Hey guys! It is I, the Phoenix, here with a brand new story!

Before you guys start screaming at me, don't worry, Grand Eroge isn't on Hiatus or anything. In fact, the new chapter will be released in a few days. So rest easy.

This story is something that came out of the blue, but was something I now kick myself for not thinking of earlier.

I mean, it was SO OBVIOUS, but at the same time, I somehow never thought of it in all my time writing Fanfiction. It's ridiculous.

I will come out and say this; this story is a TRUE self insert. It's not like Hero Complex or Lessons Learned, which features OCs based off of people I know in real life. This is completely me, plain and simple, down to the most basic character traits, for better or worse.

It all started around 2 weeks ago, when I was like; "Hey, I want to do a self-insert as myself this time. That could be cool."

After thinking on it for a little bit, I was like; "Why don't I make it a DxD fic! That way, it'll be absolute torture for me!"

(I know what you're thinking, and no; I am neither a sadist nor a masochist. This just kind of happened, and I have no idea why I'm so invested in putting myself through intense physical and emotional pain on paper.)

For those of you who have stuck with me for a long time, you know this; I absolutely HATE DxD with a passion. It is a World that lacks any sense of logic and reason, even for an anime World, and its Main character grates on my nerves something fierce. And that is WITHOUT mentioning the ridiculously skewed power balance.

It's basically the anti-Phoenix World, considering how much I value logic and rationality. That's why I write fanfiction about it to be honest; to try and fix it in some way.

So I decided to do a DxD Self Insert story, but I put it aside for later, because I was working on Lessons Learned and Grand Eroge right now.

But then, something hit me.

Riser Phenex = Spatialphoenix.

And then I banged my head on the table for being so dumb that I couldn't see a golden idea in front of me, and immediately decided to focus on this story instead of Lessons Learned alongside Grand Eroge.

I mean seriously, this story should be my TRADEMARK considering my username, and yet I didn't even get the idea until now. Riser Phenex Self Inserts are pretty rare, but still exist. I think there are two at the moment, though what they are and what they contain is unknown to me.

But still, that meant they existed, and so I wanted to do something unique.

Then I saw the promotional trailer for Rising of the Shield Hero season 2, and then it hit me; giving myself a Legendary Weapon is exactly the unique twist I needed. After all, as Riser Phenex, there is no way in hell I could become strong enough to deal with threats like the Khaos Brigade. That's why Riser in canon was a total washout who couldn't even arrive on time to save his own kidnapped sister. In DxD, without the right gimmicks, there is no way to break past a certain power threshold.

Therefore, I decided to make myself a Legendary Hero. After all, if people like Motoyasu and Itsuki could become Legendary Heroes, then that meant I had a chance, right?

Now that I decided all of that, the next step was planning WHICH Legendary Weapon to give myself.

The first Weapon I immediately ruled out was the Shield. Between my Phenex Regeneration and the Shield's defensive power, I could basically tank a Longinus Smasher and come out unscathed. The entire point of this story is to be a personal challenge to myself; to put myself in a situation where I am so out of my element that it's practically a living nightmare for me, and move past it in my own way. Plus, can you imagine Riser using a Shield? I mean, I could use it, but it's just wrong to see Riser using one.

The next one to go was the Sword. Reason; because DxD had so many different Legendary Swords that I could just use the Weapon Copy System to cheat my way to victory.

Final Weapon to be eliminated was the Bow. It would basically be a walk in the park for me to just hide behind my Peerage and just snipe people from a distance, which is what I don't want.

That left the Spear, which is considered the worst Legendary Weapon in the fandom because it isn't as solid a concept as Shield, Sword and Bow. Plus, Motoyasu and Riser had many similarities, if we're being honest.

And that was perfect for this story. After all, despite the Legendary Weapons opening the path to basically ultimate power, their strength depends on the user, which is why Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu were just so much weaker in canon. That means that it is up to me to make it or break it.

This whole process led to the work you see before you; a story of myself being inserted into Riser Phenex's body, forced to save all of the DxDverse by my lonesome with the Legendary Spear being my only hope. As you can see, this is an AU, although the universe is almost completely the same.

I should give a warning that there might be some spoilers for Rising of the Shield Hero, but that's more regarding the Legendary Weapons and their mechanics rather than the actual plot.

To wrap up, I humbly ask that none of you flame me in the Reviews or PMs. If you don't like something or want to see something, then explain to me why you think so instead of ranting and raving like crazed lunatics.

Now that I've basically explained what led to this sudden story, let's get on with it and dive straight in!

P.S- Some of you may have recognized the thumbnail as Phoenix Fu Hua from Honkai Impact 3. She will be incarnated as my Filiolal. Since there is no Riser Fanart worth mentioning, I decided to use her for the picture instead.

Chapter 1 - The Phoenix and The Spear

With a sigh, I collapsed against my table, repeatedly pressing the space bar on my keyboard in order to make my laptop boot up.

For the umpteenth time, I cursed myself for choosing to study abroad.

It was the most logical decision at the time, of course, and still was, but the Lockdown had turned said logical decision into what was quickly becoming the bane of my existence.

While born and raised an American, I chose to attend college abroad in India because it was much more convenient to study medicine there.

Considering I was saving at least half a decade by studying abroad, the challenges I faced by moving to a new country; namely, things like the language, food, cultural and racial barriers weren't really that big of a deal to me, although I won't deny that becoming literate in two different Indian languages, the local Telugu and the national Hindi, over the course of three months was probably one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life.

I thought I was prepared because I'd taken Spanish as my second language back in the States.

I was wrong.

Spanish and French were relatively easy languages to learn because they used the English alphabet, with a few small modifications like accented a's and the like.

That was not the case in India, which ran off of a more complex alphabet that had tons of different variations and rather difficult Grammar.

Safe to say, it was rough. Really rough.

But I digress.

While there were a few challenges in the beginning, I more or less got used to my new life in India, and made it through my first year of medical college with flying colors.

And I was halfway through my second year when I decided to take a trip back home to good old sunny California for a week because my baby cousin had just been born.

But then the Lockdown happened, and international flights were suspended for a while, keeping me grounded. My parents were also pretty worried with the pandemic spreading like wildfire, and convinced me to stay in America, at least till the crisis blew over.

I couldn't fault their reasoning, and since college was closed, I decided to just live the NEET life back home. But then, after a few months, the online classes started, and my hell began.

I never considered that I might end up in a situation like the one I was faced with, mostly because no one saw the pandemic being that serious of a problem until it suddenly was, and flipped the World on its head.

The problem was that my classes were according to Indian standard time.

And I was in America.

This meant that I had to basically become a bat, sleeping during the day and staying up all night, which wasn't very healthy and didn't help my stress levels.

And in addition to this, as if this wasn't torture enough, the people in my college couldn't even follow a proper class schedule, so I basically had to be up until 10 in the morning from 7 in the evening, since even they didn't know when they would be starting my classes.

I was barely getting 5-6 hours of sleep a day, and it began to show after about two weeks. Honestly, it was only my habit of working out regularly that probably saved my health and prevented me from becoming a diabetic puffball.

I got used to it over time, especially since this had been going on for half a year, but there were still moments where I wondered why I even bothered doing anything.

Like right now.

Stifling a yawn with one hand, I gratefully accepted a cup of coffee and a plate of home-made pineapple pizza from my little sister, who poked my forehead before laughing and going off to talk to my mom about something.

I set the "meal" down on my table as I saw the ever-familiar Windows logo pop up, and washed my face again in the bathroom before toweling it off and making my way back and sitting back in my comfy chair before taking a bite of the pizza.

Suddenly, my pain seems to be washed away by the taste of pineapple and cheese, and my mood improved immediately.

I'm not sure why so many people seem to hate on pineapple pizza, but I always loved it unconditionally. One of my top ten favorite foods, if we're being honest.

Anyways, my laptop finally finished starting up, and I typed in my password with my free hand before hitting Enter and logging in.

A quick glance at my email showed that I didn't have any classes at the moment, so I just decided to relax and wait. Normally, I would write fanfiction during this time, but my exams had caused my fingers to swell from the amour I had to write, so I was taking it easy until they healed up, which meant doing some reading, one of my favorite pastimes.

Going to the folder where I kept my digital library, I pulled up the first Volume of Rising of the Shield Hero to pass the time.

I wanted to write a fanfic of this series, but it was surprisingly complex, and from what I could tell the plot would be completely thrown off its rails if the other three Heroes weren't complete assholes, which really made things difficult for me.

Since I only had knowledge from the anime and pieces from the wiki, I decided to read the Light Novels just to see if I could get some more insight from the source material.

In hindsight, that wasn't the best idea, considering the fact that the franchise was literally about a guy who got yeeted to another world by reading a Light Novel corresponding to the main plot.

But sue me, how was I supposed to know that Isekai magic was actually real?!

Since you can probably guess where this is going, I'll just say it; I didn't even get to see the cover image of the damned novel before my vision blacked out.

And that was the beginning of how I paid for my heinous crime of writing Isekai fanfiction; by becoming an Isekai protagonist myself.

It was the scent of ash and the feeling of heat that brought me back to the land of the living.

As soon as my brain registered those two sensations, my eyes immediately snapped open, widening in alarm.

'Is my house burning down or something?!'

However, when I opened my eyes, I was forced to immediately close them again as pain bombarded my body.

For some reason, my eyes were incredibly sensitive, and just exposing them to the environment had caused a minor sensory overload. This was more than a little odd, considering my vision was total garbage beyond a few meters when I wasn't wearing my glasses.

Putting my hands to my eyes, I slowly opened them, being sure to use my fingers to cast shadow over my retinas to avoid burning them out again.

The pain was a lot more subdued now, but unfortunately, what I was now able to see was much worse than the sting I had felt earlier.

It... it looked like a warzone.

Everything was burning, and there were chunks of rubble everywhere. Smoke was blotting out the sky, preventing me from telling what time of day it was. There was something that seemed very odd about my vision apart from the sudden clarity, but my addled mind couldn't figure out what that was.

Trying to remain calm, despite the furious beating of my heart, I tied to move my body, to make sure everything was working.

I was rewarded with more pain, although to my relief, all my limbs appeared to be functional.

Something was off though...

I shook my head, clearing away any unnecessary thoughts.

I'd been through dozens of emergency drills before, and once I'd even been caught in an actual building fire.

I knew the proper procedures.

I began to pick myself up, noting that I was most definitely not wearing the same clothes as I had been earlier.

My shirt was in rags, and my pants weren't faring much better, but judging by the fabric and the extravagant designs, I could tell that they were meant for high-society nobles.

Which I most definitely was not.

Another strange discrepancy made itself known when I noticed the strands of blonde hair falling above my eyes.

Wait, that wasn't right. I had brown hair.

My panic began to slowly trickle back when I noticed that the tone of my skin was different, and my arms were slimmer thanhey used to be.

My heartbeat was practically thundering through my ears as I realized that somehow, I was no longer in my own body.

How did I come to that conclusion?

It was simple; because even if I'd somehow had a hair transplant or even plastic surgery, it was impossible to change your body type with conventional surgery.

And that was exactly what had happened here. In fact, as I drew myself up to my feet, I realized that I might have been an inch or two shorter than I used to be, not to mention I was much more wiry and lithe.

While there was the whole "kidnapped and experimented on" trope to consider, I highly doubted that was the case because there was literally no point in doing so. There was nothing special about me, in both the physical and the mental sense.

Sure, I was over six feet tall and well built, but that was about it. Nothing worth experimenting on me for.

Plus, I didn't think that even happened anymore. If it ever happened in the first place, anyways.

Still, rational explanations could wait. First, I needed to get the hell out of this place I was trapped in before the remainder of the building gave way and crushed me.

Closer observation showed that the stone chunks appeared to be concrete instead of the limestone and marble my house was built on, which meant I definitely wasn't home, something I was thankful for because that implied my family was safe.

An uneasy feeling began to make its way into the back of my mind, like some sort of demented Spider Sense.

Waking up in someone else's body in an unfamiliar location?

As someone who wrote fanfiction regularly, there was a word that immediately came to mind to describe such a situation.

But that wasn't possible, was it?

I'll be honest; I truly believed that there was a chance Magic could be real. While people nowadays say that Magic was just what ancient civilizations used to describe natural phenomenon they couldn't understand, I had to disagree.

Civilizations like the Mayans, the Egyptians, and the ancient Hindus of India did amazing things that even now people have a hard time understanding. They made discoveries and advancements in pretty much every field from medicine to astrology that took us almost a thousand years to get anywhere close to.

I personally found it hard to believe that such civilizations would believe in something like Magic unless it actually existed.

Still, it was one thing to theorize that Magic was real and another thing entirely to be on the receiving end of it.

I got to my feet as the pain rapidly began to recede from my limbs, and I took a shaky step forward, only to trip over something and fall face first on the ground, smearing my face with soot and concrete dust.

A small grunt of pain escaped me as I picked myself off the ground and tried to see what I had tripped over.

As soon as I did, however, I honestly wished I didn't because what I saw only confirmed my theory.

The object I had tripped over was a very familiar spear, silver with golden inlay.

The red gem inlaid into the base of its head seemed to gleam mockingly at me, as a bead of sweat completely unrelated to the heat of the burning building rolled down my forehead at the sight of it.

Slowly, my eyes dropped to the bottom left corner of my vision, and sure enough, I saw it; a small spear icon innocently making its home there, something that definitely wasn't there before.

I fought the urge to curse out loud.

Because I had just become the Legendary Spear Hero.

Was that why my hair was blond? Had I become Motoyasu of all people?!

Because that was terrifying. I did not want to become a crackpot who chased the skirts of bird lolis.

A chunk of rubble fell, dragging me out of my stupor, and I reached down to grab the spear, since the damn thing most likely would just follow me if I tried to leave it behind. The Legendary Weapons were kind of annoying like that.

It felt almost natural in my hands, something that irked me to no end, because nothing about this situation was making me comfortable.

If I had really become Motoyasu, then where the hell were the other three Heroes? Where was Aultcray and the rest of his garbage underlings?

'Okay.' I thought to myself, my brain working overtime as the adrenaline kicked in. 'Questions and contemplation later, escape first. Now how do I do that?'

The fact that I had the Legendary Spear made me a little more confident despite the situation. It meant I had more options available to me.

Still, depending on it meant that I was basically surrendering myself to the madness of my new situation.

Not that it really mattered. I was a calm person by nature, and rationality was my weapon. In this situation, that meant one thing;

I'd use everything I have to survive.

I picked up a fallen piece of rubble, and placed it on the gem of my Spear.

For a moment, nothing happened, and there was a small part of me that started to think that this was some sort of extreme cosplay prank gone wrong, before there was a sound like a suction and the rubble was absorbed into the Spear.

[Stone Spear Unlock Conditions Met!]

A very familiar weapons tree showed up in my vision, with hundreds of circular nodes branching out from a single spear icon in the very center of the screen that represented the weapon's Base Form.

All of them were locked, predictably, which meant I was only Level 1, and greyed out. I didn't get enough time to examine it more as one of the nodes unlocked itself, and a Message popped up.

I'd written about this kind of thing many times before in the fanfiction I authored, but seeing it in real life was really something else, honestly speaking.

[Stone Spear:

- Rarity; Common

- Base Attack Power; 3

- Equipment Bonus; +5 Defense, Skill: Rock Lance (Unmastered)

- Special Effect; Agility Penalty (Small)]

There was a lot of information I could glean from that Message, but only one thing mattered right now.

"Stone Spear." I called out, causing the Spear in my hands to glow and transform into... a stone spear, with the red gem being present in the same location.

Pointing at an exit that I had noticed earlier, which had been blocked off by the rubble from the collapsing building, I thrust my Spear with all my might.

"Rock Lance!"

The head of the spear seemed to glow and harden as it struck the rubble, causing the veritable boulder to crack.

However, to my dismay, that wasn't enough to break it.

Realizing that my time was running out as I heard wooden beams beginning to groan near my position, I used the Skill again, and again when it failed to break the rubble.

On the fourth try, the rocks barring my path shattered and I ran as fast as I could, stumbling a few times thanks to the difference in height between my old and new bodies, towards the light of day that made itself known.

I didn't know whether it was some kind of intentional universal cliché, or if it was some kind of coincidence, but the entire building collapsed in on itself literally the exact moment I made it out.

I panted tiredly, my hands shaking as I realized just how close I had come to biting the dust.

And no, that wasn't a Jojo reference.

It was then, as I looked down at my hands, that I realized something odd. While they were covered in soot, there wasn't a single scratch or even a burn on them, which I found highly odd.

Come to think of it, I barely felt the heat of the flames in the building, which was probably why it had been so easy to remain calm. Checking the rest of my body revealed that there were no marks or abrasions anywhere else.

Weird. Questions for later, I guess.

Not wanting to take any chances, I decided to keep going, but as luck would have it, a flaming piece of rubble landed directly on my head.

In case you were wondering; yes, it hurt. It hurt a lot. Nothing quite like getting your skull crushed by flaming rocks, I must say.

The only saving grace was that I barely felt it for a fraction of a second before my consciousness was abruptly cut off.

I have to admit; I was very surprised to regain consciousness. Most people didn't survive after flaming pieces of rubble got the drop on them, even if they were Legendary Heroes, at least when they were Level 1 like I clearly was.

Still, it took a while for my senses to properly adjust, probably because of the brain damage I had undoubtedly taken. The fact that I seemed to have some sort of healing factor was pretty much confirmed at this point, since the fact that I was rapidly recovering was proof that the damage to my brain was receding rapidly.

Didn't stop the raging headache though. If I hadn't already been used to it from long nights of studying for my exams, I might have cried out.

But the sound of voices quickly made me shut up and play dead. I knew that I was probably in some sort of hospital, considering the fact that I was on a fairly comfortable bed, but that didn't necessarily mean I was in allied territory.

And even if I was in allied territory, that didn't mean I could trust them. After all, the first rule that every person in an Isekai situation should follow is this; never trust anyone unless there is absolutely no way they can/will betray you, or if you're strong enough to just backhand them through a wall if they try. After all, in Isekai Worlds, the first thing people usually tried to do was dump their problems on you, whether you liked it or not, and then hang you out to dry once you complied with their unreasonable demands.

The sad thing was that this held true in our World too.

That isn't to say I'm a cold-hearted person, even if I am a loner who has trouble expressing himself. I'll usually help people in trouble, but that did not mean I was the next coming of Shirou Emiya.

If all I ever did was solve other people's problems, even the lifespan of a normal human wouldn't be enough to get me anywhere. Plus, I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that you need to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others, and right now, I literally had nothing but my Spear and the hospital gown I was wearing.

Not that I was too worried. I had a Legendary Weapon, after all. Rationally speaking, at least after seeing how Naofumi exploited the Legendary Shield to earn money by creating medicines and accessories, making a living shouldn't be too hard with its assistance. Still, that was practically the only thing I wasn't worried about.

With my head still hurting, I could barely think, much less make out the conversation going on near me, but what coherence I could gain had me wondering about my family. Many Isekai stories seemed to completely forget about the fact that the main characters actually had families. Few ever mentioned what happens to the families of those lost via Isekai, and even the MCs never give them more than a passing thought as they somehow throw away every part of their past lives without thinking twice.

It was ridiculous, even in the eyes of someone as emotionally stunted as myself. Did they not miss the parents that raised them and cared for them their whole lives? Did they not miss everything they had built up, the lives they had led, and the people they had left behind? Sure there were those who literally had hellish lives like Ainz, but those kinds of MCs were actually pretty rare. Only Hajime from Arifureta and Naofumi from ROTSH ever actually cared about going home. People like Subaru and Kazuma didn't even give a damn, at least from what I had seen of their respective franchises. Even if the former had an awkward relationship with his parents and the latter had actually died, that didn't change the fact that they didn't even try to find a way home.

Even though I hadn't been conscious for more than 15 minutes after being summoned to wherever the hell this place was, I already missed my family. And yet these people somehow just forgot their families without any regret.

Whatever. I could rage about how illogical Isekai protagonists tended to be later. Right now, I had to get my throbbing head back in the game before I missed out on important information. After all, I may have been out of the literal frying pan, but that didn't mean I was safe from the fire.

Unfortunately, that plan was dashed when a sudden spike of pain drove itself into my skull, causing my eyes to clench shut as I let out a hiss of pain, unintentionally advertising my return to consciousness.

"Riser!"

"Onii-sama!"

Huh?

Before I registered those words, something I wholeheartedly blame on my headache slowing down my thinking power, thank you very much, I opened my eyes, and saw the speakers.

A blond girl in her early teens, and two blond adults who could only have been her parents. All three of them were dressed in attire fit for a royal family, similar to the outfit that I had been wearing earlier, and looking at me with naked concern.

But why? I recognized the look in their eyes. It was the same look I had seen whenever I got hurt in the eyes of... my family.

Suddenly, despite my headache, things began clicking into place. A family of blondes wearing aristocratic clothing. I was now a blonde who had been wearing aristocratic clothing. And when I had first woken up I had clearly been in danger, even before I was brained by a DIY meteor. I had assumed I had somehow become Motoyasu because of the blonde hair and the Spear, but that may not have been the case, considering the evidence being displayed at the moment.

But that meant-

I quickly stopped thinking before the terrifying realization I had come to showed on my face, and asked a question I really didn't want to answer to.

"Who are you?"

The horrified expressions on their faces was enough to tell me all I needed to know.

Suddenly, I remembered what the blonde man had called me.

Riser.

Another stone dropped into my gut.

Blonde hair, high-class clothing, a high resistance to flames, and a possible healing factor?

There was only one explanation, which was only validated when I realized that the blonde girl who had called me her brother was actually someone I had seen before.

Ravel.

Somehow, I had ended up as the butt of a cosmic joke, and had been yeeted into the body of Riser Phenex, Useless Devil Asshole Extraordinaire.

Whether it was my neurons starting to fray or just a piece of humor to distract me from thinking about this messed up situation I found myself in, there was only a single thought that went through my mind as I came to that conclusion.

'Damn it, I knew I should have chosen a different username!'

Several hours later, I stared blankly at the Spear in my lap, gently running my hands down the shaft as I remained deep in thought.

A feeling of guilt permeated my entire being.

I turned to look at the mirror, and saw the face of Riser Phenex looking back at me. Or rather, I saw my own face looking back at me.

I couldn't even laugh at the fact that I was now animated, which was an interesting experience, all things considered. I hadn't noticed it earlier due to the smoke in the building and because of how put-out I had been when I had woken up back in the Phenex Estate.

Not that it mattered.

I was stuck in the body of Riser Phenex.

Most MCs in my situation would probably rage at the fact that they had been Isekaid into the body of a useless, two-bit, minor villain character like Riser and immediately focus on how to get strong enough to derail the plot and take all the waifus for themselves.

Not me though. All I could think about was how I had stolen Riser from his family. He may have been a colossal jerk and a womanizing asshole, but he still cared for his family, and they cared for him in turn.

It almost physically hurt me to see the pain in Ravel's eyes when she realized the brother she knew was gone. I had a little sister myself, after all, which made my own pain greater.

Having no other option, I played the amnesia card, being sure to avoid directly lying just in case they could somehow detect whether I was telling the truth. Fact of the matter was that my guilt didn't overpower my sense of self-preservation. Telling the Phenex Clan that I had unintentionally taken over the body of their son? Yeah, no. I wasn't stupid enough to try that. Death might honestly be a mercy in the face of what they would do to me. After all, despite how the author of DxD tried to make basically every resident of Hell apart from the clearly evil people like Diodora look like Angels, they were still Devils, and holding grudges was in their blood.

Instead, I acted like I had lost my memories, citing that I only knew my name, and the fact that I had some sort of regenerative power. For some reason, they bought my story despite how illogical it was, although once I learned about what had happened to the old Riser, I could see why they bought it.

This also only added to my headache, because not only was I in DxD, a World I hated with every fiber of my being for how illogical it was, I was apparently in an AU where Riser had, well, gotten himself killed before canon.

Apparently he had been hunting a Stray Devil with his Peerage, when they had wandered into a trap set by a rogue 8-winged Fallen Angel and a group of Rogue Exorcists. Riser and his Peerage had bought enough time for Ravel to escape and bring help, but by the time they had returned, it was too late. The original Riser and his Peerage had been slaughtered, though they had apparently killed their attackers in the process. Instead, I was the only survivor. According to Ravel, the building had been bombed with Holy Magic and I had apparently taken a Light Spear to the head, which was why they so easily believed my story, because they thought it had screwed up my brain thanks to Holy Energy's toxic effects on Devils.

It probably also had something to do with the fact that they were glad I was alive, because considering the damage Riser had taken from the one Element that no-selled his surprisingly weak regeneration powers, there was literally a less than 1% chance of survival. Technically, Riser hadn't survived, but that was neither here nor there.

After the exposition, my new parents and sister had hesitantly left me alone, after inviting me to join them for dinner. They seemed to sense how uncomfortable I was in their presence, and having accurately deduced that it was because of the fact that I didn't know them when they were claiming to be my family, the Phenexes decided that it was probably a good idea to let me brood on what had happened to me in silence.

Thankfully, they didn't ask about the Spear either, which had apparently followed me back here, although I could tell they were curious about it, though it was overshadowed by their concern for their son.

It warmed my heart to see that they genuinely cared for Riser though, despite his numerous faults.

Too bad it didn't make me feel any better.

I looked at the Spear, innocently lying on my lap as if it wasn't a living weapon that could literally grant reality-breaking power to the wielders who properly mastered it.

It had chosen me, and was at least partially responsible for my current situation. But I couldn't bring myself to blame it for my problems.

The Spear Spirit was only carrying out its intended purpose; to save the World. There was no point getting angry at it for just doing its job.

Honestly, I was kind of flattered it chose me. The fact that I hadn't died before I was sent to this World meant that I was a First Choice Candidate, meaning that I had the potential to be a Hero.

This was something that was revealed later on in the franchise, so SPOILER ALERT, but the Legendary Weapons are actually sentient. Each Weapon is assigned to a single World (Melromarc was a special case, which is why there are Four Heroes there), and in times of crisis the Weapon Spirit would select a Candidate from another World to be its wielder.

There were two types of Candidates; First Choice Candidates, like Naofumi, or Backup Candidates like Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki.

The main difference between the two is that First Choice Candidates were people who already had the potential to be a Hero prior to being summoned, and didn't die in order to get Isekaid. Backup Candidates were chosen if the First Choice Candidates couldn't be reached for whatever reason, and possessed serious character flaws prior to being summoned, something that was all too obvious considering how useless the other three Heroes were in canon. Their deaths were averted by the Weapon Spirits before being summoned to the World that needed their aid.

I never really thought of myself as much of a Hero, but the Legendary Spear seemed to disagree. I didn't know what it specifically searched for in its users, so I couldn't be sure about it.

Still, just because I was honored to be considered worthy didn't mean that I appreciated being ripped away from my family and thrust into a Devil's corpse. That was another odd thing; why was I summoned in Riser's body? That didn't really match any of the information I knew about the Weapons. Was it because of how similar he and Motoyasu were? Was he another Candidate for the Legendary Spear? I honestly had no answer to any of those questions.

The only saving grace here was that apparently it was in fact possible for the Legendary Heroes to return to their original World after defeating whatever threat they had been summoned to fight.

That meant that if I played along and saw this through to the end, I could return home to my family, along with three wishes that the Weapon Spirit would grant me since they could influence the Worlds the Wielders were chosen from.

The only problem was that I was stuck in the Highschool DxD Universe, which was basically my personal nightmare. Not only was this World even worse than the actual Rising of the Shield Hero Worlds, but I was pretty sure I was the only Legendary Hero in this World, up against threats that were arguably worse than the main antagonist of the original web Novel.

I did not fancy going up against the likes of Vali Lucifer or Ophis.

Still, there was hope, in the form of one person; Issei Hyoudou. Despite the fact that I really didn't like him, because he was basically a knock-off Jiraiya that failed miserably, it was pretty well-known to many in the fandom that the World basically bent over backwards for him.

And no, I wasn't exaggerating.

Think on this; during the Kuoh Peace Conference, Issei was able to overpower Vali, who was not only a descendant of Lucifer who had been training for at least a decade, but also the White Dragon Emperor stated many times to be the strongest one to ever exist, having already mastered Juggernaut Drive by the time he first faced Issei, just because he was furious that Vali could reduce the breast sizes of any woman in the World with his powers.

And at that point, Issei was a guy with so little base magical power that he couldn't even use a teleportation circle, which even Devil infants could do, and couldn't even properly form his Balance Breaker without magical steroids from Azazel.

If that wasn't blatant Universe Pandering, I don't know what is.

It was like the entire DxD World was made just to cater to Issei's perverted fantasies.

But hey; that made things easier for me, so I wasn't complaining. I seriously wouldn't mind having some plot armor myself right about now. Sticking around Issei would probably help me out in that regard; there were basically no major deaths from the perverted Dragon Emperor's group of friends and lovers in canon, except for Asia in the beginning, but she got better, so that didn't really count. Our goals were aligned anyways, so it wasn't like I was manipulating or betraying Issei by hanging around him, although considering who I was, I'd have to take a few extra steps to make sure my terrible rep didn't leave too much of a bad impression.

At that point I realized that my mind had already been made up, and I let out a sigh.

I was so not Hero Material. But if I wanted to ever have a chance of going back home, I needed to be one, despite my misgivings.

I turned my focus to the spear icon in the corner of my vision and concentrated, willing it to unravel and activate my Status Magic. Sure enough, the icon seemed to unravel before my Status Window blanketed my vision.

The aesthetic of the Window was just as cool as it appeared to be in the anime. To the top left were tabs to access my Skill, Equip Bonus, Equipment, and Weapon Tree sections, while the center of my vision was occupied by my name, Level, Stats and Elemental Resistances.

They were as follows;

[Riser Phenex - Spear Hero Level 1

Title: None

Job: None

HP - 200

SP - 200

MP - 200

Attack - 12

Defense - 5

Agility - 9

Fire Resistance: 50%

Water Resistance: - 50%

Wind Resistance: 20%

Earth Resistance: 0%

Electric Resistance: 0%

Light Resistance: - 200%

Dark Resistance: 80%

Quantum Resistance: 0%]

Predictably, my Stats excelled in Agility and Attack, which was about what I had expected. I was fairly squishy, but I guess in the face of my Phenex Immortality Defense wasn't really a necessity anyways.

The Elemental Resistances were pretty interesting though. The weakness to Light made me wince though. No wonder it was such a problem for weaker Devils, especially because it lingered like a poison in those it struck.

The Fire Resistance was obvious, though the weakness to Water felt a little silly. This wasn't Pokemon after all.

At least I didn't have a quadruple weakness to Rock, or Earth, as it was called here. Last thing I wanted to do was become a discount Ho-oh.

What was Quantum though? The only franchise that ever used the Quantum Element was Honkai Impact. Maybe it was the Element used by beings like Great Red? Time Magic also came to mind here.

However, two things stuck out the most to me; the Title and the Job Slots. These weren't present in the original Rising of the Shield Hero from what I knew. New Enhancement Methods, maybe?

Oh well, I could just check out the Help Menu to see what was up with those. It wasn't as if the facts had changed.

I was now saddled with the task of saving a World inhabited by perverts of all shapes and sizes, where obscenely powerful Villains were scattered about like candy and people could get power ups via the power of oppai.

And as much as I wanted to just slam my head repeatedly on the nearest flat surface, this gig was my only way back home.

So I pretty much didn't have a choice in the matter, because there was no way I was going to give up on going home.

That was simply unacceptable.

I took a deep breath.

"I don't know if you can hear me." I said, looking down at the Spear in my lap. "And I don't know why you chose me to do this. But I'll play your game, since this is my only way to return to the life I used to lead."

I let out an awkward sigh. I was good at talking to crowds and giving speeches, mainly because I could pretend the audience didn't exist, but I wasn't good with one on one conversations.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is this; I look forward to working with you, partner. Let's save this World together!"

In response, the jewel on the Legendary Spear glowed a bright red, with a hum that sounded almost pleased.

It was the heralding of a new tale. The tale of my rebirth, and the story of the journey I underwent in order to discover new things not only about myself, but also the World around me.

The Legend of the Spear Hero.

...

...

...

But first, I needed to go have a very awkward dinner with my not-parents and not-sister. My not-brothers might be there too if I was lucky!

*sigh*

I really had a long way to go, didn't I?

And so my nightmare begins!

While there are many people who would be overjoyed to be Isekaid into DxD, it's probably among my worst-case scenarios. I mean seriously, there is practically no perk to being in the DxD Universe unless you were born with a Longinus or something, and even then it would be hell as you tried to survive all the people trying to manipulate you to their own ends.

Plus, there's always going to be someone stronger. The ExE Gods murdered Great Red OFFSCREEN, for crying out loud, just to show us that the Trihexa wasn't even the worst thing we'd seen!

ALSO: I want to mention that everything that happened; from me incarnating in Riser's body to becoming the Spear Hero has a reasonable explanation that will be revealed later on in the story.

As you guys can also see, this story is like Grand Eroge in a sense; it adheres to some tropes and utterly smashes others. A big example is how amorally Self Inserts act, ESPECIALLY DxD Self Inserts.

Seriously, how do "normal" members of society do stuff like murder, manipulation and magical espionage without even a second thought?! And it gets even worse when it comes to women; it's like people have no caution or self-restraint whatsoever. They don't even consider the consequences of their actions. Even the more enjoyable DxD stories start giving me a headache as the MCs continue to act more and more illogically.

Well, that ain't happening here, kiddos.

Since it is a Self Insert as myself, that means I do things rationally, as much as I possibly can. That's just the kind of person I am, and that isn't going to change just because I'm in another World.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, although not much really happened in it because it was just an introduction chapter. The next chapter focuses on the new Enhancement Methods for the Legendary Spear, since the canon ones won't work due to this being a different World, and how the Spear even functions in the DxD World.

Also, there will be elements of other franchises as SpatialPhenex (for lack of a better name) temporarily goes to other Worlds, but not enough to be significant. Maybe just a few chapters in between. The people I talked to strongly requested me to do an at least partial Multi-Cross Peerage, because Riser's canon Peerage is garbage (which is why I got rid of them) and for another reason that will be revealed soon enough.

I know you guys have your doubts, but I just ask you to TRUST ME. And while many of the Peerage Spots have been decided, any suggestions of other franchise characters that I can reasonably add are welcome.

Also, for you intellectuals who know a lot about Rising of the Shield Hero, there WILL be two Vassal Weapon Heroes in my Peerage. Not canon ones, but DxD characters who are given the Vassal Weapon.

You know, I'm just as excited to write this story as I was for writing Grand Eroge, because this is a unique idea that no one has done before. I'm actually surprised that no one thought to do this, but considering the fact that people focus on getting powers that make them OP without any effort on their part for their Self Insert stories, it's fairly easy to understand. Still, using a Legendary Weapon in a crossover World story just makes me giddy.

I honestly like the Legendary Weapons just as much as I like Infinite Dendrogram Embryos; the only reason I never wrote a Rising of the Shield Hero story is because I CANNOT write Aultcray or Malty without getting an aneurism, and because it becomes impossible to salvage the plot if more than one Hero is actually competent.

Well, now I found a way around that, so I'm excited to see where this story goes, and I hope you are too. I hope we can have a fruitful adventure together. For those of you who are skeptical, I only ask that you give this story a chance, because it might surprise you. If you guys have read my other stories, then you know I don't do the same things as other authors on this site.

That's all I have to say for now, so thanks for reading! If you guys have any suggestions, then send me a Review or a PM. I'm interested in seeing what suggestions you have for Riser's Multicross Peerage (only partially, there are four canon DxD characters; both Bishops, with one being Ravel, a Rook and two Pawns.) and what Rising of the Shield Hero elements you want to see in this story (DxDverse Waves of Calamity or something along those lines.)

P.S- The reason why Riser!Me is so calm right now is because I still haven't realized how screwed I really am. That'll change, real fast.

Spatialphoenix here, burning to ashes. Or is it SpatialPhenex in this specific story?