The rain poured like a broken faucet over the neon-soaked streets of Shibuya. Kaito Ren hunched under a busted umbrella, soaked to the bone and clutching a half-empty can of vending machine coffee like it was the Holy Grail.
Typical. The one day I actually leave the house…
His breath fogged in the night air. Around him, the world blurred—car lights streaked by, umbrellas collided, and the buzz of city life ignored the sixteen-year-old gamer who had spent more time grinding experience points than socializing.
Then he saw her.
A woman—no, a girl, younger than she looked—stood on the crosswalk, unmoving despite the blinking red light. Pale skin. Dark dress. Eyes like twin mirrors.
Kaito blinked.
Weird NPC design.
She smiled.
Then the truck hit him.
[SYSTEM BOOTING...]
[RESTARTING USER: Kaito Ren]
[LOADING WORLD DATA...]
[INSTALLING CORE FUNCTIONALITY: "Player System"]
[WELCOME TO: HIGH SCHOOL DxD]
Kaito gasped as if he'd just surfaced from the bottom of the ocean. His back arched. He coughed air into lungs that shouldn't be working. His eyes snapped open to a sky dyed orange by the late afternoon sun.
He wasn't on a Tokyo street.
He wasn't even in Tokyo.
Instead, he lay on grass, his body oddly light, his hair falling into his eyes—a detail he never noticed before because it was longer than it had been.
Am I... alive?
[QUEST ACCEPTED: Survive]
[LOCATION: Kuoh Town – Field Outside Residential District]
Kaito sat up like he'd been tased. A translucent blue window hovered in the air in front of him, its corners pixelated, floating with an otherworldly shimmer.
The hell? This looks like an RPG interface...
Stats. Inventory. Skills. Quests. Even a minimap in the corner. He touched the screen, and it responded to his thoughts.
[Name: Kaito Ren]
[Race: Human?]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 30/30 | MP: 10/10 | XP: 0/100]
[Title: The Glitched Reincarnate]
"...What the actual f—"
A low growl interrupted his existential crisis.
Kaito turned slowly to find himself not alone. A creature, gnarled and wrong-looking, emerged from the trees—its jaw unhinged like a broken mannequin, eyes glowing crimson.
[Enemy Detected: Stray Devil – Lv. 5]
[WARNING: Combat Not Advised!]
"No crap!" he yelled, scrambling backward. "I'm level one! Who sends a level one into a field boss fight?!"
But it was already charging.
Kaito turned and ran, sprinting with every ounce of pathetic stamina his "Level 1" body had. The System pinged relentlessly:
[Skill Unlocked: Sprint Lv.1]
[+1 AGI]
[+1 DEX]
This is not the time to tutorial me, you glowing nightmare window!
Just as he reached the edge of the field and saw a row of buildings—residential, maybe safe—a dark red glyph flared to life in front of him. A crimson circle, pulsing with runes, materialized on the ground.
A girl stepped out.
Red hair like fire. Blue eyes sharp as swords. And a presence that screamed not human.
"Really? A stray this close to town?" she sighed. Her hand lifted lazily. "Guess I'll clean up."
A flash of power. A pressure like the air itself bowed. The stray didn't even scream as it disintegrated into ash.
Kaito collapsed, panting, staring up at the girl who just casually atomized a demon.
"Who... are you?" he asked, the question tasting like ash and adrenaline.
She tilted her head, curious. "Hmm? Oh. You're not supposed to see this. But you're not exactly normal, are you?"
He blinked. She smiled.
"I'm Rias Gremory. And I think you and I need to talk."
[MAIN QUEST UPDATED: Enter Kuoh Academy]
[OBJECTIVE: Survive Your First Week Without Dying Again]
[REWARD: ???]