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Thanks for reading!
May be ongoing/ May not, it depends.
Might up a p.a.t.r.e.o.n in the future, but not right now.
Also, no nerfing will be going on in this fic.
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The fight eventually made its way into the alleys, as Kuoh Town's street lights filtered down in faint slats between the buildings, casting the three exorcists in silhouettes, divine, disciplined, and utterly unaware.
Touji Shidou, cloaked in a weathered priest's coat, stood at the center of the formation. His Holy Sword shimmered with divine light, forged for one thing: killing devils, heretics, and infidels against the Church for the sake of humanity.
And behind him, two companions formed a wedge.
---Efficient, silent, and well-trained.
And their target was already bleeding.
Cleria Belial knelt, shielding Masaomi Yaegeki, who was also steadily healing from their injuries thanks to [Body Manipulation].
Could I have gone even further and healed them completely? If I tried seriously? Maybe.
But having them hurt right now kinda serves some purposes.
'At least they won't let their guard down anymore after this...'
"Heretic. You're consorting with the spawn of hell." One of the exorcists growled.
I stepped forward.
"And you and the people who give you orders don't?" I responded coolly. "What's the saying again? 'Let he who has no sin cast the first sword?' Yeah, that."
The weight of my new body hadn't settled yet. The joints still clicked in unfamiliar rhythms, muscles needing millisecond calibrations. But pain taught fast. My nerves adapted faster as I ducked and weaved while clashing blades with Touji Shidou.
---I was already learning.
I had come from being at a disadvantage to slowly becoming more adept in the art of swordplay.
"We do what must be done!" An exorcist roared.
"Don't we all," I called out, my voice modulated to sound more guttural and rough. "Besides, what happened to 'turn the othercheek?'"
Touji turned, eyes narrowing. "Who the hell—?"
---Too slow.
My foot launched forward, snapping the ribcage of the exorcist on the left before he could raise his blade. He went flying into a brick wall with a crunch that echoed.
-thud!-
His partner barely had time to summon a ward before I slipped behind him, twisted his arm out of socket, and cracked his temple with a precise elbow strike.
---Two down.
Touji pivoted and slashed. A blade of holy energy shot toward me--- clean, righteous, deadly.
I dodged it by a breath, but my arm was left stinging with pain.
'Yikes! What if I were one of those 'Creatures of the dark', huh?'
But I began to adapt, just as I had planned to.
My muscles thickened beneath skin, as Light Power surged in veins through my body as the [Spirit Organ] worked as naturally as breathing.
And with the attack from Touji approaching with his Holy Sword...
---I simply braced for impact, met his blade, and parried it, albeit not as smoothly as I was hoping for.
I didn't even have to use [Sensitivity Manipulation] to achieve this effect.
"You, what are you?" Touji spat, skidding back a few feet.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" I replied.
He lunged, but I was already moving.
My foot struck the ground, launching me upward in a twisting arc. The air shimmered as I released a slash of Light Power that I infused into my blade, knocking his sword off-angle.
I landed behind him and drove a strike into his kidney hard enough for him to fall on one knee, before I plainly told him.
"You don't even know why you're fighting."
His hand trembled, but whether or not his faith would also tremble wasn't too important to me.
I then turned to Cleria and Masaomi. "You're injured. We need to purge the holy energy before it spreads."
Cleria hesitated as I knelt beside her, retrieving a small vial and needle. "We'll do some bloodletting. Standard field remedy."
She nodded slowly, trusting me.
---Foolishly.
I drew a modest sample of her blood under the pretense of 'cleansing the taint of Holy Power', but my true thoughts, meanwhile, raced with possibility.
Devil blood--- Especially the pure, noble, ones loaded with inherited traits. A strand of [Belial] potential in a vial. Once grafted through body modification, I could unlock abilities even the clans feared.
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[Worthless]
[A Demonic Power that allows the user to invalidate things, such as special abilities, properties or effects.]
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In the novels, Diehauser Belial would showcase bullshit hax abilities such as...
---Invalidating the special characteristic of the Phenex Clan's Immortality during rating games.
---Negating the Rating Game retirement system, which automatically transports players to a medical room if they suffer too much damage during a game.
---Negating Issei Hyoudou's Boosted Gear's Boost ability, as he was able to make the enhanced Dragon Aura dissipate.
---And rendering objects such as Phoenix Tears "worthless" once he understood their characteristics.
'Still got his ass beat by Oppai boy, though, so as the people still would say in this era of the early two thousands... 'Get rekt', I guess?'
"T-thank you... But, why help us?" Masaomi gritted his teeth. "It would only cause you trouble, right?"
It would, but the benefits far outweigh the potential risks and cons .
"Because it makes certain people squirm and panic," I said, looking directly in his eyes as I extended a hand. "Come on. Time to get the hell outta here."
As I led them away under a false identity, the real seeds would soon be planted.
"Stop right there!" Touji tried to bear the pain and stand up, but soon fell over.
-flutter, flutter-
"What!? This...aura...?!"
Slowly descending from the night skies, a figure wrapped in a pitch-black robe with two wings that blended into the night.
---It was my trusty servant, Sebas.
In any other moment, the exorcists might've been ready to take him on, but in this situation...
[Sensitivity Manipulation: Light Power x2500]
The presence and aura emanating from Sebas were boosted furiously as the current Touji was pressed into the ground, incapable of doing anything as the pain intensified even more.
Touji's pupils widened. "A Fallen Angel… Why are you interfering?"
"You don't need to know, exorcist. Just go to sleep."
As the pain intensified due to the pressure on his body, making his wounds from the previous battle worse, Touji slowly drifted off into unconsciousness as he etched the figures of Daichi and the duo of lovers, and that of the Fallen Angel into his mind.
As I left for Kuoh's more populated areas(and places that sold food), I smiled, knowing that the fabricated narrative--- Of the Fallen taking an interest in Cleria and Masaomi, and the panic that the information they held potentially being leaked.
Meanwhile, I walked beside them, grinning beneath someone else's skin, a thief who had just stolen blood, names, and the future.
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'The beef tonkatsu, the chicken karage, the ramen... All of it! It was heavenly.'
'Crispy on the outside, tender inside, soaking in a pool of sauce that danced between sweet and umami!'
'All of this meat around me that's making me salivate! It's like meeting Lebron James in real life!'
I took another bite, letting the flavors linger on my tongue before shoveling rice into my mouth like a man who hadn't eaten in a while.
Which… to be fair, wasn't entirely inaccurate.
---But hey, stamina is the currency of the bulk of my abilities.
Across from me, Cleria Belial and Masaomi Yaegaki sat like statues--- still recovering from nearly being assassinated by a group of zealots minutes ago.
Their tea had gone cold while mine was emptied and refilled nearly a dozen times.
I was too busy going to war with my fifth bowl of beef gyudon and the stack of empty plates piled beside me like trophies.
The low-lit restaurant buzzed faintly with ambient jazz and murmured conversations. No one noticed us. Or maybe they didn't want to.
Cleria's violet eyes kept flicking from her barely touched meal to me, her expression teetering between confusion, curiosity, and thinly veiled alarm.
Masaomi hadn't stopped watching me since we sat down--- like I might sprout wings or fangs at any moment.
"You're really going to eat all that?" Cleria finally asked, nodding to the tray of freshly arrived karaage.
I grinned mid-chew and raised a thumbs-up. "Damn right I am. Gotta refuel. Saving people burns a ton of calories."
She blinked. "I see. Well, you were… literally dodging Holy Sword slashes a while ago."
"And now I'm dodging food waste," I said, tossing another piece of fried chicken into my mouth. "The world keeps spinning."
Masaomi leaned forward, his eyes sharp and searching. "You didn't just save us. You stopped a bloodbath--- Interfered in Church operation, yes, but you saved us nonetheless."
"I'm grateful I'm alive, no doubt about it, so I thank you."
"But I can't help but ask why?"
I paused.
Not because I didn't have an answer.
---But because I was still deciding how much of it to give.
"Just a guy who doesn't like seeing lovers get executed in alleyways," I said eventually, dabbing at my mouth with a napkin.
"Romance should end with a mating press that leads to pregnancy, kids, relationships failing, and eventually divorce. Not a Holy Sword to the gut."
They didn't laugh.
Didn't even smile.
They just looked confused.
'Damn, tough fucking crowd, huh?' I sighed and leaned back in my seat, hands folded over my stomach like a satisfied villain. 'I don't have a day-job, but when I do get it, I should be sure not to quit it.'
"Look, I've been watching you two for a while," I admitted. "Not in a creepy way. I had my suspicions that something was going to go down in Kuoh. The Church moves quietly when they're scared. And Devils? You all tend to broadcast your guilt."
Cleria frowned, her shoulders tensing. "You knew they'd come for us?"
I nodded, lying as naturally as I breathed. "I didn't know it'd be Touji Shidou. But the way intel started leaking from the Protestant cells, how the Bael Clan started whispering behind closed doors, how the Great King faction reactivated certain assets--- it all pointed to a purge. You two just happened to be in the crosshairs."
Masaomi's jaw tightened. "They're not just purging us. They're covering up the King Piece."
"Exactly." I stabbed a sausage with my chopsticks, waved it slightly for dramatic effect, then bit it clean in half. "You weren't supposed to find it. You weren't supposed to survive. But here you are. Screwing up their plans."
Cleria exhaled slowly, running a hand through her silverish hair. "You make it sound like a game."
"It is a game, to Zekram Bael, at least," I said, nodding a 'Yes, I do know his name' to a slightly surprised Cleria Bellial. "Do you think that the guys in charge of the Great King Faction think otherwise of you two?"
Masaomi looked at Cleria. There was something passed between them, an old rhythm, born from trust and battle.
For a moment, silence claimed our table. Only the distant clatter of dishes and laughter from another booth reminded us that the rest of the world hadn't caught up yet.
---They believed me.
Then it's time for the finishing touches.
"But also..." I said, stalling to create extra effect. "It's because you're the only ones telling the truth. And everyone else is killing themselves trying to bury it."
That shut them up.
The tension didn't dissolve, but it shifted--- became something different. Not quite trust. Not yet. But recognition. Understanding.
Cleria reached for her tea, finally taking a sip. "You eat like a glutton," she murmured.
"It's what it's there for." I replied. "So? What are you guys gonna do now?"
Masaomi stood slowly, his silhouette tall and composed in the restaurant's dim light.
"We won't simply run, we'll also fight," he said.
Cleria rose beside him. "And we won't do it alone."
'Woah... Pretty cool... But it's fancy words for two people who almost got deleted from the server by Touji and two other nameless fodder characters...'
I stayed seated, saying nothing. They planned on heading out on their own, gathering power, and some extra help to aid their goals.
Right now, this was it for me. I didn't have to do anything else right now, so I called the waitress to bring another plate.
"One more for the road," I said to the waitress before handing the pair a business card. "Well, since you're gonna hit the road, keep hold of this."
It was my number. I would soon be getting busy in the supernatural world in a few years, so it wouldn't hurt to give them this.
And as they left, war-battered, wary, but no longer broken, I dug into another plate and whispered to myself, just loud enough to hear:
"I wonder how everyone involved would react."
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-A few days later...-
Kuoh Town always had this… life to it.
In one moment, it was creepy like a horror game, and in the other moment, it was as cheery as a slice of life anime.
For some reason the Hyoudou's and Shidou's had found were I lived, so Issei decided that dragging a large bag of magazines of gravure models with large boobs to 'donate' to the orphanage would be a daily venture of his.
Then again, seeing that even Father Kondo's devastating head pats(fists) couldn't change Issei's nature, it seemed that nothing short of my powers would.
'But should I? I could use [Hypnosis] on him, but once again, should I?' I thought. 'Do I even have the right to do that? What could possibly be my justification...'
'I'm not against the idea, but I've got no intentions of killing him and his family like an edgelord to obtain power...'
'Besides, I'm not too interested in the [Boosted Gear], nor becoming a Dragon anyways...'
Anyway... As for Kuoh Town?
Even when the wind carried the bite of coming rain, or the shopfronts bustled with schoolgirls and salarymen, there was a certain cheer underneath it all--- like the town itself was chilling out at the moment.
I liked that. It made it easier to think.
A few days had passed since I separated from Cleria and Masaomi.
They were alive, for now. My plan worked--- Sebas' existence itself just gave enough misinformation to get the Church and Devil factions chasing ghosts while I slipped through the cracks with them.
But I couldn't afford to stay by their side. Not until I understood it.
[Worthless]
The Devil trait of the Belial line--- And now, a puzzle I had not yet unlocked.
It hadn't reacted to my body the way the other traits had. The moment I tried to force it, I blacked out and saw glimpses of endless nothingness, of reality itself sagging around me and being deleted.
---No defense. No aggression. Just erasure.
I wasn't ready for it. So I trained instead.
Tested muscle limits. Stressed bone density. Practiced channeling light-based weapons without backflow damage. Every time I thought I was done evolving, my body found another crack to fill. It was never enough.
But today, I let myself walk around the town.
I wandered past the schoolyard, past the market, past a bored-looking crow who stared too long. I climbed the stairs leading to Kuoh Shrine, my legs aching with something that wasn't fatigue.
The shrine grounds were mostly empty--- save one woman sweeping, her back to me.
A woman knelt by the offering box, straightening a collection of prayer charms. Her kimono clung to her figure, a gentle curve of hips and a tight waist, her posture elegant but not frail.
Her long black hair framed a mature sort of beauty, soft and melancholic, with the quiet strength of someone who had weathered too many storms and still stood.
---Shuri Himejima. Shinto Magic Priestess. Outcast. Loving mother.
I froze for a second longer than I should have, eyes lingering. Not just at her curvature, though it was… hard not to admire. But something else. A power deep within her.
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[Shinto Magic]
-
Even though she was practically an outcast, she was still a member of the Himejima Clan. And knowing that they were blessed by a Shinto God and held control over various magical elements made me struggle not to salivate.
Was it a sense of possessiveness? I felt as if I was a certain half-human, half-demon katana-wielder with white hair who had an obsession with power.
'Dude...' I scolded myself. 'This is a married woman. You wouldn't use a woman's loneliness being separated from friends, family(except her daughter), and a husband who's 'always at work', to seduce her and gain her DNA for your magical talent, right...?'
'Right....?'
Her dark eyes landed on me, calm but searching. Not with suspicion... just... curiosity.
Her voice was gentle, like water running over smooth stones.
"Fufu? What a cute little boy, where are your parents? Are you here to pray?"
I looked at her for a long moment.
"Yeah," I said quietly, stepping closer. "Can I also have a hug too?"
By the way she looked at me, she probably thought that I was some touched-starved little boy in search of warmth somewhere that they wouldn't get it at home.
And she's not wrong, however...
"I've always wanted a hug from a genuine Shinto Priestess, and not a cosplayer."
She blinked once.
And then twice.
"Ara? So young and so perverted with specific tastes?" I could hear the incredulity in her voice.
Then smiled.
Without a word, she then opened her arms.
Thank you, [Body Manipulation], these hormones are really doing their job.
Next Chapter: Ecchi Boy Helps Boob Boy Say Goodbye To Tomboy-Chan
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Trivia Time! (Againx8!!)
Did you know(ofc)
Grigori is an alternative name for the Watchers from the Book of Enoch. Also, the known leaders of Grigori are all Fallen Angels from the Book of Enoch.
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The leaders of the Fallen Angels are all quite taken with the game of Mahjong to the point they created a competition many years back called the "Leader of Fallen Angel Mahjong Competition", which currently has had a total of 316 competitions.
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