High School DxD – "Shadow Level-up"
Morning sunlight scattered through stained-glass transoms in the Occult Club's lounge, turning dust motes into drifting rubies. Kazuki Ren knelt on the brocade rug while Rias Gremory set a crimson chess-piece—a bishop—gently against his sternum.
Nothing happened. No soft glow, no surge of devil magic knitting master to servant. Instead the jewel dimmed, cracked down the center, and crumbled into harmless grit.
Gasps rippled through the room. Even Akeno, mistress of composure, let lightning pop around a fingertip. Kiba stared, sword-calloused hands forgetting elegance. Koneko sniffed once, white ears flattening in confusion.
Rias recovered first, regal even while kneeling among broken crystal. "I suspected, but evidence is kinder than conjecture." Her eyes, sea-blue and sharp, held equal parts curiosity and respect. "Your body carries demonic resonance—yet something brighter repels my magic."
Kazuki stood, dusting fragments from his uniform. "I was born between worlds," he answered, tone measured. "My mother was a fallen angel. My father, a low-class devil who fell in love on neutral ground. I inherited both lights—neither strong enough to cancel the other."
He left unspoken the larger truth: and a third light no one must see, forged of numbers and shadows.
Akeno approached, violet gaze softening. "Fallen and devil in one vessel… a black-wing nephilim. That explains the strange pulse I felt the night we patrolled."
Koneko circled behind him once, as if checking for a tail, then grunted assent: "Smells… complicated."
Issei, newly reborn pawn, scratched his head. "So you can't be a servant?"
"Correct," Rias said, standing. "An Evil Piece cannot bind someone already half-devil. Nor could a Grigori sigil, I suspect. Our hybrid is… contract-immune."
Kazuki inclined his head. "But not alliance-immune. I'll help when our goals align."
Rias's smile returned, warmer. "A free knight on the board is sometimes more valuable than a captured one."
She turned to business: tonight's stray hunt had escalated. Reports placed multiple possessed mascots rampaging through the abandoned amusement park south of town—likely experiments by a rogue exorcist cell. Kazuki volunteered for vanguard, drawing nods; Kiba would flank, Akeno provide aerial suppression, Koneko guard Issei and the new priestess Asia Argento, recently rescued.
The meeting adjourned. Rias lingered as Kazuki reached the door. "One more thing," she said quietly. "Hybrids often struggle to balance their energies; fallen light burns devil flesh, devil miasma stains angelic grace. If you need stabilization techniques, ask."
He offered a small, genuine smile. "Noted, President."
"Rias, please."
"Then call me Kazuki."
---
Sunset bled across roller-coaster skeletons as the peerage fanned through MoonRabbit Land's weed-choked midway. Kazuki relished the wide lanes—plenty of room for acrobatics—and the absence of civilians. His invisible status bar ticked 168 / 200 XP; one more solid victory would unlock another attribute point… and maybe tempt the Shadow-authority to grow again.
Clown-faced mascots shambled from cotton-candy stalls, mouths unhinged, devils' eyes glinting behind plastic visors. At their backs lurked a true stray, spider-torso with doll arms stitched where legs belonged—80 XP if his earlier appraisal math held.
He caught Kiba's eye, jerked chin left: flank that one. Kiba blurred, holy-light blade already gleaming. Kazuki vaulted a toppled popcorn cart, pipe spinning like a baton, and met the first mascot mid-lunge. Plastic cleaved; purple sludge splashed the pavement, dissolving with a hiss.
+12 XP whispered at the edge of vision.
Second mascot—swan suit with razor beak—charged. Kazuki planted the pipe, pole-vaulted over its head, landed behind, and delivered a heel axe-kick that caved the mascot's spine. +14 XP. LEVEL UP. Gold sparks cascaded through his veins. He slid one new stat point into AGI, felt muscles lighten as though gravity conceded an argument.
The spider stray screeched, firing silk bolts at Kiba, who carved them mid-air but lost momentum. Kazuki whistled; Kiba ducked instinctively. The hybrid sprinted up the coaster support, boots tapping steel like piano keys, then dropped five meters straight onto the stray's thorax, pipe tip first. Impact rocked the midway.
Purple ichor geysered. The stray convulsed—and stilled. +80 XP. The bar rolled to 74 / 350 toward the next level. But a darker prompt unfurled, violet runes:
> SHADOW EXTRACTION POSSIBLE
Target: Stray Spider
Kazuki inhaled, extending thought like a hook. Obsidian mist pooled, weaving the corpse into a kneeling midnight silhouette. [Shadow: Arachnid Knight] appeared beneath his main display. Hunger thrilled—commanding two shadows now felt natural, inevitable.
Above, Akeno's thunder smote three remaining mascots; Koneko hurled a snack-cart through another. Silence fell, broken only by Issei's relieved whoop and Asia's soft prayer of thanks.
When they regrouped, Rias surveyed the new shadow calmly. "Useful talent," she murmured. "But does it obey?"
Kazuki clicked fingers. Arachnid Knight dissolved into ground-shade, puddling at his heels. The demonstration answered the question.
Issei gawped. "Bro, that's cooler than my Boosted Gear!"
Kiba laughed. "Give it a week; you'll outshine us all."
Kazuki shook his head—humility genuine despite the dopamine surge. Power felt good, but attention bred risk. Still, goodwill gained mattered too; allies buffered the future's uncertainties.
---
Later, atop the park's Ferris wheel—long rusted to immobility—Kazuki perched alone, city lights flickering beyond treetops. He beckoned both shadows; they rose, silent sentinels against the starlit sky. Inside, devil energy coursed warm beneath skin, fallen-angel light hummed cooler, and somewhere between them the System's neutral calculus balanced gains.
He closed his eyes, steadying the twin auras the way Rias had hinted: breathe demonic heat into lungs, exhale in a spiral that braided with the cool radiance coiling his bones. Light and dark wove without burning. Harmony—not suppression—was key.
Wind tugged silver hair across his heterochrome gaze. He considered Rias's offer of guidance, Akeno's sparks of intrigue, Kiba's camaraderie, Issei's guileless envy. Allies, not masters. That was how he'd live this life.
Above, the moon carved a perfect crescent—half-lit, half-shadow. Kazuki smiled at the cosmic metaphor and descended the wheel, shadows melting into his wake like loyal rumors no one could quite confirm.
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