Highschool DXD : Gacha Life

Few hours later

The autumn wind carried the scent of dying leaves through Kuoh's central park, but tonight something else lingered in the air. I'd been walking the same route for three nights now, knowing they were watching, waiting for them to make their move.

The first sign was the silence. Not the comfortable quiet of evening, but the absolute absence of sound that came when predators claimed territory. No insects chirped, no small animals rustled through the undergrowth. Even the distant hum of traffic seemed muted, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

Streetlights began flickering in sequence, creating a domino effect of dying illumination that followed me down the path. The shadows between the trees grew deeper, more substantial, until they seemed to writhe with their own malevolent life.

"Oh, look what we have here," a voice drifted down from above, dripping with false sweetness. "A little lost human, wandering all alone"

I stopped walking but didn't look up immediately. Instead, I let my senses expand, feeling the weight of hostile gazes pressing down on me like physical things. Three distinct presences, all radiating that particular corrupt energy that marked the fallen.

"You know," I said conversationally, tilting my head back to meet their eyes, "most people would have the courtesy to introduce themselves before trying to kill someone."

Three figures perched on the gnarled branches of an ancient oak, their black wings spread wide like accusations against the star-drunk sky. The male—Dohnaseek, if my intelligence was correct—wore a smirk that suggested he'd been practicing it in mirrors. The violet-haired woman beside him, Kalawarner, had the kind of beauty that came with a price tag written in blood. And the small blonde—Mittelt—giggled like a child who'd just pulled the wings off a butterfly.

"How rude of us," Dohnaseek said, his voice carrying that peculiar accent the fallen seemed to cultivate. "I am Dohnaseek, and they are Kalawarner and Mittelt. We've come to collect something from you"

The air around us began to shimmer, reality bending and warping as mystical barriers snapped into place. The park faded at the edges, becoming something other—a pocket dimension where screams wouldn't carry and blood wouldn't stain anything that mattered.

I observed, testing the barrier's limits with a casual probe of my senses "Very thoughtful of you to set up somewhere private. I do so hate it when civilians get in the way"

Mittelt's giggle turned sharper, more unhinged. "Oh, you're going to be fun to break. I can already tell."

My mind shifted into combat analysis mode, cataloging threats and opportunities with mechanical precision. Three opponents, all flight-capable, all armed with light-based weapons. The barrier meant no escape, but it also meant no interruptions. Good. I preferred my violence clean and decisive.

The tactical situation was actually favorable. In open sky, their aerial advantage would be overwhelming. But this enclosed space limited their maneuverability, and my leopard-enhanced agility would serve me well in close quarters. Water manipulation would provide both offense and defense, while the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist would handle anything that got too close.

"So," I said, settling into a deceptively relaxed stance, "what exactly do you think I have that belongs to you?"

Kalawarner laughed as she pointed at me "Don't play coy with us, little boy. We know about your Sacred Gear. Our superiors have expressed... interest in acquiring it."

*Sacred Gear.* The irony was delicious. They had no idea I was the one who'd been systematically dismantling their operations.

"Your superiors," I repeated, as if tasting the words. "And what makes them think they can just take what they want?"

"Because," Dohnaseek said, conjuring a spear of condensed light that hurt to look at directly, "We're fallen angels, and you're just human. The natural order is quite clear on this matter."

I smiled, and something in that expression made Mittelt's giggling falter. "You know what I love about the natural order? It's so... fluid. One moment you're the predator, the next you're prey. It all depends on perspective."

"Enough talk," Kalawarner snarled, her patience finally snapping "Take him and be done with it."

Mittelt moved first, her small form darting through the air with vicious intent. A spear of light materialized in her hand, brilliant and deadly, as she dove toward me like a hawk striking a mouse.

I waited until she was committed to her attack vector, then shifted. My body blurred, leopard-enhanced reflexes allowing me to read the trajectory of her strike before she'd even fully formed it. I sidestepped with liquid grace, the light spear passing so close to my face I could feel its heat.

Her eyes widened in shock as I counterattacked, water spiraling around my fist in a helix of destructive force. The punch caught her in the ribs, the impact sending her tumbling through the air with a sound like breaking branches.

"Impossible!" Kalawarner spat, her composure cracking. "He's just a human!"

"Your first mistake," I said, water beginning to rise from the park's fountain in response to my will, "was assuming I was 'just' anything."

Dohnaseek and Kalawarner attacked in concert, multiple spears of light raining down like a meteor shower. I moved between them, my body flowing like water itself, each dodge calculated to the millimeter. The spears that came too close met walls of pressurized water, exploding in bursts of steam and scattered light.

"What are you?" Dohnaseek demanded, his earlier confidence evaporating like morning mist.

"Honestly?" I said, gathering water around my legs for a spring-loaded launch. "I'm just someone who really, really hates uninvited guests."

I exploded upward, water-enhanced muscles propelling me toward Mittelt's position. She'd recovered from my first strike, but her movements were sluggish, favoring her injured side. Predictable.

She tried to dodge, but her damaged ribs made her slow. My Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist connected with her chest, the technique's flowing motions amplified by my devil fruit powers. The impact drove the air from her lungs in a whoosh of expelled breath.

She hit the barrier wall hard enough to crack it, then slumped to the ground and didn't move again.

"Mittelt!" Dohnaseek roared, his mask of civility finally slipping completely. He dove toward me, light spear extended like a lance of divine retribution.

I waited until he was almost on top of me, then shifted into full leopard form. His spear passed harmlessly through empty air as I twisted around his attack, my claws finding the soft flesh between his shoulder blades. He screamed, black ichor spattering the ground as he crashed into a tree with bone-jarring force.

Kalawarner was already retreating, trying to gain altitude and distance. But the barrier had limits, and I'd been watching her movement patterns. She favored wide, sweeping attacks that required space to execute—space she no longer had.

Water erupted from the ground around her chosen perch, forming tendrils that wrapped around her legs and wings like living chains. She slashed at them with conjured light-blades, but for every tendril she severed, two more took its place.

"Let me go!" she screamed, panic replacing her earlier arrogance. "You don't understand what you're doing! The consequences—"

"The consequences," I said, using the water constructs as stepping stones to reach her position, "are exactly what I intended."

My fist, enhanced with both devil fruit power and water manipulation, connected with her temple. The sound was final, absolute. She went limp immediately.

Dohnaseek was trying to rise, his wings struggling to support his weight. Black blood leaked from the gashes in his back, and his breathing was labored. I walked over to him with the unhurried pace of inevitability.

"Any last words?" I asked, more out of professional courtesy than genuine interest.

He spat blood, his eyes blazing with impotent fury. "You... you have no idea what you've unleashed. They'll send more. Stronger ones. They'll tear this pathetic world apart looking for you."

"Let them come," I said simply. "I'll be waiting."

The water around my fist compressed, taking on the consistency of a high-pressure drill. It was over in seconds.

The barrier flickered and died with its creator, reality reasserting itself over the pocket dimension. I stood alone in the park, surrounded by the rapidly dissolving corpses of three fallen angels. The night air felt clean again, free of their corrupt presence.

Then I felt it—that familiar electric tingle that meant the system was responding to my actions. A notification materialized in my vision:

**[Rank 5 Gacha Ticket Acquired x3]**

**[Combine into Rank 6 Gacha Ticket? Y/N]**

Three tickets. One for each kill. I selected yes without hesitation, watching as the individual tickets dissolved into light and reformed as something far more potent. The new ticket pulsed with golden radiance, heavy with potential.

This was it. My reward for eliminating these threats, for taking the first real step in this supernatural war. My hand trembled slightly—not from fear, but from anticipation—as I activated it.

The ticket dissolved into motes of light that swirled around me like a galaxy in miniature. When they coalesced, something solid and warm materialized in my palm.

A sword

But not just any sword. I could feel the power contained within it—vast, hungry, and eager to be unleashed.

**[Incursio - Teigu: Demon Dragon Armor]**

**[Rank: EX]**

**[A suit of armor created from the flesh and bones of Tyrant, an Ultra-Class Danger Beast. Grants the wearer incredible defense, invisibility, and the ability to evolve through battle.]**

My breath caught in my throat. Incursio. I knew this weapon from my previous life's memories—one of the most powerful Teigu from Akame ga Kill. An armor that could adapt, evolve, and grow stronger with each battle. The key itself was warm to the touch, pulsing with a life of its own.

"Incredible," I whispered, turning the key over in my hands. Even in its dormant state, I could feel its potential. This wasn't just armor—it was a symbiotic organism, a living weapon that would grow alongside me.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses, feeling the connection forming between us. The armor recognized me, accepted me, and I could sense its hunger for battle, its desire to protect its chosen wielder.

But this was just the beginning. Three fallen angels dead, but their superiors were still out there. There were more of them out there there, and they needed to be eliminated before they could regroup and strike back.

"Time to finish this," I murmured, thinking of the remaining fallen angels hiding in their sanctified stronghold. "All of it."

I took a deep breath and spoke the activation phrase I somehow knew: "Incursio"