It was looking to be a beautiful morning. The sky was clear with only a few scant clouds, the sun was shining brightly. It was the kind of day where most people would feel blessed to be alive.
And none felt that more than Issei Hyoudou himself as he woke up on his bed that morning.
It took him a moment to realize that what had happened the night before wasn't just a bad nightmare, as much as Issei wanted it to be. He did not remember much, but he could still recall the searing pain that ripped through his body when that spear of light rammed itself into his chest by Amano Yuuma, the girl he had gone on a date with. As far as he was concerned, he should be dead by now.
So how had he gotten back to his room, back to his bed? And just why was he not dead?
And why was he naked?
"…huh!?"
Issei snapped his eyes open and sat up when his mind finally processed the fact, causing the sheet to slide off his chest. He was indeed naked, but his attention was immediately turned to the figure sleeping next to him as he felt them snuggling closer, widening his eyes and dropping his jaw in shock when he saw that the figure was a VERY NAKED GIRL.
And it was not just any girl, but Rias Gremory, who was adored by every student at Kuoh academy. Even with her back to him, he could tell that it was the most beautiful girl of his school thanks to her trademark, gorgeous crimson hair, which he could recognize anywhere as it fanned across the bed to create a startling contrast with the white sheets of his bed and her flawlessly complexioned creamy white skin.
"Hnn, is it morning already?"
And it seemed that his surprise gasp and sudden movement had woken Rias up from her sleep. Pushing herself up, the gorgeous crimson haired girl then turned her head around to look at Issei, giving the pervert young man an eyeful and generous view of her naked body, with his gaze being immediately and instinctively focused on her huge, firm breasts, the most beautiful and sexy pair that Issei had ever laid his eyes upon in his life. Although Rias seemed to have noticed where his eyes were as he leaned his body back from her in utter shock, she did not seem to mind, and simply graced Issei with a beautiful smile.
"Good morning." She greeted him, before raising her arms over her head to do a stretch, causing her huge boobs to bounce hypnotically on her chest and his jaw to drop in shock, finding himself unable to look away.
After a moment, Rias signed in satisfaction and lowered her arms down to ask him, the smile never leaving her face as she turned fully to Issei, with the bed sheet covering only the lower half of her voluptuous body from view "How are you feeling, Issei Hyoudou-kun?"
"I… ugh… I feel… great!" Issei spluttered while doing his best to look away out of politeness, answering her question before finally acknowledging the fact that he felt so much better than usual.
In fact, Issei soon realized that he felt better than he had ever been in his life.
"Good. You were stabbed yesterday in the stomach, after all." Rias said with a beaming smile as she tossed the bed sheet away and sat up, walking over to his desk to pick up her underwear and put them on. The entire time Issei could only sit there and stare at her, having long since given up on breaking his gaze away from her body. "Would you mind if I use the shower?"
Issei shook his head dumbly, making Rias beam at him before she headed out of his bedroom to make her way to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. It was only four in the morning, so she did not have to worry about his parents seeing an unfamiliar girl leaving his room in just her underwear. Not that it would be a problem for Rias to handle the situation.
Remaining behind, Issei could do nothing but sit there on his bed and stare at the door of his room,wondering what was going on. There were so many questions that were racing through his mind that Issei started to feel a headache…
… But the question he most desperately wanted an answer to was how Rias hadn't noticed the persistent blue window labeled "Inbox" hovering in front of him. It had been there since he first opened his eyes, and now that he was alone in his room, it had become impossible to ignore.
Slowly, Issei reached out with one hand to try to touch it, half expecting his hand to pass through the apparition. Instead, the moment his finger made contact, the window expanded into a larger interface.
Congratulations, Issei Hyoudou! You have been chosen as the player of [the System ver 2.0].
"What?!" Issei asked himself as he looked at the message that appeared on the screen, his mind failing to fully process what was happening. He felt overwhelmed. First he woke up in bed with the most beautiful girl at his school, and now there was a floating window in front of his face like those in the RPG games that he played all the time with his two comrades, Matsuda and Motohama.
Before Issei could decide his next move, wondering if Rias knew what was going on, a message arrived, displayed on the window with the symbol of an unopened letterbox. After a moment's hesitation, Issei reached out and touched the symbol, causing it to open and reveal the message inside:
Note: Do not tell anyone about the system. Failure will be met with full termination.
"Alright then…" Issei murmured, taking in the seriousness of the warning. But was this some kind of prank, or perhaps a new video game technology he hadn't heard of? Another notification arrived and this one had [Daily quest] for in its description.
Widening his eyes in shock, Issei reached out and opened it, feeling his jaw slowly drop as he read the requirements inside.
[You have unlocked your first daily quest]
[The path toward true might]
Push-ups 0/50
Sit-ups 0/50
Squats 0/50
Run 0/10km
Reward: 100 experience points
[First time completion reward] Rejuvenation and 2 additional bonus stat points.
Note: You have unlimited time to finish the quest, but only 5 minutes from the moment you read this message to begin. You will also be penalized for any incomplete task.
Issei blinked, struggling to keep up with what he was reading. Daily quests? Stats points? Now the whole thing really sounded like something straight out of a video game. A timer then appeared at the bottom of the window and began to count down from 5 minutes, making Issei stare at it, wondering if he should do it or not. Despite the fact that he had failed to perform in PE classes, Issei knew that the tasks that were given to him were beyond his normal capabilities.
There was no way that he could just do it.
But at the same time, Issei could not help but feel a cold shiver running down his spine as he read the second note, which said that he would be penalized if he failed any task of the quest.
"Guess I gotta do it then." Issei muttered to himself before rolling out of bed and throwing on his PE uniform that he normally wore for at school. Glancing at the timer, Issei could see that he still had four minutes left, but wasted no time to drop to the floor and started with push-ups.
The moment that he did, the timer paused and Issei started counting aloud as he did the push-ups, feeling a surprising ease with each repetition. By the time he finished the first task, he was winded but not exhausted.
Next was sit-ups. Halfway through his muscles started to burn, but Issei forced himself through, as he was determined to complete the task, though the feeling also felt closer to fear, fear of what would come if he failed the quest. Thirty sit-ups later, he rolled onto his feet, slightly dizzy but ready for squats. Planting his feet shoulder-width apart, Issei began. One, two, three… with each number counted, his legs ached, but he kept going. Sweat trickled down his face, and his breaths came in heavy pants.
Finally, it was time for the final task. Quietly leaving the house, Issei dashed out the door. The early morning air was cool against his heated skin, and he focused on putting one foot in front of the other. His lungs burned, and his legs felt like lead, but he kept running. The streets blurred around him as he pushed himself harder than he had ever had to before.
Why was he pushing himself so much for like no reason at all? Issei had no idea. This could all just be a prank by Rias herself. She could have done something to him while he was asleep that made him see that blue window. Perhaps he was working out for nothing, but the feeling that he had at the back his head was telling him otherwise.
That morning had to be the strangest that Issei had ever had in his life.
By the time Issei had finished the final task, running exactly ten kilometers around the district that he lived in, he was close to passing out. Slowly, Issei stumbled to a stop, his vision swimming, and his entire body felt like it was on fire. Collapsing down on his knees, Issei leaned against a lamppost and gasped for breath, feeling more tired than he had ever been in his life.
As Issei struggled to keep himself awake, a familiar blue window popped up once more before his eyes, the words that it showed almost a blur through his exhaustion.
[Daily Quest Completed!]
Reward: 100 experience points
[First time completion] Rejuvenation and 2 additional bonus stat points.
Before he could fully comprehend the message, a warm sensation spread through Issei's body. It began in his chest and radiated outward, soothing his aching muscles and calming his ragged breaths. Fatigue evaporated almost instantly, replaced by a profound sense of rejuvenation. It felt as though he had just awakened from the best sleep of his life.
"Whoa…" Issei blinked in amazement as he rose to his feet, stretching his arms and marveling at how incredible he felt—like he had received a full day's rest after an intense workout. The system was undeniably real. It wasn't a hallucination or anything like that, and it had just proven itself in the most undeniable way.
Grinning while feeling a newfound sense of excitement, Issei turned himself back to the window and gazed at the other reward. With his 'vast experiences' in RPG gaming, Issei knew that the bonus stat points were meant for him to allocate into his stats. Reaching out, Issei touched the window, triggering an interface with numerous features that flashed before him. Scanning through the options, some of which were still locked away, he eventually found one resembling a human figure and selected it, assuming it was the status panel.
And just as he had thought, a second window appeared before him, showing Issei his current stats with the options to put points into.
[Player Status]
Name: Issei Hyoudou
Level: 1 [exp: 100/1000]
HP: 105/105
MP [Current Attribute: Demonic]: 5/5
Strength: 11
Vitality: 11
Intelligence: 5
Dexterity: 10
Perception: 10
Charisma: 6
Issei felt his shoulder slumped and his eyebrow twitched as he looked at his stats, not needing to have higher intelligence to tell that all of his stats were rather low, with the exception of strength and vitality. Supposedly if 10 was the average number of all stats, then his two highest attributes had increased by 1 after that exercise while the rest remained unchanged as they were from the beginning.
In addition, Issei could not help but wonder what it meant by [Current Attribute: Demonic] for his MP.
Regardless, given the intensity of the tasks he had just completed, it would be wise for him to put some points into his physical power first, not to mention that it was also his favorite stats to go to whenever he played RPGs. Surely he would earn more attributes points later on as he completed more quests and level up.
Allocate 2 points to Strength?
Yes/No
Nodding to himself, Issei confirmed his choice, and even though he did not feel stronger, he had a feeling that the change was not significant enough just yet for him to notice any difference. Issei knew he would need to put some points into vitality as well if he wanted to fully improve his strength.
Just as he was about to go home, another mail arrived in his inbox.
[New quest available - Knowledge is Power]
Go home and talk to Rias Gremory about her secret.
Requirement: Find out how you are alive and who she really is.
Hint: Address what happened yesterday.
[Completion reward] You can choose between:
1. +2 bonus stats.
2. Random loot box
Extra Reward: 150 experience points. Boosted Gear unlocked.
"Boosted Gear?" Issei repeated as he read the info of the new quest. This one did not seem to have a time limit like the daily quest that he had just finished, but it had piqued his interest since it looked to be about what happened yesterday. Nodding to himself, Issei ran home as the window finally disappeared.
By the time that he reached his room, Rias was there waiting for him at his desk, sitting on his chair wearing the school uniform for girls of their school, looking just as breathtakingly beautiful as she had been from the moment that he enrolled in Kuoh academy and saw her for the first time.
There was a moment of silence as the two of them gazed at each other, with Issei remembering the sight that he was granted that morning, while Rias looked at him with her eyes twinkling with a mix of amusement and curiosity. It was only after Issei had fully walked into his room and closed the door behind him that Rias spoke up with a smile.
"Were you out jogging? Honestly, I did not know you were the type to wake up early in the morning to workout."
"Well, not before today so… you are not wrong there." Issei replied with a nervous chuckle, making Rias raise an eyebrow at him in response. Clearing his throat and remembering that he was not supposed to tell Rias about the blue window, or the System or whatever it was called, Issei changed the topic of their conversation, carefully picking his words "So, senpai, I have been thinking… about yesterday…"
"I wanted to tell you after school with the others, but… since you bring that up now, I guess I have no choice." Rias nodded her head to him before continuing "You might wanna sit down for this. It's going to be a lot to take in."
"Alright." Issei nodded and did what was suggested to him, walking over to his bed and taking his seat there as Rias turned the chair over so that she could face him.
"Would you like me to get straight to the point?"
"Sure, senpai."
Issei nodded his head. The sooner he got the quest done, the earlier he would get his rewards and those extra skill points. As much as he wanted to know what was in that random loot box, the fact that it was random meant it could be absolutely nothing. He would find out about that later. Now he should just focus on improving himself, physically and mentally.
Some points into intelligence would probably make him smarter?
"Alright then, Issei-kun. I am a devil."
Rias began, and Issei looked at her puzzledly, unexpectedly not feeling as surprised as he thought he would be.
But then again, after finding out that he could level himself up and put points into his stats like a video game, that might not be the craziest piece of information that Issei had learnt that morning, in a span of an hour no less.
"Judging by the look on your face, you do not believe what I said." Rias then continued with a small, assuring smile, making Issei force a smile on his face in response "I guess it cannot be help. However, you remembered dating that black winged girl who killed you, did you not?
Issei could only nod his head in response, his mind still processing what was being told to him.
"She was a fallen angel, probably tasked to keep a close eye on you because her master believed you were in possession of something extraordinary." Issei widened his eyes at that. Could it be the system, or something else entirely?
"You said she was a fallen angel?"
"Yes." Rias nodded her head and then went on to explain "Black winged like her were previously angels who served God, but who fell because they had bad intentions. They are also enemies of us devils."
"We, the devils, have been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times. We fight for possession of the Underworld, also known as hell by humans. We form pacts with humans, receiving payment that we use to increase our wealth and strength. On the other hand, the fallen angels control humans to eliminate devils. Furthermore, there are also the Angels, who come here by divine order to try to eliminate the two races. With them, we form what is known as the Three Factions."
"O-oh…"
Maybe he should have put those 2 bonus stats that he got from the daily quest into his Intelligence. It would certainly help him process what he was being told A LOT.
"Well, she has probably eliminated all the evidence around her with magic by now, so don't feel so surprised when you go to school and find out no one remembers who she is but us." Rias then raised her hand and made a photo of Amano Yuuma appear in her hand with a flash of crimson colored magic circle, which stunned Issei a little "Her actual name appears to be Raynare. She probably made contact with you to achieve a certain objective."
"You mean…"
"Yes, her objective is to kill you… at least, that is what she decided to do. Like I said, she was probably sent to supervise you, and what she discovered led her to the decision of ending your life." Rias confirmed with a serious nod of her head.
"So… how was I alive then? If I was really killed by her?" Issei could not help but ask, still not believing that he was still alive after getting stabbed in the stomach by what looked to be a light spear.
"That was because I have resurrected you as my servant, a devil just like me." Rias said with a smile, bringing out from her pocket a leaflet. It was the same leaflet that Issei received the morning he went on a date with Yuuma. "During your final moment, you managed to summon me thanks to the contract magic circle on this leaflet here. Nowadays, humans no longer possess the knowledge to draw a circle to summon us, so we just give out leaflets like this so they can enlist our services easily. You had one of them in your pocket while you were dying, and your wish was strong enough to summon me, who decided to save your life by turning you into a devil subordinate of mine using something called the Evil Pieces."
"I see… I am no longer human?" Issei said slowly, as a realization hit him. His MP having the demonic attribute was probably because he was a devil.
"My apology, but that is the only way for me to save your life. You were fatally injured, and the only healing technique that lets me heal you from such a state requires me to transfer my own power into you directly through skin contact. If you were human then I could not have done it." Rias shook her head and explained it to him "Plus, the evil piece system could even revive the dead, so all that I gotta do was fix that hole in your stomach."
"Right…" Issei nodded his head before he decided to ask after taking a deep breath and shaking his head a little to clear his mind "Senpai, you spoke about the others earlier. Who are they? Are they devils as well?"
"Yes, they are reincarnated devil servants of mine just like you are right now. Akeno Himejima, Kiba Yuuto and Koneko Toujou… you probably have heard of them as well." Rias told him, and Issei was unable to stop himself from widening his eyes in shock. So pretty much the four most popular students of Kuoh academy were devils, and one of them was the other half of the 'Two Great Onee-sama', the two most popular, beautiful and attractive girls of the Academy as well alongside Rias, the number 1 beauty.
"I will bring you to meet them later." Rias continued "As my servant at the academy, I will have you become a member of my club, the Occult research Club, my club. It serves as the front for our operation, though that does not mean we don't participate in school activities as an actual club."
"Really!?" Issei asked as Rias nodded her head to him with a smile, feeling excited for the first time.
Because the aforementioned people… or devils, including Rias herself, were the most popular students at school and well known members of the club, many students wanted to join it so that they could be around the beautiful ladies like Rias and Akeno, and cute girl who was renowned as the mascot of Kuoh, Koneko. The girls, obviously, wanted to do so because of Kiba Yuuto, the most charming boy of the academy, but none had succeeded so far, and Rias, the president of the club, also had no interest in recruiting new members. The reason why was quite obvious now that he knew who they were.
Matsuda and Motohama were going to be so jealous!
"Senpai, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Issei-kun." Rias nodded her head to him before she continued before he could ask his question "Listen, you don't have to ask me for permission when you ask me something. You may be my servant, and in due time, you will meet other high class devil like me who will treat theirs differently, but I see you and everyone as my own family. The bond between us is the most important of all."
"Oh… that is so good to know then." Issei said with a smile before Rias made a gesture for him to finally ask his question "Right. So, earlier you said the reason Yuuma… I mean Raynare decided to kill me because she found out that I possessed something extraordinary, do you know what that is?"
It could not be the System, could it? If she wanted him to keep it a secret from everyone else, probably including Rias herself, then there was no way that she had known about it.
Could it be...?
"Well, I believe the reason she made that decision was because she found out about your Sacred Gear." Rias explained "You see, Sacred Gears are items or artifacts with powerful abilities that are bestowed upon a number of humans by God of the bible himself. It varies widely in forms and powers, but most people who have had their names recorded in human history are known to possess some Sacred Gear. They use the power of the Sacred Gear to leave their name written in History."
"So I have it in me?" Issei asked.
"Yes. Most Sacred Gears have characteristics that are only useful in human society, but there are exceptional items that are so powerful that they pose a threat to the world itself." Rias nodded her head before instructing him "Ise, raise your hand high."
Issei did what he was told, and the Quest Window flashed to life to his left. It seemed he was close to finishing the quest, and was quite obvious now that only he could see it.
"Now, close your eyes and think of something that is the most powerful thing you can imagine."
"The most powerful thing I can imagine?" Issei asked before blurting out as he remembered his favorite anime "Son Goku?"
"Goku will do." Rias nodded "Now imagine that person in a pose where they look at their strongest."
"Uh..." Issei murmured in confusion, feeling a little... embarrassed because the pose that he believed Goku was at his strongest was when he was releasing his signature technique, the Kamehameha. He used to do it all the time back when he was younger, but now that he was in high school, doing it was a little... embarrassing, especially in front of Rias no less.
"Imitate that pose. You have to concentrate well, okay? Don't hold back."
Rias continued, and watched with a small smile as Issei slowly brought his hands back and put them together, feeling his cheeks heating up as he prepared to unleash a Kamehameha himself while imagining the strongest being he could possibly imagine in that pose
But then...
A cold shiver ran down his spine as he brought his hands forward and blinked, seeing the world around him turning black the moment that his eyelids went back up. Standing before him was a towering humanoid figure of a hooded man, whose facial features were concealed in what looked like shadow that flickered like black flame, wrapped around him like a cloak of some sort. Their eyes, however, were visible, and they were gazing directly at Issei while emitting an ethereal blue glow.
What truly scared him, however, was the second figure that stood directly behind the first one, taking on the appearance of a large and muscular shadow warrior with glowing flame-like purple hair, glowing purple eyes, two curved black horns, and sharp claws. He also wore jet-black armor and a long smoky black cloak, and wielded in his hand a pure black sword. It would be an understatement to say that the sight of them both staring at him was the most terrifying thing that Issei had ever seen in his life.
FLASH!
In that instant, his left arm lit up and brightened the world around him. The two shadowy figures were gone as quickly as they had come and Rias was once again sitting in front of him, looking at Issei curiously as he looked on in amazement at the red gauntlet that had materialized around his left forearm.
"Interesting... so that is your Sacred Gear, Issei-kun." Rias said with a smile before she carried on explaining. At the same time, Issei glanced briefly at the Quest Window and saw that his quest had been completed. He could now choose between the 2 bonus stats, or the random loot box, and Boosted Gear had been unlocked for him permanently. "It looks like a Twice Critical."
"Twice Critical?" Issei repeated as Rias nodded her head in confirmation, but the info that was shown to him said the Sacred Gear in his left arm was called the Boosted Gear.
"Yes, but we still don't know for sure since it seems to be an early stage right now. We will look into that later because the chance that Raynare decided to kill you over a common Twice Critical is extremely low."
That explained it then.
"Now that you have been able to summon it, you can make it disappear at your will." Rias said, and Issei willed the Sacred Gear gauntlet to disappear. Just like she said, it faded away and returned his left arm to normal.
"Say, senpai..." Issei decided to ask as he looked back at his crimson haired master "Is it possible for someone to possess 2 Sacred Gears?"
Could the System be a Sacred Gear? It was the question that Issei had been pondering from the moment that Rias told him about items that were bestowed to Humans by God.
"Yes, but it's rare. I have only heard about a handful of them or so. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, just wondering, that's all, senpai." Issei shook his head and said, making Issei tilt her head to the side and look at him in curiosity for a moment before she decided to shake it off.
"You better get ready now. Your parents will probably wake up soon. Would you mind if I stay around and have breakfast with you and your family?" Issei shook his head, and Rias beamed back at him in response. Smiling, the crimson haired devil then brought out her phone and checked her message, leaving Issei to gaze at the window that was still hovering next to him.
Pretty much, the young man still had no idea what it was and what it meant for him from now on.
End of chapter 1