Sometimes The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is An Oncoming Train [DxD / Celestial Dojo SI]

[Despacitoleo]

Needless to say, as soon as I was finished, I fucking booked it

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RUN BITCH RUUUUUUUUUN

 

[Chaosfox13]

I wonder if Michael or Gabriel or any of the other archangels would receive prayers if they were addressed directly to them? If so I wonder how they would react if they were addressed as Michael the Deceiver, or Michael the Betrayor etc? With the way he's lying to everyone about God not being dead and excommunicating anyone who finds out that's gotta be an offence worth falling for, so I wonder how he would react if he received a prayer questioning that?

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Mikey has a lot of problems, but honestly the keeping the "god is dead" secret is mild as heck. Its not even like hes doing it for power. He despises his job by all evidence. The system breaking would just be bad for a lot more than just him.

Its patronising as hell, but he probably sees the lie less as a cunning power play, and more like telling a 5 year old grandpa went to a farm upstate.

God's dead. He's not a usurper he's outright the heir. His real problem is not stepping up to kingship, instead trapping everything in a regentory limbo.

Much like all the biblical faction leaders, his problem is being insufficiently tyranicall.


Excommunication is a slap on the wrist. Even the superexcomunication that gets used. Congrats, you are now no longer in a church to a non existent god. And its a lot less impactful than it was in medieval Europe

Its in fact very much over used as a punishment, as Freed "i love rape" Selzen and Valper "orphan grinder" Galilei, really shouldn't have been gently scooted out the door to be everyone elses problem.

 

[Tera]

Bit of a wall of text chapter, needs some reformatting for better reading.

 

[Hansgold]

Love it need more

 

[DodoDude]

I enjoyed the small lesson on the Japanese drainage system in Tokyo. It really does ground the story when you are running around at the lower and more gritty levels of DXD.

Also I can't wait to see what kind of unintended consequences that this mysterious healing gyaru will cause in the future.

 

[Nicohals J Westerberg]

Lol glad to see the MC is trying to be smart

 

[Psionic Simian]

Tftc

 

[BlueHelix]

Hope the author fucks over those devils fallen the heaven cause Jesus dxd author dropped the ball on the supposed good guys

Hell the canonical cast are a bunch of jobbers and genuine peices of shit covered by shounen BS



Also awsome fic man this is super good will totally still read even if the mc fucks with those disgusting devils

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@BlueHelix
Question, is this fic a gonna be a devil glazing fic like most others in this site?

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So this is like, a complicated kind of answer. I think the easiest way to say it is that like, you see how this story is set in the backdrop of the aftershocks of the Japanese Lost Decade, and the 2008 Financial Crisis, right? Haru does not have problems with Japanese people, or American people, or whatever, and on a very broad basis, does not inherently have problems with Devils, Fallen, or Angels

If Haru ever remembers more context though, or well, continues to encounter the supernatural, they will kind of not have many kind things to say about Azazel and Devil Society as it stands

Heaven and the Church I will have to still figure out properly but it's uh, kind of fucked up on some level that Heaven kind of gave Issei and Irina the Interdimensional Room in vol. 18:

Irina's dad, who finished explaining a quick run-through for this Christmas project, starts looking through his baggage after saying "Oh yeah, I have a gift".

What he takes out is a—doorknob. ……A doorknob. Why a doorknob? While everyone puts on a puzzled look while staring at the doorknob, Irina's dad explains while he changes it with the doorknob of the VIP room's door.

"It will work anywhere so please attach it to a door. For example this room's door. You remove the doorknob of this door, replace it with this one, and then when you open the door—"

What appears within our line of sight is—a spacious unfamiliar room! What the. Even though he opened the door from inside the VIP room, what we see isn't the corridor but an unknown room!

The room has a size of twenty tatami mats……no, even more. It may be bigger than my room which went through renovation. There are statues of Angels, portraits of the prophets, and ornaments which looks like they will bring fortunes decorated inside the room. It gives off the vibe Devils will receive damage simply by entering it.

What's standing out the most is the huge bed located at the centre of the room, a bed which comes with a canopy!

There is no other furniture other than the bed, the chairs, a table, and a clock. But man, I can't keep myself from sensing a mysterious vibe radiating from here. How should I put it? It feels the same as when I encounter a priest or a feeling similar to the power of light of the Angels……

Irina's dad says it to us who are observing the room with suspicion.

"This is a special room, a room created in a way that doesn't cause problems for an Angel and a Devil should they make babies in here. This doorknob will connect it to a customised alternative space."

[—!?]

Everyone is shocked at his words! O-Of course! Obviously! So this room which is giving out a holy vibe……is a room which is even okay for a Devil and an Angel to make babies……!

Irina's dad grabs her by her shoulders and declares it very loudly!

"Irina-chan, don't hold back in deepening your love with Ise-kun inside this room!"

"E……eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!?"

Irina screams in astonishment when she hears her father saying such a thing,something she couldn't have possibly predicted!

Leaving us dumbfounded and unable to respond to this, Irina's dad starts to tell his story in tears.

"……Uuu, I gave up on being able to have grandchildren when Irina-chan reincarnated into an Angel……! I was about to abandon my dream for the sake of our beliefs……! And thanks to the kindness of the Seraph Michael-sama, I was given the opportunity to become a grandfather……! Ah, this must also be the lord's love! Amen!"

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But this is really nothing (aside from principles, lol) compared to how fucked Devil Society and the chicanery that Azazel gets up to

Here you have Issei go Oppress D. Slaves:

Xenovia complained. Yes, ever since the matter with the Hero Faction ended, there were many incidents where Sacred Gear possessors who were made into a servant of a High-class Devil with unfair trades awakened their powers and strayed. It was because Cao Cao and his group leaked out the information of using Balance Breaker. Thanks to that, we were given hunt orders from the House of Archduke Agares quite often. Those who ran away after going through painful experiences got arrested by us after we talked to them, but those who went berserk after being too proud of their own power...even though it might be harsh, there were times we take them down. But there were cases where they were using Balance Breaker, and our missions could become quite severe at times. If it was a special type of ability within a technique-type, we might fall for their trap and receive a fatal blow if we weren't careful. It was made so that we, the Gremory, had to handle those who escape into Japan. I heard that Sairaorg-san was also dispatched for a hunt in the Underworld. ...Attaining true peace was harder than I expected. They said that the reconstruction of towns and villages destroyed by the gigantic monsters had begun, but I didn't think their hearts would come to peace that easily... ...We could only train ourselves to make sure that doesn't happen.

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Like obviously if people pop off that's an issue, especially after the Underworld got wrecked by the Hero Faction attack, but isn't it kind of indicative that a whole bunch of Devils just went and immediately popped off after the "secret" about Balance Breaker was revealed? Balance Breaker really only pops if you feel extremely strongly and your heart is resolved, which oftentimes typically comes in the heat of life-risking combat

A lot of people felt so strongly that they flipped Balance Breaker and just fucking booked it. Some went "mad," but others wanted to just run away after what Issei explicitly calls painful experiences and still get arrested, haha, and there's no real follow-up on what happens afterward.

Because ultimately, like, why would they? Sona's dream of a school is mocked, but then it's like blown up like five times when it exists, and there's constant talk about political backlash. The New Satans are just like, despite all their strength, are ultimately figureheads except for Serafall who's breaking her back carrying international relations

"……Is it about Grayfia-san?"

When I asked, Rias puts on a smile after noticing me.

"……I'm sorry. Of course you would understand what I'm concerned about. Yes, you are right. I was thinking about Onee-sama."

……I heard that Grayfia-san is still under a tight situation due to the appearance of her younger brother, Euclid. I heard that she was basically under a house-arrest situation at the Gremory castle.

Not only was she sent away from helping Sirzechs-sama's public work, but she was also forbidden to work as a maid of the House of Gremory where she was isolated from the politics of the current Devil.

That was because the current higher-ups in the government still have doubts towards Grayfia-sama. Maybe she lied about her brother's death and was deceiving Sirzechs-sama who is her husband? Maybe she has a connection to Rizevim? Those are some examples.

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Grayfia is literally forced into house arrest after Euclid does his shit by mysterious """higher ups"""

And then in terms of Sona's extremely basic in concept "Rating Game School anyone can attend"

The "Rating Game school anyone can attend" which was the dream of the Sitri group, more specifically Sona-kaichou's, was unexpectedly located within the Agares's territory.

Normally, it wouldn't have been weird for the school to be built in the Sitri's territory, which belongs to the next heiress of the House of Sitri who was hoping for this to happen, but political issues had to get involved here too. Rather, it turned into quite a complicated situation.

Maybe the reason for Sona-kaichou building this school may have a bit of Serafall Leviathan-sama's intention who is her sister? —Apparently there are those who are saying such things.

Obviously Leviathan-sama who is all supportive of Sona-kaichou was being positive about the establishment of this school.

However, this action will stimulate the politicians, the higher-ups with peerage that had been taking importance of the old bloodline. From their eyes, a "Rating Game school where anyone can enrol regardless of their rank" will be something which they would not like. Obviously there will be opinion and pressure which would be against this. If Leviathan-sama becomes stubborn and argues back at them, then it won't be weird if they take her action as "Leviathan's political action".

The reason why Rias, the Gremory, couldn't intervene in this matter was due to this reason. If the higher up takes this as the intention of the Gremory, in other words Sirzechs-sama, then they are assuming that the chances of dispute between the factions of Four Great Maou may get heated up.

In the end, Rias……could only help to the degree where she won't get much attention.

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Sona cannot build her own fucking school in her own fucking house's territory because of """stimulating the politicians"""

The house of Hell is not in order, to say the least, when extremely basic things cannot be enacted for fear of political backlash. And to a degree, this kind of makes sense why Sirzechs doesn't just flip the switch and go "do what I say, or else" because he never wanted to be Lucifer. He was a music teacher whose students got killed by the Old Satans anti-rebel actions and crashed the fuck out over it, but he never wants to fight in a war again -- his own power is to some degree a curse to him.

But this has fundamentally made the concept of "reform" of the Underworld basically a joke, especially with one of the biggest ways of social mobility in the Underworld - Rating Games - basically get rigged by the Old King Faction with the whole King Piece chicanery. And despite the whole thing about might being right, education seems very much gatekept in the Underworld too with the school and everything -- which makes sense, because there was a random-ass Ultimate Class Devil on Team Shooting Star in the Azazel Cup that was stuck as Low Class taking care of rocks in the Devil Wasteland. The promotion tests are linked to knowledge of Devil Culture and other stuff that low class people cannot necessarily learn easily.

So like, despite Sirzechs' good intentions, Hell is basically halfway to a terminally rotten society infested by the Old King and the Old Satan factions. Diodora's actions aren't really considered all that bad if it wasn't for the whole Khaos Brigade / Ophis Snake thing, for example. Kuroka crashed out for a reason. So on and so forth. And like, to a degree you can say it's not really their fault because Devils are basically a race of born weapons created by Lucifer to die in droves for the Great War and they're trying to figure out their society, uh

Society's still kind of hosed, you know? And part of that is that besides from Serafall, and Ajuka creating the Evil Piece system to fix their population problem, the rest of the Satans have just not really stepped up to fix Devil Society in the centuries between their takeover and now.

That being said, I don't think Haru will ever really perceive Devils as like inherently disgusting or whatever. They might work with a few in the future, they might not. But it's not really in Haru's nature to paint people by their species -- there's no real reason to do that when there are very real criticisms to be had, just like how Haru doesn't dislike people but it's inarguable that many governments mishandled the lead-up to 2008 and the after-effects.

This response post has already gotten 800+ words long, but like, Azazel is the most sus person alive, lol. How did you develop the Sacred Gear Extraction technology, Azazel? How did you have a bunch of Vrita Sacred Gears ready to merge with Saji, Azazel? Why is Grigori standard protocol to literally brand the people they operate on, Azazel? Why did one of Issei's clones go insane when you experimented on him, Azazel? Why did--

In all honesty, it's not that surprising that Kokabiel went from this in Slash/Dog:

"——These 'human beings' are beyond comprehension. To think they can use a human being in an experiment as though they were the same as trash, and that it would appear to be an act of divine mercy to try and save them all. Undeniably, they are beings beyond salvation."

Together with such a lamentation, a man with long wavy black hair appeared. He was a foreigner wearing something similar to a robe. After glancing at Tobio and——Jin, the man spoke.

"……I'm someone from the 'Governor General's' Organization. Thanks to you guys causing a disturbance inside, invading was unexpectedly easy."

……The 'Governor General's' Organization. If that's the case, he's a Grigori official? Unsure if what he said was accurate, Jin was increasingly vigilant given the apparent pressure that the man was giving off.

The man spoke while flipping his robe. He pointed down the passageway with his index finger.

"'Dog', up ahead, the man who is seeking his own death, he is waiting for you. Go. You can entrust the matter of transporting of all the people here to me. Since that is the task I have been entrusted with. Originally, it was just to confirm the presence of the aforementioned witch but……"

The man dropped his gaze. It was as though he was aware of the battle involving his magician comrade that was happening down in the basement. The man let out a sigh and spoke again.

"Look, it's as I said. Go quickly now."

The man turned his finger towards the collapsed fellow students. Thereupon, a magic square expanded underneath them, and following the glow their figures vanished. It appeared they had been transported.

Tobio timidly enquired.

"……What's your name?"

The man replied while seemingly uninterested.

"……Cadre of the Grigori, Kokabiel."

Confirming that, Tobio bowed saying, "I'm relying on you," and left immediately. Already, he apparently could do nothing under the present circumstances other than rely upon this suspicious man.

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To this in DxD

Kokabiel said it with a laugh. From his story, Kiba and Xenovia escaped.

"Asia!"

I put Irina on the ground, and made Asia heal her. There was a green light coming out of Asia's body, which covered Irina. Irina's expression started to soften and she started to breathe gently. She didn't have her Excalibur. What happened to it? Kokabiel continued to talk without caring about my doubts.

"I wouldn't do something as stupid as talking with a Satan. Well, if I rape and kill his little sister, then Sirzechs' anger will be pointed towards me. That won't be bad."

Buchou glared at Kokabiel with disdainful eyes.

"……So what is your motive for contacting me?"

Kokabiel answered Buchou's question with joy,

"I will be rampaging in this town using your base, Kuoh Academy, as the starting point. Then Sirzechs will also appear, right?"

Wh-What!?

"If you do something like that, the War between God, Fallen-Angels and Devils will begin again you know?"

"That's what I'm wishing for. I thought that Michael would start a War if I steal the Excalibur......... But what he sent were grunt Exorcists and two holy-sword wielders. It's boring. I'm really bored indeed! That's why I'm going to rampage at Sirzechs' sister's base. See? It looks fun, right?"

Buchou made a sound with her tongue. It was proof that Buchou was really pissed. But. What insane plan was he trying to pull!? Isn't Michael an Angel who is the most important next to God? Even someone like me who was new to this World has seen his name in books. He's trying to start a War with someone big like that!? To be expected from the leader of Fallen-Angels!

"……You battle-freak."

Buchou said it with hatred. But Kokabiel laughed with joy.

"Yeah. That's it! I was bored and bored after the war between the three sides! Azazel and Shamza weren't that keen on the next war. They then started to collect something boring like Sacred Gear and started to do some weird research. Something useless like that won't be of any use to us! ……Well, it's a different story if it's a "Boosted Gear" like the one the brat over there has… But it's not something you can find so easily."

Kokabiel then looked at me. What enormous pressure…… My body was shaking unbelievably…… I then said it with a strong voice.

"……Are you guys also after my Sacred Gear?"

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I'd go insane if Azazel was my boss, too.

In any case, the answer is "it's complicated but Haru isn't racist," but there will be no "devil glazing"

(I have to wonder what fics are "devil glazing" tbh most of the ones I've encountered are pretty negative on them on a societal basis if positive on an individual basis for the ORC and Sairoarg and so on)

the start of this chapter read a bit like a schizoid dairy, I genuinely thought you'd accidentally posted the next chapter by accident and him essentially just ignoring his academic and financial problem feels really odd even if it can make sense with the idea that his excommunication would possibly be lethal.

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Whoops, sorry. I went and added a "one month later" to be clear there was a timeskip on that front.

Haru has not ignored their academic and financial problems -- they have kind of rather done the opposite. The whole reason why they're fighting underground at the start is that they're getting paid:

No, I was here in my capacity as Tokyo's newest (supernatural) pest control technician.

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Unfortunately, that left me to my thoughts on why I was doing effectively mercenary work for Shinto priests — my censure from the Catholic Church.

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To clear things up for the future, I added this sentence:

Depressingly, this probably wasn't the worst job I'd done to pay rent.

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This is literally how they're keeping afloat at the moment, because they've lost their housing stipend from their scholarship and a number of other resources. Sakamoto-san has been feeding them a lot and also been giving Haru a lot more hours:

If I didn't have the ability to punch ghosts, I would've been in real steep trouble, for there was only so many hours Sakamoto-san could offer me.

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Most importantly to me, though, and one of the main reasons why I still worked here, was that family meal portions for me had remained at the mind-boggling size that Sakamoto-san had provided me about a month ago. Well, it was likely being paid for by the increased business, but every time he gave me a platter, I remained surprised, and every time I ate, I remained incredibly grateful.

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But you can bet that Haru's been working their butt off underground to build reputation but also put food on the table, especially considering their increased caloric requirements to maintain their energy.

As for the excommunication, like... Haru kind of really wants to know, but they literally have no way to get answers, as unlike typical excommunications, Haru doesn't exactly have avenues to appeal or bring themselves back to the Church. Haru does have people they trust in the Church, but they're kind of the people who raised them -- talking to them could get them into trouble. Perhaps more trouble, because Haru isn't a normal heretic -- they're one that have accidentally zipbombed God's system with their flood of toxic faith. How would Haru become that? You bet that the nuns would be a candidate -- or at least that's what Haru thinks.

As for school, uh, good luck paying for that without a lot of money / scholarship. School year's started too, so they kind of have to wait for a new term too at the moment, sucks to suck.

I wonder if Michael or Gabriel or any of the other archangels would receive prayers if they were addressed directly to them? If so I wonder how they would react if they were addressed as Michael the Deceiver, or Michael the Betrayor etc? With the way he's lying to everyone about God not being dead and excommunicating anyone who finds out that's gotta be an offence worth falling for, so I wonder how he would react if he received a prayer questioning that?

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Real talk, nothing Haru could say could meaningfully hurt Michael than what Michael sees and hears every day. He is the inadequate heir to a God no one could match, and he sits in a throne that is not his and hears prayers he cannot answer and sees the Grigori rip out His gifts to humanity and the Devils take God's gifts for their own.

Michael in canon feels like dogshit and the case remains the same here.

Excommunication is a slap on the wrist. Even the superexcomunication that gets used. Congrats, you are now no longer in a church to a non existent god. And its a lot less impactful than it was in medieval Europe

Its in fact very much over used as a punishment, as Freed "i love rape" Selzen and Valper "orphan grinder" Galilei, really shouldn't have been gently scooted out the door to be everyone elses problem.

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And also like, kind of yes and no here--

Excommunication is not meant to be some kind of crazy censure unless you go absolutely nuts. It's simply removal from the communion with the Church. Normally, in modern day, it's entirely fixable and resolvable, unless you are kind of bugnuts or zealous in your own way, like the Society of St. Pius X who have openly defied Rome's authority and is not willing to reconcile because they are so desperate for the ability to ordain priests that follow their own doctrine they will falsely ordain bishops without papal approval in order to continue the ability to ordain priests.

It's only so harsh on Haru because they actually did rely on some degree on the Church for survival and for the ability to continue their education.

As for Freed and Valper, I don't really think that the Church would have you know, willingly let them go. They kind of left and got picked up by the Grigori and then it's SOL -- if the Church could have killed them, they would have, you know?

Well, then again, you just kind of have to look at the prevalence of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, or the boarding schools for Native Americans, and then maybe that isn't the case. But those people haven't exactly gotten excommunicated either, and to be honest, you don't really get excommunicated for being merely a criminal or an evil person. Being evil's a matter of sin, and that's an entirely different matter, one concerning for your soul. Excommunication's more of a doctrinal matter, I suppose.

Bit of a wall of text chapter, needs some reformatting for better reading.

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I'll try to take a look at it later, I actually had gone over it before publishing to break it up already, haha... I'll try to keep a better eye on it in the future, appreciate the feedback.

I enjoyed the small lesson on the Japanese drainage system in Tokyo. It really does ground the story when you are running around at the lower and more gritty levels of DXD.

Also I can't wait to see what kind of unintended consequences that this mysterious healing gyaru will cause in the future.

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Thanks boss! Haru's kind of outgrown their starting zone like I said, but they're still having to live in it, and thus they don't really want to blow up where they live. All the power to blow up a mountain in the palm of their hand, and they can barely use a fraction of it. Kind of ironic considering what I've said about Sirzechs and the Satans, eh?

As for the healing gyaru, well, I think the church would be more concerned with the fact that she mentioned a sensei. Or perhaps they wouldn't be. Getting extremely yoked is one of the methods to get touki after all, and it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to for that to be a route to learn senjutsu from reverse principles, considering how a lot of martial arts focuses on mindset and discipline and harmony with the world. Who knows what'll happen? Even I'm not fully sure!

 

[Despacitoleo]

So like, despite Sirzechs' good intentions

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oh yeah ironically Sirzech's is literally somehow the only devil thats actually a good person like how ironic your own family wife and friends are shit your society is shit essentially your entire race is shit and somehow the dude named essentially the second lucifer Morningstar, the sirzechs music forced into a leader position, D gregomory is somehow a good dude like actually good

Just fucked over by essentially his own race lol

 

[Uthalem]

but there were sure to boe other options

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Be other options

Anyways I can't track down any mention of physical enhancement magic and considering Western human magic not sourced from other mythologies / pantheons is based off of researching devil magic (Onmyodo works on different principles apparently) and is also entirely formula based (so enhancing the human body is pretty hard plus why the hell would you focus on this as a magician), I can kind of see why it's not really present in the narrative, and also why it's probably not a staple as combatants as I originally thought

Also -- like, I don't think Devils really push magic, because training is treated as fucking no-shit revolutionary

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with Captain-boosted Battle Aura, a form of magic that enhances physical capabilities, which may genuinely be novel to DxD.

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Touki is the main method people who like punching people go to for strength where they can so coming up with a magical version of that makes some sense but probably wouldn't have occurred to most as if you wanted to punch harder Touki would be a perfectly reliable option so coming up with a magical method probably just seemed like reinventing the wheel not to mention less intuitive for those who are meatheads.

Waving it experimentally, I suppressed the faint feeling of disappointment that it didn't hum like a lightsaber before feeding my Battle Aura into the blade to reinforce it—

---

On the first day of Creation, God said:

"Let there be Light."

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Fucking funny he got this

Things will probably move away from Tokyo at least for a bit in a chapter or two, I'll just have to figure out how

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I think I know how, financial trouble and getting offered money. No joke his main job is being a mercenary at this point and from the sounds of things he is being low balled for someone who is a high class mercenary. Hiring someone like him should very much be like hiring someone like death stroke from DC but the problem is that his clients aren't exactly swimming in money and what he is being paid to fight isn't worth someone like him, additionally he might do too good of a job mixed with his vigilantly work that they just don't need him anymore, not in amounts that are sustainable for him. But they have objective proof of him being well into high class based on his base stats alone so someone could hear about that or if they are feeling nice name drop him as I have to imagine actually high class combatants as opposed to people who just have the title because politics or something are very rare and even more rarely unspoken for, so long as it came with proof (as I don't think most would believe in a unknown high class unclaimed mercenary without some) it would not be hard for someone to be convinced to pay for his time.

This is literally how they're keeping afloat at the moment, because they've lost their housing stipend from their scholarship and a number of other resources. Sakamoto-san has been feeding them a lot and also been giving Haru a lot more hours

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Does that mean he is not getting paid a lot? You would think being basically a mercenary would pay more even on the low end to fight the supernatural

 

[WerewolfEros]

While I was tough enough to manage any physical damage, I certainly wasn't capable of holding my breath long enough for patrols to remove the risk of poisonous inhalations, undoubtedly enhanced by any of the unwelcome guests down there as well, and my colleagues probably weren't any better equipped. We'd have to get purification talismans for both the body and the environment bare minimum, as well as updated maps.

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An Industrial Gas Mask, if such a thing exists, reinforced with Purification Ofuda.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Love how he's constantly training. That he isn't' standing still.

It makes sense that he isn't eager to tie himself to another organization after the one that cut him off so abruptly had supported him since he was young. I really love that he's really patient, understanding and forgiving of that. I can easily think of several people in that situation would have gone to their first enemies and signed up with them purely of spite despite how unwise it would be. Even other people that wouldn't do anything that terrible would be incredible angry at the injustice that had happened. There wasn't even a grace period or a transfer to non Catholic site.

I do like that he has excised caution, has focused on laying low and been training what he can.

Rofl. What a trick with his voice over the phone. I didn't think that his own standing would make the one he rescued suspect.

Its really hilarious that he can heal now. Even if its not efficient healing its still better than none. Even better his power can't be stolen. That's one of the biggest things he can get even if it takes specific circumstances for it to be a danger.

Thanks for the chapter. Cheers!

 

[Karnax626]

Perhaps even more importantly, it wouldn't require me to be the one to apply them either, the only free High-Class combatant available to the shrines at the moment.

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You said he's probably going to be doing stuff outside of Tokyo soon, if he's been effective enough at clearing the sewers I can see him being given jobs by shrines in other cities.
It is a shame all the other High classes are busy, though even if they weren't I doubt he'd be able to spar with one or anything. At this rate he's probably going to have to Leeroy Jenkins it and hope for the best when he first has to fight a peer.

Does that mean he is not getting paid a lot? You would think being basically a mercenary would pay more even on the low end to fight the supernatural

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The problem isn't the amount it's that he can't be guaranteed consistency, especially since if he does his current work well enough he's kind of putting himself out of a job, at least temporarily. Leaving the city might help him find more work though that's even less stable, especially for whenever he tries to get back to school.

 

[Magery]

"Hi Kiyotora-san~☆!" I sang out in my best sparkly Harajuku-style gyaru cadence. "An evil monster was being totes annoying, but I went and kicked its butt~☆!"

"What? Who is this?"

"Sorry, I can't stay for long, I think my sensei is calling me~☆," I pushed forward heedlessly. My voice was probably going to be sore if I kept it like this too long, so time was of the essence. "But you can find your friends at—"

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Ah, so this was Haru's secret middle-school syndrome... instead of a sealed eye and hidden powers behind forbidden covenant, she had bright nails and dyed hair.

I bet if you asked her the best ways to apply a fake tan she could rattle off three brands and two good magazine guides.

God bless.

(Well, He can't really do that right now, so maybe I should have said Michael bless instead. Shame about the excommunication—ganbare, Haru-chan! You can still save your soul. I believe in you!)

 

[BlueHelix]

oh yeah ironically Sirzech's is literally somehow the only devil thats actually a good person like how ironic your own family wife and friends are shit your society is shit essentially your entire race is shit and somehow the dude named essentially the second lucifer Morningstar, the sirzechs music forced into a leader position, D gregomory is somehow a good dude like actually good

Just fucked over by essentially his own race lol

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I think it's kind of complicated -- I think a lot of the protagonistic devils are well, maybe they're not necessarily heroic, but they are I think "good" on a basic personal level. This is of course an important distinction because by and large Devil society works for them and they are not like, very interested in doing anything momentous or risk anything to change things -- like again, of the protagonistic devils the only people who are really expressing any desire to actually change devil society is like... basically Sona? And I've gone over how relentlessly fucked over she is. Sairoarg to some degree does show rep but after he loses to Issei he basically is shunted over to Sona's school to be a teacher rather than pushing for anything more and then again, Sona's school is put in the torment nexus, especially after Sona's dad gets afflicted with the Sleeping Sickness and thus she's forced to retire from being a teacher to run the Sitri territory

The Sitri territory she can't run her school in, haha

But by and large Sirzechs I think is a good man but a failure of a leader. His ideal Devil society is not one defined by strength, but by character, in part because of his trauma of the Devil Civil War -- he can absolutely throw hands, but he doesn't like doing it, and he despises the idea of enacting the policies he wants by force of violence. Like straight up, if he crashed out, the only person who could stop him in the Underworld is Ajuka, and Ajuka does not give a fuck. So he kind of makes nice mouth words but he's afraid to push his weight around to allow for a pretense of a fair society.

Which is a joke, because uh--

"…Sirzechs can't do much about them either, right?"

Azazel-sensei asked Beelzebub-sama.

"For now, this is how it is. On the surface, it's just a political front that they're pretending to actively deal with, but if they act rashly, the balance of the Underworld will collapse. With the issues related to the survival of the race and internal strife on top of that, both the young and old are in a heated situation where everything could collapse in a single instant. Moreover, the opponents are the numerous cunning old Devils; for their own interests and the sake of their aristocratic society, they'll do anything. To some extent, they're even more troublesome than the Old Maou faction as they harbour an even deeper darkness than them. Even for Sirzechs and I who are known as Super Devils, we can only appear to push back and forth on the surface politically."

The Rating Games were tied together with politics and economics…. Behind the scenes, those powerful Devils were manipulating the competition for their own interests. Right now, we found out about an incredible situation…I could no longer seriously look at a professional game! In the battle between the Gremory and Bael Houses, it could also have been considered a contest between the Maou faction and Great King faction behind the scenes, which was why a different type of contest could be displayed. The match itself was truly honest. It must have been due to Sirzechs-sama's effort in making a deal in secret so that our match wouldn't be manipulated. With a grim expression, Rias continued to ask Beelzebub-sama

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The supposed "ruler" of Hell has to beg the Great King faction to not have his goddamn little sister's Rating Game match rigged. Obviously there's context and issues but the fundamental issue is that power abhors a vacuum, and Sirzechs being unwilling to step the fuck up has let others step in and entrench themselves. Maybe Ishibumi didn't intend it, but the way it's portrayed, the Four Satans are like... basically figureheads.

But like, they don't have to be? They've just fundamentally abdicated their responsibilities. The person who works the hardest for devil society is outright Serafall Leviathan who is shouldering an insane burden to make the Devils not supernatural international pariahs as the public relations Satan (which considering what Devils do and the Evil Piece system is kind of insane). Ajuka giga clutched up with the Evil Piece system but functionally fucked off. Falbium is actually kind of cool as a somewhat genius of hard work who sleeps all the time due to exhaustion from training from what a friend of mine who's reading DxD 0 is telling me, but isn't really doing anything policy wise because most of his work is in the military. And uh, Sirzechs is Sirzechs. But any one of them could basically tell the Great King Faction to put up or shut up, and the four of them combined could basically spank the Old Satan and Great King faction combined trivially. They just are unwilling to push to that extent, somewhat for reasonable reasons (they never wanted to be rulers) but it sucks for the countless victims of their inaction.

(This is better than Azazel, because I do not think there are any good intentions at all coming from him)

Touki is the main method people who like punching people go to for strength where they can so coming up with a magical version of that makes some sense but probably wouldn't have occurred to most as if you wanted to punch harder Touki would be a perfectly reliable option so coming up with a magical method probably just seemed like reinventing the wheel not to mention less intuitive for those who are meatheads.

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The thing is is that like, Touki is just actually incredibly hard for most people to grasp? It is the old reliable, but you have to train batshit hard to get it or get good with senjutsu, and even then you probably have to get some specific teachings. Otherwise people just thug it out.

Like, Zekka gets taught by her grandma how to use Touki, and while she's an absolute freak of swordsmanship talent, there's no way she's as physically capable as Cao Cao, much less Vasco Strada, and both of them don't have Touki, for example.

But in contrast, you can in fact just thug it out and be physically buff on those levels without Touki, and learning calculation-style magic to be good enough to enhance yourself on that level is probably more trouble than it's worth for someone who's entirely on the body cultivation path.

(Also, Vasco Strada probably would've been using it if it was easily available, because my king Vasco is also just apparently an accomplished anti-magic practitioner?)

Rossweisse-san, who was in the rear guard, created numerous magic circles, which fired out projectile attacks of various attributes! That jisan didn't dodge it, and just when he was about to be hit by the magic attacks, he simply extended his finger and rapidly touched them all. The magic attacks which he touched lost their power and dissipated into the air. Seeing the result, Rossweisse-san was extremely surprised!

"—Hm!? With that magic, you disassembled it!?"

"This so-called magic is a calculation. So, using the theory behind its formula to oppose it, it's possible to cancel them out or destroy them. Especially the techniques of young Magicians, as they're unrefined and not concise. As long as a slight flaw is found, it'll be completely useless. As long as its structure is known, it can be disintegrated with power."

Noooooo! I was shaking my head in utter disbelief at this phenomenon! My comrades seemed to be thinking the same thing and were just as astonished! After all, he only moved his finger around, yet he was able to decompose Rossweisse-san's magic spells! This jiji is way too surprising! Even if he understood the structure of the spell, who could possibly decompose spells with a single finger!? From the perspective of other Magicians, Rossweisse-san's spells have been praised and admired! Yet he glosses over it just by calling her young!?

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(He legit disassembles Rossweisse's formulae, who by the way, was the one who theorized the spell to seal Trihexa. What the fuck is up with that?)

Does that mean he is not getting paid a lot? You would think being basically a mercenary would pay more even on the low end to fight the supernatural

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Haru's getting paid a decent amount, but they're also rebuilding their savings and budget from the ground up because their housing is no longer subsidized and their food expenses have exploded. If push comes to shove they can split up their budget to favor more for immediate spending, but they're building up savings because they're somewhat deluded into thinking that they can still go to normal college (let's be real, at the moment that's functionally impossible for them) and need to save for tuition, or more realistically, need to save up for a number of other expenses involved with a world trip.

wrt mercenary work, shrines have options, and they have money, but they don't actually have a tremendous amount of money. Nishina-san's arrangement is great but it happens because the shrines get a lot of carveouts or tax breaks or subsidization of certain expenses, and while the government could probably adjust their budget, the Japanese government is not exactly a paragon of dynamic budget adjustments, and also a lot of her bonus stuff is well, bonuses -- the shrine has enough money to pay for an apprentice shrine maiden, not for the actual pay rate of whatever a High Class mercenary is.

I guess the way to say it is that Haru has enough to get by, and if all they wanted to do was clock in for a 9/5 they probably could. But they're dealing with a massive increase in expenses while their savings are now suddenly inadequate, and there's other stuff looming.

Good thoughts about merc work though -- Haru's name is pretty respected for those who know and work with them.

An Industrial Gas Mask, if such a thing exists, reinforced with Purification Ofuda.

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That's not a bad start, but the bigger issue is if there's just straight up not enough oxygen to begin with. Air purification is all well and good, but fighting's a very physical activity that requires lots of oxygen -- poisoning's the big ticket issue, but flat out hypoxia is a concern down in the sewers, a place where you can't easily find a place for "fresh" air either. In a way, G-CANS was pretty risky too, but it was a lot more clean. There's a reason why Haru was working alone down there.

That being said, there are obviously magical options to counteract minimal oxygen too, it's just a little more complicated.

Thanks for the chapter. Cheers!

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Thanks for the response! I think a big important part of training is that it's a matter of control. Haru has a lot of instincts and skill downloaded into them, but that doesn't mean that they're exactly comfortable with it. It's easy to be able to push out biggatons in punches, but there's a whole reason why the legend of Masamune vs Muramasa has Masamune win out despite Muramasa's sword being able to cut everything -- every single time Haru fights, Haru knows that if they lose an ounce of control, the shockwave of even a half-serious punch could kill hundreds to thousands of people. Tokyo is really really densely populated, which is great for being able to run to a 7-11 for some onigiri and karaage, but not so great for back-alley supernatural fights.

Haru is pretty clearly conflicted about what happens, but like, the Catholic Church that excommunicated them is still the one that took them in when they were a little baby and raised them, despite the huge strain on the budget and overcapacity. The people Haru loves are still there, and they're also just not the people who excommunicated them either -- joining an explicitly anti-Church or Heaven organization would mean opposing those people too. It's complicated, and there's a lot things to be frustrated about, but well...

Haru's been working on control for a number of reasons -- impulsive anger is not a luxury one can afford when your crashout can cause a massacre.

Ah, so this was Haru's secret middle-school syndrome... instead of a sealed eye and hidden powers behind forbidden covenant, she had bright nails and dyed hair.

I bet if you asked her the best ways to apply a fake tan she could rattle off three brands and two good magazine guides.

God bless.

(Well, He can't really do that right now, so maybe I should have said Michael bless instead. Shame about the excommunication—ganbare, Haru-chan! You can still save your soul. I believe in you!)

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Haru probably could actually probably do so -- they grew up in Shinjuku, which while wasn't the throbbing heartbeat of gyaru culture like Shibuya was, still has quite a fair bit of counterculture in there since like the 50s and 60s. Haru could apply a fake tan but they never really wanted nor had the opportunity to do so for themselves or others because they grew up in a Catholic orphanage. The heavy tan and makeup of the ganguro is pretty out of the question, but so would the heavy brand focus of stuff like onee-gyaru or the huge closet.brand investment of hime-gyaru. If pushed, the orphanage probably had some people doing kogal stuff more than anything else, because you know, school uniforms and not being adults, haha.

If consulted for "good" artificial tanning recommendations, aside from a harsh de-recommendation of tanning beds, there's the big magazine of egg which pushed a lot of hard gyaru culture. Ranzuki for more simple darker skin styling, and I think JELLY spun off from them for more onee-gyaru stuff, but they still did a lot of good bronzed makeup?

I am actually not a Harajuku gyaru so I can't speak with full confidence there, just a lot of osmosis

(Tanning product is a little complicated considering the focus on bihaku / pale - clear skin in Japanese culture, but there are options. I can't track down brands for Heisei-era preferred stuff, though, and I am like... 80% sure it will not be relevant, so I'm too lazy to hunt it down for now. Assume Haru does know though because they fucking hate tanning beds. Goddamn cancer machines.)

 

[al103]

*snip*

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Satans pretty much gone Katsura Kogoro. Only reason Japan gone it's way after reformation was because that man didn't wanted another civil war. I would actually bet on him if he would've actually raised banners instead of resigning from his post to get drunk. Japanese love their Meiji references and it's not like it's first one in DxD.

 

[WerewolfEros]

That's not a bad start, but the bigger issue is if there's just straight up not enough oxygen to begin with. Air purification is all well and good, but fighting's a very physical activity that requires lots of oxygen -- poisoning's the big ticket issue, but flat out hypoxia is a concern down in the sewers, a place where you can't easily find a place for "fresh" air either. In a way, G-CANS was pretty risky too, but it was a lot more clean. There's a reason why Haru was working alone down there.

That being said, there are obviously magical options to counteract minimal oxygen too, it's just a little more complicated.

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A Spacesuit then. Just made with Supernatural Materials instead for the Durability and to make it slim and less bulky. The Oxygen Tank's will have to also be made from Supernatural Materials along with Defense Ofuda so they dont get punctured during any fights.