Becoming Enkidu in DxD

For the longest time, Sirzechs Lucifer's gentle smile and diplomatic demeanor had lulled many into forgetting a simple truth—

He was one of the Four Great Maou who ruled over the Underworld.

An existence to be feared—not taken lightly.

High above the arena, in the nobility stands, the head of the Phenex family clenched his jaw so tightly that blood began to pool in his mouth. Hope for his third son, Riser, had long since vanished.

In every possible sense… it was over.

Down in the center of the artificial battlefield, suspended in midair, Riser Phenex writhed—his body bound by glowing golden chains, his skin torn and scorched.

Yet no matter how many times those divine chains lashed and released him, no matter how deep the wounds carved into his body, golden flames would erupt around him, healing him instantly.

The immortality granted by the Phenex bloodline. A sacred flame that burned away all harm, restoring flesh and bone in mere moments.

Under normal circumstances, no physical or magical attack could ever truly injure him. His very existence was akin to an elemental being—his body would dissolve into fire before damage could even register.

But not this time.

Not against those chains.

Chains of Heaven—now fully unshackled, its final restraints lifted.

After reaching 80% Template Inheritance, Akira had gained access to its true name liberation, allowing him to override even the Phenex's immortal flame.

At its core, Enkidu wasn't simply a physical binding tool. It was a conceptual weapon of restraint, born from the World's Restraint Force itself—an Anti-Deity armament meant to hold even the divine.

Now enhanced, strengthened by Akira's deep resonance with its origin, the chains had grown powerful enough to intervene with reality itself.

And so the cycle continued.

The chains would strike—violently.

The flames would heal—instantly.

Again. And again. A loop of endless pain.

Because no fatal damage had been inflicted, the Rating Game's auto-protection system hadn't activated.

And until it did… this torment would never stop.

The very power that once made Riser invincible—his regenerative flame—had become the root of his suffering.

Because he couldn't die.

He could only endure.

And Akira made sure of it.

He wasn't the forgiving type. Far from it. If there was one word that defined Shin Akira—it was vindictive.

Every insult, every mocking word, every arrogant sneer that Riser had hurled at him over the past few weeks… Akira had remembered.

Now, he was paying it all back—with interest.

Even surrender wasn't an option anymore. Chains had sealed Riser's mouth shut, locking his lips behind a silencing enchantment.

And in front of the entire supernatural world, watching from magical broadcast devices all across the Underworld and beyond… the third son of the noble House of Phenex was being broken, piece by agonizing piece.

Yet it was still within the rules.

Painful as it was to watch, no one could claim this was foul play.

It was all perfectly legal.

This… was the Underworld.

Where strength was law—and the weak had no right to complain.

The Rating Game, now a televised competition, was born from the brutal duels between devil clans in the aftermath of the Great War.

Ajuka Beelzebub had created the system not for sport, but to reduce the pointless bloodshed of a dwindling pureblood population.

The format might've changed.

But the underlying principle never had.

The strong decide everything.

And today… Akira was the strongest.

It didn't matter what he did to Riser.

No one could stop him.

Some high-ranking nobles—those with ties to the Phenex clan—showed signs of discomfort, their expressions tight with unease.

But none of them dared to act.

Even the head of the Phenex house sat frozen, powerless.

What could he do, when the highest authority himself—Sirzechs Lucifer—showed no intention of intervening?

Time ticked on.

Over forty minutes had passed.

Riser no longer knew how many times his body had been pierced, torn, or slammed by those chains.

At some point, he'd stopped reacting to the pain—not because he was strong, but because his body had simply grown numb.

Agony had become normal.

Then suddenly… the fire changed.

A new flame burst forth—blindingly bright, far hotter than the golden healing fire he'd used so far.

In the blink of an eye, every wound on his body vanished.

Even the Chains of Heaven loosened, slowly detaching from his limbs.

A pulse of new energy radiated from Riser's form—faint but undeniable.

He had risen.

"...No way," whispered Cattleya, one of the Rating Game referees, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"That's… Nirvāṇa…"

It was a hidden ability.

A unique trait passed only to pureblood heirs of the Phenex line.

Nirvāṇa—the sacred resurrection flame.

It wasn't just a healing power.

It was a rebirth.

A second life born from the edge of death, awakening the user's latent power… but at a cost.

A once-in-a-lifetime ability.

A true Phoenix Down.

And once activated, it could never be used again.

In the eyes of the Phenex family, it was their trump card of last resort.

The final ace reserved for moments of absolute desperation.

To see it triggered in a standard Rating Game…

That was more than just surprising.

It was a disaster.

Even the game system hadn't deemed Riser in critical danger.

But his soul had.

That's why Nirvāṇa had activated.

"Enough! Lord Lucifer—my son's Nirvāṇa has triggered! This has gone too far!" the Phenex patriarch shouted, his voice nearly breaking from rage and panic.

His fists trembled. His jaw was clenched so tightly it sounded like his teeth might shatter.

He knew what this meant.

Riser's potential was gone.

The Nirvāṇa Flame consumed a devil's life force and future potential in exchange for this one chance to rise again.

A new body. Renewed power.

But it burned away everything that could've been.

Riser was still young. Twenty years old meant nothing to a pureblood devil whose lifespan could stretch across millennia.

But now, that future had been incinerated.

That bright flame… would only burn faster toward the end.

"…You're right. This went a bit too far. My apologies, Lord Phenex," Sirzechs finally sighed, his tone gentle—but distant.

Even he hadn't expected Nirvāṇa to activate before the Rating Game system's safety measures kicked in.

It was… an unfortunate oversight.

While he'd hoped Akira would teach the arrogant Phenex house a lesson, he never intended to utterly destroy Riser's future.

Down in the arena, Akira tilted his head slightly, observing the change.

Flames licked Riser's body like a cloak, surging with renewed vigor.

He had definitely grown stronger.

Still below the level of an Ultimate-class devil—but now, easily one of the most powerful among the High-class tier.

What he didn't know… was that this new strength came at a terrible cost.

"So you had something like that hidden away all along," Akira muttered, his voice low, calm, but filled with a heavy pressure.

"I'll admit, that was impressive, Riser."

Riser didn't answer.

He just stared at Akira.

That emerald-haired figure, floating in the air like a silent god of judgment, was no longer just a human.

He had become his worst nightmare.

Forty minutes of unrelenting torment.

Every second seared into his memory.

Into his soul.

Then—

"I SURRENDER!!"

No hesitation.

No pride.

The moment he could move again, Riser screamed at the top of his lungs.

And in an instant, his body vanished—teleported out of the battlefield by the Rating Game's protection system.

"Riser Phenex has surrendered! The winner of this Rating Game is—Rias Gremory!!"

The declaration echoed across the arena like a thunderclap.

The battle was over.

But what the world witnessed that day would never be forgotten—

A human named Shin Akira had carved his name into the annals of devil society.

And the House of Phenex…

Had just suffered the most humiliating defeat in the entire history of Rating Games.

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