1 Stray devil

I hated humanity.

As I was losing sight of the person I really was, wearing endless masks for the sake of going unnoticed, that was the only thing I held true in my heart. In my time before being reincarnated into this world, I used to spend a lot of time thinking "what if magic really existed, what if I was born in a different race?". Of course, things like that you just disregard after a while. Namely after the age of 16. But what happens when, one day, your lifestyle of self-destruction reaps the results and you die at an early age? Let's say, 23. That should be the end, right?

Surprisingly, no. Surprisingly, you can wake up as a baby in a different country. And start your life from zero like a certain someone who restarts from checkpoints after he dies. I know, it doesn't make much sense, but hear me out. Having to consciously relieve steps of life I've already got through made me think that maybe magic and other races were indeed real and before long, I'd start to curse at whatever deity bought me here for making me human again. But this new world was so average that I stopped thinking it even was a different world for a while and thought I simply got reincarnated in Japan. Then again, there's a lot of things that didn't seem to exist here, so to say I was confused was a major understatement. And I don't really remember a city name Kuoh in my supposedly original world.

In time, as I was getting bullied in middle school again, I forgot to even remember that question. How the fuck was that supposed to be a new life if I had the same fate? My despair grew exponentially and, in time, I'd even get an answer to whether this place was a new world or not. Cause one day, as the bullies approached me, I literally snapped, and punched one before the other three jumped on me. And then, suddenly, something unbelievable happened. My hand brushed those guys feet away from my face. And their feet just froze. I did this? It didn't seem likely, but what if I did.

My status after that changed from bullied loser to loner. I supposed I could use the status upgrade. Oh, and I discovered that, indeed, this was a new world and, indeed, I could use ice. I could basically freeze anything I wanted. What a convenient power to possess.

I started to think of all the ways in which I could use this new power. Little did I know that it would get me in trouble somewhere down the road.

Kuoh Academy. An all girls school which just recently became co-ed. Thus there was a higher ratio of female students compared to the male ones. And since it used to be an all girls school, of course a good number of the male students were the perverts dumb enough to think they'd have a chance of getting a girlfriend cause "the poor ladies didn't have options before".

Let's say I can somehow understand that angle, I was once innocent after all. But that and yelling out loud how you'll definitely get a harem to satisfy your sexual fantasies are two different things.

And so I glanced at the trio of retards from my seat, the last one in the center row, at the back of the class. Bracing myself for the usual annoying banter that would obviously come after it. Truly, I was placed in an interesting class...

"Hey, Ise, you gotta give me back those DVDs and mags you borrowed", said, or shouted, a bald jock going by the name of Matsuda.

"Yeah, mine too", the glasses guy, Motohama, shouted even harder.

Said Hyoudou Issei, the pretty boy of the Pervert Trio, scratched his cheek awkwardly in reply.

"I'll give it back by tomorrow... hehe", he said, trying to pacify his friends.

Seriously, if he wasn't so obnoxiously perverted, he could get a girlfriend. He wasn't as bad looking as his friends, it's just his personality that sucked.

Knowing them, they're probably talking about their porn stash. First of all, that thing is personal, why the fuck would you lend it to your friends? Not that I have any friends to know what you can or can't lend to them... ha ha ha...

And second, I get being a horny teenager but mind the time, place, occasion to be talking about these things. I can already see the two most popular girls in class, Katase and Murayama, frowning in their direction, disgust etched on their faces.

"Those perverts", the two girls in question echoed, clicking their tongues in perfect sync. The yuri vibes are strong on that one.

Before any of the perverted boys had a chance to answer, a girl with glasses, Kiryuu Aika, walked over to them, snickering all the way there.

"Smells like virgins", she said, laughing at the expense of the poor idiots.

Hey. What's wrong with being a virgin? Apologize to all the virgin losers who are too unattractive to get la-... wait, why am I getting triggered over something that wasn't even directed at me? Ah, it's probably cause I've lost my virginity in my old life and here I was back to 0! Something tells me that continuing to listen in to this conversation is gonna give me brain aids. I can already feel my IQ decreasing. Rest in piss...

"Kiryuu! Did you come to laugh at us!?"

She nods at glasses-kun's question. Oh, I forgot to mention she's just as big a pervert as those three idiots. Apparently, perverted girls are cute, it's only the horny boys being creepy. Double standard much.

"Ahaha. Pretty much. I mean, if it's you guys, I'm sure you still haven't seen any real boobs yet, fufu~"

She sure hit the Achilles heel. How surprising. As if no one knew they prefer boobs over ass. Except the baldy, he's a lolicon. You only got 1 more year of being safe from the FBI, you know?

The perverts recoiled in unison, indignation all over their faces.

"Just you watch us. We're all gonna get girlfriends and become popular and fondle a lot of boobs!"

Hyoudou-san, shouting that crap in front of a mostly female audience is bad taste, y'know. Of course, the other two idiots shouted in agreement.

Kiryuu's laugh echoed by the classroom as the other girls glared daggers at the trio. Mutters of "disgusting" and "perverts" could be heard all across the classroom. Sad to say, this was like an everyday occurrence. Have I really been brought into a hentai world? It doesn't look like these creeps are gonna get laid, but if it's me, maybe by a sudden plot twist I'd end up with-... yeah right.

I looked at my classmates and let out a sigh. I'm surrounded by idiots.

In that moment, everyone turned their attention to me. What? Did I say that out aloud? Sorry... (not)

Kiryuu specifically seemed to forget about the three and came over to my seat instead.

"Ara, ara, Kokonoe-kun. You say that about them, but do you have a girlfriend?"

Damn, woman, way to pass me the ball. Seriously, I should try to stop thinking out loud. Even now, I was uncomfortable being the center of the attention. At the very least she thought I was only referring to the perverts and not the rest of the classroom. Or she knew and she kept her mouth shut for some reason. I'm not really sure which of them and I'm not about to take a guess. Tho I should probably try to at least say something in reply.

"I'm not really interested, to be honest"'. I know falling in love online might sound kinda dumb, but ever since her... I don't really want to get involved with anyone that way.

"Trying to play the cool loner now? Fufu~"

No, I'm not. I just haven't found a girl who's as good as her and I don't think I will. Even if it's been 18 years and I had enough time to move on. I couldn't, for some reason. Not like they'd have to know that.

"You can take it that way, I guess."

Well, at that point, Hyoudou just felt entitled to suddenly insert himself in the discussion.

"Yeah, you think you're better than us but you're a virgin too, aren't you?"

His loser comrades nodded along with something like "yeah" or "you have no right to look down on us". Seriously? Not to brag but I'm leagues above you in terms of intelligence and common sense. Still, I went for a different answer.

"Yeah, basically"

I didn't deny it. If you go around yelling that you're gonna fondle boobs with a straight face and a dumb grin, of course I'm gonna think I'm better than you for at least keeping it down.

Japanese girls are so weary of perverts it's annoying. Then again, western girls are bitches who only want you if you have money. All girls are the same. They rotting my brain, love.

"Tch, you bastard"

With that, Hyoudou clicked his tongue. Nothing personal, kid. I just don't like your kind. Or you for that matter.

But before I could even think of saying anything in reply (which I wasn't gonna, I spend too much time in the spotlight), the teacher arrived in class, signaling the beginning of fourth period.

After a well deserved nap in class, I took my bag and left the classroom in a rush. I used to forget how long a school day was, damn it, why do I have to do it all over? Or more like, doing it properly this time. I mean, back in my past life, I quit school when I was in the 9th grade. Technically, I had the possibility to do this in here too. I could just quit and go full NEET. No one would bat an eye.

Maybe I was waiting for something interesting to happen. I used to complain about the old life being boring so I could at least hope the new one would be more interesting... Right?

Once I walked out of the school gates ignoring everyone around me and got at a safe enough distance that no one familiar would see me, I took out my pack of cigarettes from my bag and placed it in my pockets.

Underage smoking was even more prohibited here than where I come from. Which meant I had to do it in the utmost secrecy possible. Yes, I was a smoker in my past life and no, I'm not gonna quit just cause my life was restarted. I reject their reality and substitute my own. Daga kotowaru!

And so I was walking the streets of this town with a certain destination in mind. I was heading to the outskirts.

After like half an hour of walking, I reached my destination. An abandoned building. I've had a fascination with abandoned buildings ever since I was in middle school the first time. Or more like it was a safe place to hide whenever I felt like lighting one up.

I climbed the window leading into said building. Now, everyone might think I have strange tastes but the battered, sprayed walls, the dust filled floor, the emptiness, everything made for top notch surroundings.

I took my phone out, plugged my headphones and played a random song in my list. Then, I lit a cigarette. Truly, this is the only thing reminding me of the good old days when I used to live alone in a small town in my birth country. Fuck whoever might call me a juvenile delinquent. Lol.

Suddenly, I heard a weird sound, like the ground crashing or something. It was loud enough for me to hear it even with my headphones on, so I took them off my phone, startled. I was just startled, I wasn't scared. But maybe, just maybe, coming here wasn't such a good idea after all. I felt chills in my spine as my instincts were alerting me of a dangerous presence nearby. And then I saw him.

He looked like a man in his thirties, barring the bat-like wings. His eyes were a deep red, glowing like a predator who just found the perfect prey. His outfit was battered and you'd be forgiven to think he was a hobo. As the man (?) approached me, I froze. I couldn't even run in time.

"Are? What's a human doing here?", his voice rang out, laced with amusement.

Oh god, he's the crazy type. I forced myself to straighten my position and make it so my voice wouldn't sound too laced with fear.

"I'm just sightseeing."

Ok, that was a dumb reply. It managed to irritate the fucker, cause he was becoming more and more pushy.

"Sightseeing? In my hideout?!"

I didn't like where this was going. As crazy as the situation was, I felt something inside me snap at his tone.

"I couldn't have known it was your hideout now, could I?", I protested.

At that, he laughed. Like a psycho. It was disturbing.

"Oh, is that so? Judging by the pack of cigarettes you left near the window, I can guess you came here to smoke where nobody would see you. Which means you're a juvenile delinquent. Which means you're so worthless that nobody would cry if you died"

The reality of the situation was just starting to sink in. This fucker really planned to kill me for crossing his territory. Or for his own amusement. I could care less which one of them was. My instincts were screaming at me to run away.

Before I could even try, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach sending me on the ground in fetal position. With the few gasps for breath I could manage, I looked up to see that he somehow got near me from where he previously stood in the corner of the room. All in a split second.

Was I really going to die like this, without putting up a fight? Steadily, I launched myself to my feet, adrenaline filling me. This was a life and death situation.

"Are? You're still up after that? I guess I underestimated you. Fantastic. You make far better prey than I expected", he said, licking his lips like a fucking yandere.

As he aimed a kick to my jaw, I somehow sensed it in time to block it and freeze his foot. Needless to say, he didn't even flinch. His laugh grew even more psychotic as he shook off the ice like it was nothing.

"Ahahaha, this is way too funny. So you have a Sacred Gear? I should've known"

"Sacred what?"

"Oh, you weren't even aware of it. Hahaha"

For a moment, I forgot all my fears. For a moment, the only thing I could think of was how much I wanted to erase the smile off that fucker's face.

I lunged straight at him, sending an icicle to his right eye. I was pretty sure it was going to do some damage, but he just blocked it like it was nothing.

And then he kicked me in the torso. I was on the ground... again. For a few seconds before he lifted me by the collar of my shirt and punched my guts so hard I was spitting teeth by the time he let me down.

"Haha, you're pretty tough, kid. Anyone else would have been dead already"

Flat on the ground, I tried freezing it with my right hand, thinking it could reach him and turn him into an ice man. That was until he stepped on my hand. And the building was ringing with sounds that were totally not my cries of pain.

The man- no, devil, looked down on me as if I was nothing but trash.

"Your Sacred Gear is too weak. I didn't even need to use my powers to kick the shit out of you. I just used my base strength. Now you understand?"

I did. Despite myself, I left out a laugh. It was probably drowned by the pain I was feeling in my whole body. So this was how I was going to die, huh? A second time at that. I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to be isekai'd again or if I could finally stop existing. The latter would be preferable.

Just as the devil was about to finish me off, something unexpected happened. A red circle appeared out of nowhere and 4 people- no, devils, came out of it. A red haired girl, a black haired one, a blonde pretty boy who looked like a Riajuu and a white haired loli.

Wait, I knew this people. They were from the same school. I immediately recognized the red haired girl as Rias Gremory-senpai and the black haired one as Himejima Akeno-senpai. The blonde Riajuu was probably Yuuto Kiba, who every male in the school envied for his popularity with girls. And... I didn't know who the loli was. That aside, what are they even doing here?

Just as I thought that, Gremory's voice rang out.

"Stray Devil Asmoticus. In the name of House Gremory, I sentence you to die."

Asmoticus? Lmao, what a stupid name. Wait, more importantly, what did she just say? Sentence him to die? Stray devil? Should I just give up trying to understand what's happening here?

Just as I thought that, I finally felt it. I lifted my right hand and saw it covered in blood - my own blood. I was feeling hazy and my consciousness was starting to slip away. I knew I wasn't going to make it, but at least I willed myself to live long enough to see the outcome of this bullshit.

"Tch. Just what I needed"

As he clicked his tongue in annoyance, Asmoticus tried to make his escape. But right then, lightning engulfed him. I turned my head to see where it came from and it seemed to be literally in the hands of Himejima-senpai.

"A bad guy who tries to kill an innocent boy... deserves to be punished"

So she said, licking her lips as she was sending lightning bolts his way. For a couple of minutes, the only sounds echoing in this place was her sadistic laugh and that fucker's cries.

Confirming that I wasn't the only one who was going to die, I gave in. My vision barely distinguished anything and for once I couldn't feel any pain in my body.

"You will live for my sake", a voice, a feminine one, rang out in the pitch black darkness.

What are you saying?... Hahaha...