I groaned as I came to, again. The aches had now evolved into pain. Especially on my feet.
Great.
'Raphael, we're good right?'
I asked while opening my eyes. A quick assessment of my surroundings returned that we were in a forest and I was draped over my test subject in arms.
[Pursuers are unlikely. Raphael flooded the room with demonic power during teleportation to disguise coordinates.]
'Good good, firstly where did you send us?'
[You are currently in Japan in a forest near the town of Kuoh.]
'Why Kuoh?'
[From your memories it was determined Kuoh is a location of significance.]
Urgh. Raphael was right, Kuoh was a town of significance. In fact its at the center of the storm that is Highschool DxD. The only problem is that its not a good idea for me to interact with the supernatural just yet, especially considering I don't have any control over my own powers yet.
Oh and I'm only 5.
I couldn't do anything if some devil comes along and wants to reincarnate or sell me; or I run into some exorcist who tries to kill me for being a heretic devil. So the best course of action is to hide for now.
'Raphael can you constrain all my magic aura so I cant be sensed by other supernaturals?'
[Affirmative. Containing magic aura to Master's body.]
I didn't feel anything but trusted Raphael to have done as asked. I tried to stand up again to get off my fellow test subject, only to be reminded that my feet really heart and fell back down. I at least managed to fall down backwards though so I wasn't lying on them anymore.
'Raphael can you heal my feet?'
[Affirmative. Details of healing spell Ent were recorded in the data extracted during hacking. Activating Ent spell.]
My demonic energy began moving once again as Raphael took control. Once it reached my feet the pain that had been in the back of my mind since I woke slowly receded. Whilst my feet healed I asked Raphael an important question.
'So there was information from Misfit of Demon King Academy in that network. What about the other stories we spliced into DxD?'
[Affirmative. The network contained data that indicated demons, sorcerers and hero clans exist in this world. There was no indication that aspects of Date A Live exist in this world.]
I sat there processing that for a few moments. I had suspected this would be the case considering I had reincarnated with Raphael, but I really was in the world we had designed to play our game. The lack of confirmation about Date A Live can be written off considering we only mentioned adding the spirits not any of the other factions from that story.
The reality of this world came with upsides and downsides.
The downside being we cant trust the plot of any of the stories to be kept.
The upside being the world is more interesting.
This is a bit of personal preference, but I felt being reborn into a world with elements I was familiar with but didn't know the plot was better than being just reincarnated into DxD for example. If this world was just Highschool DxD I would still enjoy my reincarnation but I would only be able to draw excitement about interacting with the characters as I'd already know the story.
Yeh, for me, this ways better, I get to take part in writing the story.
Thats why we would play that game back in the research facility after all.
To make our own stories.
I looked towards the other surviving research subject. They were naked, in fact so was I, having been floating in that honey like substance. They were a little bit smaller than me suggesting they were about my age as well, with blond hair that, although splayed out on the ground, would reach down to their upper back. My hair was just as long in fact.
Looking further down their body I could see that they appeared a bit skinny with their ribs being identifiable through their skin. Naturally their secondary sex characteristics hadn't appeared yet, being around 5 years old so I looked further down their body, now curious about their gender.
A girl. Its a girl.
Now I could stop calling her it or they in my head.
Having discovered this important piece of information and realized Raphael had finished healing my feet and arms where the pipes were attached as well as moving on to heal the girl, how thoughtful of it, I begun thinking about what to do now.
Get clothes.
Definitely get clothes, for me and her. I'm not running around naked. Nope.
The question was, how?
How does one buy clothes, when one has no clothes?
Additionally, there are no clothe shops in a forest and I had no money anyway.
Having wracking my brain for a few minutes in search of a solution, I realized I was being a moron. I have magic now and creating clothes is possible. Hopefully the method to do so was collected by Raphael during its hacking.
'Make clothes for me Raphael please. Oh and some for her as well.'
[Affirmative.]
Raphael took control of my demonic energy again as I felt it move to cover myself and then spread towards the girl before shifting a few times and then receding. Now we were clothed, I was wearing a simple blue T-shirt and trousers and she was wearing a yellow dress. Satisfied with Raphael's work I thanked it whilst also making a mental note to learn to control my demonic power without Raphael's help as soon as we had shelter.
Now I had to decide where to go, we couldn't just stay in this forest all the time, but the question was do I go to Kuoh or another town. I leant back against a nearby tree and fell deep into thought weighing up the options available and the advantages and disadvantages of both. Actually I needed a bit of information first before I made my choice.
'Raphael, what year is it?'
[1993].
Rias Gremory was born some time in 1998 so I'm about 5 years older than her. That means Kuoh might be under the rule of Ceria Belial right now. Sadly the Highschool DxD stories were quite rough with dates before canon. I simply didn't have enough information.
I eventually decided to go to Kuoh anyway, since I didn't have enough reliable information so it wouldn't matter where I went and I knew at some point in the future I would be able to get in contact with the devil race there. I chose to wait until either the girl woke up or it became evening, as I didn't want to carry her, and it would be a bad idea to teleport into an unknown territory outside of emergencies.
So I found a relaxed position and asked Raphael to begin teaching me how to manipulate my demonic energy. What I should have expected though was for Raphael to mostly just download the knowledge into my mind.
I sat there with a ball of water floating over my palm.
I had done it.
Magic.
Naturally, it was very simple magic, just conjuring a ball of water, but for me this was huge. In my previous life I had bean hearing of people with superpowers like manipulating the elements. As a child I was so excited and hoped to have a power of my own.
Sadly as I grew up into a teenager the cruel reality that I couldn't use my power reared its head. Even worse was that same power slowly killing me.
It was really devastating.
As a child, everyone wants to be a hero with cool powers and I was no different. Sadly I would never get the chance.
Now though.
Now I had it.
Special powers.
Even better, it wasn't just manipulating water but water magic. A huge difference. Especially with the imagination based devil system of magic. I could use all the powers I wanted.
Yes I had technically performed magic before, but that wasn't really me, just Raphael using my energy.
This was all me.
My magic.
A massive smile had formed across my face as I gazed at the ball of water. I flexed my imagination a bit and envisioned the water changing from a ball into a flat disk. The water wobbled a bit and slowly started flattening. Sadly my concentration broke and the water fell to the ground soaking my hand on the way.
Despite my failure I was still giddy. I continued trying over and over again, summoning different elements and perfecting my control as time past. I eventually entered a state of deep concentration zoning out everything around me focused solely on the magic.
Until a groan from the girl on the ground brought me back to reality. I watched as her eyes fluttered open and she begun to squirm around getting her dress covered in dirt along the way. Eventually she seemed to get control of her limbs and pushed herself up into a sitting position before looking around frantically.
"Hello." I called out resulting in her head snapping in my direction.
Her eyes began roaming up and down my figure rested against the tree in both wariness and curiosity before eventually she looked at my face and we locked eyes. The staring contest lasted for a few minutes before I broke it by giving her some important information.
"We've escaped. They don't know we are here."
She just stared at me for a few moments before the wariness in her eyes disappeared slightly and the tension in her body relaxed a fraction. She was obviously still wary, but as she looked around this time it was more to analyze the surroundings than searching for threats. I let her survive the surroundings for a little bit before I asked my first question.
"Do you have a name?"
I had no memories prior to waking up so I don't know if the other test subjects were grown like test tube babies or if they were abducted as a child or something. Even if she is only 4 to 5 years old, thats enough to know her own name. She turned her head back towards me and began staring again.
"Mine name is Cain." I said, hoping that she was at least able to understand me considering she wouldn't know language if she had been grown in that lab.
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times in an attempt to find her voice. I had been talking to myself whilst practicing magic as it was hard to speak in a body that hadn't in a while or perhaps ever.
"n-nnoo." She enunciated slowly.
She could understand me at least, but she didn't have a name, or she didn't remember her original name as being able to understand me suggested she had been kidnapped rather than grown.
"Do you want me to give you one now?"
She shook her head in response to my question. Maybe, shed come up with her own name later. Now that she was awake however we could begin heading towards Kuoh.
"We're going to go to town and find shelter, will you follow me?" I asked.
She nodded her head once again after looking around at the forest. I pushed myself up and walked over to her. She shrank back a bit as I approached but I stopped a couple of steps away and stretched my hand towards her to help her up.
After a few seconds she accepted the hand and I pulled her to her feat. Her dress was all rumpled and covered in dirt from where she had been sitting on the the ground and her earlier attempt to gain control over her limbs. I quickly brushed her dress a little bit to get the dirt of, noting her flinch a little every time I touched the dress.
"Follow me." I said, before flashing her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. I turned back towards the forest and gave an instruction to my other companion.
'Raphael, please spread my demonic energy thinly in the surroundings and direct me towards town please.'
[Affirmative.]
I felt the tug on my energy reserves again and the mental map forming in my mind as I took my first steps towards civilization.
Civilization that wasn't a laboratory.