The afternoon sun bathed Kuoh Academy in its warm, golden glow.
Inside Class 3-B, the soft murmur of a lesson blended with the rustling of notebooks.
Akagiri Kaien lay slumped over his desk, his arms cushioning his head, as he allowed to voice of his teacher to lull him to sleep.
In short, he wasn't paying attention—not to the teacher's droning voice or the occasional glances from his classmates.
"Aka–!"
"Akag–!"
"Akagiri!"
A sudden thump on his arm caused Kaien's head to jerk up. He blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the grogginess that clung to him.
The world around him was blurry for a moment, but the piercing glare of his teacher quickly brought everything into focus.
He sat up slowly, blinking again to clear his mind. His eyes flicked toward the front of the class, where his teacher's frustrated stare remained fixed on him.
Another round of muffled snickers from his classmates followed.
"Care to rejoin us in the land of the living Akagiri?" the teacher asked, glaring at him with all the authority of a middle-aged educator who'd dealt with far too many troublesome students.
"Sorry, Midori-sensei," Kaien muttered, yawning as he rubbed the back of his neck.
His crimson tie hung loose, and his dishevelled uniform didn't help his case.
"Didn't mean to interrupt."
The class chuckled, though if the look on Midori-sensei's face was anything to go by, she clearly wasn't amused.
"This is the fourth time this week, Akagiri! If your late nights are so important, perhaps you'd like to share it with the class?"
Kaien held up his hands in mock surrender, an innocent smile creeping onto his face. "I'm afraid that's a bit too personal of a question, Sensei, and I wouldn't want to distract from your lesson."
Midori-sensei's glare intensified, but she let it go with a sigh, returning to the chalkboard. Kaien leaned back in his chair, barely resisting the urge to close his eyes again.
"Hopeless," came a familiar whisper from behind him.
Kaien didn't even bother turning around. "Good afternoon to you too, Rias. Didn't know you moonlighted as my alarm clock."
Rias Gremory's crimson hair glinted in the sunlight as she leaned forward, her voice low enough not to disturb the rest of the class.
"You're impossible, Kaien. Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"
Kaien shrugged. "If you're going to lecture me, at least wait until after school. I was in the middle of a very… nice dream."
Rias leaned in, a sly smile playing on her lips. "Oh? So even a magic-obsessed idiot like you has those kinds of dreams sometimes," she teased.
She hummed, "Though I can't help but wonder who you were dreaming about, was it me? Or maybe Akeno? Wait, don't tell me it me it was Kone—"
"Stop!" he said, cutting her off, "While I can accept everything else, I cannot accept that last statement. I, Akagiri Kaien, am no lolicon." He continued seriously.
Naturally, as a man of culture, he had many tastes. However, one thing he refused to accept was lolis, it was simply too close to being a predator, legal or not. If anything, they were meant to be protected but never lewd.
Rias shook her head in mock sadness as she turned to him "I'm sure Koneko-chan would be very upset to hear that Kaien-k—"
She stopped before swiftly turning to him, her earlier playfulness disappearing.
"No, I'm not allowing us to go off-topic, I've already told you not to spend so much time researching magic it isn't healthy for you. Why do you keep doing this to yourself? If you want power so badly, I've told you—"
"—You could reincarnate me as a devil?" he finished for her, a wry grin on his lips.
"Yes!" She all but shouted.
Kaien turned slightly, his dark eyes meeting hers with a smirk. "And lose my precious humanity? Tempting, but I think I'll pass. For now."
"You're insufferable." Rias sighed, leaning back, "One of these days, you'll change your mind."
Akeno Himejima's amused voice chimed in from the next desk. "Ara~ Kaien-kun, don't you know it's rude to keep a lady waiting? Poor Rias has been waiting on you for months."
Kaien chuckled. "What can I say? I like to play hard to get"
Rias released an exasperated sigh, her eyes narrowing as she shot Kaien a playful but irritated glare.
"You two are infuriating," she muttered under her breath, her cheeks tinged with a shade of pink as she crossed her arms in annoyance.
Akeno, unable to resist, grinned widely. "I think you've hit a nerve, Kaien-kun. It's not every day that Rias gets teased this badly you know?"
"What can I say? I aim to impress," he said, flashing a smile at the redhead.
Rias huffed in frustration, her cheeks puffing out in a pout. "I'm serious! How am I supposed to get anything done with you two constantly goofing around?"
The three carried on quietly, mostly unnoticed by the rest of the class, but it was routine by now.
Kaien's refusal to join Rias's peerage had become something of a running joke between them, though only he knew the real reason behind his hesitation.
…
When the lunch bell rang, Kaien was among the first to leave the classroom.
Last to arrive and first to come was the motto Kaien Liked to follow when attending school, especially this one: do the bare minimum you need to pass because, in the end, it doesn't even matter.
Kaien grabbed his bento, ready to head outside for a quiet break, when Rias suddenly called out to him.
"Hey, Kaien, do you mind coming to the clubroom after class?"
He paused, turning back with a raised brow. "Yeah, sure. What do you need?" He asked, confused.
It was rare for her to specifically ask for his presence. Usually, he just popped in when he needed something despite technically also being a full-time member of the club.
Rias just gave him a pointed look. "We'll talk about it when you arrive. Just make sure you're on time."
"Aye, aye, Captain." He gave a mock salute before he turned on his heel and headed out of the classroom, bento in hand.
Stepping out onto the school courtyard, Kaien scanned the area, searching for somewhere secluded to eat.
He figured it would be the perfect opportunity to catch up on the sleep he'd missed in class.
Spotting a quiet corner beneath one of the many trees that dotted Kuoh Academy's grounds, he leaned back against the trunk.
The shade a welcome relief from the midday sun. With a content sigh, Kaien cracked open his bento.
He took a bite and immediately grimaced. It wasn't that the food was bad, for say, but a 7-11 bento would never compare to a home-cooked meal.
For a fleeting moment, he found himself wishing for a girlfriend—well, anyone who could cook, really. Devils didn't quite fit the bill.
Rias and Akeno could both cook, of course, but at this point, Kaien found himself more interested in figuring out what they couldn't do rather than what they could. The two great ladies of Kuoh were perfect in every way that mattered.
He honestly would prefer someone more down to earth, the girl next door type that would wake him up in the mornings and cook him breakfast, lunch and dinner. Instead, he got a devil princess who attracted trouble everywhere she walked.
Suddenly, a voice cut through the air, loud and unmistakable.
"Oppai!"
Kaien's gaze shifted toward the sound, spotting the infamous Perverted Trio lurking near the Kendo club's practice hall. They were huddled together like conspirators, their eyes practically glued to the windows.
Kaien couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation. "Issei Hyoudou," he muttered under his breath. "Future Red Dragon Emperor and current hormonal idiot."
How this idiot ends up as one of the top 10 strongest beings is honestly beyond me. I guess I can just chalk it up to the plot and his protagonist halo, but still… using breasts as a power-up? It sounds just as ridiculous as it was unfair.
Kaien couldn't help but release a sigh; it was hard to reconcile the boy he saw in front of him—the hormonal idiot who couldn't keep his composure at the mere sight of anything with a big chest—with the future powerhouse who would become one of the strongest beings in this world.
The idea seemed almost comical, yet Kaien knew it to be true, as certain as he knew the sky to be blue.
He found the whole thing equally irritating and amusing—that one boy, driven by his obsession with breasts, would one day wield power to slay gods, all because he desired to touch some boobs.
Meanwhile, here Kaien was, struggling—well, maybe not struggling, but working hard—on magic. His progress had been rapid, considering he'd only started this magic thing a few months ago.
A bit of luck and skill had been enough to land him a contract with the crimson-haired princess herself.
Not the best job, considering the kind of trouble her Peerage was bound to get into, but it was a step in the right direction.
Still, who would've thought that randomly messing around with story scenarios would end with him getting struck by lightning, hurled through time and space, and landing in an entirely different world? not Him.
He'd wanted to be a writer, a fantasy writer, to be exact, and he'd used fanfiction to improve his writing in his spare time.
'Akagiri Kaien' was simply one of many ideas he had come up with, not that he'd ever imagined he'd become him.
His only solace in all this was that he at least came to this world with all the skills and items 'Akagiri Kaien' should have. Although looking back, though, he couldn't help but think he'd underpowered himself.
As a writer, he saw no enjoyment in writing a main character who, at the beginning of the story, could overturn the world with a flick of his hand and defeat his enemies with a pinkie finger.
Yet despite that, he found himself wishing he had done just that. Instead, he'd chosen to embrace his inner Nasu fanboy and go full-on Type-Moon for this character.
Magic crests, magic circuits, mystic codes, and even a secret backup plan he'd integrated all of it into Kaien's story.
The only caveat was that while his abilities had a theoretical high power ceiling, especially in this world still in the age of gods, his abilities started off relatively low.
Magecraft was hard. Really hard. The only thing keeping Kaien from being completely out of his depth was the fact that he was blatantly cheating.
Magic Crests were an incredible cheat code—a bank of arcane knowledge grafted directly into the soul. All you had to do was run some magic through the crest, and it would do the heavy lifting for you.
This shortcut had allowed Kaien to skip the tedious foundational stages of learning several fields of magecraft.
Couple that with the fact that DxD was still technically in the Age of Gods, with mystery and magical energy being far more abundant and that DxD's human magic worked similar enough to magecraft, and well, he had himself set up for success.
Or at least that's what he thought.
He'd very quickly found out that reality was different from expectations.
No amount of extra math power could compete in a place where devils fueled their magic through sheer imagination. Kaien had seen firsthand how overwhelmingly simple yet potent their 'magic' was.
As long as they had enough demonic energy and creative enough minds, there was very little a devil couldn't do.
Add to that the bloodlines, other special skills and their ability to grow almost unhindered, and you had a recipe for immense power.
It was why all the most notable humans in this world had sacred gears—game-breaking artefacts that granted powers rivalling gods.
It was a cheat, and one thing Kaien had realised since he came to this world was that if you weren't cheating, you weren't winning.
One just had to look at the concept of a balance breaker. By its very definition, it was something that broke the balance. How was he supposed to compete?
Magicians couldn't reach the pinnacle of power on their own, and that was an indisputable fact. He was pretty sure he'd even read somewhere that one of the leaders of the world's mage organisations had reincarnated as a devil to break that ceiling.
It was something Kaien often found himself contemplating.
Rias had already extended her offer. Being reincarnated as a devil didn't seem like such a bad deal. He wasn't even all that concerned about losing his so-called humanity.
Immortality, power and as long as he kept at it for a while and grew powerful enough, he'd one day be able to form a peerage of his own.
Issei Hyoudou was the perfect case study. Although he had been reincarnated as a devil, he was still the same walking hormonal disaster, just with a power boost.
Still, Kaien had made a promise to himself. He would wait. Only after achieving his goal would he consider letting Rias reincarnate him—if she even wanted to by then.
In the best-case scenario, she would never know what he did, and he'd be on his way to becoming a high-class devil and further beyond.
As for the worst-case scenario, it was rather simple: he'd be dead, it didn't really matter how it happened, whether it be by the princess of destruction herself or her older brother Satan Lucifer.
Kaien sighed, running a hand through his hair to ease the frustration that was slowly bubbling within him.
It was fine, soon, he'd be greater than what he was now and even have his own Sacred Gear, all he had to do was wait a little longer.
A bit more patience and preparation, and he'd finally have the means of levelling the playing field.
Strength required selfishness; that was the one truth he clung to in this world. To be strong was to take. To claim.
It wasn't a matter of fairness or morals, but a clash of desires. And when it came down to it, only the one with a stronger will survived.
The school bell rang, cutting through his thoughts. Kaien sighed, reluctantly packing up his untouched lunch.
He'd come here to eat and hopefully sneak in a quick nap, but instead, he'd let his thoughts run wild, and now the break was over before he even realised it.
With a stretch, he got to his feet. There was still plenty left to deal with today—including whatever Rias wanted to talk about after class.
He couldn't help but wonder what she had in store for him.
…
The rest of the day passed in a blur of monotony, the droning lectures and idle chatter offering little to distract Kaien from his growing anticipation.
Maybe it was the anticipation, perhaps it was the nerves, or maybe his ability to seamlessly fall asleep during class, but by the time the final bell rang, Kaien found himself in a deep sleep that no one seemed willing to wake him from.
When he next opened his eyes the sun had begun to set as the evening rays peered into the classroom. Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes he looked around the room only to realise he was the only one left.
Looking towards the clock, he was shocked to see how late it was and could only grumble to himself as he realised that he was late for the meeting to meet Rias.
Well, if I'm going to be late anyway, I might as well take my time getting there. It's not like she's going anywhere. I'm pretty sure she lives in that club room if the shower is anything to go by.
With lazy thoughts in mind, he left the school building slowly, moving outside and to the old school building.
As Kaien made his way across the school grounds, he couldn't help but admire the fact that there were still students in school at these hours.
Had this been his old world, he was sure most if not all, students would've long left school by the time the bell rang, but then again, this was a school run by a devil.
Does this school even have a principal? Or is it just run by that bitch; it'd make sense for that control freak to just be running everything behind the scenes.
Before he knew it, he was standing outside the old school building, the air felt heavier here, something he knew to be due to the saturated magic that clung to the walls like an invisible mist.
He pushed open the door to the Occult Research Club, stepping into a welcoming and foreboding room.
Inside, he saw Rias was deep in conversation with Sona Sitri, the president of Kuoh's student council and a fellow devil.
"You're late," Sona remarked the moment her sharp eyes landed on him.
Kaien shot her a sarcastic smile. "And here I thought devils were supposed to revel in sin. Isn't impatience a virtue for someone like you?"
Sona adjusted her glasses, her expression icy. "Some of us like to keep to standards. Perhaps you could try meeting them once in a while."
"I'd hate to set such unrealistic expectations," Kaien shot back.
Rias sighed, stepping between them. "Alright, you two. Let's not turn this into a debate."
She turned to Sona with a polite smile. "Thank you for your help, Sona. I'll take it from here."
Sona gave a curt nod to her long-time friend, before her gaze flickering back to Kaien.
"Remember I'll be watching you Akagiri."
With that, she left, her heels clicking against the floor.
Kaien watched her go, shaking his head. "She needs to relax. Maybe take a vacation or better yet get laid."
Rias chuckled, motioning for him to sit. "You're not exactly innocent, you know. You do love pushing her buttons."
Kaien grinned. "What can I say? It's a gift."
"However, Sona is right about one thing, Kaien. You're late, club started over an hour ago," Rias said from her seat.
"Fashionably late", Kaien corrected as he made his way to the sofa.
"Not exactly the same thing," Kiba said with a chuckle. "But you're welcome anyway."
"Thank you, Kiba, at least someone understands me"
"Kaien-kun, you're late and empty-handed," Akeno said with a teasing smile as she poured tea for Rias. "Not exactly how you make a good impression on ladies, you know."
Kaien smirked, reaching into his bag. "Oh, ye of little faith. I come bearing gifts." He pulled out a small bag of sweets and walked over to Koneko, who was sitting silently in her usual corner.
"For you, Koneko," he said, setting the bag on the table in front of her.
Her golden eyes blinked up at him, expression unreadable. She reached for the bag, opened it, and picked out a treat, taking a small bite.
"Thanks," she murmured, her tone neutral but her ears twitching slightly—a sign of approval if there ever was one.
Kaien grinned, patting her head, earning a small blush from the cat Yokai. "I live to serve."
Rias chuckled from her seat. "Winning Koneko-chan's approval isn't easy. Maybe there's hope for you yet, Kaien."
"Don't flatter him too much, Rias," Akeno interjected, her voice laced with amusement. "His head's already big enough as it is."
Kaien shot her a mock offended look. "You wound me, Akeno. I thought we were friends."
"Friends? With a troublemaker like you?" Akeno teased, holding a hand to her cheek in mock surprise.
Rias rolled her eyes but smiled. "Alright, everyone, let's not gang up on him. Kaien gets enough trouble from Sona as it is."
Kaien chuckled, shaking his head as he sat back down. "I feel so loved. Really, I do."
He turned to Kiba. "Speaking of love, you free for a spar soon? I've been itching to get some more practice in. My swordsmanship is… let's just say it needs work."
Kiba nodded. "Of course. We can set something up for tomorrow after class. You've been improving steadily, but there's always room for growth."
Kaien smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment. Just don't hold back too much, alright? I can handle a little bruising."
"I'll keep that in mind," Kiba replied with a laugh. "Though maybe this time, try not to trip over your own feet."
"Hey, that was one time!" Kaien protested.
As the lighthearted banter continued, Kaien's gaze flicked to the far corner of the room. "So, no Gasper today?"
Rias shook her head. "He's out on a contract. It's a simple one, but a good experience for him."
"Good for him," Kaien said with a nod, quietly filing the information away.
Rias leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "Why don't you take some time to relax, Kaien? You're always so tense. Akeno, would you mind bringing some tea for him?"
"Of course," Akeno said with a smile, gracefully rising to pour a cup and setting it in front of him.
As Kaien took a sip, Rias asked, "So, what's been keeping you busy lately? Any new magic projects?"
Kaien met her gaze, recognising the distraction for what it was. Still, he decided to humour her. "A few things," he admitted, setting his cup down.
"Been refining my work with bounded fields, experimenting with some new familiar techniques, and dabbling in illusions. You know, the usual."
Rias arched an eyebrow. "Illusions?"
Kaien nodded. "It's nothing much, I figured it couldn't hurt to expand my repertoire, plus it fits with my element."
Rias raised an eyebrow. "You give yourself too little credit, Kaien, for how little time you've been practising magic; you've done remarkably. Honestly, I'm impressed. Most magicians would take months just to get the basics down, let alone dive into advanced techniques like that."
Kaien waved a hand dismissively. "It's not that big a deal. Besides, I've got some good teachers," he said, giving Kiba a nod and a wink to Akeno.
Rias smiled faintly but didn't press further. The room settled into a comfortable hum of conversation.
After a few moments of idle conversation, Rias's demeanour shifted. Her tone grew firm, and her crimson eyes locked onto his.
"There's something important I need to discuss with you."
Seeing her change in demeanour, he straightened up, recognising the seriousness at hand.
"What's up?"
"We've detected fallen angels in Kuoh," Rias said, her voice measured. "They've been... watching certain areas. We're not sure what they're after yet, but we need to tread carefully. Ideally, we could've just gotten rid of them and be done with it, but the treaty prohibits direct conflict unless provoked."
Kaien's expression remained neutral, though his mind raced. Fallen angels… That means we're getting closer to the start of cannon. Perfect.
"I wanted to warn you," Rias continued. "If you encounter them, summon me or someone from the peerage immediately. Don't engage them alone; we don't know how strong they are, and I'd hate to lose my cute little magician," she finished with a smile.
Kaien Saluted, "Understood President. Thanks for the heads-up."
Rias studied him for a moment as if trying to read his thoughts before her voice softened. "You've been a great help to us, Kaien. I don't think I say that enough to you."
Kaien could only offer a strained smile back. "You're welcome, but I'm just doing what I'm good at."
The conversation shifted back to lighter topics. Rias asked about his latest magical experiments, and Kaien indulged her curiosity, describing a new barrier technique he'd been developing.
…
As the meeting wrapped up and Kaien stepped outside, the evening air felt cool against his skin.
The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the campus. He walked slowly, his thoughts heavy.
Fallen angels in Kuoh… I guess it's time to put my plans in motion then.
Kaien paused, glancing up at the sky. The first stars were beginning to appear, tiny pinpricks of light in the encroaching darkness.
"This could either go spectacularly well," he murmured, "or it could kill me. Either way, it's better than standing still."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Kaien mumbled to himself as he looked back at the old school building, his figure fading into the night.