Chapter Ten - Stray Scramble

May 3rd, 2013

It was a normal breakfast that day; cartoons on the television, the group of teens and young adults sprawled around the room, all in various states of sleepwear as they shoveled their various haphazard breakfasts into their mouths while conversing in muffled, groggy chatter. At the table, Vin chewed on a breakfast sandwich, Xenovia on his left, and across from them, Griselda, who read a newspaper with casual disinterest.

Sipping at her mug of coffee, her eyes never leaving the paper, "I've made the necessary preparations for Vin to undergo the ritual in the next few days."

That simple statement seemed to be enough for everyone in the room to stop what they were doing, and turn around to face Griselda.

"Wait, seriously?!" Ethan exclaimed.

"I put in the request about a month ago, I've just been waiting to tell you all until we could find a date to make it work."

"Um," Vin spoke up, "What's the 'ritual'?"

He really hoped it wasn't some sort of blood sacrifice.

He wasn't ready for that today.

Xenovia turned to him, "Nothing bad, it's a ceremony where a powerful angel uses their holy magic to place a crystal inside you, which contains the genes necessary to wield a holy sword; a blessing of sorts."

Oh, that made a lot more sense… It always did seem weird to him that supposedly holy sword wielders were rare, but here the church was, sitting on at least six of them at all times.

"Yes," Griselda's voice drew Vin out of his thoughts, "It's a moment of great significance in many exorcists' lives, and it's a rare opportunity not open to many."

Griselda folded her paper, leaving it on the table as she stood up, "Now that brings me to the most important detail about today: you have another stray devil hunt. The only problem is, I've been called to escort our distinguished guest from Heaven, and won't be back until the evening, and with Lint already dispatched too far away on a mission of her own, we have no one to properly direct you."

Griselda looked at everyone before her, "You have all trained non-stop for moments like these. You've grown, sweat, and bled alongside each other. So, I have full-confidence when I say that I believe you can take this on without any guidance. Get ready to gear up, and make sure to meet with Mr. Harcreutz on mission control by eleven. I trust you all, now go out there and make me proud."

As Vin cast a sweeping glance around the room, he saw the same steely, determined gaze twinkling in everyone's eyes. Just like the others, Vin realized a vital truth, this wasn't just a mission, this was an opportunity; an opportunity to prove that they weren't just some fledgling students, that he wasn't just some dead-weight to everyone around him, a damsel in need of saving every five minutes.

Sure, he still had hang-ups about killing those things… But at the same time, it was never a problem with it being done, just when it was done by his own hands. He didn't want that weighing on his conscience… Still, would that hesitancy to go for the fatal blow even matter when he was in a team like this? Surely, he could just knock them out, or restrain them with his Sacred Gear, and get his allies to finish them off… Yeah, that would work. He could find his balance of ethics and obligation as an exorcist.

Vin clenched his fist, Midas' Rings appearing on them in resonance with his mounting drive. As Vin's tongue tasted phantom flavors of all the dirt it ate over these past nine months, he only grew more and more ready… Ready to kick some ass.

Something that was a long-time coming.


"It's truly wonderful to see you all again!" Mr. Hercreutz called, as he approached the group of teens who had just emerged from the elevator, "I heard from Griselda before her dispatch this morning that you all will be operating without supervision on this trip. That's good to hear, all exorcists need to step out of their shells eventually."

Harcreutz then turned his attention to Vin, walking towards him, and opening his hand for a handshake, "And I want to extend a congratulations to you, son: it's not everyday when we get to bask in the direct company of a powerful angel. Just like I said in our first encounter, I've been looking forward to how you've grown over this last year, and I can say, you're making us all proud, son."

Vin flushed, gingerly accepting the handshake, "A-Ah, thanks for the compliment, sir."

"Haha!" Harcreutz barked a deep, bellowing laugh, "You need not thank me, boy! Just keep up the great work!"

Soon after handing over the mission report and keys to one of the vehicles to Jafar, the only licensed driver in the group, the workers of the Vatican wheeled out the four sealed Excalibur Fragments Nightmare, Destruction, Transparency, and Rapidly.

Wasting no time, the group got themselves ready, walking over to their transport vehicle for the mission, which instead of a city bus, was a standard, if slightly longer moving van. Rolling up the cargo door however, revealed that instead of a large empty space in the back, each side of the cabin walls were equipped with seats, not too dissimilar from those seen inside of troop transport planes from war movies.

Everyone hoisted themselves in, with Jafar taking the driver's seat, Ethan opting to sit next to him with the exuberant cry of 'Shotgun!'

After everyone was secured, and Jafar called in confirmation on the radio, the platform they were parked on began to rise into the ceiling, and not a moment later, the group pulled out of the hidden dispatch gate, and merged into the city streets effortlessly.

Honestly, the entire process of being dispatched reminded Vin a lot about the Batcave… Hm, maybe someone on the design team for the Vatican was a big Batman fan?

Once Jafar had maneuvered the van into a comfortable lane on the road, the GPS systems steering him towards the objective a few hours away, he quickly called off to the ginger beside him.

"Ethan, can you brief us on mission details?"

"Huh?" Ethan perked up, "Oh, yeah, sure. Alright everyone, listen up!"

"Our mission this time is another simple stray extermination mission. They seem to have held themselves up in…" Ethan looked at one of the provided polaroid pictures, "Oh shit, is that the old abandoned mall? Dude, I used to love going there when it was still open! I wonder if they still have anything left of the stores there?"

Patiently, Jafar scolded Ethan, "Focus."

"Right, right," Ethan caught himself, before continuing, "There seems to be a group of about fourteen strays, most seem to be weak, but there are two here that the Vatican has been able to match up to the stray directory, so we have identities for these ones."

Ah yes, the stray directory. One of the only bits of cross-species communication that the Devils and Church had with each other. Essentially, it was a database that would be updated with the names of devil criminals and run-aways, it's existence being shared with the church was mainly to quell any potential conflicts by giving exorcists a way to tell if a devil was alright to slay or not.

According to Griselda, supposedly violating the stray directory, and killing an innocent devil was heavily punishable, mainly by excommunication and revocation of a person's exorcist title, but there were so many loopholes that it pretty much seemed like exorcists could indiscriminately murder devils all they wanted.

For instance, if a devil stepped foot onto any form of holy ground, then they could be killed with no punishment whatsoever. And since the Vatican was a very holy spot, the radius around it stretched out for at least an hour by vehicle in any direction, hence why the few devils foolish enough to live in Italy chose to hide out a good few hours away from the Vatican.

Apparently, rampant violations of the stray directory was how Lint's brother ended up getting kicked out of the church… What was his name again… Fred? Frank? Freed?

Yeah, that last one sounded right; Freed. Freed Sellzen.

"Oh boy, that's not good."

Jafar's gaze quickly snapped to Ethan, before returning to the road, "What? What's not good?"

"It says here that the group of stray devils have taken a small group of people hostage. Apparently, they've been holding them for a few days now."

"Poor souls…" Irina murmured, her hand's clasped around her rosary in prayer, "Xenovia, shall we pray for their innocent souls to be comforted by the lord's embrace?"

"Indeed," Xenovia nodded, closing her own eyes, as the two began to whisper prayers.

"Wait a second girls," Ethan cut them off, "It says here that despite holding them for an extended period of time, the people were visibly shown to church scouts only fifteen hours ago, they were alive."

Ezekiel put a hand to his shin, "Hmmm, no doubt a distraction to draw us into their abyssal domain, no? These wayward demons seem to possess quite the cunning intellect for corrupted beasts of the occult."

"Don't these stray's mutate more and more over time?" Vin chimed in, "Like, they go more insane and beastly over the course of a few weeks or months?"

"That is the commonly believed principle," Xenovia confirmed.

"Then does the preexisting power level of a devil before it becomes a stray determine how long it takes for them to go crazy?"

"Yeah, that's how it works," Vanessa nodded, before her eyes went wide, "But what does- Oh… Oh no."

"Yeah…" Vin cringed, before turning to the front of the van, "Hey Ethan, how long have these guys existed in the directory?"

"Let me check…" Ethan paused for a minute, flipping through the file on his lap, before turning his own head to the back, "It says here about two weeks."

"So it's either they've mutated slowly, or they're powerful," Vin pondered, "Regardless, something's up if they expressly wanted none of the hostages they got eaten. Like Zeke's sayin', it smells a lot like a trap… Almost like they want exorcists to come after them."

"We don't exactly have a choice unfortunately," Jafar called out, "There's innocent people in there counting on us. Ethan, give us the details on those two main devils in the report."

"The first one is named Keizer, former Knight of the now-defunct peerage of one Lady Marissa. Not a lot's given about reasons for running, but it seems like he was a distinguished warrior, and was unsatisfied with her giving up Rating Games for the life of a married woman. He killed her in her sleep one night, before fleeing up here to the human realm. Given his Evil Piece being labelled as a Knight, expect a lot of speed from this guy, probably a bit of striking power too."

"The other one's name is Howitzer…" Ethan threw his hands into the air, "Okay, seriously, who the hell name's these guys? These are terrible names!"

"I don't know, their parents?" Vanessa shrugged, "Now stop worrying about that, and read the paper already."

"Sorry…" Ethan cleared his throat, before continuing to read, "Howitzer is a Rook from the peerage that belonged to Lady Marissa's fiancé. Looks like it's the same thing, dissatisfaction at losing out on the chance to fight because of the marriage, so he worked together with Keizer to kill Lady Marissa, and get away. The two are like brothers-in-arms, in a weird, fucked-up way, I guess. Remember, he's a Rook, so expect durability, power, and a lot of big-rook-energy."

The sound of Vanessa's hand hitting her face clapped throughout the van, "Ethan. Never say that again, that was awful."

"Duly noted."

For a while, the group fell into silence, listening to the sound of the van's tires rolling along the road. Vin was tempted to plug in his earbuds and let the sounds of music wrap himself in their embrace, but before he could, he noticed that his blue-haired companion was clutching something in her hands, looking over, Vin noticed the thin white wires stretching from the device, and up behind Xenovia's locks.

Smiling fondly, Vin popped his own earbuds in, closed his eyes, and let his mind drift.


Numerous songs later, Vin felt someone shift against him. Cracking one eye open, Vin found Xenovia nudging him with her elbow. Pausing his music, Vin pulled out his earbuds.

"Time to go?" Vin asked, to which Xenovia simply nodded, before walking out of the back of the van.

Vin quickly followed suit, setting his phone on his seat in the van, emerging out into the late afternoon sun. Why couldn't they ever do this in the morning? Planning, he guessed? Whatever, it wasn't important.

"How are we tackling this?" Vin decided to open the discussion, his eyes roving over the decrepit shopping center in front of them.

Not the biggest one in the world, that's for sure. He remembered this one, it ended up being too small, and it was just easier for people to build a new mall closer to the center of the city than to worry about a tiny mall out on the edge of the boonies.

Once, it was bright, bustling with lights and people; now, it was easily in a state of disrepair, graffiti coating sections of yellowed, weathered walls, windows boarded up, and the skylight of the mall, the very centerpiece, has a massive hole in it. Hell knows what that was from, but if Vin has to guess, it had something to do with what they were called here to stop.

"I don't quite know…" Jafar admitted, his eyes scanning over the building, searching every corner, "I would normally do our usual strategy whenever Vanessa gets Transparency, have us go in the obvious way, and have her sneak in unnoticed, but with Vanessa lacking durability, and the fact that getting a group of hostages out of there would be near impossible to do unnoticed, I'm just thinking of keeping her with us, and maybe having her split off to at least try and locate the hostages, or pick off a few of the lesser strays."

"That sounds reasonable," Xenovia agreed, her grip around Excalibur Destruction tightening, "We simply have to match them with power."

"So, how should we head in?" Irina asked, "Cause I don't know about you guys, but I don't see any open doors-"

Right as Irina was about to finish her sentence, one of the boarded-up entrances to the wall smashed open with a titanic boom; catching everyone off guard. Swords were raised, and Midas' Rings flashed onto Vin's fingers as the dust settled, revealing that what smashed down the door was… a massive chunk of a statue. Clutched in its hands rested a smashed analog clock face.

"I suppose that's our invitation, huh?" Ethan humorously chuckled.

"Shall we enter, then?" Ezekiel's hand came to rest against the hilt of the Judgement Sabre, "It would be most… rude to keep our guests waiting."

"Right, c'mon guys, let's move," Jafar directed, cocking his pistol as he led the group through the hole in the wall.

They emerged into the mall on the 2nd floor, surrounded in a hallway by gated-off storefronts, their once sturdy security dented in deep fissures of warped steel. Looking straight ahead, just like how he remembered it, Vin could see the open-area of the 2nd floor. A loop with a single path cutting through the middle, large holes leading down to the first floor on either side of the middle path.

Cautiously, the group moved deeper and deeper into the mall, until they got to the foot of the large atrium, when a scratching noise from above drew their attention.

Hanging from the middle of the ceiling was the centerpiece of the mall, a great antique grandfather clock, reminiscent of a clock tower's head, suspended high up at the peak of the skylights curved dome design.

But it wasn't the sight of the clock that caused the group to pause, oh no.

It was what was perched on top of it.

Not unlike a gargoyle on a gothic building, above their heads was a very humanoid, reptile-like creature, bent down into a squat, holding a long lance in its hand. It's yellow eyes gazing at the group of exorcists below, it's gaze hardening for a moment, before it slowly stood up, unfurling it's spine as it's tall, imposing figure cut through the ray of sunlight casting down through the skylight like a spotlight on a decrepit stage.

Then, the next thing they knew, the lizard-man was in the air, it's lance pointed at the group, determined to skewer them.

Vin wasted no time, as everyone rolled either to the left or right, Vin quickly swiped his hand up in a scooping motion, causing a spire of crystals to burst forth diagonally, straight towards the lizard man, who's eyes widened slightly, as it shifted in the air, it's side barely scraping against the crystal.

By the time the beast landed, it lashed it's spear out towards Vin, who hand sprung himself backwards to avoid impalement, before waving his hands, sending a low, swath of crystals shooting up from the floor, making the creature backflip, dexterously landing on the guard railing.

Yep, this one was the Knight, alright; it's speed made it too distinct to be anyone else. Kaizer was its name, if Vin could recall.

Before Kaizer could attack again, its head perked up, before it quickly braced against the shaft of it's lance, as it blocked against Ethan's strike, which came zooming in in a flash, Excalibur Rapidly humming a sweet trill as it unleashed its speed.

Kaizer leapt away as a slice from both Excalibur Rapidly and Destruction clashed where the stray stood a second ago.

The creature gazed upon the combatants before it, as it opened its jaws of sharp teeth, and roared out a chittering hiss.

And in that moment, Vin swore the gates of hell opened.

From behind the stray, twelve massive, deformed, screaming quadruped swarmed out of the walls, the floors beneath them, out of abandoned storefronts.

Shit.

This was an ambush.

The team was forced off guard, as they scattered around the loop, each one fighting off against a few of the strays.

One of the ghastly abominations charged towards Vin, it's appearance sparking reminders of the market, being pinned down, watching in real time as one of the things slowly took his own life from him.

Vin's gaze hardened. Not again.

Swiping his left hand to the side, a massive crystal spike burst from the wall right as the stray tried to pounce on him. Crystal met flesh as the stalactite tore its way into the it's side. Not necessarily fatal, but enough he kept it impaled to the ground, squirming as Vin leapt over the spike, and took survey of the area around him.

Quickly, Vin spotted Kaizer locked in combat on that middle path with both Xenovia and Ethan, it's spear and body lashing out in several different directions, as it and Ethan engaged in a high speed duel, while Xenovia kept it from leaving with oppressive backup from Excalibur Destruction.

For a split second, Vin and Xenovia made eye contact, before she had to break it in order to dodge a swipe of Kaizer's weapon. Even though the atrium of the mall was alight with the sounds of combat: clashing metal, the pained hisses of the strays as they mercilessly met their fates slowly at the hands of his comrades, Vin could hear Xenovia's shout over it all.

"We'll take this thing on, Vin! Work on finding the hostages!"

He didn't need to be told twice.

Spinning on his heel, Vin sprinted away from the fight, heading east in hopes of finding the hostages, unfortunately, he didn't find the hostages, but something far worse.

He really should have been more careful. Seriously, a little bit of situational awareness would have saved him from a potential world of hurt as he passed by the ripped open entrance to an old bookstore, and failed to notice the gleaming yellow eyes in the dark until a second too late.

Sailing from the entrance came a massive green, scaly fist, as big as a bolder, and it's forearm as thick as a tree trunk. Thankfully, Vin managed to dodge mostly, but his left shoulder was clipped by the blow, causing it to rattle in his body, before making a *pop* that he was entirely sure wasn't supposed to happen.

The sheer force of the blow caused Vin to fly backward, sprawling messily a few feet away, trying to get up, Vin hissed as he felt his left shoulder. Yep, definitely dislocated. But hey, on the bright side…

He looked up at the massive lizard that lurched out of the darkness.

...At least he found Howitzer the Rook.

The lizard sniffed the air, as it looked upon its opponent.

"You smell of something unknown, human," Howitzer sniffed again, pawing his gargantuan hand against his face, "What is this smell? I've never known a scent such as this… Show it to me!"

In spite of his pain, Vin forced himself up, chuckling the entire time, "Gee thanks. Look, if I knew this was a formal occasion beforehand, I would have worn some aftershave."

"You think this is some game, human?" Howitzer took a step towards Vin, the entire floor shaking with the lizard's weight, "Do you believe that pathetic jokes will save you?"

"No," Vin admitted, a wry smile splitting across his face, wincing slightly as his shoulder screamed at him, "Humor's just my coping mechanism…"

Howitzer snorted, steam expulsing from his reptilian snout, "Enough excuses. Now we fight. We won't stop until one of us lays dead at the feet of the other."

...Of course he would get the monster that just doesn't know when to stay down.

Seeing the tensing of its muscles, Vin leapt away, only to find where he once stood assailed by a massive green fist.

He had to stay on his feet.

There was no last minute lifeline from Griselda here, it was ride or die.

Vin really hoped it was the former.

Swinging his right hand up as he ran, Vin tried to pepper Howitzer with crystals, hoping it would stop the goliath; but true to his name, Howitzer smashed through them with the ferocity of an artillery shot, his arms swinging in ferocious lariats, hoping to snag it's human opponent into an early death.

Vin needed a plan, and fast.

Searching around, his head constantly on a swivel as he ran, mind alight, pumping on all cylinders for an idea, Vin continued to run. Eventually, Vin found himself running straight into an old department store, a massive, open-concept department store full of leftover merchandise. His brain clicked everything together.

It just might work.

Bolting deeper into the store, Vin took turn after turn, darting around furniture, all while Howitzer kept on his tail, swiping furniture into the air, or throwing them at Vin like a dodgeball. Vin kept running, before he passed by a display for a bed. He eyed it for a moment, before swiping his hand, making crystals rise out of the floor, and fling the bed at the stray.

It didn't do much, as Howitzer grabbed the bed with one hand, swung a fist through the crystals with the other, and then threw the bed straight back at Vin.

Perfect.

As the bed soared straight towards him, Vin turned his body so his dislocated shoulder faced the oncoming mattress, ignoring the pain,Vin used his right hand to force the shoulder as close as he could to its original position as he could, and prayed.

The bed his it's mark, and Vin sent sailing backwards once more, as his left shoulder *popped* back into place from the force of the bed being hurled at him. Vin hoped it would be the bed, because it would ideally be something soft enough to not break his bones while being thrown with enough force to pop his shoulder back into place.

Now, to Vin's credit, it did work… He just didn't account for how much it would hurt.

And oh, did it hurt.

Screaming out as pain shot throughout his whole being, Vin messily crashed into a couch, breaking his fall. Righting himself once more, his shoulder still so painful, Vin forced himself to throw all sorts of things at the approaching devil: coffee tables, chairs, anything.

It didn't work, as Vin nearly got himself hit again one more time. Scrambling back, Vin had one final idea. One idea so royally stupid that if it didn't work, he could kiss his life good bye. By his side was a tipped-over swivel display case for Zippo lighters. Looking around, it didn't take too long for Vin to find an electrical outlet, and the idea took shape in his mind.

Yep, this was going to suck…

He hoped his crystals worked as an insulator like rubber did.

Smashing open the Zippo lighter case, Vin scrambled, messily grabbing three or four lighters, his adrenaline making him ignore how his hand caught the nasty edge of the glass as he pulled away.

Continuing to evade the devil in front of him, narrowly escaping death each and every time, Vin managed to round himself into the long-abandoned beauty and makeup section. He needed something… just a little something to make it bigger!

There! Hairspray! He grabbed two bottles, shoving one into his empty gun holster, and the other remained clutched in his hand.

Vin heard a roar, and then a second later, an entire countertop was thrown at him, product and all.

Vin dropped the hairspray, and threw up a wall to defend himself. Despite his body screaming in protest, Vin's desperate adrenaline flowed through him more than ever before, the pain barely a phantom reminder tethering him into reality.

No looking back. Vin continued to run, right as Howitzer smashed through his wall like a linebacker at an American Football game.

Up ahead was the clothing section. Glancing up, Vin noticed the sprinklers lining the walls. Good… Things were taking shape.

Scouring the shelves like a maniac, Vin eventually found what he was looking for, a raincoat. It was a little girl's raincoat, sure, but it would work damnit!

Forcing it one to back, ignoring how it strained against his every movement, Vin flipped the pink, bear-eared hood over his head, grabbed the lighter in his pocket, and the hairspray from his holster, and using the magic power of aerosols, set fire to the clothing aisle, right as Howitzer caught up to him.

As soon as the fire began, loud sirens began to blare around the store, as all of the sprinklers doused the two combatants with ice cold water. Vin noticed Howitzer's movement slowing, probably a testament to his reptilian appearance, something Vin hadn't considered, but welcomed with open arms.

When the beast finally rounded on him, Vin didn't hesitate to lift his makeshift flamethrower up to Howitzers face, and open fire.

Instantly, the flames connected, and Howitzer shrieked back, swinging one of his arms widely, as the other rubbed at his face in agony.

Given a chance to move, Vin found the nearby electric outlet, dropped his flamethrower, coated his hands in crystals, and punched them into the wall with a prayer.

Thankfully, it seemed like his crystals weren't going to conduct any electricity anytime soon, so with all of his strength, Vin yanked, the wire's pulled out of the wall.

"Over here, asshole!" Vin yelled, as the blinded Howitzer charged towards him.

As soon as he got close, Vin rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a messy collision, and without hesitation, Vin shoved the sparking cables into Howitzer's soaked body.

In a flash, sparks began to pop dangerously from the wires as the reptile's body convulsed involuntarily, causing him to scream out in agony.

For a moment, Vin questioned if he should do what he planned to do next. His prey was immobilized, prepared for the finishing blow. But could he do that? Could he end a life just like that?

Unfortunately, that moment was all Howitzer needed to fight through, and grab Vin's body in his massive mitt. Holding the boy up to his seething jaws, Howitzer finally spoke up.

"You hesitated. No true warrior knows hesitation, because those who would have already died as a result," Howitzer lifted Vin towards his mouth, "And you will join them…"

Vin knew what he had to do, and closed his eyes. From within the small amount of space in the beast's grip, Vin curled his fingers in a beckoning manner.

The next second, a massive spike bore through Howitzer's unguarded back, and pierced right out the other end. While the beast's eyes were closed, it still looked down at the spike, and gave a breathy chuckle.

"...T...There you go… It took you long enough…" Howitzer as Vin opened his eyes to see the stray… smiling?

It's paw opened, allowing Vin to slip out, a little squeezed, but overall not broken. Vin looked up at the titanic being, who never once fought against it's approaching death, seemingly content as it's muscles slowly went slack.

"...This is… more like it…A death… worthy… of… a warrior like… me."

Howitzer opened his glassy, fogged-over eyes, "Human… Thank… You…"

At long last, the last wisps of life left Howitzer's body, as it slumped over onto the spike; a toothy, prideful, and ever-so-content smile remaining on his lips, even in death.

It was an image that left Vin confused for a while that night: even after Vin found his teammates, who had slain their targets, and found the hostages on the left side of the mall. Even as the church came to collect the memory-wiped humans to return them to their houses, and even as the group returned, and walked through the front doors of the Vatican in the dead of night.

If Vin or any of them had bothered to look up, then they would have noticed the black feathers falling hauntingly from the sky…


Oh shit… Here we go lads… We're nearing the endgame of this arc now; shit's about to get very real in the next chapter. And we're going to see an event that happens offscreen in DxD canon that I don't think has ever been touched on in a fanfiction yet. Those who know what incident kicks off the events of DxD S2/Vol.3, more specifically, what causes Irina and Xenovia to go to Kyoh, then you know what I mean…

In other news, WE'VE SURPASSED 10,000 VIEWS ON THIS STORY! Holy hell, you guys are incredible, and with us inching closer and closer, I don't think it'll take very long before we're celebrating 200 followers either. Thank you all so much for checking this story out each and every time I upload something new; all the positive feedback has been incredible to see. Y'all are fuckin' wonderful!

We have a lot of ground to cover in terms of reviews, so I won't stall, let's get into this!

(P.S Flameclawsxx, check your PM's)

Chapter Notes:

[Kaizer's Entrance:]

Believe it or not, Kaizer's entrance, and appearance/mannerisms in general are supposed to be directly based on the Chozo Soldier bosses from Metroid Dread, and more specifically the cutscene for when Samus first encounters one in the game. The choice to have a polearm for a weapon and not to speak, despite being an 'intelligent' stray is also because of this inspiration.

[Tanking an Attack to Fix Your Shoulder:]

Another thing inspired from properties I love, this time it's from Fullmetal Alchemist, more specifically, when Armstrong performs a very similar maneuver to relocate his own shoulder, just with a chain instead of a bed.

[You Hesitated:]

This will be one of many more times where Vin's resistance to just go for the killing blow when presented to him will result in him eating dirt. He's got to get over it at one point, and I know when and how that'll be, but that's… a ways off.

[The Feathers:]

A little surprise cameo from the star of our next chapter! By the way, we're done with long time skips now; we've caught up. I hope that you all are as excited as I am to see my interpretation of our favorite character…

If there's anything that I hope this story has conveyed to you, it's that the world of DxD is a fucking scary place. And if stray devils are considered overall pretty weak, then how terrifying would a leader class be?

Some food for thought...

REVIEW ROUNDUP!

Dragonsaiyanblue says: (About Ch.8)

"This chapter was neat. It not easy taking a life evening knowing a stray devil can be a former humans who might had a family but taken it away. Vin lucky he has a instructor as Greselda who is a more understanding and normal members. Imagine it was a more cold zealous intrustor. Like you said earlier or all member are insane like freed but thier can be higher ups who have the overzealous mindset of anything that against our belief most be ether destroyed are change. The fight with Xenovia and Vin is interesting. Also for on other notes is Xenovia canon style or is this before canon like is her hair short or does she have long hair. Because I'm my bias I like a long hair Xenovia after seeing an old fanart lol. Also is the training clothes for the female exorcist the leotards from the Excalibur arc or just regular trading cloths because I can see vin mouth dropping and question the church while Vanessa and Irina tease him while Xenovia clueless lol."

Hey, great to see you back man! Let's see what you got here for me today.

Alright, so first: yeah, Vin's really lucky to have Griselda as his mentor, she's scary, but overall, pretty caring for everyone. Ultimately, she wants the best for everyone, and I think part of the reason Vin doesn't resist as much is because he knows for a fact that getting upset at Griselda, Xenovia, or anyone else would both not accomplish anything, and also just be a shitty thing to do. Vin hates his situation, but he doesn't hate the people in it with him, if that makes sense.

Xenovia's hair will be her usual shorter hair. What can I say? I look at my waifu's, and I suddenly realize that 90% of them either have blue hair, shoulder length hair, or both. Also, I'm a tomboy lover at heart, so yeah, I'm keeping Xenovia's design in that realm, although I should mention that while DxD may not portray her this way, considering shirtless shots of Xenovia have her with a flat stomach, I want to reflect Xenovia's training more, so I've specifically mentioned in chapters earlier that she's got abs for days in this story. I want her to be more 'Amazonian' if that makes sense, to reflect her traits as a warrior more than anything else. Her appeal in this story is less from her massive honkers, and more from the fact that she's got the whole 'dangerous' aura around her, also Vin's written to be a fan of muscles, so there's that too.

The outfits for training are the same leotards as Xenovia and Irina wear in DxD, yes. They have to wear them for training with Griselda, kinda like having to wear a uniform to school. On weekends, then Xenovia or the others may wear something different, but their usual is the leotards. Same with the guys, the jumpsuit-coat combo I created as the 'male equivalent' to the leotards is what Vin and the others have to wear on weekday training.

I hope this answered some of your questions, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Scatman SSJohn EX (Fucking amazing name, btw) Says:

"I love this story you wrote and personally enjoy good OC that are not gamer si.

I hope to see Xenovia x Vin shipping in the future and honestly just more chapters in general."

Thanks for leaving such a nice review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much!

I've said before, but I really wanted to make this story so that there could be that quality DxD story where we could get an OC/Xenovia pairing. She's kinda criminally underutilized in fanfics, but I think I can chalk that up to Xenovia truthfully being a character in canon who has a lot of interesting things about her, but terrible amounts of inconsistency in her characterization, mainly because of her never getting a lot of screen time. In order to make her a character that can stand on her own in this story, I've had to take my own approach to writing her, mostly by expanding on pre existing elements, and by mixing a hint of her post-devil rebirth personality into her pre-rebirth personality, in order to make that little transition less jarring on the whole.

I'm glad to see that the Vin x Xenovia ship is getting support. I was really scared early on that people were going to come out of the woodwork to slander it, and just call Vin a 'struggleporn self insert' character. But the amount of positivity has been remarkable! As a writer, bits of myself are obviously going to be reflected in the characters, but I think I've done enough with Vin to separate him enough from myself to call him his own, independent character.

By the way, you've gotten your wish for more chapters! I hope that you enjoyed this one, and look forward to many more to come! Next chapter is one that I've been wanting to write since the beginning, so yeah, get excited for that!

The Black Kraven Says:

"Wholesome. I take back my demand for a harem and now want a single pairing. (Maybe add Rossweisse lmao). Anyways the only thing I want to ask is why would Azazel take an interest in Vin. Guess he has some rare kinda SG."

Hey, first of all, thanks so much for leaving all those reviews! It was really fun to watch them come in and see how your views on this fic evolved chapter by chapter.

Chapter Nine was the wholesome, feel good chapter for this arc, and it's what we in the industry call 'the calm before the storm', and what a storm we're about to get into, let me tell you…

I love Rossweisse, and I have a special place in my heart for girls like her, it triggers both feelings of 'I want to hold this adorable thing and love it forever', and a certain special type of pity where I think it's just so cute; kinda like watching a baby fall while learning to walk, something like that. Anyway, leaving that aside, Rossweisse will get some love, rest assured, but it won't be from Vin, and it won't be for a long while…

Great final question: you see, the reason that Azazel would develop an interest in Vin would be because as a Sacred Gear researcher, Azazel is drawn to new, interesting developments in Gear's. Vin's gear is a bizarre subspecies of a half-decent, pretty common Sacred Gear, that doesn't seem to change anything except the material it creates. It's suspicious, and had to have been caused by something, especially since Vin awoke his Sacred Gear in this subspecies state, he didn't ever develop it. So there must be some form of external influence. That's why Azazel is interested in Vin right now, he's got an anomaly for a Sacred Gear.

Thanks for taking the time to review this story so much, I greatly appreciate it, and hope that you enjoyed this chapter too! Looking forward to hearing from you again.

mark94 Says:

"It's a really sweet chapter. I find the crush Vin has really funny. Also the baking scene was comedy gold. About not celebrating birthdays is kind of strange because most Christian Churches celebrate one specific birthday every year. You could say they patented the concept for 2021 years. Just an interesting thought. :D"

Hey, how are you doing?

Like you, I also derive a lot of humor out of making Vin's crush this massive joke. Even while writing these chapters, I still manage to crack myself up thinking of how I'm going to make those two idiots act next. I mean, Vin's got to get closer to Xenovia for the romance to work, and one of the only ways to get that to happen with the way Xenovia is right now is through training; so I might as well be self-aware about it and poke fun at the idea that Vin either has it for Xenovia so bad that he willingly gets punched on the daily to hang out with her, or he's actually just a masochist, like Irina theorizes.

The whole not-celebrating-birthdays thing is mostly a practical choice by the church. It's a waste of time when exorcists could be training more. But yes, the irony of it all is not lost on me…

I'm glad you like what you've been reading so far. I love writing banter, and I feel like the dry, witty humor I try to go for in this story is the best fit for allowing comedic moments in a story that's generally darker without making those comedic moments feel out of place, or botch the overall tone of the story. I feel like chapter nine might have been one of the best chapters I've written so far, purely from a dialogue-standpoint. It might not have been the most important chapter ever, but it's got a lot of heart.

Thanks for leaving the review, and I can't wait to hear what you think of this chapter, or the one after it.

TorresStormer Says:

"Hello There, first of all I quite like this story a lot, things seen from the churches point of view are somewhat scarce from what i have seen thus far (mind you that amount of things are not very much) and since the beginning of the story i've been positively hooked, but one thing that i have a question after reading one of you're responces to a review is that you plan to continue that xenovia becomes a reencarnated devil, or at least that is what i undestood from it, and that does leave a badish taste of mouth because i always considered that to be a move of desperation of not having a purpose after the revelation that god is dead and being excomunicated, but with vin it just doesn't feel so believable to make that move, intead try to make a move to be with him... although this is mostly personal little thing of mine and defenetly will not stop me from continue reading the story, also once again i'm still relatively new to DxD so i may not undestand much of the characters... anyways sorry for any ortographical or gramatical errors english is not really my first language, so yeah... Saludos desde México!"

Hey man, typos are alright, especially if English isn't your first language. Like I've said before, I certainly couldn't do that, so mad props to you!

As for your question, well yes, Xenovia is going to be making a desperate, impulsive action to become a devil later on, and Vin's actually going to make one too, although I won't say what exactly, because of spoilers. Rest assured, this is one of the things I've been mulling over the most in this story, so I have a solution in mind to make it as believable as I can make it.

I'm also super happy to hear that you would continue to read the story regardless. Still, I'm dedicated to making it seem as natural of a change as possible. But thank you for all the support, and shoutout to all the people from Mexico reading this, thanks so much for reading this fic; I never in a million years thought that it would get so many viewers from non-English speaking countries, but here we are. You all are amazing, rock on!

Roger Asks:

"Well let's see ...

I'm relying on you more and more for this story, I'm enjoying the better interactions between the characters and how Vin is progressing.

but here's a question: if your story will have an opening and an ending what anime songs would you use?

as I imagined the mood of the story a little, I will give some examples

opening 1: Vivid Vice (jujutsu kaisen opening 2)

ending 1: Great Scape (shingeki no kyojin ending 2, season 1)

I will give more examples later, thank you."

Hey Roger, and thank you for giving my fingers a break!

Soundtracks have always been something that have been nearly a thing in this story, but haven't at the very last minute. Obviously, Vin is fashioned after a lot of my music taste, and a lot of chapters make general or very specific references to must. (Look to the Jimi Hendrix reference in chapter one)

In terms of an OP and EP for this story arc, it's a little tricky. I feel like the songs would have to embody the specific emotions of this arc, which true to it's name of 'Unwanted Beginnings', is all about Vin's struggle both leaving behind the past, while gaining the determination to move forward to face the challenges of this new, unknown future in the world of the supernatural.

For an OP, I would probably choose something like Never Turn Back by Crush 40 (fuckin' love those guys) it generally encapsulates the themes I just mentioned above, while keeping in line with the hard-rocking aesthetic of this story, and Vin in general.

For an EP, it would have to be Divide My Heart by Daisuke Ishiwatari and NAOKI, from Guilty Gear Xrd: Revealator. On top of being probably my favorite Guilty Gear song on top of many great songs, it's vibe, and lyrics fit a little too perfectly for this first arc. No spoilers, but the first lyrics of the chorus have meaning… I love the slightly haunting air the track has, while it just rips in the chorus with such raw intensity. So yeah, definitely those two… And now I have Divide My Heart stuck in my head again.

Divide My Heeeeaaarrrtttt, someone dies unfairly~

It's a good song, if anything should be taken away from these Review Roundups, it's that you NEED to listen to Divide My Heart at least once.

Thanks for leaving a review! I would love to hear what your impressions of Divide My Heart are sometime! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and ROCK ON!

SupremeBurger123 Says:

"Unsure how much this means, but whenever you update I read it. You have a very interesting idea that breaks away from the norm of fanfics for Dxd, and it has been a refreshing read. Love you stuff, and love your pacing. It makes me very happy whenever you update, so don't feel bad whenever someone updates right when you do. I will always be reading you amazing story, you have a loyal follower and reader here. Hope college goes well and hope you have an amazing day. Best wishes"

First of all, it means so much to hear that. Seriously, it really does; the fact that you guys actually are really enjoying what I write, and are leaving messages and are asking questions and everything… It means the world to me.

I wanted to try something fresh for DxD fanfics, and while there's going to be events of DxD canon mixed in very soon, I still got a lot of unique ideas to not just make it a retelling of DxD with some OC's.

The whole updating right after I post isn't really a big deal. It was mostly a 'c'mon, seriously?!' kind of joke. I have a dedicated and growing group of readers like you who make this all worth it for me.

Thanks for being so loyal to this story, and I hope that you have a spectacular day, my friend.

Crestowl Says:

"I keep turning around and suddenly, this story updates! Great chapter, some fun slice of life stuff that balances out the more angsty stuff last chapter, and overall quite well written! I look forward to the reveal of Vin's sacred gear, but here's some ideas. We know it will be a dragon thats in that gear, but because of how you're trying to be a more grounded and less wish-fufilment/op off the bat writer, I'm going to guess that this dragon is lower tier, probably weaker than a dragon king. But, because of the crystal theme, and the fact that it was sealed into a sacred gear, something that (if I'm not mistaken) only happens to relatively strong monsters, the sealed creature needs to be at least stronger than common monsters. So, I'm going to guess that this situation is like Gasper and (Spoilers) the Balor sealed inside his gear, if only a bit weaker. The dragon won't reveal itself until it really needs to, and when Vin has become strong enough to sustain it. As for the dragon's identity? I have no clue. I have never heard of a crystal dragon from mythology that is strong enough to qualify for being sealed, so this is a mystery that the author gets to reveal! How fun! Great chapter again, and I look forward to when the first Arc ends and some action happens! Peace!"

Welcome back, friend, it's great to see you once more!

Last chapter was most certainly a slice of life chapter, and it balances out the veritable shitstorm on eight wings that's coming their way in the next chapter!

Now, I'll say it right now, build a little hype… The Sacred Gear's doing a thing next chapter. Some things are going to get cleared up, but inevitably, there's going to be some real burning questions left by it's reveal.

Here's what you can know for now:

Yes, the dragon is weaker than a dragon king.

Yes, it did get sealed inside the Gear, but not in a manner that you would think it would be. The legends we know surrounding whatever dragon it is might be 'inaccurate' because of the interference of a Sacred Gear in the far-flung past.

It's not necessarily as dormant as Gasper's Balor, but it's definitely a lot less responsive than either Ddraig or Albion. It's just more reclusive by nature, but it's got one hell of a temper.

Final thing you can know, all the times where Vin's been visibly confused about why his emotions are so strong isn't because he's emotionally detached from himself, it's because whatever's inside his gear is trying to influence his emotions to coax him into a strong-enough emotional state where it awakens the gear proper.

Also whoever it is, hates people named Charles. Coincidentally, there's a Midas' Rings user in history who has that name. Coincidence?

Thanks so much for leaving reviews, and as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Rock on, Crestowl!

XxExtremeSamX Says:

"That ending. It pulls my heartstrings."

I'm glad to hear it. Having people be emotionally invested in this story was the goal, so I'm super happy it was successful.

Thanks for leaving a review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


Well, that was all the ones I could get around to this time. I had to leave a few out, unfortunately, but that was mostly because I promised over on the Instagram page I have for this story, (On Instagram, search dxd_alternate_official, my profile pictures Xenovia) that I would get this chapter out tonight!

By the way, yeah! I have an official Instagram account for this story now! Come check it out at dxd_alternate_official or High School DxD Alternate. On there you can find behind the scenes story info, little details, some memes, sneak peeks at things, and you can get more detailed updates directly from me about this story.

I also have an email you can contact now if you want to submit any fan art or anything else related to this story! If you do, leave your username in the email, so I know who to credit when I show it off on the Instagram page. You can find the email on the final image of any of my Instagram posts.

Thank you all for reading this far, this chapter ended up being massive, and I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter is going to get messy real quickly, so buckle in for that whenever it comes out.

If you want me to potentially answer any question, comment, critique or whatnot, consider leaving a review! Even if I don't get around to answering them all, I make sure to at the very least read all of them, so your messages do reach me! Consider leaving a follow or a favorite if you genuinely enjoyed what you've read and want to see more, and I'll see you all next time!

ROCK ON!