Highschool DxD : Actually Satan

Leo finally sat down in his room, letting his body sink into the comfort of his favorite chair.

The sun dipped lazily beyond the horizon, casting the room in a mellow orange glow.

He sighed, deeply, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"Chocolate cultist..." he muttered, lips curling into a half-smirk, half-grimace.

Obviously, he had to cave.

She wouldn't leave until he bought her some chocolate ice cream.

In retrospect, that was a small price to pay for his sanity.

She had latched onto the chocolate debate with religious zeal, declaring herself a chocolate supremacist with the deadpan sincerity of a cosmic entity.

But Leo wasn't one to let things end so simply.

Before Ophis finally wandered off, he made her admit to how she orchestrated everything which was —Gaia!

Gaia had manipulated the events similar to the probability manipulation of Marble Phantasms she had great control over Earth and its inhabitants.

Ophis left clutching her chocolate ice cream like a sacred relic, he also had quietly slipped a spell onto her being.

A subtle modification, layered deep into her existence, giving her a natural resistance against having her power stolen.

Perfect enough of a buffer.

Rizevim himself, though... Leo exhaled through his nose, leaning back further, eyes darkening a shade.

No, Rizevim wouldn't see tomorrow's sunset.

He was the hardest one to convince, too close to Lucifer, too mad and unpredictable to be reasoned with.

Cleaning him up was inevitable.

But Leo didn't intend to purge the entire Chaos Brigade — that was unnecessary.

Besides, things were different in this world.

Much different than in the show of his previous life.

He had noticed it.

Rias, for one, wasn't the same heiress he had in mind.

No, the brief moment Leo had watched her, she had been far stronger than anticipated by his calculation... alongside her peerage.

A large part of that, Leo mused, had to be himself though.

My show that day catalysed an arms race.... the event was strangely weird to think about but understable since he overdid it in his power-high back then.

On another note

Issei had apparently missed the recruitment window for Rias Peerage,

Probably for the best. ?Leo believed the world will won't abandon their Main character so easily.

And from Leo's quiet observation, Issei Hyoudou was progressing at a terrifying rate — natural talent mixed with sheer, will.

What having your dick change every day does that to a mf..

Leo did shut off that curse after a week though.

Issei didn't seem to be relying on absurd training methods or shortcuts; no, this was pure effort, amplified by whatever mysterious "protagonist boost" the world will had carved into him.

Leo had been keeping tabs, of course.

It would've been irresponsible not to.

However, all those calm, calculating thoughts — about Issei, Rias, Ophis, the inevitable end of Rizevim — were violently thrown out the window the moment Leo flicked open the story tree panel, just to check for the new updates.

Aside from the three Intermediate paths there were also side quests available!

Good part was that they were mostly isolated from his Intermediate mission the bad oset was that it was "mostly" because some of these didn't even bither to have subtlety...

What he saw made his mind stutter.

What the actual hell?

The list of side branches that unfolded before his eyes was... absurd. No, not absurd — it was heretical to basic narrative structure itself.

It was like the system had given up on curating coherent side quests and just vomited every possibility in existence onto his screen.

And then, as if the universe wanted to mock him further, Ronan — chose that exact moment to descend from his perch like an opportunistic seagull.

He landed squarely on Leo's head, tilted his head sideways, and pecked him sharply.

"Caw," (v⚆﹃⚆v)! Ronan cawed, not even asking anymore, just declaring it that it wanted food!

Leo didn't even flinch. He was too busy staring, unblinking, at the cascade of paths.

[ Mound Olympus No More: Take over the Greek Pantheon under the pretense of finishing the job... ]

[ Revenge for Wifey : Destroy the Greek Underworld for experimenting on Lilith. ]

[ I Am God: Force Heaven to surrender and integrate angels with devils to create a new Nephilim race. ]

[ Root of All Evil: Become the source of all demonic contracts in the world. ]

[ Marry Serafall Leviathan: Solve all her diplomatic problems by marrying the Satan herself. ]

[ Absolute Chocolate Order: Establish chocolate supremacy worldwide. ]

And many, many more...

Hundreds of them.

Some of them sounded deranged, others sounded sensible but still terrifying, and a few were straight up madness.

Leo felt his breath catch in his chest.

There are too many... there's too many damn choices...

This — this was peak choice paralysis.

His mind spun like a loading wheel caught in an endless error.

He was so dazed he didn't even notice Ronan pecking him again.

"Caw Caw Caw," (vò_ó)v Ronan insisted, jumping down from Leo's head onto his shoulder now, flapping his wings indignantly.

Leo, however, was frozen in place.

Because something else had just caught his eye in the corner of the interface.

A , shimmering icon — it was blinking.

The Titled Path.

Wait....Wait.

Leo's eyes slowly widened in stunned realisation.

Finally — finally — after all this time, he could choose a title path!

YES!

Leo shot up from his chair like a rocket, causing Ronan to flap wildly in surprise and fall off his shoulder with an undignified squawk.

I can finally choose a title path!

Leo's smile stretched ear to ear.

This defective system forced me to take on the underworld mission luring me under the pretense of tutorial ...denying me my glorious titles..

He ignored Ronan,as the bird was just being too gluttonous, he lay in a pile of clothes now, grumbling something about not feeding properly and incompetent hooman..

Leo metally selected the titled path section with glee, ready to see what new absurdities awaited him.

And what awaited him was.... far more unhinged than he dared expect.

[ Demon Emperor of Endings: Ruler of the collapse of all systems.. ]

[ Hero of False Dawn: The false savior of world waiting to betray them at the final hour. ]

[ The Balanced Lord: Walking the impossible line between destruction and creation, managing all factions as their silent king. ]

[ Onii-chan of All Factions: Somehow the respected older brother of every major female faction leader. ]

Leo's eye twitched at the last one.

....Why the hell is this even an option?

Before Leo could choose one, a familiar voice reverberated through his mind — deep, rumbling, proud but... begrudgingly respectful.

' Will you come to the Underworld, or shall I come to you... partner? '

Ddraig's tone carried a very slight edge of annoyance, as if it pained the mighty dragon to be this polite to arguably his worst tormentor.

Leo let out a slow sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose like a man who'd just remembered a forgotten deadline.

' I'll be there, ' Leo replied simply.

Just as he ended the mental link, a sharp, insistent noise broke his train of thought:

"CAW!! CAW! CAW!!! " (v≖︿≖v)

Ronan.

Leo turned, already knowing what he'd find — his ecosystem-devouring raven glaring at him with indignant eyes, wings puffed in outrage.

The bird was positively fuming with betrayal emojis practically radiating from its very soul.

Leo raised an eyebrow and deadpanned, "Did you finish genociding all the insect nests in the surrounding area...you gluttonous menace?"

Ronan didn't dignify that with a proper reply.

Instead, he jabbed a sharp talon toward the brightly colored box of his favorite cereal sitting on the shelf, then let out another series of animated caws:

"CAW!!!"(v☆ω☆v)

Leo massaged his temple, a sharp pang of regret twisting in his chest.

Maybe, just maybe, enhancing Ronan to 'Greater World Threat' levels had been a bit overkill.

The damn bird had developed an appetite that could depopulate an entire biome in a single afternoon — and did so regularly.

But... Leo couldn't help it.

"Ah, screw it. Here," he said, tossing a generous amount of cereal into Ronan's food bin and also fade him some by hand.

It was like feeding an entitled child king.

Ronan, satisfied, ruffled his feathers with imperial dignity and began devouring the offering like it was his birthright.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of Leo's mouth.

No matter what, he would spoil the feathery tyrant.

Without another word, Leo raised his hand, and with a subtle pulse of power — he vanished from the room.

=======================

Power Stones and Reviews please