Inspired by the Dungeon Defense light novel (which was discontinued due to plagiarism but this story won't have that problem), and how fun it was to follow Dantalian's insane magnificent bastard logic. Trying to work with DxD is hard for someone that only likes specific pieces of it, so I'll take whatever I can work with.

Shoutout to Nekro for giving DD a chance tho. My man has good taste.


The trick to slipping into people's lives is being persistent but not overbearing. To make one's presence something accepted as a given, while at the same time not overwhelming the other party to the point that they'd want to take distance. Thus, starting out small and pushing slightly more from time to time is the best way to do this on paper.

Only on paper though.

"I won't be playing with you anymore." Sona Sitri stated while getting up from her chair.

Her short black hair and squarish glasses gave off a strict impression. But the way she emoted very little sealed the deal even though her face was pretty.

"...Eh?" The person she was talking to, a male with equally dark hair and attractive face, took a moment to process her words "But why…?"

Sona sighed.

"Diodora, in the time you've come to Kuoh and played, there hasn't been one instance in which you were anywhere close to winning. I thought you'd get better, but now I understand this will never happen. So I'm cutting this off before you embarrass yourself any further." Her tone was even but cold, and her crossed arms didn't help him think she was being courteous at all.

"I see…" He looked down at the board, most of her pieces still on it while he barely had any, and sighed with a bitter smirk "Guess that's the end of this, huh."

He stood up and offered his fellow devil his hand. His expression regretful but understanding.

"Thank you for your time, and for making me company." He covered up his feelings with a kind smile, keeping his voice even.

Sona shook her head.

"You waste your time. Take this as advice: Find someone at your level. It'll be the best for everyone involved." She fixed her glasses but didn't take Diodora's hand.

He waited for a few seconds more before letting his limb drop to his side.

"I see…"

"I don't hate you." Sona added, unprompted "But I'm not telling you this out of kindness either. I'm not that kind of woman. So you better find what you're looking for somewhere else."

"Oh?" Diodora's expression brightened a little. If this confused Sona, she didn't show it "But I did. Found what I was looking for, that is."

The girl devil looked more annoyed than anything as he said that.

"If you say so." She sighed "As long as you understand that I won't take kindly to you coming here to play chess again, I don't mind what you do."

"Should I take that as being allowed to stay at Kuoh a little longer?" Diodora smiled a bit but raised a hand before he could get his answer "It's your and Rias' territory after all. I wouldn't want to be impolite."

Or so he said, as he was forcing Sona to state out loud if she felt discontent with his presence.

But Sona wasn't someone that would shy away from stating her thoughts out loud.

"You can if that's what you want. As I said: I don't hate you." Sona looked back at her [Queen] before continuing "I have other business to attend to. Please leave."

"Alright." His reply came with no hesitation or delay. Walking out of the student council room without any further notice, only stopping to say his farewell "Have a good day ladies."

The two girls waited until the male devil left, staying silent for a while longer even after the fact. Neither moved, but both seemed content with this situation. At least Sona apparently knew full well what she was waiting for.

Finally, after a few minutes in complete silence, Sona sighed and relaxed her shoulders.

"Does it bother you that much?" Tsubaki finally spoke up, seeing her [King]'s guard lowering as her cue.

"It's been two weeks." Sona stated "Every day he comes here and wants to play a few games. And every day I find myself disappointed. I'm tired of it."

"It was dull to watch you play." Tsubaki agreed.

"Besides, I can't be lenient in this." Sona straightened her back "I shall only marry a man smart enough to win against me. I don't know what he was looking for in our exchanges, but lately I saw him slack even more. That's not only an insult to the others that have tried, but to me as well. I shall not stand it."

The [Queen] frowned.

"Does he know of your ultimatum?"

Sona looked at Tsubaki like she had been slapped.

"I announced it publicly and with zero ways to be misinterpreted. Why do you think he doesn't know?"

Tsubaki thought about the question for a moment. About the awkwardness and how little he looked at Sona while playing, about the matter-of-factly tone he used when he did talk, and the way he never hung around for very long after their games were over.

"I don't know." She lied.


His steps became springly as he abandoned the student council room and made some distance from the school building proper. As a pure-blooded devil, Diodora had no need to attend school like Sona or Rias preferred to do. However he navigated the building like he had indeed gotten through high school before. The only thing that stood out were the students looking at him as he walked through, as only magic could disguise a devil's natural good looks and he didn't bother with that.

Finally, he didn't have to waste time anymore.

Truth be told he had indeed found what he had been looking for. Playing chess with Sona had nothing to do with it, but he needed a plausible reason to stay around while he kept an eye out.

Maybe he hadn't been fair to Sona. She put up with his half-baked excuses for two whole weeks after all. But with nothing to talk about, and his mind being elsewhere he hardly felt any inclination to clean up his act. Maybe it'd become a problem because he still had to go through a couple of token exchanges with her, but that didn't matter at the moment.

"Diodora-san…! No! Diodora-sama!" A boy rushed to meet him outside the main school building. He was a normal japanese teen except for his blond hair.

"Genshirou." Diodora greeted him with a pleasant tone "How's the house? Any complaints?"

"Not at all! It's more than we need and—." The boy looked beyond relieved. And for good reason, as Diodora had solved the boy's economical problems in exchange for joining the devil's peerage.

What Diodora had been looking for was the moment Genshirou's grandfather passed away to sweep in and take the boy before Sona could.

As he remembered it, Saji was the most loyal out of the important characters. Even going as far as to reject two cute girls in order to pursue his master in a series where harems were a thing of all places.

It had been months since 'Diodora' came into this world. Appearing in the body that he did was problematic, downright dangerous even. But he wasn't stupid, and this series worked on anime logic more than anything. So he simply had to slowly replace the cards he was given if he wanted to have a shot at winning.

If the most important characters were the Red and White Dragon Emperors, then 'Diodora' needed to take the next best thing as a safety precaution.

"I'm glad." The black haired devil smiled "I don't want you to feel like you were tricked in any way. If you or your siblings need something, anything at all, don't hesitate to tell me immediately. I'll make sure you all can have a normal school life."

Until the plot started that is. 'Diodora' needed this guy to be as strong as possible to counter the bullshit powers that were to come. As a devil [King], his options had been expanded a bit. He had a way to gather followers that wouldn't raise any eyebrows, and he pulled off direct contact with the most important characters.

Then again, he became Diodora. Goon of the Khaos Brigade. Issei's only confirmed kill if he remembered right. Simply avoiding doing the things that the original did didn't make him feel safe at all, he needed as much assurance as he could get that destiny wouldn't pull a fast one on him. And Genshirou was part of it.

The Evil Dragon King and Prison Dragon, Vritra. If 'Diodora' feared the Vanishing and Welsh Dragons for their broken abilities of boosting and dividing power then the ability to absorb it sounded like an acceptable replacement to start with. But Vritra's powers didn't stop there.

Absorbing and transferring power.

Restraining the enemy.

Cursed flames.

Suppressing the enemy's powers.

Sona supposedly used her pieces' potential to their fullest, but the way this world worked meant that Genshirou invariably would lose in a fight because it'd devolve into an adrenaline-fuelled brawl.

His powers weren't meant to be used like a club, but as a more strategic weapon.

And taking into account the boy's loyalty, 'Diodora' needed to pull the gacha no matter how much he had to spend. Granted, he wasn't a cute girl. But he could try winning Genshirou over by giving the boy everything and anything he wanted.

A satisfied subordinate was one that did his job the best after all.

"Thank you so much!" The boy naturally lowered his head. His simple-minded desires mirrored Issei's in a way, but 'Diodora' had a problem.

He never liked the main character.

Torn between his taste and the danger of his situation, he couldn't simply become someone that only got tangentially involved in the main events. He hadn't appeared early enough to not get himself involved with the Khaos Brigade, and his entry already screwed up things for Rias and co.

"No, no. Thank you for your trust." 'Diodora' excused himself, trying to remember how long it'd take for Raynare to appear.

What else could he do but take it to the chin and prepare for the worst?