - FALLEN ANGEL (ARCHIVE: CATEGORY - APOCALYPSE)]
Kokabiel.
Rias went rigid beside me. "Run," she breathed.
The System had other ideas. [CHAMPION ENERGY AT 212%. COMMENCE HOSTILE TAKEOVER?]
I exhaled, watching my breath fog in the sudden cold. "Nah. Let's dance instead."
Kokabiel's spear materialized in a burst of hellfire. "You'll fight me, little thief? With stolen power?"
I rolled my shoulders, feeling the System synthesize my options:
[ADAPTIVE COMBAT: SYNTHESIZING SKILLS - WATER DRAGON'S WRATH + KINETIC MIMICRY + DEMON HUNTER MODE (PARTIAL)]
Koneko's nose wrinkled. "President... his scent changed. He's not just human anymore."
Kokabiel lunged.
Time bent. The System fed me trajectories - dodge left, pivot, strike here - but his spear still grazed my ribs. Blood hit the grass, steaming black.
[DAMAGE SUSTAINED. CORRUPTION: 18%. EVOLUTION REQUIRES MORE DATA - RECOMMEND STRATEGY: SURVIVE NEXT 57 SECONDS]
I spat blood. "Always with the damn timers."
Then the sky split open.
Rias' power erupted like a supernova. Crimson energy swirled around her, forming a monstrous, winged silhouette. Her voice echoed with dual tones:
"Enough."
Kokabiel laughed. "You'd waste your Balance Breaker on this trash?"
She raised a hand. The ground beneath him screamed. "I don't like bullies."
The System's alert cut through the chaos:
[VOID KING INFLUENCE DETECTED IN TARGET. JUMP LOCKED UNTIL 35% CORRUPTION]
Kokabiel's face twisted as Rias' power crushed down on him. "No! You don't understand what's coming!" His form began dissolving into black smoke. "You're not running from me, boy. You're running from what's hunting you!"
Then he was gone.
Silence fell over the ruined courtyard. My transformed arm ached as the scales slowly receded. Koneko was the first to move, stepping forward with something small and white clutched in her hand.
"Here." She thrust it at me - a tiny bell on a frayed string. "Wear this. It'll slow the rot."
As I took it, the System whispered:
[NEXUS POINT DETECTED: KUOH'S OCCULT RESEARCH CLUB. SUGGEST INVESTIGATION]
Rias smoothed her skirt, all traces of her earlier power gone. "We should talk. Properly." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "About this 'Void King' of yours."
Beyond the broken windows, something dark stirred in the shadows of Kuoh Academy.