Chapter 1: Training, Progress And Going Back To School
Pushing myself back up, I let out a breath through gritted teeth, droplets of sweat dripping off of my face and body as I pushed both my weight and the weight of the boulder on my back.
Regardless of the frankly superhuman feat, I pushed on and flared the energy that made such a feat possible in the first place. Nen. More specifically, an application of Nen called Ren which flares my natural aura and enhances my strength and durability. But at the same time, it isn't just because of this metaphysical energy I can now control that I'm able to do thousands of press-ups with a multi-ton boulder balanced on my back.
No, it's also because I have a bloodline descended from a very, very strong creature called Yujiro Hanma. Yes, that's right, I have Hanma genes inside of me which grants me a certain level of superhuman physicality and the ability to go well beyond the normal physical limits of an ordinary human.
And after two months of utterly insane training, I'd turned myself into a superhuman through the use of my new genetics and the help of Nen nourishing my body.
Prior to two months ago, I was a pretty solid atheist. Then, after a dire incident involving a truck, I was put in front of a literal God. Not THE God. But a God nonetheless. Something that easily disproved my atheist viewpoint.
That existential crisis aside, I was posed with a choice:
1) Spin a wheel three times and reincarnate with my memories or 2) Burn in Hell for all of eternity.
...Obviously I picked the former. Who would willing pick the latter? Masochists, probably. Either way, I spun that wheel like my life depended on it (because it did) and I got my aforementioned 'cheats'. Nen and the Hanma Bloodline. What happened on my third spin? Well that spin wasn't for a cheat, it was in fact used to decide what world I'd be going to.
I got Highschool DxD a cheesy romcom anime which features very heavy harem and ecchi tones and is surely topped off with an MC who doesn't do anything despite there being a bunch of hotties right in front of him, completely willing to do the dirty with him.
Honestly, all that aside and it's a decent anime and an even better light novel. Would I want to be reincarnated in it, however?
No. Hell no. Hell. Fucking. NO.
What? Even with the access to dozens of babes? Even with the chance to have a harem? Even with the chance to have superpowers? I still wouldn't want to be placed in that reality? My answer was and still is, no. That place might seem like a 'haha funny softcore porn' anime where the MC gets obscenely lucky with both women and life or death situations but for anyone who isn't a part of that guys immediate surroundings? It's a fucking hell hole, man. Literally. Hell, or the Underworld, is a place you can visit in this reality.
Not to mention the Evil Dragons, the normal Dragons, the normal Gods, the Evil Gods, the batshit crazy Fallen Angel supremacists, the batshit crazy Human supremacists, the batshit crazy Church people (who are more often than not Human supremacists)--The place is also darker than it lets on in either the anime or the light novel, though it does give glances at it.
Humanoid creatures with sentience being prodded and experimented on like lab rats, oppressive forced marriages with heavily implied sexual crimes once the marriage is fulfilled--not to mention the biblical war that's creeping under the surface of the entire first few arcs.
Like, goddamn, the place is a fucking minefield.
And yet here I am, standing right in the middle of that fucking minefield, deaf and being guided by a blind dude who doesn't know sign language.
So, as soon as I arrived, I got to awakening my aura and turning myself into an utter beast. Hanma genes plus Nen is a very potent combination, I won't lie. But potent enough to become the strongest thing around in only two months? No. I made stunning progress, don't get me wrong, but I'm not gonna be taking on Ophis or whatever her goddamn name is.
No, I'm enough to be considered adequate for the first few arcs. Good results for only two months of training but it doesn't help that I know after the first few arcs, shit really starts to ramp up. Still, I am confident to keep pace with the inevitable shit that's gonna happen.
And whatever else decides to creep out the woodwork because of my interventions.
Finishing the last of my exercises, I stood and let the boulder fall off of my back, letting it noisily collide with the ground below, shattering under it's own weight. Seeing this, I clicked my tongue, "Tsk. I knew I should've enhanced the other part too. Now I need to find a new one," I let out a groan before picking up a nearby towel and towelling off any sweat on my body.
In these two months I've brought my strength up to the level where I can lift ten tonnes without Nen and with Ren active, I can lift twenty or so tonnes, give or take a few. My aura flow isn't quite a smooth as it should be and I'm taking time to correct that but it's enough for now.
I've become decently proficient in the Four Major Principles of Nen, being able to keep Ten active at all time but not having it be as good as it possibly could. My Zetsu could use some work but I'm good enough at it that I'm confident in being able to keep my supernatural energy hidden whenever I'm at school so as to not draw attention from the multitude of supernatural students there. And, to top it all off, I've even developed Hatsu to the extent that I developed a Nen Ability of my own.
One that revolves around enhancing the density or weight of an item or myself. Or both density and weight. But that usually increases the aura cost. To make this ability I had to delve pretty deep into the Advanced Technique Shu which allows me to put my aura in things to enhance them.
Sure, I could try and make the Nen Ability without that advanced technique but the resulting ability wouldn't be as powerful as it would be if I was good at using Shu. So I trained it quite a bit.
Luckily I'm an Enhancer, so enhancing things with Nen comes pretty naturally to me.
The condition for the ability is that when used on myself, I need to be able to withstand it's effects. The weight isn't magically not there for me. If I make myself weigh two tonnes, I better have the muscle power to withstand it or I'll get seriously injured. It also consumes a lot of stamina to have. Which is why I use it for cardio training and always have it active while I work out, even when I'm using external weights like boulders. It adds to the difficulty, as you'd assume.
For density, it's kinda the same. The higher the density, the harder it is to move. Sort of like whatever I'm making denser is becoming more stiff and unresponsive. How do you get passed this? A strong body. The stronger my body, the higher I can ramp my density.
Anyway, I've also delved into Gyo, Ken and Ko, making good progress in my training of all three of them. Ryu will have to wait until I'm better at Ko though. En and In are...a bit harder to grasp, I'll be honest and without any legitimate teachers, I'm fumbling around in the dark for the most part. I'm making progress toward figuring it out, though.
It just takes time to feel out the proper ways and then travel down those paths. I've got a lot of gratitude for my Hanma genetics though, they've made my talent for Nen and fighting insanely high. So, with the little I remember from HxH, I can make progress if given time.
Dropping the towel to the ground, I stretched my arms and turned to a particularly thick tree near me. Drawing my aura closer to my skin, I dropped Ren but kept Ten active as I rolled my shoulders back and forth in a clockwise rotation, loosening up the joints there after the exercise I'd just put them through.
Reaching toward muscles I'd never had before, I feel my back twist and morph, bulging up slightly as energy and power flowed from my back and toward the rest of my body.
Demon Back. Or at least a pseudo-version of the Demon Back. I don't know why but it doesn't feel like I'm fully activating it whenever I flex those new muscles, like I'm missing something. I guess that I'm just not strong enough to activate the full thing.
Regardless, that isn't what I'm trying for right now. I'm fine with testing out the pseudo-Demon Back I have.
Stepping toward the tree, I settled into a combat stance I'd been drilling into this new body's muscle memory. Luckily, the talent and physique needed were there and progress had been fast and steady. What had I been before being transmigrated into a supernatural world?
In my previous life I'd been a bit of a health nut and I'd been pretty into going to the gym, working out and even went as far as to practice yoga. Again, because I was an atheist, I thought there'd be nothing after death, so I made sure that I wouldn't die because of an unhealthy body or a health condition that could've been avoided if I just worked out.
What led me to down this road, however, was my number one passion:
Martial arts.
My first contact with martial arts was through my dad who was a soldier - he was pretty adamant on me and my sister knowing how to defend ourselves, so he signed us up for some no-nonsense kickboxing lessons with an old army buddy of his who ran a gym. I had the time of my life learning it because I had both the talent and passion for it...my sister, however, hated it and dropped out as soon as she could.
Regardless of my sister's lack of enthusiasm, I continued going and even went about winning a few state and national tournaments. Then I began training in MMA where I took up two other martial arts - one of them being Judo and the other being Sambo. Both of which I picked up to cover my weaknesses to submissions and ground work.
As you might think, to do all this, I'd need an extremely fit body - which is why I wasn't too bothered about training up this new body of mine. If anything I was also curious on what this new body could achieve, knowing it's bloodline and the world it was currently in.
After all, in my last life, despite being what you'd call strong and healthy, I was still taken out by a truck running me down. But, in this world and with my advantages, I could make myself strong enough that stuff like that wouldn't matter to me anymore. Who wouldn't be curious to see the limits of their body?
As Socrates once said, "It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable." And, I agree with him.
So, as I stood in front of this wide and tall tree, my body's muscles trembling and my blood vessels bulging, I reared back a fist and without imbuing any Nen into it other than the protective aura of Ten, I let a punch loose that seemed to create a sonic boom.
A resounding crack split through the woods I was in, followed by creaking and cracking as the massive tree began to fall backward and away from me.
I couldn't help the savage smile that spread across my face.
Looking down at my unharmed fist, the smile only grew wider until my cheeks began to hurt - and yet I didn't stop smiling. This power I now held, knowing it was barely scratching the limit I could achieve, I couldn't help the excitement from bursting out of my heart and flooding it's way through my veins.
My Hanma genes roared for more power. My battle junkie self screamed for more power. Even my Nen took on a red-tinted appearance, flowing back and forth like a raging flame as if asking to be let loose.
...And who was I to disagree to those parts of myself?
. . .
Keeping my vision forward, I redoubled my efforts on employing Zetsu to keep my Nen/aura subdued. Why?
Because I can see the subtle shaking a few of my fellow classmates - those closest to me - were undergoing. And, I know it may sound narcissistic to think but, I'm pretty sure it's because of me. They can sense it--Or, more accurately their instincts can sense it. The gap between them and I on both a strength scale and a genetic level. A rabbit doesn't need to know what a wolf is, for it to know it's deadly to it. It's instincts tell it so.
And just like a rabbit next to a wolf, my fellow classmates are shivering from a fear they don't know the origin of. If it weren't for my Zetsu being loosely activated upon sitting down in class, I'm sure the entire class, including the teacher, would've been shaking.
As I expected, when I reined in my aura even harder, the shaking slowly came to a stop, pale faces and sweaty foreheads slowly returning to a more natural state.
I'd only been so lenient with the aura because I didn't want to be like Tetsuya Kuroko. Whatever.
Being a Hanma can be a real hassle at times. It seems that while they can't actively sense my Nen, they can still feel the strength it's tinged with. Strength that is the product of my Hanma DNA. Hanma DNA that treats everything like a fight, where there's a winner and a loser...and my Hanma DNA won't stand for being the loser in anything.
Letting out an inaudible sigh, I pay attention to the lesson as it goes on and I go about my school day. Why am I attending school? Because I want to. That's reason enough. The only people who complain about going to school are whiny, entitled brats. From my own experience as an adult in my last life, I miss the casual atmosphere highschool had when compared to the adult environment of the workplace. Highschool is a transitional time between being just a kid and a fully fledged adult.
I'm gonna enjoy it to the max and for as long as possible. Doesn't hurt that most of the so-called plot revolves around this place.
Talking about plot, Issei doesn't exist. After a month of training, I began snooping around to see if there were any changes - big change, the Hyoudou's have never been in Kuoh Town. Other than that? Nothing much has changed.
Rias is still in Kuoh Town, Akeno is still with her, Sona still runs Kuoh Academy from behind the scenes as the Student Council President--yada yada yada, the basics are still there.
But, it seems like Issei has been removed from his place as the protagonist. Meaning it's been opened up...presumably for me, by whatever God sent me here.
I could sit here and wonder why the God had chosen to do this. I could. But I won't. I'm not dumb by any means but I'm certainly no super genius either (outside of fighting, that is), so the chances of me figuring out the thoughts of some otherworldly divine being are pretty low, if not nil.
Doesn't mean I can't enjoy my time relaxing in school, training to be stronger, fighting people and wooing some babes, does it? After all, I am in a Harem anime world. Kinda be a missed opportunity if I didn't do it and I feel like if I wilfully didn't I'd go to some sort of Harem protagonist hell or something equally as nasty.
Pushing the thoughts from my head, I was thankful that school was over - not because I didn't like it - and I went about my business. Important business.
School had actually started a week ago but I was scouting out the Fallen Angels in Kuoh Town.
And I'd figured out who Raynare had set her twisted sights on. His name is Genshirou Saji, who in the original series was basically just Issei's Student Council counterpart. A Peerage he's still destined for, no doubt because using my Nen enhanced senses I've been able to listen in on a few conversations between Rias and Sona who've agreed for Saji to go to the latter's peerage.
Fun fact: I've discovered that Magic actually seems somewhat weak to Nen. In the sense that Nen enhanced senses can listen in on conversations that are blocked by Magical soundproofing. I bet I can look through illusions with it as well.
Granted I have to use Gyo on the specific sense and I doubt I could do it in a fight unless I become proficient enough in Ryu but it's a possibility for the future and just means I need to train me.
Anyway, today was the day the naive Saji was going on a 'date' with Raynare.
I was gonna save him, of course. No one should get killed by some winged bitch like Raynare, no matter how naive the dude was for believing some random girl fell in love with him at first sight. But I was mainly gonna save him because after I kill Raynare, I'm gonna kill the rest of her little coven of Fallen Angels and the corrupt Exorcists they picked up along the way.
Today was the day I started a one-man war against the Fallen in this town. Why? Because I wanted to. Not like it was gonna be much of a war either. I'm gonna hit them fast and hard before they even know Raynare's dead.
As I walked out the school, I ramped up my Zetsu and practically turned transparent to anyone who would try and look at me. I didn't actually go transparent but my state of Zetsu would trick people's brains into thinking 'Am I seeing things?' because my presence is so low and by the time they look again, I'll have most likely moved on and they'll just think they imagined it all. It's a wonderful ability for stealth.
That aside, I went on my way to follow after Saji who'd already met up with Raynare who was in her schoolgirl form or whatever. Going to school, I won't complain about...but following these two around? God, I know you're dead in this reality, but please make this go quick.
Useless prayers aside, I went on my way behind the two 'lovebirds'.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone