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DxD: The Sorcery System Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2024-06-30 16:30:09 +0000 UTCChapter 4: A New Day, A New Life… And A Certain Black Cat.
[Late Morning — Kuoh Academy]
“Reo dodge!!!”
And I did just what the person shouted, dodge the ball that flew at me with enough speed to make me see the stars.
“Are you alright?”
{Alert: Supernatural Being}
“Yeah, I think I am.” I finally got a good look at him.
Blond hair, pale spotless skin and a pretty boy face.
Yep, that's Kiba, the guy that almost every girl in this school has a crush on. Which is not a surprise as while there are a lot of pretty girls in this school, there are not that many pretty boys —at least not on Kiba’s level.
“But how did you dodge that?” Another guy came rushing from behind and it was the very same guy that threw the ball. “I am so sorry that it came your way.”
He clapped his hands together to apologize, “I really didn't expect my aim to be that off.”
“I am surprised that you could dodge that.” Kiba said, amused and amazed.
“Well, it's dodgeball and I just dodged it.” I joked but the guy didn't understand it and continued his question.
“Did you hear the ball flying towards you?” Kiba seemed persistent and it was probably my third time that I have talked with him for this long.
Other times being during sports week and during our school’s festival.
“Mhm.” It wasn't, but I still gave him the answer that he wanted to hear. “I heard the shout and combined with the sound of the ball, I instinctively dodged to the other side.”
He squinted his eyes a little and I could understand why.
“That's cool, man.” Said the other guy that I had no clue of. I just didn't know his name. “That's the skill that most sports pros would kill for.”
I smiled a little hearing that. Maybe I could be a pro player now.
At least what I got yesterday.
“Haruta! Bring back the ball!”
“Ah, sorry man. Gotta go.” The boy picked up the ball extremely fast, “And I am sorry once again.”
He pretty much bolted back to the game, while Kiba stood next to me.
“I am going to the canteen, wanna hang?”
“You sure?” The Prince of Kuoh —Yeah, that's his nickname— asked.
“Yep.”
Hearing my hearing, he shrugged. “Alright, I don't mind.”
And so we walked to the canteen with a lot of girls staring at us.
Correction.
At Kiba, I was just in their scope of vision.
“Is it after you awakened your powers that you became this socially active?”
His question made me pause my feet for a second, actually being forced to contemplate his words.
Was I being active? Like socially?
“You think so?”
He nodded, “I have seen you talking more with people since yesterday and you seem quite comfortable with me as well.”
It wasn't that I was not uncomfortable with people, people just didn't talk to me much.
“Eh, I think I have always been this way.” I shrugged, resuming my walk towards the canteen. “It's just you and the others that have recently taken an interest in me that you are realizing I can talk normally too.”
This made him laugh, “Fair enough.”
“Did Rias ask you to keep an eye out for me?”
Surprisingly, he didn't lie.
“Yes.” He agreed almost immediately, “She says that since you awakened your powers, or your Sacred Gear considering your magic is special. There might be eyes on you from now on.”
“Eyes?”
He nodded, “Yeah. She must have told you that we devils aren't the only ones that live in this country. Other beings live here too, and not everyone is friendly.”
It made a lot of sense, but why would someone be hostile towards me?
Then again, even humans were hostile towards other humans for seemingly no reason. So, this shouldn't surprise me.
“Don’t worry, I will keep an eye out and don't be embarrassed to call for help if you feel like you need it.” He certainly seemed like a nice guy, and maybe he was.
“Sure thing.”
But well, maybe he didn't need to worry that much because I too had something of my own that could protect me.
Or at least make sure that I stayed away from trouble and troublesome people.
{Threat: Moderate-Low Level}
{Type: Devil}
Rejecting Rias’ offer might have been the best thing is I just gained a really great magic, and it's a passive type at that.
As for what is a passive, passive skills in games are skills that activate on their own or activate when certain requirements are met.
It is not a skill that you need to turn on and off.
As for this one?
It was active twenty-four seven, and told me about threats if I was near them.
Just like the dodgeball, I sensed it like a second before the guy even shouted. Almost like the spider sense from the Spider-Man movies.
“But I must say that you are quite calm even though Rias and Akeno just revealed that we are Devils and about the existence of the supernaturals.”
I immediately shook my head at his words, “Oh, I was certainly shocked —even terrified.”
“You don't seem terrified.” He raised an eyebrow, and I could see why.
I didn't appear scared or worried, I acted very calmly when Rias revealed about her being a devil.
But well…
It wasn't that I wasn't scared or shocked. It was that I was a bit too shocked to process everything so I subconsciously only focused on the important thing.
Survival.
Maybe it was my basic survival instinct or maybe it is just something hereditary since my father too was a very calm and collected person.
As for my paranoia? It's from my mother.
And I am thankful.
It's like I got the best of both worlds.
Calmness from my dad, and the paranoia that kept me from shoving my face in trouble from my mom.
“It's just that I was too nervous to even act nervous.”
This made him laugh aloud, finally drawing the attention of everyone around us.
Kiba and Rias, and maybe all devils had this power to omit sounds and prevent people from hearing things that they don't want others to hear.
Because whenever I talked about the supernatural around them, no one seemed to notice what we talked about.
“But please, as I said earlier, do notify me if you feel something amiss or someone following you.” He was a nice guy, extremely nice. And I could see why many people liked him, not just girls but boys too. “I may not look the way, but I am quite strong.”
He smiled and said it in a joking manner, but it wasn't a joke.
Devils were extremely powerful from what Rias told me. And while I expected her to pursue further, she didn't and respected my choice when I said that I wanted to remain human.
And despite my rejection, she told me a lot too.
Especially about the devil power rankings.
Everyone other than the noble borns pretty much start from Low Class, and don't get it twisted, even low class devils can wreak havoc on an army of humans.
Then comes Middle Class devils, followed by High Class which is both a status and powerful and the level where you can have a peerage of your own.
After that comes Ultimate Class which are basically war hardened veterans that can flatten anything that they see.
And finally comes the Satan Class and the number of them can be counted on your fingers, which gives a rough estimate of how terrifying their power levels can be.
However…
Their ranking and my threat detection was very different.
Sixth Sense the magic that I got told me the threat level against a person in relation to the magic and strength I possessed.
So, by this method, Kiba was seen as a Low-Low class threat to me.
Which means if I was serious, I could win against him.
And Rias, was a High-Low Class threat, which was quite different to her High Class Status.
Now, I needed to figure out whether this magic considered every factor such as the opponent's intelligence, experience and powers to make the assessment.
Why?
Because I refuse to believe that a High Class Devil like Rias would be assessed as a High-Low Class threat otherwise.
It had to be experience, intelligence or something else that brought her threat level down. Otherwise, no shot I can defeat her.
Because I understood Threat Level as the level of me probably beating or surviving against them.
Well, let’s just focus on the food.
“Ah, I am hungry.”
At my small but audible yell, Kiba chuckled.
“Me too.”
And so we increased our pace towards the canteen.
But once again I was made to stop as I heard Kiba say.
“By the way, have you decided on the team for your group project yet?”
I paused, unwillingly.
“What project?”
This made Kiba confused.
“Ah? Don't you third years have a project?” He asked curiously, “Rias told me that you guys are supposed to go on an excursion and form groups to make a project after the excursion.”
Shit.
“Did you forget?”
I am fucked… aren't I?”
…
…
[Evening — Fifth Street, Kuoh]
How did I forget?
No, I didn't forget. It was just that no one approached me and I didn't know whom to ask.
Now what do I do?
I have to go on an excursion next week, draw motivation from it and make a project with the knowledge.
What kind of bullshit is that?
We have so many exams this year, it's our final year and they are making us do projects.
Ugh!
I might go crazy because of this school.
Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely school. But because it used to be an all girls school in the past and recently turned co-ed, they started making stricter rules for everyone.
I heard the school was easier for students in the past, but now since they have to compete not just with girls schools but with every prestigious school in the country, everything has been changed and made more difficult.
It is nice to have so many girls around, so many facilities to enjoy.
But the workload on the students is no less.
Seven tests, three main exams, followed by internals and then finally entrance.
And they are throwing projects on top of that?
I will die not from a magical accident, but from this study pressure.
“Meow~”
“Yeah meow…”
Wait!
“Huh?”
Turning around instantly, I saw a cat, shiny black fur and the sparkliest eyes I have ever seen.
It was such a sparkly shade of yellow that it appeared golden.
“What are you doing here, kitty?”
Cats were common in this city, but this street had almost people living around it, no rats or other things either. So, it was surprising to see a cat sitting alone on the wall.
“You aren't domesticated, huh?”
There was no cat collar, so most likely it came from some other place.
Wait…
“Are you hurt, kitty?”
I just noticed it since it was high up on the wall, but it was bleeding from the corner of its leg
“Do you need help?”
Like a stupid person, I asked as if it would understand me.
But surprisingly, it nodded.
“Oh, you poor little fellow.”
I almost instantly walked towards it.
Mom might not like me bringing home a cat, but it was injured and needed to be cared for till it healed and could hunt for food.
“Come, I will help you.”
However…
Just as I walked closer to it, hoping to get it down from the wall.
But just as I extended my hand towards it, I heard and saw something that had me frozen on the spot —almost pale from nervousness.
{Alert: Supernatural Being}
{Threat: High-High Level}
{Type: Nekoshou/Devil}
Fuck.
________________________________________________________________________
[[A/N: About the Sixth Sense, you will understand how it works later. For now, the threat level is basically a survivability rate depending on many factors (which will be explained in the future). This is also why Rias is Moderate-Low but Kuroka is High-High being them being High Class and a forcefully turned Ultimate Class.
If it was by strength alone, it would be Death-Level instantly]]
